Like Father, Like Son, Part 3*

Cooper brought home a project from school last week that had his picture on it. I saw it and immediately thought of a picture I probably spent a little too much time looking at about sixteen years ago.

This is Bryan's picture from our singles ward directory during the 2000-2001 school year.

Looking at these two handsome young men, there appears to be a family resemblance.

*Curious about part one and part two?

Additional Information

Remember last month when I did all the birthday posts in one week? And remember that I couldn't find the paper that I had written all of Cooper's favorites on so I said I would add it later when it was found?

I found it!

I went back and added the list to the beginning of the post. If you're curious about Cooper's favorites on his eighth birthday, you can read them here.

G'Day Mate

Last night our ward had the annual Blue and Gold dinner for our cub scout pack. Our Around the World theme was really fun and we all learned new things from the presentations the scouts gave. Cooper was assigned Australia and he studied for two days in anticipation. All the other boys had a single sheet of paper they read to teach us about their assigned country. Cooper had five pages of handwritten notes. He had to quickly edit his presentation down for length. It was clear he knew what he was talking about.

In addition to becoming an Australia expert, he received several awards. The boys string the belt loops they earn onto walking sticks they made as a pack. He looks pleased, don't you think?

One Ring

There's nothing like a missing wedding ring to spur one to clean their room.

Found it.

One Fine Day

Like Dali

Clara's Special Day

We made the drive down to Maryland yesterday for a very special occasion. My niece Clara chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her dad, my brother, performed the ordinance.

She asked our family to sing, which we were happy to do. Sophie, Phoebe, and I sang When I Am Baptized, then our whole family was joined by my nephew Henry and niece Aeva while we all sang I Am a Child of God.

Thanks go to my sister-in-law Sherlin for taking and sharing these pictures.

The kids were all well behaved, especially considering they had been stuck in a car for three hours before the baptism. And when the baptism was over, we hugged our family goodbye and gathered ourselves to get on the road back home. Bryan had to work today, so we had a six hour round trip yesterday. Being there to support Clara was worth the drive.

The Workshop

Remember that Colonial cooper costume I mentioned in Wednesday's post? Sadly, I failed to take a picture of it before Peter took it to school. But I did take a picture of the accompanying Colonial cooper workshop diorama that Peter made by himself, because that's the kind of parents we are.

Based on Peter's reports, lots of projects were done by parents. I hope his teacher sees the value in having the student do the work, because he learned a lot while putting this together.

Squad Goals

Last night during scouts we took a field trip to a local police station. All four cubs and both 11-year-old scouts had fun learning about what officers do as first responders. That means Peter and Cooper both got to sit in the back of a police car.

I told them this could be their first and last time in the back of a police car.

Valentine's Recap

Our Valentine's Day celebration started early. Nana Shari sent a wonderful Valentine's Day package that arrived last Thursday just in time for us to enjoy its contents after our fun in the snow. Thank you Nana Shari!

I had grand plans to make a special breakfast yesterday morning, but my evening the night before was high-jacked by an unexpected colonial cooper costume that needed to be thrown together and twenty-seven Valentines for Peter to take to school that we didn't find out about until bedtime Monday night. Thankfully, Bryan randomly brings home boxes of candy from work and we have a printer. So we had cereal for Valentine's day breakfast, but there was a cute stuffed animal for each child sitting next to their cereal bowl when they came downstairs for breakfast.

Sophie was very loving and affectionate all day.

She even let me comb some awesome tangles out of her hair in exchange for a fancy hairstyle. Phoebe's hair slips through my fingers (just like my hair), but Sophie's hair has a different texture. This is new territory.

I bumped my beautiful breakfast plans to dinner. Then I got a text from Bryan asking what I thought about taking the kids to a surprise movie since the holiday fell on the esteemed cheap movie Tuesday. I thought it sounded great, I could totally serve that dinner early, then we could head out at five to be there on-time.

Yes, I really believed that I could do that.

Good news, homework and chores were done in time to leave. Piano practice and dinner were not. So we ate popcorn while watching The Lego Batman Movie and enjoyed a fancy Burger King dinner. We finished the night by handing out bags of goodies I curated from the dollar store and Walmart. Yeah, we're classy.

We'll follow the precedent we set at Christmas and have the Valentine's Day dinner sometime later in the week. I kind of like that suddenly there's no pressure about holiday meals.

Would you believe they already had this holiday appropriate clothing in their drawers?

How was your Valentine's Day?