1st Birthday party

We held a first birthday party for all the one year old's in Cooper's class yesterday. It was fun and a bit messy. Here are some pictures of the kids.

Cooper getting ready to party

Alex and his mom (Alex's birthday was 1/31)

Emily was not too happy about turning one

Cooper is helping Dana with her hat

Stella is waiting patiently for Cake

The Twins (Isabelle and Andrew)

Everyone enjoying the cake

Cooper was a big fan of the blue frosting

More Please!

Ice Storm 2007 !!!!

What a let down! All winter storm 2007 ended up being was a couple of ice pellets on our deck. I was hoping to wake up this morning to some good old fashioned slippery weather but we got little more than a cold 33 degree rain.
All the metro schools were in session and of course I had to go to work. So much for a day of sledding and building snowmen.

Dad did say they got about 4 inches of snow in Toccoa, and mom said it snowed for a bit in Raleigh.
Stop teasing us Old Man Winter

Suzy's best ever super duper flag performance

We visited Chapel Hill HS Saturday night to watch Suzy's winter guard perform. It was a great experience. We all had a really nice time, the school was brand new and beautiful. The teams we watched were quite good. This meet is basically to rank the teams, in fact Suzy's guard only did about half of their performance. I can not wait to see them perform again
Tentatively it will be:
February 10 @ Pope HS
February 17 @ Kennesaw Mtn HS
March 31- Championships

Dragging out the mat they have to perform on

Suzy is the first girl squatting on the side

Suzy is second to the right on the back row

Suzy is in the middle

Cooper loves watching his sister

I wish my pictures had turned out a little better, but my camera just doesn't like doing action shots. They won't allow you to videotape, so it's the best I could do. I think they will find out today how they ranked

Visit to Toccoa

Cooper and I went to visit my friend Emily. Since she lives a billion miles away, we only get to see her about once a year. She was down throwing her parents a huge shindig for their 50th anniversary

This is Josh, Emily's son. He has grown so much since we last saw him. My mouth just dropped when he told me he was 9 years old.

Emily and Coops playing in her parent's living room. Coops did not want to stay still, so we were both constantly running after him. This is one of the few moments where he was actually sitting down playing.

DEWEY. This is dad's dog. In one of the few moments he was actually still

Dad and Coops!

We had a great day in Toccoa. We saw a lot of folks and had a great time running around. Dad and I tried out the new buffet next to Dairy Queen (Thanks Dad!), called City Buffet. It's really good, and they had an excellent variety of food on the buffet.

We hoped to see more of Mom but traffic and bad directions kept her from getting home until about 30 minutes before we left. It was good to get a hug though

Cooper's First Hotdog

Cooper got to enjoy his first hot dog on a visit to see Grandma Louise. We went to Skins in Cornelia, GA. I highly recommend it as the best hot dog ever. If you don't believe me, ask Suzy! Coops enjoyed eating the whole hot dog instead of the small bits I broke up for him. By the end of lunch, he had finished it all and had a huge grin on his face.

Grandma was doing really well. Cooper and her roamed up and down the hall visiting all of her buddies. I think she called every nurse who walked by in to see her grand baby. She did tell me something interesting during the visit... it seems Granddaddy Cooper liked to get up before dawn every morning. (Sounds strikingly similar to a certain little boy we all know). I guess Coops is just living up to his namesake.

Movie Sunday

Since the weather was so uncooperative on Sunday, we went to the local blockbuster and rented a few movies.

• Snakes on a Plane: It was a decent movie, though I don't think I'll rent it again. Tons of snakes to make your skin crawl and Samuel Jackson being his typical B.A. self. When we were renting it, we saw another movie called Snakes on a train, What's next? Snakes in the HOV lane????
• Invincible: This is the story of an ordinary guy who try outs for the Philadelphia Eagles and goes on to become a legend. It was nice feel-good story, in a way it reminded me of Rudy. Except for the fact that those Philadelphia fans are brutal.
• Lady in the Water: I actually watched this early Saturday morning when Coops had me up before dawn. It's a fairy tale of a water nymph in modern America. Really great cinematography and it was not too fantasy oriented, it was very believable. I'd definitely recommend this to rent.

Big boy shoes

Cooper got a pair of big boy shoes on Sunday. We went to Stride Rite and got him fitted. He is a size five, extra wide. I knew between Danny and I, he was bound to have wide feet.

Here he is walking around the store trying them out.

Danny and Suzy also came along to consult.

What's new

I love this video, I'm not sure what he is saying but whenever I hear it, I laugh so hard I almost cry.

We've been busy this week.
There have been violin lessons, garden club meetings, late nights with Cooper, hair appointments (my hair is still blonde, thank goodness!), orthodontist appointments, flag practice, winter weather advisories, just to name a few.

