Friday, October 29, 2010

Fall Party

The fall season brings the season for dress up and pretend.  Abby had a wonderful time at her school during her Fall party.  All the kids in her class got dressed up and had a parade for all the kid's family and friends to see.  Superman, mermaids, lions and toy stories Woody where all a hit for the kids.  Our little Abby decided she wanted to be a ballerina for the day.  Ballerina slippers, tights, tutu, leotard and a bun in her hair, she was a cute little ballerina.  Abby and Max's friend Gabe also attends TLE and was a pumpkin for the afternoon, we do have to say, a very cute round pumpkin :)  Abby's friend K'Trina also came to TLE to visit and was able to paint a pumpkin with Abby in the activity room.

Abby was excited to see her daddy, mommy, little brother and auntie Andrea all show up at her school for the fun afternoon.  She was full of smiles until her classroom got ready to do the train walk through the hallways for the parade.  For some reason, Abby became a little hesitant and tears began to roll.  Luckily she has very wonderful teachers and they got her distracted enough to go through the parade on Ms. Lynn's hip. I had our video camera and captured a few of the moments for her on video.  Our zebra man Max loved watching all the kids and the activities so much he put himself right to sleep on daddy's shoulder.  Little kids love to pretend and this was a great opportunity for them to be something fun for the afternoon. 

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Max & his family


Max just loves to be around people.  He is completely a chill baby for sure.  As you can see in all the pictures he makes his way through many loved ones arms throughout each week.  He is 4 months old now and is holding his head up so well.  He sits on your hip when you carry him and holds himself up pretty much all by himself.  He giggles a lot when you do funny things in front of him.  He loves watching his big sister and she loves to entertain and 'watch' him.  He is super ticklish and gives you a big belly laugh when he is tickled.  We love our Maxwell and all his funny moments that come along each week. 

Thursday, October 28, 2010

M & M


Max has mommy all wrapped around his finger (just like Abby)!  We always have a lot of fun together, sharing tons of giggles, converstations and of course the night time routine (3-5am feeding).  I truley can say I have found that Max is a true little boy with tons of burps, foot kicking and excited elevated talking to his little mobil friends.  He is sure growing so fast, and hard to believe he is 4.5 months old already.  Love to the Max from his mommy!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Kids Museum & Dentist




Abby, Max and I decided to take an afternoon trip to the Dupage Children's Museum in Naperville last Thursday.  Mommy and Max picked up Abby from school early to be able to meet Ms. Shannon at the museum for the afternoon.  Ms Shannon is very special to Abby and our family as she was Abby's first baby sitter when I started back to work after maternity leave with Abby.  This past May Ms Shannon graduated from Lewis with her Master's degree and got married her US Soldier Dustin in June.  Abby was Ms. Shannon's flower girl and still to this day when she hears or goes to a wedding Abby says "I am going to be in the wedding?"  Oh Abby, too funny.  We had a fun afternoon at the museum.  There is tons to do for kids that is both education and interactive.  You can see in the pictures there is a water play area, puzzles, bubbles, air tunnels and so much more.  Max spent the afternoon in the baby bjorn that I wore.  He loved ever second of the day, as he went for over 3 hours without crying or needing to eat because he was super stimulated.  He ended up eating his bottle and passing out in the baby bjorn for a little nap while we watched Abby play for part of the afternoon. 
There was a surprise in store for us also....the Dentist was also at the museum that day.  So Abby  received her first Dentist appointment.  I was very proud of  Abby as she didn't cry and let the dentist look and count her teeth with no tears.  In fact, after we left (with a new toothbrush in hand), she was excited to tell her daddy all about her trip to both the museum and the dentist.  What a great day we had!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Birthday parties, Birthday parties

It seems like we are always celebrating birthdays with our loved ones. We are always greatful for another birthday celebration for our family and friends.





We celebrated Karlen Kitching's (Layton's cousin's little man) 4th birthday. They had his party at "Pump it Up" in Orland Park. This was a fun time for all the kids. Lots of HUGE air bouncers, slides and obstacle course. Abby loved the slides and even took both daddy and mommy on the big slide (mommy had a little anxiety at the top, it was so HIGH!) At the end they had pizza and cake to end the party. We had a great time!



We are blessed with very special parents. Mom Cooper birthday was October 13th. We celebrated her birthday this past week with a family outing at Pappadeaux Cajun Seafood restaurant. It is a very yummy place to eat and we were excited when mom picked this spot. Mom had a wonderful celebration and received several special gifts. You can see in the pictures she had a wonderful celebration with us all. Thank you Lord for a wonderful mother and bless her with a wonderful year (and many more to come)!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Fall Fun



We spent a little time outdoors and got some cute shots of Kyndall and Abby.  They are both super girly, girls and really have a special bond with each other.  Kyndall is a great role model for Abby and shows her many positive manners and skills to help Abby grow into a young lady.  We love being able to spend time with Kyndall and Abby loves her big cousin so much. 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Searcy Birthday Parties!





