Christmas 2009

Wow! We had a great Christmas. I hope everyone else did too. The girls were so much fun. They each got way too much stuff. I still don't have it all put away. In fact, I'm not real sure where I'm going to put some of it.





Carissa had a great first Christmas. She is so loving and was genuinely happy to see all of her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family and friends. She is crawling pretty good now and is so proud of herself. Here's a pic of her ready to take off.














We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Coopers at Grandma Sherrel's and Grandpa Clarence's. We had a nice birthday party for Jesus and had a yummy peanut butter birthday cake. After supper and cake we opened gifts. Maleah was so excited! Her favorite gifts were a really cool baby hospital bed for her baby dolls, a doctor/veterinarian dress-up outfit, and a matching M&M pillow and throw. Everyone knows Maleah loves M&Ms. Here are Maleah and Carissa with Aunt LuAnn.

















Here is the cake that Sherrel made.

Carissa had a great time there too. She got a cute little baby doll to play with from Grandma and Grandpa, along with some other things that she didn't really care about at that moment. She also got a super soft little puppy that she liked a lot too from Uncle Craig and Aunt LuAnn. My favorite gift was her diamond ring from Craig and LuAnn. It looked so pretty on her little finger. I hope she wears it as well as Maleah used to wear hers!

Christmas morning at our house was great! Carissa woke up about 7:30 and we finally had to wake Maleah up at about 8:30. She walked into the living room, took a look at the tree, and said "Yep. He was here." She was real calm and matter-of-fact about it. Of all days, she woke up with a runny nose and a little bit of a cold. So she was a little grouchier than usual. Not a good day for that to happen! But after she got to opening some presents she cheered up pretty quick. She loved everything. Santa brought her some Inspector Hector Dirt Detector handsoap and put it in her stocking. She had been searching stores for that stuff for months. She saw an ad for it in Parenting magazine and wanted it. It's kind of hard to find. But luckily, Santa knew where to get it. ; ) She got an American Girl doll that is called a Bitty Baby, because it looks like a newborn, rather than some of their other dolls who look like older girls. She calls it the "Coming Home Baby", although I'm not real sure why. I thought she would be so head over heels over that baby that Mackynzie would go to the wayside. That didn't happen. So far Mackynzie is wearing all of Bitty Baby's clothes and using all of her stuff. Bitty Baby (and a few other cute babies that other people gave to Maleah) is sitting in the corner of Maleah's room looking a little lonely. Why I buy expensive toys, I don't know. Every time I do, it doesn't get played with. The cheaper the gift, the more she likes it.

I didn't really expect Carissa to get into unwrapping her gifts. It's a good thing I didn't or I would've been disappointed. She could've cared less. She wasn't even into the wrapping paper or boxes too much. She did get excited about some of her gifts after they were unwrapped and out of the packaging. She got some bath toys in her stocking that she particularly liked. And she got a baby that looks a lot like Mackynzie (a newborn Cabbage Patch) but is named Shirley. Carissa was always wanting to hold Mackynzie and there was no way that Maleah was going to let her. Maleah is pretty good about sharing but Mackynzie is off limits. So Carissa got Shirley. And she loves her. It is so sweet to watch her hug and kiss her babies. And today she added the word "baby" to her vocabulary. She was looking at a picture of a baby on a box and she pointed at it and said "baby". Then she said it again later when she looked at it so it wasn't a fluke. The girl knows what she is talking about. That makes four words now that she says. Here are a couple of pictures from Christmas morning at our house.

Here are some pictures of Maleah in her doctor/veterinarian outfit from Grandma Sherrel. She looked so darn cute in it. She loved taking care of Carissa. She gave her a shot, took her "blood plessure", and put a band-aid on her. She also doctored her babies and her bears. So cute!

After we opened presents at home, we headed to my mom and dad's for breakfast. Mom always makes homemade biscuits and gravy on Christmas morning. It was so good! Then we opened presents there. Maleah was so happy to see Grandma, Grandpa, her cousin Chloey and Uncle Brad and Nikki, Madison, and Sophia. She got some really cool presents there too. Brad and Nikki got her a very pretty Lee Middleton baby doll (currently sitting next to Bitty Baby) and Grandma and Grandpa got her some clothes for Bitty Baby (the ones that Mackynzie is wearing) and a zhu-zhu pet. She loves that zhu-zhu pet! It's name is Jilly and it is pretty darn cute. So far, she hasn't gotten it caught in her hair so that's a bonus. She got so much stuff that day it would be very wordy for me to list it all, so I won't. But thanks to everybody that gave my girls a gift! We appreciate it and it will eventually get played with. Carissa loved her gifts there too. But I think her favorite thing there was box that had a picture of a baby on it. Oh well. Here is a picture of Sophia, Madison, and Maleah opening gifts.

