J Cooper Photography

ok. So I’ll admit to a wee bit of boredom at our household today. And in order to spice things up a bit, the girls and I decided to dress up, head out, and check out a few new photography locations. The sun was shining nicely and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Just one small problem…that beautiful sunshine that looked so glorious from my kitchen window also had a pretty fierce (and cold) wind to accompany it. So we mostly drove around (and stopped for ice cream). I did convince the girls to hop out of the car at one stop…but we only got a handful of shots in before they started to grimace and dance about.

Still totally worth it for this shot.

I love that they had so much fun getting on their funky outfits…A thought her striped footless tights and leopard print skirt were the perfect winning combination.

And J sported her plaid blazer and her skinny jeans…everyone should have the opportunity to see their toddler in skinny jeans. Love that school girl look on her.


Thanks for the fun afternoon girls. Sorry about the cold…hope the ice cream made up for our failed photo shoot…we’ll play “fashion girls” another day…I promise!

(dum dum dum ditty-dum-dum)

To finish off our winter holiday adventures…we took a family trip down to Crown Center to the ice terrace. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lessie, and Grandma and Grandpa came along….we all had a grand time. Only three of us adults ventured onto the ice. And the little girls had a blast slipping and sliding around the rink!




S enjoyed the afternoon from the sidelines…staying warm in his snowsuit and Grandma’s arms!

A cheesy pic of our little family (minus the baby….too scared to bring him out on the ice!)

After skating for a bit we headed over to see the huge (and mostly dead) Christmas tree. The girls wore off the rest of their energy running around and climbing on the exhibit. I could barely keep up with them due to my rubber skating legs!


So the holidays have been officially wrapped up at our house. Our company left this morning…and the tree has already been stripped bare. I don’t know about you…but I’m ready to get back into the swing of our normal, chaotic life!

Hope you are all still pleasantly stuffed and enjoying your new Christmas gadgets. I do have a couple presents to share next. My hubby and I didn’t exchange gifts (I know, I know…a tad on the “bah humbug” side)…but the girls did receive a few fun things!

I will admit to being a tad remiss in the blogging department this past week. But for good cause…we’ve been enjoying the holidays with family and friends! Instead of a plethora of small posts geared towards specifics events I’ve decided it would be best to completely bore you and send you into a post-holiday stupor by sharing all (or at least most) of our holiday excitement in one grand post. Excited yet?

We started out the week with school parties, preschool programs, visits from a few out of town friends, cookie baking, and some playing in the snow. I’ve tried to limit the picture showing so as not to put you into a catatonic state! I’ve also tried to resist the urge to edit all these snap shots as well. A snap shot is just that right?

Here’s J singing her little heart out at her preschool program…the little guy next to her was really loud (in a cute, endearing way) and she kept eyeing him…they were pretty cute!

Next we headed over to one of our best friend’s house for a visit with Santa. They seem to have an “in” with the “big guy” and he visits their house early every year so the neighborhood kids can sit on his lap and present their wishes.


Sam enjoyed Santa too (from a distance)…Santa even mentioned how much he liked our little guy’s hat

By the end of the evening the babies had had enough. They look like we stuffed them full of cookies and egg nog don’t they…honest we didn’t!

A rare snap shot of me with my little man taken in my friend’s kitchen

I didn’t escape the holidays without a bit of sewing. J had several hand-me-down Christmas dresses that she liked but A made sure I knew that her “holiday wardrobe” was lacking. I whipped up this little jumper (Farbenmix Marieke – hands down my favorite pattern) in an afternoon out of a vintage Santa print she picked from my stash. I also made her a little peasant top (see Santa photo above) using my basic pattern…instead of gathering the neck in with elastic I pulled the gathering stitches tight and then trimmed the neckline in bias tape with a big bow…turned out pretty cute!

We had a visit from my parents (Mimi and Baboo) last weekend…did a bit of shopping and saw the train exhibit at Crown Center. This weekend grandma and grandpa will be coming to celebrate. In between the company, however, we had a glorious Christmas with just our own cozy little family. Other than all being sick…it was a lovely couple of days to relax and enjoy each other.

The kids dressed in their matchy matchy outfits just as we were heading out to the Christmas Eve service at our church.

