The Cooper Clan

My Place in the Solari Family Tree:

My mom, Dianna (Dee) Solari Boulter, is the daughter of Joe and Sue Solari. She married my dad, Michael Boulter. My siblings are Brandon, Bryan, Julianna, Matthew, and Emmalee. I am also the wife of Stephen Cooper and the mother of Kyle.

(Here's a picture of me and my 2 sisters and one of my own little family!)

My 3 Greatest Joys:

1. spending time with family, preferably on a beach somewhere
2. watching the spark of new learning I see in Kyle each day
3. learning new things, especially when it comes to blogging
   

My 3 Biggest Goals for the Year:

1. make new friends here in Miami
2. catch up on scrapbooking
3. read more than I watch t.v.
   

3 Surprising Facts About Me:

1. I love to decorate/organize.
2. My best ideas come to me in the shower (I used to come up with lesson plans, ways to teach math concepts in some creative way, and lyrics for the math songs I used in my classroom. Now I just think of ideas for my blog.)
3. I am addicted to updating my blog. (Maybe this isn't so surprising, so I'll add one more.)
4. I've lost 70 pounds since Kyle was born!
   

A little update since the last Sentinel....

Kyle turned a year old in July, amid moving boxes stacked in the living room. We packed up all our worldly belongings and headed out to Miami in August so Stephen could attend school for (hopefully) the last time. He's getting his Master's in nurse anesthesia, a 2 1/2 year program. So, here we are, in Sunny South Florida!

After finishing my 5th year of teaching, I now get to stay home with Kyle full-time! How grateful I am for the lessons I learned in teaching and how they have prepared me to be a better mom. I think I might have complained a lot more if I hadn't experienced the other side of things. (Dishes and cleaning toilets aren't nearly as bad as lesson plans and meeting with angry parents!) I'm getting used to being so close to the beach and we made it through our first hurricane season! I think we are now officially 'Floridians," right?

I am so glad to get to take over the Sentinel. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy putting it all together! I look foward to hearing from all of you and of keeping up on this great tradition.

Love,
Mel, Stephen, & Kyle