J Cooper Photography

When we moved into this house almost 3 years ago I knew it was all downhill…in the cleanliness department at least.  The family that lived here prior to use were the white glove variety.  Spic and span and everything in its place.  The we came along.

And over the past few years the carpet going up our stairs was beginning to look a bit dejected.  We tried the steam cleaner…Resolve…scrubbing on all fours.  But the stains and wear were too deep.  It was time for a replacement.  Fortunately, our generous parents gifted us with home improvement money at Christmas this year and I was able to quickly call the carpet company to come remedy our situation.  In a matter of a few hours our foyer was completely transformed.  And the ugly was carried right out the door.

I also added {a few} of my favorite images to the hallway.  This frame arrangement was meant for above our couch.  While Mr. P was traveling one cold, dark week last winter, I became possessed with the idea of a photo gallery and spent my days driving from Target to Target collecting these clearance collage frames.  But once I got them up on the walls above my couch I wasn’t in love with the cluttered look they provided.  So I waited for his next business trip and did a bit of rearranging   And they are quite happy in their new locale.  And now I smile everytime I go up my stairs (which I do at least 104 times a day).  Happy memories.  Silly smiles.  Special memories.

{before}

{after}

There are still things I’d like to change.  The carpet upstairs is still needing replacement.  The x-rated chandelier that hangs in our foyer must go as well.  I’d {love} those stylish iron spindles.  I {want} the woodwork stained darker.

But I have a fresh resolve to embrace our imperfections.  I’ll keep working on them…we still need a good wintertime project or two.  But what the Resolve won’t clean up can stay.  I’m not going to stress too hard about those extra stains, a few remnants of dirty shoes, or a stolen crayon mishap.

God is working on us this year.  Changing us from the inside out.  In ways that are much BIGGER than new carpet or our latest home improvement buzz.  And I for one can’t wait for the TRANSFORMATION.  Sometimes it is a bit painful…peeling away the old layer, scrubbing out our stains, cleaning up the cobwebs in the darkest corners of our selves.  But in the end it will be a breath of fresh air.  Like throwing open the door on a cool spring day…new LIFE.  A chance to CHANGE.

I’m praying your NEW YEAR is full of change as well!

I resolve to:

1.  live intentionally

2.  love more

3.  enjoy the little moments

4.  give it up

5.  talk to God

6.  pour out

7.  play hard

8.  learn something new

9.  work hard

10.  enjoy

Our Christmas decor is boxed up and ready for the long wait until next season.  I didn’t mind putting it away.  I somehow crave that {empty} feeling the house takes on once everything is put back in its place.  But I couldn’t quite part with these.

This was my wildly ellaborate idea to display our Christmas cards this year.  A piece of twin and some clothespins   I love being able to see all these faces each day.  So many cards from friends and family…people who inspire me to do better.  People who make me laugh.  People who have prayed for me.  All these people…

make my heart SO FULL!!  {I’d love to receive a card from you next year if you aren’t on our line this year!}  So for now…all these people…are staying put!  Here to help us ring in the NEW YEAR!

No big plans here tonight.  Just Mr. P, a few smallish kids, and a home cooked meal (by Mr. P of course)….then a movie on the couch in our pjs.  The kids are anxious to see midnight.  I doubt I’ll last that long.

Happy 2010 friends.

1.  A has been like a bottomless pit over the past few weeks…eating everything in sight.  This morning she woke up, threw on her favorite jeans, and came sauntering into my bathroom exclaiming, “geesh…you’d think someone could get me some new pants…this is getting painful!”  How is it that their clothes fit one week…and the next week they are busting the seams and high ridin’ to the likes of Eurkel?  We promptly headed to Old Navy for their $12 denim sale and now all is right in her little world once again.  Nothing like a new pair of blue jeans to set your world back in orbit

2.  I mentioned before Christmas that I ordered some quilts for the girls from THIS fantastic Etsy seller.  I had planned to whip them up myself.  Generally speaking…I have a very hard time purchasing things I *could* make myself (although there is NO way I could re-create the amazing free arm quilting on these beauties).  I had planned simple patchwork quilts.  But, alas…my sewing machine is still calling to me from the back of our storage closet.  So I caved and purchased FOUR quilts to go with the bunk beds that the girls’ “Baboo” handcrafted for their American Girls.  So this is a double whammy.  Go HERE to buy the adorable quilts.  And a BIG YIPPEEE to my Dad for his mad carpentry skillz…you rock Baboo!  The AG girls are lovin’ their new beds (the big girls love them too).