Sisterly love. They really are the best of friends. It is so fun to watch them growing up together.

We sat out cookies for Santa before church and he filled our stockings while we were gone! After dinner we sat and took turns opening all of our little treasures. We’ve never taught our children that Santa is real….just allowed them to believe should they choose. Funny how little ones want to believe in Santa. The girls ask me every year “Is Santa real?” To which I respond, “what do you think?”….and every year they exclaim “OF COURSE!”


I caught this tender moment between my oldest and the baby. He got a new jingle ball in his stocking and she was ever-so-gently rolling it to him in a game of catch. As you can see…he pretty much thinks she hung the stars in the sky…and she feels the same way about him!

After the stockings we put on our Christmas jammies, tore into the new movie that Santa had left, popped the popcorn and heated the hot cocoa, and piled on a collection of mis-matched quilts on the family room floor. We watched the movie together (Barbie’s A Christmas Carol) and fell asleep together like one-big-giant-family sleepover.



In the morning we woke up and made Begian waffles (”belchin‘ waffles” as my girls say) with blueberries and cream. Yeah…scratch that…they didn’t like them so the first round got eaten by mommy and daddy and they got the more traditional butter and syrup

After we were all pleasantly stuffed we tore into the gifts. They each got three presents this year: jammies, something they needed (A got a set of Junie B. Jones books as she has become a voracious reader and J got a new ballet bag and “ballerina-tard“), and a fun gift (doll clothes for their American girls in a cute little suitcase). Sam got an activity table and an assortment of manly toys


The festivities will continue this weekend…but for now I will wrap up this post.

I truly hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family…that you shared it with people you love…and that your New Year will be full of Christ’s blessings. Thank you for sharing in our lives through this blog. I’ve met so many wonderful people through this simple adventure and I am so thankful!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Have you been over to the Ivylane Boutique Blog yet? Well…what are you waiting for?? It is chalk full of full articles, information about where to find great items, and FUN giveaways!!! I just posted an article there with a few photography tips! Stop by often to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the fun!

Hoping it isn’t as cold where you are as it is here! We are staying inside…no plans to head out into the sub-temperature tundra. Plus…we’ve been passing around the sickies all week and we’re all still feeling miserable. J has had step and the rest of us have been battling the colds of the century. Ho, ho, ho, huh?

Stay warm!

My little guy got some new duds last week. I seem to have some sort of puppy fetish…at least half of his wardrobe has some type of doggie motif. I especially have a thing for ears. Big floppy ones. There are so few times in life where you can really pull off wearing a puppy dog hat…so you might as well take advantage of it now, right?

This little one is growing up way too fast. He’s sitting like a pro. Sitting like…I can just sit him down and walk away…sitting. He’s eating three square meals a day. And just gave up his bedtime bottle. That’s a big mystery to me? What baby won’t drink a bottle before bed? Not this little man…breakfast, lunch, and dinner and he’s good for the night. It certainly makes the bedtime routine at our house easier. But I do miss those extra snuggles…

He’s really starting to play with his toys (read: eat his toys). He especially loves soft, cuddly things…and anything that fits in his mouth. As we were playing in his room yesterday I got down this sweet puppy stuffie to show him. It was so big…he wasn’t sure what to make of it…and just kept looking up at me for direction.

“hmmm….not sure about you…but my mommy seems to think we’ll be friends…wanna play?”

“ha…gotcha…you ain’t goin’ no where mister…”

“now let me get a good look at you….you are kinda cute…”

“you were right mommy. he’s lots of fun after all!”

If I could only freeze time and keep him this age forever. My little puppy…I love you!

I’m still working hard trying to finish up some projects around the house. I bought some fabric to make a curtain for J’s new room…hope to get that sewn up later today! This is the dresser that used to sit in her room. When I finished her new furniture I moved this downstairs to be painted. It is still awaiting knobs (they’ve been purchased but Mr. drill man will need to install them for me). This is on the far side of my dining room…hoping the extra storage will free up some much needed space in my kitchen cupboards!

This is the other side of my dining room. I’m hoping that painting the dresser black will help balance the room a bit better? (thanks for the tip Mom and Nance!)

