Christmas baby and tree....

I have a photo shoot tomorrow of a little baby girl who is only 5 days old, so I was getting everything together when David decided he wanted some photos taken of him! So I quickly grabbed a few of my Christmas props and threw him in a basket for this photo. He is such a cute and happy Christmas baby! I am also including one of our tree this year (notice the large empty spots where little man has ripped things off of it!).

Love you all!

Brittany

Christmastime, big boy bed, and snowbunnies!

Well, I have just been terrible this year about keeping this up to date!!! But I am going to do better (for real this time!). We have had such a busy year, but things are calming down a bit now. Besides it being really cold here, it is very beautiful. We spent all day yesterday in Trier at a German Christmas market and it was so pretty and lots of fun! I just love the holidays here in Europe. The kids are all very anxious to get into all of the presents under the tree, and to get to Christmas Eve so that we can do all of our family traditions. As always, we will make homeade cookies to decorate for Santa, as well as some other Christmas goodies that they all love. We will also drive around and look at all the Christmas lights and decorations in the villages as we sing carols; we will read "Twas the Night Before Christmas," and most importantly, will read the Christmas story and talk about the beautiful miracle that this time of year is all about.

This year for Christmas dinner I am doing something totally untraditional and skipping the ham and making Shrimp Scampi instead. The kids begged for it...so why not! LOL We are thankful for this wonderful holiday season, and most of all for God's blessing and hand on us in this past year of big changes. We look forward to 2009 being a year of great things, in which the Cooper family will be happy, healthy, and ready for wherever God is taking us next! For now, we are soaking up every bit of our last winter in Germany, because we will miss this all alot when we are back in the US!

On a side note, I am including a couple pics of the kids in the snow and David in his brand new "big boy" toddler bed. We are having a difficult time getting him to stay in it all night long, but hey, it's a start! LOL

I will post again in the next couple of days with pics of the Christmas tree and all that good stuff.

We love you all!!!

Britt

Garmisch and Austria and Mountains...oh my!

Well, I am putting up some pictures I took on our recent trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Austria. The mountains and scenery was simply breathtaking this year, even though it was much warmer (with no snow!) than it usually is. It was a nice break to just relax and enjoy God's beauty all around us.

The conference was fantastic as well. It was an awesome time of fellowship and worship. The kids all had a blast, and David did very well on the long drive up there; however, on the long drive back, he had reached his limit, and cried "Mama" and reached his hands up to me almost the whole time. Fun, fun!

We are all doing well, just busy with work and school and all that good stuff. We have a trip planned to Italy in the next couple of weeks, so I will be sure to post those pics as soon as we get back home and settled.

Love you all!

Britt

Back to Basics...and Updates

Well, here I am back with my original blog. The other site, although very neat, proved to be too much of a hassle to deal with. It will not hold very many photos (a travesty to a photographer!!) and is just to complicated to quickly use for updates. Soooo, here we are again. :-)

Well, lots has happened since my last blog, so here we go with a quick run down. Jonathan went to Basic Training, graduated, and is in Tech School at Keesler awaiting his first assignment when his training is over. He is doing well, and we miss him terribly!! Alyssa will be turning 15 this week, and is very excited about that! LOL She is having a sleepover birthday party will all of her close girlfriends, and I have no doubt they will be up all night long being silly and having fun. All the kids have started school- Alyssa in high school (which she LOVES, and is very popular), Ryan in 4th grade with-PRAISE GOD- a wonderful male teacher this year, Kaylee in 1st grade with a sweet teacher that she loves and loves her (Kaylee has also lost both front teeth, which you can see in the pic), and little man...well, he is enjoying having Mommy back all to himself during the day. He has gotten in 4 molars in addition to his other 8 teeth, and has become very profficient in using the word "No." But he is so loving and sweet, and completely spoiled and attached to Mommy and Daddy...so much so that we are dealing with major separation anxiety when either of us leaves.

Paul and I are great. Paul is busy working, and has been in a big leadership position at work, while although great for his career, bad for time off! :) We are looking forward to our trip up to Garmisch with our church conference in October. I have been busy with, you guessed it...school, and I have also begun teaching ballet, tap, and jazz on base a couple days a week. I love it and Kaylee is in two of my classes and is loving that. My photography is still going good as well.

