Tiny Dancer!

Ever since Cooper saw the episode of Oliva as a ballerina its all that she wanted to do. When you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, the answer is "ballerina". When you walk into a room she inevitably doing pirouettes and sashays through our foyer. Cooper does everything 100% or she doesn't do it all.. which can be a good or bad thing. She is definitely head strong lol. After some research my mom and I found what we think will be the best fit for Cooper for furthering her future dance career! LOL . Her first day of class was today and her best friend Rylee is joining in the fun ! Thanks Aunt Staci! The dance academy is very strict on wardrobe ...(which i think is a total downer) I mean doesn't she deserve a hot pink tutu and a Bedazzled leotard (pretty sure Cooper would have appreciated ). Instead she has to wear the standard pale pink leotard with white tights and pale pink ballet slippers and her hair HAS to be in a bun... obviously her teacher hasn't seen this child's hair( can we say "hot mess 99% of the time").. i think this is a sin... but rules are rules right?!?!? Cooper got dressed and hung out at Aunt Da's house with Gigi before class and played with Simon and Lexi Lu Lu. Class went  great! It only has 3 little girls in it (which allows them to get more one on one instructions which we totally believe in!!!!) and  Cooper loved her teacher, Christine! She followed directions great (except she didn't know what "OK girls, Line Up" meant). After the teacher explained it was good from there! She even had to call me to let me know EVERYTHING about class and that she was extra hungry from the extra dancing she did today! All in all I would say 1st day of Ballet was a success! Cant wait for the recital!!!!

Cooper and Rylee before their first Ballet Class

Every Party has a Pooper thats why they invited Cooper !!!!

So on Saturday, I attempted to take Cooper to her cousins 4th Birthday party. I was so excited to take her because she has only been to Rylee's parties. We got dressed and met Uncle Derek there. She was not impressed... She refused to play with anyone but Aunt DA and kept telling me she was ready to go see her Papa, the 2 Great Danes and Pippa Pepper (her dachshund at my parents house) I think she lasted all of 45 minutes and we had to leave... She didn't even want to stay for birthday cake! Geez .. here is the picture to show how pumped she was about being there... lol

Some of my personal favorites

Cooper is ham bone! Whenever a camera comes out she is the first to pose and smile. My mother is obsessed with capturing fun little moments with her throughout the day and here are some of my favorites!

This was just this week at Auntie Tani's house after a messy lunch at Fork and Spoon with Aunt Karen, GIGI and PawPaw. Bubble Baths are one of Coopers necessities at the end of a long hard day. Every time she spends the night with Aunt Da she HAS to have bubbles or she wont get in.

This is a tad bit older but she was lounging around with the babies (all the dogs) at Gigi and PaPa's house. She stays with them everyday while Mom Mom is at work!

During one of our slumber parties at Aunt Da's house she was on a mission to watch a new movie. The only one that she hadn't seen was Mulan. Our family LOVES Disney movies so I paid the outrageous $5.99 for On-Demand and we started the movie. Now most 3 year olds don't last long, however Coop has an aptitude for good entertainment. I mean seriously, when she was 2 she had every song to Mama Mia memorized and we wore out 2 DVD's in approximately 2 months from watching it so much! I believe that it was also played on repeat the entire way to Colorado in PaPa's truck when Uncle Bubba got home from Iraq. Anyways, Cooper LOVED Mulan and the day after she watched the movie we were on the hunt for a Mulan doll to play with! Mission accomplished! However for awhile she named EVERYTHING MULAN!!

DJ is a GOD!

One of Derek and I's friends DJ Harboth is an amazing photographer and she has done a few sessions with Cooper this year. I can not say enough about her work! She is one of the most amazing women I know and soooo much fun to work with! Cooper adores her and she really captures the essence of Cooper! We did both photo shoots in Seguin. One was at a Mitch and Taylor's house on Lake Placid and the other was in down town Seguin with all the old neat buildings! Cooper loves playing dress up and being the center of attention,  so when she goes to a photo shoot she eats it up to say the very least! Half the fun of doing professional photos is the wardrobe changes right?!?!? Aunt Da gets carried away sometimes but I just cant help it! Cooper looks good any anything you put on her so it makes it even more fun!DJ makes it effortless and I'm telling you the truth when I say there is never a bad picture!

Baby Bobitt is always present at photo shoots!

Relaxing in the park

Ballet outfit from D&D she loves to twirl!

Miss Priss

Epic!

OK she dances like a white girl.. she cant help it!

I swear she was posing without anyone telling her what to do! Isn't that scary !!!

