Manda Mumbo Jumbo

The Choo-Choo Train Table Day (and the day before).

2012-01-20T14:00:00.001-05:00

Here are more Christmas pictures and this still isn't half of them! The pictures in this post are from the 23rd and 24th and all the Spiers' family activities that we crammed into those two days. On the 23rd, we bundled up (but not too much because of this unusually mild winter) and spent the evening at Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. We have decided to make this trip a tradition but we have also decided to only do it on a week night or after Christmas from now on. We had a wonderful time but it was very crowded this year compared to last year when Matt, Callie and I went on a Wednesday night. The main agenda for the evening was to get Santa to sign Callie's cast, and that we accomplished and we have some really sweet pictures to remember it by. Callie also enjoyed this trip because she was old enough to ride a few of the little rides and also because she is extremely into Christmas lights! Then next day, Christmas Eve, was packed full of present opening and eating and visiting with Pa and the crew in Carson. We started off the day with opening our presents from Mimi and Yoo-Hoo and each other. Then, we rushed around to shower and prepare food for Pa's house and had a great evening spending time with Matt and Michelle's cousins and spouses, uncle and, of course, Pa. The highlight of Christmas Eve for Callie was no doubt getting a train table from Pa. She had been asking for one for months and that was what she told Santa she wanted. I think she was a little confused about the logistics of Santa and Pa and how they worked together to get her the table, but now, when I ask her, she always says that Pa got it for her and I think this will be a Christmas Eve she will always remember. And since we have a ridiculous amount of video and photos of her opening the train table, I don't think she has a choice about remembering!

Aunt Missy, Uncle Scott and Wrigley arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Friday so Callie was excited to see them when she woke up on the morning and to show Missy her cast.

And, of course, Callie couldn't wait to show both of them her puzzles.

Callie and Wrigley have the same amount of energy and could chase each other for hours!

Christmas Town:

Christmas Town's new addition this year was the lighting of the Pompei area. It was really impressive to see in person.

Callie immediately wanted to ride something! Other than the carousel, this was her first official theme park ride.

And she loved it! (I kinda did too!)

We all got a little tired of standing in lines that night! Especially Mimi and Yoo-Hoo who stood in the Santa line for us for almost an hour before we even joined them!

The penguins were back this year. They stink but they are also stinkin' cute!

Speaking of so stinkin' cute...how cute are we in our winter garb!?

Enjoying the lights with Daddy!

It never got really cold but Callie was prepared!

Some more cuties!

Even with her cast she was hard to keep up with!

Sparkle, the Elf, was also a big hit with Callie and signed her cast. Later, when she would show people where Santa signed, she would also show where Sparkle signed.

Christmas Eve Morning:

Callie begged to open presents from the moment we arrived in Richmond so she was more than ready to start passing them out on Christmas Eve morning.

Wrigley was also very into the present opening.

This is the only picture I am posting of Yoo-Hoo and so it can just be considered payback for all the bad pictures he takes of me (more on that later!).

Eventually, Wrigley had to go hang out upstairs because she was just long and lanky for the space and, well, her silent but deadly gifts to us were not appreciated by any of us!

Beer...Scott said it was his "choo-choo train table" gift!

Callie got her own pair of scrubs with her name on them from Dr. Uncle Scott and Aunt Missy!

...and a doctor's kit!

Team doctor perhaps??? Daddy would love that!

Callie's response to most gifts this year was, "For me???"

Callie already new all about this bracelet that Mimi and Yoo-Hoo got Missy because she had opened it the day before when we left her unattended in the living room! Of all the gifts, she went right for the jewelry! Even little girls know that those little boxes are the best!

Another Peanuts character for Daddy's (or maybe Callie's) collection.

Callie also loved her light-up princess suitcase!

Callie and Missy made Reindeer cupcakes to take to Pa's. They were so cute and Callie would put each one up to her mouth and pretend to eat it before putting it in the container. She had to wait until she got to Pa's and ate supper before she could have one and she could barely stand it!

Christmas Eve Night at Pa's House:

What could possibly be in this big box! Since Mimi likes to wrap Callie and Aunt Missy's presents in princess paper, Callie assumed this big present was for Missy instead!

