J Cooper Photography

Please tell me that we are going to get to each chips and salsa with you tonight?  Mi Ranchito is calling {so is a chubby little man who misses you like crazy!}

Love, Your Favorite Little Sister

OK.  Time for a new venture here on the ‘ol Blog.  WIWW = What I Wore Wednesday.  And before you start mumbling about my vanity and lack of general purpose in life….let me explain.

I read a few (hundred) blogs and I always really enjoy those little moments when I can glimpse (or stalk) other peoples’ daily lives.  Two blogs that I really love to read are Jones Design Company and The Pleated Poppy.  Both of these gals have loads of creativity, are completely inspiring, and both just happen to participate in their version of WIWW (I think Lindsey may have actually even started this trend).  A few weeks ago I started the arduous task of cleaning out our master closet.  And do you know what I discovered?  I have lots of cute clothes!  I just never wear any of them.

Granted.  Most days I never leave the house (other than the school run)…so I have been convincing myself that cute clothes deserve “someplace to go”.  But even I am beginning to tire of my lackluster ways.  Monday I wore blue jeans and a cardigan.  Tuesday I wore blue jeans and a cardigan.  Today…jeans and a cardigan.  Noticing a trend here?  I even went so far in my organizing as to channel my inner 3rd grader and put all of my cardigans in rainbow order.  And guess what…I own color too!  I just always seem to wear grey.  And maybe…just maybe…I should live outside the box a little bit.  Maybe I should go ahead, throw caution to the wind and belt that blouse already.  Maybe I should wear those kickin boots just because.  Heck.  Maybe I should even throw on some jewelry or a scarf or…take off my slippers!

So here’s the deal.  I’m going to start photographing my efforts to “cute up” a bit around here.  I’m thinking of it as a bit of self spring cleaning…”branching out” a bit with the spring weather.  Maybe I’m just vain.  Or maybe I’ll feel better about myself (maybe I’ll even be more productive?) if I put forth a little effort.  On Wednesdays each week I will try to post a few photos of my attempts throughout the week to actually wear a few of the items in my closet regardless of my ability to get out of the house with the rest of civilization!

It would be fun if you joined me!   You don’t have to purchase anything new.  My goal is to just use what I have in a more creative way…and to actually wear some of it!

The proofs in the pudding, friends.

What I wore today:

skinny jeans – Forever 21 (like the worn knees?)

white ruffled tank – Old Navy

heathered grey cardigan – Marshalls

beat up metallic flats – Target (hey…I had on shoes!)

There is only one full length mirror in this house so I’m going to have to get a bit more creative about this! And maybe enlist the help of a tripod so I’m not staring at you with one cyclops eye (freaky!)

And because it is WAY more fun to look at cute little kids…I may occasionally do a little “What they wore” post with pics of my cute kids.  My friend at Moments with Love does a version of this called Small Style. I will say that I do still help my girls get dressed for school everyday.  They DO NOT dress themselves most days.  I know…I know.  I am severely stifling their creativity in not allowing them to wear whatever they want.  I’m sure they will grow up to be ridiculously boring people like me who only wear grey cardigans and blue jeans.  But you know what?  I’m good with that   I just can’t handle the craziness of random outfits (on my kids…it is endearingly cute on other peoples’ kids).  Fortunately, my girls are fairly easy and I am pretty lax about their school clothes.

So here is today’s kid version:

On The Brainiac:

skinny jeans – Old Navy

turquoise tunic – GAP

cardigan – Target

tennies – Sketchers

On Miss Middle:

skinny jeans – GAP

polkie tee – GAP

cardigan – GAP (this was all just a happy accident this morning)

tennies – Old Navy

{they were clearly NOT into my photo op at 7:30 this morning!}

And on the fashion note.  The girls were in dire need of new tennis shoes so we headed out with Mimi on Sat. morning to do some shoe shopping.  After our first stop was a bust we headed to Kohl’s and I caved to “every girl’s dream”.  I bought my girls Twinkle Toes.  Not only that.  But Miss Middle’s LIGHT UP (insert gasp here).  I am SO not that mom.  I have always adamantly denied the purchasing of light up shoes or anything with that amount of bling.  But Mimi said, “Jenn….they are only 6 once”…and you know what.  She’s right!  So I just swallowed and handed the sweet lady at the check-out my life’s savings and both girls came home happy campers.  And you know what else? (they are kinda cute!)