We were blessed to be able to spend a great afternoon with the Searcy family.  Kaylah (4, our God child) and Brooklyn (3) celebrated their birthday's a few weeks early.  Mommy Sarah is due with baby #3 (boy) in just a few weeks and they wanted to make sure the girls had a special day that was all about them and their birthdays.  It was a great party on a lovely October afternoon with all the cousins together (minus little man Xavier).  Pumpkin painting and riding bikes was a hit activity outdoors until the sun went down.  The kids enjoyed chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese and carmel apples for dinner (a kids favorite meal).  The girls were excited to open their gifts and got many lovely things.  I think they both were super excited about the zhu zhu pets they received.  They have a family of 4 zhu zhu pets now :)  Singing happy birthday to the girls was fun, as they both sat patiently waiting to blow out their birthday candles.  We all enjoyed cake and ice cream along with many wonderful hours of time with friends and family.  Great party Search family, we love you lots!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Max 4 months old



It is hard to believe that our little man Maxwell is 4 months old already.  Some days seemed to last forever (as a new born) while now the days seem to fly by.  He had his 4 month check up with Dr. B. He was 13 lbs. 15 oz. and 22.75 inches long.  That puts him on the 50% mark for both; gaining 2 lbs and growing 0.75 inches over the past 2 months.  He started rolling just at 4 months old when daddy was at home with him one Sunday afternoon.  He smiles ALL the time and has several tickle spots and laughs out load when you get him all excited.  He loves to grab onto small objects (rings, rattles, mommy's necklace, etc), he tries to hold his bottle on his own and we predict he is going to be a left handed boy.  He has started getting oatmeal cereal for dinner each night.  He really likes the oatmeal, as he is just a light bottle eating still (about 2.5-3.5 oz at each feeding every 2-3 hours throughout the day).  We put some prune baby food mixed into the oatmeal about every other day to try to keep him 'regular' (don't let him read this, he might be embarrassed, lol).  Monday and Tuesday he spends the day with Mama and Papa, Wednesday's he is at the house with Ms. Chelsie and Ms. Ashley, Thursday's he is home with mommy and Friday's he has a fun day with Ms. Melanie and his big buddy Gabe.  He spends a lot of time during the day playing in his activity play-mat and swinging in his swing.  He loves his little friends on the swing mobil and loves to chat to them and us all.  The pictures show 4 mo., 3 mo. and his 2 mo. 'watch me grow' picture chart.  Overall our little Max is a very happy little guy and loves to be around people. 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Rolling Max




It was a big day for Maxwell....he rolled over on his own.  Yay Maxwell!  He turned 4 months yesterday and here he is being a big boy already.  Mommy and Abby where at the women's Lewis soccer game when we got the good news and phone message video from Daddy who was able to see his big moves first hand.  Abby had a great time outside at the game with her buddy Gabe, but was so excitted for her little brother when we got home to see his new moves.  We are so blessed with healthy and happy children.  Thank you Lord for blessing us and our kids in all their new achievments!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Football Game




You would never believe that it was 70 degrees when we arrived at the Uncle Fred's football game this weekend.  (It was an unbelievable October night at the game, so much we didn't even have jackets on until about 9:30pm.)  We were excited to get the invite to see Fred coach his football team.  Abby packed up her purse full of goodies and got her baby ready to go to the game.  The game was in Oswego, so it was just a little 30 minute drive for the Cooper family.  When we got there the "Friday Night Lights" were shining down on the field.  It was such a wonderful feeling to be outside under those lights again.   All the families together watching their kiddos playing football or cheering on the squad, it was an existing evening. It was Maxwell's first football game and he seemed to love the noises and lights himself.  Auntie Andrea was there too.  It was great to spend time with her and Abby of course loved playing 'race' with her during half time.  As you can see in the last picture, Abby was watching the game and saw her Uncle Fred out on the field, so she held her hands out to him during half time to come 'see her'.  We were happy to see Fred's team kick butt and pull out a big W-I-N. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

Go Bears






Sunday was filled with relaxation. Early in the day Layton and Abby headed out to stock up the groceries for the house, while Max and I stayed back in the house. Max and I both had a long nap which was really great. Layton and Abby picked out a new Bears shirt for me to help me be ready for the Bears game that evening. Mid afternoon we took a trip into Chicago to watch the Bears game with Layton's co-workers and our friends. It was a nice time. The view of their home was amazing, seeing the Chicago skyline from wall to wall windows. Abby and Max had a lot of fun with Jullian (1 year) and Jaylen (10 months). They had a food spread that seemed like the Superbowl! Yummy treats from all ranges of fruits, meats, cheeses and much, much more. Even though the Bears didn't win, we all had a very nice time.

Outdoor fun in the Fall






We were blessed with a wonderful weekend of lots of activities that kept our family very busy. Because it was Homecoming week at Lewis, there was a lot of kids activities scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Abby and I took a stroller ride to the the LU green and had a great time. As you can see in the pictures Abby was able to do some coloring, reading and puzzle making with the College of Buisness, get her face painted and learn many things about eating and being healthy from the College of Nursing. She earned several prizes (aka 'surprises' according to Abby) during her achievements in all of the acitivities. She even got a picture with the student body Homecoming King, Chris. We headed to the softball field to watch my friend Katie play softball with her Alumni friends. Abby was able to play with her buddy Anthony, Katie's son, while we watched the game. As you can see it was a chilly October day, so being bundled up was a must. The end of Saturday was a good time, as Layton and I were able to go out to the Homecoming social to hear the band "American English" and hang out with some of our friends. It is always great to get out and have some adult time with eachother.