So Far Behind!

Okay, as you can guess, our lives have been a little nuts since our recent move to Indiana.  So, in a lame attempt to catch up over the past 6 months, I thought I'd make a list of important events.

1.  December 2011 - Blake starts his new job at Barnes and Thornburg in Indianapolis leaving me home with the kids.  I honestly have to say that this was one of the roughest times in our marriage.  It was really hard for me to become a single parent for 4 months, having Blake come home for a weekend every 3 weeks.  Blake rented a room with a family in the stake there and worked like crazy while he was there to try to get up to speed and make a good impression.  The good news is that he LOVES his new job!

2.  January 23, 2012 - Blake turned 34.  He was pretty burned out from working so much so I sent him on a weekend trip to Denver to stay with my brother, Tim and his wife Kimberly and do some skiing.  He had a blast discovering a new area and, of course, Tim and Kimberly totally pampered him.  They are the best!

3.  February 1, 2012 - Blake and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary.  Well, we were 4 states apart on our actual anniversary but the next trip he took home, my mom babysat and we went out to dinner.  Blake also totally spoiled me and got me a beautiful 5 stone diamond anniversary ring.  He is SO good to me.  What a guy!  We were hoping to take a trip for our anniversary but since our lives were in chaos, we're going to have to put that off until maybe anniversary #11.  I'm so blessed to have married the most AMAZING man and my perfect match!!  It's amazing how fast 10 years has gone by!

4.  February 7, 2012 - Our little man, Ethan, celebrated his 6th birthday.  Last spring we won a free birthday party at the mall at a fun place called Camp Iliff.  So, Ethan was able to invite 15 of his closest friends to his party.  It was really great that he got one more fun activity with all his buddies before we moved.  Ethan wanted a LEGO theme so we made LEGO cupcakes and had LEGO buckets with lots of treats and toys.  It was a very busy place but I think the kids had fun.

5.  March 31, 2012 - I flew out to Utah to see my baby sister get married.  It was a very hectic 5 days but it was great to be there for her wedding and to be with family.  The wedding ceremony was very special and she looked beautiful.  Taft and Em are so cute together.  We're thrilled to have him in the family and excited for their new life together.

6.  April 3-7 - We packed up our house and car and made the big move to Indiana.  What an adventure!  Moving to the mid-west is totally new territory for us.  The kids were very excited and kept saying, "are we going to Indiana's house?"  For months we had been talking about it so it was exciting to finally make the move.  Although, there were very mixed feelings about leaving our family and friends.  We were so lucky to live close to Nic, TJ, Grammy, Pops, Pat, Brittanie and Cathryn.  We will miss seeing our family members so regularly.  Our friends, the Bomsta's were super great and hosted a party for us at their home so we could say goodbye to our wonderful friends from the Ledgewood Ward.  It was very emotional for me to drive away from the place were I've grown up, gone to school, had my first job, met my husband, had our twins, etc.  There are so many wonderful memories wrapped up in that place for me.  We are really going to miss it.

But, we're excited for the next chapter of our lives in Indiana.  Our ward seems friendly and Blake's new job is going really well.  The kids have discovered the neighborhood pool so now, in their minds, Indiana is awesome!  Ethan acclimated really well to his new kindergarten class and made friends quickly.  Soon after arriving, Ethan got to participate in the "Kindy 500."  So cute!  Overall, we feel blessed to be here and are excited for our future here.

7.  April 20 - We packed up the car and actually drove BACK to NJ for Emily and Taft's reception.  It was a very quick trip but we had a great time hanging out with Em, Taft, the Kewish's, Nic, TJ and Grammy and Pops.  The cousins had a great time playing together!

8.  May 22 - We celebrated Grant and Addie's 3rd birthday!  Since we were new and didn't know many people, we had a few families from our ward over for a bbq to celebrate with them.  It was really fun to get to know some other families and let the kids play with some new friends.  We are so proud of our little rascals and can't believe it's been 3 years since they came into our lives.  They are such blessings to us and brighten our lives every single day!

