CHRISTMAS 2011!!!!!!!

We had such a fun filled busy Christmas season. It all started out the Sunday before Christmas with my families annual Christmas party. It is at my grandma and grandpas house. We eat, play bingo, and have a gift exchange. I didn't pull out my camera so didn't get any pictures :(

Next was Christmas Eve. Not long after I woke up I got a migraine.....I had one last Christmas so I was not very happy! I luckily was able to get some sleep to get rid of it just in time to leave for dinner. We went to my cousin Joel's house out in Eagle Mountain. I still wasn't feeling 100% but I wasn't not going to go. We had dinner and dessert and then headed back to our house to open presents.

My family opens all of our presents from each other on Christmas Eve. It is a fun tradition that we always look forward to. My mom went a little crazy this year and completely spoiled Cooper and Holden. I should have taken a picture of all the presents we had to open. My entire front room was covered in piles. My grandma, grandpa, and aunt Pam all came over to enjoy the excitement. They spoil us as well so I like that they are able to see us open our gifts.

We all got so spoiled!!!!

Brad:
sushi making class (for 2 so I get to go)
apron
socks
hoodie
Apples to Apples

Brad and I:
The Ten Commandments series of paintings by Arnold Friberg
sheets
dish drying mats
The Five Love Languages book
money

Kacey:
purse
jewelry
picture frame
subscription to Family Fun magazine
cricut (my mom gave it to me earlier in the year for my birthday and Christmas)

Cooper:
vacuum
broom, mop, cleaning set
circus tent
shape o toy
books
balance bike (grandpa had to get the boys their first bikes)
bath toy
A huge train set that Grandpa Jim made!

There was so much more but I can't think of everything!!!! :(

After opening presents all of our family left and we were able to get ready to put Cooper down. Cooper got into his Christmas pajamas from my mom.

We read the Polar Express on Christmas Eve so we did this and put baby to bed. Luckily I had wrapped everything already so I didn't have to get anything wrapped or put under the tree. We were just able to relax until we went to bed.

Christmas morning we slept in. It was nice because we got to bed a little late. Cooper was kind of fussy so he needed milk asap before we could even begin to bring him down to open presents.

Buddy could smell his stocking so we let him dig in before we got started.

Cooper opened a few of his presents but then was off playing with other things and getting into stuff he shouldn't be. Brad and I continued opening presents and looked over to find Cooper doing this. He feels so big climbing up to the kitchen table and typing on the laptop.

Mom helping Coop open his presents

I got Brad and Cooper a couple of things the same for their stockings. A big slinky and lantern for Brad and a little one of each for Cooper. I couldn't resist getting Cooper things like his daddy. He wants to do everything Brad does so it was perfect!

Cooper's favorite thing that they both got however was the train whistles. Cooper had so much fun blowing them with daddy.

Again we all got spoiled!

Brad:
Bucky balls
a straight razor shave from The Art of Shaving in Fashion Place mall
A canvas with his favorite picture of Cooper for his desk at work
a framed picture of Cooper with a poem about Daddy's Hands
an experiment book (yeah he is a 10 year old boy)
wallet (get one for Brad every year for Christmas)
a full set of Tupperware kitchen knives

Kacey:
clothes
a new robe with my initials monogrammed on it from Land's End
lotions and soaps (my favorite scent coconut lime verbena was discontinued so Brad loaded up on all of them he could find)
metal decorative covers for my soaps
this awesome new cup
7 slap wrist silicone watches...I had asked for 1 and Brad got a ton of them!

Then we are going to be getting food storage instead of going crazy for Christmas. We feel like this is something we really need to do!

Cooper:
xylophone
books
puzzles
The Hallmark Cooper bear that reads to you
Tickle Monster book set with tickle gloves
puppy blanket and pillow
magnets (abc and dinosaur)
markers, crayons, playdoh
tupperware stacking pails
a recorder
lacing beads
gyro bowl

I was big on not getting many toys but learning manipulatives and things that have a purpose. I guess it is the teacher coming out in me!


After we opened all of our presents we had breakfast....yummy!

My parents and Aspen came over a little later and we made a ham and hung out and just relaxed. Chase and Kaitlin decided they weren't going anywhere on Christmas so they weren't getting together to hang out on Christmas like we usually do. I was sad!!! We just had a relaxing day. We didn't make it to church because my family came over to do lunch before my mom had to go to work.


Cooper being silly with Aunt Aspen......and no he wasn't drinking the Mt. Dew!
Cooper enjoying his presents

I've packed away a lot of Cooper's presents and will pull one out at a time. I want him to be able to enjoy each one fully. He favorites right now are his broom, vacuum, stacking pails, xylophone, shape o toy, and slinky.

I was SOOO happy to not get a migraine on Christmas like I did last year. I did however get the one on Christmas Eve and then two the day after Christmas. There was a 3 hour span in the middle of the day where I was fine. Ugh!!!!!

To Be Big Like Daddy

Today I was in the kitchen making some bran muffins and my little guy came in carrying daddy's shoes. He was saying "shoes"...."help". So I helped him get his tiny little feet in daddy's shoes and this is what happened.

