The McCormack Spot

Wordless Wednesday - Who Me?

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Wordless Wednesday - May the force be with you

2012-01-18T06:30:00.000-05:00

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Reluctant Skater Actually Skates

2012-01-14T17:34:00.001-05:00

Who knew if you threw a hockey puck on the ice that a non-skater would skate to get it? Well, obviously his teacher did. He still spent quite a bit of time on the wall or holding the teacher's hand, but if he can do this, he CAN skate. Now the question is if he will do it again?

Video

Dinosaur Hatching

2012-01-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Aunt L strikes again. I don't know how she does it, but Cooper is thrilled with all the Christmas presents. We are slowly breaking them out one by one, and he is loving every minute of it.

Video

He has slept with the dinosaur, named "Tiny Diny." And he and his shell have made several shopping trips with us.

Just call him Chiquita

2012-01-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure where he gets this personality.

But he has figured out to use that dimple and his smile to his advantage.

Wordless Wednesday - Now that's good sleeping

2012-01-11T06:30:00.000-05:00

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Where are we going?

2012-01-06T19:32:00.001-05:00

Me, "Cooper, tomorrow is Saturday. Do you know what we are doing?"
Cooper, "Going to Disney?"
Oh boy. He is going to be really disappointed in ice skating lessons tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday - Can I get an awww?

2012-01-04T06:30:00.000-05:00

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

No one's having any fun around here

2012-01-02T22:02:00.000-05:00

Do you believe that?

These two don't have any fun together. Papa just has to give him one look, and he is done for.

Woodpile Time

2011-12-31T22:12:00.000-05:00

Papa put his little helper on the woodpile. It brought back memories of all the wonderful (just a wee bit of sarcasm) hours I spent on the woodpile as a kid. It did build lots of character and helped keep the house warm too.

Telling secrets.

He thought he was big stuff sitting in Papa's lap.

I have to say he was pretty concerned about getting his hands dirty. He only lasted a little while before he was running through the woods.

Trying out his new chainsaw. He was very disappointed in the progress it made.

It was great watching Cooper run through the same woods I played in as a kid. And I think Papa enjoyed it a little bit too. ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Hoping for Snow

2011-12-28T06:30:00.000-05:00

Does he look like Frosty to you?

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Bike Riding

2011-12-25T22:24:00.000-05:00

We took Cooper out for a spin on his new bike. He did really well.

... until he got tired and thought it would be easier to carry the bike.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

Cooper had a great Christmas. You never know what they are going to really like at this age, but I have to say he loved his bike, the radio controlled police car, and the Nerf guns. Surprising winners were also the snow globe and the light-up shoes. He also was very happy to see that Santa put the star on top of the tree.

Sorry for the Mommy multi-tasking, but I was talking to my little sis who decided to give us a terrific early Christmas present. Welcome to the world Brodie. Cooper can't wait to meet you.

Being silly with AK and Uga.

And stopping for a little chocolate break.

I have to brag on my husband because I am going to finally get my wedding photos. After procrastinating on making the final decision 10 years ago, we never ordered our wedding photos. J tracked him down and we will soon have the negatives. A friend has agreed to help us get them printed. Small miracles do happen.

Hope your Christmas was as merry as ours.

Christmas Eve (cont)

2011-12-24T22:22:00.000-05:00

We had a quiet Christmas Eve this year with just us, AK and her nephew. My little sis is due with her first baby very soon so they and my parents stayed close to home this year. J's parents were hosting Christmas for more family as others have also migrated further South from Connecticut. As crazy as this sounds, I missed having a houseful of people but was very content with the holiday being quiet.

We had crockpot lasagna and salad for dinner, and cookies for dessert while watching the Polar Express. I have to say that we all agree that the version of Grammy reading the book is better than the movie.

Sorry for the length of the video. Listen carefully for the bells.

Someone left lots of cookies for Santa.

I thought this look was so sweet ...

until I realized he was prepping for this move. What a ham.

Hope your Christmas Eve was peaceful.

Advent Calendar

2011-12-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

I wasn't as good this year taking pictures of Cooper with his Advent Calendar. I will say the first day was a funny one. The night before, he was a terror from the time I picked him up from daycare. It was so bad, I sent him straight up to bed as soon as we got home. I almost forgot to put out the calendar, which Grammy buys and wraps all the presents and leaves for me (Thank you Grammy). It gets harder ever year to find things small enough to fit in the little squares, so I end up numbering some of the presents and he has to match them up from a basket. For the first day, I made sure one fits in the square since I wasn't sure how much he remembered from the year before.