I don't have a good picture of her initial reaction but we do have video and she jumped and down (as much as she could in her cast) and squealed when she saw it was a train table.

Callie wasn't the only person who enjoyed playing with it!

Big hug and thank you!

Callie also enjoyed helping Pa open his gifts.

She got two different plush princesses this year and she sleeps with both of them.

Pa and his boys...

A few of the other usual suspects...

Some final snuggle time with Missy and Uncle Scott (we left that night to drive home so Callie had to say goodbye to them at Pa's.)

And some kisses for Wrigley.

Callie Loves Pa!

Someone let in a ferocious T-Rex!

A few attempts at keeping a dog and a toddler still for a picture...

And then it was time to disassemble the table so that Yoo-Hoo could load it up and bring it to our house the next day. Callie was confused by this and told me that night, once we got home, that she hoped Santa would bring her a train table on Christmas morning. I don't think she completely understood that the train table was hers and not Pa's until it was delivered and set up in our living room. She has played with it a long time almost everyday and is currently telling her trains to "stay on the track" as I write this blog post. It is definitely the gift that keeps on giving...for me!

Callie was a great help...

...Mommy was not much help but at least I held the directions for them!`````

It was an busy two days and then we had to drive all the way home, but it was a lot of fun! One day I am going to put on an exhibit of all the unflattering pictures Steve takes of people, mostly of me!

When It Was Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

2012-01-10T16:21:00.002-05:00

We have had a very full and fun holiday season and there are over a thousand pictures of all our events for me to sort through! It is fun looking back through them all, though, and it helps me to realize how many wonderful people we have in our lives and how gracious God has been to us during Callie's recovery from her broken leg. She is scheduled to have it removed in three days (her cast, not her leg!) and we are very excited! She has done amazingly well with her little handicap and it really hasn't slowed her down much. Having so much to occupy her through the month of December really helped it to go by faster. Here are some of the happenings for us from mid-December and up to the week before Christmas. And, of course, there will be a bunch more posts to follow of all our Christmas activities.

Christmas Portraits: We actually had these pictures taken in November to give as gifts and to use in our Christmas cards. Good thing we got them taken when we did because shortly afterwards, she got a stomach virus, a cold and then broke her leg.

Our Grace Presbyterian Family: We were overwhelmed with support, prayers and donations of toys to help keep Callie occupied during her time with the cast. I asked for some loans of puzzles or videos and ended up coming home from church with a car full of them! Callie could barely wait to start working them and pulled them out in the entryway as soon as we stepped into the house. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful and loving church family! (side note: I cut about three inches off Callie's hair soon after this picture, as you can see in other pics in this post.)

Special Friends: Callie has two favorite people her age. Her cousin Brighton, who she always connects with immediately, and her local "bestie" Sara. She and Sara have the normal love-scream "mine!"-then hug it out toddler relationship. Sara is a December baby so Callie got to enjoy an evening eating pink princess cake and helping unwrap presents with Sara and her brothers. We gave Sara a princess castle that Callie was obviously envious of! Good thing Mommy was already planning to give her one for Christmas!

This is Callie and Sara at our house enjoying their nuggets and fries and what I am sure is some very intelligent conversation. Sara comes over pretty regularly now for play dates since I am finding it is easier to get things done around here with two toddlers who can occupy each other rather than one just following me around and begging for attention.

Decorating: Callie especially loved decorating for Christmas this year. I put one of our trees up while she was napping and when she woke up and saw it she squealed with glee like it was the best thing she had ever seen. She was also a great help. She put a good amount of the ornaments on herself and we had a great time laughing at her particular placements of several of them. She would usually hang five or six ornaments on one spot on the garland. We would wait until later to space them out.

She put Indiana Jones right beside Barbie in this position all on her own. I was able to get a quick picture before she added four more ornaments to that spot!

And naturally, the Hokie helmet goes on C3-PO!

Callie also helped me with two other trees. She put the little bulbs on the ceramic one, just like I always did when I was little. And she also enjoyed bringing me each of the different limbs for the smaller artificial tree we use in the living room. She helped organize all the limbs into pile by their colored tags and all I would have to do is ask for a several of whatever color and she would bring them to me. It made putting that tree up so much easier! I can't wait to see what kind of help she will be next year! (These picture are also pre-haircut, but you can see the difference in the next pictures.)