Every time he would fall out he would say "more". I love the little things Cooper comes up with and watching him explore and enjoy himself. Motherhood really is a joy!!!!

Roll It Out!

I found this amazing pizza and breadstick recipe that we fell in love with. We made the breadsticks twice in one week. The second time we made them Brad and Cooper took over the duties. I was busy making alfredo and pasta so I left them to their work. Cooper's new thing is wanting to sit like a big boy on a stool at the island. He wants to watch and help with whatever is being done. On this particular day he got to experience the joy of rolling out dough. He was a natural. Baking really must run in the family :)

Cooper rolling his dough!

It is crazy to watch Cooper explore and learn all of these new things. He really is getting big so quickly. He is so curious and wants to explore anything and everything. He is a quick learner and looks so darn cute doing it! He does however have an awesome teacher and example to follow.....his daddy!

The Lights

I was so excited to take Cooper to see the lights at temple square. We didn't go last year because Cooper was just too little and wouldn't have had much interest in the lights. This year was way more exciting now that he is older. Brad's brother Rich, his wife Jamie, and their son Abel were up in SLC so we went with them.

We went on Friday the 23rd. I expected it to be crazy busy considering it was the day before Christmas Eve. Earlier that day we had a get together with Brad's moms side of the family (The Clarks) and had to wake Cooper up from his nap to go there. We came home from that and he laid down again. We had to wake him up from his nap once again to go to the lights. I felt so bad because he just seemed so tired! I was concerned how he would be since he was so tired. But he ended up doing amazing!

It was freezing that night. Brad and I both bundled up in layers and we put Cooper's snow suit on over his clothes. I thought it would keep him the warmest. Temple square was busy, as I had expected but it wasn't awful! Cooper did great and stayed in his stroller the whole time. He really was in to the lights and watched them the whole time.

I know it is totally cliche and everyone goes to see the lights on Temple Square around Christmas time. But it really was so nice to go and to remember what Christmas is really about. And they do an incredible job on the lights. It's amazing! They have the life size nativity scene with the Christmas story playing and then the visitors center that you can go in. We spent some time in the visitors center to warm up. It was fun because we watched someone propose inside the visitors center. So cute!

Once we were done with the lights we let Cooper walk/run back to the car. We figured it would warm him up a bit and he could get some energy out. He wouldn't let me hold his hand so I held on to the hood of his snow suit. This suit is kind of big on him so I was able to hold onto it without choking him. He tripped once and I caught him with the hood. He thought this was then a fun game. He would get stiff and just fall forward for me to catch him. He was giggling so hard it was hilarious. To anyone watching it probably looked at if I were choking and hurting my child. If only they could have heard the adorable giggle and seen the huge grin on his face! Of course when we pulled out the camera he stopped giggling but you can get the idea!

Ugly Sweaters.......Yes Please!

This year for our ward Christmas party I decided that I wanted us to wear ugly sweaters. We have always wanted to do an ugly sweater Christmas party but have never gotten around to it. So I figured this would be fun instead. The adventure started out with a trip to the D.I. My friend Nikki had already made she and her husband ugly sweaters so she joined me on my quest. I found my sweater almost as soon as we got there. It was AMAZING!!!!!! Brad and Cooper on the other hand were a lot harder. I found an okay one for Cooper but then decided I would make Brads completely from scratch. My initial plan was to find ugly sweaters and bring them home and give them a little spin and make them even uglier. Mine however didn't need a thing added to it. Cooper's I just added some bells to make it a little more Christmasy and added an awesome turtle neck!

After hitting up the D.I., the dollar store, and Walmart we headed home to get started. Nikki needed to add some things to their sweaters so we made a day out of it.

Here is Nikki and Me crafting away

We had to make two lasagnas and breadsticks for the Christmas party so I put Brad in charge of the breadsticks because I ran out of time :)

Here is Cooper helping daddy mix the dough. I bought Cooper this baking set form Tupperware so he has a little spatula and whisk just like daddy!
Such good little cooks!

I bought Cooper this snowman headband for him to wear to the party. He absolutely loves headbands and hats so it was right down his alley. He just hung out around the house with it on.

Once the lasagnas, breadsticks, and sweaters were done we got ready to head out. Well so I thought. As we were getting ready to go I got my blurry vision and started getting a migraine. I was so bummed! I had looked forward to the Christmas party all week long. I decided just to go anyways and see how I felt. Well needless to say we didn't stay very long. I got so nauseous and couldn't eat anything! Cooper was crazy and Brad was having to chase him around with no help. We left after being there not even an hour. My whole day of shopping and crafting didn't really pay off because we didn't even get to show them off at all. We came home and I died on the couch and Brad being the AMAZING husband and daddy he is, got Cooper ready and put down for bed. After sleeping for a little bit I woke up and felt much better. I was starving at this point so Brad went out and got me a hot dog from the gas station, chips, and a V-8 splash. Weird cravings but they sounded delicious!


You can tell I am starting to not feel well here. I even bought me a white turtle neck but didn't feel good enough to deal with it. The best part about the picture is that Cooper's mouth is full with a breadstick!


