The cutest little Santa

When our first son, Julien, was a baby my dad got him this adorable Santa outfit.  It's a 12 month outfit and when Julien wore it he was just 6 months (since that's how old he was that Christmas).  A little big on him, but still so cute.  Jonah and Cooper, however were just the right size for it when their time came.  I have pictures of all my kids wearing this outfit and would love to include them in this post, but I can't due to my scanner being broken (yes baby Julien was before I had a digital camera) and Jonah's pics are on a 3rd party sight that I can't get off unless I order them on c.d.  Anyway, here is Cooper dressed as Santa.  I get a little obsessed with their cuteness when my babies wear this, so sorry there are so many, and trust me, there are way more where these came from.

p.s. No, I don't normally give my baby candy.  The wrapper was actually still on, but once I gave it to him, he broke it in half and was able to get a taste.  Giving him that was the only way I could get him to hold still enough for pictures and to keep his hat on.  He was loving it. 

HO HO HO!

p.s.s. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day posts are coming soon. 

One Year Old Photo Shoot

I wanted to take Cooper to a place with a nice background and at the time of day when pictures actually turn out nice, but time slipped away that day and I ran out of sunlight fast.  I ended up taking his pictures behind our apartment (not a beautiful background).  Even though he is always cute, in my opinion, I still don't think they turned out as good as I had hoped due to lighting, background, and of course to the fact that he was much more interested in the grass and walking around than in posing for the camera.  But here he is on his very first birthday!

Of course I got the big smile once we went inside.  I edited the color on all of the ones outside because it helped a little with the lighting...bummer cause I love that sweater!

Cooper 

7 1/2 teeth

walks 95% of the time

likes to climb

smiles all of the time

waves and flirts with new people but can also be shy

loves his brothers

adores his daddy

a total mama's boy

does not sleep through the night yet

takes one nap a day

gets into everything

makes the cutest facial expressions

hates the car after 5 minutes

knows some sign language

tries to talk

his favorite phrase to say is "all done" and he says it very seriously while doing the sign for it

gives kisses

follows mommy everywhere and loves to be held

cuddles when he is tired

very ticklish

has the best giggle ever

makes a "sniffer face" when asked

likes books

has absolutely no interest in t.v. yet

doesn't play with toys much, would rather get into things he shouldn't

gives high fives

loves to clap

laughs when others do 

has a super strong grip

determined
loves to throw anything he can in the trash (pretty sure that's where our remote went)

is developing such a personality
sweetest baby in the world!!!

Having Cooper in our family has been such a major blessing.  Having three kids has been a hard adjustment for us though.  My house has probably been clean 365 minutes this year (a minute a day), and I have probably only made a very embarrassing low number of actually meals this year.  I'm not sure if it's the number of kids that has been hard or just the fact that a baby is 24-7.  (A baby that is not sleeping through the night, I might add).  Both, probably.  Taking 3 kids to the store, not that hard, but I would be a liar if I said it was fun.  There are some things that surprise me with how easy they are to do with three kids (did that even make sense?), and other things that I just can't seem to master.  I don't have the luxury of having a husband home while I make dinner and most nights not even to help get kids in bed, but I can say that I have learned a lot this year and know that a little extra love and patience can make up for the lack of help when he is gone.  That's not a claim to mastering patience btw.  So three kids has given me the busiest, most exhausting year of my life, but at the same time, the most joy I could ever imagine.  Nothing in this world compares to the joy and satisfaction of having children.  And since this is Cooper's birthday we are talking about here, a baby is something extra special to have at home.  My baby is one.  He is growing so fast, but I'm so happy that I have no regrets with the amount of time I have spent with him.  I have cherished every day with him.  I wish he could slow down a little, but I also love seeing him discover and grow.  He is such an angel and is a constant reminder to me to be better and to be grateful.  As much work as a baby and children are, the reward is a million times greater!  I love my little birthday boy and am so grateful I became his mommy at this time in my life.  We are all so thankful to have him in our family.  He, a year later, is still a novelty around here, and the kids still fight every time we go somewhere about who gets to sit by him.  We all love our little Coop!  I'm so thankful to be a mommy!!!  Happy Birthday Coopertiners, Kinza-ruiny head, Bootsy, Nu Nu (poor kid still has a few absurd names that just seem to come out when I talk to him).  WE LOVE YOU COOPER!

My one year old

This little monkey loves to climb.  Everyday we have to take down the ladder to the kid's bunk bed since Cooper can climb all the way to the top by himself. 

