Christmas 2007

I hope every one had a great Christmas! Ours was very peaceful & relaxing. For the second time in our married life we did not travel for the holidays. We really missed being with extended family, but not traveling is definitely a lot less stressful. We had Tia until about noon which was so great. The rest of the day was dedicated to helping Caelleb try out every single gift he received. We played & played & PLAYED. :) The kids were very cute opening their gifts. Caelleb, on the one hand, took his time, wanted to play with everything and was so grateful. Tia, on the other hand, just loved opening packages. She'd finish opening one present, push it to the side and ask, "i have another one?" :) Here are some pics from the morning. . .


These are Caelleb & Tia's stockings. Santa was able to find them at Mama T's house (my mom, where they usually reside) and bring them all the way to Missouri. Mama T actually made these stockings. When I was little she made one for each of us (me and my 3 siblings). Since then she's made one for Bryndyn, Scott, Kara, Braden, Caelleb, Easton, Tia & Isabelle. (maybe my dad as well, i'm not sure). Aren't they awesome?
Caelleb with his new bumblebee transformer

Pretty sure that daddy actually secretly wanted Santa to bring him one as well. :)
Tia's first bat and ball! :)Rockin' out w/her red guitar.

Other than missing family, it was a great Christmas!

This is NOT a resolution (I don't keep those)

Our family's newest favorite place. We joined Dec. 26th and have been every day since then. Of all of us, Caelleb loves it the most. "Eh-er-size" (exercise) is his newest favorite thing to do. He loves the aquatics facilities, but he also loves to run/walk around the indoor track. I say run/walk but it is actually more like sprint/walk. We have tried to teach Caelleb how to pace himself w/a slower jog. He doesn't get it. It's all or nothing with him. Regardless, it is such a great way for him to get out some energy. Plus he gets his own card to swipe in AND his own lock for the boys locker room. Those two things alone sold him right away. :) Mostly it just feels really good to have such a healthy way to spend time together as a family. We love it.

Traditions & a Good Kind of Weird

This year Christmas Eve was very. . . . odd. I had no last minute shopping to do. I had ZERO gift-wrapping left. None of the presents needed to be assembled. My cookies for Santa were already made. Christmas dinner was already in the fridge. The house was basically clean (including laundry). Yet, I felt like I should be DOING something, surely I must have forgotten something. Nope. Everything was done. Very strange, indeed. Was that "peace" that I was feeling? :) Whatever it was, I want it to always be like that on Dec. 24th. Stress-free, we kept up with all our traditions. . .

Caelleb & I made a birthday cake for Jesus (and then he licked the bowl) We went and saw the Alvin & the Chipmonks movie, which was cute. Caelleb really enjoyed it! We were able to pick up Tia late that afternoon and made it to our Christmas Eve dinner out (at the Macaroni Grill). We then headed over to The Crossing for a Christmas Eve candelight service, which was beautiful! We hadn't been to a Christmas Eve service in a few years (for various reasons) and it always seemed that something was missing. Growing up we ALWAYS went to a Christmas Eve service at our church and that experience is sort of ingrained in me. Now, as parents, we strive to keep the true meaning of Christmas at the forefront of the celebration, so (we've realized) an evening service on the 24th will be a staple in our Christmas Eve routine from now on! It was a wonderful time of worship and remembering & I'm so glad we went!
Once we got home we decorated Jesus' birthday cake, set out cookies for Santa & carrots for his reindeer, and opened our traditional-two-gifts (pajamas & ornaments).
Tia showing me her pj's (that turned out to be WAY too big)
Caelleb and his pj's. It doesn't take much to get him excited. Can you tell? :)
Tia and her "Finding Nemo" ornament
Caelleb and his "dog riding a scooter" ornament

And finally, a children's Bible version of the Christmas story
Pretty sure Bryn and I were in bed by 10pm.... a weird but WONDERFUL Christmas Eve. I'm officially adding "stress-free" to our list of Christmas Eve traditions!

Christmas Comes Early!

Santa has not made his big appearance yet. There have been no gifts opened or stockings hung. The calendar says December 22nd. Yet, my joy is complete! Of course I am still looking forward to our Christmas Eve traditions and watching the excitement on the kids' faces as they open & exchange gifts. But today I received the absolute best gift, one that will not be topped on December 25th! Nervous anticipation and sadness preceded the exchange. What I thought might be a bitter-sweet afternoon turned out to be one of immeasurable joy!

I have a surprise for all of you. . .

We got to see Jamie!!!!

And he is HUGE!!! :)

We had bought him a couple things for Christmas and called his father to see if we could bring the gifts to him. We weren't sure what his response was going to be and we were prepared for him to say no, in which case we would have mailed the gifts or given them to Rainbow House. But his dad agreed to meet us at a McDonalds inside a Walmart in the closest town to where they live! We got to spend almost 2 hours with him and you could not have wiped the smile off of my face the entire time (once I got over the shock of how big he had gotten). I tried to prepare myself (and the kids) for the fact that he was going to look a lot different. Afterall, we hadn't seen him in almost 6 months (since July 2nd, the day he moved out of our home, when he was 8 months old). But I still wasn't prepared for what I saw. He's now 13 months. He wasn't even crawling when he left, and now he's almost walking. On July 2nd he had no baby teeth, now he has FIVE! He has so much more hair now and it is much darker. . . But overall, he is the same sweet boy that we fell in love with last year at this time. Seeing him seriously made my holiday! It was obvious that he didn't completely remember us right away. But about halfway through our time with him he seemed to be studying our faces and starting to recognize something familiar in all of us. At one point Bryndyn was holding him and every time Bryndyn would speak Jamie would turn around and look up at him and just stare at Bryn. He definitely recognized his voice and it was precious to watch the two of them interact. Tia was actually a little shy and didn't play with him as much as we thought she would. I think it threw her off that he had grown so much. But him and Caelleb picked up right where they left off and it was wonderful to watch them together. He is still cute as can be with a smile that melts your heart!

