RIP Cooper

At the end of June, we experienced a family tragedy. My special baby boy, Cooper-Teddy Stevens passed away. This is a hard tribute to add to my blog, but it would be selfish not to document how special Cooper is/was to our family. Cooper was the most tender-hearted, loveable, angelic, and loyal dog I have ever had. Cooper was my best friend, and almost like a fourth child to me. Loosing him is the hardest trial I have had to endure so far in this life. I am grateful to have spent 3.5 wonderful years with him and will treasure all of those memories for ever. I look forward to the time when I can see him again. I know Cooper is happy and being well cared for in his new home.
This has been a very difficult transition for our family but everyone is moving on and we are trying hard to dwell on the happy memories we have of our sweet cooper. Our family and friends have been so thoughtful and supportive and we appreciate all the love and well wishes. I will miss playing paw-paws, the times Coopie would actually cuddle on my lap, his pink snortelly nose, and his complete devotion the most. My favorite memory of Cooper is probably the day I got him. I had wanted a French Bulldog for ages and didn't think John would ever concede to having a small(ish) dog in our home. He is NOT a small dog guy. I was really convinced that having a Frenchie was never an experience I would enjoy. John surprised me Christmas of 2007 with Cooper and I was completely shocked, thrilled, overwhelmed, etc. Cooper lived up to every expectation I had for a dog and is irreplaceable. I miss you and love you Coopie Doo-doo.
Love Always,
Mom

Mommy Daddy Time

Hurray!! What married couple with chidren DOESN'T love mommy-daddy time? Crazy ones that's who!!! John and I just got back from a wonderful 3 day Royal Carribean cruise to the Bahamas that was a much needed and very relaxing get-away. Incidentally, it was almost the same cruise we sailed on our honeymoon so especially meaningful for the 2 of us. We were lucky enough to travel with 3 of our favorite couple friends from our KC stomping grounds: Corie (Jane)and Mike (Extreme Thrust) Crabtree, Cortney (Small Bills) and Dan (Baby Boy) Exby, Laurie (TripleX) and Todd (PG13) Furstenau. What a great group of amazing people. We are so blessed to have friends of this caliber (and truly shocked that they actually let us hang with them).

Our first night in Miami we loaded up on seafood at Bubba Gumps and Cortney coined her famous phrase, "Save your breath, we don't drink" when addressing our lovely waitress. Awesome!! We spent the evening on the roof of the Marriot hotel playing dominos by the pool, watching an amazing lightening storm. We left for our first port on Friday evening and woke up to beautiful Coco-Cay Saturday morning. On Coco-Cay we enjoyed massages, snorkeling, and some CRAZY wave running. BTW Dan, you are now an 8. The high speed wave running adventure was through 3-4 foot swells which made the trip twice as fun. Corie and Mike totally ate surf during the first run and John and I got to enjoy the view of the wipe-out since we were riding behind them. Great show!!

We spent the next day in Nassau where the Crabtree's and Furstenau's shopped on Bay Street while the Exby's joined us for a sting-ray adventure on a small island called Black Beard's Cay. What a neat experience!! A small group of us tendered over to the island and spent 2 hours swimming with, feeding, and HOLDING!!! 15 sting rays in an inclosed area. Wow! If you ever go to Nassau, don't miss this excursion!!

I am grateful for the fun, the adventure, the comedy, and the memories made on this great trip! Next adventure, here we come!! My mom and dad were kind enough to fly in from CA and watch our kids so it was extra nice not to have to worry about them at all. Thanks mom and dad!!!

