December 2009

Well I can't hardly believe it is the end of the year, but it is : ( Where on earth did those 12 months go?!?!? Here is a look at our December so far, enjoy!


Keegan's 9th Birthday

Keegan's birthday is actually in November, but since we were gone to TN and then busy when we got home...we had it on the 4th of December. It wasn't anything fancy, but he did invite 10 of his friends --Dylan, Jeffery, Cody, Ethan, Kerri, Jaida, Nyree, Samuel, Connor & Drake. We had hot dogs, chips, veggies/dip and cake. He wanted a "sports theme" party, so I went to the dollar tree and bought the invites, plates and napkins. I made the cakes and they were super easy and turned out pretty neat. He was happy with them, so that is all that mattered. Papa came to town that week, so he was able to be here for the party too : ) Thanks so much to all his little friends that came and made this day special for him!

Step #1 & #2 --Bake cake of your choice in 2 rounds pans (approx. 9"), place one cake on round platter covered with foil.
Step #3 & #4 -- Frost bottom layer with white frosting and then place next layer on top of it.

Steps #5 & #6 -- Frost top layer and smooth out by using a butter knife and warm water on knife. Last add your "baseball" details to it with red gel.

Steps #1 & #2 --Bake cake of your choice in a the Pampered Chef Batter Bowl. Allow to cool and then lay on foil lined tray and cut in half.

Step #4 -- Place cut halves on their side, flat down on the tray

Step #5 --Cover with your favorite Chocolate icing from a can

Step #6 --Add the white "football" details to it with cake gelKeegan all smiles with his cakes!Chow time

Gift Time--This one was from Papa. He took the kids empty chip bags and put $$$ down in the bottom of one bag, rolled it up tight and stuck it in another bag, and repeated several times : )

Game Time--Playing "Upset the Birthday Basket" (presents, balloons, cake, etc.)Connor being silly while playing "Yucky Yummy"! He just opened the bowl with Dijon Mustard in it -- YUCKY!!

Drake not at all happy since he just opened the bowl with Baking Soda in it!

FCA Christmas Programs

Keegan in the FCA Christmas play! Poor guy, he gets SO nervous and scared, but he does a great job with his lines!

Talon saying his VERY, long lines--he did a great job too!

So proud of my boys, what a great job they did!

The kids LOVE it when Papa comes he plays games with them non-stop!

Christmas with Jerry's Family--

Keegan showing off his Webkinz tree ornament

Kallee loving her her Webkinz dog--she named him Fuzzy

Talon showing off his new hat and his NOT SO NEW, hand sign, teenagers!!!

Grandpa all smiles after I gave him his own personal Coconut Cream Pie, his favorite! I made all the guys their favorite pies this year for Christmas --Reed got a Lemonade pie, Tony got a Sugar Cream and Grandpa a Coconut Cream

Grandpa Hysel teasing Kallee like he does quite often : )

Grandma having fun watching the kids open their gifts

Christmas Here @ Home

Kallee opening her gifts first!

Daddy covering Kallee's eyes while her last gift is brought in, too big to wrap!

I think she likes it : ) The big dollhouse was given to us several years ago from some friends of ours and she thinks it is the best gift ever!

Kallee with all her gifts! With hand-me-down items, Ebay purchases and clearance racks, we were happy to have not spent much on her items at all : )

Keegan's turn to open his gifts!

More Ebay purchases--Lego's Star Wars game and a Chef Hat/Apron set! Keegan's our cook he loves to help in the kitchen!

Keegan with his pile of loot : ) I bought all of his stuff on sales racks throughout the year and on Ebay as well, yea!

Talon with all of his "goods"! Teens are so much harder to buy for than the younger ones, ugh! The stuff they want is SO much more expensive than others, ugh! He got more clothes than anything, still all good buys from the sales racks : )

I found this shirt on Ebay and knew Talon would love it for several reasons: first it is Abercrombie (like that matters to me), second because he plays the guitar and third because he is at that stage where he likes just about every girl, HA!

This gift was from Kallee to Talon. Her and I found it one day while shopping for only a $1 and since it said something about sisters on it... : ) "Who Needs Halloween, My Sister Scares Me Enough"

This gift was a joke to Jerry from me. He said when he was little he would write stuff on his Mom's grocery list that he wanted, hoping that she would buy it for him, so...he started one day writing one of those same wishes on our grocery list "Plastic Soliders". I was cleaning the boys room last week and found a bunch of plastic soldiers...he found it quite amusing, HA!

Kallee watching Daddy open the Chocolate Covered Cherries she bought for him!

Me opening my gifts from Jerry and the kids! I got several scrapbook items--paper, adhesive, stickers, markers, refill cartridge, etc. "PINK" Body Spray and Lotion from Victoria Secret, Bath & Body Works lotion, a Collingsworth Cd, Perfume, a new suit, etc.

Thanksgiving 2009

The Cooper Grandkids -- Back Row (l to r): Alysha, Lane, Blake, Talon and Courtney

Front Row (l to r): Ashlyn, Keegan & Kallee

Ok, ok, so I haven't updated my blog in ages, but...like everyone else in this world---I've been busy! : ) Here is a look at our trip we took to TN for Thanksgiving. We have started a Cooper family tradition of meeting in TN, every other year, to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once. Since that is the half-way point for our families to meet, it has worked out well. Jerry wasn't able to go, because he hadn't earned any vacation time yet : ( I wasn't going to go after he told me he couldn't go, but...I knew the kids were looking SO forward to going, that I couldn't let them down. We had a nice time, but just didn't seem right without him there!

This was taken looking down over our upper balcony.

Downstairs in the game room

Upstairs in the Living Room area

Kallee & Ashlyn

Courtney, Alysha & Talon

Opening Christmas presents

Craft Time

Pool Time -- the kids LOVED going down to the pool, it was a great time they could just run wild and scream as loud as they wanted : ) This was one of my kids favorite past-times while there!

Kallee getting cold in the pool and ready to get out

Keegan learning how to swim with his face in the water!

FCA First Tourneys

Well we are on our way tomorrow to Osseo, MI for our first boy's basketball and girl's volleyball tournaments, hosted by Bird Lake Bible School. We are SO excited about his event we can hardly wait to go! Our guys and gals have worked so hard to prepare for this! Jerry is our boy's bball coach and he has worked a lot of hours with the boys too. We will have a long trip there and back, about 3 1/2 hours one-way, but it will be fun riding the big bus. Well I'd better head out of here because 4:30a.am. will come really early, ugh! I will try and post some pictures on here later. If you are able to attend the Bird Lake Fall Classic, cheer on our Defenders!!!

Happy Trick or Treating Day!!!

Well we are about ready to go and get our kids so much candy that we will be heading to the dentist next week to get their teeth filled, HA! This year I told the kids "we are NOT buying anything for costumes, we will use what we have", so... Kallee will be a cowgirl and Keegan a ninja. Keegan didn't have any ninja swords, so Daddy got up this morning and cut up some boards to look like swords and then spray painted them silver. He wrapped the ends in black tape for handles, they turned out pretty neat looking and Keegan was thrilled with them : ) Later on my sister, Mary and her family will be meeting us in town with her kiddos, CJ & Maverick. They will be going trick or treating with us. This will be the first year she has taken her kids out, so it should be fun! She made her kids outfits, they are gonna be Jessie the cowgirl and Woody the cowboy, from Toy Story. After we fill up the kids with candy we are heading for dinner and then home to finish Sunday dinner. They are going to spend the night and come to church with us and then dinner. We will have 15 of us here for dinner so we will have a good time! Well we are off, so ta-ta for now. I will try and post pics of the kids later.