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!!

Birthday Fun!

My amazing friends must have known how I was dreading this birthday...number 36! I honestly don't know how this happened. I swear I was 25 YESTERDAY!! But, they made my day so much fun that I almost forgot how old I was. They surprised me and took me out to the Cheesecake Factory - my FAV!!! It was such a fun treat. They forced me to wear this pink boa and crown so needless to say...I got a few looks. People were asking if it was a bachelorette party!

Here's the gang from left to right: Colette Bomsta, Melanie Teeples, me, Kristy Cook, Heather Dominguez, Alene Conner, Andrea Stevenson and Nancy Kofford.

Here's my DELISH carrot cake cheesecake. YUM!

Thanks gals for making my birthday so terrific!

I also have to give a big thanks to Blake and my mom for making my birthday so great. Blake took the day off so I could have a break from mommy life. I spent the night at my parents' house and slept in...did some shopping...etc. Then my mom watched the kids so Blake and I could go out on a date. It was fabulous! I think I need a birthday at least every month!!

Ethan's BIG Week!

I can't believe the day has come that I'm writing this blog post. My sweet, tiny, little baby boy that, I swear I just brought home from the hospital, has somehow grown up overnight and is off to KINDERGARTEN! He was SO excited! Of course it was raining like crazy his first day so our pictures are from inside the car...waiting for the bus.



Like any overly protective mother, I followed his bus (without him knowing) to make sure he got off okay and in through the right door, etc.
I have to admit I got a little teary when I saw my little guy walk into school. He didn't say much about his day but I think he's enjoying it.
When he came home, we had some yummy cupcakes waiting for him. He said, "Mommy, I want to go to kindergarten for like...10 DAYS!" I thought to myself, "I think we can arrange that!"

I hope he's making some good friends. I'm a little worried about his approach since he is VERY much an oldest child. Today he told me that he noticed two of the boys on his kindergarten bus who weren't wearing their seat belts. He promptly told them to put them on or he would tell the bus driver. Apparently it worked and the boys put their belts on right away. He said to me, "Mommy, I told those boys that I was keeping my eye on them until I got off the bus." It was all I could do to not crack up. Let's hope he doesn't make any enemies!

In other news, Ethan lost 2 teeth the weekend after his first week at kindergarten. They were pretty wiggly but with a little advice from Grammy and Pops (to ice the gums and then wiggle it like crazy), they came out. I seriously think he was more excited about the Tooth Fairy coming than he is on Christmas Eve. I've never seen him get to bed so fast!

I made the mistake of asking him that night what he thought the Tooth Fairy would bring him and he said, "I hope she brings me a treat." Darn! I was hoping to dig up some change and call it good. So, Daddy made an emergency trip to 7-11 for a Kit Kat bar.


In the morning he woke up to $2.75 and a Kit Kat bar. He was thrilled! The next day he wiggled his other tooth and...out it came. Thankfully there aren't any other loose teeth right now because the Tooth Fairy is going broke! What a big boy I have. I'm so proud of you my little guy!

I Forgot How Much
I LOVE New England!

This summer, we needed to take a little break from life and have some family time. So, after making some threats to my husband, he finally agreed to take a few days off so we could get away. We decided to go to Connecticut and Rhode Island since it wasn't too far to drive but still a nice change of scenery.

We started our trip by visiting the Groton Submarine Museum. The kids really loved it. We were able to go on a real submarine which was very cool. They also had a bunch of displays where the kids could pretend they were in the control room or shooting off torpedos.
Here we are in front of the USS Nautilus - the first nuclear submarine.
Ethan and Addie are working hard pushing buttons and flipping switches in the sample control room.

Then we had dinner at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, CT (made famous by the movie Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts). They had an appetizer that I just HAD to try...fried battered dill pickles. Yumm!
I had to include this picture of Addie because it was so hysterical. I'm not sure why but she felt the need to give me an angry face while we were eating.

We walked around Mystic and enjoyed the breeze off the water. We stumbled around a playground which was perfect! Ethan got a little daring while we were at the park!

Mystic is also famous for its Basucle drawbridge. We got some ice cream at Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream and waited for the bridge to open. Just as we were giving up and walking away, the bridge opened. It was really neat to watch!

The next day we took a ferry from Rhode Island to Block Island (part of RI). It was about an hour on the ferry and I wanted to pull my hair out by the end of it. Three rowdy children running wild with no where to go, hauling a double stroller up a flight of stairs on the boat, sea sickness, smells of vomit in the women's restroom...put it together and I was at my wits ends. I couldn't get off that boat fast enough. Thank goodness we had a bag of tootsie rolls to keep the kids attention!

Luckily, once we got off, things improved. We took a cab to a lighthouse and enjoyed the views. It was SO incredibly beautiful.
View of the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island.
As Blake and I were enjoying the amazing views, the kids were more excited to find a dirt path full of rocks. They were totally entertained by this!


We decided to walk back into town and it was a wonderful walk (besides the fact that Addie refused to sit in her stroller so I had to carry her while Ethan rode in her seat). We chatted with people walking by, ate blackberries from bushes on the side of the road (Blake encountered a berry that was, unfortunately for him, anything but a blueberry!), and breathed in the cool sea breeze.

On our way down, we stopped at a little farm and got to see some pretty amazing animals. Here Grant and Addie are feeding a grape to a Zee-Donk. That's right...a Zebra/Donkey. Pretty cool!
We walked through town and then spent a few hours playing at the beach. The kids had a blast. The water was a little too chilly for me (I know, I'm a wimp) but Ethan didn't care. Grant and Addie were happy to play in the sand and I was thrilled to take in the amazing views. Here is a picture of a hotel on the water.
Ethan is having a blast playing with daddy in the waves.

On Day 3 we explored a little town in southeast CT called Stonington. It was so charming and beautiful! I can't believe we lived in Connecticut and never explored this area.
This is a view from the beach area at Stonington. Blake and Ethan went exploring and climbed out on a bunch of rocks. They quickly learned that it was a great area to catch sand crabs so Ethan had a blast with some other little boys catching crabs and learning how to hold them without getting pinched.
Ethan and I also went up to the top of the lighthouse. It doesn't look very tall so I was thinking that we wouldn't have much of a view. Until I looked out the windows and saw this...
How gorgeous is that? That was just one side...the other sides looked out to NY and RI. So incredible. I think I want to live in a lighthouse when I grow up.
Ethan had fun just going up and down the circular staircase!
I took the twins and walked through town, taking in the sea smells and views. I thought this house was so darling with it's rose bushes growing through the fence and the water in their backyard. Amazing!

So, it was only a three day trip but we had a wonderful time. The only bumps we had were trying to get the twins to sleep in pack-n-plays in a hotel, and feeling a little sick after eating those fried pickles! We had a blast just swimming in the hotel pool, eating ice cream and just being together. Great times!