Doesn’t Kit looks comfy cozy??

I promised Jamie photos of the amazingly sweet quilts…so here you go girl!  THANKS AGAIN for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me make Christmas fun for my little girls!!

3.   Please tell me my kids aren’t the only children who spend countless hours crafting paper antlers and Scotch taping them to their brows.  Notice the jingle bells as well?  They may be weird…but they get points for creativity don’t they??

Kind of reminds me of this happy memory…any guess on the little artist in this photo?

My poor kids…they were destined to be strange.  Those are some seriously sad art skills I passed down to them!  (That is a pathetic “ho ho ho-ing” Santa suit I made out of paper in case you are scratching your chin here).

4.  We had dinner with some friends tonight.  The kind of friends you’ve known since Kindergarten and still can’t get enough of.  THANK YOU girls for your friendship over the years!!

5.  My kids squeaky clean in front of the Christmas tree…ready for the Cooper family Christmas celebration   I can’t believe I got them all sitting in the same spot smiling!

6.  The girls caught in a magical moment right after opening their brand new sleeping bags!!  We have a family tradition that we camp out in our family room, watch a new Christmas movie (Santa Buds this year), eat popcorn, drink hot chocolate, and snuggle up on Christmas Eve.  We had our family celebration before Christmas this year since we were traveling.  But the kids don’t know the difference.  It is so much fun to be creating special family memories while they are still little!

7. We had plans to travel to my sister’s BIG PINK PARTY HOUSE on Christmas Eve…but they were forecasting a BIG storm.  So we showed up TWO DAYS EARLY    And they didn’t even mind (or so they tell us).  My sister had 18 people snowed in at her house for FOUR DAYS.  Every year we try to get a photo of all of the grand kids together…and every year I think it gets worse!  But I’m gonna keep on trying!  The dynamics are constantly changing as they get older.  My girls idolize their youngest cousin…the girls in the middle idolize the older teens.  It is one big stair step of kids looking up to the next age group.  Yet the older ones still dote on the little ones…putting up with their shenanigans and letting them ride them like ponies.  AH…the memories!

8.  And when I say snowed in…I mean SNOWED in with the Interstates CLOSED for several days!  Of course it didn’t stop these little snow bunnies from having a good time

9.  I think I need a sugar detox program.  Anyone else feeling the effects of Christmas goodie overload?  Although I’m dreading the withdrawal.  And there are still a few cookies left.  Better wait until after the New Year don’t ya think??

10.  My sewing room is ALMOST done (I can’t wait to take you on a tour).  We might even squeak in this final project completion before the New Year!  Then I can get busy sewing and stocking my Etsy store….and hopefully raising the funds we need to bring our BABY HOME!!!

We are home finally!  My poor sister…18 visitors snowed in at the big, pink, party house!  But the interstate opened up this morning and we took that as our cue to come on home   I have LOTS of photos of our festivities and will share them as soon as I can sort through all of them!

In the meantime.  How about some Santa photos??

{”Mr. Smiles for Every Stranger He Has Ever Met” did NOT like Santa.  He REALLY was not a fan.  At all.  I guess he prefers the little old women at the grocery store.  But Santa did bring him a few toys even without the obligatory whispers in the ear.}

A good friend has a special Santa connection.  She makes a few calls…and he magically appears at her doorstep the week before Christmas…candy canes in hand…ready for shy conversations, pleads for extravagant toys (Ms. A asked for a horse!), and this year…a sing along with Santa on the guitar!

Everyone gets to sit on his lap.  Some are bold and sure of themselves.  Others a bit more shy…

Some ask for the simple (J wanted a Barbie)…some go for the gold (A wanted a live pony to ride on in our back yard).

There were lots of cookies, great conversation with friends, and plenty of holiday magic.  As soon as Santa left (he had to drive because the reindeer were resting up for the BIG DAY)…we rushed home to greet Mimi and Baboo who had come to watch the girls’ violin recital!

