This year was it was John's turn to choose costumes, unfortunately his ideas were too complicated to execute in the amount of time we had so I threw these costumes together last minute.  We Went as orphan Annie, her dog Sandy, and a young pre-hair loss daddy Warbucks (because we could not find a bald cap anywhere)!

Cohen is obsessed with dogs right now so this worked out perfectly, he even kept his hood on the whole night.

Please note that is my real hair, it took me 30 minutes to wash, 8 rounds of shampoo, 3 rounds conditioner, & 1/4 of a bottle of no more tangles to wash & smooth it all out. Thank you Kerilynn for the up do.

Cohen scored in the candy department, majorly.  I asked if we should give some of it away to which John quickly replied NO! I should have known better, after all my husband did going trick-or-treating well into his H.S. years (unacceptable/eye roll).

My New Nephew

Baby "Clark" is finally here! And he is precious!

Jaxson Douglas Cooke

11/01/10@ 6:28 pm

7 lbs. 5 oz. 20 inches

Cohen wasn't allowed in the room but we opened the doors to give him a sneak peak.  He was excited and kept pointing to Jaxson saying 'baby', they're going to be buds.

Uncle John

My husband is not a big baby person but he has been so excited for Clark (the in utero name) to come

With his favorite aunt

It's easy to forget how small they come.

The Cooke Family

We're so happy he is here.  Good work Kerilynn, you were a rock star!

Family Pictures

Thanks to my friend and talented photographer Shannon for taking our family pictures. She also took Cohen's baby pictures. Finally something pretty for our hall wall. I love them. 

The Christmas card photo

Oh how I love this kid!

the Mr. & me

Cohen showing off his muscles

My friend Karen calls this the gap kids picture

We are a happy family

Guess Who's Back

Yes I know it's been a long time, maybe one day I can be like Jeanine and update my blog.  Can I use pregnancy as an excuse?

So there was a week in July were I was the epitome of a Mormon woman, well almost.  I helped someone quilt and canned peaches.  If only I had made bread while wearing a jean jumper...maybe next time.

My first time canning turned out to be a success, thanks to mom.  It was surprisingly easy and though summer is now over we are still feasting on our delicious peaches.

Flattering, no, but proof I did it.

Great Expectations- A Post by John

I hope we aren't setting Cohen's too high. He already told us what he wanted for his second birthday, and it's a pretty big request. LeeElle is getting it ready for him, but it's set to be finished a day late.



We're concerned he'll starting asking for one of these every year; I guess it gives us a good opportunity to use our stern parent voices and tell him no.

Just as we called baby number one Casper while in utero, we may or may not be calling this one The Baron.* The Baron's due date is February 18th. 

*LeeElle says we will not be calling this one The Baron, but the names give themselves, I am merely the vessel.

July

This month has been a fun one.

We went to a rad 80's party

Attended a church BBQ where our friend helped Cohen out on the razor

I went with our youth group to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  My friend and our local art historian took us through.  I felt so cultured and smart listening to her and looking all the pieces.  It is a huge museum with many well known works.

All of us at a display in front of the museum.

John and I got all dressed up for a very swanky wedding with yummy food I can't even pronounce.

And now we're off to a family reunion, hello August!

We Heart the Beach

Having the summer off is awesome!  One of the highlights has been our Tuesday and Thursday beach days. We meet up with friends at tower 42 and play, eat, and swim.  Life is good.

Cohen LOVES the beach especially the water, he is constantly making his way down the sand to the waves and he's pretty fearless, he wants to go deeper and deeper. He also is very social and wants to play, say  hi, and eat with everyone on shore.

A good number of our beach friends in their fort/hole they built

Sparkle and Cohen, betrothed and BFF's

One of the wonderful things about our city is they have a free beach shuttle that runs all day throughout the summer.  One of the stops is a block away from our house, we board and they drive us right up to the sand! We don't have pay for parking or deal with sand in our car.  Tuesday the shuttle was full with just our group, the bus driver kindly took a picture for us.

