He listened to me! Santa Claus listened to me!

Cooper opening his Santa Claus gifts on Christmas 2009.

Turkey Day, The Great Wall, and Preparing for Santa

Ooops. So please forgive me as I've been a little negligent on the blog posting front. I've been really busy, so I'm taking you all the way back to Thanksgiving. It's become a tradition that someone has to work on Thanksgiving, and then someone always has to work the day after, so we just improvise and this year, Turkey Day came on a Saturday.

We don't care though, as long as we get to eat yummy food. Mommy's table was make with homemade dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn pudding, rolls from scratch, and a Honeybaked Ham. What a feast! I was a big fan of the ham, and I am a ham.

Post food relaxation with Mommy.

And a little cuddle time with Daddy.

December usually marks the beginning of the season that we only see white ground for a while, and this year was no different. The first real snow was only a couple of inches. I'm not too prepared for it yet - my snow pants from last year come just below my knees and my boots are two sizes too small.

That didn't stop me from making my first snowman, complete with a carrot nose!

While Daddy and I were busy building snowmen, Mommy snuck away to New York City for a whole week to meet up with Mimi, Papaw, and Uncle Taylor. On Tuesday, they got settled into their hotel and then ate dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Yummy.

Then a little after dinner they did a little socializing with John Wall and Cousins. The Evans were staying at the same hotel as the team. How funny.

Eric Bledsoe even sat down with Mimi, Papaw, and Taylor, made himself comfortable, and ate a popsicle.

The next day they headed out to Carnegie Deli for lunch. Mimi and Mommy enjoy some pickles and a crowded restaurant.

They each order a tuna melt, and this is what came out! Whoa!

Papaw and Uncle Taylor share this one sandwich. That is crazy big!

Then they walk off some of that food, enjoying New York at its finest and decorated for Christmas. They said the window displays were really cool and the ones at Bergdorf's in an Alice in Wonderland theme were their favorites. Here's the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

And here Mimi, Papaw, and Taylor are in their UK gear in front of the tree.

Now, New York is nice at Christmas time and all, but don't think that was the real reason the Evans family headed up to New York. Oh no. It was to watch the UK Wildcats play UConn at Madison Square Garden. Go Cats! They had great seats!

Ramon Harris sinking a free throw.

Patrick Patterson sinking a three. And UK won the game! Wahoo!

Thursday, they headed out for a bus tour in the cold NYC weather. Mommy said it was the worst tour driver on the planet, and she put her iPod on so she didn't have to hear him anymore. It was a long four hours. That evening, they went to see Phantom of the Opera. Even though Mommy had seen it before, she said it was super cool. Friday, Mommy headed back to us lonely boys back in Boston.

Seeing all the Christmas decorations in New York really got her in the spirit and we put up our Christmas tree. I helped a lot, and put lots of ornaments on the bottom foot of the Christmas tree. This was Mommy and Daddy's first Christmas together that they had a fake tree.

I even got to put the star on top!

Merry Christmas. This year I really understood the whole Santa Claus thing and knew he'd be bringing me presents. I'd worked on my list all year. Next year we'll work on the baby Jesus part of Christmas a little more.

Last year I didn't get to see Santa Claus in person. This year I got all decked out and headed to the Natick Mall super early to see St Nick himself.

I did a great job sitting with Santa. As I got closer to him, I wasn't too sure about the ole jolly man, but after being promised a piece of candy if I smiled and sat with him, my Christmas picture turned out pretty cute. I even told Santa Claus I wanted a new train for Christmas.

I didn't tell Santa all the things I wanted for Christmas though. This is the list that I came up with all on my own for Santa to bring me.

1. A new train

2. A new computer to check my email

3. A new tv

4. A new phone

5. A new camera

6. New cars

7. New car tracks

8. A bucket

9. An apple

10. A letter game

Yes, this is my list. I'll be posting Christmas pictures shortly, so stay tuned to see what Santa actually brought me.

