Father's Day 2012

We had a great Father's Day. It was a bit crazy actaully, but we made the best of it! We made daddy breakfast that consisted of cheddar-bacon scones, fresh fruit salad, and eggs over easy (the girls had scrambled). The scones recipe is from pinterst--so delish!

 The girls were bouncing off the walls with excitement about giving daddy his gifts. He got some fun gifts from the girls--here is a pen from one of them--I think Boushka gave it to him!

 Daddy loves rootbeer! The girls have since developed a taste for it (I despise it--always have), so we thought it was appropriate  to get daddy his own rootbeer. It's even made with cane sugar--so it's a tad better for you. They all enjoyed a few sips later in the afternoon.

Daddy loves to grill and camp--I think he mentioned that his ideal Father's Day would consist of BBQ-ing. And he's made it well known that he has plans to take his family camping as soon as we can handle it. So we got him a tray for grilled food (it has grooves in it to contain hot dogs and your typical BBQ foods), a hot dog roaster thingy (it can be used hands-free), and this tool that will roast up to three s'mores. The girls are excited to try out the s'mores maker. We wanted to yesterday, but it was very hot and windy! So we stayed away from playing with fire.

 And the last present was a photo fram with six, 4x6 slots. Each of the 5 girls wrote (or had help writing) a love message for daddy. The sixth slot was a note from our son saying thank you for taking good care of mommy so she can take care of baby! I plan to have him share a love message with daddy next year.

 And then it was time for some more gifts from Boushka--some playdough scissors were a hit.

 He was so sweet and thankful for the gifts from the girls.

Then, Peach gave daddy a dirty diaper (no, seriously--and I didn't put her up to it at all) wrapped in a green sack. I don't know where she got her crazy idea from, but we all got a good laugh. And I didn't get a picutre, but she also gave daddy a toilet paper cake. She got this idea from my sister when she frosted a roll of tp and gave it to my mom to cut into like a cake on her birthday. The funny thing is though, that she didn't frost daddy's cake. She just got a roll of tp and glued a few squares of tp to the top of the roll. Dad was a good sport and tried to cut into it and pretended to take a bite. He then commented that it tasted like paper--that's when the girls were rolling!

We put the girls down for an early nap in hopes of getting out to the lake, but they were really struggling with listening--to the point where Matt and I devised a new system to keep behavior in check. We also picked up and started some laundry while they were lying down. After waking up, Peach and Brownie had som marbles (rewards for behavior) to turn in for their rewards. So we headed to the store to pick up two different $5 movies we saw earlier this weekend. Peach picked a Berenstein Bears movie and Brownie picked a Max and Ruby movie. Then we headed over to the grocery store to grab a few things--including the second part of their rewards--a special drink. I've never let them have Starbucks despite how often they ask for a drink like mine. I just can't fathom giving them that. But I made the mistake of telling them they could have any drink treat they wanted (thinking thye'd choose a gatorade or Sonic limeade), and of course they wanted Starbucks. So I let them split a cookie frappachino with me. I had them pour a little bit into two cups, and then I got whatever was left over. They really loved the treat, but I made sure they understand that it's a VERY RARE treat. One they'll have to earn again if they want one!

Once we got home, we worked a little bit on planning our vacation and ate a dinner requested by daddy. He wanted a roasted chicken with green beans and new potatoes cooked in the broth. We also had rolls! I made him his favorite cookies--oatmeal chocolate chip--which are always made for any occasion celebrating daddy. He chooses these cookies over any dessert everytime--and I'm happy to show him a little token of my appreciation for all that he does! After the kids hit the hay, Matt and I tuned into Longmire. It's a new cop show on A&E that he loves. And I don't mind it, but really I just enjoy watching it with him.

Matt, I know our day was a little crazy, but I'm so thankful that I have these crazy days with you! You lighten my load, love our babies, meet me half-way and take care of so much stuff I don't want to (like pests and yard stuff)! You keep my feet on the ground, all of our hearts full of love, and our minds focused. You are the calmer, more reserved, more logical half--and I love those things about you. I think without you, I might get a little lost sometimes--so I'm incredibly thankful that you are always there! I never imagined my life would ever be this crazy, happy, busy, or fulfilled. And you make it all possible! Love ya!

Our summer break is into the third week. We have been super busy--as usual--but it's been fun!

Peach had Science Camp the very first week of summer break. She had to be ready to leave the house at 7:40 every morning--that's 30 minutes earlier than school days. What a way to start summer vacation, huh? But I think she thinks it was all worth it! She absolutely loved science camp. They had pond day, hiking, bug day, bird day, etc. It was all environmental science, so it was pretty hands on. She even caught a dragonfly (and shortly thereafter, relased it).

