The Christmas Story

A few years ago we started a new tradition with my family. My brother and father have purchased some land a ways out of town. My brother has a barn and some animals you would expect to see.

Just before Christmas ... depending on when all of my family can get together ... we go out to the farm to read the Christmas story in the loft of the barn. There is something about reading/hearing of the manger and smelling the smells of all the animals that creates a lasting impression.

The time and the energy my parents put into the preparation is amazing. It is a wonderful reminder why we celebrate Christmas.

Along with the surroundings, my parents have gone through the trouble to have the food be similar to what they would eat ... which the kids have absolutely loved. (surprisingly)

From the Christmas story, to singing Christmas songs, to enjoying the food and the other Christmas stories shared ...This is a tradition we all love and look forward to each and every year. It is nice to take a step back from all the hustle and bustle and enjoy the peace and to remember. I am so thankful for that gift. It is priceless.

Adoption

3 years ago we got a call that has changed our lives. We were in Idaho with Mike's family when we received a call telling us that we would be able to start the adoption process. Words can't even begin to express what was in our hearts.

We started the paperwork as soon as we returned from Idaho. I felt a strong need to get the paperwork done as soon as possible. I didn't want anything to be waiting on us ... so we worked hard for the next 4 months to get as much of the paperwork in as possible. Our caseworker came on a Thursday to do our home study. He told us there was a birth mother due in June and if we could get our paperwork finished ... we just lacked signing some papers, photo collage, letter to the birth mother and then approval ... he would really like to show her our profile. Wow ... we weren't expecting that. I asked him to email the forms and we would get it taken care of.

The following Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Mike was at work and I was headed home from my moms after printing off all the papers we needed to complete. The entire way home I kept going back and forth about taking the papers by the station to have Mike sign them. After going back and forth for a little bit I finally decided to go ahead and get it done. As soon as I got home there was a message from the caseworker, Matt, he was on his way to Nashville, TN (from Atlanta, GA) ... the baby was 10 weeks early, was there any way we could get the photo collage together, letter to the birth mother and one of the forms signed? He would come by to pick them up.

I put Constance back in the car and headed back to my mom and dad's (my computer was acting up). On the way I called my sister-in-law, Carol, and asked if there was any way she could come help me. She got her boys and met me. We quickly got the photo collage done. The letter to the birth mother came together after we found out a little about her. It was amazing. Matt came by at 10:30 pm.

The next day we went about our day. We were out running errands when we got the call telling us "Congratulations, you have a baby boy! How soon can you get down to the Hospital?" We told Matt we would be there in an hour, then the phone calls started, we had to find someone to babysit Constance.

We got to the hospital and met E. She was so sweet. We got the chance to talk to her for a little bit. She had picked out a name and we found out that she really like the middle name, "Emmanuel". We wanted to keep that. We picked out the name Jordan. E. walked with us down to the NICU so we could see him for the first time.

Words can't even begin to express how we felt. Love for E. for the sacrifice and the love she had and still has for Jordan and for the gift she has given us. Love for our little boy.

Jordan Emmanuel Cook was born on April 17, 2007 at 4:40am. He was 3 lbs 8 3/4 oz. and 16 1/2 inches long.

Constance had been praying for at least 1-2 years for twins, One boy and one girl. We told her about her little brother on her birthday, April 19. She was so excited. We took her to meet him. She was a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff they have in the NICU and couldn't wait to get him home.

Jordan was in the NICU for 2 weeks. We were given "grandparent passes" so we could come and see Jordan anytime we wanted to. I was there every day, Mike went when with me when he wasn't at the Fire Department. I am so thankful for all the friends and family who watched Constance so we could go and spend time with Jordan.

The adoption was finalized, after few little hiccups along the way on March 18, 2008.
We were able to be sealed at the Nashville Tennessee Temple on March 23, 2008.

Jordan has been such a blessing. He brings such joy and much laughter into our lives on a daily basis. We are grateful each and every day for the many miracles that brought us all together!

Christmas Lights

I remember growing up in Tennessee ... I always loved Christmas. We didn't always have snow. I remember a wet Christmas. A Christmas Eve tornado. I remember flooding and rafting down our creek in the back yard. I guess that is one thing we have always had is a variety as far as the weather is concerned. One thing we started when I was young was going to Opryland Hotel to look at the Christmas lights. This is one of the traditions carried over ...

