Countdown to Christmas (and Surgery)

Well, December has flown by, just like I thought it would.  Time surely does fly by when you are having fun.  That is just so true. 

We no longer have any snow here and it doesn't look like it's going to be a white Christmas after all.  But we did have snow last week and the kids had so much fun playing in it.  It stuck around for awhile.  Maleah was playing outside one day and was so excited when she picked up this frozen chunk of snow/ice and discovered that it was shaped exactly like the United States.  I had to take a picture of it!  It was pretty cool (in more ways than one.  ha!)

Maleah and the frozen U.S.

We also had the Weaver Christmas last Saturday.  This was the first year that we didn't have it at the Round Prairie Church.  Instead we had it at the Cisne Community Center.  We had a nice visit with the Weaver side of the family and a great lunch.  The kids got to see some of their distant cousins that they don't get to see very often.  It was fun!

The kids playing on the folding chair racks.

There were no toys there so they had to make do.

This kept them occupied.

the Cooper girls

Trying to corral Silas for a picture - it

didn't work.

 

I think I am finally ready for Christmas.  I have everything bought and wrapped.  The stockings have been hung.  There are no presents under the tree though.  I figured that Mr. Silas Man would probably not leave them alone so they are still hidden somewhere in this house.  The girls are counting down the days until Santa gets here.  It has been a fun Christmas season so far!

My surgery is looming right around the corner.  It is scheduled for December 26th.  Please keep me and my family in your prayers.  I don't know when I will have time to blog again but I promise I will post Christmas pictures as soon as I can!

Chicago, Birthday Fun, Sledding, and a Dead Fish

We have been so busy but it has been great.  I like being busy.  Especially with fun December activities.  Like traveling.  And birthdays.  And snow.  And shopping.  And wrapping.  And Christmas movie watching. 

 Maleah and I recently took a one day trip to Chicago on the train.  We went with my Aunt Patty and a group of people from Flora.  Our train was supposed to leave Effingham at 5 a.m.  It was a little icy and snowy that morning so we woke up at 3:30 a.m. so that we could leave Flora by 4 a.m.!  We got to the train station and waited and waited only to find out that our train had been delayed by two hours.  We went to breakfast at Denny's, came back to the station and found out the train had been delayed by another two hours.  Our train was four hours late and we left Effingham at 9 a.m.  All I could think was that we could have slept a whole lot longer if we had only known.  Maleah loved the train.  She thought it was very exciting.  We arrived in Chicago about 1 p.m.  We grabbed a cab and headed to the American Girl store.  Maleah was super pumped.  She had been to the one in St. Louis before but it doesn't even compare to the one in Chicago.  I surprised her by letting her have one of her Christmas presents early and she got the Caroline doll from American Girl.  She was thrilled!  She had brought her other American Girl doll, Mia, with her and Mia got her hair done.  After that store, we went to the Lego Store next door.  I was amazed by the Lego creations in there!  Wow!  We had a quick bite to eat afterwards and then walked a couple doors down to the Hancock Building.  We went to the top of the building and looked out over the city and the lake.  It was beautiful and a lot of fun.  Then we grabbed another cab and went to the State Street Macy's - which is my all-time favorite Macy's ever!  I got some Christmas shopping done and then it was time to head back to the train station.  Our time in the city was only six hours long because of the delay.  That six hours went by so fast.  Our group leader had checked with the Amtrak and was told that the train was on time.  Was it really?  Nope.  We got back to the station and found out that it was delayed - again.  We could have shopped longer!  Boo to Amtrak!  We finally boarded and left Chicago a little after 9 p.m.  When we made it back to Flora it was nearly 2:30 a.m.  Our butts were dragging to say the least!  Maleah was such a trooper.  She didn't complain a bit until after 2 a.m. when she was half-asleep, cold, and worn out.  It was a fun trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The only downside was the fact that the trains were delayed.  If they would've been on time, the trip would have been perfect.

Maleah on the train headed to Chicago.

