Kids these days...

Aunt Alli and Uncle Rusty have an Ipad and wow, does this kid love it!  He even loves the commercial for the Ipad, but really, who doesn't?  That music is so catchy!  As soon as he spots the Ipad, he knows exactly what to do to turn it on, yikes!  His current faves on the Ipad are Mickey Mouse dance party and of course, Toy Story!

Caught in action!

The Flu...Yuck!

The flu bug has reared its ugly head at us this week.  Coop went down first Monday morning.  Thankfully he only puked a couple of times, but was definitely not himself all day.  Spent most of his time on the couch/bed cuddling with someone watching cartoons.  Hated he was sick, but he loved that sweet cuddling!  Luckily, it was a 24 hour thing.  It hit Dad just last night much worse...yuck, yuck, yuck!  I feel like a ticking time bomb...

Charlie Brown Christmas

Our own little Linus watching Charlie Brown Christmas

Coloring

Man, I am so excited that we are getting closer in age to doing crafts...the teacher in me is dying to come out!!  Coop tried out coloring last week,  more interested in it than I thought he would be. Funny thing, he only wanted to color with blue and green crayons, kept throwing the other colors down...what does that mean?  

Cowboy Cooper

In case you forgot, we are headed south after the first of the year, updates to come!  For the time being, we found Uncle Brock's old cowboy hat, just a little big!

Dishwasher

Cooper's recent favorite spot!  

PS-Don't tell the future home owners Coop has been sitting on their dishwasher door for the last week :)

Naughty or Nice?

Last week, I had Coop's high chair moved just to change things up a bit, well, Lola took full advantage!  

I was cleaning up lunch and turned around to see this.  Coop thought it was pretty funny!

After I got Coop out, Lola jumped right back up and continued.  I couldn't help but grab the camera.

Action shot as I am yelling at her to get down...for the 3rd time.  By the way, do you see her food in the left hand corner?  She is a picky eater...she picks up the pieces she doesn't like and disperses them around, lovely.

No joke, this is where I found her a few hours later.  I mean, how can you not love that face??  This is just one of the many examples of how Lola thinks she is a human being and not a canine!

Shoes

Shoes are Cooper's latest "thing."  No matter how big, small, or color, if they are in his eyesight, he wants them on.  Usually doesn't ask me for help, does his best to get them on, walk around for a little bit and then takes them off to get on to his next task.

His choice of shoe here was Dad's! By the way, how natural (and cute) does that Kansas jersey look on him?!!!?

1st snow of season and hopefully our last!

Sunday morning we woke up to snow, not too much, but enough to make you stay inside all day.  Have I mentioned how much I seriously loathe winter?  The weather lately makes me that more excited for our move back down to Ft. Worth, it was in the 70's yesterday! Meanwhile, I have been wearing long underwear the last 2 days...ugh!  Here are just a few pics from the day.

Coop was pretty amazed by it.  Believe it or not, we bad parents didn't take our son out in the snow...totally unprepared and did I mention my dislike cold? :)

Coop must have had a premonition about the snow...here he is in Aunt Tanya's boots the night before.

We even had a fire going all day.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of Lola, she seriously sat with her face 6 inches from it!  She likes  the heat as much as her mom!!!

We were telling Coop the fire was hot, that he couldn't go near it and this was the face he kept making...hilarious!!!

Santa's Magical Kingdom

The Christmas festivities continued this past weekend!  It was a cold, cold, cold weekend, so we did something that kept us in the car...Santa's Magical Kingdom!  For those of you non-St. Louisans (not a word, I know), the magical kingdom is a big park that they do up with lights, think Clark Griswold times 100!  The best part is you can stay in your warm car and drive thru!!!

Mamaw and Papaw Jones came down early and Cooper helped Papaw out with his milkshake. :)

I am telling you this is a kid's heaven!  It is unreal!!!

Coop and Dad had the best seats in the house!

The whole crew in the front seats, in total awe

Crown Center - Part 2 - Santa Claus and More!

After dinner at Fritz's we explored Crown Center with the 1/2 million other people there that night! 

Cooper had his face smashed up against the glass to see the Gingerbread Village.  It was pretty amazing!  Wish I would have taken a picture of the "stat sheet" that listed the amount of ingredients and time it took to build, unreal!  I like to thnk I have a lot of patience, but this would throw me over the edge, for sure!

Told you, face literally pressed up on the glass, getting as close as he could!

Love this!  The tree was hanging from the ceiling down to the 1st floor!  How do they do that and who decorates that tree!!!!!!!!!!

We waited way too long in line for the Crayola village and to see Santa again!  Adam and I missed the first time, so we had to see Cooper's terrified reactions in person...so mean, I know!  At this point, we were so close, yet so far from getting in.

Not a great picture of Coop, but love that Crayola house!  For those of you that visited Crown Center to see Santa as a kid...I remember it being a whole lot bigger!  So, either I was unaware when I was younger or they have changed it!

Cooper was having a grand ole' time playing until our turn was up in line to visit Santa.  Dad did the honors of handing off, actually prying off and putting on Santa's lap!

