Christmas!!

Santa came to our house!

Coop insisted that he and I sleep in the living room in an effort to catch Santa.  He made his delivery without waking either of us though:

The aftermath:

Starting on the big lego cargo plane that Santa brought:

Ta da!

December misc

School time with the stuffed animals:

Snuggle time with Simon:

Coop got invited to a birthday party at a local martial arts studio.  Pretty steep learning curve, but he seemed to enjoy himself:

And he even managed to break a board into two pieces!

Coop and I put together a teeny tiny synthesizer with teeny tiny legos that Aunt Kathy sent:

Getting in the Christmas spirit

Our friend Eleanor came over, and Coop got in full Santa mode:

 

With his bag of presents for everyone:

 

 Coop's letter to Santa (he asked for a big lego monstronsity, which, as you'll see in later posts, Santa delivered!):

Seeing Santa at the Baldwin City parade (in about 12 degree weather):

Coop and I took a train ride with Santa (and a ton of other kiddos)!

They served sugar cookies and hot chocolate, we sang Christmas carols, and a local teacher went from car-to-car telling Christmas stories.

We sat with a sweet 7-year-old girl named Esther:

And when it was our turn to go see Santa and Mrs. Claus, everyone assumed Coop and Esther were together (so help me remember in 20 years when we dig out this picture who the little girl is!):

Late November

Coop was working on a report for school and needed to know how to spell something.  "How do you figure that out at school?"  With a dictionary.  "Well here you go, son.  Knock yourself out!"

One fine Sunday morning:

Getting ready to go to the Raintree Thanksgiving Feast:

With his candle centerpiece:

On Thanksgiving day, we went to a potluck at church.  Yum!

And we spent some time decorating the table paper:

Vada!!

Carmen, Vada, Grandma Joan, and Grandpa Cecil came met up at our house in mid-November when Carmen had a meeting back at K-State.  Much fun was had.

 

Dollhouse:

Dancing:

Crafts:

Games:

November misc

I don't remember what Coop was laughing about here, but man, the kid is full of joy.

On the Tooth Fairy's last visit, Coop asked her for a self portrait.  This is what we found in the morning:

"The tooth fairy kind of looks like a fox and a dragonfly and a mouse."  Um, yeah... I guess she does.  Who knew.

Coop got a letter in the mail, and when he discovered that it was from his friend Claire at school, he just beamed! 

Grandma Joan sent Coop two real rattlesnake rattles!!!  He was thrilled!

Coop and I had a dinner date at Antonucci's in Baldwin City, with coloring pages to keep him occupied (and bread and olive oil for me!).

Coop's been going to a clay studio once a week after school.  He loves making all sorts of projects:

Our good friend Madeline

Coop invited Madeline and her sister Genevieve over for a play date shortly after Halloween.  We used these supplies to decorate Halloween cookies:

Playing outside in the leaves:

And early in November, we took Madeline with us to Union Station in Kansas City to see a pirate ship exhibit:

Making a list of things we thought we might see in the exhibit:

 

Pirate!