Save The Date

For the marriage of
Elizabeth Jane & Luke Cooper
April 10, 2034
On the 25th Anniversary of their first meeting.

This is what love looks like when you're almost five months and eight months old...

Claire's Birthday Fun

Jack's BFF Claire turned 2 yesterday and they celebrated all day long. Claire's parents picked up Jack in the morning and took the kids to see the Mardi Gras parade on Okaloosa Island. They had a great time and Jack was thrilled to come home with a billion bead necklaces. We're still not sure what he had to do to get all of them.

After a good rest we all went over to Claire's house for presents, pizza and cupcakes. Jack was very good at, um, let's call it helping Claire open her presents. He said "Mine" about all of them and was eager to rip paper, but Claire was a good sport and shared in the fun.

We had a great day yesterday and are going to miss Claire, Lara and Aneel when we go to South Carolina.

A Good Morning

Jack was on fire at Baby Bookworms today. He is not familiar with the concept of using an inside voice or whispering so everything he says is heard by anyone in a fifteen foot radius. So he basically provided a running commentary for all the kids and moms at story hour. For instance, during The Itsy Bitsy Spider he said/yelled "'pider book!" "Lellow sun!" "Mom! Bug!" Etc, etc, etc.He had something to say about every single page of every single book. He yelled "Yay!" and clapped enthusiastically after each book and song. It was hysterical.

After Baby Bookworms we went to the Niceville Children's Park with Claire and her mom. Here are some pictures of our fun.
Allie was there, too!I love this picture. Getting situated on the slide is hard work, you know. The tongue gives it away.

And, by the way, we will be trimming (just trimming) Jack's hair tomorrow. Even I admit there's no need for it to hang in his eyes.

Christmas Eve, Part I

Jack and Ellie in their Christmas duds!We got distracted and barely remembered to get a picture of the two of them together. Sadly, this is the best picture we could manage.

After church, we went to our friend's, the Barasch's, house for lots of great food and good company. Jack played on Nathan's new plane.We got a great picture of Jack and Allie!

Jack's Bowling Party

We celebrated Jack's birthday on Friday with little bowling party with Claire and Memere and Papa Lou who are in town for the holidays from California! Jack was all excited to bowl and said "My turn" every couple minutes until it was actually his turn. After a few rounds, though, he'd had enough and just wanted to "ride the horsey" (carousel) or play with the Lincoln Logs Claire gave him. It was super cute when the kids were into the game, though, because they would cheer and give high fives to everyone.

After bowling, we all came back to our house for pizza and cake. The one hiccup in the plan was the traffic - there was an accident on the bridge home from Destin so we were stuck in traffic for an hour. Ugh! Jack was happy because he watched Thomas the Train on his dad's iPhone and Claire ate snacks and made friends with Memere.

Jack was worn out by the end of the party, but we had a great afternoon. The week of Jack's birthday celebrations is officially over. Now, it's onto Christmas!

**If the slideshows don't load on the blog, click "view all images" to see them. I'm not sure why the slideshows aren't working.**

Jack's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Jack's birthday yesterday (it's actually the 19th) at a joint party with Allie (who turns 4 on the 21st) and Reagan (who turns 2 on the 17th). The party was at Allie's house and lots of kids from the squadron were there.
The birthday boy before the festivities. He wore his "birtday kruck shiwt".
Jack had a great time and he obviously enjoyed the cake!

Pictures from the action.

Cake time!

Lots of people were very generous and brought gifts for all three kids.

Thanks to everyone who attended and especially Allie's and Reagan's parents. We have a lot on our plate right now so they did almost all of the cooking, preparing and organizing. I seriously feel like we just showed up and enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for everything - Jack had a blast!

Many Thanks

We just need to say another BIG thanks to the Walshes and the Youngs for taking care of Jack on Sunday while we went to the hospital. Kevin, Jen and baby Kevin Walsh hung out with Jack first thing in the morning. They also went above and beyond and picked up our house so we returned to a clean place. It was awesome.

Cortney and Jason Young played and had a great day with Jack. They kept him busy and having fun so he forgot he didn't feel well. Cortney sent along a few pictures so we could see what a great day Jack had on Sunday.

We are so lucky to have such great friends.

Meeting Baby AJ

Deb, Russell and baby AJ are on vacation in Destin and they made the trek over the bridge to hang out with us yesterday. Deb is one of my closest friends from law school and she and her husband Russ welcomed baby AJ 6 weeks ago. The coolest part? He was born at Ohio State and my mom was one of Deb's post-partum nurses.

Jack was very excited to meet AJ. AJ, on the other hand, was not so sure.
Jack tried to comfort AJ with a kiss.
Deb and Kate with our boys.
Deb and AJ.

Keeping Busy with Claire

We got together with Claire and Lara a couple times this week to keep extra busy while Kevin is out of town. (Last time he's leaving until after the baby arrives!) Sunday, we went to the Northwest Florida Fair. We watched a short "circus" and then went on some toddler friendly rides. First up? The Flying Elephant! Here are Claire and Lara before the ride.
We also enjoyed the carousel.

Tuesday afternoon the four of us went to the Destin Library for a special toddler story time. After a book about fall, the kids did an art project organized by Abrakadoodle. The task: make a birch tree. First Jack had to make a tree from tape and then rub crayons over textured plates to make a background. The final step, Jack's favorite, was to paint over the whole thing with water colors. He was literally the last kid painting and as you can see from the pictures he took it very seriously.
The finished product:

Jack and Caroline

A few more photos from our visit with Angela and Caroline.

Reading a book. Giving Caroline kisses.

Enjoying the cooler weather on a walk.Caroline!It was so nice to hang out with them for a couple days. We hope to see them again soon!