Christmas Day!

On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts at home. Santa brought Cooper a bike, an easel, and a play-doh set. From us, he got a Fisher-Price computer system, clothes and other little things. Carter gave him a book about a big and little brother. Santa brought Carter a TV (since that's the ONLY thing he asked for, Santa decided to go for it!), motorcycles, and Battleship game. From us, he got clothes, shoes, and other little things. Mommy got clothes and jewelry and Daddy got clothes and a photo calendar. Even Raleigh got new bones and treats!

At Grandmommy & DD's, we opened even more gifts! Carter got a scooter, helmet, gameboy game, playstation game, wolfpack stuff, clothes, etc... Cooper got the Noah's Ark playmobil set, those cute camo/dinosaur rain boots, clothes, those adorable camo pj's with a little Raleigh on them, etc... Mommy got more clothes, boots, house stuff, etc... Daddy got clothes, wolfpack stuff, playstation game, etc... Our family gift was an original numbered Bob Timberlake framed print called "Carter's Quilt." It was given to us with instructions to give it to Carter when he marries. So, of course, I boo-hooed!

At dinner, we were each surprised with one last gift...MONEY! Grandmommy & DD decided to carry on Gran's tradition of the money giving each year! When I politely informed the boys that they would be putting theirs into their college accounts (because this is what we always did with Gran's money!), we were surprised with yet another gift...they told us that they had set up college accounts for each of the grandkids on their first birthdays! WOW!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with all of the people that we love the most!

Christmas Eve!

My family came to our house on Christmas Eve. The boys got lots of Cars stuff, playstation and board games, and all kinds of other stuff! Cooper is in to Diego so he got some of those toys and he got a scooter that lights up and makes sounds!

We had a wonderful lunch together. It's tradition that I always read the Christmas story from the bible before we open presents, but somehow we forgot this year. I think it's because we've always had to travel before so I've had to pack my bible and being at home this year, everything was different!

Christmas Eve is also my mom's birthday so we always have a double celebration! The blue tickets she's holding are to see Karen Kingsbury, who's coming to a church in Kernersville in January. I gave them to her, but I'm so disappointed that I'm going to have to miss it because I'll be at the beach scrapbooking!

That evening, we went to church. Then, it's always been a tradition that we open 1 gift before bed. Carter's was Mack and Lightning McQueen (Cars) from Cooper and Cooper's was a wolfpack shirt from us. The boys scattered reindeer food on the lawn and left cookies for Santa.

The end of my rope!

Here's a picture of the boys before we went to the church service. How can someone so cute act so ugly???


Ok.......I've always heard that when you get to the end of your rope, you tie a knot and hang on, but I'm hanging on by a thread here!

Cooper and I went out to eat with Grandmommy, Laurie, and Elizabeth tonight after the Family Christmas Service at their church. Cooper was absolutely TERRIBLE and I was MORTIFIED! He wouldn't eat, wouldn't sit in a regular chair or highchair and finally decided to get down and crawl around on the floor before taking off running from me around the restaurant! NO pops, warnings, or threats worked.

I remember watching people, like myself, before I had kids, and thinking "I would not allow my child to act like that!" Well, now I'm one of them and I totally feel their pain! I don't think that it's my parenting skills, it's just Cooper's personality traits. The reason I think this is because we have raised him no different than we've been raising Carter and he did NOT act like this!

We were supposed to go to Laurie's house afterwards so Cooper and Elizabeth could play, but instead I took him straight home. When we got here, I immediately took all his clothes off and wore his cute little butt out and very firmly explained how he would not ever run from me, hit at me, or tell me no again. He said "yes, m'am." Hmmm, we'll see how long this lasts...

Anyway, if anyone else out there has a little Cooper and has any ideas for me, please send them my way! I will gladly take advice!

Cookie Party

Decorating the cookies


Cooper, Ellie, Skyler, Carter & Aiden


We had a cookie decorating party with our friends and neighbors, the Shewcows! We ordered pizza for dinner and then the kids decorated cookies that they had cut out and baked earlier. They used all different colors of icing and all kinds of sprinkles and M&M's. It was so much fun! Santa will LOVE them!

More Cooper Stories

I have to update everyone on Cooper's latest antics! The last time we were at my sister's house, he took a pen and wrote all over the soft screen of their fairly new flat-screen computer! I was so afraid we were going to have to buy them a new computer! Luckily, they got it all off. Don't you ever wonder why your kids do things like this at other people's houses, but that he never once tried to write on our ancient computer that I would have been more than happy to throw out??? Thank goodness, we have a new one now anyway!

