Fridays...

Fridays are fun around the Bethell house. We buy the boys doughnuts every Friday, and what a treat! Cooper wakes up WIRED just knowing it is Friday and Friday means doughnuts! His volume level is set somewhere around 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10) and he has a song in his heart.

Friday mornings are unique for another reason, too. Cooper has B.U.M. kids from 8:30 to 11:30, so I have to have the boys and myself ready to leave the house by 8:20 or so. (At this point, I want to pause and acknowledge the working moms out there who have to do this EVERY day. You are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. There's no other way to say it. I don't know how you do it.) Most days, I just ask the boys to get themselves dressed by Sesame Street at 9:00, so we have to hurry to be ready by 8:20. This morning, it looked something like this:

Me: Miles do you need to go potty?
Miles: Yes. Be bean. (Jelly Bean...he gets one when he sits on the potty.)
Me: Okay! Let's go! Run and stick Miles on the potty. Wait for 3 minutes while he decides what color of jelly bean he wants. Run back to Cooper's room.
Me: Coop, here are your clothes. Please get dressed.
Cooper: Mom, I need help. Will you help me?
Miles: MOMMY!
Me: Run to check on Miles. Are you all done going potty?
Miles: Des. (Yes.)
Me: Okay - let's get you down. Remove Miles from the potty.
Cooper: Mom I need HELP!
Me: Run to help Cooper, and grab a diaper while I'm at it.
Miles: MOMMY!
Me: Cooper - you're going to have to get dressed. Run to check on Miles in the bathroom.
Miles: Be bean. (Jelly bean.)
Me: You want to sit on the potty again? Do you need to go potty again? Stick Miles back on the potty. Wait while he selects his color of jelly bean.
Cooper: MOMMY!
Me: Run to Cooper's room.
Miles: MOMMY!
Me: Run to the bathroom.
Repeat.

So by 8:30, I had all of us dressed, Cooper at B.U.M. kids, and I was exhausted. But on Fridays, when Miles and I have time to ourselves, we clean the house together. He LOVES to spray the Windex on the glass. If I try to touch the bottle, he jerks it away from me and gives me a passionate, "I DO!" Okay, okay. You spray the Windex. We clean glass and dust together. Then he watches a little Sesame Street while I clean the bathrooms and kitchen. That's usually all I get done before I have a very special hour of time with Ms. Amy, a college student I meet with weekly. She is so amazing - I love seeing how mature she is and how much the Lord has already taught her. I have much to learn from that girl!

After Amy left today, Miles and I had only a short time together before we went to pick up Cooper. Then we flew through lunch and it was time to head to Ms. Lisa's house. I picked the boys up at 5:00 and we headed home for dinner.

The sweetest moment of all for me today was after dinner. Cooper and I swept the floors and vacuumed so that we could relax together and watch a movie. We had popcorn with M&M's and watched WallE together. Cooper sat on my lap and Miles snuggled right next to me. It was such a sweet moment. This is what being a Mommy is all about!

Soda

The other morning, Cooper was going to run with me to get a soda. I was grabbing my stuff to go, and I heard him say, "No, Humphrey, you can't have a soda because you aren't real. You're pretend."

Miles is learning words so quickly. He has two of my favorite words down - M&M, which is pronounced "num num" and soda, which is pronounced "weeda." If you asked me, he doens't need any other words. He'll make it through life just fine with those.

It's Gone

We (Nate) gave Miles a big buzz cut today because it was driving us (me) crazy. Here is the damage.

Before:

After:

Update

I am working hard to enjoy our kids. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in the "job" of having small children and not think about just enjoying them. Loving them. Laughing with them. So that has been on my mind recently. Care less about dirt. Care more about fun. :)

Here are a few fun stories from recently:

Cooper and I were driving home from Wal-Mart and had the following conversation:
Cooper: Mom - are there bladders in heaven?
Me: I'm not sure, buddy. We know God created us in His image, but I'm not sure we'll know the answer to this question for sure until we get to heaven.
Cooper: Oh. Well, do they have toilets in heaven?
Me: That's a good question! We won't need toilets if we don't have bladders, but I think we'll just have to wait and see!
Cooper: Will we have our private areas in heaven?
Me: Not sure, bud.
Cooper: Will someone rip them off?
Me: Cooper - look! Hay bales! Did you see those hay bales in that field?