And a couple more shots of the girls on the way out the door for their recital.  {And YES…seriously. The headbands are indeed from Walmart.  Would I lie about something like that?  I have gotten several emails asking if I was kidding.  People.  I don’t kid around about good deals.  On an endcap near the purses…$4.  WALMART.}

I’m sure once I’ve unpacked, done the laundry, and put away the explosion of Christmas toys…I’ll have something much more poignant to say about our wonderful Christmas celebrations.  The combination of snow-numb fingers and the self-inflicted sugar coma has left me somewhat brain dead

Hope you are staying warm and hugging those you love!

We are snowed in at my sister’s house…snug and happy with the cousins running wild.  I hope everyone is safe and warm, enjoying this Christmas with someone you love!

I am compiling quite the assortment of wonderful photo memories of my kids enjoying the season.  I can’t wait to share more when we are back!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just a fun little snippet of our weekend together.   This is J performing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…our little 5 year old violining wonder  

I have MANY more photos to share.  But we decided to head out EARLY for our Christmas getaway to try to beat a big storm heading our way.  So the photos will have to wait!! 

Wishing you ALL a beautiful and BLESSED Christmas with those you love!  See you next week!

Just a quick photo.  The girls had their big violin recitals yesterday!  They definitely stole the show (I’m their Mom so I can say that!)  Here they are before the big event.  I’m working on getting the videos loaded so you can share in the experience with me….cause there is nothing cuter than little girls with violins

Dear Little Man,

I know you think you are cute…and clever.  Flashing me those toothy grins and melt-my-heart smiles.  But in all honesty, I don’t appreciate it one bit.  We need to have a little talk.  Just between you and me.  Mom to son.

I’m just going to get on with it.  You are entirely TOO big.  There.  I’ve said it.  What do you think you are doing growing like a weed?  Who told you that this “growing up” was acceptable behavior?  I’d like to give that person a piece of my mind!

It started with the walking.  Then the running and climbing.  Now you think that just because you have a new vocabulary under your belt you have suddenly been promoted to “big stuff”?  Just because you can sign and ask for more milk, a cracker, or a kiss I’m supposed to think of you as a big boy?  I still see you wandering through the house in your footie pajamas.   And I’ve caught you snoring with that thumb in your mouth and a fist full of blankie.  So don’t be too sure just yet.  You’ll always be a baby to me.

You can spike that hair.  You can eat steak.  You can talk on the phone…to your heart’s content.  But MY baby you will always be.  So there.

Love,

Your Mommy

A half day of school today…full of Christmas class parties, sugar cookies, crafts, and gifts…then followed by a playdate with best friends.  Could life be any sweeter?

1.  Today in a nutshell:  drove the neighborhood carpool, had a phone conference with the girls’ violin teacher, took S-man to go see his new preschool (more on that to follow), went to Home Depot to purchase some renovation supplies, went to Sherwin Williams to try to coax them into taking paint back that Mr. P bought (they didn’t buy the “my husband bought the wrong color story” even though he did), went to the post office to mail off some client orders, drove the littles through Sonic as a treat for being my errand running buddies all morning, had the furnace serviced, put a coat of paint on my new craft room, did some soul searching on the computer…then got overwhelmed and blog surfed for a bit, spoke on the phone with our adoption case worker, took the kids to the grocery store, made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, watched the kids play Elefun, put another coat of paint on the craft room while the girls practiced their violins, bedtime snuggles, rolled out the floor underlayment for our new flooring, took a shower.   Anyone else tired?

2.  J had her preschool program yesterday and I tried out the video feature on my D90.  I could tell from the audience that something wasn’t quite right with her.  Her eyes were swollen and her face looked really splotchy (even from 20″ away).  She followed along doing the motions and singing but wasn’t her usual chipper self.  After the program, I went up to congratulate her and she fell into my arms sobbing.  That’s when her teacher came over.  Apparently, she had had a little run in with the corner of a large wooden bookcase.  Poor thing.  Here I thought she was coming down with hives…no…she had bashed that cute little face into a large wooden object.  She was SO pathetically cute though.  And she used that little wimper of hers for the REST OF THE DAY.  Can you blame her?

{I’d love to post the nauseatingly shaky video so you can all see my extremely rad videography skillz…but I can’t figure out how to load it into a wordpress blog.  Anyone in blog land want to help me with that?  I got it loaded but couldn’t keep it from starting automatically as soon as my page loaded….}

3.  Our little man loves him some cupcakes.

Come on…could you resist this face?