When asked about her favorite part, Peach replied that pond day was the best because she almost caught a frog, and she learned a lot about frogs that she didn't already know! I'm thrilled she had fun because I'd love for any or all of my daughters to be in this field someday. There are fewer females than males in this field, so I'm thinking a girl would be sought after for study programs and the like. But really, if it makes her heart happy--then I'm happy.

The next week, all three older girls had soccer camp.

 Brownie and Bug were in the same group, but Peach will be moving up in the fall--so she was with the older kids.

 Her camp was also twice as long as Brownie and Bug's. The girls have really taken off with soccer. This is Bug's first real experience with the sport, so the fact that she was the most excited everyday about soccer camp was exciting for me. I love seeing them get excited to try new things--I love when they don't hesitate or shy away from a new adventure.

In the midst of the camps, we've been swimming,

 had cookouts, eaten s'mores

been cooped in the basement at bedtime due to threatening weather

 played softball

 and said "hello" and "goodbye" to Auntie. And oh yeah, had a dance recital.

The recital was so cute. The two big girls dance in the same tap and ballet classes. Peach takes Jazz. And then Bug has her own tap and ballet classes. Needless to say--we had plenty of costumes for our recent recital.

The week of Memorial Day they had studio rehersals on Wednesday, reherslas at the Arts Center on Thursday, dress rehersals at the Arts Center on Friday (until 9pm--actually, it ran over a bit), and then the big performance was on Saturday afternoon. The girls did fantastic! I truly enjoyed watching every minute of their dances!

Peach and Brownie's ballet song was "Colors of the Wind"

Peach and Brownie's tap song was "Ever Ever After"

Peach's Jazz song was "Hakuna Matata"
Bug's ballet song was "Cinderella's Workshop"

Bug's tap song was "Kiss the Girl"

Yes, in case you are wondering these are all Disney songs. Their little section of the recital was called Happily Ever After. Besides all the sisters, Mom and Dad, both Grandmas, Papa, and Auntie came to see them dance. We were early enough to get seats in the very front row! Loved this!

We went to grab some Chinese food after the big dance. By the time we got home we were wiped out. We'd already welcomed Auntie home and celebrated Grammy's birthday the day before--and now we had to get ready for the gender reveal the next day! Yes, it was a busy weekend.

Here are some pics from mom's birthday. Before celebrating her birthday I had my 25 wk appointment, and after her dinner the girls had to scurry over to rehersals. So we squeezed in dinner, but left cake and presents for after rehersals. My sister and the girls frosted a roll of toilet paper to make it look like mom had her own little cake.

   She started to cut into it and we all began laughing.

Bug almost blew the surprise a couple of times--but Grammy was a good sport! We did have a real cake for her too, as well as some presents!

That catches us up through the first two weeks of summer--of course, I only hit on the major events. But I'll fill in what's missing!

Gender Reveal Party

There has been so many fun things happen lately, and I hate that I haven't blogged about them. Life has a way of just happening, I guess! I never realized how busy the end of school is---I swear it's just as bad, if not worse, than the beginning of the school year.  And we only have three in school so far--I just can't imagine what it'll be like in a few years with all six in school!

We've had so much fun already this summer, but one of the coolest things ever happened last Sunday. My friend, Caroline, surprised my family, friends and me with a gender reveal. We had a Dick and Jane theme (I wanted to be original--such a snob). I thought that other than being origianl (yes, I searched the web and saw nothing of the sort), it fit two Enlsigh teachers to have a literary theme--and so we did. I also happen to kind of love vintage stuff--so really it was a perfect!

Caroline did such an amazing job putting the party together. She did all things "decor" and "style." I love how creative she is---I plan to be her someday when I grow up :)  She made the invitations, set up the cute decor, and planned the big reveal. The manner in which she revealed our baby's gender was a surprise to everybody up until that moment!

Let me walk you through one of the coolest days of my life!

                                                   Welcome to our Gender Reveal Party!

                                 Here's our family of seven waiting to hear about our eighth member!

 Caroline and her husband built and painted this lemonade stand. I love it and want one exactly like it--remember I want to be her someday! Copy-catting really is the biggest form of flattery! We had cherry and regualr lemonade on our stand here.

 This table full of goodies was to the right of the drink stand. We served Ceasar salad, brushetta salad with garlic toasts, chips with guacamole, white queso and salsa, crackers with blueberry or blackberry jalapeno jelly poured over cream cheese, fresh fruit, sausage balls, and cocktail shrimp! Some of these things have been my cravings--the salds mostly!

Caroline had such cute vintage items to add to the table. My mom also let us borrow some toys from her childhood--this red trunk included (it held a stash of little doll clothes, originally)!