My Little Elf: Callie was also a great help with making and wrapping presents. She painted three birdhouses for Nana, Yoo-Hoo and Ma-maw and she was in charge of putting the bows on the presents I wrapped. Several presents were wrapped mostly by her. Those were pretty obvious because they have more than one kind of wrapping paper on them.

Uncle Donnie's Visit: The week before Christmas, Matt's uncle Donnie came in to visit from Missouri. He brought Pa up to Richmond for a nice dinner at Matt's parents' house. Callie and Pa had a great time working puzzles together. He tickled her for every piece she got right, and since she is very good at puzzles, that was a lot of tickles! This weekend visit to Richmond also give Callie and Mimi a chance to make their annual gingerbread cookies and then enjoy the results, over and over again!

Christmas Houses: This will always be a year we will remember as the one where Callie first really started appreciating outdoor Christmas lights. She first started calling them "Halloween Houses" because she thought they were leftover lights from the previous holiday. But once we corrected her, "here's a Christmas house!" became her mantra during all evening car rides. We went, one evening, to have dinner at Friendly's in Chesapeake (the night she broke her leg, actually) and just in that 15-20 minute ride, I counted over 70 "here's a Christmas house!" statements. She was practically out of breath from pointing them all out. So she especially enjoyed Yoo-Hoo's annual Tacky Lights of Richmond tour this year. We were able to fit that in to the same weekend as Donnie and Pa's visit.

All bundled up and ready to go!

Describing to Daddy that she was going to see "big Christmas building with lights!"

Walking up to the house... with practically everyone else in Richmond. We have really watched these two father and son houses gain in popularity over the years. Now you can't even park close because of all the limos and charter buses.

They use a cherry-picker to put decorate every major limb of the tree.

One happy little girl!

Callie Meets Santa

2011-12-24T00:40:00.006-05:00

Here are some photos of Callie and Santa to hold you over until I have time to write about all of our Christmas festivities this year. Merry Christmas!

The Broken, the Healing, and the Made Whole

2011-12-10T00:17:00.001-05:00

It has been a very tough last few weeks and this will likely be a very long post. We have not had the typical start to our holiday season that we expected. As we entered the week of Thanksgiving, we were already weary and worried because of a stomach virus that Callie had come down with at the end of the previous week. She continued to suffer from the virus even as we left for my parents house on that Wednesday. We thought she was improving but we ended up experiencing the longest trip to the lake so far because she whined and cried and seemed on the verge of vomiting the whole trip. She also had a terrible diaper rash that made it painful for her to sit for such a long time. Once we arrived at the lake, we discovered that she had a high fever that would not subside with just medicine and we had to put her in cold bath to bring it down. We were still worried about Callie's condition on Thanksgiving morning when we got a call from Sharon, Grandma's caretaker, that Grandma had finally stopped fighting the chronic infections she has had for the last year and had taken her last breath. Thankfully, Callie improved that day and we managed to put together a late Thanksgiving dinner after Mom and Dad returned from Sharon's house. We were all stressed, tired (and Mom and I were sick to our stomachs) throughout the Thanksgiving weekend as we prepared for Grandma's viewing and grave-side funeral. I was very proud of how my Mom held it together and made so many important decisions. Seeing family and spending time catching up with them was a highlight of the weekend but we were very much missing Becky and her family who were not able to fly in from Utah. Dreama and Steve came in to babysit Callie for us during the times we needed to be in Roanoke. Dreama was the angel of the weekend, working without complaint behind the scenes, cleaning and making delicious food. Matt, Callie and I got on the road Monday evening for what we hoped would be a relaxing drive to Richmond to spend the night and then head home the next day. But our trip was complicated by a minor accident at a Wendy's where a broken hinge caused a heavy door to slam into Callie's head. She was in pain the rest of the trip and ended up getting carsick about 15 minutes from Matt's parents' house. Next came arriving home on Tuesday and realizing that Callie and I were both coming down with messy colds. We spent a few days house bound and snotty and were finally getting back to normal by the beginning of this week. But this past Tuesday, Dec. 6th, while walking around on the deck and playing with leaves, Callie slipped and fell and then cried that cry that all parents know means trouble. We rushed her to the ER and spent almost four hours there, returning home after 1 a.m. with a pitiful little girl in pain and wearing a splint. Her very uneventful fall was just enough to cause a spiral fracture up her tibia (shin bone), a common injury for toddlers.