Fun in Florida

Orlando was great! We were able to visit the Magic Kingdom, Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, Typhoon Lagoon water park, and Sea World. Our favorite was Discovery Cove where we were able to swim with a dolphin, snorkle with fish, rays, and skates, interact with tropical birds in the aviary, feed rays in the ray pool, and enjoy relaxing on the lazy river. Discovery Cove tickets are all inclusive so from the moment we walked in, we were in a resort like setting with everything we needed for the day including great food. All we had to bring was our swim suits, and clothes to change into for later if we wanted. What an amazing place!!! Enjoy some pix from our trip....
Busch Gardens:

Discovery Cove:

The Magic Kingdom:



Typhoon Lagoon:

Sea World:

Winding Down

All the craziness of 3 children and their many activities seems to be....dare I actually put this out there....winding down-for at least a few months anyway! We will trade school, volleyball, soccer, dance, and Jiu-Jitsu, for swimming, summer camps, and VACATION!!! Hurray!!!! We are all so excited!!! The Pink Tornadoes Soccer Team finished with 8 wins 1 draw and 1 loss. We felt pretty good about that! Go team!! We had our soccer BBQ here a few nights ago, did a little post season celebration swimming, and awarded trophies. I am so blessed to be able to work with this great group of little girls. I love it! Addy's 1st season of competitive volleyball is over. The girls had a great time playing together and Addy really enjoyed her team mates and coach. Her final tournament games were last weekend and she is soooooo glad to have a break. Next year she will be able to play for the school and I think I am almost as excited as she is. I heart volleyball AND Addy so it's a winning combination. Aidyn was D-O-N-E done with Jiu-Jitsu 6 months ago, but unfortunately for him, he was not officially done until this month. This sport has been challenging for him and he has put up with it well. I am so proud of him for sticking with the routine and not complaining (too much) about finishing out the year. He really learned a lot and the experience has helped his confidence athletic ability wise tremendously. Avery's Jazz/Hip-Hop class finished up last week as well. Her dance company, Turning Pointe Dance, performed their season recital on Saturday and it was Avery's first time dancing on stage. She loved it!! She was sad that their was only one performance. That girl can shake her booty with the best of em'. Gets it from her dad. Her swim birthday party was a big hit. We had a huge crowd of kids come to celebrate our Goo turn 6. Luckily, we also had several parents stay to help out. I will plan better in the crowd control department next time. Hope everyone is enjoying the craziness that comes with this time of the year! I know I'm ready for a break. Enjoy some pix!! I forgot to add one more thing! We had our first brush with a Texas snake this month. Dozer, our tri-pied Frenchie got bit right in the face by a Copperhead. Poor baby!! He ended up in the doggie ER over night and was extremely swollen, but has lived to chase critters again. I am posting a pic of his swollen-osity.
Dan and Cort, I put the last pic up for you and as a tribute to Spartans everywhere.

Avery's 6

I can't believe she's already 6! Watching my kids grow up is such a bitter-sweet experience. I know I have the opportunity to spend forever with Avery, but she will only be 5 once! Out of all 3 of my kids, Avery has the most spunk and the greatest love of being in motion. She loves dancing, singing, playing soccer, roller-blading, monkey bar swinging, swimming-you name, she'll try it. I am hoping that trait doesn't turn out to bite me in the rear when she's a teenager. Last weekend John and I were looking at some old home movies. We found one of Avery at about 18 months dancing around, shaking her little booty, showin' us her moves. The cuteness is overwhelming!! She was a mover and a shaker even then.

Avery is very curious and that usually works out ok. She's the child I wouldn't be surprised to find running around outside naked, coloring on her walls, or playing with the stove just to see how it works. Thankfully she hasn't tried any of those. There was the time she covered her whole room with vaseline though...

I love that Avery's almost always smiling and happy, carefree, and ready to have fun. She requires the least audio stimulation via TV, video games, or computer of my 3. She would rather be outside playing, inside playing, anywhere playing.

I can't get enough of this little girls puffy cheeks and will be sooo sad when she outgrows them. When I tell her about my cheek woes, her response is, "Mommy, I will still be beautiful and you can still puff my cheeks even when I'm big. Look, I can puff yours and you're old". If I could box and sell the way those cute, velvety soft cheeks feel between my fingers along with the joy that pinching them brings me, I would be a rich woman.

