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!