Yes, We Know....

Yes, we know that this is not the recommended use for the Johnny Jump Up. In fact, Johnny himself, would probably advise against such use. But Jack loved it. He REALLY loved it BEFORE I got the camera out. He thought it was Okay after I got the camera - why do they always do that? Here it is anyway.

P.S. Please don't call Child Protective Services. We only were only swinging our 5-month-old dangerously fast from a door frame over a tile floor BECAUSE HE LIKED IT!

Christmas Tree and Christmas Cookies

This past weekend, we put our Christmas tree and decorations up. The kids enjoyed decorating and the tree turned out quite pretty!

We put a few gifts under the tree and I've caught Gabby trying to open them more than once. And Steven asks me at least once a day who they are for. As if it's going to change. And they're all going to be his.

Yesterday, Shaunna and Addi came over to see us and to decorate some Christmas cookies. I had such a nice time with Shaunna and we REALLY enjoyed watching our kids decorate Christmas cookies. Really. It was priceless.

Between Gabby eating the raw dough, Addi eating the sprinkles and sucking icing from the piping bag, and Steven squeezing about 10 cookies worth of icing onto one little snowman cookie, I'm surprised we ended up with any edible cookies, but we did and they were very yummy and oh-so-beautiful! Shaunna has some more pictures (including some great up-close shots of the finished products!) on her blog, HERE.

So, as you can see we're pretty ready for Christmas and we are looking forward to seeing my family when they all get here in a few weeks!

...and now you're all caught up!

5 Years of Koper Christmas Pictures

We take a Christmas picture every year as a family. It's kind of fun to see how we change from one year to the next. Here we are, 5 years of the Kopers at Christmas.

2004

We had been married for 4 months. About 3 days after this picture was taken, I took a pregnancy test and saw a little plus sign.

2005

Steven was almost 4 months old and Steve and I weighed about 100 pounds more than we did the year before.

2006

We were so happy with our little monster, 15 months old. We found out we were expecting Gabby about a month after this picture was taken.

2007

Gabby was almost 3 months old, Steven was 2. This was Christmas Eve and Steve had just returned home from 10 weeks at OTS the day before. Having him home felt like a dream. It was a wonderful Christmas.

2008

I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Jack. Gabby was 14 months old, and Steven was 3. We had lots of family to visit in our sweet little base house. The kids were both old enough to really enjoy Christmas and it was a very memorable one.

2009

Jack is 5 months, Gabby is 2, Steven is 4. We are in our first real home and we have wonderful Christmas memories to make this year.

It's amazing to see the pictures all lined up. Starting with a 21 and 23-year-old who just knew they wanted a family, all the way to a family of 5. God has blessed us so much in these 5 years.

Pictures are coming....

I will have some good pictures to post soon. Things feel a little hectic, lately. I guess that's just how it is in December. So much to do. So little time. So much time wasted on Facebook and blog-reading instead of checking stuff off my ever-growing to do list. Guess that one's my fault! But I wanted to share some things:
1. We got our tree up and it is beautiful (there's a picture on our Facebook).
2. We took our annual family Christmas card picture and it too, is beautiful.
3. Jack has a nasty cold or allergies. His nose is really runny (mostly clear, though) and he has a nasty little cough. Poor baby. But in true Jack-Jack style, he is still happy and doesn't seem at all bothered by this development.
5. We are about 97% done with our Christmas shopping and last night, Steve and I wrapped all the gifts.
4. Steven has said some pretty funny things lately. It's not so much the things he talks about, but the things he adds to conversations that Steve and I are having. Examples:

Steve (to me): I'm curious about....
Steven (interrupting): Dad! No, only Curious George is curious! You're not a monkey!

Me (to Steve about putting Christmas stuff in the attic for storage, instead of the garage after Christmas): You don't think anything would melt up there in the summer?
Steven: No! Only marshmellows melt! In hot cocoa!

Yesterday afternoon, my sister Holly asked Steven what he learned about in Sunday School that morning.
Steven: God and Jesus.
Gabby: and Amen.

