Cooper's 1st fly fishing lesson

We came to Wichita this weekend to celebrate Cori's 5 year cancerversary :) When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, Cooper started looking at one of grandpa's fly fishing books/catalogs. Cooper was asking all kinds of questions about what things were and what they were used for. Cooper was very interested in all of what grandpa had to say. Then he looked at grandpa and asked, "can we go downstairs so I can make my own fly?" The boys were off! Cooper was so excited about the fly he had made and grandpa even had a display box ready for him to put it in. When all the excitement of the fly was over, Cooper looked at grandpa and said, "can we go to the fly fishing store we go to. I need to go buy my own pole." Grandpa got a good laugh out of that and took him to the closet where he showed him a pole he already had that he will let Cooper use some day. MAN, WAS THE KID EXCITED!!!!! He immediately started talking about when he gets to go fishing with daddy and grandpa. On Sunday morning after breakfast grandpa took Cooper out to the back yard for his first casting lesson. I didn't dare go out in the yard to take pictures. Cooper was actually listening and trying to do what grandpa asked him to do, I did not want to be a distraction. I was able to get a couple pictures and a video through the window.

Cousins

We tried so hard to get a good picture of all three kids at the same time.....just can't get it to happen. You would think that Cooper could just sit there and smile while we try to get the girls attention.....NOPE! Then there it Coopers bed head, chapped lips that also have grape kool-aid stain on them, and his droopy eyes! Oh well, we take what we can get!

Love this one!

Cheese!

Sledding

We have had a lot of snow this winter. I am not a fan of being cold, but one day after work I sucked it up for a few minutes to let the kids play. Maylea didn't know what to think about sledding at first. I sat her down between Cooper's legs and she literally sat there stiff as a board. She did not move a muscle. She didn't even move her eyes - nothing!!!! As you can see by the pictures she eventually LOVED it!

Basketball Practice

We signed Cooper up for 6 weeks of instructional basketball at the Emporia Rec. Center. Each practice was guided by college kids that worked at the Rec, but each kid was taught/coached by their parent. Joshua and I tag-teamed these practices. Joshua went when he was around and I went the couple of times he was out of town.


Both of us were pleasantly surprised with Cooper's skill. Many kids when trying to shoot a ball shoot with both hands. Cooper very quickly learned to only shoot with one hand. For only being 4 years old I was quickly impressed with his shooting form. I have 8th graders who still shoot with two hands!


At practices, they would work on: Shooting, passing (chest and bounce), dribbling, and agilities. Cooper would tell you, "Agilities, that's running!"

At his last practice, Maylea wanted to play too!

Christmas 2010

We started Christmas Eve early in the morning making pancakes with grandpa Doug. Cooper was so excited to wear his new apron.

We lounged around most of the day. While Cooper and Maylea were taking a nap Santa found his way to grandma's house. Cooper was so excited to look and see what Santa left him in his stocking. Grandma let him open them, but we had to wait for everything else until Uncle Luke got off work.

I tried to get a picture of Maylea and Aunt Cori, but the were busy snacking :)

I did however, get a good one of Uncle Luke, Cooper, and Leni.

Opening presents from Aunt Cori, Uncle Luke, and Leni.

Maylea opening her chair and ottoman.

That night after the children's program at dad's church, we packed up and headed home. We had to be there in the morning to see what Santa was going to bring the kids. I think both of them were very satisfied with what they got.

Opening their first present of the day from Aunt Cori, Uncle Luke, and Leni. Then I have a video of Cooper opening his new "travel bag" from grandma and grandpa. I wouldn't have put this video on here except for that I loved Cooper's reaction to what it was.

This last video is when Cooper wakes up and sees what Santa has left for him. We actually had to send Maylea in to wake him up. We were all in the living room waiting for him. PLEASE EXCUSE the messy house....I am by no means a good house keeper, however, this time we had just gotten home at 10:30 the night before, dropped everything in the living room just to turn around and repack it again!

Dancing Snowman

You may remember Cooper dancing with the snowman a year or so ago....I still find him funny! Grandma Gayle has 4 or 5 Christmas decorations similar to this one. He likes to push them all and drive us nuts.

Maylea's 1st haircut

On Saturday (Dec. 18th), Joshua, Cooper, and myself all went in to get our hair cut/colored before the holidays. While we were there Evy, hair dresser, said, "oh, we need to cut off her little ends and even the hair out. It will look like a cute little bob."

Joshua and I had no problem with this if she was willing to squeeze her in. I told Evy that if she was going to fight getting in the chair we would just forget it, but lets give it a shot. Maylea, unlike my son, has stranger anxiety. She does not do very well around "new" people.

I tried to get a before picture of her hair, but you can hardly see the thin ends hanging down (Maylea hates the camera). Much to our surprise when we asked Maylea if she wanted to get her hair cut she started clapping, ran straight to the chair and climbed right in!!!! She did awesome....and her hair now is a cute little bob cut. Her hair looks so much fuller now....I hope it contiunes to grow.

Love it!!!!

Halloween 2010

Around 6:30 Sunday night we meet up with some friends and let the kids ride around town on a "hay rack ride". We would drop them off at one end of a well lit street (meaning lots of porch lights on) and pick them up at the end. Cooper had a blast and did a great job keeping up with the "big kids". We will have to practice a little with him for next year because SO many times he was hopping off the trailer without his pumpkin bag. I would have to remind him to take it with him....he was just too excited. Another time he was running back to get on and he didn't have it. I hollered at him and he had to run back up to the porch and get it. Doesn't he know that's got all his candy in it???? Why on earth would he even think about putting it down? Maylea hit 1 out of every 5 houses with the kids. As long as she was getting off that trailer with all the other kids she didn't care. She was MAD if all the other kids got off and we didn't.

One house down the street from us goes ALL out every Halloween. They even do a little haunted house in their basement. Many of the kids wanted to go through it. Cooper was all excited to go until it got closer to his turn, then he decided it was scary. Maylea and I hung out in the "grave yard" while we waited for the other kids. Someone walked over to us (kinda creeped me out at first) when I realized it was my niece, Claire. Surprisingly with all the stuff around Maylea did not get scared.

We did request to make one stop at grandma Pat's and grandpa's house. We didn't get there earlier in the evening so we stopped with the trailer. All the kids hopped off and hit another house first, so we had Maylea go up "by herself". When Pat opened the door, Maylea walked right in and straight to the candy bowl. Cooper and his friends we close behind!!!!

For the last 2 weeks, we have randomly had to drive by grandma and grandpa's house to see if grandma Pat had her ghost out yet. I knew that she didn't put it out until Halloween night, but Cooper kept wanting to look for it. He was SOOOO excited when it was out last night. We take a picture next to it every year. This year I had a hard time getting Cooper to stand still long enough b/c all his friends were piling into his grandma's house and getting candy without him.