9.  May - July  School in Indiana gets out in mid-May which was a shock to me!  So, needless to say, we've had lots of time to explore our new town.  Here are some of the things we've been up to:
Baseball:  Ethan played t-ball/baseball for the first time this spring and LOVED it!

Indy 500:  Growing up in NJ, I wasn't exposed to very much car racing.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize there was a difference between Nascar and Indy racing.  Anyway, soon after we moved here, the Indy 500 was taking place.  So, we went over to the race track one afternoon and saw some of the cars practicing.  It was really incredible.  The kids got to sit in some of the older cars, visit the Indy museum and even get race car pins from some of the pit crews.  So cool!

 

White River:  We rented a bike thing and rode down by the White River in Indianapolis and explored the waterfront and canal.  The kids had a blast on our ride and loved running around the beautiful park.

Children's Museum:  The largest children's museum in the world happens to be in downtown Indianapolis.  So, we thought it would be worth it to get an annual membership.  I think it was a good purchase because the kids absolutely love it!  We've been several times now and it never gets old.  There's something new to discover each time we go (LEGO exhibit, Hot Wheels exhibit, carousel rides, dinosaurs, airplanes, Spiderman, etc.)  What's not to love??

Indianapolis Zoo: Blake's firm sponsored a family day at the zoo.  The kids had such a great time.  We saw a great dolphin show, got to pet sharks, go on a roller coaster, watch a 4D Dora show, etc.  It's a great zoo and so much closer than driving to the Bronx!!

Louisville: The closest temple to us is the Louisville, KY temple so we decided to go last weekend and explore Louisville.  We had never been to Kentucky before so we had fun visiting the area.  We went to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum where we saw how they make the baseball bats for MLB.  We even saw the pieces of wood that were being made into bats for Derek Jeter.  The kids all got their own mini bat which, I'm sorry to say, have all been confiscated.  We also went down to the waterfront and let the kids play in a splash pad.  We visited a small zoo with exotic animals, did temple sessions and had fun playing in the hotel pool.  It was a quick trip but we had a lot of fun!!

10.  June - Moving to Indiana, we were sad that we no longer had family nearby.  Luckily, Blake's aunt, uncle and grandma live about 4 hours away so they are are closest relatives.  In June, Grandma Eve and Uncle Bob made the trek up to visit us.  The last time we saw them was at Nicole's wedding so they had never met the twins.  We had a great time visiting with them.  Grandma came equipped with water guns, flashing toys and even a mini ice cream maker for the kids.  They were all a huge hit!  We made ice cream that evening after going out to dinner.  It would have been great had Blake not loaded it up with too much salt. Yuck!  We shot off some fireworks and had a great time just catching up.

11.  July - A few weeks ago, Grammy and Pops came to visit us for a week. It was so much fun to have them here.  We showed them around the area, took them to White River, went to the children's museum, went swimming, got ice cream, etc.  Grammy brought a big blow up pool that the kids went nuts over.  They've been playing in it ever since.  We had such a great time that it was hard to send them back.  We sure miss living by family.

Okay, I think I've hit the major events over the last 6 months.  Sorry for the novel.  It's been a busy 2012 for our family!!

Snow!

Luckily we haven't had much snow at all this season. My biggest fear was that we'd be hit with tons of snow while Blake was away and I'd have to snow blow our driveway on my own. Thank goodness we've only really had one snow storm that gave us about 6 inches. So, my dad came over and helped me dig out. Of course, I couldn't keep Ethan out of the snow so once we finished up, pops agreed to do a few sledding runs with him. Here are some cute pics of the two of them getting some speed down the front lawn!

My Baby Sister is Getting Married!

This last November, Emily shared her exciting news with us that she was engaged to our friend, Taft Sandbakken. So, as the big sis, I got to do the bridal shower for her. My mom and I had so much fun pulling this together for her. Em's biggest worry seemed to be that we would embarrass her. So, I made it my goal to do my best to make her uncomfortable!

