My Valentine(s)

Mark's burnin' up FL this week so it's just Coop and I for Valentine's Day. Mark was sweet enough to give me flowers before he left and I so appreciate it. He was feeling bad that he wouldn't be with us again this year for Heart Day so he wanted to make sure I had something before he left. Is that sweet or what?!? Poor guy, doesn't he know that every day is Valentine's day when he's around? (okay, you can stop rolling your eyes and holding back if you just threw up in your mouth a little bit). I just wanted to make the point that I totally understand that this is his busy time of year and we will have many, many, many Valentine's Days together. Plus, I get to spend the day with my other special Valentine! I'm not sure just what we'll do yet, but whatever it is, it will be special. How could a day spent with this little guy be anything but special? Thanks Mark for the beautiful flowers and thanks Coop for being my date! Once again, I must state the obvious: I am ONE LUCKY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coop stopping to smell the roses.

Yes, I admit, this is a staged photo. I had to make sure I took a pic of my beautiful gift.

What better way than to use the cute kid prop?

Chhheeeeeeeze!

Coop now feels it's necessary to say 'cheese' (sounds more like peeeeeze) and make this face when he poses for a pic.

My Cute Valentine!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and family! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Grandpa Pat

Dear Coop,

I just wanted to let you know what an amazing man your Grandpa Pat is. In due time you will figure this out on your own and I can tell you’re already starting to get the message. I also want you to know how very important it is to share your feelings and let your loved ones know just how much they mean to you.

Words can’t express just how much your Grandpa means to me. He is my rock----always has been and always will be. But don’t let that All American Football hero exterior fool you. He is a giant teddy bear that would fly to the moon and back for you if he could (and believe me, he’d do everything in his power to find a way). He is the one I go to for advice, my role model and always the optimist. His sense of humor is unique and quirky (even corny at times) and everyone that meets him is drawn to his wit.

Your Dad possesses many of the qualities I love about your Grandpa. And this wasn’t by accident. The more I got to know your father; it became clear that I found a man that could be held in such high regard as your Grandpa. Your Grandpa set the bar extremely high and your Dad has managed to hold his own in my eyes. I feel so blessed to have such amazing men in my life and now I have you to join the clan. Your Grandpa is a true role model and I can’t wait to watch as some of his personality starts shining through you. I am an extremely lucky girl.

We received some news yesterday about your Grandpa that put a little hitch in our get along. Like any curve ball that is thrown at us, we will get through this (and beat this). It’s now our turn to be the rock for your Grandpa. His optimism and perseverance will help all of us get through this. As always, his strength and courage can power through anything.

I can’t fully explain the love I have for your Grandpa. You’ll get it more and more as your love for your Daddy continues to grow. I can’t wait for our conversation one day when you tell me that you understand just how much I love my Daddy because you love your Daddy to the moon and back too. Aren’t Daddy’s just the best!?!

Love,
Your Grandpa’s Daughter

I love this pic of your Grandpa. It's not the best pic of you as it was taken back when you didn't want to be held by ANYONE but Mommy and Daddy. Luckily, that was just a phase.

Home Sweet Cooper

After 11 days of being without the Fam, I am soooooo happy to be home. The festival was a success and I had so much fun working and spending time with dear friends. But all good things must come to an end and all good mommies must come home to their Coopies.

Mark and Coop did a fantastic job holding down the fort and Grandma Mickey was able to visit for part of the time. I was so happy that Coop was able to spend so much time with his Dad and Grandma. Mark was great about giving me updates about their day and we tried to Skype each other as much as we could. Luckily, Cooper finally decided he likes talking on the phone. For some reason, he never wants to talk on the phone when someone is actually on the other line. He’d rather talk on the phone when it’s just him so he can hear the obnoxious hang-up-the-phone-already-beep-beep-beep-beep-annoying-operator-lady-tone. Cooper decided he’d give the phone thing a try and actually talked to me which was pure heaven. He even said ‘bubbye Amy’. I questioned whether or not it was a sign that I had been gone a little too long once your kid starts calling you by your first name. He also managed to say ‘binoculars’ (thanks to Diego) and he now says ‘ta-dah’ when he (or anyone else) accomplishes just about any task. Apparently, anytime the phone rang, Coop would say 'uh-oh Mommy'.

Mark sent me many pics via email and I wanted to share some of them. They really did brighten my day and helped ease missing my little man.

Cheeeeeezzzzze!

Coop loves his 'why-why' hat

A cold day at the park.

Coop's first 'mo-man'



Coop enjoying his 'mo-man' and his warm house.




Ta-Dah!!!

I arrived home late Sunday evening and Coop and I drove Mark to the airport Monday morning. Poor kid. I hope he doesn’t start to think that Mom and Dad aren’t a package deal. I just have to keep telling myself that this busy school schedule/fire schedule won’t last forever. Coop, I promise your Mom and Dad really ARE a package deal and we really do like spending time together. Someday kiddo, someday…………………..

Beastie Boys Dance Groove

Last night we were kickin' it old school and listening to the Beastie Boys (an oldie but goodie). Cooper loves to dance and usually busts a move whenever we listen to music, but this was different. The kid just wouldn't stop, song after song, after song. Some people may not call his moves dancing. It's kind of a cross between a flopping fish that has been out of the water for a very long time and an eighty year old man in need of a hip replacement. To Cooper, it's dancing and he just can't seem to get enough when the Beastie Boys are on the mic (or mike).

Here's a video of Coop giving it all he's got. Luckily, his mellow moves allow him to dance for the long haul. Maybe that's the plan. The last couple of clips also include Coop figuring out the view finder/screen on the camera. I flipped it around so he could see what I was filming. You'll notice he's getting better at saying his name (kind of). And anytime he says 'why-why' he's referring to Fire Truck, fire hat, anything fire related. The kid loves Fire Trucks. No, we didn't force this on him because of his Dad's profession. This was all Coop.



Can you believe I'm actually going to leave this kid for 11 whole days!!!??!! Hard to believe isn't it? Tomorrow I'm off to Utah to hob knob with the celebrities at the Sundance Film Festival. Well, I won't exactly be hob knobbing since I work in the trenches (behind the scenes), but an occasional sighting and being part of all the buzz is kind of fun.

Cooper gets to hang out with his Dad and his Grandma Mickey is coming for part of the time. Have fun boys!!!! Save a dance for me when I get back.

Lazy Sunday......and shoes

Today was cold and snowy. A great day to stay inside and be lazy. Why is it that ALL parents must have a picture of their kid wearing their shoes? Because it's cute that's why. It must be some sort of rite of passage. Here are a couple of Coop's obligatory shoe poses. Pretty darn cute if I don't say so myself.

I also posted a video of the little squirt. This is mostly for Dad's (and Grandparent's) enjoyment. Enter at your own risk. It's about 4 minutes of walking in shoes and talking. Exciting to us.....maybe not so much to others :).

Enjoy Dad.............We miss you.

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?