New Years Eve 2009

This New Years Eve we decided to stay at home with the family. We settled in with the Wii playing Mario Brothers, some Mojito's and of course some buffalo chicken dip. Brian and I didn't even see the ball drop, we were in bed by 11:00pm. We must be getting old, or maybe it's just that we value our sleep knowing that the kids are up by 7:00am. Good bye decade, you've been wonderful to us!!

Hiking Clear Creek

Brian and Connor took a 5 mile hike at Clear Creek State Park. Once again, temps were in the 30's which made for a nice temperature to hike. Mostly it was snow covered, but some areas were without snow on the trail.


Connor enjoyed the ice patches along the trail. He enjoyed playing with the long icicle that he found.



We are looking forward to walking this trail in June and July when the rhododendron and mountain laurel will be in full bloom.


Connor and Dad are prepared when they hike. Here they are taking a break and having a cup of tea and eating their snacks they brought along.


Some of their sights along the way

Christmas morning 2009

This day started way too early, but thank goodness it only comes around once a year. Connor got up to go to the bathroom at 4:30am to realize that Santa left the opened wrapper to his granola bar on the dining room table. Connor come back the hallway letting us know that Santas been here so we had to get up and see what was left under the tree. I have so many Christmas pictures and they can all be seen on my dropshot account, but I'll post my favorite expressions of Christmas morning.

First off, they are looking through to see which ones were theirs, but Santa made it real easy on the kids this year - all the maroon ones were Connor's and the gold ones were Maleah's.



Connor's behavior has been pretty poor for the last few months and he has been warned that he needed to improve or he'd get NOTHING, and if it did improve he MIGHT get clothes at best. Well somewhere deep down in, Santa felt the need to bring him gifts despite all the temper tantrums, defiance and meanness toward his sister. Maybe it was the apology letter sitting with the granola bar that changed Santa's mind. ;-)



After opening two boxes of clothes, Connor realized in the bottom of the jeans box was a Lego platform and from there the toys began.





And of course, Connor got to open the family gift. He seems to think it was for him, but really it was for the whole family.



Some of Maleah's expressions are priceless.




Maleah always likes getting new clothes, I guess just not on Christmas morning where it takes place of toys. This makes me laugh.




We had a wonderful Christmas and we are so blessed to have these 2 wonderful children to experience the excitment of Christmas. I hope this wasn't our last magical Christmas where Connor still believes in Santa. I'm hoping for at least a couple more years of believing. We can hope for that!

Christmas afternoon 2009

On Christmas day we split the afternoon between my Mom's house and Brian's Mom house. This year we went to my Mom's house for lunch and visited with the whole family. This year we were lucky enough to have a new little baby in the family, Leila, who is a sweetheart. Brenda's in heaven having a grandaughter to spoil. We made a quick stop out to Mom's for a gift exchange on Christmas Eve so we didn't have to do it among all the "choas" on Christmas day. Connor got a Sponge Bob game, a Farkle dice game, and the Rubik's Cube. Maleah got a Jewlery box for her newly pierced ears, a pair of earings and a necklace. She also got Trio which are building bricks.

This is Leila Copenhaver



Leila with her cousins




Leila with her Grandma and Great Grandma



We went to Brian's moms for dinner. The kids were barely through the door and both of the kids were at the tree opening gifts already. Maleah still had her coat on and I didn't have my camera ready until after the gifts were unwrapped. Connor got a Hot Wheel race track, and Maleah got a babydoll with beach accessories. Along with their toys, they got money.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, it's become tradition to go to Brian's Dads house for a meal and the gift exchange. We always have a great day together. I got some really good pictures of the kids in front of the tree this year and we got a nice 4 generation picture as well.

The kids take a few moments before opening their gifts for some nice photos in front of the tree.



A 4 generation photograph



Maleah and a vanity that she asked for



Connor and the guitar that he asked for

Ready for Winter

Maleah showing off her new scarf, hat and mittens that she got over the weekend. In addition, she got new Dora boots. She is ready for the snow, bring it on...

PJ/Movie Day

Today was a funny day for Connor's class. Winding down for Christmas, academics have gone out the window, and fun is in for the next week. Connor's class is watching the movie "The Polar Express" and have been asked to wear their pajamas for the day. Connor is so excited to wear his pj's to school. He was going to wear his Sponge Bob, but decided to wear his Bakugan's.

Candy House

1st grade had a fun experience decorating a candy house with one parent this afternoon. I constructed the house and put icing on the outside and Connor did the decorating. What a fun time. This is our creation and then we brought it home and ate it.