Happy New Year

The Reid's were kind enough to host a small get together tonight for New Years... small if you count them, us, the Bush's, McCarty's, Murphy's, and Ausmus's. It was a house full. We didn't get to stay as late as we wanted, Steve has to work tomorrow and Cooper started melting down around 8:15. I know we are real party animals. Cooper just can't make it past his bedtime often, the kid loves his sleep. Add that and a full day with Steve's parents, he was wore out. It was fun while it lasted and we enjoyed visiting with everyone. Thanks for having us over. Things sure have changed in recent years, I'm sure I will be fast asleep before the ball drops!

Gretchen cheesing for the camera

Cute baby Addie- she looked like a miniature snow princess.

Just a handful of the children, there were 12 adults and 11 kids.

The hostess with the mostest Mastering the self-portrait

Come on Eric, you have guests over do you have to lay on the couch?

We were able to get some pictures of the real Bear Chair. He looks so happy, I'm surprised he even went near it.

IU Game

Earlier today Steve & I went to see the IU game, they opened conference play against Michigan and guess what... they won!!!! It was a HUGE win for Indiana. If you know what IU has been through the past few years, they pretty much started from scratch last year and had to rebuild the whole team, I think they won 6 games last year. So to start off with a win against a conference team is a huge confidence booster. They also lost one of their best players earlier this week with a season ending injury... so like a said HUGE!!!! Steve's parents gave us the tickets, they get a mini-series package every year, it's about 4 or 5 games but all when students are off campus. Usually the atmosphere is a little mild.. but today, the crowd was into it. I'm sure his parents are a little upset they didn't get to go to this one, it by far the best of the series. Don't feel too sorry for them though, they had their hands full with Cooper. My favorite part of the game was just prior to the start, they played a taped message from Coach Crean. He is such an awesome guy, click here to read a story on Steve's blog. Anyway, Steve said this was something he has been doing, he tapes a message just prior the games and it is specific to each game. It's not some generic message they play before all games.. he commented on the injury they just faced and the teams reaction. You can tell he is truly proud to be at IU. We had a great time and it was good to spend some time together. Thanks again to Mamaw & Papaw for our tickets, buying our breakfast and most of all for taking care of Cooper. We couldn't do it without you guys!

A trip to Assembly Hall is not complete without a shot of the banners.

A little pre-game action

The opening tip off- it started off rough but they pulled through in the end.

I love this, they have giant faces to wave while the other team is shooting free throws. The faces range from Tony Dungy, Vince Vaughn, Tony Soprano, Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert... you just never know who is going to show up.

Self-portrait

These hats were awesome, they were made from basketball nets.

And of course the running of the flags, also a must see.

We're ready for the playoffs

Cooper & I decided to show off some new Christmas clothing yesterday. We're ready for the Super Bowl!

Visiting with Old Friends

Wednesday night Cooper & I had some very special visitors. My oldest BFF Melissa & her daughter Molly came over. Melissa & I go way back.....it's safe to say we have known each others our whole lives. Melissa also has a 9 month old, Dalton, but he had been sick so he stayed at home. We missed him. There was barely a weekend in high school that Melissa & I weren't together. But you know the story, different colleges lead to different lives and so on. It's funny, we talk more now than we did in the first few years after high school and Melissa lives in Colorado! We had a good time catching up and the kids had fun playing, although not together. Cooper would have rather played with Melissa than Molly. I talked it up the whole day about Molly coming over and for some reason he though Melissa was Molly. I have never seen him like that with a stranger. It was a ham! He even wanted Melissa to take him potty. Weird!!!!! I need to get him around more kids. I didn't break out the camera until right before they left and and this was the only shot we could get. Me blocking Molly and Cooper not looking at the camera. He was sad they were leaving and had a melt down afterwards.

Thanks for visiting guys, wish we could do this more often... maybe one day!

Interview with a two year old

Last night I decided I would interview Cooper, here is the results:

Who is your favorite: Mommy/Daddy/Mamaw
What is your favorite toy: At-e-ball (basketball)
What is your favorite animal: Zebra/Lion
What is your favorite color: Blue Papaw
What is your favorite food: Chocolate Milk
What is your favorite tv show: Hot Dog/Mimmie/Gookey (Mickey/Minnie/Goofy)
What is your favorite drink: Chocolate Milk- obviously
Who is your best friend: Papaw

Our First Snowfall of the Season

Okay, so maybe it's more of a dusting, but it's still fun for a two year old.

New Camera

Here is a comparison shot of our new camera. The first was taken with our old camera and the second was with our new. What a HUGE difference! I will say there were taken on two different days so the lighting may be different, but you can't deny how much better quality the second picture is.

A note to Uncle Scott

When you teach your nephew to say bad things, keep in mind you are now to blame when he gets in trouble.