My mom made the favors which turned out really cute!!

We did some fun games including advice cards, writing stories with candy bar names, and how well to you know Taft questions for Em. Then Em got to open some really fun gifts (which, of course, included some lingerie from some of the gals.) She was so embarrassed. It was great!

Em's friends gave her some really great gifts that will help her get started out. We laughed a LOT! It was a lot of fun!

Christmas 2011

This Christmas was a little different than most. Blake started his new job in Indiana just a couple of weeks before the holidays so we were on our own to get ready for Christmas. So, we tried to have some fun while daddy was away. The kids favorite thing to do was to get into their jammies, drive through Burger King for dinner, and drive around looking at Christmas lights while listening to their two favorite songs, Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad.

I had to admit, I really enjoyed this time with the kids too. I also took the kids to see Santa which they were SO excited about. However, when we got to the mall, Addie suddenly became much more suspicious of this white bearded man. It was all I could do to get her to stand by him for a picture. Ethan and Grant on the other hand were all over it!

We also do an advent calendar so that each day they get a little treat or surprise. One day they got a ginger bread kit. Oh my gosh - they were so excited. I have to admit, I was secretly dreading it. But, they had a blast digging into the candy and frosting.

We also kept busy by doing little Christmas projects. Here are the Christmas chains they helped make. We had fun landmarks along the way like when Emmy came home or when Dad came home. It helped make the days a little more exciting for them.
I only wish Blake could have been here to enjoy the time with us. But, we were able to enjoy the few days we had with Blake when he was home for Christmas. The kids had a lot of fun getting ready for Santa. We made reindeer food and gave some to our friends. They had a blast sprinkling it over the lawn.
Never in my life did I see three kids fall asleep so fast. I told them that if they weren't asleep and Santa happened to come by, he wouldn't be able to leave the presents. Boy, that was the easiest bedtime ever!
We had a wonderful Christmas with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with Blake's family (and had fun holding our new little nephew, Ryan) and spent Christmas day with my family. We feel so blessed to be able to spend Christmas with our families. We are going to miss this so much when we move!

Christmas Catch Up

This Christmas, we had a special visitor come to our home. He showed up in early December on the bookshelf in the office and took us all by surprise. Beneath him was a book that explained his purpose and how he had arrived at our home. Mommy first discovered him and immediately called Ethan into the room to ask him if he knew where this mysterious elf had come from. He looked at me with confusion and amazement in his eyes. After mommy and daddy reassured him that we did not put him there, our only conclusion was that he must be a REAL elf! After we read the book the elf brought, we knew FOR SURE that he was sent to us from Santa to keep an eye on us to make sure we were behaving and deserved Christmas gifts.

The first day I caught Ethan in the office several times, quietly whispering his Christmas wishes to our elf (Ethan decided we should name him Santa Elf). He even left him a goldfish cracker in case he got hungry. Sure enough, we were all amazed to see that the cracker had been eaten while we slept. All day Ethan kept saying, "I CAN'T BELIEVE we have a REAL ELF in our house!" It couldn't have been more precious!

Soon enough, Grant and Addie caught on and were equally excited about it. Each morning when they woke up, the first words out of their mouths were, "Let's go find that SNEAKY elf!" The race was on to see who could spot our visitor first each morning.

Every day we were shocked to find him in the strangest places. We found him in Addie's stocking, hanging from the chandelier, in the brownie pan (caught red handed eating brownies)...
stuck in the chimney (apparently his descent back into the house had some tactical errors), on top of the Christmas tree, in the wreath, etc., etc.

One morning the most amazing thing happened. He brought a note and some "snowman seeds." The note was directly from Santa - it even had his signature and letterhead. Santa said that since we had been so good, he wanted to send a special treat for us. He explained that if we carefully planted the snowman seeds in a bowl of sugar and sprinkled with a little salt, the seeds would grow into snowmen!


