an album for my brother

At the start of this year, I started collecting photographs for a project I wanted to complete and give to my brother. Knowing an engagement and then a wedding would be in the very near future, I thought that now would be the perfect time to make this special book of memories for him. Each time I was able to fly down South, I would look forward to spending some time perusing through our old family albums and handpicking favorite pictures of my brother and me growing up.

I laughed, cried and smiled throughout the whole making of this album. I was so happy with the end result and was thrilled that I decided to make a duplicate copy for myself so that I could reminisce over the memories as often as I wanted to! (My husband is thrilled that I finished it too...more so because my scrap area has been clean and organized for several weeks now...for the time being anyway... :))

Here are a few pages and details to share...

(simple simple simple pages. Loved the pictures on this layout. :) used old school paper and embellishments, but thought it added to the theme nicely. ha!)

...included a good bit of hidden journaling throughout the book. I love journaling in scrapbooks, but don't always like it to be front and center.

...we both loved Christmastime with our family. Our mom and dad have always made it so much fun for us! Love that we always shared the special holiday with family...love the crazy and exciting times we had with our cousins when we'd get together...loved the homemade goodies that Aunt Polly would bring to us in her signature tins several times during the season (the fudge always went first!)...loved our mix of handmade, funky boutique, and formal ornaments that always adorned our tree...love the traditions...loved our Christmas pjs...love the memories of sitting in the little living room next to the fireplace staring at the white lights on the tree...loved all the special seasonal goodies that we unpacked from the attic each year (the walking snowman, the New England Village and its sweet accessories, the Nativity, the handmade felt advent calendar that hung in our hallway, the miniature Christmas trees that were placed on our dressers and decorated with mini ornaments...how could we ever forget the Christmas Muppets? ha! ...and so many more)...loved the many Christmas books mama would set out for us to read each night through the month...loved the Christmas Eve Candlelight service, the Christmas musical and Christmas plays at our church...love how our parents made it fun for us in every way possible and through all the hooplah always reminded us the Real Reason for the season. I could go on and on and on and on about the many things I remember and will always cherish from our childhood Christmas memories.

I hope I can pass this same feeling on to our children so that they will look back with a warm heart and smile.

Enjoyed creating the layouts about our school days, youth group and church trips and events...this brought back many, many memories.

Paperclipped behind the title of the above page are some of my favorite quotes/sayings on family.

LOVE this page for the poem my mom wrote about us and the pictures to fit! (notice the far left and far right pics!!)

Towards the end I included a letter to Taylor.

One final page will be added after Taylor and Fair's wedding...to include the whole family. The last page of the book though, is the page shown below of the two of us at Taylor's Senior pictures.

I am so very thankful for my family and love my brother very much. He is about to marry the girl of his dreams and I couldn't be happier for both of them. Before he says "I do" on December 11, I wanted him to be able to look back and smile on the last 25 years of his life...we have been so blessed to have the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends that we do. I am thrilled that he is about to "officially" join a precious family that will also have him smiling over the next 25 years!!!

I love you Taylor and couldn't be a prouder sister. Thank you for all the memories of the past and the memories to come!

P.S. Reminder to self: show Taylor where hidden journaling is otherwise he won't have a clue it's there!!!

Album and page protectors: American Crafts

playing in the white stuff

We've been doing a lot of this these last couple of days...

...and this sweet little bundle has been entertaining us with his cuteness.

In between the laundry, spit ups, Christmas shopping (online), diaper changes, the picking up around the house (only for the same area to get trashed again 2 min later! ha!), phone calls and about seventy-six other day to day responsibilities, we've been running out to play in the "white stuff" as much as possible. :) With it getting dark by 4:30 in the afternoon, we have to jump on the opportunity during the daylight hours. I love hearing Parker's squeals and hearty laughs each time he falls or goes sledding down a hill. The excitement in his voice as he runs around makes the half an hour it took just to get him dressed and out the door all the more worth the few minutes of play outside. It makes my heart smile.

Wintry roads and a special Tea for Cooper

Yesterday morning most of Minnesota woke up to a winter surprise. While we were expecting 1-3 in of snow, we weren't expecting 5+ inches of powder and ice covering our driveways and roads. This picture was taken around 7:30 in the morning. By nightfall, there was a bit more. I did have to smile as I looked out into our backyard thinking of all the fun Parker was going to have this winter playing in the white stuff.

So, the girls from our Sunday School Class treated us to a Sip n See for Cooper yesterday. (thank you Lauren for coordinating and Susie for hosting at your beautiful home!)