Pre-school

Cooper starts her first day of pre-school at Oakwood Baptist Sept 9th and she couldn't be more pumped! She went to the school to take a look around and feel in love with the playground. Needless to say she was ready to stay and play with her new friends! It made everyone in our family feel more secure knowing that the school has previously had children with CF so they are aware of the extra special care that is needed to make sure she stays HEALTHY, HAPPY AND SAFE, which has always been our families #1 priority!!!! Cooper's lungs don't fight off bacteria and infections so it is a vital part of her care to make sure that she isn't around other people/children who are sick with things like RSV or even common colds that affect the lungs.She has lived a fairly sheltered life the past 4 years and is kind of like "a little adult". I mean honestly what 4 year old request Cesar salad and La Madeline for lunch! So we are all nervous and excited to see how she handles enter acting with other children 2 days a week! Here she is on the play ground! We will definitely keep you posted on the first day of school! Aunt Da already had to buy a ton of  new outfits from Missie Munster (one of my favorite children's brands) for her school runway show everyday duh!!

she was ready to stay the rest of the day!

Artistic Expression

Now, I'm all about creative activities and love when Cooper draws and tells fun stories with me. One of my favorites was a story about a shark with bubble gum teeth that couldn't catch the mermaids because they would just blow bubbles .. She is just so darn creative! So this summer my mom took her to art classes and she loved playing with clay and painting with different things like Mardi Gras beads. Recently she had her magna doodle out and had created an image that I was SO proud of! I just knew that it was either Joey or Mikey (my parents Great Danes). As soon as I saw it , I picked it up and ran to find her to express my excitement over how AWESOME the drawing was... to my surprise her response was ..." Da, your silly, that isn't Joey or Mikey, its my BFF you!" I personally don't see the resemblance, but leave it to a 3 year old to humble you!

Here she is at one of her art classes!

Concentrating!

Breathing

Most people don't understand what living with Cystic Fibrosis means to Cooper or to us as her family. So Ill try to give you a brief synopsis of one of her days.
First she wakes up .. TALKING... and she has to do her breathing while watching her "Shows" which is something amazing like Dora or Sesame Street. Everyone in our family knows all the names and pseudo plots to most of these exhilarating shows!

The hot pink vest is her "shaking vest" that helps break up the mucus in her lungs and must be done 2-4 times a day and last a minimum of 30 minutes, not to mention it is LOUD!

Next on the docket is making sure that after she eats she has her enzymes, this is due to the fact that her pancreas doesn't produce the enzymes that absorb nutrients and it will give her a wretched tummy ache if she doesnt take them.She is very good and even reminds the adult that she needs her "zymes".Once that is done its lots of playing, mostly animals and doll house fun. She eats a ton, and her diet has to be a HIGH fat, HIGH Caloric, HIGH Salt diet because she sweats more than the avg child... the only positive thing is she eats whatever she wants and doesn't have to worry about gaining weight! If not they will make her a feeding tube... NO FUN !

Then, again before bed she does her breathing and shaking vest. The treatment at night last between 45-60 minutes because she has an extra breathing medication once a day! Mom-Mom always puts on something wildly excitng like Law and Order SVU that is captivating for a 4 year old.. cant you tell by the following picture! Ha!

Sleeping during her night time breathing treatment

Da and Mom Mom's Bday

For our 27th birthday this year Mom Mom had to work so she missed out on girls lunch. However, I was lucky enough to have my Gigi and Auntie Tandi and COOPER to go eat lunch at Red Rooster. Red Rooster, is a really neat restaurant in New Braunfels that is located in a big antique store and serves AMAZING food! This year Cooper came and played with her new Noah's Ark magnet game that she got as her early bday present lol She didn't really understand that it wasn't her birthday but all in all she had a great time with all of her best friends! However, she wasn't too happy that she didn't have a tiara!

Pink-a-licious with GiGi

Gigi loves going on "field trips" with Cooper. This particular adventure was to the "Pink-a-licious" play in San Antonio with mom's BFF Aunt Kelle and her grand daughter (Coop's BFF) Rylee. They ALL wore all pink outfits that were topped off with big fun jewelry and Tiara's of course!

Cooper and Rylee all dressed up!

 Cooper loves all things pink and anything that sparkles so you can imagine how fun it was to take her! All the girls had a blast and cant wait for the next GiGi and Cooper outing! Here is a picture of her at the beginning of the show, completely enthralled!

sweet baby

Orange Leaf

One of Cooper's favorite past times is going to get Orange Leaf yogurt with us! She always gets chocolate and Vanilla with sprinkles and lots of chocolate goodies! She likes to help everyone select their toppings and has to "share" with anyone she is with, sharing = eating everyone Else's! Oh the joy's of being 4 and that stinking cute! She LOVES ice cream and all things sweet so we all figure this is a healthier option for her and lets face it... Who can say "No" to this face!

always posing!

