Christmas at Home - #3

Yes, we really did celebrate Christmas three times this year. That is less than in years past. But since Oma had an early Christmas celebration on the 24th, we were able to return home, to spend the night at our home Christmas Eve. That allowed us to have Santa visit us at home vs somewhere else. We've talked quite a bit about Santa over the past few weeks. Everytime we've been out, when Cailin saw a picture of Santa, she would point and try and say "santa". Santa was also very generous and brought some presents that were under the tree as well as stuffed everyone's stockings full of fun stuff.Cailin (with shopping cart in hand) had to check out the tree. Everytime she sees it she still says "WOW"
This is a really cute hat/mitten set that Uncle Chris got for Cailin. You can't see the top but it is a penquin. Pretty cute. It's in the wash now, Andrew managed to spit up on it promptly, so it hasn't yet been worn outside. Plus the weather has been pretty warm, so that's ok. Andrew enjoyed the festivities as well. He is sort of mesmerized by Cailin. She's kind of tornado at times, so he just watches her closely and laughes. He got a lot of fun stuff from santa too. Drew has also been teething pretty heavily, so that is the cause of the rash around his mouth (he is drooling and chewing CONSTANTLY - poor boo). He has already gotten one tooth on the bottom, a very sharp one at that, and has a second one just popping through next to it. Looks like he'll have a steak soon enough!

Drew helped Daddy open up his presents from Santa. Mostly, Drew liked to chew on the paper. He's a good helper.

Cailin also got a tunnel from her Oma. It's a rather large toy when open, so it takes up a bit of real estate. She does certainly love it. Lately, she's been putting every one of her stuffed toys in there (including her 9 care bears). She thinks that's funny. She also LOVES it when Ripley has to check it out. She will chase that cat even when she's in the tunnel. Busy, busy.

On Christmas Eve, we all piled into the family car to head down to Nelson, WI to Oma's house. We saw Uncle and Uncle Chris there too. The kiddos got a lot of presents there, Cailin had a grand old time ripping off the wrapping paper. More books - not that she hates that or anything!! Cailin and Daddy went exploring around the farm and Cailin even got to 'help' feed the chickens as well.

Uncle even held Andrew a few times and they became instant best buds when Uncle fed Drew his bottle. Food, as you all know, is very, very important to him.

Cailin also got to hang out with Oma's dogs, Rosie (the French Bulldog) and Millie (the pug). They weren't exactly sure what to make of Cailin, although Cailin really liked hanging with them. Rosie thought it was cool that Cailin would occasionally drop food. She was kind enough to clean up after anything that Cailin dropped. It was a fun day, and the weather cooperated too, it was an easy drive day.

Christmas with the Friary Side

We celebrated Christmas with Daddy's side of the family on Saturday, December 23rd. We went to Northfield to Uncle Gary's and Auntie Lee's house. We had a BLAST. Everyone was there to spend the day with. The kids got TONS of presents.
Here, Auntie Rayna is pictured, holding Drew with Auntie Lee helping.


Here, Uncle Sean (aka - Stinky) was holding Drew. At one point, mommy was buried in presents. Cailin and Drew got lots of clothes, books and toys. It was a lot of fun for Cailin to rip off the paper. One of the favorite gifts was a shopping cart that Cailin immediately started toting around throughout the house (of course new Care Bears helped to 'break it in'). Oh what fun. Drew liked pretty much anything he could chew on, so he was pretty happy about that. We also got to spend the day with Auntie Wanda and Uncle Sean, who drove in from Wisconsin.
Here, cousin Kayla and Auntie Wanda are hamming it up for the camera. Those two were inseperable the entire day!

Classic

Tonight, we were enjoying pizza. She LOVES pizza. Cailin was able to smear it everywhere. She even had it in her hair!! Classic.

We're Cookin Now

This past weekend we spent a great deal of time cooking and baking. We were all getting into the Holiday spirit and getting all the cookies made. Cailin was a good helper. She even got her own utensils out and did some 'cooking' of her own. She says that she's making 'soup' when you ask her. She mixes it up and gives everyone a sample in the room.
Andrew also got in the spirit with his new bib. He hasn't actually eaten any cookies yet, so don't worry, we're not trying to totally corrupt him yet. We're going to at least wait until he has a tooth or too - Soon enough....

She's a Friary....She loves Fords

We spent a great deal of time this past week at the Ford Dealer here in Shakopee. Mommy got a new car. We spent several evenings there getting everything together and everytime we were there, Cailin always refused to leave. She wanted to stay and play. Proof is this picture of her in the back of a brand new pickup truck, plowing around. I'm sure the salesman weren't too happy with that, but oh well, Cailin was happy right?? Usually when it was time to leave, Cailin would lay down on the floor and not want to leave. Funny. She certainly picked up the "Ford" gene from the Friary side. Luckily she wasn't really interested in the Mustangs yet....

Thanksgiving Weekend

We went to Pine Island to visit the family over Thanksgiving Weekend. We sure had fun. We were able to take advantage of the nice warm weather and take a long walk. Cailin, Drew, Daddy and Grandma played at the park. We stayed overnight with Grandma and Grandpa. We even visited with Great Grandpa Bud and Great Grandma Bea. Great Grandma Bea is great with Drew, she helped him with a little snack too! We missed Uncle Sean and Auntie Wanda, but overall it was a great weekend!! We spent Sunday with the Lechelts playing at their house. We always have fun playing there, Auntie Buzzy has so many fun toys and Kayla is fun to play with too!

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked out our Christmas tree last weekend and got her all set up. Cailin now says "WOW" very enthusiastically whenever she sees it all lit up. Cailin was able to put the star up on the top of the tree.