Constance gets so excited to go.
We ended up driving around town to look at all the lights. At first Constance was a bit disappointed but she quickly got into it and enjoyed seeing all the decorations.
The Monday before Christmas we headed to Opryland Hotel ... tradition ... to see the lights and decoration. It happened to be the same night my sister and her family were going to see the lights with her husband's family.

It was a wonderful night. We enjoyed the time together and just taking it all in.

Gingerbread Houses

A very dear friend invited our family and several other families to make gingerbread houses at her house. Thankfully Mike was with me or there was no way I would even attempt it myself.
Constance dug right in and decorated her little house. She did so well and had so much fun. Her Aunt Carol had prizes ready and Constance won the "girliest" gingerbread house. She was so pleased.
Jordan was full of energy ... no surprise. He wasn't the least bit interested in making a gingerbread house. He was much more interested in eating whatever candy he could get his little hands on ... and candy was everywhere. Let the Candy Marathon begin. He ran from table to table ... attempting to get candy before mommy stopped him. It was a bit of a challenge to keep his little fingers off all the beautiful gingerbread houses too ... You could just see his little eyes looking at the candy on the houses ... He was only able to take one marshmallow off the gingerbread house his cousin, Sidney was making for Charlie. He "was helping decorate it" ... and next thing I new his little and took it and bye-bye marshmallow.
Mike was on Dominic duty. A little less running around for him. He had a good view from the couch as I ran around the room chasing Jordan.
It was a wonderful evening with family and friends.

Laughter and Frustration

Dominic and Jordan are so cute to watch. They play so well together. Many days I hear them laughing and playing.
One day I was on my computer and the boys were playing "peek-a-boo" beside me. Dominic was laughing so hard I was sure he was going to tumble over and hit his little head.
They will go in their room and just play ... Dominic watches Jordan and just gets so tickled with him ... and of course, Jordan keeps doing whatever it is he is doing just to keep Dominic laughing.
Of course, Jordan is the big brother. He is always looking out for his baby brother. He makes sure we "don't forget" him. He is very quick to correct him on anything. He will tell him "NO Nic" if he crawls somewhere he doesn't think he should go. Little Dominic gets a little frustrated ... he can't seem to do anything right. I try to tell Jordan that Dominic is doing nothing wrong ... he doesn't hear it.
Today as we were getting the boys to put them in bed, Jordan asked for a treat. I told him no, it was bedtime. He proceed to tell Dominic, "No treat Nic, No treat Nic ..."
Cute little stinks!

Help You!

Jordan is in the mode of wanting to help as much as possible.
When I am ready to close the doors on the computer desk he gets very upset if he doesn't get to close them ... sometimes I have to open them again just so he can shut them. When we are coming in ... Jordan likes to get the door ... this is fun when both Constance and Jordan are trying. Jordan is still learning to take turns and to share -- he doesn't always think he should have to.
Jordan also loves to help with Dominic. Sometimes it isn't really helping. If Dominic is sitting up and Jordan thinks he should be laying down, He tries to push him down. Needless to say Dominic doesn't always appreciate the help. The other day I had finger food for Dominic to eat. Jordan was eager to help feed his brother. Of course I let him. I observed his "helping" and took over shortly after Jordan started. He gave his brother one of the snacks and then helped himself to a handful. The next time he just helped himself. He continues to "help" and I have to continue to watch to make sure Dominic has a chance to eat. Bless his little heart his little hands aren't as quick and he is still learning ...
Dominic did get Jordan back. One morning they were both on the floor. Jordan was eating a Nutri Grain bar. He was being sweet and sharing with his brother ... of course, he only wanted to share a small bite. Dominic had other plans. He grabbed the remainder of the bar out of Jordan's hands and is trying his hardest to eat it before a shocked and upset little boy could get it back. I think Jordan ended up with a small bite ... Bless his heart he was telling Dominic "NO NIC ... NO NO NIC" the whole time.
With the help of Jordan, Dominic has also discovered the "sippy cup". He leaves it sitting on the floor and then gets upset when Dominic gets it. Today Dominic not only found it, he actually finished it. He discovered he likes chocolate milk ... thankfully there wasn't that much left.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was fun! My brother Leif and his family came in from Alabama. Of course, my other brother, Kam lives in Murfreesboro, so they were in town. Unfortunately, my sister, Malia wasn't able to come in and Mike's family was together in Idaho. We really enjoyed the time with the family we had here. Constance was thrilled to find out she would have cousins to play with. They climbed the favorite tree at my parents house,played in the piles of leaves, and just had fun running around outside.

