A Christmas Pictoral:Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 - Christmas Morning!

We spent Jesus' Birthday at our house with Grammy, Papa, Nana and Grandpa K. Santa had already come by the time C got up and had brought him a teepee.

After the fam arrived, we ate breakfast and started opening presents.
Three hours later we were finished. No joke. Three hours later. What a haul! His favorite present was a broom. He's going to be a great husband someday!

Caden didn't really care about opening presents, he just wanted to play. That was a bonus for me because I got to open double gifts!

We spent the rest of the day playing and having lots of "bun!"

We also snuck in a few games. This is a very intense game of Blockus between Papa and Grandpa K

In case you're wondering, I was a very good girl too. Look what landed in my dining room

AND if you're wondering where I've been (instead of blogging), I'll give you a hintYep, that's a real picture of my friend, Emily and I in cold, rainy, but super fun NYC!

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Pictoral:Part 1

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! We had such a wonderful Christmas full of family, food, and lots of "bun!" (more on Caden's expanding vocabulary later)

Our Christmas celebrations actually began a few days before Christmas. My parents arrived on the 18th and Caden was super excited to see his Grammy and Papa. Seriously, lots of happy screaming! His new favorite thing to do is have "bun" (fun). The first night Grammy and Papa were here, C went to bed VERY late. After I put him in bed, he started crying. When I went to check on him, he popped his head up and said, "Papa? Bun?" They have been having "bun" ever since. He and Grammy have also been doing a lot of "ki-ya"ing (that's a long i sound. My first grade phonetics are failing me now). Trying to figure out what "ki-ya" meant was tricky. It took a few days, but we got it - crayon. He yells, "ki-ya" at the top of his lungs when he wants to color. Not sure why it took me so long...

On Christmas Eve Eve our plan was to give Grammy and Papa an early Christmas present

A holiday lights tour in a limo! It was just supposed to be the two of them

but at the last minute, JZ sent me with them! Yeah, now it was a party of 3! We had a three hour tour on the west end of town. We saw some pretty houses and have decided it is going to become a new tradition

On Christmas Eve we went up to Gram's house to celebrate with JZ's side of the fam. Instead of buying gifts for everyone, we had a wacky white elephant exchange. Everyone brought a white elephant gift and attached a gift card to it. It was tons of fun!
That evening we all went to church to Christmas Eve services. Super Caden looked SUPER cute in his suit

JZ, Dad, and I all participated in the service, Grammy, Nana, and Grandpa K all tried to wrangle Caden during the no-nursery-available service. I'm not sure how much of the service they actually saw, but I think they had fun. My favorite part of the service was when we walked up on stage and heard, "Dada!" from the back of the sanctuary. Sweet Caden boy made everyone giggle.

Stay tuned for A Christmas Pictoral: Part 2 - Christmas Day!

The Funniest Thing I've Ever Seen

'member how I told you about Caden's love affair with all things Barney?

Well, it's still going strong. He still loves his Barney stuffed animal, but now he also loves Barney videos and TV shows. I think we may have created a monster! He will ONLY watch Barney and he's pretty sure that the car should always have it playing. He gets in the car, points to the DVD player and says, "On!" Yikes! Anyway, here he is trying to get Barney to play on the TV. Seriously, one of the funniest things I've seen. Ever.

And here's the happy boy after I got it going for him

It's so hard to tell him no when he asks for is so nicely. I hope I'll get over that soon!

Decorating Dilemma

You may be asking yourself, "How does one decorate for Christmas with an active 18 month old running around?" Well, I don't know the correct way to do it, but here's what we did...

First have him "help" you move furniture

Second, let him play in the Christmas tree box

Next, allow said 18 month old to sit on the couch and eat crackers while watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"

Instead of putting up a breakable nativity set, put up a plastic Little People one

Last, don't forget to gate off the tree

That oughta' keep him out. Happy Holidays!

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

There is so much to be thankful for today! I am thankful for my friends, my family, my health, and my salvation. But, more than anything, I am thankful for these two

And heaters, hats, gloves, blankets, and coats - it's cold here!

Happy Thanksgiving! I promise to post about our Thanksgiving fun soon!

The Beach

Oh, the fun of the beach! I have tried to phonetically spell the way that Caden says, "beach," but I can't quite get it. You'll have to trust me that it's cute. Anyway, we spent a lot of time at the beach this trip. Caden LOVED the world's largest sandbox and swimming pool.

He spent most of his time digging in the sand

and running

and splashing
and playing at the playground
All in a day's work for this little guy!

WDW

It's the most magical, happiest place on Earth!

We said we wouldn't take him until he was older, but we were swayed by the free entrance fee. I didn't have high expectations for the day. I only wanted to do a few things - ride Dumbo and It's a Small World and get Caden a set of Mickey ears. We took two cars just in case of disaster.

We parked and rode the tram to the monorail

We walked into the park just as a parade was finishing up. We did get to see a little of it, however.

Even though it was the first week of November, Disney had already decorated for Christmas!

We stopped at Cinderella's Castle for a few pictures and to watch a show

The first ride we went on was the carousel. Caden is an old pro at carousels, and he loved this one too

Next, was the Dumbo rideHe's waiting in line, not in jail

Then we got Caden some ears and had some lunchAfter a very late lunch, we got in line for It's a Small World. Caden was have none of it. He was over tired and ready for a nap. I tried pushing him around in the stroller, hoping he'd fall asleep. No luck. He was wailing his head off. Grammy and Papa were on the way out with him, when I picked up the screaming baby. Within 30 seconds, he was out cold.

While JZ and Papa rode Space Mountain, Caden, Grammy, and I sat on a bench like this. I was in mommy heaven!After he woke up, we went to Toon Town. To play in their kiddie area and go to Mickey's house. We didn't wait in line to see Mickey because C couldn't have cared less about him. He just wanted to stand at the fence and throw acorns over it.

At least Toon Town had ice cream!

About that time we all decided Caden was DONE with Disney. G & P took him home and let JZ and I stay a few more hours. We rode some "big people" rides, had dinner on the way home, and arrived home to a sleeping baby.

Maybe next time we'll be able to ride It's a Small World - we don't have to pay for him until he's 3!