Cooper is 4!

I can't believe it, but Cooper is 4 today! The day of his birth seems like yesterday. I can remember most of the details, from what I was wearing to the exact words of the doctor, to the yummy liquid dinner I was allowed to have that night. It's hard to remember life before he came into our family, and my how it has changed since then! Little man, we love you and we are so happy you are in our life!

Cooper on his actual birthday: March 11


Little Sister on his birthday


A cute one of Abby at the party.


Cooper beaming in front of the bouncehouse at his party. How old are you? Four!

Christmas at Our House

Whew! Christmas is over, and now it's time to clean up the wrapping paper, throw away all the boxes, head to the gym to work off the holiday cookie calories, and let the dust settle. On Christmas Eve, Cooper baked and decorated Christmas cookies and Mommy and GG, and then assembled a gingerbread Santa sleigh with Daddy and Grandma Lien. We opened family gifts that night, so that the Santa presents could get their full glory Christmas morning. Yes, he is wearing his Halloween costume, Super Why. He's really into being a superhero lately, and if he could, he would wear the costume 24/7. On a side note, he said to me, "Mommy, superheroes wear their underwear on the outside of their clothes...so do I need to wear my underwear on the inside, too?" Yes, son, considering your costume is so well-loved that it has three holes in the crotch, it's probably a good idea to wear underwear on the inside of your clothes, too. :)

This year, Coop was so excited to open gifts that it was tough to contain him....Abby could have cared less about opening gifts, but she did want to play with all of her brother's new toys. It wasn't until later that she got interested in her own new stuff. They both now have a lot of new toys and activities to keep them occupied for at least the rest of the winter break, and Mommy has an excuse to figure out some new toy organization to accommodate the new items.

Big Boy Bed

Cooper is officially moved to a "Big Boy Bed". After a couple of nights of complaining of being cold, it was time to move the twin bed up from the garage, buy some flannel sheets and a fleece blanket and break down the toddler bed for the next kiddo who needs it. He was a teensy bit excited about the switch, and chanted, "I'm getting a big boy bed" for about 20 minutes straight. He loves that Abby is still too small to climb up on the bed, and keeps asking us if we're tired and want to go to bed on his bed. Maybe the new bed and bedding will encourage him to sleep in in the morning...wishful thinking.

Advent Calendar

Cooper has an advent calendar. He's so excited every morning to go open the door for the day and see what treat is there for him. Today, he got a little too excited and this is how the advent calendar looked as he went upstairs for his nap:

Pasties

We have a tradition on my side of the family of making pasties. Basically, an individual meat pie. Anytime I mention making them, Bryan likes to tease me and call them by the other pronunciation of the word "paste-ee's" and wiggle his eyebrows at me...anyhow, my mom and I made them today and Cooper helped out. Yummm...a bite of heaven on a fork. Just a tip from me...cut the fat in these little babies by putting a pat of butter on the top.

Here's GG and Cooper making a sugary, cinnamon treat with leftover dough.


A sneak peek at the pasties baking:


Miss Abby knew there was something great going on in that oven and had to check it out:

O, Christmas Tree

I'm working on getting a cool image of the kids with the tree. Not so easy with a constantly moving one year old and a tripod. This is the first attempt. I still have 2 weeks with the tree, so I'll give it another shot when candy bribery might work again.

Friends

Cooper and Zach are best friends. We met Zach and his mom, Jessica, at Gymboree when the boys were 6 and 7 and a half months old, respectively. They have very different personalities, but get along so well, and seem so genuinely excited to see each other and play together. Even better, Jess and I are also great friends and are genuinely excited to see each other. I thank my lucky stars that motherhood brought us together!

Here's a recent picture of the two of them, made vintage-y looking just because the color casts on their skin were beyond my Photoshop ability to fix.

Snow Princess

So, I spend a fair amount (okay, a LOT) of time browsing "real" photographers' websites and blogs. They give me inspiration, are enablers in spending money on kids clothing and props and photography equipment, and teach me various aspects of improving my skills. I love photographs of girls with fur-lined hoods in the winter. Don't know why; probably related to my love of historical romances (couldn't you just see some nobel lady in the 1800s in her carriage sneaking away to a tryst with her man wearing a fur-lined cape/hood deal?) Now that I write it, it sounds weird to compare that to little girls, but you get my drift...

Anyway, here's Miss Abigail in her Snow Princess hooded sweatshirt.

Dirt

We went to Fairytale Town today with our great friends, Jessica and Zach. Cooper and Zach were filthy upon exiting the place. Cooper said to me in the car, "Mommy, my shirt isn't dirty." Yeah, because it was under your sweatshirt and your jacket...everything else is, though, from your shoes to your fingernails. That's okay, I never have enough laundry to do.

Here's a couple of cute ones of the boys...



Can you tell which one has a "Mom with a camera"? Psstt, it's the one in the background with the expression that says, "Geez, would you just take the bleepin' picture so we can go back to rolling around in the mud?!"