We took a day and some of us went to help my brother work on a roof. The kids had fun running around and playing together on the farm, as always. Nothing better than spending time with family ...

Puddles

My parents came by our house the other day. I went out to meet them and next thing I know, here comes Jordan running out of the house without his shoes. At first, this is no big deal he just ran to the car to see Grandma and Grandpa. While Grandpa was helping me carry something in the house, Jordan discovered the nice puddle of water left from the rain. First he ran through it. Then he decided to sit in it. I ran in to get the camera ... might as well let him play since he was already nice and wet. Then he discovered he could share the joy. Thankfully Grandpa was quicker ... Sissy was too. He sure did try though.

Of course, a nice hot bath was first on the list when he was all done.

Surgery

Mike had surgery on his right foot this past Monday. He has been having pain for probably 9 months. Of course, mowing doesn't help it any ... He started seeing a Dr back in July and they exhausted all avenues ... Nothing worked so we scheduled surgery.

It went well. Dr. Neuhaus was pleased and we all feel this will take care of it. All we have to do is keep the kids away from the foot and make sure they don't run too far with the crutches or hit anyone or anything with them.

We are excited because this means Mike is off work until his foot heals. The kids are quite happy each morning they wake up and Daddy is home. Constance is a big help. She loves to do stuff for her daddy. The boys are good at snuggling. They don't always understand why Daddy doesn't hold them or pick them up when they think he should. Mike is just tired of not being able to do what he wants ... and it has only been 3 days.

Rides

Jordan loves to get piggy-back rides. If you are on the floor ... he will be on your back ready to go. Of course, all my kids love them.

It is funny ... Dominic is crawling, of course, and the other day Jordan went up to Dominic and said ride. I had to hurry to keep him from sitting on his baby brother's back. I tried to explain Nick was too small for him to ride on.

Fall Leaves

I love this time of year with all the colors. Constance loves it for all the colors and then there are the leaves. She finally convinced Mike to blow the leaves in the backyard into a nice big pile so she could jump into them. Of course, Princess had to join the fun and jumped right on her stomach. This morning when she was getting in the van to go to school she saw her "pile" had shrunk. She learned today that her dog likes to sleep on the leaves. She wasn't too happy ... her big pile is gone.

A cane

Jordan got a set of those plastic golf clubs for his birthday. He hasn't really used them for their purpose, of course. They have mainly been taken apart and then handed to either Mike or I to fix and then immediately taken apart again. A nice cycle. Anyway, the other day we went to a friends birthday party and there was a guy there who was using a cane. To start off, Jordan tried to take the cane, that was nixed. Well, when we got home he immediately too his golf club that was had been left in the van and proceeded to walk in the house using it as a cane. Crazy kid!

Vacation

This is a brief view of our insane drive to Idaho.

On the way to Idaho
Kansas City ...
Jordan "Plane!!". We drove right by the airport and he got to see a plane land. He thought that was pretty cool.
Nebraska ...
Constance finding out all the "smudges" on the windshield were bug guts. "ooooo, gross".
Jordan was quite excited to see a TRAIN. That made his day.


Wyoming ...
Jordan asks the question, "Mommy, where'd the trees go?".
We ended up driving through snow storms at which point Constance was quick to remind me that I said we wouldn't see any snow and I was wrong. I was quickly realizing we were not packed for winter ... I had planned on fall ... OOPS!
We got stuck in Rock Springs, Wyoming for 3-3 1/2 hours. They had shut the interstate down both ways and there was nothing we could do but sit and wait. The kids LOVED that.

Jordan seeing one lone sagebrush on the side of a hill and telling me "Mommy, look ... TREE!"
Utah ...
Utah never looked so good! Thanks to Rock Springs (We have never gotten through there without some problem) we arrived 3 hours later than planned. Thanks to sister-in-law, Kathy, for letting us spend the night. Our kids were so happy to be out of the car.