Let me just start by saying that I had no idea what I was talking about when Lauren called me at 8:30am Saturday asking if I still wanted to make the drive to Chanhassen (from Eagan). Most of the girls coming lived closer out that way, but I had quite the commute. The weatherman had said 1-3in, so how bad could it be? Of course I was still making the drive! If you're at all familiar with the area you know that it doesn't take 45 min to get from my driveway to Hwy 77...well, it did yesterday. Not only that, but it took me almost 2 hrs just to get to Chanhassen. Snow plows hadn't been around yet since it was still so early, so the roads were totally snowed under. I couldn't believe it when I pulled out of our neighborhood and started seeing cars everywhere stuck off the side of the road, vehicles skidding in the middle of hills and cops on literally every street (that I drove on anyway) to assist people in getting their cars "unstuck." (I'll take this moment to thank dear hubby for recently purchasing my nice, new snow tires that got me up each and every one of those hills yesterday without too much sliding. I actually felt kinda bad as I slowly putt putted past vehicles unsuccessfully spinning their tires for traction, but I knew if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get started again! ha!) Needless to say we were late for our own Sip n See, but so was everyone else so I didn't feel quite so bad.

I equated the drive out there to a feeling of a near death experience when I rode the Texas Giant at Six Flags over Texas back in Junior High. It may not have been as fast of a ride, but the white knuckles were about the same. To say that I had a death grip on my steering wheel the entire drive out there would almost be an understatement (I came close to taking a picture of all the stalled and stuck vehicles on one of the roads, but I knew if I posted it my mom would never quit worrying about us up here. :)) Once I got on the highways, the roads weren't nearly as bad, but still not a day at the park...

The warmth of the company, the food and the decor was felt as soon as Parker, Cooper and I all trudged our wet clothes and boots in the front door of Susie's.

The next hour and a half or so was such a treat to be able to visit with girlfriends as we sipped on tea and laughed and talked about everything to do with pregnancy, labor and delivery, infancy, and even the toddler stage, and nothing to do with anything other than those topics listed above. I take that back...the weather was mentioned once or twice.  :)

Thank you so much to each of you who helped to make this day so very special for us. I cherish our friendship and love the priceless girlfriend time that we share. Thank you again Lauren and Susie for all the hard work and time you put into this event to help make it what it was.

(Thank you Mike for helping me with my car troubles!! ...that's a whole other story that I won't get into, but lets just briefly say that something is definitely not right with my radiator and to top that off, I think I left part of my car in my neighbors driveway yesterday afternoon when I got back to Eagan...I think it's ok though because it's just a plastic part of some sorts that goes underneath the car...I guess we'll know when hubby gets home! Jeff, my neighbor, was kind enough to come shovel my driveway for me because when I tried to get in, the car got stuck. I spent a total of 3 hours and 20 minutes on the road yesterday, made it all the way to Chanhassen and back and then couldn't get in my driveway. Go figure. Well anyway, thank you Jeff!)

...ahhh, home sweet home. It's actually peaceful looking when you're not out driving in it!

And after the babes sleep...I fold laundry. Since "white" seemed to be the dominating color of my day, I decided to take a picture of the white load of laundry that I was folding last night. Onesies and burp cloths...in my opinion moms, you can't have enough of these!!!

first snow

We woke up to "the white stuff" this morning and it hasn't stopped. The weatherman predicted a few inches...I think this would classify as a little more than "a few."

our one month old blessing!

My tonight at 7:30pm...cozied up by a warm fire in our living room with my three boys. Love these sweet hands and feet. They are the cause of many of my smiles throughout the day!

Cooper, exactly one month ago today, I got to hold you in my arms for the first time. This last month of watching you grow has been such a special one. Last night, as I was sitting and rocking you exhausted from a lack of sleep and a little soreness from our busyness over the last several days, I couldn't help but smile...I could not have been happier. Though several hours of each of my days are spent in "Zombie-mode" I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so thankful that God blessed our family by sending you to us. You are so precious and I love you. I can't wait for another month of growth, grins and giggles!!!

(Yes, I did get my hair chopped off and am loving it! And yes, that is baby spit up all over my sleeve!!!)

The short version of Cooper's Birth Story:

Oct 3: your expected due date
(We were actually expecting you to be delivered about a week prior to your expected due date, so we were anxiously awaiting your arrival...but on Oct 4 at my dr appt I wasn't dilated at all!!)

Oct 10: We were scheduled to get to the hospital for an induction prep that evening..when we called in, all the rooms were full so they said they would have to put the induction prep off until Monday evening and I would be induced on Tuesday morning. I called my doctor to see if I could at least come in and get checked Monday morning in case I wasn't in need of the prep anymore. The doctor confirmed our arrival time for Monday morning at 7:30.