After we left Mom and Dad's everyone fell asleep. Jason, Carissa, and Maleah were out like a light. So I got to work. The house was a disaster so I got that all cleaned up, toys somewhat put away, and all of the Christmas decorations, including the tree, put away. After that I felt a little bit better and could relax. I hate leaving, knowing that I'll be coming home to a disaster. I also made several dozen deviled eggs and did a workout video in my new Skecher Shape-Ups that Jason got me. Where did all of this energy come from? I have no idea. I haven't had any since. lol. Anyway, after everyone woke up we headed to the Oestreich Christmas. It was fun to see everyone and the girls had a good time. Here is Carissa with her Great-Uncle Timmy. She is crazy about Timmy.

We had a great Christmas. I talked a lot what a nice Christmas the girls had, but Jason and I had a pretty nice Christmas too! He did some shopping at Brinker's, so I got some new jewelry plus my new shoes. I was very happy! And he got a new drill and a new trigger from me. Neither of those things excite me but he was pretty happy about them.

It's hard to believe 2010 is right around the corner. Happy New Year everybody!

Nothing Like a Good Cookie...

It's definitely been busy around here this week. We have finally finished our Christmas shopping (yay!) and I have managed to get almost all of the gifts wrapped. I am very happy about that. I also have a clean house and no laundry at the moment. Woo hoo! That will all change in the morning though, I am sure about that. It's amazing how much can be accomplished if you stay home the entire day and do not go anywhere. Today was one of those rare days when I did just that. Oh, don't think that I did without my Dairy Queen Coke though. Jason went and got one for me. Wasn't that sweet?

Maleah has only one day of school left and then she is on Christmas break. I think she will be very ready to go back in January. Just having Saturday and Sunday off is too long for her. She is very ready to go back tomorrow and will be disappointed when she finds out she is not going to go to school the rest of the week.

Our family is mourning the loss of a friend this week. Al Peacher died suddenly on Friday night. He was married to Juanita, Maleah's babysitter. He and Juanita took care of Maleah when she was a baby while I was at work. Maleah still loves to go there and visit and for the last few years has stayed there about once a month or so when I have the "day off". She loved Al very much and I'm sure the visitation is going to be difficult for her. It will be her first and it will be for someone whom she will miss a great deal. It is going to be especially difficult for the kids who are used to seeing Al on a daily basis. He loved children and was a very nice man. He was like a grandfather to the kids that Juanita takes care of.

On the brighter side of things, we have decided to let our cat Eloise back into the house. She started out as a house cat a couple of years ago, but her crazy sister Eliza Jane ruined it for her and they both got booted out. They have since lived out on the back deck but Eliza Jane recently went missing. Poor Eloise was incredibly lonely and we felt sorry for her and let her back in. She will make a good housecat I think. Maleah is very excited about it and keeps kissing her (ewww!).

Carissa is turning into a wild woman. She is getting a lot more vocal - borderline loud at times. She probably feels like she has to, to drown out her sister. And she is really getting around now. She is army crawling and just almost regular crawling. She is trying really hard to pull up to things too. She got a new crib this week. We found out her old one was recalled so we took it back and got her a new one. Hopefully it will be a safer one. Her stroller got recalled last month. What the heck is up with all of these baby products being unsafe? Makes me nervous. Earlier in the week she found a chocolate chip cookie on the living room carpet that some other little girl had carelessly dropped. She snatched it right up and was really enjoying it. I decided to move her to the couch to avoid her possibly choking on it. She gobbled that thing right up! I think she was thinking "this is the best thing I've ever eaten in my whole life!!". Here are some pics of her and the cookie and the bath that followed.

We had the Weaver Christmas on Saturday night at Round Prairie Church. It was lots of fun. There are many relatives there that we only see at Christmas time each year. This year we got to meet Daisy. She is only a few weeks older than Carissa. Her mom is Jason's cousin and they have been living in Australia for not quite a year. Daisy was born over there and none of us had gotten to meet her yet. She is a cute little thing and her and Carissa sat by each other for a little bit. I can't say they really played with each other. Mostly what happened was Daisy took Carissa's keys and Carissa yelled at her (see? wild woman...) and then Daisy would laugh. Then she would touch something else of Carissa's and Carissa would yell, Daisy would laugh. See the pattern? Apparently Carissa is selfish. The whole thing cracked me up. After our big Christmas meal, we all went into the church sanctuary and some of the kids sang. Maleah was right up there onstage singing away, but only on the songs she knew. If she didn't know the song, she sat down. I think she thought she was pretty big stuff that night.

Santa Claus came to the Weaver Christmas too. Maleah couldn't wait for him to show up and kept asking anyone who was standing next to her at the moment when they thought he'd be there. When he finally showed up, she stood far away from him and watched every other child there (well, except Carissa) go forward, sit on his lap, and wait to be handed a couple of gifts. Finally when it looked like he was done and was getting ready to leave, she ventured a little closer, insisted that I hold her hand, and got close enough to be handed a gift. I told Santa that she didn't want to sit on his lap but preferred to talk to him while standing next to me. That wasn't good enough for ol' Santa though. With that twinkle in his eye, he laughed and said "oh, come here, and tell me what you want". And she did!! The first time ever! She sat on his lap and told him a few things that she really wanted for Christmas. Unfortunately, she had never mentioned those things to me and is not getting any of them. I think she was nervous and just rambling. I'll bet she couldn't even tell you what it is she said that night. He did give her two gifts that night that made her very happy though. On Sunday, just out of the blue, she said to me "Mom, why wasn't the real Santa there?". I was surprised and said "You don't think that was the real Santa?". She said "No, that was just someone dressed up". Then I explained to her that Santa is pretty busy this time of year and that was fine with her. She seemed okay with that explanation. I guess Jason's cousin Brian didn't make a very convincing Santa Claus.

