12/25/11: C walks!!!

Callen gave us the best Christmas present. He walked! We were at Jenny's house and he walked for several steps a bunch of different times. His expression was priceless. He looked SO proud of himself!!

He's also now got all four teeth on either side of his front top & bottom teeth cut through the gums. Poor guy had three of them come in all at once but he's handled it really well (maybe a little cranky here or there) and didn't require any tylenol.

We went to Christmas Eve service at church last night and even got some family photos before we left. Callen did okay for the first bit but then he was over it so I missed most of the sermon. Elodie did really well so we rewarded her by letting her open a gift from us when we got home. Unfortunately, the gift was this animated dog and it didn't work properly so we had to return it. At least we had a few gifts for her today that I had wrapped, put under the tree, and forgotten about (two board games).

Christmas morning we skypped with Amanda & Cadence (Zeph was already in bed and Andrew & Cami were sleeping on the couch) for about an hour. Then it was scramble to get eaten, showered, and ready. I wanted to take some family photos before we left for Jenny's house and have the kiddos open their presents. Elodie got a tag reader from Mimi & Poppi and some tag reader book sets from GG Ethel. Auntie Jenn gave both kids some neat books. Callen got another beloved Bear Bear from Mimi and Poppi, so we have a replacement bear just in case. Callen just LOVES his Bear Bear.

Then we drove to Jenny's (a few hours late...oops!). Callen ate lunch and then we put him down for his nap. While he slept, the kids played and Jenny, Dave, & I hung out and chatted. Eventually, Callen was up (and WALKED!), Dave & Jenny made dinner, we did presents, ate dinner, and then hung out for a while longer. We headed home at 9pm and were home around 10:30pm. We had a ton of fun! We just didn't want to leave. :)

DO NOT tell my child santa is real

DO NOT tell my child santa is real. He is not. Don't pretend he is. He is not. And no, it's not the same as make-believe b/c in make believe they know they are playing make believe, not having some adult blatantly lie to them and tell them someone is real when they are not. DO NOT talk to my child about Santa. It's not your place to do so. It just confuses her. She's only four and it's not fair to have another adult tell her something that competes with what her parents are telling her. Jesus is REAL. That's what we are celebrating. I want no confusion. No consumerism, materialism, marketing. Jesus is the reason for the season. Okay, stepping off my box now.

Saturday, 12/26/09...presents & snow...

Since we didn't have time to open presents here before we left in a mad dash for Dave's mom's yesterday, we opened the presents under the tree this morning. L got a ton of dvds and a book from Opa & Nonna (my dad & stepmom); a baby doll that makes noises, bassinet, & small blocks from Grandpa House & Mimi (Dave's dad & stepmom); and kitchen pots, pans, & utensils, and a my little p*ny from us.






Cookbook from his dad :)

Then we made sure to get in some outdoor play time for L. She really wanted to ride her bike in the snow. Who says a trike is a summertime toy?!!

Christmas 2009

We had an awesome Christmas at Dave's mom's house in Cheyenne. We had a not-so-awesome drive there and back with 50mph winds, ground blizzards, low visibility, and icy roads, plus we thought we were going to run out of gas on the way there because our gas mileage was so much lower because of the winds.

After we made it inside safely after almost blowing away, we first took some family photos before we snacked/lunched on the tons of yummy food that Karen had made. She had quite the spread out. Then there was some Wii playing before Candy & Dale arrived and we could do presents. After the massive amount of presents for the kiddos, I made everyone get in a group photo, along with photos of the kiddos with the sets of adults, plus Jenny wanted a family photo. Then the kids played and the adults talked until dinner was served. After dessert, we followed Dale & Candy home. We left around 8:30 and got home after 10pm. L didn't get a nap and slept for about an hour in the car ride home.

Click here for a large slideshow of pictures from Christmas.

Christmas Eve & 12/18-12/24 pictures

Dave had to work today so we did a made dash to get him home, eat, change, take a photo, and get to church in time for the 5:30pm service. We really liked singing all the Christmas songs and seeing some friends.

Here's a slideshow of pics from this week:



Video from when she got Opa's gift to her and her daddy...a Santa train b/c Opa said "every girl and her daddy should have one."

ideas for L's Christmas

Hi parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and friends...

By no means does the fact that you got this email imply that you have to get L any gift but I just wanted to error on the side of inclusive rather than exclusive, especially since I'm terrible at these Christmas list things.

Anyhow, I know some people have already asked me for L's Christmas list so I thought I'd better get on that now. I've tried to update her list with a variety of things and prices and I've marked the priority of the item and made comments on the right-hand side of the list so you might want to sort the list by priority. The #1 thing she would REALLY like is the Vtech Kidizoom Plus Digital Camera. Feel free to email amongst yourselves (don't forget to leave me off the email unless you want me to know) who's getting what so there are no duplicates, b/c of course being the cheap woman I am, I don't want anyone to pay more for an item than they have to so don't feel obligated to buy at amazon...besides sometimes it's just easier to buy stuff at a real store.

• Click here to go to her wish list.

• The other thing on her list is money...either earmarked for her savings account or to be used in conjunction with other monetary gifts towards toys or clothes either now or later. Honestly, she already has toys and doesn't need a whole lot right now, so for those who don't care money might be better since we can ration it out over time.
  

She doesn't need any clothes.

We got her a wooden train set and some kitchen pots/pans/utensils for Christmas. She's already opened the train set and loves it (we told her it was for Christmas). I haven't gotten around to washing all the kitchen stuff yet so she's yet to open that. We didn't want her to have to wait extra months to play with stuff that she could be playing with now.

Thanks for reading my long-winded email :)

Love,
E & D