Boys 'n Banana Splits ...

We had a family ice cream outing after Ethan got his second 100% on his spelling test.

Sorry, I have been slacking with my posts this month since I started school. I will try to do better! ~Jen

Jacob's 1st Day of Preschool

(2nd year ... Kindergarten next year!)

Jacob wanted Ethan's rolling backpack from Kindergarten for school this year, to be like his big brother and cousin Cameron (see below on Ethan's Back-to-school post).

As soon as he found his paper with his name on it he said, "Okay, bye mom".
His teacher said he is a completely different Jacob from within just 4 months. He wasn't as shy and he didn't need me to stay with him for the first 10-15 minutes until it was okay for me to leave. He barely let me stay long enough to take this picture.

'Jacob' mosaic
By: Jacob ; )

Now Jacob thinks he gets to go to Kindergarten tomorrow so he can be at the same school with Ethan.
Sorry Jacob, not for another year!

Deals 'n Tips!

Whenever I find out places that have good deals on items and/or good tips on things I like to let others know so they can take advantage of what other people have to offer. I am going to start posting them on my blog when I find these deals and tips on a section that will be titled: "Deals 'n Tips"

e.l.f. (Eyes Lips Face)
Make-up for $1 - $5

pe Photo
Inexpensive photo printing that you will receive in about 3 days after placing your order.

Back to School ... Ethan's first day of 2nd Grade

Ethan, Cam and Kayla
Ethan & Cam are in Miss Green's 2nd grade class together.
Kayla is in Mrs. Rich's (formerly Miss Zulauf) 1st grade class that Ethan & Cam were in last year.

Jacob wants to go to the same school with all of them SOOO badly. He is desperately bored and lonely just being with mom!! As soon as the kids are in school, after 1/2 an hour starts "mom, is Ethan out of school yet?!" ... poor Jacob! Nice to know he loves and misses his brother so much!

After school the boys and I went to Arctic Circle for an ice cream outing.

Memories of Ethan & California Friends ...

April 2002
Ethan & some of his friends that were born
within just days - weeks - months from each other.

Ethan was the tubby little guy! He was
so cute and had the most adorable giggle!
9 months old

Woogi World - new online community for kids

I thought I would give a plug for a new online community place for kids that was reported on the news today from KUTV 2 News. It was invented by a Provo, Utah dad because he was tired of his own elementary kids playing games that had no educational use and did not like the content of them.

In this online community kids learn math, English and science without even realizing it.
You can read more details about it at: Woogi World news report
The link to the online community for kids is: http://www.woogiworld.com/

"Whose team do you want to be on?" asked Ethan

The other day I was in the living room while Ethan & Jacob were in the kitchen. Jacob had done something mean to Ethan. Ethan didn't raise his voice to Jacob at all. He just calmly told Jacob that was not a nice thing to do and asked Jacob, "whose team do you want to be on, Jesus or Satan?". And went on to tell Jacob, "because when you do mean things then you are on Satan's team and if you want to be on Jesus' team you need to be nice".

Jacob responded with, "I am going to pretend to be on Satan's team and (while holding up two little fists) then beat him up, then I will be on Jesus' team!".

They both had great big smiles on their faces while giggling after Jacob's commentary.

Alex's 7th Birthday Party!!

Ethan & Alex

(Alex was born the day before Ethan in the same hospital in California)

Ethan Shmeethan, Happy 7th Birthday!!

Cropper Family (Jen's Family) - Dec. 2007

This photo was taken without a photographer!!
My (Jen's ) camera was just put on a tripod and all of the kids actually looked at it!

Cropper Cousins
It was freezing this day ... especially without jackets!!

Cropper Siblings
Sarah (youngest), Becky (3rd), Jen (oldest), Bev (2nd),
Debra (4th), Graig Jr. (5th)
**notice Graig's hand in his pocket while his sisters are holding him!! That's how much he trusts them!!

Parents/Grandparents of these cute kids!
Lewisa & Graig
(sorry, this photo is a bit blurry)

Singin' to the Radio!

A funny thing happened to me (Jen) today.

