Happy New Year!

So I could probably title this post "Catching Up" but something tells me I'll have to use that in the future so I'll stick with "Happy New Year" this time. Things have been wonderful and only somewhat wacky here in the Walton household. I'll try to be brief and, again, let most of the pictures speak for themselves.

The weekend before Christmas, Aaron's parents and his sister's family came in from out of town to celebrate. Aunt Lori went to OU so we figured what better way to welcome our visitors :) Yes, we do have a crimson bow for such occasions. And, yes, I did feel like I needed to put it on for Harper's first trip to the mall so that no one thought she was a boy.


Sunday evening we went to Aaron's other sister's house in town for Christmas dinner and gift exchange. Caleb got to sit at the "big kid" table with the other cousins and did very well. He especially liked hanging out with his cousin Addie.


We had a slight issue with Caleb overlooking his own presents on Sunday night because he preferred what other people were opening (sorry!!). However, he did come to enjoy the tool set and other gifts throughout the week.

Caleb had been fighting a runny nose and cough for about a week but Sunday night he coughed throughout the night, coughing so hard at time that he made himself sick. Aaron was taking off work Monday anyway since his family was in town and our wonderful pediatrician got Caleb in first thing Monday morning. Turns out he had bronchitis and needed to stay far away from Harper (and anyone else wanting to stay well for the holidays). Needless to say, Aaron's parents and family cut their visit short and headed out Monday afternoon.

Tuesday Aaron went to work and my dad came to the rescue to entertain a cranky, sick two year-old who was already dealing with not being the center of attention. I think Dad heard "No, G-Dad" or "G-Dad, stop" so many times he was convinced that Caleb didn't like him any more. But my sister got the same treatment when she came to play the next day so his feelings weren't too hurt. We pulled out several new toys in an effort to keep Caleb (and everyone else) sane, including these great foam blocks. Caleb was all about sorting them by color or shape.

Caleb was no longer contagious and feeling much better by Christmas eve. We ventured to the church's children's service and Caleb did very well in "big church", though he did have a hard time with using a whispering voice. We realized we had yet to take a picture as a family of four, so here it is. Nothing great or glamorous and it was followed by Harper screaming bloody murder because she woke up starving and Caleb having a messy diaper. So we cut short the idea of going out to eat with my parents after church and just went to their house for leftovers.

In the hustle and bustle of Caleb's birthday, Harper's birth, house stuff, etc., we hadn't really talked to Caleb about Christmas, giving and receiving gifts, stockings, Santa, Jesus, or anything. So we gave it the cliffs notes version and Caleb helped with making cookies for Santa.

As we were getting out milk, Caleb spotted an orange in the fruit drawer and decided Santa needed a healthy option too. He colored a very nice note for Santa and Santa even wrote him a thank you note in return.

I searched high and low for matching pjs for Caleb and Harper. No easy task to find 0-3 and 3T in something gender-neutral but I found these at Children's Place. Caleb was very excited to be matching with his sister. He slept very well and was excited to wake up to an overflowing stocking and a Handy Manny tool bench with real things to fix. My parents and sister joined us for stockings and a casual breakfast.

Christmas evening was spent at my parents' house. We thought something other than the traditional ham or turkey would be fun so mom attempted Cornish hen. I think she was more frustrated than the rest of us but they took much longer than planned to cook and there were several of us (namely me) that were weirded out by a whole bird just sitting on the plate. Aaron loved it and thankfully took all of mine. I'm much more interested in all the tasty side dishes and desserts anyway. There were a ridiculous am out of presents to open for just eight people - 4 of us, mom and dad, and Morgan and her fiance Brian. Caleb grew tired of it quickly but found other ways of entertaining himself, like climbing up on the ottoman and jumping to the couch. Oh the fun that's in store for us for the next 16 years!

His favorite present of the evening was his new red guitar (pronounced "gee-tar"), complete with guitar pick, which we promptly lost. He has enjoyed serenading all of us this last week.

I just realized this was all about Caleb so far but that's mainly because Harper didn't do much over Christmas but eat, sleep, and make dirty diapers. I am sure she'll get lots more coverage when she starts doing crazy things like ottoman gymnastics. In all seriousness, she is a WONDERFUL baby and - knock on wood - just goes with the flow unless she is hungry. Thank the Lord for that!

We got her newborn pictures in that we ordered from the hospital. The scanner is packed up somewhere so forgive the picture-of-a-picture quality here. Too cute, huh?

Last weekend we hung out with several of my high school friends that were in town for the holidays. Elijah and Adalie are both three months older than Caleb and they all have younger siblings now so it was definitely a zoo keeping up with them as they jumped in the jupiter jump, played outside, and got into everything else, too.

Adalie was great to share her toys with the boys. I am not certain it would have gone so smoothly had we been at our house. Here's a great shot of the boys in her hot pink Barbie Mustang. I am thinking they won't be so thrilled with this cute picture when they're in high school.

The zoo in action: trying to get six kids and three adults to look at the same camera at the same time. Marilyn and Kim, it was so great to see you and your children!! Harper was totally silent and peaceful in her carrier the whole 2+ hours we were there...until we tried to take the picture. Ha!

Our friend Bopha has started a business embroidering things so I utilized her services to create Big Brother/Little Sister shirts for Caleb and Harper. We waited until the end of the day so it was 'now or never' before Caleb went into the bath. Hence the reason Harper is less than thrilled.

I took these super cute pics of Harper last Sunday. The light was just right into the window so I tried it without flash (a tip from my photographer friend Ashley). Harper was cooperating nicely, even though I could hear her pooping like crazy. Unfortunately, this outfit did not last past these pics as she totally blew out the back of the onesie and the waistband of the pants. By the way, these bows/headbands came in the mail direct from the maker but did not say who they were from (I did not order them myself). So, if you gave these to us - thanks!

Caleb is still all about the puzzles. This night in particular, he was in to everything else so Aaron piled up all his puzzle pieces and challenged him to get them all done as fast as he could. He LOVES these puzzles and will sit for a very long time doing them over and over again.

Mr. Imagination got into one of the utensil drawers and decided he was using our extra-long spatula as a hockey stick (or "cock-ie" as Caleb says). And evidently my shoes are perfect for skating on the tile. I love watching his wheels turn as he figures things out.

Last night we hung out with some friends and brought kiddos with us. It was a lot of fun, and we all four made it until midnight.

Hope 2009 is wonderful for your family! Lots of continued change for us, including a move to the new house in the next six weeks or so. Please be praying that we sell our current one soon - I am getting antsy about getting it sold soon so we don't have that hanging over us while getting excited moving in.

Have a great week. I will try to be better about keeping up with the blog. It takes less time to do a week's worth of updates than two weeks and a holiday, right?!?