The kids were SO excited! We immediately planted the seeds with care and watched carefully. All day we waited. Ethan must have checked every 30 minutes to see if there was any new growth. I had to explain that the seeds were probably growing underneath the sugar but hadn't emerged yet. Finally, the next morning came and he raced downstairs to see what had happened. To our AMAZEMENT, this is what we found...

A Christmas miracle! The kids devoured the snowmen and are still, to this day, wondering how such a thing could have happened.

We did have a close call once. The elf was hanging from the chandelier and Ethan noticed that he had a tag. He thought...he must not be real. But, I quickly assured him that Santa gave each of his elves a tag so he could know which one they were and where they were assigned. That way, there wouldn't be any elf confusion. Phew! Close one.

Anyway, getting ready for Christmas this year was such a blast with our daily visitor. And, it did help the kids behavior when they were reminded that Santa Elf was watching.

So, if you don't have one yet, I'd highly recommend you buying your own, Elf on a Shelf. Best invention ever!

Cooper Family NEWS & Thanksgiving Fun!

For those of you who don't live near us, you may not have heard our big news yet. We have decided to leave NJ and move to Indianapolis, IN! Honestly, I probably couldn't have found Indiana on a map a couple of months ago but when a great job opportunity presented itself, we started investigating.

Since then, Blake has been offered a job with a firm in Indy. We recently flew out to see the area and we were so impressed. Not only were property taxes a fraction of what they are in NJ, but the people were so friendly, the towns were beautiful, the schools were terrific, etc. We were having a hard time finding a reason NOT to go. So, Blake will be starting work there on Dec. 12th and we'll stay behind until we can sell the house - ugh! We really believe that in the long run, this will be a great move for our family. We are amazed at how the Lord directs our lives and orchestrates events that take us where we need to be.

So, with that said, since this will be our last Thanksgiving in the NY area, we thought we'd brave it and hit the Macy's parade with the kids. When we arrived, the place was PACKED with people. Luckily, my sister Natalie and her family were with us. Her husband, James, is a police officer in VA and he was able to score us a great place to sit in the area reserved for family of officers. We were still a few rows back but as you can see from the picture, we could still see the amazing balloons and floats!

The kids really enjoyed watching the balloons and floats and playing with their cousins. They did pretty well through most of it until the end when both of the twins decided to have a meltdown at the exact same time. We were trying to make our way out through the crowds when they both started crying and insisting that I hold them both along with the 50 pound diaper bag I was carrying. Blake was loaded up with chairs and blankets so we both thought we were going to die! Our necks, arms and shoulders were on fire carrying our heavy loads, pushing through the crowds. We've decided that if we EVER do the parade again, it will either be when our kids are teenagers or from the balcony of a nearby hotel!

After the parade, we all went home and crashed (except for mommy of course who was up preparing food). Then we went to Grammy and Pops house for dinner. It was fabulous! It was so nice to be together with family and remember all the things we are grateful for.

Two days later, we had Thanksgiving dinner again with Blake's family. We had such a wonderful time visiting with them and letting the kids play with their aunts, uncles and grandpa. We are truly going to miss having our family close to us. It has been such a blessing these past 5 years while we've been in NJ.

This holiday season, I'm grateful mostly for family, the gospel, and the Lord's guiding hand in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween??

On Saturday (2 days before Halloween), it started to snow. The last I had heard was that our area could get anywhere from 3-7 inches. Soccer was cancelled, the trunk-or-treat was cancelled, and on Sunday, we woke up to this...

Yep...OVER 18 INCHES OF SNOW!

Our poor little pumpkins and mum were barely visible. I was starting to consider breaking out the Christmas music. My parents are out of town so I drove to their house to clean out their freezers, check on things, etc. (they haven't had power in 5 days now) and this is what their neighborhood looked like...

Total war zone! This is the house 2 doors down from them...

