Urbanek Christmas

On Sunday (12/27/09) we had our Urbanek Christmas in Smolan. We had pizza for lunch, visited, and did our traditional gift exchange. The kids had a blast playing together!!!

Aunt Tammi and Olivia

Aunt Peggy, Melody, Katelyn, Polaris, Brenda & Maylea, Aunt Lori, Josh M.

Much of the gang visiting

Josh M., Brenda, Maylea, Olivia, Aunt Tammi

Aunt Lori and Katelyn

Aunt Dalene, Aunt Peggy, Cori, Lisa, Keira

My cousins kids

Lunch time!

Another Olivia

Landin, Lane, and Cooper

Lane and Cooper

Jenny, Aunt Dalene, Andrew (Olivia)

Uncle Carl, Cori, MyselfLane, Landin, Cooper, Katelyn, Melody, Olivia

Wrestling

Christmas

Right now I am FRUSTRATED and tired. This post is not anything that I would like it to be. I will hopefully get back to this to get into more detail. I can not get ANY of my pictures or videos that I have to upload (or even be read) to the computer. These are a few pictures that mom took with her camera. I hope that I can get my disk figured out and uploaded sooner than
later. For now.......here you go!!!!

Cooper is reading a book to grandma and grandpa Meyer

Maylea and grandpa Christmas morning

Maylea ready for church (without her ADORABLE hair bow)

Cooper loves grandma's village. He could not keep his hands off of it.

Cooper was helping grandpa set the table. They were making sure all the water spots were off the silverware before they put it out.

I had these cute shirts for the kids to wear.

Cooper's said: Dear Santa, my sister did it.

Maylea's said: Dear Santa, I was framed!

I thought they were so cute. I have a couple really cute pictures of them wearing them together, but of course they are on my camera.

Santa's "rain" deer

Joshua picked the kids up from daycare last week. After they left and pulled out onto the road, Joshua saw a deer crossing up ahead, then another, and another. By this time, he has come to a complete stop in the road as about 10 deer cross the road right in front of them. The whole time Cooper is going nuts in the back seat, "daddy another deer, see all of them......." Finally all the deer are gone and they are able to head home. About a mile up the road Cooper starts explaining what kind of deer those were to daddy. "Hey daddy, those were just regular deer. Those weren't Santa's reign deer. Those kind of deer don't like the rain, they were just regular deer. Right daddy?"

Grandma's little helper

When we got to grandma and grandpa's today, grandma was trying to get her tree and village out. Grandma was just about done with the tree, but we got here just in time for Cooper to help with the tensile.

This one was just too cute not to put on here!

TARC - Winter Wonderland

Last weekend (12/5), we didn't have much going on so we all loaded up in the van and drove to Topeka. Every year at Lake Shawnee they light up the park with Christmas lights. Some of these lights are animated and we thought that Cooper would enjoy it. We went when Cooper was 1 1/2, but the experience was so much better this time. TARC is the Topeka Association for Retarded Children. It is a $7 donation to drive through the park.

Our first stop was Red Lobster for dinner, then for coffee and hot chocolate. When we got there we put Cooper on Joshua's lap and started our trek.

I started a video while we were driving merely for you to hear how excited Cooper was about everything. I got about a minute of video when it stopped because the disk was full. However, I think you will be able to tell how much he enjoyed the experience.

Bath time together

We have put Maylea and Cooper in the bath together a few times and I was finally able to get some pictures. Maylea does SO WELL in the bath tub. It is like a whole new world to her and she just loves to play and play. She doesn't mind the water in her face, and a couple times when she has lost her "footing" and put her face in the water, it didn't seem to bother her that much.

After I had taken the 3 pictures above, Cooper says, "mommy take me and baby sisters picture." I said, "okay, get ready." This is the turn out: I LOVE IT!!!!!