After getting goodnight sleep ... time to take on the last of our trip.
Surprised Grandma and Grandpa Crane ... kids enjoyed Grandpa giving them rides on his walker. I just enjoyed the time with my Grandma and Grandpa and letting them love on my babies.
Temples ... Every steeple Jordan sees is a "Temple" ... so we are stopping at a few Temples to get pictures and let Jordan have fun seeing "TEMPLES". He had a smile glued to his little face. As we walked around he would wave at everybody he saw.
We went to the Jordan River Temple

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Salt Lake City Temple

As we were headed to the truck to head to Idaho ... we were all ready to be done ... Jordan got to see a "FIRE TRUCK!" That made our kids days ...
Our boys crying everytime we went to put them in their carseats ... actually screaming is more acurate.
Idaho ...
Jordan ... "My seat". They were so ready to be out of the truck ... everything was getting on their nerves. In this case ... Constance was touching his seat with her knee.
Almost to Grandma and Grandpa's and seeing Moose

Tractor rides

Spud Picking

4-wheeler Rides
Jordan saying "Hi Grandma" or "Hi Grandpa" each time he saw them.
Everytime we would get in the truck (which we kept to a minimum) Jordan saying "Home?"
Idaho Falls Temple

Jordan learned to slide down the stairs on his tummy.
Jordan also starting throwing things down the stairs. Thankfully, the pool ball didn't hit anyone or break anything.
Yellowstone... attempted but had to turn back due to snow and temps in the low teens.
Cabin ... 4 wheeler rides

zip line
Big slide

Cousins
Yellowstone ... Here we go again.
Weather better ... although there were roads closed due to snow and ice.
Constance was in heaven. She loved all the animals we saw.

Jordan ... he kept saying "all done", "dordan's house", "dordan out"
I was just in heaven taking pictures.
Of course we had to pick up a few things along the way ... For some reason it is usually stuffed animals. Constance got her "grizzly bear", Jordan a "mountain lion" and Dominic a "black bear".
Trip Home ... it was long.
Wyoming ...

Cold ... thankfully no snow storms where we drove. Hit heavy fog around Laramie and had it all the way to Nebraska line.
Nebraska ...
Rain across the entire state
Missouri ...
Jordan ... "Mommy, TREES!"
We had a lot of fun, but there is no place like home. This is our trip in a nutshell.

Mobility

Dominic has decided just rolling around and sitting on his bum is not enough. He has decided to start crawling. It makes things interesting when I walk into the other room and a little bit later I hear the sounds of him crawling into the room to find me. It also makes things interesting for a brother and his toys. They are no longer safe, much to Jordan's surprise. It just means we all have to be a little quicker.

Teeth

You would think that my brain would work. Jordan has been a little fussier lately. It wasn't until the other day that I noticed he was cutting his 2 year molars ... that explains it.

Dominic has been having fun with teeth as well. He has his two bottom front teeth. He decided that wasn't enough. He started cutting some teeth on top. He couldn't do just one at a time though. He started with one front and one eye tooth. He didn't stop there. Before they even broke through, he started with the other front tooth and eye tooth. He is so happy! Bless his little heart.

Peek-A-Boo

It is so much fun to watch Jordan and Dominic play together. I was doing something in the kitchen and heard giggling behind me. I turned to see Jordan and Dominic playing peek-a-boo behind me. They were on either side of the dishwasher and peeking around the corner at each other.

"Temple"

Jordan loves temples. Every building he sees with a steeple is a "temple". Most of the time they would turn out to be churches, we would tell him so. Now he says "Temple", if we tell him no, he says "church". If it turns out to be anything else, like a bank, we just let it go ... He usually goes through the entire family, "Daddy, Temple", Daddy responds, "No, church." "Mommy, Temple". Mommy responds: "No, church", etc. It was fun when we went to Idaho. We made sure to go by several temples. Jordan was so excited. He kept pointing out the Temples. Of course, we had to get his picture in front of them too.

There is nothing shy about Jordan. We would walk along the sidewalk and he would smile and wave at every person who walked by.

Not Quite Right

The other day Jordan decided he wasn't getting helped fast enough ... so he took matters into his own hands. He pulled out his shorts and decided to dress himself. He didn't too bad considering this was his first attempt. He had both legs through one leg and they were upside down. But all things considered ... not too bad.