What happened?

Ha! I am no good at blogging! I've been absent! I've been neglectful! It's ridiculous! I will stop.

Now that that's out of the way, we can get on with the show. For my first foray into blogging in months, I will show you a few pictures of (surprise!) my beautiful baby. Ok, no, he's not so much a baby anymore. But, he will always be my baby. And here he is doing something that is utterly adorable. Sitting on his own miniature lawn chair, wearing my sunglasses, sunning himself by the fish pond and sort of feeding the fish. A set up that he made happen all on his own. When I walked out the back door and saw this, I cracked up and then immediately ran back inside for the camera. Ok, enough build up. Jeesh.




We have had several sunny days here this week and since it's officially spring break!! Cooper and I have been as lazy as possible. We spent two whole days in bathing suits in the back yard like a couple of mother-son rednecks and played in the baby pool/buckets/hose. We made it official and pulled out looootttss of beach toys and some sunblock. Basically, it was awesome. The only thing that was missing was Daddy. Too bad adults don't get spring break, too.

Happy weekend, friends!

PS- I'm not making any empty promises but hopefully I will be back around here again soon. :)

Christmas 2010

Well, my dear, you definitely LOVED all things Christmas this year. From the moment we pulled out the first decorations, you were on board for a happy, fun December. Some of the things you loved most of all this year: candy canes, a prwismas lights (christmas lights), and the advent calendar.

We got our usual two Christmas trees this year- purchased on possibly the coldest, windiest day in December- brrrr! Our Caribou's were cold the instant we stepped out of Daddy's truck. But, we had fun picking the trees out and all piling into the truck and kicked off the start of Momma's favorite holiday!

Tree Picking:


Cold Boys:


Proud New Owner of a Tree:


Your first Advent Day was a little late, but you were excited none-the-less. It was such a fun thing to do with you this year. The buffet where the calendar lived became your favorite spot in the house. You were very patient and only had one or two booboo's when you opened a door too early. I was so proud of your self control and how well you listened. (As a side note, I see you still have a paci here! We were all very brave and decided to give up the pacis after the dog chewed up the last of these cheap replacement ones. You asked for a paci only a few times after we gave it up. Usually it was when you would see yourself with one in a picture. You've been "clean" now for over a month and I can't believe it!)


Christmas morning! Opening your first present. You had been really anxious before the "big day" to open any and all presents that were sitting under the tree for family and friends. You were happy to finally be allowed to go crazy! You really did enjoy opening your things and also liked to pass out presents to others and tell them that you got them something! :) So adorable.


Your new drill and goggles:


Daddy opening your airplane:


The present opening madness ends. We're left with this:


We couldn't believe our eyes as it starting snowing on Christmas night. It was beautiful and fun. We took a few golf cart rides around the yard at Pop and Gee's house. It was hilarious for some reason to be pelted in the face with wet snowflakes.


You sitting at your favorite spot watching your Christmas snow globe:


Your Santa pic this year:


You eating lunch on a barstool in front of your favorite spot. Gotta keep a close eye on that Advent Calendar:


We had so much fun with you! You make the holidays even more fun and special than I ever thought possible. Seeing the world through your eyes is one of the best parts about our life.

Oh, one of my favorite things that you said this year-
Me: What do you want for Christmas, Cooper?
You: Uh, candy canes!
Me: And what else?
You: Uh, prwismas lights!

Done. Love you.

Snow!

We are heading into day 2 of snow here in Georgia. It started Sunday evening around 8pm and continued through the night into Monday morning. We think we had around 3 or 4 inches at our house. We've had chilly temperatures and it's managed to keep the snow and ice around for another day. The roads are icy and we've pretty much been homebound!

We've had quite a bit of fun playing in the snow. We even did a little sledding last night on a scoop shovel. I swear one of these days I will actually remember to buy a sled! Though I will say that the shovel worked pretty well. Cooper takes after his Momma and really gets into snow! Here's a look at what we've been up to:


All bundled up and ready to go! Cooper still fits into the same coat and hat from last year, unbelievably. Although, it's starting to look a little tight.