Maleah performed in her school Christmas program on Wednesday. It was so cute! All of the kids lined up and sang Christmas songs. Maleah really got into it. She sang, danced, and was full of expression, to say the least. She looked beautiful and had her new Christmas dress on. She was so excited to see her mom, dad, sister, Grandma Debby, and Grandma Sherrel and Grandpa Clarence there to watch her. Mackynzie was also there watching. In case you didn't know, Mackynzie is her baby doll and she happened to have a matching dress on, just like Maleah's. Mackynzie has sort of taken over Clayton's place in the Cooper household. Remember Clayton? He went everywhere with us for a few months but now he is stuck in the closet (I think that's where he's at) and Mackynzie goes everywhere now. This may all change again after Santa's been here. You might want to take a good long hard look at Mackynzie because this may be the last time you'll see her. : )

This coming week should be very exciting! Christmas is going to be so much fun this year. Maleah will be a lot of fun to watch and it will be exciting to see Carissa take it all in too. We are so blessed! Merry Christmas everybody!!

Eleven days 'til Christmas! Say what, say what???

We've had a busy week around here. Or at least it seems like it to me. I can't believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! Where did all my time go? I still have gifts to buy (not many, but a few) and almost everything left to wrap. Wrapping is a lot harder this year because Maleah keeps wanting to help. She is no help. She ends up taking "scrips" (her word, not mine) of leftover paper and taping some ribbon to it. I guess a "scrip" is a cross between a scrap and a strip. That's all I can figure out. I corrected her twice and she told me I didn't know what I was talking about. She is so stubborn! Where did she get that from? Needless to say, I've already made one trip to Walmart for more tape and more ribbon and I've only gotten 10 presents wrapped. I think she needs some fun Christmas crafts to do. (hint, hint, Aunt Angie)

So, Carissa is sort of crawling. She goes backwards pretty good and forwards not so good. She creeps forward I guess, instead of crawling. She still prefers her "roll and pivot" method. I think the gifts under the tree are going to be her incentive to speed up. She really really wants those presents and her roll and pivot method is slowing her down. She is talking now! She has been saying "mama" and "dada" for a while, but now she has added "bye-bye" to her vocabulary. It is so sweet! She says it really softly. "Buh-bye" Pretty good for 8 months old, in my opinion. I think she is going to be another early talker like her sister was.

Speaking of her sister, she never shuts up! My lands! Can that girl talk! When I dropped her off at pre-k today, I was thinking how much she sounded like that girl from The Cosby Show. You remember, Vanessa's friend? She talked super fast all the time. That is Maleah all over! She talked, without hardly taking a breath, all the way from our house to her school. Then she talked all the way from getting out of the car to the front door of her school. I finally interrupted her to tell her that I loved her and to have a good day.

Maleah told me last week that she had helped her teacher remember another student's name. Apparently her teacher had a moment where she got tongue-tied and couldn't remember who she was talking to. Maleah told her "it's Corbin!". The teacher then thanked her and Maleah said "You're welcome. Maybe I should be President of this school." I think me and her teacher got a kick out of that. Later that day at home, she told me that she should maybe be "President of this town or maybe even President of this whole world!!" Wow. She has big dreams and a big ego.

She wore a new outfit to school today and after she put it on she asked me how she looked. I told her that she looked beautiful. She said "Do you think I look like a 1st grader?" I said, "Oh, you're pretty tall and that outfit does look sort of grown-up on you. I think you could probably pass for a 1st grader." Oh my gosh! That made her so happy! Apparently, she really wants to look like a big girl in 1st grade.

Since I'm behind on pictures I've put in a lot this week. I still don't have the picture of me and the girls meeting Gretchen Wilson. Holly still has not emailed that to me! If she reads my blog this week, maybe she'll get the hint. Anyway, here are some pics from my Nashville trip and Jason's big buck that he got. The first one is all of us "playgroup moms" at Buca di Beppos (or something like that) and the second one is all of us at P.F. Chang's. In the top one, left to right, is Leslie Warren, Kate Saulle, Me, Holly Emery, and Deb DuQuaine.

Carissa can sit up and pull up a little in her crib now so before we lower the mattress Daddy decided to take a few pics of her peeking over the edge. You can't tell in the pictures but she has three teeth now! One of the top ones came in on Thursday. They look so shiny in there when she grins.

