Cooper is One

Cooper turned one yesterday so we had an official party for him. It was actually his second party for this birthday - when Kiley ran the marathon we had family in town so we figured we might as well have a party then too. So I'm sure we've confused him into thinking every birthday will be a month-long celebration of him. Kind of like the first time I took Jackson to a Rangers game and he got a foul ball. Now when we go back to games he'll say, "When am I going to get a baseball hit to me this game?" I think I've been to 100 Ranger games and have never gotten a foul ball.

The events of the day started with the cake. When we gave Cooper his slice then put the candle in it and lit it, Cooper put it out between his thumb and forefinger. How tough is that? No big deal though. When he finishes smokes his cigarettes he puts those out on his forearm. He did look at Kiley after that like, "That wasn't a very good idea was it?" then he got that look on his face that I get after I take a big bite of pizza and realize it's still piping hot.

He managed to fight thru the pain until we got the Curious George pinata up. That was a big hit. PUN! So when did they start making pinatas out of unbreakable material? Seriously. I'm importing all of my future pinatas straight from Mexico City.

After all the little ones took swats at it with a foam bat I broke out a wooden bat and let some of the bigger kids beat the crap out of it until a tiny crack formed in the back of it and candy started slowly leaking out of it.

Cooper had a great time and enjoyed having some of his friends over. The Escalade power wheel was a big player. Here's the Post kids (Zoe and Emma) experiencing the raw automotive power we have over in the United States. Their parents, Jason and Mandy are missionaries over in Ireland. They came all the way over just for Cooper's birthday party. We have such commited friends.

I asked Cooper what his favorite thing about turning one was and he said, "Da da." Awe. But he was pointing at the remnants of his Curious George pinata so I think he was insulting me.

Of Marathons and Softball

Kiley ran a marathon! For real. She did it in 4 hours and 52 minutes. I rode with her on my bike for the last 11 miles and I was so impressed and proud of her. From my perspective she made it look easy. There were times when she was worn down but her concentration on her task and how she pushed thru when she got really tired amazed me. Way to go Kiley.

I love the attached picture. The last 50 yards is the part where they have fences on both sides and everyone is cheering you on. Jackson and Ellie and their cousins - Cade and Kennedy ran with her the that last part so you can see them behind her.

Thanks to everyone that came out and met her at different checkpoints. That meant the world to her and kept her going. She said after mile 15 things started getting hard but it seemed like there was someone along the path every few miles after that.

What else is going on? I'm on a softball team that stinks. We've played 4 games and have yet to win. In fact on the way to my fourth game I got pulled over for speeding and when the cop asked me if I was on my way to a softball game (i was right by the field and had on a uniform) and I told him yes so he asked how my team was doing so I told him, "Not only are we 0 and 3. We've been 10 run rulled every game." to which he responded, "I'm gonna let you off with a warning." Funny.

The last game we were up 10-7 in the 5th inning and the game went 7 innings. We lost 12-24.

The kids are good. Cooper is saying "uh oh" and Ellie has a dance recital coming up. Her pictures for dance are tonight and they want us to roll her hair and put make up and lipstick on her. Jackson scored his first soccer goal of the year this weekend. He was so excited that he started to pull her shirt off. He also had his first baseball game this weekend. I'm pitching to the kids and hit one of them with a pitch. He was crowding the plate though so I just threw him a little chin music. No biggie.

My sweet Ellie

I wanted to share something sweet with you about Ellie. As you know Easter is approaching and the topic of Jesus dying on the cross is very much in discussion. It is amazing to hear a 5 year old share what she thinks it all means. So as I put her in bed and we began talking about her cuticle tearing, how it bleeds and makes her cry. From there she compared that to how Jesus had nails go into his hands and blood poured down his arms. She said that it was a sad day when he died on the cross. Then she went on to tell me how he had dinner with his friends the night before and told them his body was broken and that he would shed his blood. She continued to tell me that our hearts and souls would go to be with Jesus in heaven like her grammy and grandma honey (so sweet). I asked her why they got to go to heaven and she told me it was because they believed in Jesus. I told her that Jesus died for all the bad choices that we would all make and we just had to believe in him. She asked if he did it for Ms. Jacqui (her teacher), Ms Jennifer (her other teacher), Mollie Ann, Ella, and Isabelle (all friends at school). I told her yes. She then asked me about her kitty lamp (i told her probably not). She laughed. I asked her if she knew how to have Jesus in your heart. She told me yes, she did it at school. I said really. She told me to bow my head and she would pray....Dear Jesus, please come into my heart today, tomorrow, Friday & Saturday. Amen.

Man, don't you just love to see how it works through the eyes of a child. I am not sure that she has made the actual decision of understanding the sacrifice yet but boy she is getting it and how amazing that feels to get to watch her soak it in.

mmmmm mmmmm Good!

Snow Days in Dallas

Snow days in Dallas are few and far between but we had 2 last week. The kids missed the first one since it came late in the night and then melted by the time they woke up the following morning. On Thursday afternoon the snow began to fall. Beautiful flakes. It stuck on the ground a bit so we got out Friday morning for a bit of playtime. Cooper wasn't sure what to think. He just stared at it and then he cried when his hands touched it.

