Bag Boots

Grace brought the plastic newspaper cover bag to me & INSISTED that I put it on her foot like a boot!  She even tried to walk around with it on...I have to say she did pretty good!  No slipping or falling!!

Fear of Heights

I added this pictures because I thought Grace looked so cute in her diapers & leg-warmers!!!

These are the pictures that make this post!! I usually let Grace run around in the buff just before her bath at night so her little bootie can get some fresh air!  I heard her in the kitchen crying...& when I went to find her, this is how I found her...

She got up on this little stool & for whatever reason, she felt she was trapped & it was too high to get down from!! It's absolutely CRAZY that she thinks that she cannot get down from this stool because gets up AND down from our master bedroom bed all by herself almost on a daily basis! She cracks me up!!

Alece & Grace

I think Marley took this photo...

Model Magic

We got out the clay Marley got for Christmas. She made the cutest "island" sculpture! I was so impressed by her creativity! She says she wants to be an artist when she grows up, then a teacher, then a doctor, & finally, a ballerina!!

Discovery Gateway Museum

Sadly, it's been TOO long since I took the girls to the children's museum. So after Marley was done with preschool, we went over for about 1 1/2 hours. They both had such a great time!! Grace was just thrilled to be running around pretty much uninhibited (apparently no one goes to the museum after noon because there were very few people, which is actually perfect! It wasn't overwhelming & teaming with so many people!)

Shoe Fetish

We went to Franck's with Dusty & Ashley...which was great because I love eating there! But we poorly planned for what to do AFTER dinner.  After driving around & attempting to go to a comedy club then a museum, we ended up at the Nordstrom Rack...which led to this....

 Kevin & Dusty tried on & pranced around in women's shoes.   Kevin even said he was surprised about how comfortable some of the shoes were!! 

Prayer Time

I started to notice when we would say our prayers, Grace would fold her arms...but she does it just a bit differently than everyone else!

Make-up Time

It looks as thought it's now Grace's turn to get into the lipstick! It was really hard to get a picture of her because she just won't sit still, but hopefully the fact that her face (not to mention all over her hands) is covered in lipstick comes across.

Bitty Baby

Marley came into the kitchen & said "mom I finally got the baby to sleep!" It was so adorable because she kept rocking & hugging her Bitty Baby like it was her actual baby.

Sleepy Grace

Grace's face is so cute when she's asleep!

Little kid in a big coat

Grace kept pulling at my coat & finally I realized she wanted to WEAR my coat! She thought it was so hilarious to wear it around the house. The coat looks massive on her!!!

Look at me!!

I don't know where Marley got the idea to do an early attempt at a handstand but one day she said "mom look at what I can do" & she got into handstand-like position on her own!

Nappy Hair

Marley rarely takes naps, let alone
long ones. This is her hair-do after a 3
hour nap on the couch! She was more
concerned about the wrinkles she go on the skin of her arm from laying on it!

Hat Change

Grace has this weird obsession with hats. She wants me to put them on her, then she wanders away, comes back shortly, with the hat off, wanting me to put it back on! She'll do this numerous times in a row.

I Want a Pony

Ok, so I know that this is not an incident that happened to me, rather to Kevin's co-worker Mike, but I have to post it because the ridiculousness of the whole thing still makes me laugh so hard!!  

Mike's wife, Chrissy, always quotes the line from the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that Verruca Salt says: "I want a pony". So Mike thought that it would be kind of fun for her birthday to give her a cake in the shape of a horse (envisioning those fancy cakes that they show on the Food Network).

After a few days of putting in his order in to some cake place (of what I think was was owned by an acquaintance), he got a call about the equine-shaped dessert.  They told him that he may want to come look at the cake first to see if he even liked what they had done.  I'm sure he didn't think much of it until he SAW the cake...(dun dun dun....)

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Can you BELIEVE this cake?!?  I WAS DYING OF LAUGHTER WHEN I SAW THIS PICTURE!!!  They said they could add the wings to make it better...really?! I'm sure that adding wings covers up the rest of the hideousness that is this cake.  Kevin's co-worker called it a horse from the land of misfit toys!  It's My Little Mutant Pony is what it is!!!  I thought that Kevin's co-worker should've bought it and given it to his wife because the whole thing is ridiculously hilarious, but they said because the cake didn't quite turn out, they'd charge him $80 instead of $100!! Really?! This horrible baking creation should've have been just given to him for nothing (I mean Grace's first birthday cake was awesome & only $65!)  They made another cake (and unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it) that looked like he went to the local grocery store picked up a two-layer white cake and stuck a plastic toy horse on the top...and they still charged him $100!! Whoa! Let's just say I was really nervous when Grace's cake person moved to San Diego because I sure did not want a mutant Hello Kitty cake for Marley's birthday!!!

Gotta Roll Out My Back!

Kevin got out the foam roller to work out some knots in his back, & Grace decided that she needed to do the same!

A Real Snow Day

This is the first time in 2012 it has snowed & actually stuck!! When Marley saw that it had snowed, she BEGGED us to let her put on her snow suit & go outside.

A Real Snow Day

I don't have a snow suit small enough for Grace but I had to let her go outside. She cried the most heart-breaking cry when she saw that Kevin & Marley we going outside without her!!
She had so much fun she didn't want to go back in!!

Annual Cooke Family Bowling Party 2012

Marley was so excited for the Cooke bowling party Jerry & Ruth have held
for the past several years at Fat Cats. Kevin was dying to battle it out with his bowling nemesis, Guy (his sister Kristen's husband) as Guy is the only real bowling competition, as far as adults go. (The children battle it out for a trophy of their own!) Guy took home the trophy last year but, alas, Kevin was not destined to take it to our house this year! Guy bowled an unreal 210 his first game, which pretty much took Kevin & everyone else out of the running.

Annual Cooke Family Bowling Party 2012