We had a little bit of snow last week and Maleah took advantage of it. She played and played in it and was disappointed that it was gone by noon. She was able to make a snowman, although not a very big snowman.

Our sorority coat drive pick-up day was held on Saturday and it was a HUGE success! We were able to help so many families. It was really neat to watch the little kids come in and pick out a coat that fit them and a new hat and gloves. Their faces would just light up. We had several that put their coats on and wouldn't take them off while their parents continued to look. They loved them so much they didn't want to take them off. That was really neat. It sure made us all stop and think about how blessed we are and how much we take for granted. Maleah helped on Friday night when we set up the coat racks and she helped Saturday morning too. There was a pink scarf there that she really really wanted but I had told her that she couldn't have it and that it was for someone who needed it. I could tell she was really disappointed. But on Saturday morning she showed it to a little girl that came in and told her "I think this would look really pretty on you." Isn't that sweet? She wasn't told to say that, she just wanted that little girl to have it, since she herself couldn't have it. The little girl wore it out. I took Maleah to Walmart later and bought her an iCarly hat and a princess scarf. Maybe that was her plan all along and I fell for it? Who knows!

Nashville Shopping Trip = Exhaustion

Okay faithful blog readers, I hope I don't disappoint you but I'm too tired to write much tonight. I've had a fun and crazy weekend. We're all tired here. Jason, the girls, and especially me.

I left on Friday morning with my playgroup mom friends, Deb, Holly, and Leslie for a 2 night shopping trip to Nashville, Tennessee. We met our friend Kate there since she now lives in Tennessee. So there were five of us gals livin' la vida loca in Nashville. We shopped and we shopped and we shopped. I got most of my Christmas shopping done now.

We stayed the first night at this super nice hotel in Franklin. It was such a nice area! We ate at some great restaurants there (J. Anderson's, Buca di Beppo's, and P.F. Chang's). Deee-lish!! We spent three hours in T.J. Maxx and found some great deals! It was just so much fun being with the girls and shopping without having to rush. Loved it! On Saturday we went the best mall EVER!!!! It was the Coolsprings Galleria in Franklin. I highly recommend it.

On Saturday evening we checked into our next hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown Nashville. Oh my gosh!! It was fabulous! We had a junior suite and it was so nice. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. We decided to walk downtown and check out some live music and get something to eat next.

I was just sure that we were going to meet someone famous and WE DID!!! While we were out on the sidewalk on Broadway we ran into Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy. They were sooo nice! We had our picture taken with them. That was the highlight of the trip for me. I told Gretchen that we were from Southern Illinois too. She was very friendly and just overall very cool. Cowboy Troy even took a pic of all of us together with his camera. I checked his twitter page today and he twitpic'd us! So if you're on twitter, become a fan of cowboytroy and check us out! I'll try to post some pics on the blog in the next few days but my camera battery went dead Saturday so I'll have to swipe some pics from Holly to put on here.

It was interesting how signs of home kept following us around Nashville. We were in a packed "honky-tonk" listening to this really awesome guy who will probably be on CMT one day and ran into my friend Mandy and her husband who were in town celebrating their 10th anniversary. I knew she was in the city but I never dreamed I would actually run into her. Then the next place we went to had "So. Ill" written on the bathroom toilet paper dispenser when I went to the ladies room. We left there and went dancing at the next place and there was this cool bluegrass-ish/old-fashioned band playing. They said "You've probably never heard of this song but it's about a place called Effingham". Then they sang the "Effingham Song" that they play on the Effingham radio station. I sang along and knew most of the words. The lead singer stopped and started talking to us and couldn't hardly believe that we were from that area. He said "this one goes out to the girls from Effingham!" What are the odds that we would be in that particular place at the same time that he sang that song? Then we saw Gretchen who is from Southern Illinois. And then at the last place we went to, there was this big sign on the wall that said "Alton Belle Casino". Strange. We had a lot of fun. That is for sure.

It was so good to see Jason and the girls when I got home though. I missed them! And they missed me! Carissa was a little standoffish when I got home but she got over it pretty quick. Maleah couldn't quit hugging and kissing me. She is a big time mama's girl and she needed me back. How blessed am I to have so much love in my life?

If I wasn't about to fall asleep I might have more to say. But my own bed and my own pillow are calling my name. Forgive any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I'm too tired to care. Pictures soon, I promise. : )

Sweet Potatoes, Snowmen, and Baby Jesus all in One Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was so nice to see family and friends and eat yummy food. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We're all healthy and we were blessed with Carissa Faith this year. A year ago I was going through a very difficult and long pregnancy. It is amazing to me that she is actually here and healthy. She turned 8 months old on Thanksgiving Day.

I also really enjoyed Black Friday shopping. Woo hoo! Me, Aunt Angie, Aunt Patty, and my cousins, Andrea, and Abby, left town at 4 a.m. and headed north. We made it to Kohl's by 5 a.m. and got some awesome deals there. Then we headed to Wal-Mart and made it out alive. I didn't think it was too bad this year, crowd-wise. I think we timed it well and went to each store about an hour after they opened. After that, we had a yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Delicious! I love the Black Friday energy. It's so exciting!

