Here is Cooper and Santa. Coop wasn't scared of the big man at all. After all he's been 'good'. He said 'Santa!' when he saw him and promptly asked for an offical Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!
Last weekend we had a ton of snow so we stayed home and watched all the old Christmas shows and Cooper turned into the Santa-Dragon. We got kind of bored, as you can see.
Laughing with Co-Co
And screaming as the Santa-Dragon. 
Here is our cute cousin Taylor and his dad.
The Grinch even paid us a visit, but didn't steal the presents (the kids were happy about that!)
Here is Cooper and his Momma, Nana and Papa.
Taylor liked his new Grandpa Uncle Dick. I think Dick actually looks more like a bad Santa with all that chest hair!
Katie, I had to steal this picture, it is too funny (thanks!). Here is Cooper playing the role of Randy (Ralphie's little brother in a Christmas Story). His snow suit was so puffy that whenever he slightly leaned over, he toppled over. Here he is face planted in the tree decorations and when I pulled him out he had bird seed stuck in his snotty nose. Nice. But the snow suit was really handy since whenever he fell (which was a lot thanks to the suit) he never got hurt and he couldn't get up so I could always find him face down and waiting semi-patiently for a rescue.
Here is the herd after the decorating. They all seemed to have fun decorating and eating all the animal treats. Good thing bird seed is so nutritious.
Here we were able to get all the kids together for a picture, of course my kid was the only one screaming, but whatever works.
Avery is giving Brynn a kiss on the hand. It was sooo sweet. And Kenze, Brynn is so beautiful and she has the greatest smile! You can really see her little personality and it is so cute.
Here is Cooper's first haircut! Thanks Shawn, it looks awesome. We have successfully avoided the Joe Dirt syndrome (at least for awhile).
Avery wasn't too excited about hanging out with her cousin, but I really think it was because he was sporting that mullet and she was not having any of that. Here Avery is doing the Stewart (from Mad TV) "Shut up! Gooooo AWAY!!!"
And here (after the haircut) she is more willing to love on him. They had a very tender goodbye moment of cheek pinching and eyeball gouging.
After the gouging, we were able to get our hug on.
Really, how cute are these blue-eyed heartbreakers?
These are really a foot long, of course they would be given to a boy who could care less about them, but oh they are pretty. 
Last Sunday we took the munchkin to a pumkin patch and he had a blast. He loved the rotten, moldy pumpkins the best and really wanted to stick his fat little fingers in them.
They had some animals and a hay bale maze, but Cooper's absolute favorite was....
The tractor! He is such a boy! He loved being pulled by it and kept trying to make the tractor sound (and he hasn't stopped since then!)
Since we couldn't get the swine flu vaccine, we decided the next best idea was to hang out with 20,000 of our closest friends at Boo at the Zoo (so much for our bubble boy). It was super, super fun though. They had everyone in costumes and the kids could trick-or-treat the characters. Don't worry about Cooper eating too much candy, Brandon and I made sure to help him out with most of it (can't be too careful, you know!)
Cooper was a little tiger and he had a blast running around roaring at EVERYONE. He loved the animals so much more than the last time we were at the zoo and he really thought the zebra and especially the giraffes were super cool. He even escaped me and ran back to see more of the giraffes. When we went to lunch after, I asked him what his favorite animal at the zoo was and he said, 'erraffe'.
Here we are chumming up to Winnie for some candy (what happened to the honey??)
Cooper stood there for a few minutes practicing saying zebra. He didn't get much further than 'zzz' but he kept trying!
And yesterday he learned to say 'outside' so now he knows what to scream while he is holding on to the door frame trying to kick me. 
I have really tried to keep my paranoid hypochondria under control with this swine flu crap, but I am a little crazy and it still freaks me out with Cooper. So I have been stressing about getting the vaccine, whether it is safe or might turn everyone into flesh eating zombies a year from now, and then when and how to even get one if I want one.