Power lines and trees down everywhere! I've never seen anything like this. Hurricane Irene caused flooding damage but this storm caused MAJOR power outages from all the broken trees and power lines being down. We had tons of members in our ward without power, internet, phone, heat, water, etc. Just another reminder for all of us to get our generators and chain saws! Maybe that will be Christmas for us this year!

Through it all, we were still able to salvage Halloween. Because of the power outages, many towns, including ours, decided to postpone Halloween from Monday to Saturday. Well, that wasn't going to fly with my kids or most of the others. So, we decided at the last minute to meet up at our friends, the Teeples, along with several other families, and went out anyway. Here's our crew:

(Grant as Winnie the Pooh, Addie as a little pig, Ethan as Batman)

We also had a playgroup Halloween party at the church which is always a fun tradition in our ward. The kids had to try out different costumes this time and went as a baker and Cinderella.
We waited until the twins were asleep to carve our pumpkin this year. I just couldn't handle the potential disaster that would surely be created by six little hands. Maybe next year I'll be more brave. Ethan had a blast digging the guts out and designing his scary pumpkin.
Here's the finished product:
We also had our annual playgroup trip to Ort Farms just before Halloween. I LOVE this trip! The kids get to go on a hay ride, pick their own pumpkin, feed the farm animals, play on the hay and have apples and cider. I love fall in New Jersey!!
Addie checks out the pumpkins.
Grant finds his favorite pumpkin in the field.
Sitting at the top of the hay pyramid!

This was an OCTOBER to remember!!

Fall Festival 2011

@ Mt. Olive Library

Each year, our library holds a fall festival for families in the area to enjoy. I have to say that the first one we went to was pretty small but they've improved it each year. This year, our kids had an absolute BLAST! Blake and I had a great time just watching them have so much fun!
Blake with the kids after getting their faces painted!

Addie holds very still for her heart and butterfly on her cheeks.
The kids had a blast going on a little pony ride. Grant did really well!
They had all sorts of animals to look at which the kids were totally enamored with.
The kids also got to go in a bounce house, get free treats, pick a pumpkin, etc. but the crowning event for Ethan was getting his face painted. Of course when we got home he immediately jumped into his Army uniform so he was totally authentic.

We had so much fun being together as a family. I just LOVE the fall!!

Our HAUNTED House!!
Halloween 2011

This year it was our turn to host the annual Halloween party that has become a tradition with the "younger" families in our ward (I love that we can still fit into this category!). We've had a lot of new families join our ward recently so we had a really large group this year. Unfortunately the only day we could do it was a Friday night which stresses me out because Blake can't be home to help me. But, we managed to pull it off and it was a blast.
Some of the table decorations before the party. Ethan had fun helping me find branches, spray painting them black and tracing and cutting out bats for our little Halloween tree.
Ethan also had fun helping me make some yummy Halloween pretzel treats!
This year Blake and I dressed up as Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Blake scored "best overall" at our party this year with his rockin' costume. Gotta love it!
Here are all the girls at the party! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the creativity!
Here are all the guys! They were all good sports as their wives dressed them up in all sorts of crazy costumes!

We had such a great time visiting with everyone, eating yummy foods and playing fun games. Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun evening!

Hacklebarney Cider Mill...
A Taste of Fall!

Recently I took the kids to the Hacklebarney Cider Mill with our friends, the Teeples. I LOVE the fall and this is one of our favorite traditions. This cider mill in Chester has wonderful apple cider and cider donuts which the kids devour! We had a great time eating donuts and letting the kids play on the grass and with the rocks!
Luckily I was able to get some pictures of them before the triple meltdown began. It started with Addie who was hysterically freaking out because I wouldn't let her play with my camera. She totally went crazy and was inconsolable. Grant was next. He lost it when I made him get off the tractor that he was determined to drive all day. Ethan always feels like he needs to be the parent and keep the twins in line, which, as you can imagine, doesn't go over well with them.

So, we had a great time but I think next time, I'll bring reinforcements!!