We got our tree up this weekend. That made Maleah very happy. It looks really pretty even if she does keep rearranging the ornaments. Every time I look at it I notice that it looks slightly different. She wants to hang as many as she can on each branch at her eye level. So there are a lot of ornaments at about 45 inches high. Oh well. As long as she is enjoying the tree and is excited about Christmas, I really don't care. As we were decorating it, she found the beauty in each and every ornament. "Oh Mommy, this is so pretty and glittery" or "I love this one, it's my favorite" or "This one is so cute". I think they're all her favorites. There is one ornament that says "Baby's First Christmas" and has a picture of Maleah in it. It's hard to tell if it's Maleah or Carissa though. They look so much alike!

Maleah gets to go to her sitter's house tomorrow while I go to the dentist. She loves to go there and is very excited to see her friends and Juanita. Tomorrow is Juanita's 80th birthday and she is still watching kids. She is one of those people that doesn't look her age or act her age. She seems so much younger! She loves the kids as if they were her own grandkids and Maleah loves her. She used to go there full-time when I worked but now she just goes occasionally. It's wonderful to have a trust-worthy sitter that you can call at a moment's notice. Carissa is not staying at Juanita's tomorrow but instead gets to go with me to the dentist! Poor baby woke up with a cold today and has a super runny nose. She sneezes like every five minutes! I hate to send her and spread the cold around. Plus I don't want her to be fussy for Juanita because she's not used to staying there and she doesn't feel good on top of that. That's enough to throw even the happiest baby for a loop. But lucky for me and Carissa, my friend Nikki is riding along with me to the dentist and is going to watch Carissa while I am at my appointment.

So, what happened this week that was funny? Well, Maleah has a memory like an elephant. Earlier today we were talking about a tv show and I couldn't remember one of the character's names. Maleah thought about it for awhile. She hadn't seen the show in about a year probably. Finally she said "I used to pretend I was her when we were on vacation in Florida last year. Oh yeah, her name is Megan". Then I started thinking about it and now I very clearly remember her pretending to be Megan in August of 2008. I think she also remembers the day she was born. : )

I wore a new shirt on Friday night and she told me I looked beautiful but then said "Is that maternity?". Umm, no. Thanks. I'm just still fat from the last baby. Does anybody know how much a tummy tuck costs?

We have a nativity set sitting in the living room. I walked in one day and Maleah was rubbing the baby Jesus and saying in a baby-talk voice "Oh, you're a sweet little baby, Jesus. You're a cutie pie! Yes, you are!". She sounded as if she was talking to Carissa but wasn't. I wish I would've had a video camera of her talking to Jesus.

Carissa is still not crawling. Not much new with her other than the cold. She sure loved her Thanksgiving meals though. She especially loved Aunt Kay's sweet potatoes. Here's a pic of her enjoying them. We brought home some leftovers of the sweet potatoes and she has already eaten all of them. I think I need that recipe. If any of you start to notice that she has an orange glow about her please let me know right away. Thanks!

Jason got Thanksgiving off for the first time in four years. He was able to enjoy a long weekend and had three days off in a row. That is practically unheard of around here. It was so nice having him here and awake. He was able to get some things done that he needed to and we had lots of family time.

Maleah gets to start her advent calendars this week and she can't wait. One of her "calendars" is a countdown box with 25 little doors on it. Each day she gets to open a door and gets a little present in it. And when I say little, I mean little. If anyone knows of any cool, cheap gifts that are smaller than 2 inches, let me know. Every year I have a hard time finding things to put in it. When she asked me if I could give her a hint as to what her presents will be, I told her that I wasn't sure yet what she was going to get. She told me to just "go get some of that stuff, you know, that you put in pinatas". Good idea. But really that stuff is just a bunch of junk and yucky candy. I might resort to that though.

I know the next few weeks are going to fly by! I love this time of year! Oh yes, and by the way, Maleah is still playing "Christmas Morning". My mom gave her a light up little snowman that she keeps hiding around the house or wraps in Kleenexes and then pretends to find it. She gets so excited that Santa has been here and left her a gift. And each time is as much fun as the first! Here's a pic of her and her little snowman from Grandma.

It's Christmas Every Day at the Cooper's

Coats, coats, and more coats! The coats have started to roll in and my sewing room is filling up fast. I have a huge pile in there that I've washed and dried and some of the other sorority girls have a lot of coats at their houses too. Isn't that wonderful? Hopefully we will get in some more child-size coats and will have enough at our giveaway day for everyone that needs one! You have until December 12 to get those coats to me!!!

