Hooray for everyone!

I have yet to say something to certain members of my fam-

CONGRATULATIONS!

Steve - we are praying for you every day and we are all so thrilled to think that you will be spending two years in Toronto West.  At least you'll get fairly normal food there.  Dan's sister lives there, and her husband is in the bishopric.  She said if you get into their region she'll take you out for a nice dinner, so here's hoping.  Wish I could be there to go to the temple with you, but I guess I've missed everyone else's too, so we'll all have to go together when you get home.

Mandy & Scott - Word is you're having a boy.  Lucky you!  I don't say that sarcastically, I really mean it.  Even though they are rough and tumble and crazy busy, they are a lot of fun.  A lot less drama.  And I'm glad to finally get a few boy cousins for my little hooligans.  There aren't any on the other side, so it's up to you girls.

Tiffany & Chad - I'm so happy for you.  I hope things are going well.  We are also hoping you have a boy, or two.  Hee hee.  I do not wish twins on you, though everyone seems to have suspicions.  I just hope you feel good and get a healthy little one. 

I don't know when I'll get to see either of these babies, or Tyler for that matter, but send lots of pictures.  I love to hear about all the bright, exciting things happening for all of you.  Steve, you can rest assurred that you will not be the only one who won't be around for everything for the next couple of years.  Maybe I can rig a trip in the summer...here's to dreaming.  Miss you all terribly.  I suppose listening to Christmas music doesn't help me.  I'm turning into mom and Grandpa, crying over silly things.  Wait, I was always like that.  Still, these tears are tears of joy.  Love you all, and good luck.

Lice, lice are NOT nice

Madison has brought home lice, so I have spent the week doing laundry, bleaching, vacuuming and pulling/combing nits out of hair.  The first time took me 3 hours, and yesterday it was one.  I guess I'm getting faster.  Of course, the second time there was only a few to find.  Disgusting!  I know it's just a normal childhood thing and we're not supposed to feel bad or unclean, but you can't help wondering how this could have been avoided.  I do have one suggestion - stop having 4-5 children share a cubby to hang their coats at school.  She got this from someone there, and I will never know who, but I have told her she needs to put her jacket into her backpack to avoid them that way.  Then again, she is seven and putting heads together is no rare occurrence I'm sure.  Help!! 

What a disaster.  They have a pesticide shampoo to kill the things, but they have yet to come up with something that can unattach the nits from the shaft of the hair so you can simply wash them away.  Not so great because the trouble is if you miss even one it can hatch and start the whole process over again.  I must accept that for the next month Madison and I will sit on the couch and do lice checks every night and regularly after that because who knows if the person carrying it at school will catch or take care of the problem.  Talk about Mommy/daughter time.  Ha Ha.  We watched the Christmas Shoes the first day.  Madi boo-hooed and then had to make sure I was crying too to make her feel better.  I tried to shed a few tears for her.  Mostly I was crying about the lice....

The bad with the good

Things have been kind of rough here lately.  It rains 6 days out of 7, which wouldn't be so bad if the sun ever shone in between.  It's expensive and busy and hard to make friends because our ward covers an area the size of Lethbridge, so no one lives remotely in the same areas.  Our car needed major unexpected repairs and our washer drained into the bathroom sink and overflowed everywhere.  Dan's schedule has been a bit crazy because they are working out the kinks for the transfer students, so it looks like we might be here an extra semester and still need to work out a 3 months practicum afterwards (as long as we can actually find a certified Rec Therapist to do it with).  I can't get work and we live in a very small space that can seem very confining when the weather doesn't agree.

But just when things seem to be oppressive and unbearable, I am reminded of all the blessings we have.  Driving home from Langley last week the sun came out and the snow-capped mountains were there, clear as a bell.  Then Clayton piped up, "Mom, aren't you glad we get to live here for a while?  We have the ocean on one side, the mountains on the other, and lots of bridges and lots of trains."  What a positive perspective in a dreary month.  We are lucky to have this experience.  So many people don't get the opportunity to finish their schooling once they have four children.  We have seen and done lots of things we otherwise would only have experienced as tourists, if ever.  We go to the beach in November and play in the sand.  We fish for crab.  We will be here when the temple is opened and we are seeing what it's like to live where the gospel is definitely a minority.  Dan has a job that allows him to choose his hours based on his school schedule, not his school schedule based on his work hours.  I get to stay home with our kids and we still manage to make ends meet.  We get to learn how to love each other even in a small space and, hopefully, realize that our family really can be our best friends.  We definitely have to depend on each other more and learn to compromise.