1.  This little man climbed into this bucket after dinner and I SERIOUSLY thought about shipping him off.  Don’t be deceived by that boyish grin.  This weekend he morphed into a psycho-child.  Screaming, being sassy, hands on his hips, throwing, and refusing to eat topped the charts.   He hadn’t eaten dinner in 6 days.   And then today he woke up happy again.  He ate breakfast happy, went to preschool happy, and stayed happy throughout the entire day.  Medication anyone?

2.  “Hello” from The Cutest Baby On The Planet.

3.  Wondering how he has already perfected the “what in the heck do you think you are doing” look?  (well besides watching his brother’s incessant eye rolling).  He has a crazy juggling Daddy who will try anything to illicit smiles

4. The Fam on our Saturday egg hunt.  I was so looking forward to having our family photos done this Spring.  But after the torture that was trying to obtain ONE image with everyone looking in the same direction…I think I may just pass   And someone PLEASE remind me not to be the one holding children the next time I take photos.  I seem to have a pension for extending my freakishly long giraffe neck to uncanny proportions while smiling so large that every capillary in my face bulges.  Not a pretty look.  Next time I need to concentrate on being “natural”…why does that come so easily for some people?

You will think I am joking…but every year in elementary school I ruined our class picture by cocking my head to the side.  The photographer would always say…”little girl in the middle…put your head straight”.  And I would nod and I would mentally straighten my little head.  But every year the picture came back and I was the one ridiculous child with their head on sideways.  And I am NOT exaggerating.

Exhibit A – Kindergarten 1982

Exhibit B – First Grade 1983

Exhibit C – 2nd Grade 1984

This is the year my Mom must have threatened me within an inch of my life.  You will notice the sheer determination on my face to KEEP.THAT.DARN.HEAD.STRAIGHT.  Even poor Jim in the row behind me was concerned for my fate.  And you will see that one of my best friends (to this day) willingly took one for the team that year.  Thanks Ang…I owe you one!

Proof that I am SO not good in front of the camera.

Are you as weirded out as I am that I am taking the time at 10:30 at night to post these pictures?  Moving on.

5.  My Mom is retiring this year as a 4th grade teacher and has been off-loading books on us.  Have I ever mentioned that I have a SERIOUS weakness for children’s books.  Yeah…we need a library filing system around here!  Here was their haul from this weekend.

6.   In between fits of rage…someone was a wee bit excited to find THOMAS in his Easter basket!

7.   Love.  LOVE.  LUUUUUVVVVVVVV.

8.  I must post video soon of this little man in his exersauser.  Man can that kid jump.  We have a theory that he prefers frothed milk as we often set him in there after having his bottle and he starts jumping immediately.  He’s a mad man.  Thought this picture might give you the full effect

9.  I hauled this little shelf out of the attic today to paint.  I thought it might fill in part of that empty spot over the chair in our master bedroom.  But 1/10 of the way into painting those tiny nooks and crannies I was officially cursing the little old woodworker who cut out those side pieces with his fancy lil jigsaw.   I finally got a coat slapped onto that bad boy but the verdict is still out.  Plus I have nothing to actually put ON the shelf.  Do I hear Home Goods calling?

10.  This one stayed home sick today.   She woke up feeling miserable and begged not to go to school.  We had no sooner dropped of the other kiddos and she was begging for me to turn the car around so she could go too.  Instead we had a movie marathon.  I can pretty much promise you that I could NEVER see another Barbie movie in my lifetime and be just A-OK.

Happy Tuesday friends!

It isn’t hard this year to count our blessings.  We have been blessed beyond measure.  Our Savior has RISEN!

We are so thankful for our family, the opportunity to worship Him, bucket headed little ones, home cooked meals, Easter egg hunts in Mimi and Baboo’s backyard, and celebrating Daniel’s first holiday as a Cooper!

I have so many images to look through…bags to unpack…laundry to hit.  But I wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY EASTER.  I hope that you have JOY today in knowing what Christ has done for you!  This is just a little sneak peak at some of the fun we had this weekend with our little blessings.  As I was standing in the back of the church this morning rocking our new son, I was overcome with the beauty of The Church worshiping the Risen Christ.  It was beautiful to step back for a moment and just watch as the congregation sing praises to Him.  All of God’s adopted children…together.  And as I held my sleeping son I realized what He is teaching me about Himself.

Hoping you had a weekend full of JOY too!

Well I woke up this morning and realized that it was Wednesday and I had all together missed my 10 on Tuesday posts.  I have an excuse.  Plus…I actually made my deadline two whole weeks in a row which might just happen to be a record for me.  Plus…I was busy re-arranging furniture until midnight last night and couldn’t be bothered with picture taking and blog post writing.  When inspiration hits you run with it.  At least I do…as it seems to hit infrequently these days.

