Goodbye little tummy tail!

Hi Everyone!  Addi here guest blogging again.  Mom's been busy and asked me to cover for her on this one too.

I was born with what my mom and dad say was an umbilical hernia.  All I know is I had a big long tail above my belly button.  All my life people have asked me what is wrong with my belly.

I didn't know.  I knew that if I pushed it in, it made a squishing sound that was kinda cool.  I also know the doctor said they may have to do surgery to fix it if it didn't go away.  It got smaller as I grew, but it hasn't gone away.

Well, my parents said they had waited long enough, and were ready to do it.  So, my surgery was scheduled for Wednesday.  Tuesday afternoon the Dr. office called and said they had to change my surgery to Friday.  Mom wasn't too happy about that, but she was able to rearrange everything, and she said we were going to "bite the bullet and get it done".  Why would anyone want to bite a bullet?

Friday morning I checked in at the Cardon Children's Hospital in Mesa.  It was a really neat place just for kids.  After mom signed her life away, and gave them something like a million dollars, they sent us upstairs.  They put me, mom and dad in a room, and let me choose some cute jammies and socks.  Then, they let me choose a movie.  I was going to watch Tangled, but I saw they had the Justin Bieber movie, so I chose that movie instead.  I put on a little show singing and dancing for the nurse.  She liked that.  For some reason all the nurses laughed when I told them I am going to marry Justin Bieber.

They were running late, so my 9 am surgery wasn't actually started until about 10:15.  It only took them about 30 minutes, and I was as good as new!  Mom and dad came back while I was waking up.  I didn't really want to wake, but I finally did, and really was pretty OK.

I was a little groggy for awhile, but perked right up in the afternoon, and became my normal self, just in time for mom and Kayla to leave to Taylor Swift, and dad have to take care of me and the kids the rest of the night. :)

This morning, I wanted to peel the big bandage off my belly, so we did.  I saw that underneath is a little tiny scar, and my belly looks normal!  Daddy pulled the bandaid off, and I said, "I like my new belly button!"

Mom says I better, because it cost like $3,000(before insurance), I guess that isn't a million, but it's probably close.

A very costly trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Hi guys! Addison guest blogging here. Mom says she can't do this blog because she might put some 4 letter words she shouldn't in it. I don't know any 4 letter words but love, so I don't know what she's talking about!

I was lucky enough to have my mom take the day off from tennis to join me and my preschool class at Mother Nature's Farm. My best friend/cousin Chloe and my Aunt Kami came too, because she goes to preschool with me also. We drove down the freeway singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs. I love, love, love to sing Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Everyone tells me I am super cute when I do. :)

We got to the farm, and they put us on a great big trailer and pulled us around a field over to some animals. When we got to the animals and got off the trailer, my mom noticed her purse that was under her feet was no longer there. She didn't panic, she just asked the farm guy if they could go find her purse on the trail because she was sure it was there.

We waited for the purse and looked at some goats and cute baby pigs. I got them to eat out of my hand and it was fun. Then the farm guy brought my mom's purse. She was very thankful until she looked inside her purse and said, ****!!! Oh, maybe that was the 4 letter word she didn't want to say if she was writing this.

Poor mom, the inside of her purse was covered in slimy lip gloss, and her phone was shattered!!! Some of you may remember that her phone was shattered not too long ago, so this time she got ghost armor on it. Well, it kept the phone together, but she decided it doesn't protect against a great big trailer wheel running over your purse. (I'm not sure anything would protect it from that!)

I gotta hand it to her though. She kept on through the farm without being too angry. We decorated our pumpkin, played in the bouncy house, had a snack, and lots of fun.

Then, we went to the phone fix-it store and she ordered a new screen. The man says it will be in in a few days. Mom is OK because her phone still works, but she will be glad to actually be able to see the stuff on the screen better.

All in all, it was a fun morning together! Next, I'll tell you about my surgery!

