When Santa Came to Town

I know I've said it a lot lately, but Cooper LOVED Santa this year!  Thankfully, Santa loved Cooper too and delivered big time when he stopped by our house!  When Cooper saw the goodies in the living room that morning, he ran in with the biggest smile kept saying, "Sanna Coz!!!"  It was precious!  Santa brought a play set for Cooper since he loves slides and climbing.  However, apparently Santa isn't very good at reading dimensions.  The play set was supposed to be for indoor use and was going to be tucked in Coop's play corner in the living room.  When my engineer husband mentioned that maybe this particular one was too big, I argued otherwise.  My engineer husband was right.  I just had to laugh when I saw it all put together...sitting in my living room...larger than any other piece of furniture in there!  So for now, it's the focal point of our living room; come spring, it's moving to the screened in porch!  Santa also brought Little Man a firetruck, a Mr. Potato Head, lots of bath toys, a book, pjs, and candy, which was all he asked for anyway!  I'm pretty sure Santa is Cooper's favorite person in the world now!

Here is Coop's Loot:

Sadie was very excited to help Cooper open his gifts, but when she saw her stocking, she re-focused her attention and went to town trying to get to her goodies!

You know how people always say why bother buying kids toys because they're happy to play with a plain ol' box?

That's true.

Here was my favorite present!

P.S. Just about every morning, Cooper asks about Santa Claus still!  I think he's having a hard time understanding that Santa's visit is a once a year thing!

O Christmas Tree

I couldn't be done with my Christmas posts without having one just about our tree!  We had a real beauty this year!  We get our trees from either Lowes or Home Depot because you just can't beat the price.  It's fun because you never know for sure what your tree is going to look like once it completely falls either.  We've had the prettiest tree I have ever seen, and we've had some of the ugliest!  Even if they're not pretty, it's still fun, and we still love them.  BUT this year's was definitely a winner!  We got it the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving was a little early this year, but that tree didn't drop many needles at all.  It must have been very fresh!

Every morning for over a month Cooper plugged in the lights and admired them.  He loved looking at that tree and finding special ornaments.  He talked about his "Crish chree" all the time!

Typically I take down our tree before New Year's.  This year I just couldn't bring myself to do it!  We enjoyed it so much!!!  When I finally did take off the ornaments, Coop started hanging them back on.  When I took off the lights, he got fussy and let me know he wasn't happy about my tampering with his precious tree.  When Karl and I hauled it outside, I thought Coop was going to cry!

My Boys

These two boys...

They are my heart.

Santa Came Early (for me)

A couple days before Christmas, I was exhausted!!!  Cooper had been sick with his cold/almost ear infection for over a week and had not been sleeping (at all--day or night), Karl had been sick with Cooper's cold, and then the Friday before Christmas, it got me too.  Between the not sleeping, caring for a sick little one, being sick myself, and preparing for Christmas, I was tired to the point of tears!  That's when Santa decided I could use a little pick-me-up.  I told Karl a few weeks before Christmas that I wanted a nice fancy camera for my 30th birthday (in July).  As the days passed, I kept wanting that camera more and more...and now!  Thankfully my husband knows me well, and when I mentioned the camera, he wasted no time and started researching and shopping so I could have it for Christmas!
The Sunday before Christmas, Karl sent me on a scavenger hunt to find my present.  He had hinted that he was getting me the new IPhone and even went so far as to wrap up the box his new IPhone came in with a clue inside it.  Although a phone would have been nice, it's not what I wanted or needed, so I was happy when the hunt continued!  The final clue led me to a wrapped present lying on my pillow and inside was my camera!  I was so very excited!  I have a lot to learn on how to use to it, but the best way to start learning is to start snapping!  I played with that camera all day, and then that night we went to Zoolight Safari with my mom to practice some more (and to see the beautiful display of lights, of course!).  I definitely need to learn how to use the right settings at night, but it was fun practicing!  If I could only get my favorite little model to stay still some!

