Cornelius Chronicles

Happy Birthday to this amazing man!  Thank you for working so hard for us every day.  I know we are a lot of work and cost a lot of money, but you press forward every day, never grumbling over taking care of us.  Thank you for all your warm smiles, patient evenings, happy laughs, and handy man fixes around the house and garage.  We love you, Dustin!  I can't wait to spend more happy years with you!  We must be getting old because look at that cake!  Careful Dustin, you could start a forest fire with that thing! :D Love you!

I can't believe it!  Look who figured out how to crawl already!  On October 23rd John made a big stride in personal mobility.  He figured out how to crawl!  He's slow, and sometimes when he really wants to go forward somehow he ends up heading backwards, but at the end of the day he's still crawling!  Look out world!  Here comes John! I just couldn't resist this shot of his cute little "bear" bum.  :D

The only thing that feels longer than waiting for Christmas or your birthday is waiting for your very first day of Preschool to start.  After an agonizingly long summer and even longer month of September Owen finally started Trooper School Preschool.  This little boy is so ready to meet new friends, hang out with the cool high schooler teachers, learn lots of great stuff about the ABCs and 123s, and most importantly play at recess on the big toy!  Owen was very brave on his first day of school.  I could tell he was a bit nervous about going all by himself to school for the first time.  After all, he had never done anything on his own.  He always has had his mom or dad, a sibling or two, or a friend by his side when going anywhere.  But today, he was flying solo once he got out of the van at the high school.  With a little trepidation, and a questioning, "Are you sure you aren't coming to preschool too, Mommy?" Owen bravely got out of the car...

How do you kill a Saturday morning?  Why you take the whole family for space and fun at the John Center Space Center of course!   Do my eyes deceive me? No! It is Rebekah on stage! She actually volunteered to help out with one of the Rocket Science shows. Go Science Rebekah! Owen is tan-trumming in our perfect picture moment because he does not want to go home despite being tired, hungry, and spending the entire morning at Space Center already.  What can I say?  This little boy LOVES rockets and Space.  Good thing we live in Space City.  ;)  We went dressed for the occasion. ;)  Hello from Mars!

 It's time for Mr John Axle to try his taste buds at food.  So far, he hates everything.  On September 6th Dustin started him off on rice cereal and green beans.  John was convinced he was being poisoned.  He made some terrible faces and then quickly learned that if he simply doesn't open his mouth then we can't put any of that disgusting stuff in it.  When he sees the spoon coming for him, he snaps his mouth shut, cementing his lips together. Trying to ease the transition I offered him some apple sauce and pear sauce instead.  He hated them more.  Oh John.  How can you be 6 months old and already hate my food?  I sure hope he figures out something he likes to eat soon, or he might have to live his whole life on a milk diet.  :)   PS: We eventually discovered that John loves savory foods and happy enjoys Cool Ranch flavored Doritos corn chips.  Ha ha  Also, he eats much better for his sist...

What a week before Meave's 6th birthday party!  Let me tell you about the crazy insanity we lived through and the goodness of God in helping us through it all.  Normally, I wouldn't have thought to throw a birthday party for Maeve this year, as she got a friends birthday party last year and should be having a family party this year, but I felt imipressed that she needed to host a birthday party this year and invite her friends from Kindergarten.  So, that meant we needed to finish a few projects in the kitchen/living room before the big party day.  Invitations were sent and we were committed to host her party the Saturday before her birthday.  The first snag to hit our party road fun was a baby shower.  I had offered to help throw a baby shower for a good friend and the hostess decided she needed to throw the baby shower on the same day as Maeve's birthday party.  So, that meant I needed to go to a baby shower in the morning, come home and clean up...

Maeve decided it would be fun to have all the family help decorate her yummy cake :)  My sweet, adventurous, kindhearted, passionate Maeve, what a wonderful 6 years we have had together.  I LOVE being your mother and spending every day with you.  No event is too small to make into a great adventure, and no idea too new to not be tested and explored and questioned with you.  You give the best full spirited laughs and wide grins.  You ask the best questions, and do the craziest faces.  You love with your whole heart, giving yourself 100% into every relationship you build.  I love your silly sense of humor, your fantastic artists eye, your robust self-confidence, and your love of others.  I am continually amazed that Heavenly Father gave such a special daughter to me.  I hope you have the happiest of birthdays this year and for many years to come.  I love you, Maeve!  

  Bekah has found a new love - Fencing! It's kind of the perfect sport for her.  It's individual, when you are dressed in your protective gear none of you is showing - including your face, and you get to poke opponents with a pointy sword.  It's perfect and she is having so much fun!  I just love that the local community rec-center has such diverse sports programming.  I can't wait to see where her new interest takes us. :D

  It's that time of year again - Back to School!  This year we have a full school slate with 4 kids in school and one more heading to preschool next month.  We had an awesome time at meet the teacher night.  Loyd got to reconnect with his favorite teacher - Mr. Stroud.  He taught Loyd a lot and showed so much love to my little guy back in 3rd Grade.  We were also THRILLED to find out that Mr. Stroud's wife, Mrs Stroud, will be Maeve's Kindergarten teacher!  If you could think of the most awesome Kindergarten teacher ever and then make her look like a fun, grown-up version of Maeve then you would have Mrs. Stroud.  Yea for Maeve! First Day of 2018-2019 School Year   Maeve: 5 years old Kindergarten Riding on the school bus for the first time and totally excited to learn to read and write this year Teacher is Mrs Stroud  Xavier: 8 years old 3rd Grade here we come! Starting his awesome Dyslexia class this y...