Cooper: the formal and the informal

Formal Cooper must obey the orders. Yes, he is getting schooled right now each week by our trainer, Karen. She is doing 4 private lessons and then we’ll do 4 at the dog facility. Cooper is learning his heel, sit, down and place. Here he is learning to leave it when there are all these wonderful socks to chew!

He loves Ms. Karen because she always has treats.

Hooray for Cooper! We are practicing with him daily to be “down” when we pray, practice piano, and when we just need to have him chillin’.

The informal is a must with a puppy, right? He needs to be a kid and PLAY! Daddy needed him to chill the other night so he just dumped the plethora of toys on his place. It was truly Disneyland for puppy!

No, this one…

Or this one..

And then there’s the playing with Tatum’s setup here.

Ok, now he’s totally pooped out as we have our standoff for bed. Come and get me mommy!

And the saga continues tomorrow. We love you Coopy!

Even a tummy ache can’t stop her worshipping

All day long, my sweet girl had tummy trouble. During the afternoon, Tatum decided to sing some songs. They were all about Jesus. “Come and be my friend. Be my friend in Jesus. Sisters and brothers-in Christ.” It warmed my heart and made her feel much better too.

She makes up all of her own words and just goes with it.

I love her heart for Jesus. I also love that she loves being a follower of Christ. She is developing her own relationship with Christ. I pray for it to grow and flourish.

Cooper enjoyed all the singing too.

So much fun we glow

Yes, we are having a great time at Glow Putt golf. It’s like NEXT door to our condo, so why not? Plus we all look so good in this light. Adds the years to us older kids.

Each hole has it’s own charging station so you can make your ball glow oh so brightly. Now, I thought we’d be hacking away, but actually we all did quite well! Tot had momentary lapses of “is this a hockey stick?” She just whacked and whacked away. I had to help her set it up just right.

Daddy and I were neck and neck the whole time. Love it!

Well, it did help to have a little competition with the honey.

Tot and I posed for the random safari glowers.

All in all we did a great job and had so much fun.

Guess who won???

I tried not to rub it in. (Daddy: 48, Tot, 81, and ……..44 for the lady here).

Till next time family! I love you!

Practice makes improvement: Swimming and golf

At Hubbard, Tatum is in the Octopus class. I was blessed to get her into Ed’s class (he has a waiting list because he is so tough with the kids…in a good challenge-them way).

She rose to the occasion and got a ribbon her first class. He said, “REACH so far that you have to turn and breathe.”

So proud of your hard work, Tot!

The next day, she went to her golf lesson, and Bill made her work too!

Her left shoulder should be under her head on the back swing then to right shoulder on her finish.

Farther back sweetie!

And GOOOOOOO!

I love that she is enjoying all of these lessons and the practice. I’m learning right along with her.

We miss you Coti!

We visited Mama and Coti the other day, and it was all smiles and laughs. He looks so big now compared to Cooper!
I can’t wait for them to be buddies.

We love you, Mama and Coti!

Legoland with friends: Tempe fun

My dear friends/ sisters, Cana and Eva, invited us to go to Legoland in Tempe on Monday. Cana’s son, Ethan (5), and Eva’s grandson, Andrew (4), wanted us to join them, so we couldn’t pass it up.

We got there early and were welcomed by this large Lego Octopus; Alex the Octopus apparently knew my little Octopus was coming!

Well, the gang arrived and we moved on in and built a lego person.

Then we mounted a virtual video game ride. The kids shot the bad guys.

The next part was amazing! A whole room of AZ: Cardinals, airport, Tempe, downtown..JUST WOW!

They played a while in the jungle gym and on the cow.

Hi Emmet from the movie and some other lego worker guy.

We enjoyed a ride that took us high up the harder we pedaled.

Then a 4 D movie of Ninjago.

Tot and me ready to get wet and winded.

My two girlies..Eva and Cana. Love these ladies!

We ended in the dinosaur lounge trying not to get eaten.

Thanks ranger for your help.

Time to make and decorate the donuts before we depart.

She was inspired to play Legos all day!

And guess what! She built this whole set by for herself.

She did it all by herself! Perseverance and patience.

So much fun with great friends and the perfect toy. Opportunities for imagination and creation with patience and tenacity. I love it!

Doug’s mom and a lovely visit

We have not spent enough time with Darlene, Doug’s mom. She is so lovely, and sadly she lives all the way in Anthem in a retirement community. We are trying to visit her more often. Tatum made her a lovely card and we brought some cookies.

We continue to pray for her and her health to be improving.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor 4:16)

We love you!