science fair prep

Clayton is participating in the upcoming science fair at his school.

He is dong an experiment with mice to see what they prefer, peanut butter or cheese.

 

The mice are so cute & Marlee thinks so, too.

 

She is on a touch mice basis only, if she holds them we might be one mouse short.

 

Poor Clayton has a black eye, but here he is ready to start his experiment. This is a family effort, we are helping with timing the mice, the poster, etc.

 

This guy is feeling cheesy.

 

This one is checking out the peanut butter.

 

This one doesn’t appear to care for either the cheese or the peanut butter. He just wants to climb under the cardboard.

The big results will be shared at the school science fair.

love this messy face girl

love this little lady

all dressed up…

Laun’s Aunt Chery got this pretty pink dress for Marlee.

 

thumb sucker

 

love my baby girl

Grandpa Jeff stopped by & played chess with the boys.

Everyone is so happy to have Laun home from the hospital.

Marlee was so excited & she wouldn't take a nap, she wanted to see her Daddy 24/7.


Lucy's birthday is coming up this sunday so, we took her out to Guadalajara for dinner.


Then we picked up some thrifty ice cream- here are the boys scarfing it down:

Best flavor ever- Chocolate Malted Crunch

(I'm pretty sure my sister Laura will drool when she sees this picture):

We will miss Grandma when she goes home tommorow. She was such a huge help.

BACK home

Laun & I got a romantic get away to UMC hospital from wednesday to friday:) Laun has been having lots of back pain lately & we found out that he had a herniated disc so, he had an operation on thursday to remove part of the disc. The surgery went well & hopefully Laun will feel better soon. After the surgery a nurse asked me if I have ever seen one of those shows where someone is trying to catch a crocodile & the crocodile just keeps spinning around like crazy. Then she told me that Laun reminded her of the croc because he just kept spinning over & over again & it took 4 nurses to finally hold him down. I guess we now know how Laun reacts under anestesia. He has to take it easy for 6-8 weeks & is not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs, which means no picking up Marlee. He will just have to hold her when he is sitting down I guess. We were so blessed to be in a great hospital & surronded by wonderful doctors & staff. We are also grateful to the Horner family & Launs mom Lucy for helping take care of our children so that I could stay in the hospital with Laun.

He even looks good in a hospital gown:)

random tradition:

Laun started this tradition where on the 24th of each month we eat our dinner w/ strange dishes. For example, Port ate with a wisk, Clay ate w/ something we use when we can, Laun had to drink out of a frying pan, etc. Marlee is the only one excused from this because of her age & she is messy enough w/ a normal fork as it is. So just to warn you, if you eat over at our house on the 24th be prepared for a fine dining experience. And I just realized that Christmas Eve is on the 24th, maybe we can skip it that month. Oh yeah- and my b-day is on the 24th too.

It doesn't matter if your black or white...

This is Rexie our new [rex] rabbit. Salt doesn't like her but we do.

I suggested naming it Michael Jackson because of the song it doesn't matter if your black or white but, it's a girl so Rexie fits better.

the birthday boys

The 1st day of Spring- what a great day to have a birthday.
Michael {Launs father} and Cooper share the same birthday. They have both passed on but, maybe they had a rockin' birthday party in heaven together. We miss them both & can't wait to see them on the other side. Happy birthday Mike & Coop, we love you!!!!!

Here is Lucy & Mike on their wedding day.


Here is our Cooper on his birthday- 3 years ago today.


Laun made these pop-overs for breakfast:

Clayton wrote down the recipe^

Then we released 3 ballons since it was Coopers 3rd birthday. The boys wrote on the ballons: Happy Birthday, for Cooper.

Since we can't give Cooper a present, we sent him ballons.

We obviously have no talent at ballon releasing & all 3 landed in our big tree- what are the odds of that?

So Laun got on our wall & knocked 2 loose but, 1 was still stuck.

And when we got home from church the 3rd one was gone- better late then never I guess.

Note to self: Next year when we release ballons we will not stand near any tall trees.