This morning a couple of my friends and I planned to take our kids to a vaccine clinic. We went an hour early, but there were already about 4000 people in line (many apparently camped out over night) for about 1200 vaccines.
Ok, well I guess we'll keep on with my obsessive compulsive hand sanitizing.
Ok, I promise to take some new pics this weekend and do something interesting so I have something to blog about...
Cooper is just getting more and more grown up. I dropped him off this week at school and instead of crying, he just turned around and waved and said ‘bye-bye.’ I am sad when he cries to see me go, and I am sad when he doesn’t! The next day I figured out why- he has a little friend and he doesn't need me anymore! When I dropped him off, he waved to his friend and ran over and patted him on the shoulder, then he looked at me like, "umm, why are you still here?"
He is talking so much although a lot of it is his own special language. He loves to chase and torment the dogs, especially Chloe since she hates it so much!
We had a good weekend and we took Cooper to the Hyde Park Street Fair so he could join in on his first drum circle.
Here’s Cooper with the big drum with a little help from his dad.
Sadly we did not stay long enough for me to win the digeridoo in the raffle-oh well. Now I just need to find a mommy and me drum class and we're good to go. And I just noticed the Hands Only! sign on the drum, I guess they have problems with people using other body parts to play?
Arrgh! Here is the little Cooper not liking his pirate patch!
And here is the little Cooper really not liking his pirate patch after his mean wench of a mum made him keep it on!
We went to the fair and got to hang out with a macaw. The look on Cooper's face is priceless: WTHIT (what the hell is that?????)
Cooper and I had so much fun feeding the animals in the petting zoo. We almost lost a couple of fingers to the starved goats, but it was worth it!
Cooper and I had our picture 'drawn' at Chuch E. Cheese when Grandma brought Tasia down for her birthday.
Cooper does not love Barney, regardless of his silly song.
Cooper did like the big truck. I have a feeling he is going to be all boy.
Our little gang
This is Cooper's naughty smile. I love this smile...usually.
Cooper loved the shark in the park-especially the kids inside!
Cooper loves his Grandpa, he is his best friend. It is so hard to believe he was ever scared of him, now he loves it when Grandpa growls and'tries' to scare him.
Super sweet baby tried to eat all the rocks at Lake Cleveland.
To all you doubters out there, my kid really can read. Unfortunately, he has a short attention span; after numerous attempts , this was the best we could get on video. Much like catching Bigfoot or a UFO on tape, catching Cooper reading on video is nearly impossible. Really. I am not making it up. Some day I will have more proof...and someday we will find the Loch Ness monster.
Jer got this super cute picture at the birthday party. He looks so sweet and innocent! Well after we came back from Grandma's he got mad at his dad for fencing him in and he was so upset he held his breath, fell over backwards and passed out! It was the scariest thing ever. Apparently 20% kids do this (Brandon did, so don't blame my genes).
Anyway, I guess we're going to have to work on just keeping him happy and see if we can avoid this little trick.
Well Cooper turned 1 on Wednesday and I think he had a good birthday week, although he was a little silent on the issue. Saturday he had a birthday party and devoured birthday cake, played with balloons and opened presents. And most of this week we hung out in Burley, so he didn't have to go to daycare and we went to the fair and looked at all the animals on his birthday. Cooper thought the pigs were very fascinating.Most of all, I love the fact that I get to be your mom! If you had any say in the matter, thank for picking me!! I am looking forward to the next 365 days and all of our exciting adventures!!
Cooper and Papa at the fair, meeting an oink-oink for the first time on his birthday!
Wild animals at the party!
Anxiously awaiting some birthday cake!!
Oh, yeah-that is the good stuff!
Cooper and Holden hanging in the park.
Luckily, Janie got Cooper a pool, so that cooled down the kids. 
Cooper liked the pool, but Holden LOVED it. He was a total water baby and loved to spash around.