He was more interested in eating the wrapping paper & ribbon than the gifts inside. :)
Look at him examining Bryndyn's face.
Merry Christmas to all of us!!!
Once a brother. . . always a brother!
More pics capturing the joy of the day. . .
I'm not sure exactly what all of this means. We are still very much trying to navigate through this situation/relationship. I know we will not see Jamie on a real regular basis. But I hope that we laid some groundwork today to at least staying in some sort of touch with him. Only time will tell. I'm not going to overanalyze too much (for now). What I know today is that he is doing well & it was SOOOOO wonderful to see him! Merry Christmas Jamie! We love you!

Try not to laugh too hard. . .

So this morning, it happened, my first fall (at least on ice). I've slipped plenty, but never completely lost my footing. Ohhhh and this was no ordinary tumble. . . We had just pulled into Caelleb's daycare. I helped him get his coat zipped and reminded him to be careful when he got out of the van. I opened my door and stepped down with my left foot. Before I knew what was happening (or could do anything to prevent it), I found myself on my back with my right foot still in the van (ok, I am totally laughing right now just thinking about it). My only injury is a small cut on my left hand where (I guess) I tried to catch myself. Pretty sure no one saw it happen. Oh, go ahead and laugh (if you aren't already). I've been laughing about it all morning.

Cheers to Shopping

Caelleb and I went shopping tonight so he could pick something out for Tia & Daddy. Caelleb is a great little shopper, although he says he doesn't like it. He told me tonight that "uncle B doesn't like shopping either." My hunch is that he has already learned that shopping is "for girls." How? I'm not sure, considering the fact that i'm not a big shopper. But he did a great job tonight thinking about Tia and Daddy and factoring that into his gift selection. I was very proud of him. In between stores we made a hot chocolate stop and toasted our night! It was a fun evening. By far, the best part was the amusing conversation. Here are some of the highlights. . .

As we were entering the mall I asked Caelleb what he wanted to get Tia. . .
Caelleb: a red guitar.
me: That's what Tia asked Santa for.
Caelleb: I ah-ready know dat.
me: well then, what do YOU want to get Tia?
Caelleb: I tink I still get her a red guitar. I tink I help Santa with dat.
me (realizing he wasn't going to budge): Caelleb, actually, Santa told me that he already got Tia the red guitar.
Caelleb's immediate response: "WHAT?!?! Let me talk to him!"

The ground has been icy now for over a week. . . that's about 10 days of me constantly telling Caelleb to be careful. As we were walking through the mall parking lot tonight, hot chocolate in hand, I reminded him once again to watch his step because the ground was slippery, to which he replied, "the whole world is slippery!" :) I guess it would seem like that, right about now.

About two seconds after the above conversation Caelleb's hot chocolate slipped out of his hands and splattered all over the ground. I expected this to upset him, but to my surprise he said, "dat ok, dat happens sometimes." Wise beyond his years.

It was a successful shopping excursion. Caelleb picked out some pink & white mittens, bunny slippers, and a cinderella teacup set for Tia. But on the way home he told me that he wanted to get her one more thing. Our exchange went something like this:

me: I think three things is plenty Caelleb
Caelleb: I want to get her four tings
me: No, three things is enough. That's it.
Caelleb: I'll make her someting.
me: Well, ok, that's a good idea. What do you want to make her?
Caelleb: A tee-uh ta.
me: What?
Caelleb: Dat one ting. You sit on. Go up and down.
me: A teeter totter?
Caelleb: YEA!
me: Uhhhhh. . . I don't think we know how to make a teeter totter.
Caelleb: CALL HANDY MANNY!!!!

Today's Views

From our living room window. . .


From our dining room window. . .

It still baffles me that I live in a place where it regularly snows in the winter. I remember when I used to think 60 degrees was "freezing." Sometimes I miss those so cal days where "cold" meant you better take a sweatshirt.

Totally Worth It!

We visited Santa today after church at the mall. We almost didn't. The kids saw Santa at the live windows festival & at a Christmas party last weekend. So, the thought of fighting the mall madness almost detoured us straight home. Parking was a nightmare. Just navigating through the mall was a challenge. The actual line to see Santa wasn't any better. But we stuck it out. Both kids were excited, but especially Tia. She got right up on Santa's lap, smiled pretty for the pictures and told Santa she wanted a "red guitar." Caelleb couldn't think of anything to ask Santa for. We decided we'd write Santa a letter if he thinks of anything. Santa gave the kids a candy cane and a hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and Tia's face just LIT UP. She talked about Santa the rest of the afternoon. Priceless!