Well thats it for now. Here are a couple pictures, and I will write again soon.

Love you all,

Brittany

So proud of our boy!!

Last night was special...Jonathan graduated from high school. I had tears in my eyes watching him walk across that stage. I was remembering when he was little and all he cared about was riding his scooter all over creation and Tyndall AFB. :) I can't believe he is 18 and all done with high school!!! He looked so handsome, and we are so proud of him. He is now preparing to head off to join the Air Force just like his daddy in the next couple of months, and we are so proud of him for that as well. Not only is he our sweet and caring boy, but also will now be one of the many brave young men defending the freedom of our nation. Please keep him in your prayers as He goes that God will continue to wrap him in His wings after he has left our nest. I am so blessed to call him my son.

I am attaching a few pics from last night. Look at Jonathan in his cap and gown, and standing with his proud papa!!

Birthdays, Giggles, Marathons, and Puppies...

Man oh man, has it been a busy month!!! We have had Mother's Day, then Paul and I's anniversary, then David's bday, and then Kaylee's bday. We have had lots of fun!

I am attaching some pics of David on his new birthday "rocket," Kaylee super excited about a chocolate on chocolate bday cake, David's giggles, Kaylee finishing her school marathon, and Sadie with our new little girl, Marley.

David had a wonderful birthday, and very much liked all of the attention that he got! He devoured a piece of chocolate cake, and made sure he got it everywhere- even in his ears!! With every bite we heard a loud, "Mmmmmm." He loved all of his gifts, but he especially liked the little red ride-on rocket that we got him. He thinks he is a really big boy now that he can scoot it all over the house and follow everyone around!

Kaylee's birthday was great too, except that she was not feeling well on the actual day of her birthday. Due to a really bad tummy ache, we postponed the cake celebration until the next day. By then she felt okay, and as you can tell, was VERY excited about tearing into her cake! The day before her birthday, she participated in a the final lap of a school marathon that the "Marathon Club" has been participating in all Spring. She look so cute running those laps and crossing the finish line. She was very proud of herself, but boy was she worn out that night!!

The smiley picture of David is one I snapped one day while he and I were playing while everyone else was at school and work. He really had the giggles, and I couldn't resist pulling out the camera to capture the moment!

Marley is our new little girl puppy. She is a nearly white golden retriever and she is a doll. Sadie adores her and is so excited to have a friend to play with and complain to in doggy language about the craziness of this house!!! We are having lots of fun with both of them.

Well, I better get going. I have to get five kids and a husband up and going so that we can get ready for church.

Love,

Brittany

Sick Baby and Sweet Kiddos...

Baby man is feeling so yucky, can you tell? He looks so pitiful!! We are just hugging and snuggling him bunches. Surprisingly, and unlike his big sister Kaylee, he does really well taking his medicines, so hopefully it will all be clearing up soon. For now, he is just like a little baby monkey attached to me.

The other pic is of the sweet Mommy's Day things that some of the kiddos created for me at school. Alyssa made the beautiful ( and, as you can tell, DELICIOUS, cake), and Ryan and Kaylee both made paper flower bouquets and the book and picture. I love all my kids so much, and I am so thankful for the blessing that they are!!

Love,

Brittany

New 'do...and croup too!

Is my daughter gorgeous or what!?! Her hair turned out FABULOUS!! The highlights are beautiful and the layers are so cute! I snapped this pic after a long walk we took to get some exercise, so its not as fixed as before, but still gorgeous. She loves it.

Also, please pray for little man. He had to be taken in to the doc this evening because he sounded so awful and kept vomitting. Turns out he has bad congestion and croup. He is just miserable, and won't really eat or sleep. He has meds four times a day, so prayerfully he will be feeling all better soon and up to no good again!

Love,

Brittany

It's Been Awhile....

Well, I really need to catch up on here! With getting all the kinks worked out of my photography website, and having MAJOR term papers due, I have fallen behind. However, I will do better with keeping this up to date from now on.

For a quick update (since I am dealing with a sick little baby), David is walking and now has 6, yes 6!, teeth. He talks alot, and recently told me "No No Bad Momma" when I took away a toy in the BX. I think he may have heard me say "No No Bad Sadie" one too many times! LOL He will be 1 on the 19th!! Time flies.