We had several funny conversations around here this week. Maleah spent a few hours with my mom and dad today. My mom informed me of everything Maleah told her while I was gone. After seeing a Harley Davidson go down the road, she told Grandma and Grandpa in a very matter-of-fact voice that "my dad really wanted a Harley but he got Carissa instead." Crack me up! Not sure how she thought that out. Yes, Jason would like a Harley but he wanted Carissa too. Carissa is definitely not the reason that he does not have a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

A couple of days ago, just out of the blue, Maleah told me I should be on What Not To Wear. I said "Umm, okay. Thanks a lot". You could see the little wheels turning in her head as she realized that that was kind of rude. Then she said "oh, you could be the pretty lady who tells people what they should wear." She totally tried to cover it up. Apparently she doesn't like what I've been wearing lately.

Maleah and I decorated the house for Christmas yesterday while Carissa watched. Maleah put her own little tree in her room again. Here is a picture of her and her Barbie tree. It looks so pretty in there! She loves it. Right after we were done with it she went and got some gift bags and wrapped up a bunch of her stuff. As soon as her dad got home we all had "Christmas morning" in her room. Carissa got a new blanket that Maleah had bought for a $1.00 at CVS to give her for Christmas. I assumed she meant the real Christmas but no. She gave it to her last night less than 2 hours after she bought it. She couldn't stand the suspense. I think we will have to take her Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve this year for the gifts that are from her. Daddy got an old white blanket and I opened a green glittery ball and a stuffed octopus. Lovely gifts. She immediately re-wrapped them and put them back under her tree. She wants us to play "Christmas morning" every day. Fun, fun!!

Not much new with Carissa this week. She really has an appetite now and is eating like crazy. She is still oh so close to crawling. It just hasn't clicked yet that crawling would be easier than rolling. She seems very content to roll everywhere. I can't believe she is going to be eight months old on Thursday! Time is going by so fast. This morning in church there was a tiny little baby that was about a month old sitting in front of us. I just kept staring at him and thinking how sweet and little he was and how fast the last eight months have went by. It amazes me how quick they go from that size to Carissa's size.

Jason wrapped up a big week of deer hunting. He has been bow hunting for several weeks now and then this weekend he went with his gun. He has seen several but not "muy grande". He is always waiting on "muy grande".

As for me, I've been busy just being mom. You know, cleaning, cooking, laundry (including five loads of coats), running Maleah back and forth to school, etc, etc. We're all looking forward to a fun week. Maleah has a "feast" tomorrow at school that she is very excited about and we're all excited about seeing a lot of the family on Thanksgiving and over the weekend. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving too!

Now Accepting Coats and Purple Hippos

We've had a good week here at the Cooper's. We're all still healthy and I'm so thankful for that! I hope I didn't just jinx us though. I didn't take any pictures this week (What's wrong with me??). So, instead I've included some "oldies but goodies" here and there.

Maleah did great at her tumbling class and one of her teacher's told me that she is a very good listener. That made me feel pretty good. She doesn't always listen to me but at least she listens to others. That's a relief! This coming week there is going to be a puppet show at her school for the pre-k kids at the exact same time as her tumbling class. I told her that she would have to choose which one she wanted to go to. She said that she chose to "go to both!!" Umm, no. They are at the same time. Which one do you want to go to? She said she'd get back to me on that one. It will be interesting to see which one she chooses. Kind of crazy that a four-year old has scheduling conflicts.

Our sorority is sponsoring a coat drive. We are accepting new and gently-used coats, hats, and gloves and also monetary donations to buy what we are lacking. So all of you local readers, if you have nice coats that aren't being used, send them my way! You can call me to come pick them up or there are drop off boxes at Wal-Mart, IGA, and a few other places. Also, if you know anyone that might benefit from this program, please let them know that there will be a pick-up day on December 12 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the county health department.

Carissa has been a funny little character this week. She has the sweetest personality. She is Maleah's biggest fan. Anything that Maleah does cracks Carissa up! Carissa has started to scoot just the tiniest bit forward. I wouldn't call it crawling but it's close. She still prefers to roll everywhere. This morning in church she played quietly on my lap and then fell asleep with her face all snuggled against me. Oh, so sweet! I don't think Maleah ever fell asleep in my arms. She always insisted on a bed. I don't blame her but it's nice having one that wants to snuggle. Carissa set a personal record today and ate an entire jar of baby food at one meal. Maleah said "Mom, aren't you so proud of her?!" Yes, I am. I was starting to think she was trying to exist on milk alone.

Maleah has a pretty short Christmas list this year. All summer she had told me that all she really wanted for Christmas was balloons. One latex balloon blown up by her dad, with air and not helium, can last weeks around here and provide way more entertainment value than many other toys that cost me oh so much more money. I was fine with balloons for Christmas. I thought that was a great idea! But of course, as Christmas has grown closer and the commercials more fantastic, her list has grown. This year she has decided that she really wants a Pillow Pet. They are advertised regularly on channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon. What is it, you ask? Well, it is a pillow that folds in half and looks like a stuffed animal. They make them in about 20 different "pets". She immediately decided that she wanted the purple hippo when she first saw the commercial. I pulled up the website and she looked them over very closely. There was a pretty pink hippo but she wasn't interested in that or the cute puppy or panda. It had to be the purple hippo. I found out last week that Hallmark stores are carrying these pets and since I was out shopping on Saturday I decided to check them out. Would you believe that the purple hippo is nowhere to be found? Sure found a lot of pink hippos though. A nice lady at the Hallmark store called around to at least ten different stores to check for me and no purple hippo. The good news is that I can order it online. I'll have to pay shipping, but oh well. It has to be the purple hippo. When I came home from shopping I talked with Maleah a little bit about the hippo and told her that there didn't seem to be any purple ones nearby. Her response? "That's okay, Mom. I think Grandma can get it for me. Or maybe I'll ask Santa!"