This afternoon with 95 degree weather and a nice breeze, I had the car windows down with the radio turned up. I was at a stop light and singing to the radio louder than I realized. After a couple minutes of sitting there I heard clapping and whistling coming from a truck next to me. I looked over and it was from two (cute) guys listening to me.

Just had to share this since nothing like that has happened to me before.

Jacob's Accomplishments

After Jacob saw Ethan's artwork from 1st grade posted on here, he wanted his own artwork posted.
So just for you Jacob; love ya cutie!!

Congratulations Sarah & Adam!!

We just had a baby shower for my youngest sister today. Her and her husband Adam are expecting their first child (a boy!) end of September. We are all very excited for them!! She is such a beautiful pregnant lady!
Ethan & Jacob want to know when the doctor will give me another baby ... girl.

Liberty Land

We took the boys to a new fun center that recently opened. They had a lot of fun rides for the little kids. The boys drove go-karts for the first time, that was their favorite thing to do!!

Boys Summer Do's

Here is Jacob's mohawk for the summer while not in school ....

Just kidding!! Here are both Ethan and Jacob's real summer do's.






















They both wanted their heads shaved completely bald like their friends dad, but Jesse said "no, because your heads will get sunburned!". They were sad for a little bit, but they got over it and they love their hair so short for the summer and so their mom doesn't put gel in their hair.
Jacob doesn't like his hair to be spikey with hair gel because the girls at his preschool told him it looks cool like that and he doesn't want them to like it ... silly boy. :)
Ethan on the other hand just doesn't like the feeling of gel on his head!

Oremfest - 2008

We went for the parade at the Oremfest this year and stayed for the fireworks.
I threw in some pictures of the boys getting mad at each other ... hey, life isn't always roses!!

Horseback Riding

I (Jen) have been helping out at a ranch just south of Provo with their horses.
We have been able to take the boys out to learn how to take care of the horses and get to ride them, which has been a fun experience for them. You can see pics below of them.
(in case you wonder who the third boy is in the pictures, it is Ethan & Jacob's cousin Cameron).
Which leads me into my (Jen) experience today. The horse I was riding today (in an outdoor arena) got spooked and started to bolt, then was bucking around. The guy (Rory, pictured below) I was riding with said that I squeezed my legs together so I wouldn't fall off, which got him to stop bucking but made him take off on a dead run. I kept hearing Rory yelling at me to turn him (this will make the horse turn in a circle and tire them out until it stops) ... this is easier said than done though when you have a horse on the run and your adrenaline going!

The horse was headed straight for a 5 foot metal fence and it was getting closer and closer. I was just thinking that I didn't want the horse to put the breaks on when he gets to the fence and have me fly over the him AND the fence. So instead of getting thrown by the horse I made myself fall off the horse. The other guy said I slid on my back (head first) about 4 feet until my head hit the metal bar on the fence. I opened my eyes and just saw this huge cloud of dust with Rory headed toward me. I got the wind knocked out of me pretty good, but after a few minutes I jumped back onto a different horse that is calmer so that my confidence wouldn't be broken. Amazingly I was calmer and wasn't as scared as I think I should have been!

Luckily I walked away with only a couple jammed fingers, concussion, bruised and dirt/rock rash on my back! Yes, I will still be going back. Not back on that horse though!

Which Austen Heroine are you?

This quiz was on my friend, Chelsey's blog and I thought I would try it out. It says that I am Elinor Dashwood. After reading her personality description and the other women's personalities, this does best match mine:
Are practical, circumspect and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.
One trait I wish I had was a quick wit, mine is more like "a day late wit" ... and then it is too late!
~Jen
P.S. Just didn't want you to think that Jesse took this quiz and posted it. ;)

Take the Quiz here!

Future Dentist??

April 2008

Here is Jacob assisting Jesse in cleaning Ethan's teeth.

As soon as Jesse left the room, Jacob put on his mask and hopped up in the chair with the mouth mirror to be the dentist.

Jacob LOVES going to dad's dental office!
He says he wants to stay ALL day!

FINALLY joining the Blogging world!!

After seeing so many of your fun blogs and receiving requests for family updates, we have decided to join the rest of you in the blog world! This will be better for a more permanent place to post our updates and happenings.

I am going to start with posting highlights from the past year.