Cooper's First Haircut

Well, technically not, but who's going to argue with us? We did try once (with little success) to trim it at home, but this was his first professional cut, so it counts! And let's just say, Cooper HATED having his haircut. There was a great deal of screaming, crying, and trying to fling himself from the little car he got to sit in. Not even the Elmo video helped. Of course, the lollipop and train table afterwards made him quickly forget the trauma he endured, and he is so precious with his little boy hair!

Before:

During:

After:

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas in Chicago

We took a nice weekend trip up to Chicago with my parents to see the lights and enjoy the Christmas in the City atmosphere. We had a great time, despite the extreme cold (think 11 degrees!!). We got treats at the Hershey's Store, played at FAO Schwarz (with $750 life-size dinosaurs), and ate dinner under the big tree at The Walnut Room, where a fairy used her magic dust to help the boys make their Christmas wishes. Chad and the boys, along with my dad, went to the Field Museum the next day, while my mom and I did some more shopping. All in all, a great time!

Halloween 2008

How cute are my bumblebee and dinosaur?

Just Because

I have thousands of pictures on my computer right now. And as any proud mother will tell you, I think every picture of my boys is beautiful. Since I don't have anything earth-shattering to share today, I think I'll just put some recent pics I like on here today. Enjoy!

They are the apples of my eye!

So we made our annual trip to The Apple Works on Monday morning. Looking back we were asking for a not-so-fun trip, as Griffin had a cold, Cooper is just now giving up the morning nap, and I was desperately on a mission to get awesome pictures. Pretty much a recipe for disaster, right?

We tried for pumpkin patch pictures (say that 10 times fast), but Cooper seems to have some kind of deep-seated fear of them, so he cried if we sat him down for even a second. Griffin insisted on picking every apple in a two-mile radius off the trees and eating them, though we were pretty sure they frowned upon that. I broke my (already crappy) camera lens. But, alas, we did get a couple of good shots, so I guess we'll just pretend the smiles in these pictures lasted all morning!!

I'm in love with vampires!!

I know I have not updated recently, and there is a really good reason. Well, good reason might be pushing it, and according to Chad, it's a ridiculous reason...

I am completely, totally, 100% percent addicted to the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. They sounded so completely the opposite of my kind of thing, but enough "normal" people recommended them that I decided to give them a try. I have now read three and one quarter of the four books in the series. I have read well over 1500 pages in the last 7 days. I can't sleep, I can't clean my house, my children are watching a lot of TV. And I don't even feel bad. If you have not read these books, you need to. Today.

When Did They Get So Big?

For some reason, fall clothes make every kid look just a little bigger and older. My kids are no exception. Throw some jeans and hoodies on them, and they instantly look like they grew overnight. This makes me sad, even though I know it's part of life. Especially when I see Cooper, my sweet baby, looking like a big boy. And related to him growing up, he's starting preschool! Now, to be fair, it's more of a Parent's Day Out located at Griffin's preschool, but still... We were really torn about what we wanted to do since it's a few months earlier than I'm really ready to let him go, but the spot will be gone by then, and I think it will be good for both of us.

Oh, and by the way, that last pic is of Griffin with his new turtle, Ralphie (named after the Magic School Bus character!).

What did I do with all my time when I only had one???

So this weekend Chad has taken Griffin to Mammoth Cave, KY and Dino World (aka Griffin's version of Mecca!). That leaves Cooper and I home alone to fend for ourselves. It's been a little over 24 hours now, and I honestly keep asking myself, "What did I do to fill my days when it was just Griffin and I?" I have so much more TIME! Cooper still takes two naps, so there's close to 4 uninterrupted hours of quiet time. He goes to bed at 8 pm, and unlike his big brother, he's stuck in his crib and can't keep popping out every 10 minutes to "watch me" (it's as creepy as it sounds). We've had a lot of fun, just the two of us. We went to dinner last night at Golden Corral, where we discovered that Cooper likes meatloaf, loves honeydew melon, and likes banana pudding best of all. We watched the Colts game, where mommy scared him by yelling at the defense. And we went to dinner at Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Jim's tonight, where he found every item small enough to fit in his mouth. All in all, it's been nice having some undivided attention to shower on him. (But I can't wait to see my baby tomorrow afternoon!)

Welcome!

I have wanted to start a blog for a long time. I don't know what it is about peeking into another person's life that is so fascinating, but you know it is! I can't promise anything remarkable. I'm a stay-at-home mom to an almost 4 year old and a 14 month old. I would say our days are, in fact, remarkable in their ordinariness (is that even a word?). But they are special to me, and I want to record and preserve the little things that happen, the funny stories...the ordinary miracles. Thanks for looking!