Soccer

Daddy and I practiced some soccer today while mommy was at work!

Happy Halloween and Goodbye Curls

Welcome to Cooper's Haunted House. After much debate and a couple of costume changes, I opted to be a dinosaur for my third Halloween. I didn't wear the hood part for too long, but I did enjoy wearing my costume. I enjoyed the candy all day long even more. Mommy had the great idea to host our first Halloween party for all my buddies after she had worked the previous night. She's not sure what she was thinking, but it was fun.

Most of the food was made the night before - pumpkin spice muffins, clear gloves filled with popcorn and gumdrops to looks like hands, fruit, and goody bags...and pizza for lunch.

We had a good turnout. Avram was a pig. Kaya was a tree. Rowan was a fireman. Ava was a fairy princess.

Becca was a fairy princess too.

There were even some little babies there dressed as a lamb, a frog, and a monkey. Some of the big people dressed up like a spider and even Wonder Woman!

We all sat nicely around the table and inhaled our pizza. Ava and her Mommy Sara liked their pizza. Sara went to med school with Mommy and Daddy and just moved up here to Boston, so it was nice to see her again.

Kaya the tree (though she had shed her bark by this point) and Johanna the spider liked their pizza too.

Then it was time for some games like pin the hat on the witch!

Ava took a turn first.

Then me. Is this where the hat goes?

It is a hat...does it go here?

Even Daddy had a turn.

Then it was time to bust out the pinata. This was a hit. Go Avram!

Go Kaya!

Go Ava!

Go Cooper!

And Avram again! This was one sturdy pinata. It took Daddy secretly ripping holes in the bottom while no kids were looking before any candy fell out.

Then it was time to read stories.

We had a great time. Mommy sure was tired.

We gave out glowy glasses in our goody bags.

After a long nap and some leftover pizza, it was time to head out the door for some trick or treating. Last year I understood what to do, so I definitely was on board this year.

Trick or treat! Thank you! Next house!

Our across the street neighbors.

Please excuse Mommy's outfit. She was just following us to a couple of houses in her pj pants since she was so sleepy, but she ended up coming along out in public in these clothes. Gees Mommy. We went to about six houses total. Then the wind really started to pick up so we headed home.

And waited to greet our trick or treaters. We had quite a few, but they were all done by 8, so then we had a late night (hyped up on candy) and watched a scary but not too scary movie.

If someone leaves the camera lying around, watch out. I've learned to turn it on and take my own pictures. Here are a few.

And my curls.

I like when people take my picture and let me see it too. So here I am with Lightning McQueen.

And Mater too!

I'm not sure why I was crying in this picture, but Mommy put it in here just so you could see how big my hair was. Sometimes it curled up nicely in tight curls, and sometimes it looked frizzy like Bozo. Mommy and Daddy decided it was time for my first real professional haircut.

I had had Mommy haircuts before but not a real one. I did really well as long as Mommy was there to hold my hand.

This isn't too bad!

With a sucker bribe in hand after I was done, you can see my much much shorter hairdo. I told everyone that they cut of my curls and put them in the garbage can. I wish I could spell out how cute I pronounce curls, and girls too for that matter. It's almost a British pronunciation.... cuuuuuhhhrls. So cute!

My curls aren't completely gone, but it's a definite change.

As fall comes, so do all the leaves on the ground. While Mommy worked, Daddy and I raked all the leaves up.

And then I jumped in them.

While Daddy was at work, Mommy and I held a picnic for our best buddies...Elmo, Teddy Bear, and Olive Baby Doll.

Chef Cooper prepared such a lovely feast for us all!

More friends came to join us for a cartoon show.

We're looking forward to Turkey Day coming up. Like last year, Mommy works on Thanksgiving Day, so ours won't be Thursday, but will be some other day. We hope you are enjoying the weather before the cold sets in, are getting some early Christmas shopping done, and are going to have a lovely Turkey Day with your families.