The Holidays!

Well, I've obviously been slacking off this past month! With the holidays looming it becomes harder and harder to find the time and energy to do a post. This is short and not all that exciting.
Cooper had a birthday party at the beginning of this month. He was super excited about it and go some wonderful gifts and had some fiends and family over. He was such a cute little host and introduced some of his friends around. he had a blast!

We celebrated Christmas this past Saturday at Grety and Pappas' house. After a nice dinner and dessert we headed into the living room to exchange gifts. The kids got some great stuff that they all seemed to enjoy. Duane and Andrea and the girls got Cooper a great remote control Tarantula. Its pretty hideous but he loved it. I can't say as much for the cats though! Check out the video of Cooper torturing them with it! Natalie got a lot of cute clothes and books. Hopefully next year she is more interested!




We then went to my parents house on Monday night for latkes (potato pancakes) and Hanukkah. As usual my parents showered us, especially the kids, with fantastic gifts. We all had a blast opening them and throwing the paper at my Dad, as is tradition! Cooper got a lot of great games and clothes. He also got a great new desk for his room. Natalie got a rocking unicorn and some new clothes since she is growing like a weed. Dean got a great new jacket and a lot of other clothes and a box of bullets from my dad who was repaying him for the woodchuck Dean shot in their yard! Dean really got a kick out of that! I got some awesome and much needed stuff for the new house like curtains and towels and bake ware. As usual my mom outdid herself and found us all the perfect stuff! I don't know how she does it!

So today we are off to North Conway to spend Christmas Day on the slopes and with my family. Hopefully my sister and I can get in some quality time since we don't get to see each other that much and winter is the busy season for all of us. After that we are planning to go up to camp for New Years with the Chappell/Miles (maybe) clan!!

Hope you all have a great holiday and enjoy the snow!

Poor Natalie

Poor Natalie was so exhausted by Cooper's bedtime routine that she crashed before he was even tucked in. If you turn up your volume you may hear her tiny baby snores!

Thanksgiving

Cooper was unable to be with us this year at Thanksgiving. He was off with his Dad having a blast, although he was not too pleased that we went up to camp without him. He turned 7 on Thanksgiving day so we celebrated with him on Friday when he came home. We left on Tuesday and spent some time with Carl and Sally before everyone else came up for the holiday.

Natalie slept through most of her first Thanksgiving but as per her usual routine she woke up just in time so one of us had to feed her during mealtime!

Got some great news that Duane and Andrea are expecting another baby next summer! Congrats!

I am starting work on my holiday slideshow. Gathering pictures and finding the right song is always a challenge.

Here are a few pictures of our latest adventure.

Natalie up at camp

Cooper opening some birthday gifts

Dean and Natalie eating thanksgiving dinner

Instead of letting Dean go off by himself, the kids and I decided to join him on his hunting trip. Unfortunately we didn't bring him any luck but some of the other guys got some trophies which was nice to see. Dean was especially happy to see Duane and Jason successful.

The first day, there was snow which Cooper and Lily enjoyed. Natalie, as always, was happy just to be held and hang out with Mom and Grety.

Cooper and Lily going outside

Cooper and Lily throwing snowballs

Duane and Lily with his buck

Cooper and Natalie Happy at Camp


My Handsome Hunter

Dean and I are just coming off of a very busy weekend. We both worked at the new house Saturday and Sunday. Dean worked on digging the water line with a lot of help from his parents, while my Dad helped me paint the interior.

Cooper had a big weekend as well losing his first tooth.

He also starting doing something called "The People Dance" which turns out...is hilarious!

Natalie spent a good portion of the weekend with my Mom and Nonee sinceI was painting.

Monday morning brought another work/school week which excited the whole family. Dean especially.

Dean will head up north later this week to go hunting with Grampy and the rest of the guys. We wish him luck! We will keep the home fires warm!!

Our Newest Addition

Halloween

So, Halloween has come and gone. We were quite busy between the house, Halloween, Dean's birthday and the kids costumes and what not. Cooper had his first Halloween Parade at the Elementary School on Friday and loved it. Natalie slept through it.

We also went to the Halloween Party at the barn. There were some great costumes there and we all had a great time. We also brought our own Jack-O-Lanterns because we didn't want to leave them at home where no one would see them!

Sarah's Frankenstein
Dean's Traditional Pumpkin

Cooper's....Something

Natalie's Innitials

The Halloween Party

Dean and Cooper Carving Pumpkins

Dean and Cooper carved their pumpkins for Halloween tonight. Cooper doesn't quite grasp the whole carving/shadows with the candlelight concept so he draws whatever he wants and carves willy nilly! It's hard to bite our tongues and let him do that to a nice pumpkin...but it's his so what can we say?! Dean also carved Natalie's first pumpkin and I have yet to carve mine. Maybe while Dean is at work, Cooper is at school and Natalie is sleeping I will get it in! Those pictures along with Trick or Treating to come too.

Just Getting Started

So, I'm not sure who will be reading this or how well I will be able to keep up with it but I figured I would give it a shot.

Everyone here is doing well. Our house is coming along well. Dean and Carl have been working hard working on finishing the radiant heat pipes in the basement and getting ready for the septic tanks (yuck!). The sheetrockers are almost finished which means I can get started on the inside a little bit with some paint.

Natalie is just starting to smile a bit. She slept through the night for the first time last night. Dean and I were extremely confused when she woke up at 6AM!!

Cooper is keeping himself busy between playing outside with his swords and playing with the new cats. He really loves Ganondorf and Bob. Pictures of them to come.

Dean is doing well aside from his extreme annoyance at how loud I am typing right at this second. He says I'm waking up the baby. It seems he is just as ornery as ever!

And I am well too. I suppose that wraps it up for the moment. If anyone reads this...Thanks. If not...(shrug).

Sarah