And The Stockings Were Hung...

Or in our case, the stockings were gently laid on the floor (I've seen what a stocking holder does to a little girl's head).

Tonight we decorated the Christmas tree.


Before picture!

Christmas is Chad's favorite holiday, geez I wonder why?? Could be he loves snow, loves cold weather, loves to give people gifts, loves to eat fudge and all kinds of good food, and his birthday is December 31st.

Tradition (can you call it a tradition if it's only been 9 years now?) would have it that we braved the cold weather (with Chad's brother Jeremy and his girlfriend Beth) to find the perfect Christmas tree. We ate our candy canes as the nice gentlemen tied it to the top of our car. We drove home singing Christmas Carols. We watched Chad wrestle with the tree and get it inside. The cat ran upstairs to hide from the big "monster" in the family room for the next 25 days. I put on the lights (thanks to some great teachings from Jura), add some ribbon, and then let the kids go crazy with the ornaments. Campbell ran around like a wild child. Cooper was determined to make things look great. Chad supervised. Finally an hour later, Chad put on the topper (which is always crooked-because of a design error) and I put on the tree skirt and lay the stockings out.





I have to say I LOVE my Christmas tree skirt. My very talented sister made it for me last year (I didn't even know she remembered my comment about always wanting a personalized tree skirt, but she did). I love personalized items, I'm not sure why because I have a very common name. But I love to get things for the girls with their name on it. It makes it seem more important. I know they'll always have that item and cherish it, or at least that's what I like to think.



Colgin's Tree.

Anyhow, Christmas is sad too, because I miss Colgin. But I love to hear Cooper talk about him and tell Campbell about him. One day she too will be talking about her big brother up in Heaven. I'm glad they like to include him on things. And during this time of year we get to light up Colgin's special Christmas tree and don't have to explain to everyone why we have a Christmas tree up in our dining room all year long.



After picture!

Now, it's time to get the girls to bed, clean up, do some more housework and get some sleep. I know it's been awhile since I posted (yes Kris I too haven't written much), but we've been out of town, busy, and I'm a little leary about uploading pics to my computer, since my old profile had an error and I've had to start everything over again. But I promise to do some updating soon, so look for those coming.

Extreme Home Make Over in KS

Extreme Home Make Over the tv show has been in Chapman, KS this week. The June tornado first hit Chapman and then came to Manhattan, and the Make Over team decided to do 3 projects in Chapman. The team rebuilt a house for a family of 5 in which the mom has battled cancer twice and the dad is a disabled vet. The team also rebuilt the Chapman city park and built a Community building. You can read the whole story in our local newspaper. Chapman is about 30 miles from Manhattan. The actual show will air in January is what I've heard.

http://www.themercury.com/News/article.aspx?articleId=25286087a39c4ffdae1f106d856ad34d

I'm Inspired - Thanks to a good movie & Oprah!

Ok, here is a post with a lot of rambling, so follow closely.

Last night I went and saw the movie, "The Secret Life of Bees." I had read the book a few years ago for book club, actually it was the first book we read. The book was good and I thought the movie was great! I cried through the ending, of course. So if you have a chance check it out.




I just finished watching the Oprah show from today (Wednesday) with Peter Walsh on there beginning his "Clean Up Your Messy House Tour." Just watching him work is inspiring as I LOVE to organize! That would be my dream job. Chad watched with me and kept saying, "our house isn't messy" and I'd agree, not messy...but there are certain things that I would love to get organized and just haven't brought myself to do it yet! There are a lot of emotions tied up in that stuff, so it's hard to do. I can't wait to follow along with Peter's travels across the US to see the other houses he declutters and reorganizes. If you go to Oprah.com you can see the highlights of the show. It was great!

Also, to go along with Kris' coupon clipping/bargain shopping post. If you watched Oprah you heard about the great FREE offer from Snapfish and also the coupon from The Container Store. I don't want to spoil it, but it's worth your time to find out for yourself!

What a day! If anyone has Peter knock on their door, PLEASE let him in. Afterwards, ask him if I can get a job on his crew. ;o)

Fall Fun in the Sun!

