Fun with Oma and Grandpa

All good things must come to an end (as sad as it might be). Today Coop and I took Oma, Grandpa Toby and Ishi (their cute little dog--Cooper's Uncle) to the airport. After almost 3 weeks of fun, fun, fun it was hard to say goodbye. Cooper really bonded with them and it was soooo much fun to watch it all play out. It broke my heart when we pulled into the garage after returning from the airport and Coop heard his doggies barking. He immediately blurted out EEE-eeee which is what he calls Ishi. I had to explain to him that Ishi was on an airplane with Oma and Grandpa and he'd have to give Kokanee and Targhee a kiss instead.

Now it's just Coop and I for the next week as Mark is back in Seattle for training. It sure does feel quiet around here. I hope Coop can get back into the routine of hanging out with boring old Mom.

Thanks Oma and Grandpa for a wonderful visit and for making our Holidays so special. We wish we could see you more often!

Donning Coop's head wear of choice

The Box Heads

Chillin' on the couch


Art with Grandpa

Knitapalooza

Knit, knit, knit!! Everyone is knitting. Yes, that's right my friends. I am now a knitter. Well, I've knitted 1 scarf and a hat so I'm not sure if I can officially be classified as a knitter just yet. But I'm shocked that I even gave it a whirl.

Over the years I've marvelled at Coop's Oma Lis' knitting wizardry. She is truly a knitting machine. This is the first year that I actually thought I need to take advantage of this knowledge while she's here with me so I asked her to teach me. And ohhhh is there so much to learn. I had no idea. Casting on, garter stitch, stockinette stitch, purl, binding off.....the list goes on and on. What in the world am I going to do when I don't have my knitting coach right by my side to help me when I screw up? The true test will be if I can keep it up.


I wanted to take this opportunity to show off some of Oma's projects she worked on during her visit. Too bad there isn't a program to knit for world peace or knit to stop hunger because if there was, Lis could help solve a lot of the world's problems right at her finger tips.


I must clarify that the scarf I made is all knitting, but the hat I made is almost like cheating. I used this handy dandy gadget called a knifty knitter which is basically a plastic loom that you just wrap the yarn around and then use a crochet like needle to create the stitches. But hey, it would have taken 10years to make a matching hat for Coop's scarf and you gotta start somewhere right?

Coop and Oma (Coop showing off the sweater Oma made)

Check out the awesome Mary Jane Slippers that Oma knitted and felted for me! What a cool process.

Side view of my cute slippers (and my fluorescent white cankels)

Lis made both Mark and I a pair of these Tavi Socks. Now we can wear our preferred footwear (flip flops) year round!

A cool neck gator that Lis whipped up on the knifty knitter in a couple of hours. Even professional knitters can have fun with this cool little gadget.

Ta-dah! Mom made these just for me!

Coop giving Sweet little Ishi loves. And Oma knitting (what a surprise)!

Lis is brilliant. We went thrift store shopping and she found this cool Ecuadorian wool sweater for $3. She decided it would be perfect felting projects. Won't these pieces make a cool bag or pillows? So many options. I wish I was this creative.


One more pic of my projects. Can you tell I'm a little proud of myself? :) Someone needs to stop bragging about their mad knitting skills (and I don't mean Oma Lis)

Would anyone like to place bets on how many more knitting projects I create? We shall see. Thanks Lis for getting me started (and for your patience watching someone try to knit with 10 thumbs).

And for all you knitters out there, I use the continental method. Ya, that's right, I'm continental. Do I sound cool or what?

PP in Da Potty

Cooper's New Year's resolution is to be potty trained in 2010!!!!!!! Cooper has decided it's time. After a little setback a couple months ago when Mom thought we'd give it a whirl and let the lid of Coop's little potty slam shut on Coop's bum (Rookie Mom Mistake #7,056), he really wanted nothing to do with the whole pp-in-da-potty thing. But 2 days ago Dad thought he'd bring up the subject and Coop was all for it. Ohhhhhhh do we ever have a long way to go (patience, patience). The best part so far is how extremely excited and proud Coop is when we do the Hip-Hip-Hooray-4-PP-In-Da-potty dance. The look on Coop's proud face is priceless. No poops (just peeps) but I'm sure I'll be blogging all about Coop's first poop-in-da-potty as soon as it happens. And won't he be oh so proud someday that once again Mom has chosen to write all about it on the www?

Here's to a fabulous 2010! Happy New Year to all and to all a good peep!

UPDATE: The eagle has landed! Coopy Poopy'd in da potty for the first time on 12/31/09 at 5:47pm.

Ho Ho Ho!

Coop is having a blast with his Grandpa Toby and Oma Lis. He LOVES having so many playmates around the house to play with and teach him new things. He's even getting to test his baking skills. This is something he really hasn't experienced thanks to his Mom's lack of skills in the kitchen. It looks as though Coop and I can learn the joy of baking together. Oma Lis has taught us how to make linzer cookies and Christmas Stollen. Y.U.M.M.Y!!!!! New Holiday traditions.............

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family. Wishing we could partake in some holiday cheer with you all!!!