This is mostly for me, I think.  Just getting my thoughts down.  But that's where we're at out here on the West Coast.  Miss you all terribly, but trying to find the silver lining in all the "experience" we're getting.

Student of the month/Salmon returning home to spawn

Clayton was awarded a student of the month certificate for doing well in grade one.  He was pretty excited to receive it at the assembly.  It's nice to hear your child's teacher give such positive complements.  Or, rather, nice to know he's a great kid when he's not at home fighting with his brothers and trying to get out of work (ha ha).

Also around that time we saw salmon swimming upstream in the creek by our house.  It's a very bizarre phenomenon when you actually see it in real life, not on t.v.  They rest a bit in little pools along the way, then gear up for the big jump against the current.  It looks exhausting, but extremely cool.

Trick-or-Treat!

And here are the costume choices for this year - a hula girl, black spidey, batman and undecided.  Spen started out as Spiderman but stripped that off before we got out the door and ended up taking a sword and wearing a shield on his back, which he took off after about three houses.  In the end he was a kid in jammies getting free candy.  (He's got it figured out!)

This was about our nicest Halloween ever.  Madi even took her jacket off.  No one was freezing cold and we only had to go to one complex to get too much candy.  The snow at Halloween might actually be good for something - at least they get too cold and want to go home!  It was a lot of fun, especially for Mac and Spen who haven't really had the chance to grasp the whole idea of Trick-or-Treating yet.  All done for another year...

Pumpkin Party!

Here are this year's contributions to our Halloween experience.  The pumpkins are compliments of mom, who sent them across the mountains with the Bullock's.  Unfortunately, two of them succumbed to an early, mouldy death much like a lot of the pumpkins out here on the coast, but we were left with the other two large ones.  The little one in the middle is from Clayton's field trip to a pumpkin farm - the highlight of Grade One so far.  I will add pictures of the costumes etc.  later!

Happy Halloween!

Peekaboo!

So back to the peek into the lives of the West Coast Coopers. We are finally back online after a major crash in our computer, so for those of you who thought I had once again started something only to die out after a month, take all of your cynicism back. I actually missed coming on here. This is about the only writing I get done nowadays.

Life is rolling along at a ridiculous pace. I can't believe it is actually the end of October, halfway through the first semester of school and almost through Halloween. Time flies so fast when you're...well, not having fun, but trying to. Things are crazy out here- crazy expensive, crazy busy, crazy fast, crazy wet. But with all the change we are learning a lot of about ourselves and what we really want out of life. We also know this is where we need to be at this moment in time. If we hadn't come now, we never would have and we would have regretted it forever. So, we'll battle through the next two years and have some good laughs along the way.

How can you not laugh when you see these goofballs? The highlight of our month was when Mal and Steve flew out to visit. They may not have had as much fun in the chaos as we did, but we were thrilled to see family again, and the kids were especially thrilled to see these particularly family. (No slight on the others intended). These are the aunt and uncle they spent the last two years really getting to know and idolize them (yes, idolize). The boys couldn't be more happy than when Steve plays with them and Madi just waits for Mal to do her hair or talk girl stuff with her. It was so nice to catch up on their lives and pretend we're still young when we stayed up way too late eating way too fatty things. I really didn't want to say goodbye at the airport. Madi still tells me every day how much she misses them. We're waiting with baited breath to hear where in the world we'll get to hear from Steve in the next few years and so far Clay's only guess has been South Dakota. I'm praying for your sake, Steve, that he's wrong. I am only upset over one thing and that is that we only got two pictures that included Mal and Steve in the whole time they were here. I think Steve got one with all the kids, which I would like a copy of. The above are from our hike along the coast on Thanksgiving weekend.

That's the hardest part, I think. It's not the cost or the busy-ness or the difference in weather that makes things strange. It's not seeing everyone all the time. We love you all and hope everyone is doing well. Thank goodness for the internet and cheap long distance. It makes this a lot easier.