Christmas in Vermont

After coming back from Christmas in Virginia, we had our Perine Christmas in Vermont. We had a great horse drawn sleigh ride, and enjoyed some good time with family and with the snow!

Cooper with his new skis.

Christmas in Vermont

Playing with Grampa

We finally got some snow

Isabel and Aunt Karen

Quality time with Grumma and Cousin Eva

Christmas in Virginia

We had a great time in Virginia this year for Christmas. We were able to go for a whole week which was great, and the kids were very good in the car so that always is a plus. The highlight of the trip was definitely the cousins getting together to play with each other. Cooper and Ryan had 3 sleepovers during the week which was nothing less than adorable!! Isabel unfortunately was a little under the weather and we ended up taking her to the Urgent Care Center the first morning we were there. They gave her antibiotics for her ears which seemed to do the trick, but she was pretty miserable the first two days. Not to mention the lack of sleep that Isabel, Mom and Dad got the first 3 nights. I have a new appreciation for my good sleepers!

Isabel's Big Steps

It has been very exciting the last week watching Isabel start walking. She was taking a few steps last week, as you can see in the first video. And today she has been all over the place. She can now easily stand up on her own and no longer needs us to set her up to walk. She is quite motivated and continues to do it more and more. She's a quick study. Check it out for yourself!
On a funny note, we have a penguin that sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (you can see in the second video), and the first few times Cooper played it he thought that the last words were "Merry Breakfast"! So cute!

Sorry for the orientation of this next video. I keep forgetting that when you turn our camera to the side, the video comes out sideways. Hopefully you'll get the idea!

Thanksgiving and Gramps' Birthday!

What a Thanksgiving we had! We spent Wednesday and Thanksgiving morning with the Perines and Leggetts and got to spend some good time (though never enough) with cousins Eva and Alice, and all the aunts and uncles. We had turkey dinner with everyone in Vermont early afternoon, then got into the car and headed to Virginia! Thankfully, the kids were wonderful in the car and we made it down there in record time. We had a great time down there as we celebrated Gramps' 60th birthday on Friday night with the family, and then on Saturday night with a big surprise party for him with family and friends. As you can see, it was not only a 60th birthday party, but a "60's" theme party! It was a great time. Cooper especially liked playing with his cousins, Ryan and Jackson.

Introduction of the spoon

One day I figured I may as well try Isabel with a spoon. I can't remember when I did this first with Cooper (as I neglected to write anything down, and haven't learned my lesson the second time around). She did quite well for the first time. Here are a few clips.

Kiddie Update

Well, it's been a long time since the last entry. Not sure what we've been so busy with, but time sure seems to fly by. The kids are doing great. Cooper is growing up way to fast. His communication continues to improve every day as do his expressions. When you ask him to do something, he loves to answer "Nope, I'm too busy." Or he says something and you don't agree with him, he answers, "Yup, I think so." He's a little cutie.

Isabel is also growing like a weed. She's eating great and starting to dismiss her bottle at times. This makes me happy as I really enjoy the end of the formula and bottle days. We've just started some milk in a sippy cup with her, which she's currently contemplating. She's quite close to walking and has taken a few steps so far. Her standing balance is still pretty limited, so I'm sure it will be a few weeks, but Cooper is sure in for a surprise when she starts walking. I think that goes for me too! In the meantime, she' s happiest on the little push/ride toy. She loves the music it makes and can easily get on/off of it and ride it around. She also loves to push it and walk all around the house. I think when she starts to walk she'll be all over the place. She has two bottom teeth, and that's it for now.

We recently went to Sears to get their photos taken. We have a great professional photo of Cooper when he was about 9 months old that we love so we figured, we should get some of Belle too. We also have a gorgeous yellow silk dress that Carolyn, and I were both photographed in as babies. I didn't want Belle to grow out of it before we were able to get a picture. It was quite an eventful photo session and I was in a full sweat trying to get those 2 kids to pose. When Cooper was photographed at 9 months he was not yet crawling so it was a breeze to shoot him. Isabel, not so much. She was all over the place. And then trying to get the two of them in a shot was a whole other issue. Needless to say, we got some great pictures, and I've included a few here. Please note the lollipop in the picture of the two of them. Bribery is a parent's best friend. Hope all is well with everyone. We can't believe Thanksgiving is this coming week. But we're really looking forward to lots of family time! More photos to come from that I'm sure!