The title of this blog post is, "The Broken, the Healing, and the Made Whole". The broken is our baby's precious little leg, our hearts over the loss of my beautiful, sassy and always smiling Grandma and our various illnesses during the last few weeks. But Callie is on the mend and is healing quickly. She got her purple cast today (the color she requested) and is already walking around on it. The doctors say she will recover completely and will be back to normal as soon as the cast comes off in five weeks. We are over our colds and viruses and will hopefully have stronger immune systems this winter. Our family is also healing from the loss of Grandma because, only days after her death, there was a celebration of life. My cousin Ashley had a baby girl and named her Everly Lauvon after my Grandmother Lauvon Catherine (Bonnie) Worley. The made whole is my Grandmother. She had been suffering from dimensia and various ailments for years. She didn't always recognize me when I visited and was thinner and weaker every time I saw her. But she is no longer suffering. She has been made whole and is in the presence of our Lord Jesus and we are celebrating that. And we are celebrating that our baby girl will heal up and be whole again and that all of our illnesses are only minor bumps in the road and nothing serious. So, even though it has been a rough few weeks, we are finding our silver lining and counting our blessings.

This picture was taken before Thanksgiving and before the stomach virus. Callie and I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies together. She helped me by putting what she thought we needed on the counter. Her ingredients included bold Chex Mix and granola bars. Notice we also don't have a "No Shoes, No Pants, No Baking" rule in our kitchen!

After Callie's fever went down, she and Nana prepared the turkey centerpiece decorations for the next day.

Papa also had a project.

And Daddy did what Daddy does best!

Callie LOVES pomegranate seeds. She also loves to share them, especially with her Great-Uncle Bruce.

I love this picture because I remember carrying Alex around when he was that age. I know that makes me sound very old!

Ashley and Everly.

Alex and his adorable girlfriend Alli.

Meeting of the Cousins.

Those fine little lines on her shin bone is the break.

Hanging out with Mimi. Matt's parents were already here when Callie broke her leg. Their short visit was extended by several days. They were a big help because Callie needed constant attention and had to be carried everywhere while in the sling.

Back to bathing in the sink! Thankfully, Callie's cast is waterproof so we will be able to bathe her normally now.

Callie's boys were very concerned about her boo boo.

"Ready for my pupple cast, Mommy!"

Her leg was so itchy after taking off the splint.

Talking to Dr. Fox.

They were amazed by how good she was. She remained perfectly still the entire time.

Looking at the bone poster with Daddy.

Daddy was so proud of his brave little girl!

She has a little shoe we can put on to help her walk. She didn't waste any time getting to the walking either. By bedtime, she was moving around the house pretty well and even crawled out of her bed and came to look for us once.

Her "baby toes" as she calls them. I later painted them purple at her request. And we also made a shopping trip to Kohl's to buy some wide-leg jammies and some leg warmers for the other leg. She can fit in a few pairs of pants but will be wearing a lot more dresses and skirts.

She asked Daddy to hold Chester in place and then said, "Daddy take picture???" She is becoming a camera ham!

All Aboard the Zoo-Choo Train

2011-12-05T09:58:00.001-05:00

Callie loves the zoo and Callie LOVES trains. If you ask her what she wants for Christmas she will immediately say, "Choo Choo Rain" and she means the big table with all the tracks and trains on it. We recently spent one pleasant afternoon at the zoo with Mimi and Yoo-Hoo where Callie got to ride the train. It was a perfect day because it was after the big Zoo-Boo Halloween crowds and so there were very few other people around. We are zoo members so we hope to spend some more pleasant winter afternoons with some of our favorite furry and scaly friends.

This was my favorite zoo friend of the day. I love his color and am just amazed at how many times he can fold himself up. I guess it's comfy...but it reminds me of those days where I eat too much and my tummy is spilling over the top of my jeans!

Callie may be turning into "Little Miss Independent" but she still wants her daddy time.

It was a little difficult to all stay on the turtle!

Just a group of playful otters out on a nice day! The real otters were hibernating.

