9 months...

Dear Cooper,

You are 9...NINE months old! NINE! Seriously...you need to slow down!

You now say "uh oh," "mama" and "dada." When I come in your room to get you out of bed you say "mama mama mama!" It's a great thing to hear...it makes my morning...and mid-morning and afternoon!

You weigh about 25.6 lbs. A pound more than Carinna.
You crawl like crazy and are in to EVERYTHING!
You LOVE cords...computer cords, t.v. cords, Christmas tree cords...any cord you can get you hands on! It's frustrating!
You pull up onto your knees and now you are trying your best to stand on your feet.
You got a walker from Santa and you tear through the house on that thing like nobody's business!
You love to do the downward dog yoga pose...not sure why.
You like to do patty cake. When you "throw it in the pan" you sometimes only throw with one hand and it cracks me up.
You love to give hugs...like squeeze-so-hard-you-can't-breathe-hugs. They are awesome!
I still rock you to sleep at night...because I can't help it...but you are starting to fight it.
I have yet to find a pair of socks that will stay on your feet.
You hate real shoes!
You keep trying to hold your own bottle.
Your thighs are so fat I can't even fit my hand around them!

You love to hang out in Caden's room. If I am unable to find you I always check there first!

So, of course this month's photo shoot took place there. While posing you found something on the floor.

It went straight into your mouth.

You thought it was so funny!

And that is where it stayed the whole time!

I yanked it out...which you thought was funny.

But you grabbed it right back and stuck it in your mouth again!

Happy NINE months my little Coop!

Christmas 2011

Dear Kids,

As is our tradition, we started off the night of Christmas Eve by decorating our cookies for Santa! It is so exciting...and messy!

Carinna and Caden both picked a cookie to decorate for Santa (Cooper was already in bed).You two had icing, frosting and sprinkles to create your masterpieces for Santa!
There was much concentrating...and lots of eating of sprinkles!
The Christmas tree was Caden's cookie, the snowman was Carinna's and we picked the gingerbread man to represent Cooper's. I think they turned out fantastically! I am sure Santa has rarely seen such fine looking cookies!
Dad read the Polar Express just before we got ready for bed. Caden, you love this story...probably mostly because it centers around a train! The night before and throughout the day on Christmas Eve we read the nativity story in several different formats. This sparked many questions from Caden about how, exactly, Jesus went from Mary's tummy to the manger. I tried my best to brush over it...but Caden wanted specific answers. Dad and I were sweating it there for a while!
After dad finished reading the Polar Express we set out the cookies and milk for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer! Then it was off to bed to see what what Christmas morning would bring!
Santa went a little overboard this year on Christmas gifts! He brought some games for our family to play together. He brought Carinna a market stand, cash register, grocery bags, a puzzle and nail polish! Cooper got a walker and Caden got a Toy Story 3 play set, Cars 2 cars and a puzzle. Everyone got warm cozy jammies!
Caden and Carinna went right to playing...
but Coop didn't quite understand what was going on!
After watching you guys play for a while...
he finally went to check out his goodies!
Santa also left you lots of goodies in your stockings. Caden was a good big brother and got every one's stockings down for them!
Later we opened all of our gifts. You all helped each other and were genuinely excited to see what the other got! It was a sweet time!

Cooper still didn't really understand what was going on, but Carinna was more than happy to help him open his gifts! I am not positive he appreciated it though!
Later he snuck off and tried to eat my Peppermint Bark!
It was a good Christmas and I think you all enjoyed it very much!

I want you all to remember, though, that Christmas is about so much more than gifts...it is a time for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is an important time for us to also show the love of Christ to those around us by being generous with our "gifts" to them...whatever those things may be. You guys are so young now and it is hard to keep that greed from taking over in your minds when you think of all the countless things you want for Christmas! I hope that you will always remember to celebrate Jesus by your actions and attitudes all year long...and be especially gracious and generous at Christmas!

Merry Christmas & lots of love,
Mom