Please summer, don't end!

My Edible Dad

Kerilynn Jex Cooke

2010

medium: rice krispy treat

It does bear an uncanny reseblance to my father. 

Would You Rather...

Have mosquito bites all over your legs (80 bites per leg)

or

Have both of your legs, front and back, be sunburned?

You have to choose.

Brought to you by my sunburned knees.

Welcome summer

B.T.W. I would choose the sunburn. They heal quicker and while they can be extremely painful especially on your joints, in clothes, and when sitting it is less annoying than mosquito bites.

Cohen's Signs

I've been meaning to write these down for months but you know how it goes.  
*Warning I'm getting on my soapbox*
ASL (American sign language) has played a huge part in my adult life, which is a whole blog post of its own, the least of which is my job as a teacher and interpreter. In college my major was Linguistics and my minor was ESL teaching and because of that I was able to take some wonderful classes about language acquisition and the like. Because of those classes along with my own personal experience using the language I knew that I wanted to sign with my kids (before it became the trendy thing to do) because I knew the benefits of it and boy, has it paid off.

Here is my linguistic 2 cents...one reason signing works so well is because it allows children/Cohen to communicate.  We know they can understand but one of the difficulties with any spoken language is how intricate the actual production of it is i.e. knowing where exactly  your articulators (tongue, teeth, palate...) go.  For example where does the tongue needs to be placed, what shape are your lips in, how does the air escape, are your vocal chords vibrating or not etc.  That type of control is difficult to master.  Babies start babbling to practice the above techniques and eventually become proficient and speak.  With ASL your articulators are your body, hands, face, fingers etc. these are things that babies gain control of earlier hence production can occur sooner.

My pediatrician asked if Cohen could say any words, to which I asked what she meant by words.  Did she mean audible? (I know this is what she meant) Words that only John and I understand? Words that anyone could understand?  Signs?  She replied spoken words &/or animal sounds.  I then once again explained to her that I sign with Cohen at home.  That I am fluent in ASL and not just using a word here or there with him but rather my voice is off and we sign just like if someone spoke Spanish, French, or Farsi; we use two languages at home.  She then told me how there is some disagreement in the medical profession about when you stop including signs as words some say 15 months others say 18 months.  I get it.  For the majority of people they pop in a Baby Einstein video and their kid can say milk and thank you and all done but this is different.  American Sign Language is a bonafide language with all the complexities that come with a language, this is and has been an issue convincing others to believe so even though the research is conclusive-ugh.  I'm not taking issue with anyone who uses some signs with their kids, I encourage it, it's all about communication with one another and whether it's an official ASL sign or some gesture that you and your child use to create understanding that's great!

This post has taken an entirely different course than I originally planned on, clearly I have some suppressed language issues, now back to the original point.  I have loved teaching Cohen ASL! It has been incredibly helpful these past 11 months (he started signing around 6 months).  He is teaching our family and friends sign.  It's funny he'll move his hands a certain way and people ask me, "What is he saying?" Sometimes he is saying something other times he just moving or scratching:).  There have been many times where tantrums have been avoided because he can tell me he wants milk,  that he is done eating, that what he really wants to eat right now is a cracker and not the sandwich, or that he wants to read a book.  I love being able to communicate with him and am grateful we've been able to do so from such an early age.
Ok now we're back to where we started, the documentation...


Family:
Dad
Mom
Grandpa
Grandma
Uncle
Aunt

Food:
Banana
Orange
Apple
Grapes
Hot Dog
Cheese
Cracker
Milk
Water

Animals (Sign + Sounds)
Dog
Cat
Cow
Horse
Monkey
Moose
Fish
Chicken
Bird
Elephant
Bird
Giraffe (sign only)


Other Signs:
Book
Bath
All done/finished
More
Tree
Hot
Cold
Airplane
Helicopter
Wind
Shoes
Socks
Star
Baby
Poo
Ball
Car
Hi/Bye
Please
Sorry
Thank you
Ocean
Church
Jesus

Spoken Words:
Dad
Mom
Balloon
Hi
Yeah
Boom
(Animal sounds count according to the peditrician)
Up & down
Yuck

Hello?