So we’ll skip the 10 on Tuesday post this week and make up for it next week.  I’ll do my best to be extra entertaining rather than bore you with 20 random thoughts on my week!

And before you read this excessively long decorating post you will want to watch one of my BEST BUDDIES on National Television!  Her segment on the Nate Berkus show aired today on ABC.  You can also catch her web exclusive tips to distressing furniture HERE.  She is the true Dumpster Diva and if you live in Kansas City you can check out her awesome stuff in person at Good JuJu!

Back to the midnight moving.  We (I use that term VERY loosely as Mr. P has only provided the brute strength) have been sprucing up our master bedroom.  I mentioned earlier that we decided to gift our entire bedroom suite to my brother in law.  Which left us sleeping on a mattress on the floor like newlyweds (not nearly as fun this time around however).  In fact…in our first apartment (complete with carpet squares and a fridge which stood in our family room) we slept all summer on a mattress on the living room floor as that was the only room which benefited from the 30 year old window air conditioner unit.  But I digress.  I had in my head a completely different idea of how this room would turn out.  But my decorating schizophrenia was in full force this month and therefore the room turned out completely different in the end.  But no worries…it is still a happy retreat at the end of the day and so all is well in our little universe.

The room is probably far from complete.  We definitely need to add some accessories and things to “make it our own” but the bones are in place.   There were several criteria for the completed room:  CHEAP, king sized bed, CHEAP (did I mention that already?), and comfy.  The rest was a free for all.  I had envisioned painting the walls a silvery blue.  I had dreamed about a big white fluffy duvet with a colorful quilt and quirky accents.  But what I ended up with was a bit more polished and refined (that is almost laughable coming out of my mouth I realize).

It started with the bed.  I love the king sized bed…not gonna lie.  We seem to always have some little person sandwiched in between us so space was definitely at a premium.  I love our fluffy duvet.  I love my clearance bin 400 thread count sheets.  I never knew the heaven that is high thread count sheets.  I have always slept on Target clearance sheets…oh be still my heart!   Next I needed my “inspiration piece”.  I can barely say that with a straight face…do you remember that Ethan Allen comercial from years ago “it’s the comforter really that ties the whole room together”.  HA!  Well…ironically…I started with the quilt.  I fell in love with this one that went super cheap at Pottery Barn on clearance.  Only I was too late to the game and had to pay a {slightly} inflated price on ebay.  Still a good deal however so I’m not complaining.  I like that the quilt is fluffier than most.  It gets points for it’s fluff for sure.  My idea of a white duvet was crushed, however, when the quilt arrived as it was strewn with a soft cream color.  After a panicked mid day call to a friend though I headed to Target (on her recommendation) to check out the Rachel Ashwell line for a linen duvet cover.  Lo and Behold!  They had one in a king size with 2 ruffled shams for $99.  I had a gift card for $65.  Double wammy.  That is is some serious shopping juju folks!

Then I stuffed that giant king sized (did I mention SUPER puffy?) quilt into a hideously large bag and hauled it around in my car for a few weeks as I searched for things to match.  I settled on these pretty smocked shams located at Home Goods.  They were $35 each which seemed really expensive to me at first glance.  But then once I calculated in the fact that they came with the very full and plump down pillows as well I was sold.  I wondered if the shams were too “pretty” and not enough “quirky” but I was stopped no less than 234 times in Home Goods by other housewifes lusting over my shams.  So I just ran to the cashier and handed over my card.

One would think that Home Goods was paying me to write this post as I am about to do an insane job of adverstising for them.

Dear Mr. Home Goods President,

I do truly love your store and have been a repeat customer for years.  I will admit to several binges of returning and exchanging over the past few months.  But I’m sure you will find me to be a loyal customer for years to come.  Should you decide to pay me in gift cards for this post…I would be eternally grateful!

Sincerly,

Your most favorite customer

OK…now that we have that out of the way.  All the pillows….Home Goods.  The RIDICULOUS glass lamps that should have cost me $200 each but didn’t…Home Goods.  The chair which has sat with its pair in my living room for the past year (hence the major furniture overhaul last night)….Home Goods.  Assorted knick knacks…Home Goods.  The crazy cool mirror above the bed…yep.