When Callie saw we were nearing this cavernous lion enclosure, she asked if that was where the dinosaurs were!

Oh boy! Train time!

Kisses for Daddy.

Poor Yoo-Hoo has to contort himself much like that snake to make sure Callie can reach one of his fingers to hold. You should see how he has to twist his arm from the passenger seat of the car to reach back to her car-seat. Mimi and I have to lay down the law on the hand-holding while he is driving, though! In those instances, she will resign herself to holding Mimi or Mommy's hand!

And speaking of fuzzy friends, here are a few pictures of Callie and her fuzzy brothers. She regularly says that she "wuvs" them now. She will throw herself on one of them and say, "Aww, Wuv Ollie" (or Poe Poe or Hecker - she can't say Chester yet) as she flattens whichever unsuspecting napping feline she encouters. Both Poe and Ollie will patiently lay there while she loves on them. Chester is still afraid of her and that makes him her favorite one to chase since he is always running from her. He doesn't get mad at her or strike at her, but he will run and hide as soon as he wiggles out from under her. Ollie has surprised us the most. He is the least tolerant cat we have but he LOVES Callie and is happy to be her pillow any time she wants. He is usually purring away even when she is trying to ride him like a horse. And he misses her at night and nap time and frequently gets in trouble for standing in her doorway and meowing. We call him our rooster. It's cute but very annoying!

They will lay like this for a long time. Sometimes she demands that he sit by her when she is playing in the floor. That is when I think she really needs a dog because cats are just not THAT obedient.

My poor childhood pet, Zack, had to wear lots of different outfits. Not sure Ollie will put up with too many wardrobe changes the way Zacky-Dog did, but at least he does do hats!

And when Ollie won't wear one, she knows Yoo-Hoo will!

Ollie even gets the pleasure of "flying" in the laundry basket with Callie. Matt's mouth looks funny in this picture because he has to make constant WWII fighter jet noises.

Chester is a sitting duck when he gets on Mommy's lap. Callie often asks me to hold him in place for her since she can't usually catch him herself.

Happy Hawoween!

2011-11-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

Our little Butterfly Princess had a wonderful Halloween this year! She loved dressing up and going to houses (every house she called a "hawoween house" whether it had decorations or not.) She had no problem marching up the front steps to each door and knocking. But once someone came to the door, she got very shy and had to be coached to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you." She eventually got bolder and was saying it more and more on her own. And sometimes she would practically shout, "Happy Hawoween" at people, sometimes multiple times. She was always on the hunt for a "hawoween dog" at any house and she did get to see a few dogs in costumes. It didn't matter whether they dressed up for her or not, she is always happy to see a dog. She got a lot of comments from people who answered the door and other trick or treaters on how cute she looked. Her outfit was a combination of cheapy store finds. The dress was from the beach -- just a generic princess dress from Tuesday Morning. The wings (or butterfly) were a yard ornament that I found at Ross in the clearance section. A little strap adjustment on the dress and some straps sewn onto the butterfly and we had the costume that Callie had requested. She and I painted some wooden beads metallic purple and I made some antenna out of pipe cleaners and a head band. Fortunately, it was an outfit that could be worn over all types of clothing so it worked for the cooler evening. The weather was cool but not rainy and even though she had the beginnings of a cold, she wasn't too sick this year to trick or treat. She did end up getting sicker the next day and was sick the rest of the week but it was a mild and short-lived cold. Eventually, our little butterfly princess pooped out on us and Matt had to carry her home. Callie considered the evening a success because she got a lot of suckers, which are her favorite kind of candy right now. And I have learned to always put her hair in a pony-tail when she is eating a sucker!

This first picture and video are from our time in Richmond a few weeks before. Mimi surprised Callie with the witch towel after bath time. I couldn't get enough of her trying to say "witch"! Her little mouth is just the cutest thing!

These next photos were taken during a little photoshoot at a local children's boutique here.

In addition to trick or treating in the neighborhood, Callie also got to go to Matt's office again this year. She always loves going to Daddy's office and Daddy enjoys showing off his girl. Daddy has some interesting co-workers.

I went as a housewife who actually put on make-up that day.

Such a big girl, ready to go out in the neighborhood!