I took this image of the girls early this summer while I was supposed to be on bed rest. It is one of my most favorite pictures of them…love that they are hand in hand…just being little girls. I ordered it BIG (24×36) and had it framed in my sewing studio. The colors of the girls dresses look perfect with the lime walls (below the picture) and all the fabric I’ve used in there!

And you probably remember this image too?!? I had it framed (16×20) in an antique distressed frame I found and hung it above my mantel. I kept the Christmas decor pretty minimalist this year…trying to simplify!

A few months ago my parents came for a visit and my Dad and hubby worked on re-tiling our kitchen backsplash. The fireplace got a makeover too…last minute!


Here it is pre-grout! And before I painted that odd wood strip on the front of the hearth?!

My mom is responsible for the pattern…I picked out the metallic tiles which I love!

I wanted to add some personal touches to the kids’ rooms as well. This vinyl decal sits right above A’s bed! J had an adorable princess decal that had to be removed when she got her larger bed…will have to re-order that soon!

And this is the sentiment I choose for Sam’s room. He has an airplane theme so it seemed fitting! I ordered it from ebay and was able to choose my own saying, font, and color!

Another new sign for his room…

A was in need of a place to showcase all her creative artwork and school pictures. Remember this frame? It has been laying around in my garage between photo shoots so I decided to put it to use. I added a thin sheet of plywood, batting, sturdy cotton fabric, grosgrain ribbon, and some antiqued nailhead…and voila! Her own special memo board. This is a SUPER easy project and QUICK too! Perfect for a snow day!


I think that’s everything for now. I’ll be sure to share J’s new curtain soon…I’ve got it planned out…just need some kids napping so I can get it sewn up!

had her end of the semester “parent watch week” at ballet last week. Her class will have a formal recital in the spring which will include costumes and a longer performance. She was pretty darn cute in her fluffy tutu rockin out to “Jingle Bells”…and who can resist a room full of flutterying butterflies?

With her teacher and a mouthful of candy cane

Her class waiting for instructions…

All lined up for a “formal” picture.

So many “lasts” happening this week…last day of school…end of the semester parties…final recitals…etc. Kind of funny since we’ll all be back in just a few short weeks!

All three of my sweeties before heading out to a Christmas program this evening. Nothing more fun then kids who will let you dress them up in matching outfits and take a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree I was hesitant to take them out tonight as I knew I would have them all by myself in the audience (my hubby was playing his violin in the program). But they were perfect angels…Sam fell asleep…and the girls sat mesmerized by the spectacle of the show. It was such a nice evening out…I may even try it again sometime. Or would that be pressing my luck?

And Sharon…if you read this…a HUGE thank you for the Gymbucks. As you can see I was able to outfit my kids in holiday style…I am so very grateful!!

I love this season…watching the magic and excitement through these little ones!

Taking a quick break from the regularly scheduled decorating post to bring you a bit of Christmas cheer. This little guy turned six months old yesterday!

He’s got quite a few new tricks in his big bag these days…baby push-ups, rolling, scooching, sitting, giving kisses, blowing raspberries, and charming elderly ladies at the market…to name a few.

I was time for another little photo shoot and I certainly couldn’t resist a few pictures in his little Santa “suit”. And my white furry rug seemed the perfect compliment….until he got this look on his face. I almost threw my camera as I leaped across the room. This is the worried look I usually get right before he delivers a little “present”.

“No worries Mom…false alarm!”

Six months is one of my favorite baby ages (ok…ok…I love the whole darn experience). I can just look at this little guy from across the room and he bursts into the most contagious smile! He is so inquisitive and determined already…constantly trying to figure out the world and how he can manipulate it. I love this little expression. Isn’t he just squeezable?

He really is a friend to everyone. Although his toes hold a special place in his heart (and mouth).

Something about babies just makes Christmas seem that much more magical! Can you just imagine the overwhelming magnitude of Mary’s first Christmas? The knowledge that her tiny child would atone the sins of the world? That his big, bright eyes would show the world a love like no other? Was she amazed that the majesty and holiness of the King was softened by the chunky thighs of a sweet baby…whose piercing cries and slobbery gurgles would echo the sentiment of mankind for all time? Wow. I can only imagine.

I’m joyful for the miracle of the season…and our own little miracle as well!