 Here are some of my snapshots of the day...

I even caught this little stinker throwing one of his famous temper tantrums!

 

Can you tell someone was getting tired of me falling him around with the camera?

Can you tell Sadie was too?

A few from Zoolight Safari-Unfortunately these were the best ones we got.  I definitely had it on the wrong setting, but I didn't have time to play with it while we were there.

Little Man and his gator...

Has there ever been a little boy who doesn't love stomping in puddles?

Thank you, Santa, for my awesome new camera!  I love it!

A Few of Coop's Favorite Things

There have been three things that Cooper has been very passionate about lately:

Santa Claus

Candy

Firetrucks  

Now imagine his excitement when I told him that Santa would be coming to our house in a firetruck to give him some candy!  Oh yes, it was exhilarating!  For almost two weeks, all I heard about was Santa on a firetruck with candy!  Little Man was psyched!!!  (And Karl and I were too! :))  Finally that special Saturday arrived, and we planned our entire day around Santa driving down our street.  It was so worth it too! If only pictures could talk!

Cooper's excitement and anticipation were so sweet.  He got giddy and started dancing as he heard the firetruck in the distance!

But then when he actually saw Santa on the firetruck, he had a moment where he stood in complete awe.

I think it was the best moment of his life so far!  His smile was so big, and his eyes were completely lit up with happiness!  He waved and yelled, "Hey, Sanna!!!"

As Santa approached our house, Karl picked up Cooper and told him to say, "Merry Christmas, Santa Claus!"  Well, our sweet boy yelled out, "I YUH (love) YOU SANNA COZ!!!"  And if you could have heard it,  your heart would have melted!  It was so heartfelt and genuine.  It brought tears to my eyes!  He meant those words more than he's ever meant anything!  The sweet driver must have recognized how magical this moment was for our son, so he stopped for a few extra seconds.

Santa waved and threw candy, and Little Man just took it all in!

As Santa drove off, Cooper ran to the road and waved with all his might and continued to yell that he yuhved Sanna.

He danced and grinned and oohed and aahed over the sound of the departing firetruck.  Then he remembered the candy, and ran over to collect his treasure.  Karl and I both said that was the best moment of our Christmas this year!

Santa's Little Helper

Cooper took quite a liking to Santa this year, and this was before he even really understood Santa would be brining him presents!  As soon as we mentioned Santa this year, he decided he loved him!  He was constantly talking about him and how Santa says, "Ho, ho, ho!"  I have several Santa ornaments, and naturally, those were Little Man's favorite.  One morning while Coop was watching his cartoons, I noticed he had taken an ornament off the tree...

From that point on, that was "Coop-Coop's Sanna Coz," and he hung it on the tree and took it off the tree as much as he wanted!
Speaking of ornaments, here are my two favorites this year...

 This sweet handprint from Mother's Day Out

 An idea I found on Pinterest-I printed a picture from each of Cooper's Christmas's on transparent paper, cut them out in a circle, wiggled them in a clear ornament, and situated them with tweezers.  They look really pretty when the lights on the tree shine through them!

Back to the Big Guy...

Cooper has never had any hesitations about Santa Claus, and this year was no different; however, he wasn't sure about sitting on his lap!  We went to Bass Pro Shop, and Cooper played for awhile in their Winter Wonderland.  His favorite though was climbing on each and every four wheeler!  We were having a really hard time getting him off and away from them, so finally Karl told him to go tell Santa that's what he wanted for Christmas.  Although most people don't understand what Cooper's saying when he talks, he does for sure!  Well, he took off down the red carpet, went and stood in front of Santa, and started babbling!  Then when he was done, he crossed his little hands like he always does and started to walk off.  We quickly plopped him on Santa's lap before he could get away, and then he froze!  

After a little coaxing with a candy cane, Little Man was happy to snuggle with the man in red!  From that day on, he has talked about Santa and candy each and every day!