The little birthday diva is having a pool party this Saturday with her friends in the backyard. We are going with a luau theme. I picked up the decor and favors today and decided a pinata would be fun. When Avery got home I showed her the party stash and she, of course, thought the pinata was the best part. "Mommy!! You got me a pee-yata! That's so nice!!" Ahhhhh! She's six and she still has a cute word. I will cherish "pee-yatas" for always. We had a little semi-family celebration for her tonight with a small cake and gifts from her siblings. John is away on unavoidable business and Avery was so sad he couldn't be here that she hugged my leg and cried while we sang her happy birthday. She loves her daddy so much!! He sent her flowers and she was tickled pink, but there is just no substitute for the actual Daddy. At 5, there are few good excuses for Daddy missing your 6th bday, even if we aren't celebrating until Saturady.

Avery: "Mommy where's Daddy! Isn't he coming to my birthday???!!!"

Me: "He's in another state, Avery! Arizona is like 20 hours away driving, and 3 on an airplane. Daddy's boss says he has to stay and make his presentation. You don't want Daddy to loose his job right? And anyway, your party isn't until Saturday and he will be home for that AND your Toys R' Us date Friday night."

Avery: "But.....isnt Daddy coming to my birthday?"

I guess I should cherish the few years I have left before she grasps the concepts of space and time.

Oh yeah, listen to the first song on my playlist before you go. I hope all my kids "dance" and I hope yours do as well. Life is too short not to! Enjoy some Avery moments....

Spring Fun

Hey Y'all,

Can you believe it? We've been busy!! During March and April we have had family visit, holiday festivities, the typical run-around-town, and we have added a new family member. Ross and his new wife Laurie visited us during our spring break so it was nice for the kids to be able to get to know their new Grandma. We went to the JFK memorial, the Fossil Rim Safari, the Dallas Temple, and who can resist the Bass Pro Store!! All of us enjoyed spending time with Ross and Laurie and it was such a neat experience to share a temple session with them. Gator, Amy Sue-Beth Joe-Ann, Clementine Begonia, Cleburne Cletus Jr. the 3rd, and Lil'Gipper hope to see Pa Ross and Ma Laurie again soon. In between visit from grandparents, we were thrilled to welcome the VanOrman family into our home for a fun sleep-over. We miss our Kansas friends a ton and love it when they come visit. Seeing how the kids have grown and watching our children enjoy each other so much is always bitter sweet. We were sad to see them go so soon. We love you Karina, BJ and family! After the VanOrmans headed back home to Kansas, my Mom and Dad flew down from CA! We had so much fun! They got to spend Easter here and loved running to and from all the grandkid activities. Our days were spent house hunting-yes that's right folks, house hunting-and what a blessing it would be for our family if they were able to move down to TEXAS!!!! Mom and Dad ended up putting offers down on 2 houses and we are waiting to hear back from the builders...pray for a move friends!!! After living away from them so long, having them close will truly be a miracle in all of our lives. In the afternoons, they got to see Addy play volleyball, Aidyn work his Jiu-Jitsu magic, and Avery dance and play soccer. And you will be surprised by this, but our evening were spent on the train...that's the Chooch train for all you domino fans out there. A visit to the Stevens' home is never complete without a friendly game of chooch to rouse the competitive spirit of our guests. Happy spring everyone!! Enjoy the pix of our new Holland Lop, Fuzzy Lumpkin. You can call him Lumpy.

Busy in pictures....

Life just keeps getting ahead of me. I wonder if that will ever stop happening. Probably not. Oh well, here are some fun pictures of what we've been doing the last 6-8 weeks.....


Addy's 12th Bday party:


Avery's Kinder field trip to the Science Enrichment Center at UNT:


Rock and Roll Valentine's Tea Party:

matching hearts game

Tea Party Pop Stars-A little freeze dance, a little balloon stompin', a little cootie chasing, and a lot of fun:



Thanks Danielle for these great pictures!! My friend Danielle Andrus is a GREAT photographer and she came to the party to help out and take photos for me.

Addy is our Volleyball Star:


John and I took Avery and her BFF Zaida to see Taylor Swift last night. She LOVES Taylor. This was a first concert for both of them. We all had a blast. Taylor can really put on a show and all the little girls just ate it up.