Big "Durl" Bed

Coops got her first Big "Durl" Bed from Auntie Tandi at Gigi and Pop's house! The bedding is super pink (her signature color) and she loves it! However she still prefers to sleep on the couch watching the big screen and with the dogs!

Snow Day

February of this year was a very strange time in New Braunfels! It snowed and Cooper LOVED IT! She had to wear her new Pea coat that I had purchased months earlier because it was must for her winter wardrobe.I know, I know, Texas doesnt have Winter... but come on ... Isnt that coat to DIE FOR!!! Her mom-mom had found her a new "Hello-Titty" hat so she was set! She had so much fun playing in the snow with Gigi and Papa even if it was only 1/4". Now remember we live in SOUTH Texas and that small amount of snow shut our ENTIRE town for almost the whole day! Coops made snow balls and ran around with the Great Danes most of the morning and once the snow started melting it was sad but she enjoyed it while it lasted!

This is on one of my Dad's trailers in the back yard!

Jane

That is her Papa's teddy bear from when he was a little boy!

Cooper is our most precious gift! At least thats what our family thinks! So for my mothers gift last year I had one of our closest and most cherished friends paint a custom portrait of her! Around our house they are called "Jane's" which means perfection in my mother and my eyes! It is beyond breath taking and hangs in my parents living room as a constant reminder of our little friend! Jane Mauldin never ceases to amaze our family! I am definately one of the luckiest people in the world to be able to call her one of my "extended family members". Here is an image of the painting that she did for my mother!

Papa's Boots

For those of you that knoww our family, you are well aware what my father does for a living now. For those of you who stumbled upon this blog who don't know, he paints and restores vintage cars for numerous people and has been in lots of magazines etc. My dad is one of those manly men! He wears a t-shirt, jeans and work boots to work everyday and plays outside with his cars most nights.In short Coop's idolizes him!  Cooper had to have a pair of Papa boots when she saw these. I would also like to note this is when the "Hello Kitty" or "Hello Titty" as Cooper would say, obsession began as well.

Reading

Cooper LOVES to have books read to her and now she is so big we find her reading by herself... well probably more looking then reading but still adorable! Ever since she was very tiny she would ask me to read to  her and it was never just one book.. it was more like 10-12. One of her favorites is "Wheres my Mummy". She even memorized the action words! Sooo adorable. Aunt Tandi found her like this last week it melted my heart! WE LOVE SEEING HER LEARNING!

life's rough being 4 !

her best friends.....

Due to Coopers Cystic Fibrosis she has been forced to have canine or menopausal women as her best friends.... no judgement Gigi! Last year my father decided that the Zoeller clan needed some new additions to the family. Two to be exact, Joseph and Michael, GREAT DANES. They are Coops best play mates. Whenever she is bored and the grown ups are too busy for a minute to play with her one of them ends up playing dress up... Here is Mikey looking all so enthused!

she cant help if she is creative!

Snuggling with the boys when they first joined the Zoeller family!

Snuggled up with Joey and Lu Lu watching her shows!

White Tigers and cousins are the best!

My mom and Auntie Tandi took the kids to go to the Aquarium in Houston a few months ago. Layney and Hudson got to come too! The kids had so much fun seeing the animals (coop loves animals!) and riding the train and carousel!

Cooper and our cousins riding the train! Super fun time!

Cooper on the Carousel

Cooper with Nick and Alex

Cooper at the White Tiger Exhibit

They all got along great and its so much fun to see Cooper interacting with other children since she doesn't get to do it very often because of her Cystic Fibrosis. She loved playing with all of Layneys dolls and of course Gigi and Aunt Da had to rush to the Disney Store to get them as soon as we got home! Here is a picture of her at the White Tiger exhibit.

Shamu at NIGHT!!!

The entire month of July Cooper was away playing with her dad so she had an entire list of fun things for us to do when she got back August 1st! The most important one was going to see "Shamu at night" ! I am not sure where she found out about this but she has her ways! Nothing gets past her thats for sure. Luckily Auntie Tandi and Gigi didnt mind suffering thru the heat! Unfortunately Da had to work.. but her two favorite boys came along, her cousins Nick and Alex. When I got home from working late this night I received this picture in a text message from my cousing Candi who Cooper calls (Auntie Tandi).



This was right when Shamu jumped out of the water for the first time!

The look of sheer joy and excitement made my heart happy and I hope that all of us still find moments like this in our lives!

Dress up at Da's house!

One of our favorite things is having slumber parties at our house! Cooper comes over and entertains Uncle Derek and myself. She plays the piano, colors, watches TV with Uncle Derek and of course plays dress up in Da's closet and jewelry box! The child loves clothes just like me and see a future in fashion for sure! Every time that she comes over she closes the closet door and has to try on everything that is new (yes she keeps inventory on my shoes! ) This  particular evening she was fascinated with my jewelry box so here are a few pictures of my adorable little friend!