Miles is in a difficult stage and a really, really fun stage, too. He is growing in independence. Two of his favorite words are, "I do!" His language is growing so much every day. I bet I could write down two or three new words I hear him say per day. Yesterday Nate had him saying, "oh baby" in the bath tub. Too cute. He says, "kay" after he is given a request - sounds something like this: Nate: "Miles, you need to leave your blanet inside if you want to come out." Miles: "Kay!" Notice that I used Nate in the example - Miles is in love with his Daddy right now. Both boys are, really. They can't get enough! So when Daddy gets home from a hard day of work, he has two boys ready to wrestle and play! At bedtime, both boys want Daddy to read books and tuck them in. The other day, I was putting laundry in the washing machine, and Cooper was asking me for something. I told him I would in just a second several times. After repeated requests, I said, "Hey, Cooper. Let me finish the laundry. I can only do one thing at once. I'm not superman!" He said, "Yeah but Daddy IS superman." :) Sure, Buddy. I'm sure Daddy could start a load of laundry AND get you some milk to drink at the same time. Daddies are just good like that. :)

Okay - I don't have much Sesame Street time left, so I better get a few things done...

A day of firsts

I left Monday mid-morning for San Francisco, CA for a lunch meeting on Tuesday (flying home Tuesday afternoon). Everything went pretty normal, a few delays out of Springfield due to a late plane from Chicago and bad weather in San Francisco. In fact, San Fran was listed as the worst city to travel to on Monday because of the rain they have received in the past few days.

When we arrived in Chicago, while boarding the jet to San Fran, I noticed that the plane was incredibly clean. Even the outside (what you can see of it while boarding from the jet bridge) was very shiny. It looked like it had a fresh paint job. As it turns out, I was on the maiden flight! I think it had that new plane smell...

Speaking of flights to San Francisco, if you've never been, you should go. You don’t have to wait to arrive for entertainment – it starts on the plane ride out. Let’s just say it seems there are an unusual number of strange people on the flight. As an example, one of the guys next to me was in a full sweat-suit, bright turquoise, with matching turquoise hair to go with it. That doesn’t do him justice. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
For a number of reasons, we stayed in China town Monday night. My boss is Australian and in Australia, they eat a lot of Malaysian food. So, of course, he wants to eat Malaysian. It’s not so bad, but lots of curry and strange flavors, meats, soups, etc. And if you’ve read my earlier blog post, you know how I feel about curry. To top off the food experience, the client I met with today is Indian and he took us to lunch. Guess where? An Indian bistro. Again, what’s with all the curry? I’m always up for new experiences, but if I have my choice, I like the curry experiences spread out a bit!
Finally, after a long day of traveling back (fortunately no issues getting through security in San Francisco), I’m now sitting in Dallas for the last flight home. I should pull into the house around midnight. I can’t wait to see the family!

The top 5 signs that Cooper is growing up:

1. His vocabulary continues to develop. Cooper was helping me make breakfast the other morning, and he said, "Mom, can I put the cimanon, I mean cinnamon in?"

2. He is willing to try new things! We went to the playground today, and he crossed the scary bridge and went down the tornado slide ALL BY HIMSELF. No promting from Mom.

3. He is so brave. Cooper fell off the ladder of the big slide and cut his leg a little bit. He was upset, but when I tried to comfort him, he wasn't interested. He started back up the ladder again - ready for more.

4. He is asking hard questions! He is very concerned about the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus' head when he was crucified. We are memorizing Psalm 1, and verse 1 mentions that wise men do not join a group of mockers. Cooper asked me, "Are the men who put the crown of thorns on Jesus' head a group of mockers?" Wow - great connection!

5. He is a great big brother to Miles! I often hear him saying, "See, Miles! This is how you..."

Back at it!

