Sugar Cookie Tradition

Grandma Joan loves cookies and decided to start a tradition of baking sugar cookies with the grandkids.

That marble rolling pin is heavy!

Oh, but we did love sprinkles.

And notice the cookie in the right hand -- Coop needed to keep his energy up for the rest of the sprinkling.

A bit erratic with the sprinkles, but that just gives the cookies character.

(And lest you think Coopie sampled all of the cookies he decorated, many are actually supposed to look like that. They're these clever cookie cutters.)

More Christmas fun

Grandpa Cecil and Grandma Joan

Uncle Toban's phone, internet, email thingie:

Pretty guitar:

Mom's chapstick -- I love Burt's Bees!

Holiday happenings in Wichita

First order of business: sit on Grandpa Jerry's tractor:

Visit Grandma Carol at the library where she works (and steal an apple from the fruit basket):

Rock it with Guitar Hero:

Read a bit:

Snack a bit (ok... a lot):

Color a little bit:

Relax on the sofa, crossing my legs just like Daddy:

Christmas preparations

A visit to Santa, of course:

Enjoying the candy cane Santa give us:

Sweeping the kitchen (wearing Daddy's shoes. on the wrong feet.), so that we come home to a clean house. That's my boy!

Packing:

Ready to hit the road, in the new forward-facing car seat!

That toddlin' town!

Last weekend, we hit Chicago to visit our good friends the Nugents.

Joe, Mary, John, and Timmy, relaxing after a hard day.

With two boys in the house, NugentLand has fabulous toys:

And we got to eat our favorite Giordano's pizza!

Daddy being silly:

Being silly with Daddy:

The airplane ride home -- all tuckered out after a long fun weekend of playing hard!

A weekend of firsts

First time waiting with Daddy in a bus shelter in the airport parking lot:

First ride on a bus! A blue bus!

First close-up look at an airplane:

First ride on an airplane:


Staying in a hotel. Not a first, but check out all the awesome toys: a telephone, a remote, a book (thank you Gideons), and a keyboard! So many buttons to push!

Stayed tuned to find out where we went and why!

Holiday preparations

In the 10 years we've been married, we've never had a Christmas tree. This year, we actually have a wreath on our door (because Alan's mom brought it for us!), and then I recently dug out Cooper's Fisher Price nativity scene to round out our holiday decor.
Cooper and I visited a Festival of the Nativity -- a church that has over a gazillion nativity scenes on display. And thankfully, they had a kids' table so Cooper could play with something. This is a Veggie Tales nativity set.

Baker's president hosted a holiday reception for faculty, staff, and families. Cooper really loved the M&Ms, but also was quite tempted by the pretty candles outside.

And in another holiday tradition, I forced us all to get dressed up for family pictures.

With Chef Paul, our kitchen helper:

Too cool:

This particular look was at the nighttime Christmas parade in town. He was a big hit!

Pushing his kitchen down down the hallway. My mom should be so proud -- maybe Cooper will be a street hot dog vendor when he grows up!

Ever wondered what's inside your dryer?

Twinkle Twinkle

Again with no pants. This is becoming a trend...

And with very little sense of pitch. That's my boy!

The Artist (pronounced ar-TEEST, for effect)

Using markers properly inside a big cardboard box:

Let's hope Cooper doesn't someday become a hugely famous artist. I'll be lambasted for using rubbing alcohol to get rid of one of his earliest works:

Working when the mood strikes, even if you don't have pants on.

And in a different medium, my old camera bit the dust and became Cooper's camera.

I'm sure that picture would have turned out beautifully.
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And I came across a really old disposable camera that said it needed to be used before Nov. 08 (that's now). So I sent it to daycare with Cooper.

I haven't scanned any of the pictures that came back, but I have some lovely shots of several kids' thumbs. And one beauty looking straight up Cooper's nose.

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It was actually a fun little project. One that I might replicate every six months or so, just for fun!