Splish Splash

She was taking a bath.....

And Splish SPLASH is correct. That kid loves to splash. Her bathroom floor gets a nice cleaning every night now.

Such a bathing beauty. 

You Snooze, You Lose

It's Saturday morning at 9:00.

Kevin is trapping. I have been awake since 6:30.

I have, in trying to pretty quiet to let Harper sleep, done two loads of laundry, made the bed, replied to emails, opened all the blinds, checked the dogs water, made french toast, researched new recipes for ground beef....and waited on Harper to wake up for over two hours!

Normally, she wakes between 7:00 & 8:00. Once 9:00 rolled around, I couldn't take it anymore! I had to go open her door and check on her.

This is Harper on Saturday morning.....

Notice the disregarded sock...just one. THREE stuffed animals {that you can see}. And the fact that her head is totally covered. She didn't move, even when the camera clicked, just a loud and heavy sigh letting me know I was interrupting sleep.


I wish I had that type of dedication

~

If you must..... mustache.

First, let me say that I love this man no matter what is on his face. 

But, I will say that I really love when he has this kind of scruffy, unshaven, almost beard. 

But unfortunately, that is not what this post is about. This is a farewell to that look and a hello to.......

 the mustache. 

Yes, it is back. It has begun. 

So for the next however many months, I will cherish this photo. Knowing that somewhere under "The Chester" (as he calls the 'stache) is this handsome face. 

~

Here comes the sun......do do do do

It's becoming a long, cold, lonely winter for this little darlin'. There have been very few sunny days lately. We have to take advantage of the few we have!

And Harper loves to "Jumpy Jumpy" any chance she gets!

Harper & her big cousins. 

Forced her off of the trampoline to take this shot. Lucky to have gotten a smile out of her. 

While we're talking family, want to say congratulations to these two. 

Ashleigh & Ryan got engaged a few weeks ago and are planning to get married next October or November. Ryan has joined the Air Force and they aren't sure where they will be living...exciting!

I'm pretty excited to have a wedding to help with. I'm feeling crafty!!! My hot glue gun is warming up while we speak. 

Mega Blog!!!!

It was a merry Christmas for little Miss Harper. She was the perfect age for all the fun. She quickly learned that packages have good things inside them and became an expert opener in a heartbeat! 

She learned to say 

"Op Prez" {open presents}

"Uh-Nuh Prez" {another present} which we quickly put our thumb on

"Merry Chri-is" {Merry Christmas)

"Baby Geez" {Baby Jesus}

& 

Santa

She loved to look at Christmas lights, or as she would say "Ooooh Mommee Bites!". She was great at passing out the presents to the family; that was probably her favorite part. And quite often she would open one good present and forget she had more to open. At our house on Christmas morning, I think it took us about 3 hours to get them all opened, because she wanted to play with all her toys. And yes, she knows the difference between a package that has clothes and one that has toys. If she shook it and she heard plastic rattle, she would exclaim "Ooh TOYS!"

Watching her this Christmas was awesome. She was just so excited about everything. She actually cried when we took the ornaments off the tree, and cried even more when we put them in boxes. The next morning, when the tree was gone, she was really sad. Bless her little heart!

Round 1 * Lawson Christmas * Norman, OK

Love the look on her face. This was after she opened a harmonica & realized it made noise.

More noise makers! This time it was a train whistle. And hats for everyone! {can ya tell?}

 Aunt Lindsay & Josh

Daddy was a good helper. 

She saw that the video camera was facing her. She had to go tell it "cheeese".

What's up with this look? Her baby must have been misbehaving. 

 Passing out presents

Showing me her new crocs, one pair in hand, already wearing the other on her feet. 

Looking at Christmas lights in Bricktown. 

 Pops & Daddy were showing her the ducks on the river.

We found a playground near the riverwalk. It may have been late and cold, but that didn't stop this girl!