Well, it's Monday morning and we've had a beautiful weekend in Bolivar. Temps were in the 70s and low 80s and it was great. We enjoyed a lot of time outside and all got a little sun. Cooper more most. We gave the boys some gardening tools for Easter and it turns out that the hoe is Cooper's favorite. All day we heard him saying 'well mom/dad, I've got to hurry because I've got to go back to the garden and do some hard work!'. He would promptly march out to the garden and begin hoeing the dirt and would stay at for a long, long time! He was so busy and it was so cute. I think the summer is going to provide lots of time for the boys to be outside and busy! I can't wait to plant the garden with them this weekend. Should be so much fun to play in the dirt with them!

Well, my plane to Southern California is about to land so I've only got time for one more story. Last night we were laying on the floor building with Lego blocks and Carey accidentally steps on my foot as she's passing by. She apologies and before I can say anything, Cooper says 'Mom, just don't worry about it. Daddy is really strong. So just don't you worry about it. My daddy is really tough.' I'm glad I've got someone fooled...

Ooooooh!

The last few days have been a whirlwind around the house. Fortunately, the kids have been feeling much. However, I think they've been making up for the down-time they had while they were sick! They have been a real handful! Even as they cause trouble, it still seems we have a blast with them.

I know I will miss several stories that have made me laugh, but here are a few. Tonight, we were wrestling around on the floor. Cooper pulled his shoes and socks off, Carey smelled them and says 'Oooooh!' I wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing as Miles and I were playing. But the next thing I know, Miles comes over and raises his foot up to me and says 'Oh'. I thought for a moment he may have been saying shoe or something like it. He said 'Ooh ooh' a few more times and finally Carey explains he wants to do what Cooper did! So, I took his shoes off, smelled his feet and said 'Ooooooooh!!!' and he loved it. Whatever he can do to be like his brother.

Earlier today, the boys went with Carey and our neighbors to go Easter egg hunting. From the pictures, and loot they returned home with, I believe it was a hunt like no other! There were four kids on the hunt, and Carey said she was giving as many as she could away to the other kids and the kids still had so many eggs! Amazing.













I also gave Cooper his annual summer trim. This one turned into more than a trim. He looks so different with shorter hair. The spike in the back is not from me, I promise! I'm blaming it on his nap...














Finally, a few videos. Cooper and Miles (Miles especially) love to dance. Sometimes they dance to anything, but Miles really likes music with a good beat! So, a few examples of Miles shaking it! (You'll notice he's easily sidetracked...).

Weekend in KC

Our family spent the weekend in Kansas City after my Dr.'s appt. at KU med on Thursday. One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing Cooper and Miles meet their cousin Blake for the first time. I wasn't sure how the meeting would go - Cooper has said since Blake was born that he does not like Baby Blake. I think it is because he LOVES Aunt Jenn, and Blake gets in the way of that. The meeting went VERY well. Cooper wanted to hold him and Miles could not stop kissing him. At one point, Miles was sucking on Blake's forehead - kisses just weren't expressing his love.

Here are a few pictures:





We also celebrated the March birthdays with our extended family. March is a big month for us! Amanda, Dad, Beth, Eli, and Nate all have birthdays in March!





After we sang Happy Birthday, Nate said, "Who wants cake?" and Miles was the only one who answered. He shouted, "I do!!"

What a fun weekend!!

A Case of the Mondays...

Just kidding! It was a great day! I wouldn't say there wasn't any drama, but I'm not sure it was any different than any other day with a three- and one-year-old!

Carey and I started off the day fairly early like most, both working out. Carey continues to run nearly every morning and I try to get in time on the trainer (while not nearly as disciplined as Carey though...). I don't know if I've ever written about Cooper's germ-a-phobe tendencies in the past, but let me tell you, he has them! This morning was a classic example. I came in from the garage, pretty sweaty, and Cooper runs over. I get down on the floor and say something like "Hey Buddy! Good morning! I need some big Cooper snuggles!!". And he promptly says "Dad, you need to take a shower first. You are really sweaty. Then I'll give you snuggles!"

Carey had book club this evening so it was a guys night out. We usually head out to El Rodeo or some other place for dinner, but tonight we stayed in for 'manly stuff' - grilling burgers and playing in the back yard. And after, we walked up to DQ for mini-sized ice cream cones. It was lots of fun. All in all, a good night but very busy. Here are a few pics of the boys.