Christmas!!!

Though not the world's most flattering picture of Caleb, it is very accurate for this week - into everything and lots of multi-tasking going on (must be his mother's influence).

We had a fun and enjoyable week with lots of activities and lots of photo ops (just a warning...lots of pictures and verbiage to follow).

Christmas Eve we went with Aaron's parents, my parents, and my sister to the children's church service. Caleb did very well, as long as he had at least two glow sticks (the children's service alternative to candles) in his hands at all times. He wore a very dapper outfit that was a birthday gift from our friends Rob and Heather. The funny thing was that Rob was wearing a similar outfit when they gave it to Caleb so it will forever be the Mini-Rob outfit. Doesn't Caleb look all grown up and very trendy?


Christmas morning Caleb woke up to find a red wagon from Santa in the living room. At first he was more impressed by the big green bow but once he realize he could ride around in the wagon, he decided it was a pretty fun gift.

My parents and sister came over to open stockings and have a quick and casual breakfast. Last year, Caleb was so little he was really just a cute blob not at all involved in all the goings-on of Christmas. He was much more into it this year, for sure.


As I mentioned last week, he got some toddler-sized crayons in his stocking. I was all excited to watch him color but, no, he just preferred to chew on the crayons. And he's already broken one of them, a tragedy for a mom who always prided herself on a perfect box of 64 crayons!


The dogs were not left out on Christmas, though I did forget to give them their goodies until 2 hours after we all opened our stockings.

Aaron's parents ended up heading out of town Christmas morning as his mom wasn't feeling well and didn't want to chance giving it to any of us. So they stopped by on their way out to open the presents we would have opened later in the day. Caleb was initially not quite sure about the rocking pony that talks and sings but has warmed up to it as the week has gone on.


We headed to my parents' house mid-afternoon to open presents and have Christmas dinner (OK, late lunch). I successfully recreated an appetizer of brie, raspberry preserves, and puff pastry that I had at a party a few weeks ago and Mom made a yummy poinsettia punch with pureed raspberries, pink lemonade, rose wine, and ginger ale. We enjoyed these treats and opened just one present before our Christmas feast. Here's a semi-cute shot of Caleb and his grandparents. Maybe one day we can get the three of them to look at the same camera.


Between his recent birthday and other pre-Christmas gatherings, Caleb was very into the present opening by the time passed around the gifts at my parents'. One present from Grandma and G-Dad was his Bounce and Spin Zebra, which he enjoyed.


My sister gave Caleb a wooden stick with jingle bells on it in his stocking. Let's just say we could have forgotten the wagon, zebra, pony, and everything else as Caleb was lovin' those bells. He took them everywhere that day.

On Wednesday, Caleb and I went to visit our friends Kim and Adalie since they were in town from New Orleans. It was so good to see them! Hopefully we'll get to see more of them next time they are in town.


Thursday we had our weekly playgroup over to our house for a little show and tell with everyone's favorite new toys and so I could clean out the leftovers that were in my fridge. At one point, there were 6 kids under the age of 2 1/2 sitting at the kitchen table. It was hilarious and the dogs had a wonderful time cleaning up after everyone left :) Here's a picture of some of Caleb's buddies:


Caleb grew more and more confident in his walking ability as the week progressed. Just as a comparison, here's a video from Christmas Eve at the Elephant Bar Restaurant then another of him tonight (note the new and oh-so-charming habit of shrieking at the top of his lungs in the 2nd video).

As he gets more comfortable with getting around on two appendages instead of four, he is getting more and more bold. Here's a picture of him after he crawled up into the baker's rack shelf. He wasn't quite sure what to do once he was up there.

And poor Lilah is just a glutton for punishment. Whereas Caleb used to be a relatively immobile lickable target, he's now on the move with one constant target: Lilah. She is so patient and nice while he pats (aka hits) her and pulls her ears and paws but now he tries to tackle her and roll her to the ground. My guess is that she will soon tire of this and make a run for it like Sam does.


We had several visits from friends this weekend. Zach, Missy, and Zach's mom, Ethel, stopped by yesterday to say "hey" and bring Caleb a present. Of course I forgot to get a picture. Then our friends Mike and Kristen came by today on their way back to Memphis. They also came bearing gifts for Caleb, including a great OU windsuit. Here's a cute picture of Caleb and Mike.


Three big "congrats" to pass out this week:

1) Congratulations to my sister and her boyfriend, I mean fiance!!, who got engaged on Saturday night. Brian is heading to Iraq with the National Guard soon so big plans are kinda in a holding pattern, but Yippee for them!!

2) Congratulations to our friends Justin and Anna who had their first baby today. Justin said Anna's contractions only took four hours to get within one minute of each other which would probably anger our other friends...

3) Congratulations to our Covenant friends, Doug and Brittain, who gave birth to their second bundle of joy, a girl, today after being in labor off and on for 2 1/2 weeks (now you know why she would not want to hear about Anna's quick labor!).

Have a very very Happy New Year and here's to a wonderful and blog-filled 2008!