Me and my big girl

Maleah upon arrival at American Girl

A cityscape made out of Legos

Maleah and a Lego girl

Lego Santa

Life-size Lego Avenger (I think that's what he is)

The view from the top of the Hancock Building

Maleah at the Hancock Building

Maleah pretending to be a window washer

This was a scene to have your picture taken it, so that it looks

like you are on scaffolding.

It was a beautiful view.

 

This was the big tree on the 7th floor of Macy's.

It was in The Walnut Room restaurant.

We ate supper right here. 

The Sugar Plum Fairy came to visit our table while

we were there.  She was so sweet to Maleah.

Maleah and Caroline at the train station

ready to head home.

It was freezing in there!

Silas turned the big two years on the 11th.  I can't believe he is already two.  We had a small birthday party for him at the Depot in the train room a few days before his actual birthday.  He had won a birthday party there last year but it was about a week after his 1st birthday.  We took a raincheck on that offer and used it this year instead.  It was sort of like a surprise party because he had no clue that we were having a party for him.  He was at home taking a nap while the girls and I went up to the depot to decorate.  His Dad brought him to the party a little while later.  It was decorated and guests were starting to arrive.  He loved all of the attention.  He had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing because he loves chocolate.  He got a lot of nice gifts and had a fun day.

On his actual birthday we had a small cake at home and we sang to him again.  He also got to unwrap his presents from us.  We gave him two things:  a popcorn tin and a new scooter.  My kids all love scooters and at our house they are inside toys.  They ride them through the house constantly.  The problem is that our scooters are all pink.  Our sweet boy needed a blue one.  Well, guess what?  He opened the popcorn first and then could care less about the scooter because he was too busy eating popcorn!  He loves popcorn!  So, a simple $5 popcorn tin from Dollar General made him super happy.  He had a great birthday.

Getting ready to open the popcorn tin

Yummy!

That's a nice scooter but not as cool as the popcorn.

Yummy cake made by Lora Harrison

Carissa's gift to Silas was as much change as she could find

around the house and then she put it all in a gift bag.

After he opened it, she gave him his piggy bank

and then he started filling 'er up!  It kept him busy

for a couple of hours because every time he ran

out of money, we just dumped it out and

he started over.

 

You've come a long way baby!

Me and the Miracle Man

 

Silas went to the doctor on the morning of his birthday for his two year checkup.  He weighed in at 30 pounds.  What a big boy!  He is in the 74th percentile for weight now.  That is way better than the 0 percentile that he started out at!  He is in the 94th percentile for height now too.  I am not surprised to have another tall and skinny Mini Cooper at all.  What a blessing to have a healthy little boy and to be celebrating his 2nd birthday.  Thank you God for answered prayers!

 

Here are some pictures from his party at the depot:

 

Grandma Debby and Silas

Grandpa David and the birthday boy

Silas and his big chocolate cake

He kept saying "Hot!" He needed a little help blowing them out.

Pretty cute, isn't he?

Opening presents with a little help from the Cooper girls.

He loves the model trains!

Silas and his buddy Carson Smith

Chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream - could

it get any better than that?

 

So what else has been going on with us?  Well, one day we went sledding at Charley Brown Park.  It was a lot of fun.  Our friends, the Roses and the Lewises were there and so was Uncle Brad, Madison, and Sophia.  Uncle Brad took Carissa down the hill with him.  She loved it!  It was cold but we still had a great time.

Maleah in orange/gray hat, Carissa in green hat, Molly Lewis

in gray/white hat, Chad and Myra Lewis facing the camera

Casey Rose giving Carissa a push

Peyton Rose

Maleah and Madison - these two girls have so much

fun together

Brad videoed their ride down the hill.  It was really cute.

Brad and Madison doing a train down the hill

Sheldon Rose

 

It has been a little busy around here to say the least.  I almost have all of my Christmas shopping done and almost all of the wrapping done.  I have been driving Maleah crazy with the Christmas movies.  I love Christmas movies.  She says "You are burning me out on Christmas movies, blah, blah, blah!"  That's just too bad.  I have been recording as many as possible and watching them whenever I am home.  I love all of the Hallmark Christmas movies.  She says they are all the same and they are too sappy and romantic and there is too much kissing.  Ha!  I also love White Christmas, The Bishop's Wife, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, The Santa Clause (1, 2, and 3), Elf, and many more.  I just love Christmas time and I am making the most of this season!

