Nap Time

Celeste obviously decided not to take a nap this day. This is how we found her. Daddy left the baby powder on the floor where she could reach it.

Notice her upper lip. At least baby powder is much easier to clean up than say-- vasoline and diaper rash cream that Treyton smeared all over himself and carpet when we lived in Indianapolis.

Seeing Santa 09

Last year we went to see Santa inside a mall and we could take our own Santa pics. This year Santa came much closer to home, but we had to wait outside. It was in the mid 40's and the kids kept warm by running around the giant Christmas Tree with a friend from Treyton's school. We were not really prepared to stand outside for an hour so our hands and ears got cold. It was right before we entered the building (additional 1/2 wait inside) that Wade needed to use the restroom. The bathroom was so toasty warm. Had I known that 1 hour ago, Celeste and mommy would've hung out in the bathroom. (mental note for next year).

With camera in hand to take my own photos with Santa, a sign outside the building said "No personal cameras allowed". So I attempted to take photos outside with the giant Christmas Tree instead. Didn't work, boys just wanted to run around with friend. Maybe next year will travel a tiny bit to see Santa and actually take a picture with him. Celeste was so excited to see Santa, but once we got inside she wanted to leave. She kept saying bye-bye. Boys did great with Santa, but Celeste refused to sit on his lap. Not a big deal since I wasn't going to spend money on a photo with Santa. Cheapest photo deal was a 4x6 and some smaller ones for $17 printed on a cheap home printer--no way!

Decorating Our Tree

Wade Turns 5!!!

My baby boy is 5. I can't believe how old and big he is getting. Both boys are sharing size 5 clothes and wear same size shoe (although Wade's feet are bigger). Wade is patiently waiting to go to kindergarten. He loves the 2 days he attends preschool and asks everyday if he goes to preschool. He plays very well by himself although he prefers to play with Treyton. He is a silly and goofy kid and likes to make people laugh. Celeste has learned this trait quite well from Wade. He's a wonderful helper to mommy and enjoys being a big brother to Celeste. We love Wade and are so happy to have this wonderful boy in our family.

Celeste was much more rested for Wade's presents and redeemed herself with opening presents. She opened a couple of them. This is a stuffed cat and she clung to it and demanded that it was hers, not Wade's.

Decorating his cupcakes for his first 'friends' birthday party.

Family Pics

We didn't have much time, but I really wanted my sister to try and get some pics of our family. As you can tell in most of the pictures, we could not get Celeste to look at the camera and if she did then no smiling.

Someone's glad to be done.

He has a pocketful of sticks.

Celeste turns 2!!!

Her birthday was actually on Thanksgiving this year, but with all the activities of the day we decided to wait until Friday to celebrate. That's ok for now since she doesn't know the difference. However, my sister's 3 year old daughter does and kept asking all day Thursday and Friday when Celeste was going to open her presents. We finally managed to squeeze in presents right before bed after a busy day. Celeste was NOT that interested in opening presents and I was a little disappointed in her reaction.

Wade opened most of her presents for her.

She loved her new backpack so she can be just like her big brothers who have backpacks for school.

We ended the evening with birthday pie from Thanksgiving. I really didn't want to make any more treats than what we already had for Thanksgiving. I realized that Celeste was just way too tired to even enjoy her birthday. Mental note for next year, open presents earlier in the day.

Celeste has been pure joy and an absolute blessing to have in our family. She is silly and loves to be goofy. She is so completely different than her brothers. She has been an amazing sleeper since day 1. She cleans up and picks up way better than the boys ever did and do now. She is not afraid of heights or falling and is quite the daredevil. She gives sweet hugs and kisses, which have to be on the lips. She loves shoes and it's a bonus that she can put most shoes on by herself. She's beginning to be rather picky about what she wears, but thankfully is not dressing or undressing herself yet. A couple of weeks ago we tried potty training. After about a day, I realized that she showed signs of physical control over her bladder--like doing the potty dance. However, after about 5 days of potty training we went back to diapers. She has great control but for whatever reason just doesn't want to use the potty (neither big or little). I can lead her to the potty, but I can't make her go. For now we are back in diapers and hopefully she'll show more interest in actually using the toilet soon. Happy Birthday my sweet baby.

Thanksgiving 2009

We were very fortunate to have Becky's Dad fly down Monday and her sister and her family drive out on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving in Texas.

Last year our back door neighbor deep fried his turkey and gave us a leg to try and it was so yummy. This year we decided we'd try it out with our turkey (and our neighbor's deep fryer). It was so fast, plus left the oven empty for cooking other stuff. Our turkey was oh so scrumptous!! I was counting on having leftovers for at least 2-3 days, but we ran out of turkey Friday night (which was kinda skimpy). Shawn had to inject the turkey with creole butter and season it before the fryer.

Shawn made homemade apple pie and Nate (Melinda's husband) got the job of peeling and coring the apples while Dad got the clean up job. Isn't wonderful how well we work together?
While waiting for lunch, the kids made a fun and yummy treat of oreo turkeys. Thanks to my sister for the idea and supplies.
The kids with their oreo turkeys.
My sister and I spent the whole evening preparing for our black Friday shopping. We pulled our first all-nighter with the first store opening at midnight. We pulled into the parking lot of Toys R Us and decided to skip it and went and sat in line at Old Navy for 3 hours. A sweet teenage girl gave us a blanket to help keep us warm since we were so unprepared for waiting in line for 3 hours, which never was in our plan of action for the night. In the future, waiting for 3 hours is not worth the savings. I'll pay more money next year so I can sleep in my nice warm bed instead of sitting in line all night.