Oh, and one more kid-ism. Gabby REALLY loves her Uncle Joe. Really. Like A LOT. (Oh, and Uncle Joe is what my kids call my brother-in-law, Stan) She prayed over our lunch yesterday and it went something like this,
Thank you, God: Daddy, Unc Joe, Mommy...Unc Joe, Aunt Holly, Unc Joe...
She is very thankful for her Uncle Joe. So sweet.

Okay, I have to get to work. A lot of cleaning to do, laundry to catch up on and if I'm feeling really ambitious, I may start some Christmas baking and make some cookie dough to freeze for later. Last year, I was so much more productive. I think because I was pregnant and determined not to be one of "those" pregnant women that it too tired to do anything. Now I don't have that motivation!
Next post will have lots of great pictures!

Are these "Oldies" Yet? We can't be that old.

I have a Pandora station called Leah's Station. Creative, I know. But it's awesome. I've been mastering it for over a year. If you're not familiar with Pandora - it's a "radio station" website that makes a station to your specific taste - based on artists that you input, songs that you give a thumbs up and thumbs down to and it is pretty much wonderful. I listen to it almost daily. Any time I'm doing housework, it's on. The kids and I dance to it. I'm constantly "tweeking" it and here are some of my FAVORITE songs from my station - these are songs that make me beyond happy when they come on my station. For some reason the songs that make me the happiest, are all pretty old. I know one day my kids will complain and roll their eyes when I want to listen to these old songs.
1. Let Her Cry - Hootie and the Blowfish. This song gives me goosebumps every time. I love it.
2. The Freshman - The Verve Pipe. This song takes me back. High school freshmen year. Awww, memories.
3. A Long December, Mr. Jones, and Hanginaround - Counting Crows. I just love these songs
(Are you noticing the late 90s pattern to my little list, here?)
4. Two Princes - The Spin Doctors. Remember this one? I do. It feels so happy.
5. Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam. What did he say? It doesn't matter. I still sing along to all the mumbling.
Just wanted so share. Go listen to them all and if you're even near my age, you'll remember them all and they will make you happy, too :)

5 Months of Jack-Jack

Jack is 5 months old, today!
I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It seems to go faster with each child. I remember his birth day like it was yesterday and somehow today, he is 5 months old. Here are some things about our sweet Jack-Jack.
*He has quite the list of nick-names. He is Jack-Jack, Jack-attack, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-Jack-the-snack-pack, Jack-a-lacka-tick-tack....I think we call him something different every day!
*He wakes up every morning with a smile on his face. I'm not kidding. He is smiling when he wakes up. Every day. It's kind of weird.
*He sleeps 10-12 hours straight at night.
*He usually has one long nap (3-4 hours) in the late morning-early afternoon and one shorter, nap (an hour or so) in the evening.
*He still nurses exclusively and usually nurses every 4 hours or so during the day.
*He rolls over from tummy to back often and from back to tummy once in a while.
*He loves to sit in the exasaucer and watch his big brother and sister run around.
*He enjoys holding his toys and licking them.
*I have to keep a bib on him most days if I don't want to change his shirt multiple times - he's a big-time drooler.
*He is the happiest baby I have ever known. He is always smiling.
*He likes to hear his voice. He has recently decided that loud squeals and yelps are very fun to make. It's cute for a few minutes then Steve and I find ourselves asking him to be quiet.
*He is content just to sit and watch everything and everyone moving around him and he loves to see himself in the mirror.
*Jack is a wonderful baby and a blessing to our family.

Birth Day

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months


4 Months

5 months

Four Facts for Friday

1. Forgot to photograph yesterday's Thanksgiving feast and festivities with the family. It was a fabulous day with fantastic food and lots of family fun. Including a super-fun game called ImaginIff!
2. Fought Black Friday crowds at Kohl's. Spent a little money on a lot of fashion. For me.
3. Feeling fat from all the food. The fridge is full and so am I.
4. Finished Christmas shopping two days ago. Almost. Only a few more items need to be found but mostly done. Did it without the kids and did it fast.