 

Oh, and in sad news, Katie the fish died today.  We got her in March for Maleah's birthday.  Maleah cried.  It was sort of sad.  Until we went to walmart and bought two new fish.  She is fine now.  RIP Katie the fish. 

 

Until next time, peeps...

We Love December!

We have been having lots of fun around here.  I have been feeling great so it is much easier to have fun when you feel great.  Feeling good makes me more productive as well.  I have cleaned out the basement, organized things around the house, cleaned the girls' rooms from top to bottom, and have just been getting things done around here.  I am really enjoying feeling good.

Our Classical Conversations group made Christmas cookies together last Tuesday and it was so fun.  The dough was premade by one of the moms in our group.  We all brought rolling pins and cookie cutters and the kids rolled and cut out the cookies.  Then we baked them all.  I am estimating about 20 dozen cookies were made!  The next step was decorating and the kids went to town with the icing and sprinkles.  They had a great time!

 

Getting started...  Silas is ready to help!

Taking time out from baking to pose for the camera. 

Notice the flour on the shirt and the knee-high

Hello Kitty socks on the outside of her jeans.

If she wore them under her jeans, no one would

see that they were Hello Kitty! 

These tasted even better than they looked!



 

 Last year at Christmas time Maleah asked if we could have a real tree.  I told her no but said, "maybe next year."  She remembered that and started talking about have a real tree about a month ago.  I have never in my entire life had a real tree before.  Jason had real trees for Christmas when he was young.  In fact, rather than cutting down their trees the Cooper men would "shoot" their tree down with guns.  For those of you who know the Cooper men, this is no surprise I am sure.  Anyway, I ordered a tree stand from Amazon and it was to be delivered on last Saturday.  My friend Deb gave me excellent advice on what stand would be easy to set up and give us the least chance of the tree falling over, especially with a Silas on the loose.  So, Saturday morning at 9 am we went up to the Boy Scout stand downtown where they were selling Christmas trees.  We (as in me) had a hard time deciding but we (as in me) finally picked one.  They loaded it into Jason' truck and we brought it home.  We waited and waited on the FedEx truck.  It didn't come.  Although it was "guaranteed" delivery on Saturday it wasn't delivered.  In fact, that Amazon "guaranteed two day delivery" doesn't really mean anything Jack.  And that's a fact.  Our beautiful tree stayed in a bucket in our front yard until Monday when the FedEx truck finally showed up with our tree stand.  On Monday night, we all put the tree up.  It is the most beautiful tree that I have ever had.  I just love it.  I didn't expect to love a real tree at all.  But I do!  I love, love, love it!  Here are some pics:

 

Picking out a tree, with an angel behind them, apparently.

Carissa and our new tree!

The Cooper Family with their tree!

 

Taking it home...

 

Two days later it was decorated with love

by these two beauties.

A lift from Daddy and we got the star on top...

A certain little boy is about to turn two years old.  I can't believe it has been two years since this little miracle came into our lives.  Uncle Brad stopped by to bring him his birthday present a little early.  Silas loved it!  He has been very busy driving that Tonka truck around the house.

 

I forgot to tell you about our Thanksgiving.  We had a great Thanksgiving.  We all had a lot to be thankful for this year.  It was so nice to spend it with our families.  We had lunch at my Uncle Timmy and Aunt RaeAnn's house.  The food was delicious.  And then on Friday night we had supper with the Cooper's.  Aunt Kay fixed a huge meal, like usual, and it was delicious.  It was really good to see everyone.  Most of the people there had traveled to be there and it was good to see them all. 