I hope to have some new pictures this weekend

He's walking

Birthday fun

Dan and Suzy enjoying his Peanut Butter/chocolate Ice Cream cake courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery

The spoils: A new carpet steam cleaner and the dazed and confused soundtrack

Strange things happen to Suzy when she eats cake

Danny had a pretty good birthday yesterday. He got to do the one thing he's been asking to do for a while. Sit in the recliner and watch TV. Good night for TV too, as Florida beat Ohio State for the National Championship. We ate takeout from Longhorn steakhouse. Their 7 pepper steak salad with balasmic vingerette is very yummy.

HAPPY 37th

Danny is a year older today!
I'm not sure how much we are going to be able to celebrate today as he is still not feeling well. He was in bed all weekend sick and woke up this morning still running a temperature.
Get Better Danny

Guess who turns 37 tomorrow?

Peach Bowl UGA 31 Virginia Tech 24

Suzy and Elise tailgating. (note: this was Elise's first college football game, she loved it!)

A little tailgating to 'warm up' before the game



We finally found our nosebleeds and had a decent view except when the international space station passed by



Here we go!

Go Dawgs!

Notice the guy with the striped pants next to Danny? Yes, he's the one that stole the entire sections' cows and kept taunting the VT family sitting in front of us.

We had a great time at the Peach Bowl last Saturday night. Although Danny had been sick the entire night before he was able to make it. It was an 8 PM start, so there were a lot of "happy" folk when we got there. The UGA fans were pretty quiet the first half, but after UGA started their comeback the dome ignited. We had a fabulous time, especially trying to find our way home afterwards. It was a great win to cap off a less than impressive season.

Peach Bowl Parade

Suzy and Coops wait patiently in the drizzle

Here it comes

It's a VT Turkey

Coops is not impressed by the Hokie

Truett Cathey, founder of Chick-fil-a

Suzy's old flame, the gas guy

We just thought this was funny

Well this post is only a week behind so I'm catching up slowly. Cooper had his first Marta ride on the way to the parade, Suzy was thought the VT fans were very obnoxious. It seemed like for the first part of the day that Atlanta was over run by Hokies. Every stop the train made, more and more VT fans got on the Marta. Finally by the last stop we found another lone Dawg fan. I think all the Dawgs must have been home recovering from the night before.

The parade was great. Tons bigger than I could have ever anticipated. They even had balloons which Coops went crazy over. Suzy enjoyed the fire fighters a whole lot. At the end of the parade, all the Dawg fans followed the Redcoat band to the Dome. It was a great experience, I'd do it again in a heartbeat

Too Close to Home

Disturbing night in Beverly Hills. We were sitting in the den watching "The Office", when I noticed a cop car drive by. When two more cops followed him, we had our noses to the window wondering what was happening in our normally quiet neighborhood.
The police went down the driveway of our next-door neighbor's house, spoke for a moment, before they all headed to the house on the other side (2 doors down from us). More cops arrived and the Crime Scene unit. The firetrucks and the ambulance that had been idling up the street left. Suzy and I actually took Buddy out for a stroll in an effort to talk to the police but they were all gathered at the front door of the house, I didn't think it was a good idea to get too close in case there was something we should not see.
I finally called the neighborhood "know it all" to see what she knew, a little while later she called back with the story.
It seems our 88 year old widowed neighbor committed suicide. He stuck a gun in his mouth and ended his life on New Years Day. I'm a bit bothered by this. Is there something I could have done? What if we had invited him to come over and spend time with us during the holidays, would that have made a difference? What if I had stopped by and took him cookies? (like I had planned to do this year but never got around to) I didn't know him well at all. Sure, I had waved at him from time to time when we passed on the road but I was always too busy to stop and say anything more. Who knew the little old man just two doors down was going through such depression that he did not want to live anymore?
I guess the lesson learned is, stop and say hello to your neighbors, especially the elderly. Let them know that they are not forgotten. Show them you care with a conversation (even if it is only small talk).
I hope he has found peace.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve

Suzy and Cooper with the Tree

Cooper learns the art of opening gifts

We were so glad to have Grandma Louise at the house

Ben & his Hummer shirt

Grandma and her new Tshirt

Sara Kate loves her dollie

Bryce is trying out the new flashlight

More pictures from the 1st birthday bash

Santa passing out candy canes

Santa and the Lindhs

Bryce is teaching Santa the drums

Cute Ansley

Santa passing out Cooper's gifts

Coops in the AJC

http://lpe.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/2006/1206/bowlparade/

Go to the 7th picture.
It's Cooper at the Peach Bowl Parade last Saturday. We were quite surprised at what a well put together parade it was. Suzy had a great time and Cooper really enjoyed the bands

I'll try to upload all the holiday photos over the next fews days

Happy New Year