It's moments like this that make me wish for a fancy camera with a super fast shutter!  There was a perfect moment of him staring Santa down and there I stood with my point and shoot waiting for it to take the picture...ugh!!!  Did you hear me Santa?...a fancy camera for Christmas!!!

After the traumtic experience, we met up with the rest of the crew at the bar where they were watching football.  Uncle Rusty emptied his pockets of change for Cooper to throw in the waterfall.  Pretty sure his wish at that moment was to never see that white bearded man again!!!

Dad didn't get the puffy vest memo...

And the fun was over, but one last pic anyway!

Crown Center - Part 1 - Fritz's Diner

It had been a dreary, boring day in KC, so I suggested heading to Crown Center for the evening.  Believe it or not, the whole fam took me up on it (minus Bry and Tara-in Vegas)!!  To get in the Holiday spirit all 8 of us piled into my Yukon...tight squeeze and watched Elf on the way there.  We LOVE that movie!  We headed to dinner first at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant.  If you live in KC and have young kids, it's a must!!  You call in your order at your table and train tracks line the upper walls.  The trains run constantly delivering food to the tables.  Needless to say, Cooper was in awe!! 

Coop declaring his order :)

They hand out these super cute conducter hats that Cooper wouldn't leave on for more than 2.5 seconds

Cooper (and Grandpa) watching in awe as the trains go across the tracks

Coop's expression as the train dropped off our food and it was being lowered to our table...so intrigued!

See, the train has your food as its caboose and then it drops it off on the tray and it lowers down to the table.  If you look closely, you can see the tracks in the background and the phone we ordered from at our table!

Coop doesn't get juice often and when he does, he usually doesn't take his lips off the straw until it is gone!  Kind of my feelings about wine :)

Such a fun experience, can't wait to go back.  Oh yeah, the only drawback...Coopie was so interested in the trains that he ate about 3 fries and 1/2 bit of grilled cheese, oh well!

Christmas Decor - Less is More

So, if you have been to any of my houses (the count is up to 3), you know that we follow the less is more mentality.  When you move every couple years, you don't get too comfortable or have time to fill in all the empty spaces.  This is actually perfect now that we have a toddler crusing the place at full speed at all times!  My Christmas decor follows the same philosophy.  These two pics are the main decorations, with a few touches here and there.

I am pretty proud of myself, as I put this tree up all on my own!  It is a fake, pre-lit tree, but it comes in 3 different pieces and wasn't easy to do.  For about a week it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the corner, but I finally won the battle!!!!  Again-the ornaments...less is more.  I avoided the bottom as I knew somebody's little hands would be all over the ornaments.  Well, I forgot about his long reach!  This has lead to many timeouts for taking balls off the tree and then I eventually gave in and moved them all higher. 

Love how our stockings look above the fireplace!

Visit to Santa

My good friend, Jenny, over at Stilley Stuff had fabulous Santa pictures taken last year.  So, we followed in her footsteps this year.  A KC photographer, Happy Chick, takes them one day every year in November.  Adam and Cooper were in KC for a KU football game, but I was in STL for a Stella and Dot party.  With Adam busy working at the game, it meant Grandma and Aunt Alli were in charge.  They really are the best, they got Coop up/dressed and in downtown KC before 9am on a Saturday!!! And this what their time and effort got them...priceless pictures!!!

I don't think I could love these pictures more! 

Ring Around the Rosey

Coop randomly was turning in circles, so of course we encouraged it by singing Ring Around the Rosey!  He thought it was so funny and just kept spinning in circles, until he threw up (just a dribble)!  But, after that I called it quits, the poor kid was so dizzy!  We took a few videos and this one takes the cake, enjoy!  Apologize for it being horizontal instead of vertical...can't quite figure out how to change it!

Fun at Uncle Aaron and Aunt Cami's House

The Jones' clan (minus the McCormacks) came to KC Friday of Thanksgiving weekend.  We went to dinner for dad's birthday at Jalapenos (for the 2nd dinner in 3 days) Friday night, but no pictures of fried ice cream to prove it.  Sunday morning we went straight to Aaron and Cami's, hence the pajama pictures!

The boys and Ava-Grace under their tent!

Adam cruising Cash and Coop in an office chair around the wood floors.  This is one of Coop's favorite things to do at our house!

Ava-Grace and Coop cuddling and watching Toy Story 3.  Ava is so sweet with Coop!  Braeden was in the mix as well, I guess just hiding from the camera!!!

Yikes...thumb in mouth, all 3 pictures!!!

Christmas Card Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of our Christmas card this year...is this picture priceless or what!?  Will write a post sharing the whole Santa experience later!  So, I love the card setup,but feel it needs the perfect saying right above our names.  Do you have it...please share!!! 

Naughty Or Nice Christmas Card

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Toy Story

Coop got surprised with the Toy Story movie a couple weeks ago and to say he is loving it would be an understatement.  Anything Woody or Buzz related brings sheer excitement and if a computer is in sight, he is pointing for Toy Story to be on.  Seriously, I am thankful for this new obsession as Elmo and Mickey Mouse were really starting to wear on me...

Last night we were all watching football/basketball, so before bed this is how Coop relaxed...

blankie...check, thumb...check, Toy Story...check.  This is the life!