2009 Christmas Parade

Once again we continued our tradition of attending the Emporia Christmas parade (yes, it is still officially called the Christmas Parade!!!!). The weather was awesome for it this year. It was cold, but not freezing! We started the night by getting some food from Natasha's (a bar and grill that some friends of ours own) and then we walked a couple blocks to the van to eat and watch. Maylea was wonderful through the whole thing. Cooper really got into it a couple of times. He really liked the cowboys that rode their horses and was shocked when he saw a "cowboy girl" on one of the horses. Some of the floats/entries can get pretty close to where we are sitting. Cooper would wave and yell at some of them, "Merry Christmas!"

When there was a short break in the parade, I went out to take a picture of the family watching. When I almost fell over hopping backwards from the squatting position the group next to us made some comment. So, just as I was snapping the shot Joshua and Cooper looked at them. I didn't have time to take another one because the parade was coming again.

Santa is always the last float in the parade. This was one of the few times Cooper got up out of his chair.

Thanksgiving dinner - Maylea 7 month "update"

We had a very nice (very delicious) Thanksgiving dinner at mom and dad's house. Around the table was my family, grandma and grandpa, cousin Elizabeth and her boyfriend Allan, Luke and Cori, Keith and Clarissia (Luke's mom and her husband), and mom and dad. Mom and dad did a great job cooking.

While at the store getting more baby food I grabbed Maylea a jar of turkey and sweet potatoes. I fed her that while everyone was passing our food around. Once she was done, I gave her a few green beans and some small pieces of turkey.....she loved being able to eat on her own. This is her first real attempt at table/finger food so of course it was EVERYWHERE. She didn't get a lot in her mouth, but she was able to get a couple bites. After we were done I gave her a small taste of my turtle pumpkin pie....I think she liked it.

We don't take Maylea back to the Dr. until her nine month check up (in January). She just keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time. Depending on the style and brand, she is wearing anywhere from 6-9 to 9 month clothes. She has started pulling herself up onto things and standing. This is something that Cooper didn't do until he was 9 months old. I am constantly amazed at how different she is from her brother.

• She is more determined that Cooper ever has been. When she wants something, she goes after it and keeps working until she figures it out. Cooper gets frustrated immediately and throws a fit or quits.
• She still does not sleep "all night". Cooper started sleeping 8-6 (or later) very early. Maylea still wakes up around 4 every morning to eat.
• Maylea can be on the floor and play by herself for a long time. Cooper had to be (and still does) constantly entertained.
• Along with the above statement, Maylea is a very GOOD baby!! We get comments all the time from people that they can not get over how good she is.
• Maylea is a sensitive little girl. If she is getting into something and I yell, "no" she will tear up. Cooper would look right at you and do it again....he is still ornery and pushes buttons in this way.
• Maylea is a very content little girl and can sit in your lap and be happy. Cooper is always on the go. THE KID NEVER SITS STILL!!!! ***side note: I find it interesting they were both the same in the womb. Cooper was jumping around all the time, and Maylea moved just enough for me to know she was still alive in there.

I know that part of this is merely because of the girl boy thing, but they really are night and day. I am really glad that I will get to experience raising both of them. They will both challenge us in different ways (Cooper now, Maylea when she gets older). We all (Joshua, myself, and the family) look forward to see what the future brings.

Bath time

These are a couple pictures from Maylea's first bath in her little bathtub. She LOVES bath time and will just sit, play, and splash. I have put her in the big tub and she does really well crawling around, but she gets water EVERYWHERE from splashing. She will throw her hands down into the water creating huge splashes and just laugh. Last time she took a bath in the tub I was as wet as she was when she got out.

Sleep over

The family decided to give me a night off while Joshua has been in Amarillo. Cori drove up to get the kids on Thursday night, and then I drove to Wichita for the weekend right after work on Friday. Maylea stayed the night with grandma and grandpa while Cooper stayed with Aunt Cori and Uncle Luke. Grandpa tried to put Maylea to sleep....you can see how well that worked, so grandma grabbed her and took care of it!