Also, he was watching Toy Story one evening and when Buzz and Woody started fighting and Woody told Buzz to "shut up," I heard him say, "No, Woody, you shut up!" Ok...that's one complaint that I have about the Disney movies! I thought about it and decided not to say anything b/c I didn't want to draw attention to it. Well, that was a big mistake! When I picked him up at preschool the next day, Ms. Becky said that he was telling everyone to shut up all day long! So, we had the talk about it. That same afternoon, he got in trouble for something and I spanked him. He looked at me and said, "You shut up, you shut your mouth!" Oh, no...needless to say, he got yet another spanking, a time-out, AND a little soap in his mouth! He hasn't said it since! Carter asked him if the soap tasted good and Cooper said no so Carter said, "Well, I guess you won't say shut-up anymore!" This, coming from our child who is 6 years old and whom I have never heard the words "shut-up" come out of his mouth!

Toothless Grin

Carter finally lost his first tooth! He's been dying to lose one for the longest time. It was very loose anyway, but Carter and Cooper were "rough-housing" and when they bumped heads, it fell out! Leave it to Cooper to knock Carter's teeth out! Carter would've cried had his tooth not fallen out! He was so excited that he couldn't go to sleep and then he woke up at 6:30 am! You would've thought it was Christmas! The tooth fairy left him $5 (only because it was his FIRST tooth and Daddy said that makes it special!) along with a trail of gold magic dust on his pillow! She also left him a note telling him that since he took good care of his tooth, she would turn it into a beautiful star in the sky!

Our Little Patient

Well, we thought we had our 1st broken bone and still aren't too sure yet! On Thursday night, Carter was playing playstation and Cooper jumped on top of him. Carter rolled him off of his back, but he rolled right off of the bed. He cried ALL night long and wouldn't use his right arm. We thought it was just a nurse maid's elbow like he's had once before, right after we moved here, so we decided to wait and see how he was in the morning. He was still screaming about it on Friday morning, so I took him to the doctor. She tried popping it back into place, but he still wasn't better, so she sent us to the hospital for x-rays. They were all negative, so she wanted us to come back to the office to put him in a sling. She said it doesn't matter what the x-rays say, if he's not better by Monday, she's sending us to an orthopedic anyway. At this point, he's still not using his arm and still crying if you get near it. So, we'll see what happens in the next day or so. We all know that it is highly unusual for Cooper to just lay around and do nothing. When he hurt his arm before, he was using it and playing that same night. So, please say a little prayer for him. Here's a picture of our little patient with his dinosaur sling and the puppy they gave him at the hospital.

Christmas Activities

Here's some pictures of the boys trimming the tree, decorating cookies, and painting their handprints on wrapping paper. Cooper's handprints are green and Carter's are red. I had already washed his hand (for obvious reasons!).

My Little Gingerbread Men

Aren't they cute in their gingerbread men pj's? Those who know me know how much I LOVE gingerbread men. But, these 2 are my favorites of them all!

Flag Football

Carter has been playing flag football for the first time this fall. He has loved it! He's actually becoming quite the little athlete. He even made a touchdown! It's amazing to me how fast they learn the techniques. He already tries to be tricky and dodge the other players and stuff. His team is the Chargers and his colors are yellow and navy, which is ironic because that was our high school colors when David played football (way back when...!). His friends, Aiden and Skyler, are also on his team. I've been so proud of him for being such a team player. He cheers the others on and tells the other team, "Good game" even when his own team loses!

Archdale Christmas Parade

We rode one of the old YMCA buses in the Archdale Christmas Parade on Sunday. Carter's friend, Aiden, went with us. They had a great time waving and telling people "Merry Christmas!". Santa Claus is on the fire truck, although you probably can't even see him in the photo.

It's a GIRL!

We're getting another niece! David's sister, Laurie and her husband, Nathan, are having another girl! How ironic for David to have 2 boys and for Laurie to have 2 girls! We were sort of hoping that they would have a boy so they could experience some of the adventures that we go through on a daily basis! We all know how different girls and boys are and they're used to having a sweet, innocent little girl. Who knows, maybe this one will be a little "Cooper!" Not that we would wish that on them or anything--Ha! Ha! Seriously, CONGRATULATIONS to them! This will be our 5th niece and we also have 3 nephews. How exciting!

Thanksgiving

Believe it or not, I didn't take a single picture at Thanksgiving this year! We went to Reidsville and I took my camera, but I totally forgot to even get it out and use it! We did something new this year that I want to make an annual tradition. DD, Carter, and I delivered meals to the needy on Thanksgiving morning. What a wonderful feeling to help others. I was truly hoping Carter would get that feeling, too and I think he did. He wasn't really looking forward to going, but he actually enjoyed it. He even made cards to give to people. He was so excited to hand them their meals and told them "Happy Thanksgiving." I always take the boys to pick out stuff for the shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child every year, but I've been looking for other ways to help show them how to give back throughout the year. This is one we will definitely adopt! We got done just in time to eat lunch at David's parents. My mom even joined us! Then, we had dinner with my family. Our story to remember this year is that my sister, Sandra, put the sweet potato casserole that I made in the oven WITH the PLASTIC lid still on it! Needless to say, it tasted like plastic and we had to throw it out! We all got a good laugh!