Fin

Within 2 months, all three of the Koper kids were due for check-ups. Steven for his 4-year, Gabby for her 24-month, and Jack for his 4-month. Today was the day that we got to the clinic to make sure everyone was healthy.

Here are the stats:

Steven:

3 feet, 4.83 inches; 59th percentile

36.16 pounds, 52nd percentile

(he was always so small as a baby - like under the 10th percentile for weight - but now he's about as average as it gets!)

Gabby:

2ft, 11.75 inches tall (JUST shy of 3 feet!) 90th percentile

28.44 pounds, 71st percentile

Jack:

2 feet, 1.79 inches (I saw him get measured and it didn't look very accurate - I think he's a little longer than this) 67th percentile

15.65 pounds, 53rd percentile

The nurse asked Steven to sing the ABC's, which he did proudly. Gabby cried when asked to stand on the scale, when she had her ears checked and pretty much when any other attention was paid to her. But after receiving stickers and a book, she was singing a different tune. Jack was more than happy to be poked and prodded at. He was all smiles until the dreaded immunizations came around. Steven and Jack both received several shots in the thighs. Steven was quite the trooper. He knew it was coming and that it would hurt but he sat up there like a big guy and we didn't have to hold him down or anything. He cried during the shots but stopped quickly afterwards. Jack screamed his little head off and has been quite fussy most of the day. Poor baby.
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You may have noticed that Gabby has a new hairdo in the picture. This weekend, we took her to get it cut to all one length. She's never had the length cut and her hair grows VERY slowly (like her mother's) and it has several different lengths in it. Now it can all grow out at one length and be beautiful!

Before

(this was taken by Steve after he fed her brownies for lunch one day while I was out)

After

(I know the color is really bad - but you get the idea of how cute the new cut is!)

And Steven got a haircut, yesterday. I was trying to grow his hair out but Steve just didn't like it long anymore, so he took him for a haircut. I must admit, it looks really good cut short!

Before

(it was ALMOST as long as I wanted it to get - I think we'd been letting it grow for about 3 months)

After

(with his little military haircut looking so cute!)

And now you're all caught up!

Congratulations Kyle and Cara!

My youngest sister Cara got engaged tonight. I am so happy for her and Kyle. Be sure to go by her blog HERE and congratulate her.

Congratulations Cara and Kyle! We love you guys!

The Holstein's and a Job Well Done

We spent a wonderful weekend with our good friends, Dennis and Steffi. They are from Germany and came all the way to Texas just to see us! (Okay, not really - but they did come all the way to Abilene just to see us!)

Steve and Dennis going for a MotorBike Ride

Steffi and Gabs at the zoo

BBQ in our backyard.

Note Steven and Gabby's outfits. The Halloween costumes have remained quite popular - Gabby's is joined by a motorcycle helmet :)

We wish Dennis and Steffi live at least a little closer so we could get together more often. We had a great time catching up, learning a little German, eating a lot of food, and just spending time with them. Thanks so much for coming up to see us, guys!

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Steve has just finished the biggest project we have planned for our new home. With the generous help of his knowledgeable brother, as well as some much needed assistance from his dad, we went from this:

To this:

I feel like the pictures don't even do it justice. I have SO much more storage and counter space, now. The kitchen is much better lit - they removed the florescent light, hung the 3-light pendant and installed 4 pot-lights. They ran electricity from behind the fridge, dug a trench in the slab under the tiles to lay the wiring to the new island so I can have power for appliances. It was SO MUCH WORK. But well worth every hour. This kitchen went from okay to amazing! Steve's been working on it for about 2 weeks straight now and I am so amazed by the work he has done.

You may notice from the pictures, however, that we are a little afraid of color. Tonight, we talked about possible painting a wall or two (gasp!). We'll see how that goes. For now, we're pretty beige but we're working on it.

And now you're all caught up!