Christmas in March

Due to my lack of free time and general slacker-ness, I have decided to continue the pattern of posting pictures several months after they have been taken. Oh well, better late than never.

Visiting Santa at Babyland General

I have always wanted to make a gingerbread house. I got a kit on sale and Gracie and I spent about an hour on Christmas eve making one. It was fun...and sticky.

For the second year in a row, I forgot to take pictures of the kids opening gifts on Christmas morning. I got everything on video, but I guess I was so excited to see them open their gifts, that I didn't think about the camera. I could kick myself!!

Christmas Shopping

Halloween at Last

Finally, here are my Halloween pics! Gracie was a princess and Cooper was a lion. I thought Cooper's costume was ADORABLE! I found it at a consignment sale for $10 (which is actually kinda high for a consignment sale, but it was too cute to pass up).





Gracie loved her costume. We had some cute princess high heels that matched her costume, but eventually we had to trade them in for her church shoes so that she could actually walk at a decent pace.

We stopped and got a picture with the cousins and some treats from Aunt Melanie.

We had a great time, even though it got COLD when the sun went down. We went to the Halloween thing that they had at Truett McConnell College. It was awesome because they had Christian music blasting, trick or treating through the dorms, face-painting, and all kind of other stuff! Afterwards, we took Gracie to a few houses in some random neighborhoods to trick or treat "old school style," like we had to when we were younger. Don't you remember when we actually had to work for our candy...going door to door, running from dogs, etc.

Cooper was very good, but there were a couple of times when he got fussy and cried...so we said that he was just practicing his "roar."

Gracie loved the Truett mascot.

Halloween Flashback

Here's Gracie and Cooper in their Halloween duds. Cooper's shirt says, "I love my mummy." I thought it was too cute.

Halloween and Hugs

Gracie and I carved our first pumpkin this year. It was the first one I had carved since I was really little, and I am very proud of the end result. We didn't go for any fancy design, but I think it turned out well. Her favorite part of the process was trying to put the eye and nose pieces back in after I had cut them out. Daddy was keeping Cooper occupied and taking pictures for us. Gracie kept wanting give her pumpkin hugs, and she was very upset when Halloween was over and we had to get rid of it.

Santa's Little Helpers

Baby + Santa Hat = Cute Picture

So I realized a few weeks ago that I have gotten REALLY behind on the blog. During the month of November, the kids and I were all sick with that junky sinus stuff that doesn't seem to go away. John had the flu last week. Add Christmas shopping in to the mix and the blog is wayyyy down my list of priorities.

So anyway, I was trying to figure out what to do to update the blog because I feel like I am so behind. I haven't even put my adorable Halloween pictures up yet! John suggested that I start with what I currently want to post and catch up on the stuff I missed in November and early December when I get a chance. I like that idea, so here are a couple of festive pics. I LOVE the pic at the top of the post. There are so many comments or captions that I could put on that pic.

Two Peas in a Pod

A Growing Boy

So, Cooper is now 7 1/2 months old. That is CRAZY! He is growing up so fast! I forgot to put info up about his 6 month check-up. He is still in the 90th percentile for height but has bumped up to the 75th percentile for weight. I think it is because of the formula and solid food he is eating now. I am still breastfeeding, but I give Cooper one formula feeding a day to replace an evening feeding so that I don't have to pump my milk at work. (You should see the reaction my students at work used to give me when they asked me what I was doing in the closet while they were on break. I had one girl say, "Oh my gosh, that is so gross!" Teenagers!) As far as solid food goes, his favorite food is sweet potatoes and he loves Gerber wagon wheels. His stomach does seem to be more sensitive than Gracie's was, so we really have to watch what we give him.

Cooper has been sitting up for a while but is not crawling yet. Gracie didn't crawl until 10 months, and I wonder if Cooper will be the same way. He gets held and carried around a lot, so I think that he doesn't feel the need to crawl. Cooper is definitely a momma's boy right now. When anyone else holds him, he looks at me and whines. When I come home from work (even though I've only been gone for about 3 hours), when he hears me come in, he starts fussing. It seems like once he realizes that I had left him, he gets angry! Out and about, every one talks about how mellow he is, but at home he definitely has his "high maintenance" moments.

He has no teeth poking through yet, but they are definitely bothering him. It is amazing how hard he can bite down on my finger even though he has no teeth. Cooper is such a sweet little boy! I am excited to see the wonderful young man he will grow into.

I LOVE this picture!

"Excuse me?"