The next morning, he was very excited to hear that he could open up a present. He tore into the little package, and found a rock. He looked at me and AK and asked if it really was a rock. We told him yes, and AK told him maybe coal was next if he kept up last night's act. Unfortunately, he has no idea what coal is and being a four year-old boy, he was happy to get a rock. Actually, it was geode.

Good thing he got those safety glasses with his birthday chainsaw.

The other thing he has been fascinated with this year is snowglobes. Whenever we see one, he has asked if he could have one. I suggested that he ask Santa.

He was very excited to find this Nativity one in his Advent Calendar.

I have seen several neat ideas from other bloggers where they put family activity ideas into their calendars. Hopefully, next year with be uneventful enough for us to incorporate that into the calendar.

Santa Letter 2011

2011-12-24T15:38:00.003-05:00

Santa always knows what you have been up to.

And for a review of last year, 2010.

Merry Christmas Eve, Love Cooper & Santa

2011-12-24T15:28:00.003-05:00

Take 1 with Santa at Bass Pro Shop. Notice the great divide between the two of them.

Take 2 was much better. But nothing is as good as sitting with Poppa Santa.

2010,
2009

2008

and before I started blogging ...

Wordless Wednesday - Cow Lick

2011-12-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

Cooper informed me that a cow snuck in his room and licked his head to give him this terrific do. Does that ever happen to you?

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Tea with Santa

2011-12-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

This weekend our pool hosted Tea with Santa. Actually it was red punch and sugar cookies, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

There was a guy singing Christmas songs and a puppet show.

And cookies.

And Santa and his elves doing the Hokey Poky. Don't ask!

And time to talk to Santa!

And to give great big hugs.

And cheesing it up for the camera.

And seriously eyeing this Christmas tree sucker.

And making a craft.

All in an hour and a half. Whew! I'm exhausted, but glad Cooper had a great Santa experience. He was asking where his sleigh was when we went to leave, but then he decided he probably drove. His sleigh might be in the shop getting fixed.

Gingerbread House

2011-12-16T22:36:00.000-05:00

This was Cooper's second year decorating a gingerbread house (and thanks to Papa for buying the materials while he was here). For comparison, check out 2010. There was less diving into all the food this year. Cooper was very intent on decorating, then the sweet tooth kicked in.

Just getting started.

Hard at work.

Concentrating!

My camera ate the one where we were both smiling, but this is so typical of him these days.

I love this shot. There's a lot of sugar on that table.

The Finished Product

Wordless Wednesday - All I Want for Christmas

2011-12-14T06:30:00.000-05:00

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Bass Pro Shop

2011-12-13T22:16:00.001-05:00

Cooper loves going to the Bass Pro Shop. It is usually a place he and his Dad go to for a little male bonding time. My Dad and I picked Cooper up from school today and drove up there. He got so excited when he saw the sign. His eyes just lit up.

If you have never been at Christmas, they have an entire Santa's village setup (with all the toys you can buy there - nice marketing ploy) and a Santa is available for pictures. I need to scan in the photo, but Cooper just as well could be standing in the next room for how close he is to Santa. He was not sure of Santa at all. He did eventually give him a high five.

This would have made the perfect Christmas card photo.

We even got out of there with only buying dinner and a piece of fudge we split three ways.

Here are pictures from 2009 and 2010.

Gynmast in the making

2011-12-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

Cooper had a great time at his favorite girl's birthday party. He and Bella were in the same daycare for almost their first four years. She just recently moved to another daycare, and he misses her terribly. Even before I said something about her birthday, we were in a store and he was adamant that we needed to buy her a card. He picked out a Disney princess one that she could color because "she's my princess, mommy." He even drew a picture of her in the card.

They had a party at a local gym where the kids went through an obstacle course, ran down a trampoline runway, jumped in a foam pit and on a big trampoline. He loved spending time with her.

He does follow directions every once in a while. I have proof.

Happy 4th Birthday Bella!

Wordless Wednesday - Two sucker day

2011-12-07T06:30:00.000-05:00

It's better than a Two Paci Day.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Cousin Baby Bump

2011-12-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

My little sis is probably going to be mad at me posting this, but they were so cute sitting in the chair together. And I didn't get any other pictures of them together that weekend, so don't be mad.

Cooper and I went to visit for her baby shower. They were sitting together eating pretzels and having a little bonding moment. Her world is about to be turned upside down with the arrival of their little boy. We can't wait to meet him.