Mr. Fix-It

Daddy's friends at work sent home with him some really neat tools and a cool tool belt to carry them around in. Luckily for me, they all fit me just fine!

After all that hard construction work, a guy is ready to relax with a good book before bed.

Addition Update - 11Dec07

Well, the roof on the shell of the future screened-in porch is now shingled. As you can see, the windows and doors are in and the siding is almost complete. On the inside, the electrical work is almost complete and the plumbing is really close, too. The HVAC work is all done except for the tie-in to the existing system. Luckily, our furnace and A/C unit were both large enough to handle the new capacity. The roof is now insulated and the interior walls have the barrier in place for the blown-in insulation that should be done tomorrow. We still have some thinking to do concerning the landscaping, but all-in-all, things are moving along nicely.

Cooper Claus

All smiles for Christmastime

OK, we need some help here. Please don't be shy about leaving a comment with this post. It's really easy - just click on the Comments link at the end of this post. We need to know whether people prefer the red-eye picture....
...or the "fixed" picture. Please help us out - remember, Santa is watching. Thanks!

OK, we tried a little different tactic with the red-eye fix. The intensity of the correction has been lessened for this one. I just wish they offered you the option to fix red-eye with a blue color instead of the ubiquitous black...

Go Packers!

I've become the biggest Packers fan in North Carolina. On Sundays I run around the house (and the yard) with my football and yell "Go Packers" at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I even do it when we're watching the game at the restaurant near home. There must be a lot of other Packers fans around because lots of people look at me and smile when I say it. Go Packers!

Of course, football isn't the only sport I play.
And what Packers fan doesn't like dump trucks?
Of course, the Packers aren't the only thing happening on Sundays. Last weekend I helped decorate the Christmas tree with Mommy and Daddy.

Here Mommy's showing me one of her favorite ornaments.

All Aboard

Last weekend, we got to ride on a REAL train. The New Hope Valley Railroad has special rides in December with Santa!

We went with Carter and his family.
Well, not quite his whole family. Miss Mary Catherine wasn't able to make the train ride, but somehow she tracked us down and waved to us when we crossed a road. It was really neat seeing her out there waving to us. Then she met us when the train stopped and we all went and ate dinner together at one of our favorite pizza pie places, Homegrown Pizza.
The whole Christmas Train was decorated for the season.
And we had the best seat in the house...

St. Nick

Mommy's family observes a little pre-Christmas tradition that I've found to be quite appealing. It's called Saint Nick and here's the deal:

On the night of December 5th, you place your shoe (or rain boot as the case may be) near the fireplace. While you are sleeping, St. Nick uses Santa's favorite avenue into your house and fills your shoe/boot with goodies.

On the morning of December 6th, your shoe is chock full of fun things like books, Pez dispensers and a singing Elmo.

And maybe even a DVD about how Elmo saves Christmas. Yippee!

Guy Working

Jon's not the only one doing some building around this house. The Cooper J. Construction Company is hard at work as well.

Autumn Comes To Visit

The weekend that Autumn came to visit had pretty nice weather, so we spent some time playing in the yard.

Okay, Freeze!
A whole front yard full of airplanes!!!

The Big Mouse

While in Atlanta for Thanksgiving weekend, Addie and I experienced Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time. There's A LOT going on there, believe me. Lots of kids and a giant mouse sing and dance on stage, there are lots of games to play and there's lots of pizza pie to eat.

I think Addie enjoyed the pizza!

The Pink Pig

Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your eyes - this picture is highly saturated in pink - of course, there's a good reason for that. On the day after Thanksgiving, one of our adventures involved a ride on an Atlanta tradition, the Macy's (Rich's) Pink Pig.

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

Once again we spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta. This time around, we had only 25-30 people for Thanksgiving dinner this year (as opposed to the normal 80-90... check out last year's post for details). Unfortunately, most of Daddy's pictures did not turn out as well as he would have liked, so we have only one post for Thanksgiving Day. We had a great time, though, and it was really neat seeing so much of our family and so many friends at the same time.

I provided the music for Christmas carols after dinner.
Autumn gives great hugs!
I had a REALLY good time playing with everyone. Here I am in our fort with Ryan and Jack. Ryan came with his family from Charlotte and Jack came up from Florida. I had the best time hanging out with the "big kids" and I'm really glad that they all decided to come to Grandma's for Thanksgiving.
After all that food, music, singing and playing, Max and I took advantage of some down time on the couch.

Addition Update 06Dec07

Here's how things looked on December 1st.

And here's how they looked on December 6th.