Dinner with the Duggars

This week I've had dinner with Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and all of their kids and various members of the Gosselin family. I've went to Wal-Mart with Anna Duggar and her baby Mackynzie. And I've had to make sure Clayton was with us the whole time. But the good news is Clayton can double as Mackynzie. Wondering what the heck I'm talking about?

Maleah's two favorite shows are 18 Kids and Counting (starring the Duggars) and Jon & Kate Plus 8 (starring the Gosselins). She is constantly in a world of make-believe and pretends to be someone from one of those shows. This has been going on for probably a year now but I think it just gets funnier and funnier. She has really been into being Anna this week. For those of you that don't follow the show, Anna is married to the Duggar's oldest son. They just had a baby named Mackynzie. So Maleah has been in labor this week, delivered a baby girl, and has been taking excellent care of her, if I do say so myself.

Maleah has a baby doll that she has named Clayton (when he's not doubling as Mackynzie). She feeds him, changes his clothes multiple times a day, bathes him, etc. She will be a pretty good mommy one day. She definitely has that mothering instinct. The great thing about Clayton is that he doesn't mind wearing girls clothes at all. If fact, if you ever meet Clayton you'll notice that he is wearing something that you may have previously seen on Carissa. He's real laid-back. : )

In other news, Maleah started tumbling class this week. She loved it!!! She was so excited to get to go. I'm glad that I decided to let her do it. Last year I had sworn that she would never go back to tumbling unless she was eighteen or older. She went twice last year and it ended disasterously (for a four year old). She was stung by a wasp at the tumbling center and was pretty hysterical when I picked her up. She never went back. She never wanted to and I was more than fine with avoiding drama. Hopefully, she sticks with it this time!

Carissa is still not crawling. I thought this was going to be the week that she just "took off". But she is more than content just rolling to wherever she wants to go. It is amazing how fast she can get across the room by just rolling. She fell in love with Pooh Bear this week and is absolutely crazy over these two stuffed Poohs we have. I have never been a big fan of Pooh myself, but whatever makes her happy is fine with me. She hugs and kisses them and it so sweet! She loves to hug her mama too and it just melts my heart. She is the sweetest little thing.

Carissa is starting to eat a little more finally. This child doesn't like anything! I have been feeding her cereal and baby food for about three months now and she spits 98 percent of it back out at me. But this week she did eat a little more than usual, so maybe she's finally decided milk just ain't gonna cut it. She also discovered that she likes those Biter Biscuits made for babies. Very messy but yummy. Here's a pic of her and her biscuit.

Funny quote of the week: "Please hurry Mommy! Hand me the GermX! I need to suck my thumb NOW!!!!" - Maleah Cooper, age 4

A Week of Halloween Fun and Miley Cyrus

Well, we had a great week here at the Cooper house. We had a lot going on and the whole week just sort of flew by. Actually, the whole month went by pretty darn quick. What happened to October?



Today is the first day of November already and the time changed this morning. Why don't babies understand time changes?? Carissa always wakes up around 7:30 or 8:00; so today it was around 6:30 that she started stirring. I know I shouldn't complain though. She is such a good sleeper and sleeps anywhere between 12 and 14 hours a night. I know I'm really blessed to have such a good little sleeper but when I realized that I could've gotten an extra hour and didn't I was a little bummed.



On Wednesday Maleah got to wear her cowgirl costume to school. All of the kids wore their Halloween costumes and then the class went to a local assisted living center to sing to the elderly. She had so much fun! All of the little kids looked so cute dressed up and it was so funny to watch them all sing. When Maleah forgot the words she kept moving her mouth but wasn't making any noise. She probably thought if she did that no one (especially her teacher) would notice that she wasn't singing. But it was pretty easy to tell that her lip movements did not match up with the other kids'. So funny to watch! It was very exciting for her to be there in her costume. She couldn't hardly quit smiling. But she was also very excited for school to be out so that she could go to the Miley Cyrus concert later that night.



Right after school was out we loaded up the car and headed to St. Louis. We heard the classic "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?" about a million and one times. She was so excited she couldn't hardly stand it. We stopped to eat supper and had a great steak dinner (her favorite). Her night had hardly begun and she was already talking about how much fun she was having.