Conner boy and Addi girl

Today at church, Conner was bored during Sacrament meeting, so he wrote a story.  When he came home, he immediately came to the computer and typed it all up himself.  I did help him spell faucet, but that is all. He then printed it out and taped it to his door. I had to post it here because it was so cute.  I love this boy.

ME AND MY FEET

My feet are really stink.  I can’t stand it.  They don’t let me clean them.  My feet will get in a fight if I try to clean them.  My feet will get really mad.  They won’t even get close to water.  I thout it was time to fight fire with fire. So I had to trick my feet into getting clean.  While my feet were sleeping I turned the faucet on and my feet woke up.  I jumped in the tub and my feet were clean at last.

Now, Addi gets her post of the day as well.  You know Conner is obsessed with Rocky, so Addi is too.  We got home from church, and everyone had run into the house except me and her.  She is always the last one out of the car - ugh!  Anyway, she was hanging on my door waiting for me to get out and said, "I am the Tiger!" 

 I said, What? 

 She said, "I am the Tiger!"  

I said, "Oh, you're a tiger?"

She said, "NOOOO!!!  I am the tiger like Rocky!"  

Then, she starts singing the Rocky theme song EYE OF THE TIGER, yet sings it "I am the tiger." 

That earned that girl a great big squish and kiss.  

Homecoming Dress Math

One darling black homecoming dress on MAJOR clearance  $17.99!!!!
One darling pair of shoes that match perfectly, on clearance   $14.99!!!!

$17.99 + $14.99 + tax =  $34.06  TOTAL!!!  PRICELESS!!!!! :)
(Now, I must point out that this dress is strapless, and I will have to go to the fabric store and buy some matching fabric and somehow fashion some sort of strap/sleeve to make it pass Dad's inspection.  Wish me luck!)

BUT!!


Now we have to subtract the pain in the butt Addison was.  She took off out of one of the stores we were in.  I went looking for her, couldn't find her.  Looked and looked.  Knew she was around somewhere but couldn't find her.  After about 5 mins. of looking, I asked the girl at a kiosk to call security.  She tells them I can't find my 4 year old.  They tell her they may know where she is, have me stay right there and wait.

I wait about 5-10 mins.  I'm really not worried, because honestly, if anyone stole her, they'd bring her back within minutes I'm sure!!!

So, I stand there helplessly, until FINALLY a security guy comes wheeling through the mall on his Segway!  He finds me, then escorts me 2 stores down from where I was, and there is Addi standing there at the cash register with the worker there.  Are you kidding me?  I was like 200 feet away, and had the guy on the phone just told the girl to tell me to go there, I would have!  Instead, I had to wait forever, and eventually go find her "escorted" by the Segway Police!   She was a little scared, and I'd love to say learned her lesson, but let's face it, this is Addi here.  I wonder if she will ever learn.

So, in the end,
$34.06 - 5 years of my life (in worry or embarrassment) = a mom not sure if that trip was worth it! :)

Our Fall Break Staycation

For some crazy reason, the powers that be in AZ think it is a good idea to have a week off of school for Fall Break.  Actually, I don't mind it at all, except that AZ decided to bring back the 100 degree temperatures, which really wasn't all that nice! 

Feeling like I've travelled a little too much lately, I decided we would stay home this week and just have fun here.

The first Saturday, we headed to Red Mountain park, because that day was GORGEOUS!!  It was about 80, and we had fun playing there.

Savannah, cousin Hannah, and Addi. Conner was running around somewhere else.

Now, one of the hazards of being an aerobics instructor who teaches at 3 different gyms, and being in town while we don't have school is that everyone wants you to teach their classes for them!  And me being the can't say no kinda girl, I did.  I was able to rack up 4 classes on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, plus a tennis match, 1 on Thursday plus a tennis match, and 4 on Friday.  Saturday (today) I didn't teach at all, so I enjoyed a nice 5 mile run instead! :)

On top of that, I had the opportunity of leading a 1 minute jumping jack bonanza (?) at the rec center.  As part of the Michelle Obama get moving thing, someone somewhere was trying to break a jumping jack record by having the most people do jumping jacks for 1 minute straight.  Places all over the US were doing it, and joining their numbers to try to break the record.  Anyway, Kayla brought my kids over and they all participated and had fun doing that.  I'm sure that 1 minute of jumping jacks burned at least 1/8th of an Oreo!

