Little Elf

Look at my little elf baby! Mr. Cooper is getting quite the little personality these days. He is mobile and surprisingly not into as many things as Connor was at his age (Connor was so curious, I could not keep a single thing within his reach or it was in his mouth!) He has been saying MaMa for quite awhile now but just recently starting saying DaDa and is now waving Bye-Bye! He is full of expression and and so excitable it just warms my heart!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I am a little late, but what's new, right?!?! Even though our trip was short, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Connor was stoked at the thought of playing with all of the toys under the stairs at Uncle Ron and Aunt Elaine's house and even more stoked to play with his cousins.

The day went off without a hitch and believe it or not, with 6 kids 5 and under there were hardly any fights to be broken up and very little crying....which is amazing given the fact that kids this age still feel the need to only want to play with whatever toy the others are playing with!

Look at these cute, sweet little boys....

From L-R we have Scoobey (Connor), Shrek (Thomas), and Spongebob (Andrew) (I asked them what they wanted their names to be for the picture in an attempt to get them to sit still long enough to take it...there you have it!)

Don't let them fool you, they are as ornery as they could be!

...again, cute and sweet...

...ornery, ornery, ornery!




Camryn and Connor

Cooper and Caridee...look at these chunky monkeys!

My family!

Decisions Decisions...ugh...I need some help!

Brad and I could not be happier about the fact that Connor is about 1000% more photogenic than the both of us put together. For some reason we do not photograph well at all, especially when both of us are in the picture together...I don't know how the heck we managed to get some good wedding pictures!

We need some help deciding which of Connor's 4-year pictures to order and would love some input! So, I am going to number them and I would love to hear from all of you as to which ones you like the best! Please...don't make us beg ;-)

1.

2.


3.


4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Halloween!!!

After spending quite literally all day Friday sewing Cooper's costume, I was pleased with how it turned out. Even though I had to make a few adjustments because when I tried it on him and sat him down his chunky thighs split out the back of the costume....but who is looking at the back....right?!?!

Anyway, it was a fabulous day here in "the Lou" with temperatures reaching the mid 70's, we were actually able to go trick-or-treating without jackets! I tell ya, trick-or-treating has come a long way in the past few years. Connor's pumpkin was stocked full of mostly candy bars and about 40% of those being regular-sized candy bars. The good thing about chocolate is that it freezes nicely!

Introducing.....Batman and Robin!

You can imagine that Cooper's mask lasted about as long as it took to take these pictures!

...showing their true colors!

The boys in their Halloween shirts earlier in the week.

Pumpkin Patch

Well we finally made it to the pumpkin farm, and I think we picked the coldest day possible. Regardless we had a good time and Connor got to pick out two pumpkins which we are going to carve tonight and for which I am sure will make for an exciting blog ;-).

Connor has decided to be Batman for Halloween so Brad and I thought it would be cute to have Cooper be Robin. In my search for Robin-type clothing, I have had the hardest time finding anything remotely green for him to wear. Is green no longer supposed to be a staple in a little boy's wardrobe? I found green things in the little girls sections but not in the little boys! Unfortunately the little girls clothes were full of either ruffles or lace, which definitely would not fly with my husband. So, I have resorted to making his costume...as soon as Coop wakes up from his nap we are off to Hobby Lobby...which really breaks my heart because that place could possibly be my favorite store in the entire world! Anyway, wish me luck, I am going solo and trusting my god-given sewing talent (insert sarcasm) and am going to try to sew his costume without a pattern (it's not like I would know how to use a pattern anyway). When I told my Mom this morning about having to make Coop's costume she called me a "Little Suzie Homemaker"...which did nothing to help my work vs. staying home debate as of late. It's going to be a fun day in the Gillam household (note more sarcasm)!

Anyway, here are some pics!

Cooper thought it was all fun and games to see Connor peep through the head of the scarecrow

....until it was his turn!

Brad trying to prove to Connor that Frankenstein was not scary and mostly not real...

I guess it worked! Although he did insist that Brad stand close-by.

Happy Birthday Connor!

I can hardly believe that my baby is 4!! Where has the time gone? He started my day off wonderfully by busting into my bedroom this morning and asking, "Mommy, how bigger is me?" He has been convinced that when he turned 4 he would wake up not only older but bigger. You just have to love 3, I mean 4-year-old grammar!

