Childhood Illnesses...

Make me crazy. I feel like the mother bear who is protecting her cub. I am one of the biggest germaphobes that I know. It drives people nuts that I won't go places if it means my children may be exposed to something. But really it does no good, because we still get sick. Elliot has had colds, flus, Hand foot and mouth disease and now Roseola. This stuff sends me into a tail spin. I cannot handle the anxiety that any sign of sickness in Elliot creates in me. I then stress and worry for days about whether or not Alex will come down with the same thing. The one thing that would keep me sane is to know my children will not catch the next bug that is going around.

Now I know Roseola is the reason for this attitude. He wasn't feeling well.



Now, I hope these cutie pies don't get it since we were with them the day Elliot first got sick.

Hopes, Dreams and Wishes for 2010

Happy and Healthy Children.
Alone time with Lee.
An extended RV trip around the country.
To see friends and family I haven't seen for years.
More time for my hobbies.
Better Organization of our house and my life.
More Lenses of course.
An iphone.
More good times with all of my best girl friends.
An organized computer.
A girls weekend, or better yet a girls week, away to do nothing but photo editing and picture taking.

2009

If 2009 was defined by anything it would be my friends and my new baby. I have so many great memories of time spent with so many wonderful ladies and their kids. And most of that time was while I was pregnant with (at first twins), my sweet little baby boy. We spent so much time at the beach and the parks or just playing at each others houses. And I am so grateful for everybody's love, support and understanding while I grew very large and couldn't always handle the trials that Elliot threw at me. I never knew I could get so big. We ate lots of brownies and Steph's famous black bean and cream cheese dip, along with drinking many many cases of Diet Coke. As a group the one thing we probably could not survive without is Diet Coke.

Thank you all for such a fabulous year!!! I love you.


Top 10 best things of the year
10. My Mini Mini Van. I always wanted back sliding doors.
9. Huntington Library.
8. My Disney Pass and our many trips to The Happiest Place on Earth.
7. A visit from The Cooper Grandparents.
6. Trip to Catalina.
5. OC Fair for the Duran Duran concert, and also the KC and the Sunshine Band Concert with, also pregnant Samantha. And of course the food while we were there. The chocolate covered strawberries were probably the fave for this year.
4 1/2. Vegas road trip to see the amazing Beatles Love show, and eat in yummy buffets.
4. Summer playdates of fun and photography, and great moments with Elliot.
3. Family Vacation to San Diego and Disneyland.
2. 8th Wedding Anniversary.
1. Sweet Baby Alex.

Alex Collin Cooper

Halloween Cupcakes

Since we don't leave the house much, let alone Long Beach, I have been busy at home with projects for Elliot and I to stay busy. Today was baking day. Elliot cracked the eggs and everything, and after nap we got to decorate our ghost cupcakes. I think he was more interested in having a party than he was in eating cupcakes. So we sang "Happy Halloween to you" when Daddy got home after dinner.

Elliot's Masterpiece!


Gotta love a cheesy three year old grin

Isn't She lovely

One Week Old...


I met Avery the day after she was born. She is Samantha's beautiful baby girl. And Elliot got to meet her last week. He was so excited he brought his own bebe's (as he calls them). He wanted to softly touch her, and see her belly button and just be close to her. It made me more anxious to get my little guy out. But he will be here soon enough. And I have so much to do in the next few weeks, that hopefully he will stay put.

All Day at the Beach

It has been years since I spent the whole day at the beach. But we did today, from 10:00 to 4:30. I spent the entire day on my beach chair with my knifty knitter and camera. And had some really nice tacos from La Serena.

A Hot Day at Home

Every day when Elliot wakes up he asks me what are we doing today, Mommay(that is how he says Mommy). Most of the time, we are going to Grandma and Papa's, or Steph's, or to the park with Danny and Carol, or to do errands. But it is rare we stay home. This was the week we began to start chilling out and spending more time here, enjoying the house while I get bigger and we wait for it to go through escrow. We got a really great offer on our house today, so as long as everything goes as it should, we will be moving back to the OC after the holidays. Definitely good and happy news, but now I definitely want to enjoy and appreciate what a great home we have had.

Today, I figured out the air compressor, so that I could fill Elliot's wading pool and we could stay cool in the backyard for an hour or so. And we also built our usual fort of the day in the living room.

My current cravings are strawberry pop tarts, Dr. Pepper and any kind of pasta alfredo. Costco has the best chicken penne alfredo. Talk about comfort food. And Red Lobster (Elliot's current favorite restaurant) has some delicious shrimp linguini alfredo.

A new love I have discovered in my next door neighbors garden is a chocolate mint herb. And she has invited me to take a sprig now and then if I would like. So I did today. And made chocolate mint iced tea. I made it very subtle not wanting to overdo it, and it was a wonderfully refreshing drink for the day. And I think more hydrating for me, than my usual Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper. So if you wish to add any herbs to your garden, I highly recommend it. Next I think I am going to try making lavender mint chocolate chip cookies. Should be interesting.

The fort that Elliot watches tv from...



Watching the neighbors out the front window in his new dinosaur wonderpants



A few pictures from Irvine Regional Park a few days ago