Testing, testing...can you hear me?  Is anyone out there?

Rather than rattle off excuses for my absence  let's just move on and pretend it never happened.

After a week long work conference in Utah I came back to celebrate Father's Day and John's birthday then Cohen and I were off to the annual Matern family reunion at Carlsbad beach.

Snuggling after playing in the sand and water

Aunt Corrine owns a children's consignment store and couldn't resist this stunning piece of swim attire.  She knew just the boy for it and it made spotting him very easy.

Grandpa and I after some body surfing and boogie boarding.  He's still got it at 83!

My sisters and I with our dear cousin Marissa who never goes in the water except when accompanied by her favorite cousins in the world...us:)

Cohen LOVES the water.  He wants to kick, blow bubbles, and not be held.

More fun swimming with Uncle Weston

Fourth of July fireworks.  Cohen was not happy with  noise at first, then he would say boom every time he saw one, and because they went on for a while he ended up lying down on me and practically falling asleep.

A county fair find from my parents.  They are sandals that stick to your feet.  At first it felt weird then I got used to it.  I've worn them a few times, not out and about but as more of a joke. John HATES them and keeps threatening to throw them away.  I think not, Sir.

We were given tickets to a Dodger game from John's boss.  They were amazing seats, a few rows behind first base.  It was a fun date!

Lastly, while on summer vacation I've been trying to do something fun with Cohen as often as possible.  On the suggestion of a good friend we all took the light rail to Union Station and then crossed the street to Olvera street where we looked at the fun knick knacks and dined on delicious Mexican food.  Cohen would not eat a chip unless it was drenched in Salsa, a proud moment for me.  This was the only picture I took, it's the boys in front of Mickey in a pirates uniform in L.A.'s union station.

Can't Wait for Saturday

In Utah at a work conference and I miss this little man and his dad. 

 

Come quickly Saturday, come quickly.

Book Review- Blink

Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell

I liked it alot.  It's similar to Freakonomics; loaded with statistics and processes. Some chapters went on too long but overall I enjoyed it and it makes for good conversation.

Spring Break

One month since my last post, looks like I'm falling short of my New Year's resolution, eh.

I either need to stop procrastinating or be better at remembering ...

I wonder if there's a vitamen to help with memory?

Sigh.

Confession: I've been horrible at taking pictures lately so I'm forgetful and lazy, don't be jealous.

Here is my better late than never attempt to document our spring break.  

We went with friends to the L.A. Zoo

the boys in front of the gorilla exhibit

So, we're about 40 yards away and walking toward the tapir exhibit.  I see a ball of white aerosoled  hair, a shouldered padded top, and a scarf so I turn to my friend jokingly and say, "look there's a golden girl in there."  Then as we got closer we saw...

Betty White taking promo pictures for the zoo! (she's a big donor)

Classic! Highlight of the trip for me (next to spending quality time with my son and friends of course).  As I took this picture I quietly sang, "thank you for being a friend" in homage.

Later that week Amy hosted a bingo party for some of the girls.  Did you know there are different patterns/sequences in BINGO?  It's not just five across in a row/column/or diagonal but there's the postage stamp, a kite, the L, and blackout too. 

The woman in attendance (notice Tiffany trying to sneak out of the picture...busted!)

It was so fun! 

Next time I'm wearing a visor.

And here is one of my winning cards.

(I won three games. note to self: not a good way to make friends)

Perfect Saturday Morning

Beautiful Weather

 A new push car from Aunt Deandra

+ a walk to the donut shop for breakfast

=

One happy family