Can't resist this beautiful face.





Our little fish pond in the back yard. Those poor little fish! Brrr!


A little fun with Dadda.





Works for sand OR snow!





A good picture in the middle of a bunch of "no Momma, don't take my picture!"


Good thing we haven't taken down the Christmas lights yet. We had to turn them on just for the occasion. :)


A little hot cocoa to warm up. Cooper thought it was really fun to say 'hot cocoa'.

Happy New Year everyone!

How I love you...

That's all...just wanted to say I love you.

Retrospective

Last year at Halloween


This year at Halloween


I would just like to say, "Whaaaa??" How did my baby get so big? (And, yes, Cooper is splashing in his Pop and Gee's fountain in late October. It's been slightly warm here. Til yesterday.) When did this happen?

I would have posted a pic of Cooper carving a pumpkin this year, except, we did NOT carve our pumpkins this year! OMG! We got caught up in finishing up renovations of the upstairs bathroom (pics to come- it's amazing) and didn't make time for pumpkin carving. Oopsie. Maybe we can carve some fall-type decorations on them??

Anyway, can you believe how big my baby is? Is he even still a baby? Probably not...

Halloween

We really milked this holiday for all it was worth! You got to wear your triceratops costume 3 times! Once for the pre-k parade, once for the trick-or-treating in EAV, and then on actual Halloween. I was happy that you wore the head piece that went with your costume- even if I had to bribe you with candy. Hey, you were gonna eat it anyhow. You looked absolutely adorable and we had so much fun trick-or-treating with you. Mimi, Gee and Pop came to our house to have chili and pumpkin bread and then we all escorted you around our neighborhood. This was the first year we actually went in our own hood and it was totally fun. Lots of neighbors ready and waiting with giant candy bowls, costumes, jack-o-lanterns and decorations. We all took turns taking you to different doors and allowing you to say trick-or-treat and thank you. You were very polite and not greedy. :) We were all surprised at how well you handled some of the scary costumes we encountered. Quite a brave little dude. Happy Halloween...now on to Turkey Day!

Picture Story Book

Snapping a quick one of my quick one (well, one of my quick ones): Sadiebug



Decorating for Halloween. Cooper shows more than ample enthusiasm. He gives a very breathy, "wow!" to all things Halloween. And when I pull out more Halloween decorations, he says, "a more Haween stuff!" That's my boy.



My happy and very capable chef. I was surprised at how much his patience and listening has improved since our last baking effort. He held all of the measuring devices and poured all of the ingredients into the bowl.



He can use a spoon! So talented. My prodigy. And look how clean his pants are!



Mmm. Chocolate cookies with Reese's chips. These were sooo easy (a two-year old can make them) and delicious!



Went to the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade with Momma, Daddy and Mimi. Yes, Cooper was a tad bored by all the gore and freak. Ho hum.



Well, except for when he got to eat candy off the dirty, dirty ground.



He spent a good portion of his time looking like this.



But look at these amazing superhero costumes! Maybe he perked up a little when they walked by...



Sunday we took a drive to the North Georgia mountains. Ellijay Apple Festival.



They have bouncy things! Suddenly Cooper was not so into bouncy things! Oh well...



He definitely was into being chased by Momma...



and by Dadda.



And there was lots of this. Oh, how I love. this. smile.



Look at the thrill on his face! It's tangible. Daddy, I love how you let me do crazy things that Momma is too fraideycat to let me do.



Red, red, red. Love, love, love.



All this running has to make you thirsty!



Oh, why yes it does, thankyouverymuch. Fresh from the apple farm apple juice. Refilled *2* times on the way home with gas station Juicy Juice. Eek. Hey, it's Sunday. We were indulging a little.

Self-portrait of the Momma and Dadda.

And there you go. Amazing weekend spent reconnecting after 3 (Three!!!!) weeks of the sickness in our house. I love you family. xoxoxo, Momma