So basically that just leaves the drapes and the bedskirt which I made myself.   Taking advantage of having that gigantic puffy quilt securely in the plastic bag…I popped into my favorite fabric clearance center and picked up a bolt of this linen ticking.  The drapes are just big giant rectangles with deep hems clipped with drapery clips.  No rocket science here.  The bedskirt is the same fabric attached to the box spring with double stick velcro.  Notice my faux box pleats…nice touch, eh?

The furniture itself has been a bit of a fiasco.  I purchased the small dressers at a second hand furniture store.  First I sanded and primed two smaller nightstands from my childhood bedroom.  Then I became discouraged by my lack of sanding ability (remember the crazy crackle paint issue?) and handed them over to my FAVORITE GAL Jamie.  I had her paint them a beautiful yellowish gold.  Pictures of those to follow.  Unfortunately, the color I chose was not good in the room (and they ended up being to small scaled for the bed) so they are going to be re-purposed elsewhere in the house (living room…entry?)  The headboard came from a local antique store on clearance.  I loved the caning as it has a certain “je ne sais quoi”.  I thought it was rather serendipitous that the headboard was already a beautiful bluish grey so I loaded it directly into my mini van and rushed home…only to find that that beautiful bluish grey was entirely the wrong bluish grey for the room.  So I headed to the Walmart paint department at 9pm like any sane mom would do and grabbed a quart of a slightly different bluish grey paint (lighter and less bluish).  Then I sanded down the edges, stained a bit, and added some poly (so that the next round of kid barf will wipe off nice and clean).

Are you still reading this?

The bookcases were in our loft at the top of the stairs.  Late last night we unloaded 1045 kid books from them and brought them into our room to balance out the other side of our little master haven.  These bookcases have been following me around since junior high.  My dad made them for me and they have always been in some part of my house!

And that pretty much wraps up the tour.

Any ideas for something above the chair?  There is definitely some blank wall that needs to be filled.  Also…the bookcases are a hodge podge of decorative cast-offs at the moments.  I have noticed that I have a pension for dark colored chotchkies which don’t show up well against darker wood…not to mention there are yet a couple of empty shelves.  So I will have to make a few more shopping trips to look for some special pieces to fill out the shelves.  Anyone know any good Home stores

one year old   Today my baby boy is 11 months.  I can’t believe he is just one short month shy of being a one year old.  Where has the time gone?  He certainly still seems younger than that to me…but unfortunately the calendar doesn’t lie and his big day IS approaching quicky.   This also marks the date of him being home with us for THREE MONTHS!  We are so in love with this little man and are amazed daily how God has knit him into our family. 

He is growing by leaps and bounds but is still a shorty…which consecuently makes him a serious contender for “Chunkiest Baby Alive”.  He is learning new tricks slowing but steadily and we have already revised his physical therapy goals.  We started with “self protecting movements and flexibility” and have moved onto “getting in and out of the sitting position”.  He can now get from sitting to his belly and back up (with help).  We are working with him in crawling position rocking back and forth and extending his arms.  He is consistenly “behind” about 3 months in his motor activity.  I figure this will come in handly greatly when he is 85.  He will definitely be the first pick for the shuffle board team    He LOVES LOVES pattycake and will clap on command.  He plays peek-a-boo and “so big”.  He makes 1001 facial expressions ranging from “drop dead stanger” to “you are the love of my life”.  He is the most chill baby on the planet only fussing for his occassional bottle.  And by “fussing” I mean that little kitten meow he does.  He rarely really cries (although I rarely let him!)  He LOVES LOVES LOVES to snuggle and gives hugs freely.  He is sleeping through the night (more often than not) and eating three meals a day.  He still gags on textured food but is a big fan of the pureed organic chicken dinners.  We have started venturing out more and more and we rarely can take more than a few steps without comments about him being “the cutest baby in the world”.  And we just nod and agree (one of the great things about having no stake in his DNA) and exclaim how lucky we are to be his parents! 

One more month to plan his big birthday bash (which will likely just be family)…but exciting just the same.   Three months seems to short a time to feel so much love for this little life!

11 months old today.  We love you Danny Boy!

That’s what this little guy has been asking for for months!  In his house…everyone gets a special portrait hung on the wall when they turn three years old.  And he just couldn’t wait for his moment to shine too.  So he’s been telling his mommy for weeks…”put me on the wall Mommy!”

When he turned 3 he was the youngest in his house (three boys!)…but now he is a BIG BROTHER and there are FOUR little men!  I would say he just might be one of the cutest little guys I have ever photographed except I have also done his brothers…and they are all ridiculously cute   And I can’t wait to get my hands on baby brother this week.  What a huge blessing these little men are!