After church we stopped by the UMC hospital where Cooper lived his whole earthly life. We went up & peeked through the NICU window & saw where Cooper lived his 2 weeks. Marlee had never been up there before {except for in my prego belly} & she was pretty quiet the whole time {which is rare for her}. It is strange to think that he was born & died in the same place. The other day Porter said,"I know someone who has never seen a real animal in their life." And I thought who has never seen an animal before? And Porter said,"Cooper." I had never thought about that before. I'm pretty sure my other kids have seen enough animals to make up for Cooper & I'm pretty sure Cooper has seen lots of animals in heaven.

Here we are outside of the hospital:

My parents sent us some money to help us celebrate Coopers birthday & I thought that was very sweet.

When Cooper was in the NICU the boys used to get flavored milks in the hospital cafeteria so, every year on Coopers birthday we all drink our choice of flavored milk.

Heres to you Cooper- Happy {Third} Birthday!!!!!!

THANK YOU- whoever you are

Today the UPS man came & dropped off a package to our house, it was these:

It was from an anonymous person & the card said: We love you Cooper.

Coopers birthday is tommorow & we miss him greatly. It is nice to know that someone else remembers him too. I pretty much sobbed like a baby when I read it. So THANK YOU whoever you are, it means so much to our family. We love Cooper too.

p.s. the last baby bunny passed away today, depressing

p.s.s. at least we have some pretty flowers to stare at

Porter = 6

Today was a very exciting day- Porter turned 6 [at 8:30 am to be exact], the rabbit [salt] had 5 baby bunnies [but sadly only 1 is still alive-hopefully it makes it because it shares a b-day w/ Port], Porter went out for lunch just w/ his Daddy, Brandon & Rachel came in town & we went bowling [to celebrate Porter's b-day, Rachel's b-day tommorow, & Cooper's b-day on sunday], We had dinner [sweet n' sour chicken] & cake [chocolate praline] & the Horner's joined us, too, & Marlee took some steps!!!


Port requested popeye pancakes for breakfast


The boys bowled one game w/ us & then one game w/ the bumpers up.

Porter made himself feel right at home

the boys liked listening to the bowling bowls coming back up

Marlee is doing pull-ups I guess, it's never too young to start

Marlee was Launs good luck charm, he got a strike w/ her "help"

our family

Me w/ my sister Rachel [& her cute prego belly]

Brandon [Rachels hubbie] won in bowling- I think Rachel & I needed the bumper lane 1/2 the time:)

We had dinner & dessert w/ the Johnston & Horner families over:

Johnstons & Halls eating sweet n' sour chicken- Porters b-day dinner of choice

If you look on the sliding glass door behind them you can see writing on the glass- Carrie gave Port these cool window markers.

Carrie w/ Mark & Kevin

Laun & Davie

Porter loved opening presents [he got window markers, a box full of goodies from Frost Grandparents, $20 from Turley Grandparents, a letter & $5 from Great Grandpa Mecham, a magnext toy, football, & a headlight].

Porter got candles in the shape of the # 6 on his side & Rachel got candles in the shape of the #20 to blow out [Rachel's b-day is right in between Porter & Cooper's b-day]! Porter chose chocolate praline cake w/ whipping cream on top & vanilla ice cream.

Port played w/ the magnext toy & made lots of designs out of it.

Johnston & Hall couples [Rachel's prego w/ a girl & due on the fourth of July- we are so excited to meet her]

Marlee climbing the boys bunkbed ladder [yesterday the boys yelled for us to hurry to their room, where we found Marlee climbing up the ladder to the top bunk bed, all by herself-5 times! She doesn't even walk yet but, she climbs a ladder. I think we have a climber on our hands].
The boys now have to keep their bedroom door closed-we don't want her diving off the top bunk.

That evening Marlee took steps, it was so exciting!!! She has been standing a lot lately. Even though she is 14 months old, she seems too little to start walking. She is changing so fast [ I love it & it makes me sad all at the same time].

Porter had a great birthday & I can't believe that he will never be my 5 yr. old Port again! He is such a wonderful & amazing boy & we are so happy he is part of our family. We were glad to have family & friends here to celebrate w/ us.