New job

I took on another baby to watch. It will mostly be Mondays with an occasional Tuesday or Friday. The baby is almost four months old and they live three houses away.
Yesterday was my first day, it went really well. Cooper did great, he had some jealousness with me holding the baby but he was a great helper. Here he is keeping the baby occupied.



The baby napped briefly throughout the day, he loved the Maya sling to fall asleep in and hang out in when awake.

Tiled shower

Yes we are tiling!

Sharon begun tiling the shower. Sweet it looks awesome, instant gratification. Susan came over today and helped clean the work site and primed the walls.

Sharon tiling







Primed walls

Bathroom is coming along

Walls are up in the bathroom. Sharon has been diligently working on it to get ready to tile. She also made another storage space in the attic.



Here is Cooper helping Mama screw something in.






We've been in a state of construction with all the sheetrock and plywood but it's just about done! I will post some pictures of the sheet-rocked bathroom soon.

Back to school

I am glad break is over and we are in a routine again. It's been a nice break but the lack of structure is making me a little nuts. Cooper asked about Larkin everyday this last week. We actually ran into them at Target yesterday. It was great because Cooper was adamant about seeing her and there she was!

We had preschool today and although Cooper didn't want to go, he had a great time. I think he missed his classmates because the teacher said he was out of his shell. We also had tap class this afternoon. He told me he was nervous before the class started and he remained that way for the class. He did participate, he loved the jumping part and couldn't wait to tell Mama about it.

Cooper's imagination is fantastic right now, lots of good stories and boy is he funny.

Christmas Dinner at Lindsay's

We also had the tradition of a nice gift exchange and dinner at Lindsay's house the week before Christmas. The gift exchange is similar to White Elephant in that you can steal, except the gifts are something that you would want to receive. We scored some great ceramic knives and a cutting board. It was a lovely dinner, good conversation, food and games.

Susan

Kerry and Beti

Steven

Dory

Holly and Sharon

Steve and Janet

Christmas Eve

We had our tradition of homemade pizzas for Christmas Eve. Holly, Angie, Janet and Cis came over to help eat. The pizzas were awesome. We let Cooper open one present that evening and he chose the one Larkin gave him. Here is he opening the gift.

 Super Cool!

Cissy stopped by to give Cooper her gift.

Rosey and Rosario

Janet and Rosario

Christmas Dinner

We had our annual Christmas prime rib dinner at Janet's house Christmas evening. Cooper had a couple more gifts to open there. Dinner was delicious, games were had and conversation was aplenty.

Connie, Susan and Sue

 Holly and Angie

 Janet (Host with the Most)

Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures from Christmas, opening the presents.

Santa's gift, Imaginext Aircraft Carrier

Another Santa gift, Imaginext Airplane with Rosey

Sharon excited for the gift opening to commence!

Yay! Money from Mom and a calling card.

Hot chocolate from Florida Mom!!

PlayMobil from Auntie Sonya

PlayMobil from Alexander and Adam

Monogrammed mugs for the Rose's

Monogrammed letter openers from Frances.

Travel mug

 Serving bowls from the Rose's

Efren and Rosario (and Riley)

Efren and Amanda

Efren's Game Chair

Sharon's fridge

Efren's TV

Over

"Christmas is over," said Cooper. We took down our tree and decorations inside the house yesterday. We had an excellent holiday, Rosey, Rosario and Efren were with us for two nights. Cooper loved having them here and hated to see them go on Monday.
Cooper woke up Christmas morning humming at 7am and we are not sure if he was sleeping or awake. He woke us at 7:42am with, "I wonder if Santa ate his cookies." With that he jumped out of bed and ran into the living room. He saw all the presents and said, "Oh my goodness! Mommy come quick you have to see this." I will post some pictures of Christmas soon. 
This week Sharon is busy working on the bathroom and storage spaces. Almost all the sheet rock is up and we bought the tile for the shower and floor. Cooper and I have been staying busy too, we went swimming yesterday, playdate Wednesday and some lounging around today. I am excited for the weekend, more family time! Oh and of course the Rosebowl, Go Badgers!!!!!

Pittock Mansion

We went hiking yesterday with Anna and Elliot in Forest Park. We took the kids to Upper Macleay Trail and hiked all the way up to Pittock Mansion. I think it is 2.5 miles to the mansion and the kids did great. It took us an hour to get up there, we had lunch outside, checked out the gift shop and then hit the trail back to the car. The hike back took about 20-25 minutes.



Elliot climbing up a hill to the trail. Cooper did the same thing but I missed the photo op.


Having lunch, it was freezing sitting there.




Cooper and Pittock Mansion


Great to be outside, it drizzled a bit but we were dry on the trail.

Tidbits

I parent helped at preschool on Tuesday and snapped this picture of Cooper and classmates enjoying a book on tape together. The kids totally enjoyed listening to the book for 15 minutes or so.






Cooper loves books on tape, we get them from the library and listen to them in the car. It was so cute to see the kids calmly listen together by themselves.

Thursday I called it quits on the scarf I was making and gave it to Cooper. He wore the scarf to preschool with a hat I made and gloves we had. He looked super cute and was so proud of his outfit.



Sharon is done with her travels for now, Yay!! We are very happy to be together.
I am looking forward to this week, Sharon is going to take some vacation time. We still have to visit Santa and do some holiday things. At least our shopping is done!

Tiger

Cooper was drawing a card for his cousins this weekend and decided to draw on his nose. This evolved into drawing a tiger on his face. He did a pretty good job and wore it for two days until swimming took it off.

Scary tiger?






He loved his face drawing!

Cold Weather

It has been very cold her the last few days and Cooper has decided that he doesn't want to go outside. As long it is not pouring rain, his preschool teacher has the kids outside. Cooper hasn't been wanting to go outside at preschool, doesn't want to take the dogs for a walk or play in the backyard because of the frigid temperatures. Today, I was able to get him outside because Larkin and I and the dogs were all outside. This is the outfit he wore, I love it! He's wearing a hat I knitted, duck boots that are torn, his jammies and a Carhart jacket (like Mama's)! He played outside for a half hour and was done.




Shortly after coming inside we all took Luke for a walk. Since Luke is still a puppy and likes to pull on the leash I am trying to take Riley and Luke on separate walks so I can really work with Luke. I think he picked up some of Riley's herding instincts because he hates when the kids are too far away, he will whine. He is really smart and food motivated, he just needs reminders and practice. The kids and Luke ran around the field and then we walked home. Before dinner Cooper and I took Riley on her walk, the only way to get Cooper to agree was to push him in the stroller. I put a blanket around him and off we went.