4.  It has been SO FREAKISHLY cold here.  I am not meant to live in cold weather.  My body is not set up to tolerate the cold.  I am an ENORMOUS cold wimp.  I spend the winter hibernating in my slippers with my portable space heater.  But DESPITE the cold yesterday we felt the need to share a bit of merriment.  So we baked some cookies…frosted and decorated them…then slipped them in some little goodie bags and played my FAVORITE game…DING AND DITCH!  We delivered the cookies to several friend’s doorsteps…rang the doorbell…and ran for our lives.  Ok.  I say “we”.  But really I was nestled comfortably in the comfort of my warm heat blasting car while the girls ran through the frozen tundra squealing.  SO. MUCH. FUN!

{ok.  Before you nominate me for the Mom of the Year award.  We used the slice and dice cookies and canned frosting (Jorie I know you are cringing here).  The sprinkles were real legitimate sprinkles though.  If there are such a thing.  But do I get extra points for cute kids?  Please tell me I do }

{oh.  And I was taking the above pic of the girls when little man ran over to get in the photo action with his girls.  And his beloved blankie too of course!}

5.  Mr. P had a birthday over the weekend.  This photo totally cracks me up.  It is SO our family.  I just wanted ONE sweet photo of my hubby and cute kids together.  And what do I get?  J picking Mr. P’s nose, Little man shrieking “CHEESE, CHEESE” for the camera, and Ms. A “aka scaredy pants” too afraid of the dumb candles to even get in the picture.   By the way…I made that cake.  It was even a double decker (ok. ok. I used a mix)  But I did have to negotiate the layering of those 9″ round cakes…and frost them…so give me a little credit.  The idea to put the wisk and measuring spoons on top was much cuter in my head than it was executed.  But Mr. P liked it just the same.  I got him a date night to the KC Culinary School for “Tapas for Two” in January!  Maybe I’ll learn to cook something (yeah, right.)

6.  THIS seller on Etsy is helping me out with a little project for Christmas.  Her shop is SO DIVINE!  I want to live there amidst all those lovely quilts.  I’ll share our project once Santa has come   If this quilt doesn’t make your shabby little heart flutter…nothing will.

7.  The girls are performing this weekend in their Suzuki Christmas program.  They are going to nail their pieces…can’t wait to gush over them after they play

8.  We have added a few animal noises to Little Man’s vocabulary.  He now knows what a puppy, kitty, lion, duck, owl, and elephant says.  His speech has improved quite a bit over the last month.  He is talking CONSTANTLY.  We just don’t have a clue what he is saying most of the time.  Except for these phrases:  “WOW…look at that!”, “more more” (he signs with this one), and “HIYA!” (which might mean hello or goodbye).  Some words come out VERY clear on occassion.  But usually it is a jumble of craziness spewing from his lips.  But boy does he like to TALK!

9.  In January Little Man will be starting “school” one day a week.  I’m a mix of “yippee…a day alone with my 5 year old!” and “what was I thinking enrolling my baby in school?”  He’ll go every Tuesday to play, eat, and take a nap with Ms. Jane.  I HEART MS. JANE.  Both of the girls had her multiple times throughout preschool and LOVED her.  And while he is at school…J and I will go to her violin lesson, eat lunch out, and then go to ballet.  It will be my LAST semester with her.  And I’m looking forward to having a few months to focus on her for a day (if I can keep my mind off my baby!)

10.  I can’t believe Christmas is a week away.  I know some of Santa’s helpers that need to GET BUSY at the Cooper house!

A post peak is what you call a “sneak peak” that comes at least a month after my clients have actually viewed their galleries, ordered prints, and in many cases…mailed their Christmas cards!  But such is the nature of this crazy time of the year!  I got a bit de-railed on the blog sharing.  But we are going to remedy that right here and now with a few more  fun family images from the remainder of my fall sessions.

First off…Mom and three girls.  I’ve mentioned before that I have a special spot in my heart for families of three girls (having grown up in one).  Throw in a mom who sews cute matching outfits…big brown bows…and cuties with bobbed haircuts…be still my heart   {this one has some crazy flare…but I love it anyways!}

And how ’bout some cute matchy matchy cousins?  Man did I work for this shot.  I think I was standing on my head singing the alphabet song backwards or something like that.  Where is that rubber chicken when you need it?

Ok…off to bed EARLY tonight!  We just had our entire small group from church over…there were like a MILLION kids here.  Ok…maybe not a million.  But close.  And I’ve got the cupcake crumbs to prove it