Three year olds are such a HOOT!  Good thing I have one about that age in my own house…I get lots of practice getting smiles from bodily noises

Always fun to run at the park with “the boys”.  And thanks to big brother for holding our umbrella….he wins the award for most helpful sibling.  I think I’m going to hire him full time

A few snapshots of our gloomy, rainy Friday.

{my drink of choice – chai soy latte}

{wish I had more time here}

{bed making helper stayed home from school today}

{insisting on one crazy face}

{morning puzzle time on our knicked up table}

{half down projects sitting idly}

{a few things left on the To Do list}

{mundane chores I don’t really mind}

{naptime literature}

{finishing touches on our room}

{practice makes perfect…I think she’s got it!}

Just a regular day here.  A little boring but that is probably a gift in itself.

Time for the crazy weekend…what’s on your calendar this weekend?

well…not quite yet…but someone PLEASE tell me this week is almost over.  Can I get a hearty AMEN?

Tomorrow is FRIDAY….whoop it up friends!

Here it is already Tuesday again and I have little to show for it in the blogging realm.  I have good reasons though as life has completely caught me off-guard this week!

1. This week has been like running a marathon on a hampster wheel.  Lots and lots and LOTS of running…little progress.  Maybe next week we will actually see the finish line in the distance and all this running will seem worthwhile.

2.  Do you write things down on lists just so you can cross them off?  Oh good!  I’m not the only one   This weekend and all last week we did some serious spring cleaning at the Cooper house.   There is nary a dust bunny in sight.  Here’s a list of things we’ve tackled {makes me near giddy to see them all proudly displayed for the world to see}

organize and clean out the garage

organize and clean out the attic

organize and clean out the store room

organize the pantry

organize and clean the bathroom vanities (there are 4 of them)

re-fold the towels and sheets (and get rid of tattered ones) in the linen closet

clean out from underneath the kids’ beds (that was scary)

switch kids’ closets over for warm weather

organize toy cupboards

pick-up my craft room

caulk woodwork

touch up some paint in the hallway

fix the spot in the hallway where the door knob broke the drywall

dust the blinds

re-stain the end caps on the stairs

clear out the master closet (major Goodwill donations there!)

WHEW!  What a list.  Our house is looking pretty darn spiffy right now so if you want to see if clean you better stop by for a visit quick.  It will be trashed by the weekend

3.  I don’t think I ever shared these pictures of Daniel and “his girl” Baby Z.   She was TOTALLY into him.  Him…not so much.  She just could not keep her hands off of him…and he was scared to death of her grasp.  We tried to get them into some pictures together to commemorate their first play date in America.  You can see how well that went!  I had to leave Traci’s hand in the picture as she tried to pry Baby Z away from him   The second picture is the best we got…I think she is plotting her next move and Danny Boy is looking awfully worried.  I guess our ploy to seat them back to back where they couldn’t see each other didn’t really work!

4.  This little guy is quite the puzzler.   He’s also pretty darn secure in his boyhood.   Not everyone can pull off the Thomas the Train puzzles with a pink sippy and flower purse!

5.  Quick shot a minute later.  Had to take advantage of that great morning light.  If only all my kids loved the camera as much as this little guy!

6.  Also…he’s quite adept at drawing “spooky monster faces” now.  Although he may be a contender for the toddler version of “What not to Wear” with his navy tighties and brown socks

7.  A friend of mine recently welcomed a fresh little bundle into the world and of course I had to sneak over for a few moments of baby smelling.  I have had to turn away numerous newborn clients over the past few months as we cocoon with Daniel.  But this was one I couldn’t pass up as her mommy is a forever friend.

8.  Still working on our master bedroom.  Someone shoot me before I purchase another lamp.  I need to be able to squeeze my entire master bedroom into a Ziploc baggie before I head to Home Goods, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, etc.  But since I can’t do that I keep buying lamps in hopes that I will find the perfect pair.  So far they are all lined up under the window in a pretty little row awaiting my final decision (which I can’t seem to make).  Clearly a newish mom of four should not be attempting decorating without the help of a professional.

9.  Tomorrow is The Brainiac’s 2nd grade musical.  We are so proud to go and watch her in her lead role as “Veggie #2″.  She’s a radish in case you were wondering.  And yes…there will be pictures

10.  Saturday night my girls had a date with Daddy at the school dance.  And of course we did the obligatory cheesy posed pictures by our lone springish tree in the backyard.  They come home bubbling over with stories and completely hyped up on sugar so I think the night was a smashing success!

Happy Tuesday!