Smoky Mountain Christmas

Now that Dad is home and taking time off until NEXT YEAR, the Holidays are officially on! We decided to hit Dollywood. And at nighttime no less! Wow, we were livin'. Especially since we don't get out much at night. It was definitely a big deal. Coop got to stay up late, skipped his evening bath and had his very first hot chocolate. Now if that isn't livin', I don't know what is. Dollywood really does it up right for the Holidays. The park truly is amazing. Mark and I really had no interest in ever checking it out, but we're soooo happy we did this past fall. So much so that we bought a season's pass and have really put it to good use. It's a low-key, family friendly place full of Tennessee traditions and hillbilly happiness. I'm not so sure we'd dig it as much without having a little man to enjoy it with, but we are definitely DW converts.

We took a ride on The Dollywood Express ChooChoooooooo which was incredible. It's a real steam engine that made Cooper go bananas because he really digs trains these days. The train ride took us through the park and the surrounding hills while playing Christmas music. It felt like we were taking a ride on the Polar Express.

After the train ride we walked around the park to check out all the lights, fed the ducks and then Coop drove the mini cars which is his favorite ride. We ended the evening with DW's parade of lights. It was truly a fun night. I think I must have told Mark twenty times on the way home how much fun I had. Either we need to get out more, or it truly was a fun filled evening. Perhaps a combination of both, but a fun evening no matter how you slice it.

Here are some pics to prove it. Camera phone + nighttime + lots of movement = not the greatest pics in the world.........................

Parade of Lights

(Coop's not ashamed to wear Mom's pink scarf)

Dad and Coop

Is that who I think it is?????

Why yes. It is indeed..

The Meaning of Christmas

Dear Cooper,

In the spirit of the Holidays, I thought I’d take this opportunity to teach you one of the true meanings of Christmas. Well, not really because I think you might be a little young to fully understand the TRUE meaning but this is a close second. What I’m talking about here kiddo is ALMOND ROCA aka. Chocolate-Covered-Buttery-Sugary-Nut-Covered-Christmas-Miracle-That-Truly-Signifies-The-Love-Of-The-Birth-Of-Our-Sweet-Baby-Jesus! To simplify things, we’ll refer to it as Almond Roca.

You will learn over time that your Mother isn’t a very good cook but there is one thing I CAN make and it’s this thing called Roca that I speak of. Now this skill didn’t come about overnight. I learned from the best; your Great Grandmother Ruth. Your Grandma Linda and Grandpa Pat made sure her Roca making skills were appreciated and valued. Great Grandma Ruth was a Master Roca Maker (baker, or whatever you call a candy creator). I have so many fond memories of learning her craft over the holidays. She was my Mr. Miyagi, my Sensei if you will. She would stand over our shoulders as we stirred and instruct us on the proper techniques. ‘Stir, stir, stir, faster, faster, faster, figure eights, you must do figure eights, don’t stop…..are you going to let a little blister of hot molten butter stop you!?!’ She might not have been quite as brutal as I describe, but we knew Roca making was serious business. One mistake and the whole batch could go terribly, terribly wrong. There’s nothing worse than a ruined batch. It could darn near ruin Christmas if you allowed it to.

So Coop, I guarantee that you too will have the opportunity to carry on this family holiday tradition. Whether you chose to carry on the making part of the tradition is up to you, but I’m quite certain you’ll want to carry on the eating part of the tradition. In order to carry on the eating part, you’ll probably want to learn the making part (the two kind of go hand in hand). Someday you might ask: ‘Mom, why do we only make Almond Roca during the holidays? We should celebrate and enjoy the love of buttery-sugary-chocolatey goodness all year long.’ My answer to you will simply be: Yes Coop, my wise little buddy, you are absolutely correct but life is all about making sacrifices.

I hope you learn to love Almond Roca as much as the rest of your family and ancestors before you have. May your love of Almond Roca and the many other holiday traditions that come with it continue to blossom and flourish.

Love,
Mom

Grandpa Pat and I creating another Christmas Miracle

December '08

One of the many stages in the process

Voila! Ahhhh, Christmas can go on.

Skype ya Later

We love Skype! Thank goodness for computers. It has allowed us to stay in touch with Dad while he's in Seattle for what will be 2 weeks. We have a set date every morning before Mark heads off to class. Coop recognizes the catchy little ditty that plays when Skype rings on the computer. He runs right over and knows he gets to "see" Daddy. What a great way to fill Dad in on our day and blow him kisses. Here are some pics of our conversation from this morning. Coop is showing his Dad his new hat and mittens (which by the way, he now refuses to take off). I guess I should be glad that I have to fight him to take them off rather than struggle with him to put them on.

Mark using the cool animation feature to show Coop his 'Birbie'

(I think he's almost as excited to see the birdie as he is to see Dad)

Birbie......I mean DADDY!!!!!

Up close and personal

Hey Mom, could you give us a moment alone Paaaleeeeeassse?!?

Dad laughing at Coop attempting to take a swig of his drink with his mittens on.

Skype ya later Dad!

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See how easy this is Grandma and Grandpa? (hint, hint). I think you'd like this better than windows messenger. Shall we set a date?