She HAD to wear the ear rings!

This would be her sexy face!

Uncle Bubba And Aunt Maggie

First I have to say that I am so very proud of my brother and my Sister in Law Maggie! They are both serving our country in Afghanastan currently! Cooper LOVES them sooo much! She always asks when they are coming to see her! So fore 4th of July this year we had a patriotic photo shoot in Gruene to show how proud we are of them! Our family is so blessed to have such a strong support system and we appreciate all the thoughts and prayers for them!

God Bless the USA!!!

this should be an advertisment for the USA!!

Our Heros!

Viva Las Vegas!!

My best friend Amanda just went to LAs Vegas for a wedding and of course couldn't help but do a little shopping for Coop! Cooper loves Miss Amanda and we all have lunch together almost weekly! Miss Amanda is a fashionista and totally encourages Cooper to express herself! Every time Cooper comes to my office to see all of "my friends" the first place she HAS to stop at is Miss Amanda's desk to say hi! Here is a picture of the outfit that she got as a special treat from her favorite Miss Amanda.



The great danes are her body gaurds!



little miss diva!

Mini Cooper

Auntie Tandi couldn't help herself! For Christmas she found Coops a HOT PINK Mini Cooper(her signature color of course) Just had to share the picture! Auntie Tandi always finds the neatest gifts, she gets that talent from her mother! This smile is the epitome of our little Coop! She has taught our family so many things in the past 4 years and is the light of our lives! She loves riding around the back drive way and has even mastered the art of reverse, just dont ask her to parallel park. Papa loves having her outside playing and giggling and so do both of  Papa's workers Hank and Kent. They love watching her play and grow and she even helps Papa sand and paint the vintage cars he works on!

Cruisin for a brusin'... ;)

Lexi Lu Lu Belle

       So last year Simon (our westie) got a little sister 2 days before Cooper turned 3. My mom thought it would fun to tell her that Lexi was her birthday present from Aunt Da (Me). So ever since the first time that Cooper met Lex it was been love at first sight! She helps GiGi go and let me babies out every day at lunch and she always makes sure that Lexi gets to play with the Great Danes at my parents. She even came up with Lexi's nick name! So now 99% of the time she is referred to as either "Debil (Devil) Dog" or Lu Lu Belle.

Coops and Lu Lu going to Gigi and PaPa's house

This is what happens when she plays to hard with Coop! She has to hide in GiGi's office!

Future Roller Derby queen

Early this summer I found Tinkerbell Roller Skates for my little friend. For those you that know our family, my father has cement back yard practically that allows the PERFECT setting for the instruction of tricycle tricks, side walk chalk body out lines, and the newest addition roller skating! Cooper loves being outside with her Papa and this just gave her one more activity to have fun doing!The skates came with matching Tinkerbell knee and elbow pads and Cooper understands that she HAS to wear them if she wants to skate now.
 Here are few pictures from her first day! She was pretty nervous at first and HAD to hold Aunt Da's hands (both of them to be precise).

NO hands!!!

She impressed all of us including Papa which is hard to do. She managed to learn to "skate" all by herself in the grass and did an awesome job doing "ballet" moves in her skates. She has finally ventured on her own a few times without the help of anyone but once she falls she is ready for Aunt Da's help!

Turning 4 on the Princess Flyer

     OK.. So we have a lot of family friends that are always curious about our Incredible Cooper Berks! So here I am... Aunt Da trying to figure out the computer world! For those of you who know me,  you know this a great challenge. Cooper turned 4 on Saturday and I couldn't have asked for a cooler little friend to share in my world... or excuse me "Coopers World". For her birthday party we went on the Princess Train in Cedar Park
.http://www.austinsteamtrain.org/

She got to wear a very special princess dress and GLASS SLIPPERS!

Kenneth Cole Glass Slippers!!!

Not to mention, she  got to play with her two very best friends, Princess Ryree and Princess Layney.

Cooper with her Princess Cup

     The car ride there Cooper would stop asking where everyone was. 4 year olds don't really grasp the concept of car pooling. The girls had so much coloring at lunch and made pirate hats. 

Rlyee, Cooper and Layney in their self colored pirate hats! Cooper hadn't made her wardrobe change yet to princes of the Day!

Once we were on the train the princesses started arriving to our private first class car!

The balloon animal man was a hit as well until he made different things for each girl! WHAT WAS HE THINKING LOL... The next picture shows what happened once Coopers balloon animal popped!

not impressed when her balloon popped!

We had activities and played and it was very fun time until the AC broke the last 45 minutes back! On the car ride home she lasted all of five minutes I think before the sounds of Mumford and Sons had her fast asleep!