 

On Thanksgiving night, I went to Flora Walmart to get some good deals on Christmas presents for the kids.  I had a great time.  I love Black Friday (or Thursday) sales like that.  I love a good challenge.  My Mom dropped me off there about 5 pm on Thursday.  Jason had stayed home with the kids and Mom was headed to Effingham Kohls with her friends Mary and Margaret.  I was going to catch a ride home with my Aunt Angie, who was meeting me there.  She had left a vehicle there earlier that day so we had a Suburban parked right up near the door.  How is that for being awesomely prepared?  I got there at 5 and promptly started looking for all of the stuff I wanted.  I had brought a lightweight backpack (a 31 cinch sak) with my billfold in it (from Initials Inc.) and a bottle of water and that was all.  No purse.  I stuffed my jacket in my backpack when I got there and was now hands-free to shop.  Luckily I had a lot of cousins and family in the store to help me get everything I wanted before they were all bought out.  My cousins Ethan and Amanda helped me get some things.  I waited in line to make sure I got the one thing Carissa really wanted.  My Aunts Angie, Patty, and RaeAnn were in there helping too, plus getting their own things.  My cousins Abby and Andrea showed up a little while later.  There was a big group of us and we had three shopping carts parked near the front of the store and they were heaping full.  We even had stuff laying on the floor next to our carts.  A few of us would stay with the carts while others would go and get stuff.  It was really a lot of fun.  But somehow in the middle of the madness I lost my cell phone.  We called it but no one answered.  I asked a manager if anyone had returned one and he said no.  We backtracked and searched but to no avail.  A little while later an employee found me and returned it to me.  I was so thankful for that.  My phone is junk and old but I don't really want to mess with replacing it either.  Shortly after that, my Aunt Angie noticed that one of my diamond earrings was loose.  I checked it and the back was gone.  I was so thankful that she had noticed so I took it out and put it into a zippered area for change in my billfold.  I didn't want to lose it!  It was about this time that I realized that I was also about to lose one of my fake eyelashes.  Good grief!  Could I be more of a lose-r?  We left Walmart a few hours later.  I had a great time but...

 

Fast forward to the next day, Black Friday.  I went to a few stores in Effingham that morning.  One of them was Weber Jewelers in T-Town.  I had two necklaces to pick up there that had been repaired.  While I was in there, I remembered my earring.  So I asked if they had a back to fit it and I opened the zipper on my billfold to show them and lo and behold, no earring!  All I could do was laugh.  The woman helping me probably thought I was a crazy bald woman.  But all I could think was, "Really?"  I thought I had saved it from being lost and it still got lost.  I examined my billfold closely and realized (a day late) that there was a section at the end of the zipper where it didn't attach to the fabric, leaving a hole there.  The hole was too small for a dime to fall out but plenty big for my diamond earring to fall out.  Errrr.  It is a major design fail in my opinion.  I have had those diamond earrings since right after Jason and I were married.  But it is just a "thing" so I am not that upset.  Life isn't about stuff.  I know that very well.  But since I was in the jewelry store, I went ahead and priced diamond earrings just in case someone wanted to get me some for Christmas.  :)

 

We are having a snowstorm here this weekend.  We have at least eight inches so far and are forecast to have between 10 and 14 inches before it is all said and done.  And then more snow is supposed to come on Sunday.  We are having a small birthday party for Silas on Sunday.  I hope it doesn't get snowed out!  The kids got to go outside today and play in it.  They had a great time! 

 

Silas fell on his butt and wasn't sure he liked that.

He liked standing in it much better.  It is past his knees!

He wanted to knock all the snow from my Christmas decorations.

I have no idea what she is doing...

The view from the window.  I wasn't going out there!  Brrrr!

 

 

Even though Carissa was bundled up to play outside she promptly changed clothes as soon as she was back inside.  Her outfit of choice?  A tankini of course!  She is always asking me how much longer until Summer and even went as far as telling me that she does NOT like winter.  She hasn't heard that from me so I guess she just decided it on her own.  She is a summer girl through and through.  No doubt about that. 

My summer girl...

and the little boy who wanted his picture taken too.

 

 

It has been a great two weeks and I am so looking forward to the next two weeks.  I love Christmas time and I can't wait to celebrate Silas' second birthday.  December is just pretty fun at the Cooper house!