The best part of my sweater is the back.....It has a pie sitting in the window seal with lace as the curtain. Priceless! I lent it out and haven't gotten it back yet or I would post a picture! Oh and it has a metal spoon and fork on the front near the top!

First Sleep Over

So ready to stay at Grandmom's and Papa's house

A couple of weekends ago Brad and I left Cooper for the first time. I have gone out of town a couple of times and Brad has once since Cooper was born. But one of us was always home with Cooper. This was Cooper's first time sleeping away from both of us and at my parents. My parents were so excited to have him. I was a little nervous on how he would do when it came to naps and bedtime. Past experience hasn't been great with trying to get Cooper to sleep anywhere but at home in his crib. But Cooper was perfect for my parents! He was a happy baby and went down for his naps and to bed the first night perfectly! My parents put him in his pack n' play in their bedroom. I took his sound machine, blanky, binky, and pillow and he was content!

Saturday my dad took Cooper to the mall. First, is was the weekend before Christmas so was crazy busy! Second, Cooper hasn't been liking his stroller lately and has just wanted to run around. So I was a little worried on how Coop would do for my dad. He was an angel. He stayed in his stroller perfectly (he wasn't even buckled in and didn't try getting out). The best part is that my dad got half way to the mall and realized he forgot the diaper bag. The real diaper bag was left at his house when he went ot my house to get the stroller. So he had to put a second diaper bag together. Ha ha he's a bit out of practice but he went back and got what he needed and all was well. Saturday night my mom stayed at our house because it was hard trying not to wake Cooper up in the middle of the night so it was just easier. Cooper had a harder night this time. He is getting his eye teeth so woke up in pain a few times. I was just glad that he did so well the first night at their house and in his pack n' play so that I know he is getting better at sleeping away from home.

Brad and I were in Idaho Falls for his cousin Megan's wedding. We went up Friday and did a session in the Rexburg Temple, then the wedding was in the Idaho Falls temple so that is where we stayed. We didn't really do much other than the wedding stuff. We did a little bit of shopping and lots of eating! We missed Cooper like crazy. I was so tempted to come home Saturday night because I was missing Cooper. But we headed home early Sunday morning because my family was having a Christmas party that we needed to get back for.

Although we missed Cooper like crazy it was good to get away and know that he was in good hands and was having a good time.

Let's Decorate!

I am finally getting around to posting about this! We LOVE Christmas around our house and when it comes to decorating we pull out all of the stops. One of the many things that I really love about Brad is that he gets really in to decorating for the holidays! It doesn't matter the holiday but I think Christmas is his favorite. Our first Christmas being married we went out and bought our tree, all the ornaments and tons of decorations. Brad wanted to theme our tree blues and whites and silvers so that is what we did. I love our tree! It doesn't look as great this year however because someone keeps taking ornaments off so we keep having to move them around and the top of the tree is getting very cluttered :)

We always decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving. We have lots of decorations so it is a full day affair. This year Brad got stuck with one job.....the lights on the tree. We have a pre-lit tree and this year it decided to be difficult. There were some lights out so Brad went around and changed probably 20. Then some of the fuses needed to be replaced. He ended up having to go out and buy a tool to do something to the shunts or something. WAY too confusing for me. It took him 5 hours so I spent this time doing all of the other decorations. He got the tree all fixed and looking great. Then we decorated it together.

Growing up I got a new Christmas tree ornament each year. We have decided we are going to do this with our kids. Cooper got one when I was pregnant, last year and then this year.

2009: It says "Good Things Come in Tiny Little Packages, and ours is coming in July"
2010: A typical Baby's First Christmas. It was so hard finding a decent one last year. I wrote a little note to Cooper on the back of the white tile.
2011: Cooper's Halloween costume looked almost exactly like this ornament. It was too perfect!!!


This year we let Cooper put his ornament on the tree.



Cooper surprisingly took a really long nap so he slept thru most of the decorating which was amazing! There is no way we could have gotten anything done with him being awake. He did however help Brad hang up his window clings a few days after we decorated. Cooper is obsessed with the mirror and window clings. We hang them up for every holiday. They don't go on perfect because they just get taken down and moved around by Cooper.

Here is Brad and Cooper putting up the window clings together. Cooper felt soooo big doing it by himself! My favorite!!!!


Here is just a little taste of Christmas at the Harline home......there were even decorations we didn't put up this year! I have some fun Christmas projects to come as well!



The nativity scene we have is one of the things my mom gave Cooper on Thanksgiving. She gave one to each of her children and got one for her house. She wanted each of us to have one for our houses. They are kid friendly so we don't have to worry about them getting broken. Perfect nativity scene for a house with small children! They are so adorable and Cooper loves to play with them. He even will rock and kiss baby Jesus. So cute!

We are so excited and ready for Christmas to be here. But not too quickly because the Christmas season is so magical and fun!

Here is one of Cooper's FAVORITE things to do since the tree has been put up. Little Stinker!!!



Cooper has definitely had a hard time learning to not touch the ornaments on the tree and pulling them off. Many time-outs have occurred! The only loss we have had so far was when Cooper decided to throw and shatter a snow globe :) I love my little guy even if he is a terror!