Bob and Diane's house across the street was the first stop. Callie loves going over there because they have two huge Dobermans.

Those wings were quite a load for her to carry and they made it difficult to maneuver in narrow spaces. Not to mention the antenna were floppy and the headband was spikey. But certain sacrifices of comfort are always made for a good costume!

Time to fly home!

Almost as cute from the back!

What a fun night!

Zippity Do Da!!!

2011-11-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, as usual for Fall and football season, we have been zipping in and out of town a lot. Besides just going to games, we have been able to spend time in Richmond with Mimi and Yoo-Hoo and Nana and Papa. My dad had a conference and Richmond that coincided with Dreama's birthday and a baby shower for my cousin, Katie. So one extended weekend was spent celebrating and attending all those various events. That was also the grand opening of what I am now tagging as "Zippity Yoo-Hoo Adventure Land". Yoo-Hoo unveiled his latest invention -- a zip line across the backyard for Callie! Callie loves it and woke up one morning while we were there and the first thing out of her mouth was "Car go fast." I couldn't figure out what she was referring to, thinking she wanted to go somewhere, but finally realized she was asking to go out on her zipline because the swing attached to it looks like a car. Again, like the slide that Papa built for the grandkids at the lake, this zip line is not adult friendly and even though I thoroughly enjoy watching Callie ride on it, I have to admit that I am a tad jealous!

Other weekend travels included a trip to Bburg for a game that Michelle was able to drive in for. Callie enjoyed that weekend especially because Aunt Missy brought her dog, Wrigley, with her. Callie and Wrigley loved chasing each other around Ma-maws house. It was the weekend of dogs because Callie also got to see new born puppies that her favorite "mountain" dog, Princess Penny (our name for her) had just given birth to the week before. And speaking of giving birth, Callie and I also drove to Roanoke that weekend for a baby shower for my cousin Ashley who is due to pop later this month. It was great to be around some Worley's again.

Ready?

Set?

Here she goes!

Yoo-Hoo gets his exercise because he has to run after her and hold the rope so that she slows down before hitting the fence on the other side.

Then, he pulls her back across the yard and they start all over again! Usually, Yoo-Hoo is dripping with sweat by the time Callie finally gives him permission to stop.

Going backwards slowly is not nearly as fun, apparently!

Still pictures just don't do it justice so here is a video as well:

Puppies!!! If anyone reading this wants a good mutt (Shepherd-Dauchtsung Mix) these little guys will need good homes very soon. And their momma is precious too!

Cousin Ashley and baby Everly (in belly)

A bunch of Worley-Girls!

And...a more natural pose.

While at the shower, Callie got some Nana time but a whole lotta Papa time because he kept her occupied in the church playground for hours!

Today, a T-Rex, Tomorrow a Princess, but Always a Fun-Loving Little Angel!

2011-11-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a collection of random events this fall and my update on Callie's favorite things as of late. She still loves Mickey and she still loves Princess things but she now loves dinosaurs more than either, I think. She sleeps with a very pointy and hard plastic triceratops toy that she named Sara. She also has a new stuffed bear she named Fluffy and even more recently has rediscovered her Snoopy stuffed animal. Her pacifiers are still her favorite things to hold in bed, unfortunately. We haven't been successful of ridding her of those yet. Besides watching dinosaur shows, Callie loves to wrestle or "eccercise" with Daddy and they take turns being a t-rex and triceratops. Callie also loves to play hide and seek. She counts only to two or three (but in her special number language) and then slurs out "ready not! Here-a-come!" and so Matt and I have learned to be very fast hiders. When it is her turn, we still have to pretend to not find her for a while but she is branching out into new hiding spots and finally getting the idea that a good place to hide is not where Mommy or Daddy just hid the time before. Sometimes she gets very creative and sometimes she almost scares us because she hid too well. Callie's verbal skills are improving daily and she can say almost anything she wants to now, it just isn't always understood by everyone but Mommy. I seem to have the "gift of Callie tongues" if you want to put it in Biblical terms or you could say I speak "toddler-tongue" if you prefer a Harry Potter reference. Either way you put it, I am the only one who understands her 95% of the time, but that is probably a normal mommy thing. She is picking up all kinds of saying from us, TV and other kids and is constantly surprising us with new sayings. She is also mimicking us and repeating things we say when we didn't even think she was listening, so we are having to be much more careful of what we say. She is getting quite bold in her comments too. One day she told Mimi to "hop to it" when she was running into the grocery store while the rest of us waited in the car. She regularly tells me that I am a "silly mommy", and I don't know where she gets that from because I haven't been silly a day in my life ;) Last night she amused us by yelling "yikes" over and over when Matt was chasing her. And then, later that evening, she responded to his nagging of her to eat more of her dinner with "all right, all right!" in a very teenager tone. But the best is that she is learning to say "I love you" or "I wuuv ooo" and no matter how it comes out, she melts us every time!

