Breakfast with Santa

Cooper's dreams came true when we met Santa for breakfast the weekend before Christmas. We were lucky to catch him as he stopped through The Woodlands!

I love the sweet look on Cooper's face as he spoke with the big guy. o admiring!  

When Santa asked him what he'd like for Christmas, Cooper said without hesitation, "A remote control helicopter. Oh, and my two front teeth." 

Ahh - precious!!

They had a lovely little conversation and Cooper got to spend a few minutes in the sleigh. He was star-struck for sure!

A REAL candy cane from the North Pole! 

What a fun mommy - son date! We sipped hot chocolate and hummed Christmas tunes as we ate breakfast. We'll definitely make this an annual tradition!

Backyard Adventure

Winter break is here and there's nowhere I'd rather be than home. 2 weeks off means more baking and organizing and art projects for me and more adventures in the backyard for Cooper and his neighbor buddies. I love looking through my kitchen window to see kids atop the playhouse (two spying over the fence with paper towel rolls and one with a harmonica) There are some things I probably shouldn't let Cooper do but... I take pictures instead. Ha!

Here are the adventurers!

Candyland

Board games are a new found love around here. It was like one day Cooper suddenly realized the magic of Candyland and poof - he is a game-playing fool! His closet floor is now littered with trouble pegs and more dice than I knew yahtzee contained. I keep a deck of cards in the car for those "long waits" in the pharmacy drive-thru. We're loving it!

I snapped a few photos as Cooper and his neighbor buddies parked themselves in the entryway for a round of Candyland and Go Fish. I love walking in on kids organizing their own games - it makes them seem so grown up! I loved overhearing their conversations as they played:

Oooh - you got a double purple. It's your lucky day. REALLY!

Hmmm... all we have is "mans" here, but Hannah, you can still play and we'll pretend your man has hair.

We have to be fair or the game is over. Cheating is no fun.

It's so neat to watch Cooper's growing interest and ability with "big kid" things like board games. Now I FINALLY have someone who will play games with me! I can't wait until he's old enough for Chicken Foot or Nertz. For now, I'll settle for playing Go Fish with HEB grocery store cards on repeat!