Amazing Kids

I decided it was about time for me to do a bit of blogging instead of pressuring Chad to get it done....This last week has been crazy. Jackson and Ellie had the flu since last Wednesday. Ellie started the fever on Wed and Jackson followed quickly on Thursday. I have never seen my kids have the life sucked out of them. They were taking 5-6hrs naps daily. CRAZY. Today they became a bit stir crazy (been in the house for 7 days) so I think it is time to let them back into the world tomorrow. Luckily so far Chad and I have escaped symptoms of the flu. Cooper has a little runny nose but we think that is all it is. Whew..glad that is over.

So back to the title of my blog...kids are amazing. My kids always amaze me. With Jackson and Ellie, it is what they say, or how they are learning to read or tie their shoes. They make us laugh at these personalities that they are developing. Lately I have been amazed over and over by our sweet Cooper. Not only is he the cutest kid around (come on you can admit it) but I forgot how neat it is to see them learn new things at his age. I am including a couple clips of his new learned trades. The below video is cooper showing us his pitching skills. You tell him to throw it to you and he does. Amazing!

The next video is of Cooper learning how to put the ball in the hole of the toy. I tried teaching him this a month or so ago and he just didn't get it. On Monday I was attempting to teach him the same task and he got it! it was so fun to see him grasp it and get excited. It isn't on tape but when he did it the first time he stopped and clapped. Oh so sweet.

I feel so blessed to have these 3 sweet amazing kids. I look forward to seeing what new things they will teach Chad and I about how to embrace and experience life. Enjoy.

Da-Da

Da-Da!

Oh wait, did you think that meant "Daddy"? No, don't be silly. It means many things. For instance it can mean "baby" when Cooper is looking in the mirror or at a picture of himself. Or it can mean "Jackson" when he sees a picture of his brother. It can also mean "that electronic thing on the wall at mothers day out with numbers on it that alerts parents in church service that they need to come pick up their fussy kid." But it by no means means "Daddy". Ask Cooper where Da-Da is and he'll point at the picture of himself on the wall in the living room. Does it hurt my feelings? Maybe a little. Probably about as much as it hurt my mom's feeling when I called her a taco as a kid. I thought it meant something much worse and I got in big trouble for calling her a taco. Seems like there should be a loophole in there somewhere but my mom didn't deal in grey areas.

What else is new with the Haught crew? Jackson' back to playing soccer. If you reference the blog I posted when he started that last season you'll get an idea of what I'm going thru all over again - trying to teach him that he's not going to make a goal everytime he gets the ball and he can't cry and complain that everyone's trying to take the ball away from him. Maybe I should enter him into one of those leagues where everybody wins and gets trophies.

Anyhoo - he's starting coach pitch baseball soon. I'm the coach so I'll be buying a whistle soon. I can't wait to strike out all the kids. I'm pretty sure I still have a serviceable split-finger fastball.

Ellie is taking dance still. I asked her the other day what was the hardest thing she has learned in dance and she told me, "Umm, the step-ball-chain." I pictured them taking all the kids out back, fitting them with prison stripe uniforms and chaining all their feet together and giving them pick axes to fix the railroad. Her first recital is in May!

Kiley is still training for her marathon. It's only 5 weeks away. The other day I rode my bike 26.2 miles in exactly 2 hours. I win! But seriously I'm extremely amazed at what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it. She's incredible.

And Cooper is officially walking...everywhere. And he's got to be the easiest kid to entertain ever. If everyone laughed at me as much as he did I'd never complain about anything. It wouldn't do my any good, Cooper would just think I was being hilarious. I'm currently working on some new material. The fake sneeze is a big player but I want to add some variety to my repertoire. Maybe I'll work in the ole remove your finger gag and see how that plays.

Jackson and Ellie are fantastic at entertaining him as well. When you're trying to cook dinner and your wife is off running for hours on end you can just tell them to keep him busy and they have him giggling up a storm.

And you just can't beat hearing a baby laugh.

I'm better at walking than Cooper

Yes, Cooper is now walking. Big deal, I can walk so much farther than him. I'll get to that later. Meanwhile - look how much Ellie likes me.

We went to Austin to see my brother and his wife and kids. The cousins. Jackson and Ellie love going to see the cousins. We had a great time. Their new house is awesome - they have a creek right behind them with "lobsters" in it. That's what Cade calls them. They're really crawdads. That's Cade on the left in the tree.

Weird, Cooper is smiling. He rarely does that. Must be gas.

Okay, here's what we've been up to (other than going to Austin). Kiley has been training for her marathon all by herself (if Sarah reads this, insert guilt trip here). I kid! Her running buddy is getting married so is busy trying on dresses and stuff. Kiley ran 16 miles on Saturday. Go ahead and re-read that I'll wait... Yeah 16 miles.

Meanwhile I'm training for a bike race in May called the MS150. It's 150 miles over 2 days. I rode 40 miles this weekend. Only problem is I'm training on a mountain bike with road tires. If you know of anyone that has a spare road bike they don't mind lending to someone and wants to support my efforts have them email me :)

Oh we joined a gym too. I went in this morning after dropping the kids off and did a spin class. After an hour of that the hat I was wearing was completely soaked in sweat. The bill and everything. It was like I dunked it in the sea. Awesome. I was a disgusting sweaty mess after it was over. Then I ate some yogurt and cottage cheese. Gross.

Okay FINE! Here's the video of Cooper walking. He still needs something to pull himself up on before he gets going but he's all over the place. I could still smoke him in a foot race and look forward to challenge him in arm wrestling.