The weather has been unusually warm the past week or so. Up in the high 70's by late afternoon. So Sunday afternoon, when all the guests from the birthday festivities had gone home we took the girls to city park. The city just put in some new playground equipment and Cooper couldn't wait to check it out. Campbell had already been a couple of times before with Oma & Opa. The weather was beautiful and the place was crowded, but we still had a great time. We needed to enjoy the last few warm days of Fall. They are predicting snow in Monday's forecast. Yikes!



Campbell loves to swing, with some help from mommy.


A bit blurry, but I just love her expression.


Cooper was showing Campbell how to go down the slide fast.


Campbell finally got brave enough to go down by herself.

It was a great day!

Turning 6 in Chicago!

For Cooper and Teagan's 6th birthdays, Michelle and I decided to take them to Chicago! Mostly to visit the American Girl Store, but also to make some mommy/daughter memories and have a fun girls only trip. Cooper and Teagan were born just 5 weeks apart and then Addy and Campbell were born just 5 days apart. They are great friends and we enjoy doing a lot of things as families together.

We went to Chicago on Wed. Oct. 22 - Fri. Oct. 24. The girls didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, so they only missed Wednesday. Michelle had a big job to do in taking care of me, Cooper, and Teagan on the airplane. All went very smoothly and we all had a fantastic adventure together.


Teagan & Cooper with the big city buildings in the background. We had just ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Our hotel was just a few blocks from here, right off of Michigan Ave.


Mommy & Cooper at the Ghirardelli store. Mommy has visited the original store in San Francisco and I love it! Hopefully one day we can take Cooper there too.


Cooper and Teagan ready for bed. Our first day was a long one, but we had so much fun. Sweet dreams girls, tomorrow we hit the American Girl Store.


Mommy & Cooper at the American Girl Store, right after Cooper's doll, Maye, had her hair done and got her ears pierced. Wow! What a store. We were there from 10am until 2:30pm. We ate lunch at the cafe, had pictures taken, and shopped for all kinds of goodies. Cooper really likes the Historical doll Kaya.


After all that American Girl stuff, we needed a break. Later that day the moms needed some grown up shopping time, the girls went along and enjoyed finding a resting bench to sit on. They also liked all the escalators, elevators, and did really well walking the city streets window shopping.


Cooper and Maye got matching pj's. Cooper really loves her doll. She bought Maye in June and had to save her money up for 4 months to do so.


On Friday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. We all loved the fish! Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and found a little boutique for the girls to get manicures and the moms to get pedicures. What a blast!


Cooper and Mommy on the flight home. It started raining on the ride to the airport, otherwise the weather cooperated all 3 days we were there. (Notice Cooper's tank top, that girl!) We arrived in KC about 11pm and got home way too late. Saturday we were all very tired.

We enjoyed our time together and hope the girls will always remember their first trip to Chicago. Happy Birthday Cooper! Lots of love, Mommy.

A Pumpkin and A Cheerleader

Each year we get the girls' picture taken with our good friends Teagan & Addy. This year the mom's decided to do the pics ourselves. It was a quick photo shoot, but at least we got a few good shots.

Campbell=pumpkin, Cooper=cheerleader, Teagan=Kit Kittredge, Addy=cowgirl.

First Hair Cut

This post is a bit out of order, Sorry!

Campbell had her first haircut on October 14th, 2008. I think she has more hair now then Cooper did at this age. Yet, unlike Cooper's hair, Campbell's hair is only curly when it is wet for about a day, then it goes straight. It was very whispy and uneven, so I thought maybe a haircut could even things out and create some kind of style. I also needed the lock of hair to do the shadow boxes I made.



Campbell sat very nicely in the salon chair. She loved to look at the animals on her cape.


Campbell kept saying "Lori, Lori, Lori" wanting to ask Lori, our hair stylist question after question. Lori has been our hair stylist for 8 years and gave Cooper her first haircut also. Daddy was there to get the lock of hair, while mommy & Cooper took pictures and video taped.


Campbell even liked the blow dryer. She looked so pretty and what a big girl!