 I didn't get a close-up of this table, but it was adorable. Caroline made little tags attached to clothes pins for people to pin to their shirt--these read "Dick" or "Jane," and the guest chose one based on their own prediction for our baby's gender. This table also had little cards where each guest could write their name, whether they thought it was a boy or girl, and any name suggestions they had. I've kept these suggestions for the baby book!

After filling out their cards and picking their clothespin, the guests could sit down at the tables and play with all the vintage toys (of course, this worked because we had lots of littles there)!

 I tried to get around the room and visit with all my friends and family. I was so thrilled that they all came and were nearly as excited to find out about our baby as we were!

 Miss Caroline--the hostsess-- and me! She is so sweet and giving. I don't know how she comes up with all the cool ideas she does, but I do know she's had lots of practice throwing parties. This girl is in her element whilst party-throwing! I really don't know how she does it--I mean, she has four kids all five and under, blogs nearly everyday, serves in some ministries, and is a great friend! So blessed to call her friend!

Here's my first family of all girls-- my mom, sis and me. I was so happy my sister could make it to the party, but I wish my SIL and her family could've been there. It's been too long, Nancy!!!

Prior to the party, I wrote on a few chalkboards. One said what the Chinese calendar, the Mayan calendar, and the ring test predicted our baby's gender would be. In order it was girl, girl, boy! This chalkboard just lists some old wives' tales about predicting gender. There was only one true "girl" answer--one of the answers was both. But at one point during party planning, Caroline did assure me that the baby was just one gender!  

 Kids played outside for quite some time at the park next to the shelter house...

 ...while the adults ate and mingled.

Here is Peach and one of her besties! It appears they both thought "girl" and "boy."

I'm not a huge cake fan--but I'm a huge frosted cookie fan. And a week before the party I found the coolest place for such a treat. I wasn't even looking, but this cookie place happened to be next door to a pizza restaurant the girls and I ate at after a doctor's appointment. A few days later it dawned on me that I should order dessert for the party from there. I didn't go wrong--these were delish!

This is my mom's little red table from her younger days. Caroline had this cute little wagon that we stuffed with some trailmix for the kids. We also had paper plates (instead of the glass one we used for adults) and little after-dinner mints!

Once everybody was done eating, we all headed outside. The whole group broke into teams based upon which gender they thought Baby Copeland was. Look how huge the "boy" group was. I was a little surprised. I figured most people would think we were having a girl based upon our recored. That surely wasn't the case!

 Look how little this group was! Matt and I didn't announce what we thought our baby was until right before this picture. I wanted everybody to make up their own mind and not base their guess off of mine or Matt's.  I know some people think moms have intuition about their baby's gender--but I usually don't! My first inclination with this child was "boy" because my first trimeseter was so much easier than all five previous babies.  But as you can see in this picture, both Matt and I thought our little one was a girl! A total of 16 thougth this baby was a girl, whereas 26 people thougth "boy." I even made some snide remarks about how I was so sure this was a baby girl in my belly to my friend, Heidi, standing next to me in this picture. We had a good laugh--we were totally sure!

 After the pictures, we headed inside and Caroline handed Peach (who just learned to read this year) a book she made. Peach read the book aloud to the whoele group! It was written as the old "Dick and Jane" books were written with words like "Look. Look and see. Look and see what baby will be."

It was a little hard to hear her sweet little voice, but after she'd been reading for a minute I thought I heard her say "It will be a BOY!" See my face in the picture above--it's one of confusion and shock.

And this is me laugh/crying. I did hear "boy," and I was completely taken away. I had totally prepped myself for girl because I honestly didn't think we made boys. I had gotten used to the idea of having a house full of girls. I was ready for the challenge of six kids--and all were going to be girls. But when I found out it is a boy, I had a huge reaction. I had no idea I would react this way.

I just couldn't believe it. I told Matt later than evening that I had no idea I would cry, and I had no idea where the tears came from. I would be just as happy if I was having a girl. So I think the tears really did come from the pure schock I was in. Of course, my husband was as calm and cool as ever. It takes a lot to get a big reaction from him, but he was very happy too. He just doesn't break down cry/laughing when he hears news like this. That role is apparently left for me :)

 My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think this is where Caroline is reading it again to make me really believe what I heared was correct. And by the way, the illustrations and words went together so well. I'll have to show a page by page of this book becaus it was seriously perfect! And I loved that Peach got to announce it to the whole group! How special for her--for all of us!

                                                                        Yep, still in shock!

It's a BOY!!!!

Thank you Caroline, for throwing such a fun party. I had an absolute blast. I seriously would do this again in a heartbeat--so worth waiting the four weeks between our sono and the party. And thank you to friends and family who showed as much enthusiasm as I was feeling!