Kaylee is feeling much, much better, so thank you all for your prayers. (For those that don't know, she had a really, really high fever for several days and a croup sounding cough). Anyways, she was back at school today, and playing just as hard as usual. She will be 6 on the 23rd!! Wow!

Alyssa is getting a new hairdo tommorrow,and she is both thrilled and nervous. She is getting an adorable layered cut and some highlights for the first time. She and I are headed to the salon as soon as school is out for some girl time like we like to do!! I will post pics of the finished 'do in the next couple of days.

Ryan is soooo ready for summer break! He would play outside everynight until 11pm if we let him! Haha He has gotten very tall, and I think for sure he will pass me in height within the next few years.

Jonathan is doing well also. He is working and going to school and romancing the ladies. hahaha! He graduates in a matter of weeks! Can you believe it? He and I spend a lot of time teasing each other, if you can believe it. Like father, like son. LOL

Paul and I are great as well. We will find out the results of the promotion testing next month hopefully. Paul has been busy with one of his classes, and spends alot of down time working on that!! I, as usual, am ALWAYS busy with homework, papers, finals, etc... Oh well, it will all pay off eventually! Our anniversary is Monday, the 12th, so we are deciding what we want to do. We are either going to Holland for the day for the tulips or going to a concert that evening. How exciting!! :)

Well, I will be sure to update again soon, and this time without so much time in between!!!

Love,
Brittany

Art Gallery and Claude Monet

Well, at the end of last week Kaylee and i attended an art show held by her school. They got a red carpet and decorated everything very nice in order to make it like a New York City art show. We had to dress up, and we had lots of fun. You should have seen Kaylee walking around with her little hors d'oeuvres and commenting on all of the art. She looked so cute and "sophisticated." LOL Her class did recreations of Claude Monet's Water Lilies series of paintings. Kaylee chose "Water Lily Pool" to recreate. It was so precious, and it was so neat how she could stand there and explain everything about Monet, his style, and his inspiration for the painting. Her class had also recreated Monet's garden in Giverny, with the bridge and pond and little water lilies that they had made. We had lots of fun.

Unfortunantely, I left my camera at home, but Paul snapped a few shots of us before we left. And I am including a photo of Monet's original "Water Lily Pool."

"I'm dreaming of a white....Easter"

Well we woke up Easter morning to lots of snow, about 6 inches to be exact! You can't see it well in this pic, but I thought it was so beautiful that I just had to stop and capture it on the way home from church. It has continued to snow all day today as well, and it is absolutely FREEZING outside. But wow, is it beautiful. When I look around on days like these at the gorgeous landscape, I stand in awe of our Heavenly Father. If He can create something this breathtaking, I cannot even begin to imagine how beautiful He must be. Thank you Lord!!

Happy Easter and lots and lots of love!!

Birthday fun!

Wow! My precious boy is nine years old!!! I can hardly believe it. I am thankful to God everyday for the blessing that Ryan is to my life, and how God sent him to save my life. We celebrated with some double chocolate fudge cake, and as you can tell, the little ones all enjoyed it. Alyssa came home after a concert and dug in to some of it too! LOL Jonathan isnt that big on chocolate, so he skipped the cake part. :) After Ryan continued giving David bits of cake, he was covered in it everywhere, so he went straight to the bath. Afterwards, he was standing on his own in the living room and trying to take little steps, so I attached a pic.

Ryan had a wonderful birthday. He loved his gifts, and we had a great time celebrating. He also has a sleepover this Friday night with a group of boys, and they will have pizza, cake, ice cream and games. All I can say is.....PRAY FOR US!!!!! hehehehehehehehe

Brittany :)

Crazy week!

Well this week was busy, busy, busy, so I am just now getting to posting something on the blog. The kids did well on their school tests all week, and are very glad they are finished!! We took Jonathan and Alyssa today to get their glasses, and they were hilarious trying to pick them out. As you can imagine with teenagers, almost everything looked "dorky" to them. LOL They finally settled on some cute ones, and I will post picks after we can pick them up. Ryan is thrilled about his birthday Sunday. Can you believe it??!!!! Nine years old!!! WOW He is having a sleepover Friday with 5 boys. We are ordering them pizza, renting movies and they are gonna eat, have cake, play games and watch movies all night. He is so excited.

