Photos of Cooper & Waverly Van Buren

Oh the presents! Everyone was very generous and Cooper had a great time opening his gifts this year. Trucks, dogs, veggies, even a table and chair. The best, Santa brought a duck!! Lucky kid. Cooper and Gwen were also the only ones not to get the 24 hr flu over the holiday. The rest of us did not fair so well. Luckily true to it’s name the 24hr flu really does only last 24 hrs. Unfortunately, it kind of rolled over the house hitting us all a few hours apart. All in all about 3 days worth of flu hanging over the house. It is however a great way to keep from eating too many Christmas cookies. (more…)

First Grandma showed me what a snowball is then she showed me how to start a snowball fight with my cousin Connor. After all that excitement I thought it was time to crawl onto my sled and take a ride around the yard. (more…)

We went to the MN Children’s Museum with our friends the Dijkstras. They have a big exhibit called Snowball where Cooper and Miles got to go “icefishing” and become part of a snow-globe. Mom even got into the act. (more…)

Every year we look forward to the night when the SAV firefighters dress-up one of their rigs and blast Christmas carols throughout to village. (more…)

This year Garrick and I got our ornaments in Brussels while Cooper’s came from IKEA. (ducks don’t ‘cha know)

With the holidays coming up, and Cooper being around friends and family that he hasn’t been around much recently, I thought it’d be good to offer a reference guide to the few noises and signs he’s very enthusiastic about.

When Cooper says, “I see a…”

• Dog (”arf, arf”)
• Duck (thumb and fingers brought together like a duck bill quacking…albeit sideways)
• Truck (”vrooom vrooom”) - same for cars or vans, but it’s more enthusiastic for trucks
• Train (”woo woo”)
• Banana (index finger stroked against opposite palm)

Zella and her ho baby and like most holidays the adults end up doing the some assembly that’s required. (more…)

we were a little worried that the Sint wouldn’t know where to find Cooper. Luckily Miles helped out by putting Cooper’s name in the big book (it’s online now ya know) and leaving one of Cooper’s shoes out. Sure enough by the next morning the Sint and those silly Piets had left Cooper a new train, a book, and a set of stacking animals. Dank u Sinterklaas! (more…)

The other castle that we visited, this one is for living in not for defense. Garrick and I were trying to keep our cool while Cooper screamed his way across the countryside. Getting a new tooth can really be a pain in the mouth. (more…)

We went and toured a medieval defense castle, super cool. And the best “warning these windows are dangerous” signage I’ve ever seen. (more…)