So far he has had a great birthday. Yesterday, he got to take treats to preschool and got to be the line leader. Today, I made him pancakes for breakfast (his favorite), we went to lunch with his best friend Riley at Old McDonald's (or Almost Donalds if you prefer Camryn-speak) and tonight we are going bowling with Grandma and Grandpa Gillam! Oh, and I almost forget to mention that it is all he can do to keep from opening his birthday presents which have been sitting on the kitchen table all day. I keep offering to put them in the basement but he insists on arranging them, rearranging them, stacking them, and pretending like they are cars...good thing I bought the expensive wrapping paper!

A little trip down memory lane...makes a Mommy want to cry!

Connor as a newborn

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

Today! Yes, he is posing and yes he is still as ornery as ever!

Connorism of the Day!

Well it was actually the other day, but who is counting right? Ha!

Up until recently when Connor would come home from preschool I would ask him who he played with and he would reply, "my friends" and when I would ask him their names he would say, "I don't know their names." So, when he started talking about one of his friends and calling him by name, I got pretty excited! He started talking about his friend Jamaddux. When he would say the little boys name Brad and I would ask him to repeat it just to see if he was really saying Jamaddux, and yes he was! So we thought, ok, whatever, there are so many new names out there, but we still questioned it a little. So the other day when I dropped him off, I helped him put his name on his box (purely out of curiosity so I could check out the names of the little boys in his class) and what did I find? His new friend's name is John Maddux! When I picked Connor up I asked him how his friend John Maddux was and he said, "Jamaddux is good, he hit me though so we are not friends anymore."....I am guessing that we have not heard the last of Jamaddux!

Connor or Cooper, Cooper or Connor? Take Two

Take a look at these photos and tell me if you think Connor and Cooper still look so much alike. Both of these were taken when they were 4 months. Yes, I know, Cooper is now six months...I have been so busy that I have been neglecting this this poor, pathetic blog as of late. I want to apologize to my avid readers (Danielle) for being so boring lately.

Sorry for the digression. Anyway, we think that Cooper looks more like me and everyone knows that Connor looks like Brad. So you decide!


...sorry, I had to erase this baby's name!

AB Family Day at Six Flags!

It does not seem like all that long ago that I was blogging about going to the Cards game for Family Day last year.

Danielle, Matt and our friends Angie and Jason and their kids joined us for the day, we all had a pretty good time!

When we found out that Family Day was going to be at Six Flags, Connor wanted to check out the rides. After looking at their website, he decided that he really wanted to ride on Tony Hawk's Big Spin. However, the ride had a height requirement of 42" and Connor was measuring in at about 41". So, we told him that he needed to make sure to eat his veggies and drink lots of milk everyday so that maybe he would grow that extra inch in the next month. He then came up with the idea that we needed to "stretch" him everyday too. So, every night after dinner Brad would take his arms and I would take his legs and we would pretend to stretch him. He would then insist that Brad measure him.

After all of the stretching, extra veggie eating, and extra milk drinking, he did not quite make the cutoff. Even though he was pretty sad about not getting to ride everything that he wanted to, he had a great time and is now looking forward to next year when he can ride all of the "big boy rides"!

Riley, Connor, and Hayden on the Tea Cups

Connor and Danielle on the Ferris Wheel

Personal Ad

Hi, my name is Cooper. I enjoy long walks in the park...in my stroller, sipping milk...from a bottle and fine dining...in my high chair. In my spare time I like to play with my books, rattles, and play peek-a-boo. Most of all I like to have a good time and LOVE attention-especially when it comes from my Mommy, Daddy, or Big Brother.

We recently had Cooper's 4-month pictures taken and this was one of them. We thought it was quite hilarious and Brad insisted that we get a couple for future use...high school yearbook maybe?! Ha!

Connor's 1st day of preschool!

Well, it is more like a Mom's Day Out program, but he loves it just the same! I am very pleased with our choice and Connor seems to be too. He asks everyday if he gets to go to school and was very upset when he learned that he did not yet get to ride the bus there!

He was so excited about all of the things that he did that day that he had to show me all of his "school work" before we even made it out of the parking lot. We were very pleased to see that he had written his name on some of his papers. I have been working with him for quite awhile and am quite pleased to see that the fruits of my labor are paying off. I was actually kind of surprised to see him write it in such a small area, it usually takes up an easel's worth space! Brad and I had to laugh though when we saw that some of his work was graded!