Kaylee stayed home from school today and we had a special mommy-girl day. She has been having some serious middle child feelings (LOL), and needed some extra time from me while everyone else was out. We slept in, stayed in jammies and watched TV, played on the computer, then went to the BX, had pizza, and picked up sweet treats. Then we ate and laid in my bed doing our toes and looking at a doll magazine. It was great!

Alyssa is sleeping over at a girlfriends tonight who is having a birthday party, so she is having a blast I am sure, and will most likely not sleep a wink. Jonathan is playing on the computer, and he is enjoying his night off work. Little man is supposed to be sleeping, but insists on standing up in his crib yelling, "Mama! No No Night Night!" It may just be a LONGGGGGG night. :)

I'm posting some pics of Ryan and Kaylee being crazy, Alyssa and her wall of boys, and little man so tired and falling asleep.

I will add lots more after Ryan's bday on Sunday.

Love you all,

Brittany

Look Mama, Im standing!

Well, I have no pictures of it, but David was standing on his own today. It was so cute. Of course, after awhile when he noticed it, he got kind of nervous and then toppled. But he is doing so well with it. He also has two new little teeth coming through on top. They are so cute!
He had his first experience in the church nursery today (although I stayed with him of course). He was the only little boy, and he was certainly flirting it up with the girl babies. haha

Well, we have a busy week ahead. Ryan and Alyssa have Terra Nova testing this week, which are achievement tests where you fill in the little dot on the correct answer! haha Anyways, so it will be a long week for them. Kaylee is beginning a "marathon club" that her teacher is hosting to encourage kids to get out and exercise. As you all know, no one has to tell Kaylee twice to run. Jonathan is working at Burger King and really enjoying it. He has made some good friends up there, and he is having fun.

Please keep Paul in your prayers, as he is testing for Master Sgt on March 19th. We could really use this promotion, especially with the sheer number of us that there are! haha
I recently finished one of my courses with a 99% so I am so happy!! I hated the course so it was unexpected. Anyways, my GPA overall is right at 4.0. I thank God for the ability to keep at it with all the business in our home. hehehe

Well we love you all, and I will be sure to get some more pics up this week.

Brittany

Crazy hat day and Friday night

This week was "Read Across America" week at school and the kids all had special activities. To end the week with a bang, the elementary school had a "Hat Day Parade" with crazy hats in honor of Dr. Suess. Their hats had to be made out of recycled materials and be silly. Sooo, Paul fixed Kaylee up with a "milk and cereal hat." She loved it.

Friday night is always "Junk Food & Movie Night" at the Cooper household, but tonight has been a little different. Alyssa is babysitting and going to a sleepover, and we are fasting movies as a part of the 30 day fast that our church is having. So, needless to say, we have made this a lazy night. We ordered in Chinese food and then everyone just dispersed to hang out. I caught a pic of David grinning big over a Kaylee eating a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, I caught Ryan lounging watching cartoons and eating Twizzlers, and like father like son, Paul and Jonathan both glued to computers. I also happened to catch a lovely shot of my oldest daughter's less than tidy bedroom. Haha! And as for me, well I am up to my neck in homework!!!

Love,
Brittany

March snow & peanut butter!!!

Well, despite the uncharacteristically warm winter temperatures we have had, we woke up this morning to lots and lots of SNOW!! It is supposed to snow well into the night and having below freezing temperatures. And here Alyssa and I were thinking we could go spring clothes shopping!!! LOL Jonathan and Alyssa have been waiting all winter to see their first real snow, so I am glad that it came. Although next winter, they may be about tired of it after months and months of it! Of course Ryan and Kaylee enjoyed it as usual, and got their clothes completely soaking wet playing out in it. David, on the other hand, did not seem to care for it, and cried to go back inside and under the warm and snuggly blankets!!

As if we needed yet one more person in our house who loves peanut butter, David had his first peanut butter sandwich the other night. After one big bite he looked up at me and said, "Mama! Ummmmmm.." He made a complete mess, of course, and by the time he was done he even had peanut butter in his ears!! Needless to say, it was straight to the bath for little man!

Brittany :)

Updates made easy! :)

Well we thought we would create this handy little blog so that I can write updates every week and post pictures to keep you all informed (and entertained...LOL) with all that is happening here in our BIG family of seven!!

Check back often for new pics and info.

Love you all!!!

Brittany