Cooper is walking all over the place! 

I can't believe it!  My baby turned one.  We had a little celebration with presents, just at home.  He was so cute opening up his gifts.  He really understood what to do! 

My sister sent him some cute jammies and we got him this little walker/rider thing and the boys got him a book.

I had a video to go with this post, but it's not working.  Maybe later.  And yes, the quality of these pictures are so bad, I don't know what's up with my camera or maybe it's just the terrible lighting in my house.

We celebrated a day early due to Rich's schedule, but anywho, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet one year old!  Love you more than words could ever express!

Christmas Break

Let the: (See list below) begin.......
                 fighting
                 tattling
                 timeouts
                 whining
                 staying up too late

And in the midst of all that, we do have some fun moments like....
                sleeping in (kind of)
                listening to Christmas music
                making Christmas cards
                coloring
                wrapping presents
                movie nights
                anticipating

But with all the fighting and tattling going on, there are still moments of love and sweetness and that's when I run and get my camera!

I love not having any interruptions that school brings. I love having all my kids home, as loud as it gets sometimes.  We are loving Christmas Break!!

Priceless Moment

Tonight we watched "Elf" together as a family.  For most of the movie we were all scattered throughout the living room, but towards the end, Julien and Jonah snuggled up with Daddy.  Cooper was getting restless so I gave him a bottle and laid him right up next to them. Once he was done, Rich popped his bink in and he was out.  Jonah was already conked out, and Rich had been bobbing his head, like he does, for quite a while.  Julien tends to stick it out till the end of the movie and then he will crash.  I definitely had to get some pictures of this.  They just looked so cozy and cute, I wanted to curl up with them.  I know moments like these are ones I will always cherish! And aren't they all so lucky to have me to capture all of these precious moments for them!?!:)  Sure love my boys.

Santa

I am happy that my kids still believe in Santa.  Julien who is 6 1/2 still believes so much.  He is so passionate about these things.  Is it just me, or do any of you moms feel guilty, like you are lying to your kids (cause really we are), when they ask questions about Santa?  Julien asks me questions all of the time and I answer then according to the myth of Santa, but I feel guilty.  I don't know why.  I don't know a single kid who ended up resenting their parents after finding out that Santa wasn't real, but still.  Looking back, I am glad my parents "lied" to me about Santa.  Believing in Santa is such a fun part of childhood.  I'm definitely not planning on letting them in on the secret yet, but I do feel a bit guilty at times when I answer their questions about him.  Children are so pure and I love their precious faith!  So even though I feel a bit like a liar, I am still glad to see them use their imaginations and believe, it's priceless!

We went to the mall to visit Santa and Jonah (almost 5 yrs old) took off.  Not too far, we could see him hanging out close by, but that kid wants nothing to do with visiting Santa.  He has no problem receiving gifts from him and really believes in him, but won't go close to him.  I think the whole magic thing just freaks him out!  So here is my favorite picture that I snapped.  I love it!  I just get bummed when I look at it and Jonah is missing.  All of the other years we managed to get Jonah up there, but most of time he was balling or would not look at Santa.  He gets more and more stubborn the older he gets.  That little stinker!  Oh well, maybe next year!  Santa still got him some fun things this year!

Cooper was getting shy and posed like that.  He makes THE CUTEST shy faces, and I'm glad we kind of captured it here.  I hope Jonah will be in the picture next year!

Speaking of Jonah... He did write this note to Santa one day and I thought it was pretty cute!

"Jonah can be on the nice list, Santa."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rich and I are really excited for Christmas morning!  This year we did the shopping together.  Normally I just do it but this year he wanted to join me and I was so excited.  Not only was it a date night, but together we got extra creative with our gifts and are equally excited about what the kids are getting.  I love this stage of life where my kids believe and everything is so exciting and surprising.  It's crazy to think that last Christmas Cooper was just 2 days old.  I was one tired mommy.  I am excited that this year Cooper can join in and tear up the wrapping paper.  Eeeek!  Can't wait!

It's Christmas Time Again!

I can not believe the holidays are here.  We put up our little tree and decorated the house a few days ago.  There is something so relaxing and exciting about having a Christmas tree lit up all day!  This year we had to put our Christmas tree up on the kitchen bar.  Tacky, I know, but Cooper would be all over it.  It's just his size too, so that thing would never last on the ground.  We will bring it down on Christmas Eve for Santa though. 