So Sad

Cooper & I went to Kroger this morning, poor guy was so sad. Ho Ho (Santa) and Toman (Snowman) were deflated from the roof. He looked so pitiful.

I almost forget..

We ended Christmas Night by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, or as Cooper calls him Baby GiGi. I don't want to forget that.

Christmas Day

What a day! I have to say playing Santa is so much more fun than being visited by Santa. Steve & I got up before Cooper did to get everything ready so when I brought out in the living room Steve had the video camera ready. He was a little overwhelmed at first but once he realized what was going on he had a good time. He enjoyed opening our gifts to each other as much as he did his own. Steve was able to get Cooper on video opening his Bob the Builder DVD, it was such a priceless moment.

Next stop was Steve's parents house for gifts & lunch. I have no idea what we did to deserve the blessings we received. They went above & beyond anything I could imagine. The best part is that everything was practical, for us & for Cooper. Cooper got some gift cards so we can start converting his room into a toddler room and get a big boy bed. He also got some big boy underwear, they even have Mickey on them. After lunch we got home, it was close to nap and Cooper pretty much melted down at that point. We had spent every waking moment in the past 24 hours on the go and he had enough. A good three hour nap was calling.

After nap time it was off to my mom's for some dinner and more gifts. By the evening we were all exhausted. Today was nice and relaxing and Cooper got to play all day with some of his new toys. I think he was happy to just stay home and play, and so were we. I didn't get many pictures, I let Steve video some things so these were the only ones I got. But... we did get a new camera from Scott. It's the same camera we have now, it's just 5 years newer. Once I figure everything out I'm going to take the same picture with both cameras to compare the two.

Thanks again to all our family who help to make our lives so wonderful.

Christmas Eve

We had a fun filled Christmas Eve around the Lee household. I feel this was the first Christmas since Cooper was born that he knew something special was taking place. I love watching him learn and take in new thing, it was a lot of fun. Earlier in the day we put some reindeer food in the yard, cause Santa's reindeer need snacks during their long journey. I think he just had fun shaking the bag. He was proud of himself.... I can't get enough of this cheesy grin.

After nap it was off to church. For the first time we had two services, I don't know what second service looked like but there wasn't an empty seat at first. They even brought in more chairs. It was a little bittersweet, it will be our last Christmas Eve service in our current building. There are no childcare workers during this service so Cooper stayed with us. I think he was a little confused at first, but pretzels and a sucker kept him calm. Plus I got some extra cuddle time. Here he is hanging with Uncle Scott before service started, Scott brought a snack for him too.

Next it was off to Scott's house for dinner with Steve's parents, aunt, and cousins. I think have a similar shot last Christmas of Cooper eating with Scott.

While dinner was being cleaned up, Scott kept Cooper busy by bringing out random items to show us. Here he is showing off a duster. It doesn't take much for this two year old.

Next we had some games, Scott picked up some fun gifts at the Dollar Tree... this was one of them.

They asked if I wanted to keep it, but he bought it for a $1. I said I would pass.

We can't forget the shower caps that someone won as well.

Next came gifts. Cooper got some more Little People, coloring books, books, a Thomas train, and a Leap Frog Dog. Thanks again to Marilyn, Tina, Ricky, and Randy for all you do for us & Cooper. Cooper is blessed to have so many people that love & care for him.

No Christmas Eve is complete without Steve & Ricky's gift exchange. Ricky got to go on a scavenger hunt playing "Cooper's Clues". Each clue was written out like a two year would say it. Steve's gift was inside a tub of toast, peanut butter and melted marshmallows. It was disgusting, but that's the fun of it all.

I have to agree with Gretchen when she said Christmas Eve is her favorite day of the year. I already have so many fun memories in just the 8 (I think) Christmas's I've spent with Steve's family. We start off with a short & simple church service on the true meaning of Christmas and end it with good family fun. I can't wait for Cooper to make many more memories of his own.

Bear Chair

After running into the Reid's at McDonald's all Cooper could talk about was a bear chair. Why? Well Levi has a bear chair in his toy room. It was Eric's when he was little and it is the most darling little thing. However, Cooper is afraid of it and when Cooper is afraid of something he wants to see it but doesn't want to get close to it. We went over to the Reid's last week and as soon as we pulled up to the house he was all about the bear chair. Of course when we saw the Reid's at McDonald's all he could talk about again was the bear chair. The entire car ride home was bear chair. So being the wonderful daddy that he is, Steve made a bear chair. Keep in mind we have limited resources- a rocking chair and construction paper, but Cooper is two, he doesn't care. Here is a picture of our bear chair, Tracey is going to post a picture of theirs once I get this posted so be on the lookout.