The kids at the Jumping Jack thing.  We even got Kayla to get out and do it, and SHE ended up on the news! 

After the jacks, my little billy goat Savannah wanted to climb the rock wall at the Rec Center, so she took off up that a few times.  The kid can climb so fast.  I guess that's what happens when you weigh all of 50 lbs? 

 We also enjoyed Addi's little dance performance at her class.  She takes a combo tap/jazz/ballet class.  It was so dang cute to watch all the girls lined up and dancing there - except for her.  She was doing her own variation of the dances almost the whole time.  Hilarious!  I'll tell myself she is too young for me to write off her dancing career yet.

PS on Addison - this Wednesday she gets surgery on her "tail".  Her herniated belly button.  Little sweetie won't have people asking her anymore, "What happened to your belly button?" or "Why do you have a tail coming out of your belly button?"

We also discovered this week that Savannah is one heck of a foot massager!  Geez my whole body was hurting this week (I wonder why?) and Savannah gave me a great foot massage!  I LOVE having my feet rubbed and tickled.  Is that weird?

Friday we went bowling.  I made the mistake of letting the kids talk me into pre-paying for 2 games.  I KNEW they wouldn't last that long!  By the 3rd frame of the second game, they were all over doing the video games and playing those claw games to grab candy, etc.  I was hanging out at the lane bowling for them half the time.  Can I say bowling when your legs are SUPER sore isn't very fun????  Yikes!

I also was reminded yet again that I will probably never be a professional bowler, as my highest score was 104 ...... with the bumpers up!!!!  AAA!  Actually, I did get 3 strikes and 1 spare in one game, but really, it was quite pitiful.  I'll blame it on the sore legs. :)

Libby, Savannah and Conner 

Finally, today was super exciting because Savannah scored her first goal this year in soccer!!  Conner and Savannah had their games at the same time, so I was sitting in the middle of them looking back and forth. (Thank heaven they were relatively close to each other!).  I just happened to walk over to get a better look at Savannah's field, just in time to see her get the pass from a teammate, dribble forward a bit, and do a cool kick on an angle right into the goal!  I was so excited I'm sure everyone wondered who the crazy screaming lady on the hill between the two fields was.  

It is so fun to watch your kids do something and be good at it, isn't it?

Finally, I painted the master bathroom today.  It is amazing what changing white walls to tan does to a bathroom isn't it?  The photographer comes Monday to take pictures of the house.  We'll put it on the market this week, and pray that it sells.  I need one more bedroom and one more bathroom.  And a neighborhood with kids instead of all old people.  

So there's the update!

Playing some more catch up.

I haven't blogged for a little while.  I guess I've been a little busy, and there's not a ton of blog-worthy material to put on here!  Guess the kids are staying out of too much trouble, or I'm just running everywhere, and my mind is everywhere else and I'm not thinking of the blog!  

Tonight, though, I find myself home alone with all the kids.  Lane is in Austin visiting our good friend Troy.  I've decided he isn't allowed to go out of town on the weekends.  They are very long and kinda lonely!  So, I went through my pictures and found some updates to put on here for our posterity, though nothing is really earth shattering, nor super funny!  So here goes:

We took the whole family to the last regular season Diamondbacks game.  Everyone was decked out in their Dbacks attire, and dad couldn't have been happier.  Conner was not quite so thrilled.  Funny that he loves to go to the games, but this night I guess he wasn't in the best mood.  He kept complaining that it smells like beer and he wanted to go home.  Funny kid.  Must be like his mom, because I can't stand the smell of beer either!  Ugh!