Remember this? Well, this year, Carolyn (my dad's girlfriend) bought a gingerbread house kit for the kids! Last year I wasn't sure if I wanted to go through all the trouble, making it from scratch again, so it was nice knowing we could just put this one together so quickly. Making it from scratch took days because of certain steps you have to follow, but I was still surprised how long this one took, being from a kit. I think it took about 3 1/2 hours! That was with interruptions because of the baby, but still. I was toast when it was done!

And on a side note: I keep forgetting to post this but as of last week (2 weeks ago???) Cooper started taking steps! The most he has done is 4 steps. He is getting more and more brave and will often take 2 steps on his own without us encouraging him to. So he just might be walking in a month for his 1st birthday! I really need to get all of his little tricks on video. He says, "mama" and "all done." He can wave goodbye and say all done in sign language as well as say it, "aw-duh aw duh." It's the cutest! He dances to music now too!! He gives high fives!!!  He has been shaking his head, "no," for a while now...he learned that when he tried (still tries too) to take out the grass out of the plant. He loves to shake his head no, it's so cute! And his laugh! I don't know why I'm such a slacker and haven't recorded his giggle! He has always had the cutest giggle, but now he also has a courtesy laugh! Ya know, a laugh just to be nice, kind of a chuckle- it's awesome! His laugh sounds so grown up, like an adult, like he knows exactly what is so funny! We can't get enough of it! He also tries to point to things and talk, just blabbering, but I love it! My little guy is a month shy of being a one year old! It's just crazy! I am cherishing ever moment with him!

-Also-

If you are in need of ideas of how to bring Christ into Christmas and/or ways to celebrate Christmas all month long, please check out this blog!  Kendra is my old neighbor and she is such an amazing mom.  She homeschools her kids and goes the extra mile in all things.  I just got filled with ideas after reading her blog post that she just put up about "25 days of Christmas." So check it out..she also does giveaways all of the time!

Thanksgiving

What blew me away this Thanksgiving (besides the awesome food my dad's girlfriend, Carolyn, made), was the fact that just a year ago I was just a month away from delivering Cooper. It doesn't feel like that was a year ago! And this Thanksgiving I have him, he's big,and he is mobile! It's crazy how much can happen in just a year!

Rich, my dad, Julien, and Jonah went golfing here (Rich's work) in the morning. Rich forgot the camera, so no pictures of that, boo:(. They had a great time though!

We joined my dad and Carolyn for linner. We had awesome food that Carolyn worked hard on making. I didn't make much this year, so it tasted that much better. Thank you Carolyn!
Julien decked their house out with Thanksgiving decorations that he made from school. And after dinner Julien played director and had us all do a play. He made us all hats (pilgrims and indians) and wrote scripts for all of us ( he spent about 2 hours after school making it all one day). I wish I had videoed the "practice" rounds! It was so funny! And Julien was cracking us up. Apparently our acting skills weren't up to his expectations and the play wasn't going as he had imagined so he got a little frustrated, but it made us laugh (especially my dad) and that made Julien laugh. It was too cute! He did such a good job with it! I did have a part in it but afterward we played the videos back on my camera and the one Carloyn videoed of my part was cut, so I didn't make it on the video, but I was the Indian Chief and my hat was quite impressive. My dad was the king and the narrator and was really funny! Rich, Carolyn, and Jonah were pilgrims and looked so cute.

Here is part of the play. Sorry about the lighting.  You can see how Julien was saying, "oh this is horrible...!"  And I love my dad's laugh!  He is easily entertained.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com





By the way, this is just Rich being a dork.  They were actually stopped in this picture, but he was pretending to be going down the slide.  Pretty believable.  He did take Cooper down a few times, but that time I missed the picture so he posed.  lol. 



There was a cold front that came in just minutes after we got to the park so the sky looked really cool in some of these pictures. 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy to have my camera back!

 If you didn't read the post below, I haven't had a camera in 2 weeks, so yesterday, I got a little carried away. But I'm so glad that I did because some of these are my favorite pictures yet of Cooper.


This one is my absolute favorite (above) because it captures his sweet innocence.  I'm in love with him.

I decided not to choose so I made some collages instead.

I know, you get the point!  He's adorable and I'm a bit obsessed.

Julien and Jonah were off playing and since I can't take my eyes off of Cooper (or he will eat the bark!) I didn't get many of them.  Babies are just so fun to photograph anyway! 

He didn't want me to take any anyway.