McDonald's

I thought we would start a new tradition for Christmas Eve morning by going to breakfast, then I found out Steve volunteered to work next year because he took so many holidays off this year. We still went out and maybe I will just have to keep it a tradition for Cooper & myself. We decided on McDonald's, it's been a few years since I've had their breakfast and it was soooo good. Cooper liked it too, either that or he just liked their chocolate milk. He also liked Steve's giant orange juice.

Oh, and look who else showed up. Do you like my covert camera skills?

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I promise to post some Lee family festivities within the next few days.

Helping Daddy

Cooper helped Steve put the water bottles in the fridge tonight. Steve thought it was hilarious. I'm sure he will be laughing tomorrow morning at 6:30 when he wants some milk.

Cooper's Christmas Party

Cooper and I have a play group at our church on Wednesday mornings that we like to attend and today was the Christmas party. We had lunch, made an ornament, and had a very special visitor! Guess who was the first to sit on Santa's lap. I know it looks like he is upset, but he is really just trying to "smile" for the camera. He told Santa he wanted a "a-et-ball" for Christmas.

I love the cheesy smile in this one.

Christmas Questionnaire

I got this from fellow blogger Megan and thought I would give it a shot, it's a little long but it's fun to read. Please fill free to do this yourself, it's fun!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? When I was little presents from my parents were wrapped and presents from Santa were just under the tree. Cooper's Santa will wrap presents.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? It was always the weekend after Thanksgiving, however starting two years ago I was due with Cooper on Nov 11 so we put out decorations and tree up that weekend so we wouldn't have to worry about it once Cooper arrived. Since then we have put them out the weekend before Thanksgiving. I like it, it gives us the weekend after to relax and enjoy the long weekend. We don't have Thanksgiving at our house so no one else see it but us and I don't feel like we are overlapping the two holidays.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmmm.. I usually make sausage & cheese balls, which I LOVE! Steve's cousin also makes homemade chicken & noodles, which are awesome!

7. Favorite Holiday memories as a child? Probably my family, (aunts, uncles, and cousins) all coming over Christmas Eve. The house was full of people and food.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember, I think I just knew one day.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As a child we opened gifts from my parents on Christmas Eve and from Santa on Christmas Day. Now, we exchange with Steve's cousins on Christmas Eve but with each other and his parents on Christmas Day. We get together with my parents whenever schedule allows since we really don't have any traditions or set plans. I would like to do something with Cooper on Christmas Eve each year, probably pj's.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights and ornaments, nothing special, although we do have A LOT of Disney ornaments, we've bought some each trip we have went on since we got married.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Depends, I'm kind of all or nothing. If it's going to snow I want a full blown blizzard, shut the city down for a few days. Of course I don't work outside the home so I don't' have to drive in it.

12. Can you ice skate? NO!!!!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a child no, as an adult, yes! Christmas 2006- it was about 6 weeks before we were going on a trip to Disney World. One thing Disney does that I've always wanted to take part in was pin trading. Almost all cast members (employees) wear lanyards with various Disney pins attached. If you have a pin and want to trade, all you do is walk up to the cast member and tell them which pin you would like and they have to give it to you. That is unless their lanyard is green, then they only exchange with kids. Anyway... the pins are pretty expensive, anywhere between $6-$10 for one. I had bought a few in our two previous trips but they were ones I picked out and wasn't willing to depart with them. Come to find out, people sell these on eBay, usually in lots of 10 or 20, you can get 10 for about the price you would pay for 2. So, Steve bought me 10, they were random ones I would never buy but I got to trade them. That same year we also bought each other the same calendar- The Office. See pics below.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Well, obviously it's the birth of Jesus, but it's also about family & traditions. The traditions my family had growing up kind of fell apart by the time I entered high school, so I will do everything in my power to not let that happen to Cooper and we will have traditions.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Buckeyes and Chex Mix Puppy Chow- I know I can have these anytime of the year but I usually only get them during Christmas.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Now it's Christmas Eve night, we go to church and head back to Steve's brother's house. We eat dinner, his cousin reads the Christmas Story and we exchange gifts. Steve & his cousin also try to out do one another on who can wrap or "hide" their present the best. They have done scavenger hunts before, hid clues inside balloons, you name it, it's been done. My favorite of all time- his cousin filled a jar, probably about a gallon size, or M&M's. There were 11 random M&M's that had a piece of paper taped on it with a letter. Those letters spelled out a clue- my favorite part was eating the candy of course and we got to keep all the candy :)

17. What tops your tree? Star

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving! I love finding that perfect gift for someone I know they will love. Or the story that goes along with it, I already have two stories for Steve for when he opens his gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night

20. Candy Canes: They're okay!

21 Favorite Christmas Show? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

22. Saddest Christmas Song? I don't know if I have one, maybe now as a mother it would be Mary Did You Know, sometimes I think we focus so much on what Jesus did and the miracles He performed, we miss out on the human aspect and the feelings his family had for him.