Oct 10: 11:15pm had a contraction...didn't think anything of it because I had had random ones in the prior weeks

Oct 11: 3am woke up feeling funny...realized I was having contractions 2-4 min apart...woke Clay up at 4am
Called dr beard around 5:45am and said, "Guess what Dr. Beard?!" He replied with a smile (I could tell he was smiling), "You're in labor." My response...a very excited, "I'm in labor!!!" After asking me a few questions he told me it was definately time to come to the hospital. On that note my husband had the car ready to go in seconds. We drove to Burnsville and arrived at the hospital shortly after 6am.
Clay was so cute...he had checked out 2 movies for us to watch when we thought we would be spending a non-eventful night there the evening before. After getting checked out (I was almost at a 3) we popped one of the movies in...the first movie he had chosen was "Back Up Plan" with Jennifer Lopez. Such a perfect choice :) I was too excited to sit still for much more than 5 min though and wanted to get up and walk as much as I could. With Parker I was hooked up to iv's and pitosin the whole time so I didn't get to walk at all with my labor that time.

The labor and delivery went amazing! Night and day compared to my first :) Everything from beginning to end went perfectly...it was exactly as I had hoped down to the last detail. God was so good! I wanted so badly to be able to go into labor naturally instead of having to be induced...I had already done the induction thing with Parker; I would love to never have to go that route again if at all possible :)
As it turned out, I was able to labor a few hours at home (even dancing to some of my favorite songs on the radio!), get to the hospital and walk through contractions until mid-morning, progress steadily, get an epidural that WORKED, be relaxed through most of the process and have a quick and easy pushing time. (I pushed 2 1/2 hrs with Parker...14 min with Cooper)

1:39pm sweet Cooper was born
I cried (as I sat stunned at how easy the whole process seemed compared to the first time around) for joy at this precious boy then looked at Clay and said, "So, when's the next one?!" ;)

Cooper - one month old

November 11, 2010

You are an easy and relaxed baby. I could stare at your sweet dimples all day long when you flash those adorable grins. You are already holding your head up steadily and have been since you were a little over 2 weeks old. I love your precious, round head; it looks so perfect. You have your daddy's skin tone...other feature comparisons are yet to be determined. :) You will sit and lay practically anywhere...crib, pack n play, swing, bouncy seat, our arms...when you get really sleepy, a lot of times you will just want to be swaddled and placed in your crib. You love having a warm bath; it seems to relax you. Sleeping through loud noises is not a problem for you. You are a good eater and sleep pretty well at night. Since you were 5 days old your daddy and I started you on an "feeding guideline" recommended by your pediatrician; you took to it immediately and seem to be doing great with the "schedule." Still wearing newborn and 0-3 month clothing and newborn diapers...about to move out of all newborn stuff. You have inherited large hands, are a very noisy eater and sleeper (you grunt and squawk a LOT), and look absolutely precious in blue!!!

I love you Cooper,

Mama

random little things about our recent days...

Need to buy more of these...

"Cars" Bandaids seem to turn a frown upside down almost any day! Funny how many boo boo's we're finding lately. ;)

Going for big adventures each day with our toys...

It's all about Buzz and Woody...
(ask Parker about our pizza and movie night downstairs complete with the Toy Story movie and he'll go on for hours repeating details that we should all know :)

Catching every last minute of fall weather that we can before winter hits us big...I'm holding my breath daily :)

Most important job right now...being a big brother
He takes the responsibility of getting Cooper his "nu nu" very seriously...and he's quite good at it

Amazed at how fast our littlest guy is growing...he is 4 weeks old today. Since he was one week old he has been trying to hold his head up. At two weeks, he was doing it for short intervals on his own. Every day, he's holding that head up more and more for minutes at a time. If we didn't have it captured on camera I might not believe it!! Slow down Cooper!!! You have plenty of time for big boy stuff!

I'm too pooped to do anything else right now other than sit here at the computer and jot down a quick post...one more feeding and I'm off to bed...after only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night, I can't get there fast enough. Boo to the time change. ;)

What grandparents do...

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."

Alex Haley

thank you to our family!!!

In less than 8 hours Nana and Poppie will be leaving MN; that means that all of our family will have departed. :( To say I'm sad, anxious and not ready for the "family time" to be over would be an understatement. Clay and I always look forward to having family come stay since we aren't lucky enough to live close to any of our relatives. We were so blessed to be able to have family come this time for an extended stay before and after Cooper was born.