We had a lot of fun in Norman this year! Harper had finally gotten over the stomach bug she had the previous week and was feeling great. {she got over it by giving it to Kevin & I}. Gramma & Pop's house was pretty full those few days: Kevin's grandparents from Texas were there, so was his Grandpa Curtis, Uncle Paul, Aunt Ann, Uncle Jimmy his sister Lindsay and her boyfriend Josh. And little Miss Harper loved all the attention. 

Round 2 * Cooley Christmas * Skiatook, OK

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve monring at Uncle Dale & Gigi's house. 

 Harper's cousin Hannah, or "Hammie" in Harper-speak

Isn't she pretty?

Love this shot. Not just cause the boys are happy. But because this was taken immediately after my Gigi said something dirty. Wouldn't be a Cooley-Christmas without inappropriateness. 

Gift bags are the perfect size for sitting in. 

I was so excited for Christmas for another reason. I had made a game that I couldn't wait to share with my family. It is called "Hashtag Hannah" and it is based off of my niece Hannah's {sometimes ridiculous} hashtags on Instagram. If you don't know what a hashtag is (my parents certainly did not), I can't explain it, so I have included the definition here:

hash·tag

 [hash-tag] noun

1.

(on social-networking Web sites) a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it: The hashtag#sandiegofire was used to help coordinate an emergency response

 Hannah's hashtags were so random, funny, and often times misspelled that I couldn't resist. The game had three modes of play, you drew a hashtag then you could act it out, draw it out, or talk it out. 

It was quite funny. {too bad it was at Hannah's expense}

 Hannah laughing as her hashtags came to life. 

Papa is trying to make sense of Hannah's thoughts. 

 Not sure what card he had, but Kevin really got into acting it out. 

Example Hashtag

It's not unusual in my family for someone to say "We make fun of you because we love you." 

Very true Hannah, we only laugh because we love you. 

My dad converted a ginormous refrigerator box into a house for Harper. That was her gift from him and she loved it. She got it as soon as she woke up from her nap. 

 Checking out the inside. 

And she quickly filled the inside with lots of treasures. 

 Opening presents at Nana & Papa's. She opened this baby first, it came with a baby sippy cup. That was all she was interested in for the remainder of the evening! 

A week later and she still thinks this carriage if for her, and not for her babies. 

My family's Christmas contest this year was paper mache. Here are the exhibits:

Papa

Nana

Me

There is a dance that my family swears that I do. I swear that I do not. But because it's Christmas and at Christmas you tell the truth, I decided to admit that maybe this is really how I dance. 

Ashleigh

Jordan

Harper

Joey & Hannah

It's Narnia! And you had to look through "fur coats" to see this. 

 Taylor

"Joy to the end of the World" Earth is slipping into a black hole. Nothing says Christmas like that! 

Kevin

It's a larger than lifesize Nana & Papa/ Mary & Joseph. Notice their dog Abe is in the manger. Their other dog Belle is delivering a bag of Frankincense.

He's a bit of an overachiever. 

Round 3 * Christmas Morning * home

This little guy {Elsie} became Harper's best buddy during the past month. She couldn't wait to get up and see where he was or what he was up to. She really misses him now that he has gone back to the North Pole. 

She loves her dress up bins

She's really into looking at herself in the camera screen. But for some reason she has to get really close.

She enjoyed my stocking quite a bit. She loves to smell the scentsy bars. 

What a good daddy! As soon as she opened her airplane, he screwed it into the living room ceiling. That was for HER, right?

Well what do ya know? Elsie went for a spin!

 Round 4 * Detox * ongoing

We are currently experiencing Christmas detox. All those days spent at grandparents houses, getting all the nummies she wanted, having all the attention in the world.....they aren't without consequences. 

So we have scheduled  {healthy} snack times, and thankfully lots of quiet time at home to just enjoy her new toys and get back on the right {behavior} track.

weirdest use of a slinky that I have seen

Love that sweet little girl! 

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! 

~