Illinois or Bust!

We are headed out and on our way to Rick's family reunion. The kids are so excited they can hardly stand it!! Our first stop will be Branson, MO where we plan to go to the White Water, water park. Over the past few weeks the kids and I have been "studying the map" and talking about which way we are going. Here is a sweet shot of them & our puzzle of the USA.

We will update you all next week on our adventure!

~The Warpula Family

Cooper is 11 Months Old!

Our Cooper Benjamin turned 11 months today. We have thoroughly enjoyed him this past 11 months. So far he has been our easiest, calmest, sweetest one of the bunch. However, we think he is our most skilled climber. He is always climbing into a small chair, up the stairs, to the top of the rescue hero's center, you name it he climbs it. This could mean trouble in a few months for us. We will keep you posted. Until then we will go about enjoying our "sweet" baby.

Coop has 4 words that he uses all day long:

1. Mama (he only uses when he is crying)

2. Dada (who he talks about all day long!!)

3. Dog (he signs dog at the same time, so we know its Dog)

4. Ball (of course he says ball, he's a boy)

Green Thumb

I started a rose garden early this year & thought I would share some photos of how well they are growing. Also here are some shots of my crepe mertal tree & some other flowers we have growing...

Golden Retriever turns Yellow Lab

Well she is not as fat as we had once thought. It was all that hair. We have been wanting to shave the girl for weeks now. We broke down and did it for the summer.

"I'm so embarrassed mom"

It took Rick a few hours to shave her. She stood there patiently. We didn't know that she would be so soft!! Now all she needs is a bath! I guess that's what the kids and I will do tomorrow.

Never a Dull Moment

We had a fantastic weekend full of things to do. On Friday night we, well I should say Rick did all the yard work. I washed both cars (its been a while now and WAY overdue). Then we stayed outside to chat with the neighbors.

On Sat. we spent 2 hours in Walmart. (it was a new one, and very nice I might add) We had a very long list of items we needed to get ready for our big trip to the Hammitt Family reunion next week. While we were there it was, as always, full of very exciting moments. Such as Parker going peepee on the floor. She has been potty trained since March and typically does not do things like this. We are coming to find out she has a phobia of the public potty. (well who doesn't right?) No worries Walmart has these, clean up sections. We were surprised too. It was complete with bags, thick pads for wet messes & paper towels. How about that? I must say we were impressed ourselves & glad that was the isle she happened to pee at! :)

We then went on to Mason's party. Griffin & Carson's good friend. They had a blast with the water balloons & I will post pictures as soon as April sends them along. The party was a Cars theme (the movie Cars) and they love that. They held onto their goodie bags for, well until today and its Monday. They even brought them to church on Sunday.

On Sunday we went to church, then to lunch with our friends Kristen, Eli & Meredith. We went to Rudy's. They have this sweet family with one child & must think we are just a walking side show. Not only are there a lot of us, there is never a dull moment. For example, Parker spilled a huge cup of water all over herself and was cold. So she ate in her panties, yes at a restaurant. Then we went swimming with them that night at their pool and I had dressed her into her dry clothes, a skirt & top. I turn my back for 2 seconds and she is wading in the pool, now in a wet skirt! Go figure. So back in panties & a shirt. Aughh!! I will be glad when the "terrific twos" come to a halt. :) In the mean time the boys were jumping off the side of the pool and some how Carson jumped on top of Griffin and ended up with his first black eye. Boys will be boys. Cooper had a great night until Parker came up and "patted" his back. He then did a nose dive into their carpet and his top teeth that were coming in started bleeding. Poor little guy, he's just trying to keep up with the big kids.

This is just a typical day in our lives...

That was our exciting weekend. Next week we head out for an adventure to IL. The boys are so excited. We have been putting our USA puzzles together and tracking our drive there. I am busy making a million lists before the big packing job on Monday.

Kiddie quote of the day by Parker "You're Amazing Poops" (she was talking about Cooper who she calls Poop Poop Ben, maybe we should have thought of the nicknames before we named our sweet boy)

Cozy Coupe

For Cooper's 1st birthday Judy & Calvin also known as Nano & Granddaddy (Rick's parents) bought him a fire truck cozy coupe. So on Sunday night Calvin said let's put Cooper's car together. This was around 6pm. Rick & Tim (R's brother) had left to run errands, leaving Judy, Leslie and I with 11 kids. Calvin & Landon (13yrs old) got out the big box for the Cozy Coupe and began assembling. We all went about our ways doing this and that. After about an hour I sat down in the living room with Judy and we started watching these "builders" at work. It was quite entertaining to say at the least. The top of the car would not stay put. Every time they put it on it popped off. Judy kept saying "now Calvin, are you reading the directions?" And he would say "yes I'm reading them" this went back and forth a few times. Finally they figured out that a screw needed to hold down the roof. Then Judy says "If you were reading the directions, then you would have known a screw needed to go there". After about hour 2, Calvin turns to me and says "I thought this thing came put together, you didn't tell me there was assembly required". Judy and I were laughing so hard we were crying. Landon kept saying"where is my dad when we need him" Anyway, the car finally got finished in about 3 hours total.