Kayla got asked to Red Mountain's Homecoming.  She went to Mountain View's Homecoming a few weeks ago, and now is going to her own school Homecoming.  She isn't pretty or anything.... :)

A few nights ago Addi came into our room around 12:45, after we had just turned out the lights at midnight to go to bed.  She said she threw up and was feeling yucky.  She was trembling like crazy, and breathing very hard and labored.  Freaky, as she had gone to bed totally fine.  Well, in classic Lane fashion (love ya hon) he freaked out and after a few minutes insisted we take her to the ER because she couldn't breathe.  So, at 1 am we loaded her into the car and went down there.  Service was fast and efficient, and of course, she is perfectly fine.  Probably was freaking herself out and breathing funny because she had a little phlegm in her throat, etc.  She did throw up all her dinner there, and then fell asleep.  So, at 4 am we got out of there and home in bed by 4:30 only to have the alarm go off at 6:30 so Lane could leave to Austin and I could get the kids off to school.  Yeah, we were tired.  And for the bargain price of $150, we knew that Addi was OK.  Double ugh.

Snug as a bug after puking real good.

Our last night in Italy we found the most charming and fun plaza filled with artists doing portraits everywhere.  Lane wanted to get one done of me, so we did.  I carried that thing in my hands all the way home the next day (1 train ride and 2 flights).  When we got home, I couldn't find it!  AAA!  $70 down the drain!

Well, 2 weeks later, on a whim I called the airport lost and found.  I asked if they had seen this drawing, and the lady said "Yes!  We had that!"  She described it and said they thought it looked "special" so instead of throwing it away like they usually do after 10 days, they sent it to the Phoenix police warehouse to be held there.  Wow, that was a blessing!  So, I asked them to mail it to me, and that came this week!

Funny, because I don't think this particularly looks exactly like me, but it is a nice drawing.  Now where in the heck do we put this thing?  I mean really???

Today was a GORGEOUS 78 degrees and sunny.  After teaching a couple of aerobics classes this morning, and trying to take a little nap (which I have tried for 3 days in a row and still had no success - ugh!)  I loaded the kids and cousin Hannah in the car to the park.  We played kickball, basketball, and on the swings and in the trees.  Mother of the year right here :).  It was a beautiful day, and had I had a little chocolate with me and my Diet Dr. Pepper on the blanket in the shade it would have been perfect!  

Addi climbed up this tree all by herself.

Hannah and Savannah clear up there!

So there you have it folks, the life and times and excitement of the Cooks.

A couple of funny things...

Conner is obsessed with Rocky.  This summer Lane bought the series Rocky 1-4.  We started watching, and the kids were hooked, and LOVE it!!  Well, Halloween is coming, and Conner wants to be Rocky.  Lane found him a cool costume online and ordered it.  Every day Conner gets home and asks if it is here yet.  The kid can't wait.

Well, the other day in the car was the first time Conner told us he wanted to be Rocky for Halloween.  I said I'm sure we could make/find him a cool costume.  Then Addi pipes up, "Yeah, and I'm gonna be Apollo Creed!!"  I wanted to die laughing.  Anyone have an Apollo Creed outfit for a little 4 year old girl? I haven't found one on the internet yet. :)

Then, this last week just me and Conner were in the car.  He asked, "Hey mom?  How do you end up knowing if you are going to marry a girl?  Do you just, like, hang out and stuff til you get comfortable, then you just ask them if they want to marry you?"

I tried not to laugh.  I love seeing how the little wheels are turning in their heads, and they are trying to figure life out.

I told him something like yes, you'll find a girl you like, and you'll hang out, and you'll really start to like her a lot, and she'll like you, and one day you will decide you want to marry her and be with her all the time.  You'll pray to Heavenly Father about it to see if she is the right one, and if he tells you yes, then that's when you will ask her to marry you.

Then he said, "Is that what you and dad did?"  Yup, I said, that's what we did. :)

I love that boy.  I also didn't remind him that just last year he told me he doesn't want to marry a total stranger and have to move out and live away from me. :)

Suddenly I'm worried that s e x questions are going to start coming.  Good thing Lane gets to handle him on those! :)