Nana was able to come up prior to the delivery...thinking she would be here for a few days before the baby arrived "early." Those few days turned into a few weeks...what a blessing that was for us! The last 2 weeks before Cooper was born, I felt like I was on a physical roller coaster ride. One day I would be down on the floor playing with Parker, dusting, cleaning...like I had all the energy in the world and the next day I would be good for nothing and had to literally get help putting my socks and shoes on! ha ha! I remember the day before I was due with Cooper, I was down on the floor playing cars and building a highway system at 8am. Two days later and for pretty much the rest of that week before Cooper was born, I felt like I was doing good to roll (and I mean literally roll) out of the bed each morning (and the 5 times I'd get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!)

My mom flew in a couple of days before Cooper was born and was able to stay with us a week. She watched Parker while we were at the hospital and helped manage the house over the next few days when we got home.

After she left, Nana flew back up to stay for awhile longer and last week Poppie flew in to meet his grandson.

I have not done a load of laundry in over 6 weeks. I have hardly cooked or done a thing in the kitchen over the last 6 weeks. Every day for the last 6 weeks I have had help with our sweet angel of a toddler who, as much as we love him so, wears us out with his daily activities. :) The help from our family has been indispensable and I truly don't know how we could have done it without them. It has helped make these last 3 weeks so much easier for recovery.

Poppie, thank you for taking time out of your super busy work schedule to visit us! I appreciate your help with the household projects (as always!). Thank you for my delicious and warm, homecooked Southern breakfasts these last several days. This morning I literally closed my eyes as I savored each bite...knowing that it might possibly be my last hot meal for awhile. ;)

Mama, we really appreciate you taking off time from school to come spend the week with us. I don't know how we would've made it without you. Parker had a blast with his Rassie at the park, at home playing games and reading books and just spending time with you!!!  You always think of the most fun things to keep your grandson entertained when mama and daddy aren't able to provide that time that he needs.

Nana, I'm not quite sure how you managed to put up with us (ahem... well, mostly I'm referring to me!) for all this time...but I love you so for it!!! Thank you for wanting to come spend this time with us and for working so hard to try and make my life as easy as possible these last 6 weeks! You have slaved over this household and us...I don't know how we could ever repay you. I am so glad you love spending time in "your office" :) and appreciate all the scrumptious meals you fixed for us over these last several weeks...thank you for thinking of our upcoming months and stocking our freezer!!! We loved our visiting time as well and can't wait for the next party!

We love each of ya'll so much and are looking forward to seeing everyone again soon! We understand that we are sooo spoiled and that we are also beyond blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family who loves us so! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

P.S. Is it too late to beg you to stay?!

P.P.S. You can all start praying for me now... :)

around our house on Halloween...

Yesterday afternoon, around 4:30, our house turned into a pumpkin patch and all things Halloween! Carving jack o' lanterns, changing into costumes, watching an excited Peter Pan run from yard to yard squealing, "I Peter Pan!", placing out candy, making fun memories with Nana and Poppie, trick or treating, chowing down a quick McDonalds meal for supper, and chatting with neighbors out by a fire pit while watching hundreds of kids run through the neighborhood...this was our 2010 Halloween.

Parker, Poppie and Clay enjoyed carving fun faces into the pumpkins out on the deck. Parker and Cooper even had special "mini" pumpkins, which Parker was in charge of helping decorate before the carving started.
It was a chilly October day, so Cooper had to spend most of the day warm inside, but he ventured out for a few quick moments throughout the day.

Cooper's special jack o lantern that his big brother helped make for him.

....what Cooper did for most of Halloween...snooze... :) But doesn't he make the cutest little Halloween treat ever?!

Loved that all day Parker was telling everyone he was going to be Peter Pan for Halloween and that Baby Cooper was going to be a pumpkin....
Parker certainly picked up the trick or treating part quickly; after one house he was a little pro ringing those doorbells, flashing that cute grin and holding out his little treat pail. What made it even more fun was running around with his neighborhood friends, "little miss bumblebee" and "sweet candy corn." They all looked adorable :)

One of my favorite things this year was what some of our creative neighbors did with their jack o lanterns. The displays on front porches were breathtaking...wish I had some better pictures of these. Another favorite...Buzz and Linda, neighbors of ours, traditionally hand out hot chocolate to each of the trick or treaters. Then the nearby neighbors gather around another friend's firepit and sip hot chocolate as the trick or treaters pass by.

I am already looking forward to the festivities next year...hmmm, I'll have to get a little more creative with my own costume next Halloween. This year, I dressed as a "mom to newborn baby who was too busy feeding one child and dressing the other to fix her hair that day." I thought I played the part really well actually. :)