So later that night Rick says that his dad came up to him with a handful of parts and says "Now son, these parts go somewhere on the car, I'm not sure where but you may want to put them on" "The steering wheel keeps popping off".

The next day everyone had left and the kids were riding around in the cozy coupe. I look over and the back wheels are buckling and falling off. The kids kept bringing me more and more parts to this car. I finally had them park it and had daddy fix it that night.

It was hilarious and we got a lot of good laughs. I reminded Calvin that at least he has his day job.

Today the fire truck is up and running. Here are some shots of Coop playing in it with Parker.

Warpula Weekend

We had a fun filled weekend packed with 22 Warpula's at our house. Yes we can actually fit everyone. 10 adults and 12 kids ages 10 months-13 years, 6 boys and 6 girls. Friday was spent cooking and preparing for the meals & for Cooper & Lauren's joint 1st birthday party. On Sat. the Dad's took all the kids to the Home Depot kids workshop where they all made memory boxes. They brought them home and painted them beautifully. We have some budding artiest in this family! On Sat. we headed to the park for the birthday bash. The theme was a Hawaiian, sail boat theme. Very cute. (notice the sail boat creation Judy, Rick's mom, and I made, its pretty cute). We had a great time. On Sunday at 7:45 am we had a photo shoot of Nano, Granddaddy & all 12 kids. We had their outfits all coordinated. (I will add a picture). We then went on to church and were a big walking side show with our matching crew of good looking kids. Anyway 5 members of the family have headed home and the rest will head out in the morning. It was busy but tons of fun and the kids made lots of memories for years to come.

Funny quote of the weekend by Carson: "Mommy, I want to be a cousin" I told him "You are a cousin Carson" He replied, "No I'm not, I don't get to sleep up in the playroom with them"

Happy Birthday America!

Happy 4th of July all! Hope you all are having a great day off with your families.

I was woken up by Carson who barged into my room saying "mommy who's birthday is it?" (He must have seen the Flag cake I had made last night for the party today.) I told him it was America's Birthday. He asked "Who gets to blow out the candles". And I said no one. So he ran out to tell the others "Guys there are NO candles on this cake!!"

Before kids the 4th of July was a time when we would scout out the best fireworks show we could. The best one we have ever been to was the one in Boston with a live show from the Boston Pops. They even had stelth bombers flying over head. It was quite amazing. But now our lives are different. :) We now avoid any kind of fireworks show for many obvious reasons.

1. Its WAY to crowded to keep up with 4 little ones

2. It is Way past their bedtimes and we don't mess with that.

3. It is Way to loud and I am sure 2 out of 4 of the kids would be terrified at the sound.

Maybe next year...

So last night we had finally gotten the last one to sleep and they were all resting so peacefully and then BOMB BOMB!! Yes our neighbors were letting off their fireworks right outside the boys windows! They were so scared. Aughh!

Today our young families class from church threw a party at Steiner Ranch. There were 50-60 people there with lots of little kids and yummy food. We swam all day, The kids had a blast. Here are some photos of them today.

Big Girl, Little Arm

We were at the library today Carson & Parker were sitting at a table working puzzles & reading books. I was the fly on the wall listening to this conversation. A boy walked up and asked Carson what happened to her arm? Carson ignored the first few times the boy asked. And then I heard Carson mutter "She was born". The boy said "What? I couldn't hear you". And Carson repeated himself "She was born". Then he said "God made her born". Parker chimed in with "I have one hand and one ammm (arm). It was so cute. I guess the boy gave up and was confused because he finally walked away. It was pretty cute. She is such a strong girl with an amazing personality. We are confident she will have no trouble with her "little arm" in the future.

Funny saying of the day: "Sometimes he doos and sometimes he don'ts" Carson, talking about Cooper.

Sound The Alarms

To the Fire Station we went.... What fun it was too. We met our playgroup there to take a tour of the station, get inside the engines & spray the big hose. Our kids got a kick out of it. As soon as we got home they changed into their Superman PJ's and put on their hats and told me they were Superman Fire Fighters. Very cute! They also got out every fire fighter book & truck that they could find in the house. It was a great day in our neck of the woods.

Funny saying of the day "You can say that again!" Griffin