So we finally get to the concert and decided to buy some snacks. Maleah wanted cotton candy so we bought one small cotton candy and one medium Coke. Fourte
en dollars. Holy smokes! Then we found our seats, which were on the floor. So we walked through the stands to where you enter onto the floor. At that point, a staff member checks your tickets to make sure that you actually have a floor seat. There was also a security guard standing there. The guard walks up to Jason and says "I'm sorry. You can't have that in here". Jason, holding the Coke, was about to say "Come on man, I just paid $8.00 for this Coke" but then the guard patted Jason's hip pocket on his jeans. Jason was still carrying his pocket knife and that is what the guard was talking about. Oh brother! Any one that knows Jason knows that he always has his pocket knife with him. We had both thought on the way to St. Louis that he should take it out and leave it in the car once we got there but then we got sidetracked by an overly excited four year old and it just didn't happen. His knife has a stainless steel clip on it and th
at is what caught the eye of security guard. Suddenly there were two guards and a staff member that kept saying "Oh my God! Thank God you saw that! Oh no!" over and over very loudly. Errrr. The guards ended up confiscating his knife. Errrr. But they told him that if
he found them after the show, Jason could have it back.



The opening act started and it was LOUD!! Jason and I both wore earplugs. Maleah refused. The first act lasted a little over an hour. By that time Maleah was about ready to go and Miley hadn't even gotten on stage yet! She sang four songs and Maleah was asking if we could go yet. It was after 8:00 (her bedtime) and the noise was driving her nuts. So we left at 8:30. We heard Miley sing 4 songs. Maleah loved her though. She loved screaming for her and watching her dance but all in all she had had enough. So in hindsight, maybe four is too young for a concert? Or maybe next time we should go to an afternoon concert (is there such a thing?)and show up for the main performance and skip the opening act? Jason's knife was returned to him about fifteen minutes after the show started. Apparently the security guard could tell that Jason was no threat and was simply a Dad who was holding his four year old up high so she could see. But FYI, if you take a knife to the Scotttrade Center, it will get confiscated. : )

Friday and Saturday included a lot of trick-or-treating, a hyper four year old, and my mom's world famous homemade donuts. Here is a picture of my two trick-or-treaters. Maleah as a cowgirl and Carissa as my little snowman girl. We definitely had a busy week but it was super fun. Anyone need any Halloween candy??? We have waaaayyy too much!!

Life at the Cooper's

Well, since this is my first blog EVER, I guess I should start off with some basic information. I am Beth Cooper, married to Jason, and we have two little girls. Maleah is 4 years old, going on 25, and Carissa is 7 months old. The girls keep us pretty busy.

Maleah is a smart and funny little girl who is also incredibly loud. She is very energetic and passionate about everything she does. She is also very loving and kind. Maleah was our "early girl" and was born 6 weeks premature. She caught up pretty quick and now you can't even tell that she was early. She is one of the tallest girls in her pre-k class.

Carissa is laid-back, cuddly, and always very happy. She is the best baby ever. There is no question about that. She smiles pretty much all the time. She looks a lot like her big sister. They both look more like their dad than their mom.

Jason and I have been married for ten years. That seems amazing to me. It feels more like a few years, not really ten. We were married for five years before we decided to have a baby. I really don't even remember what we did with our time in those five years. I think we went out to eat more often. Other than that, I don't really have a clue what we did. Hmmm.

Jason is a great husband and father. He works hard so that I can stay home with the girls. He likes firearms, hunting, and fishing. He is excited about deer season this year. He loves coyote season too. I don't always understand it but I just go with the flow. He probably doesn't understand how someone could love sitting at a sewing machine for hours on end either.

I like to quilt and scrapbook when I have the time. Which really isn't all that often anymore since Carissa came along. But that's okay. I wouldn't trade her in so that I could quilt. lol! I make the time to scrapbook so that I don't get behind on either of their books. I like to go to 12 hour crops at our local scrapbook store so that I can get all caught up in one day. As long as I go to one of those every other month or so, I'm good. I can't stand for either girl's scrapbooks to be behind. It drives me nuts! I'm always afraid that if I get behind just a little bit that I'll never get caught up.

Well, that's a little information on the Coopers. So, what's new with us this week? Well, Carissa now has TWO teeth! She can't quit running her tongue over them. She's probably thinking "What in the world is in my mouth?" She does not like to eat any type of food other than her formula. She ate a little bit of sweet potatoes twice this week and that was an improvement. She spits everything I give her out. Maleah has always been a good eater. She would eat any baby food I gave her when she was Carissa's age. But maybe because she was always playing catch-up? She was so much smaller than Carissa is. I'm afraid that Carissa is going to be our picky eater.

Maleah is getting excited about going to see Miley Cyrus on Wednesday in St. Louis. We were supposed to have seen her a few weeks ago but Miley had strep throat and rescheduled her concert for this week. It should be a lot of fun! Maleah also gets to wear her halloween costume to school on Wednesday so she is going to have a really fun day that day. I'm betting that she sleeps all the way to St. Louis. But that's okay because she'll need her energy for the concert.

I'm going to try and update this blog once a week. I haven't really decided which day yet but check back for more news on the Coopers.