Our little Callie Mae, looking very Ellie Mae Clampitt-esque in her hat and pig tails.

Callie loves to play with binoculars, both real and toy ones. Sometimes she takes them with her in the car and looks at other cars through them. Thank God for tinted windows. I just sit there laughing as she yells, "Ook, Mommy, a car!" and points to a car right next to us as we sit in traffic.

One of her recent clever hiding spots!

Daddy didn't fit as well.

But he did fit under the bed pretty well! (Notice the beer! Nothing like opening up a cold one and squeezing under a bed after a hard day of work!)

Callie had no trouble finding him!

Her old gym closed down but she is now enjoying a membership at the Little Gym thanks to Mimi and Yoo-Hoo. They are much more gymnastics oriented and she is learning a lot of new skills.

She likes to try out her new skills at home. Fortunately, one thing they teach is how to land properly after jumping off objects. Callie's preferred method is to land flat on her bottom which will hurt a lot more once she is out of diapers!

These pictures were taken during a drizzly Sunday afternoon Pa visit for his birthday.

Callie loves to go across the street to play with Savannah and Savannah needs the exercise!

Helping Pa with his lotto scratchers.

Callie loves to play dress-up now and is even trying to put some things on by herself. She also likes to take her clothes off which means we are surprised by a little streaker at times. This princess outfit has been passed on to Callie's friend, Sara and is her new favorite thing to wear.

This is Callie's t-rex outfit. I think it is supposed to be a dragon. It is an after-Halloween bargain from Mimi

Speaking of Callie's friend Sara, she and Callie have had some fun times together recently. One of those times was a dress-up play date at our house. This is what it looks like when a tiger and a t-rex try to hug.

Callie greeted Sara at the front door by pointing at her and demanding, "Tiger". But Callie did allow Sara to wear some other costumes too!

Another fun time with Sara was when we took them both to see Elmo Live! They loved the first half and then both broke down and cried or whined so much for the second half that we left early. But the tickets were a gift from someone at Matt's gym so it was a fun outing.

If you ask Callie who her best friend is, she will say Sara. They hug each other regularly and always have a great time. We are blessed to have such good friends here. They aren't easy to come by, that's for sure! Incidentally, Mary and I get along pretty good too! We don't share princess costumes, though.

And finally, Callie LOVES her cats, as usual. But they love her more and more everyday. I think I have mentioned before that Ollie meows outside her bedroom door when she is sleeping because he misses her and wants her to get up. We call him "the rooster". And even Chester is sitting still long enough for her to hug him now and then. The other day, she told me she wanted her diaper off and said that she wanted to go potty in the litter box with Chester (or "Hecker"). I guess that is always an option if I can't convince her to go on the actual potty!

Safe and Sound in South Carolina

2011-11-06T01:24:00.001-04:00

I am still back-blogging and I am determined to keep things in order because it makes it so much easier for me when I go back and make my blog books at the end of the year. So everyone will just have to SUFFER through reliving our vacation to North Myrtle Beach in late August. There was a little scheduling "mix-up" that resulted in Mimi and Yoo-Hoo having two weeks in a row at their condo (or should I say, "Callie's Beeps [Beach] House" because that is she calls it!). So, Callie, Mimi, Yoo-Hoo and I went down for the entire two weeks. It was so relaxing to know that we didn't have to rush to do anything and it was also very nice to not have to sadly count down the days. It was just the four of us for most of the first week and then Matt picked Michelle up at the Richmond Airport and they drove down and joined us on Saturday. Scott flew in a few days later and then we finally got to enjoy a few days of everyone being together before a VERY chaotic end to the vacation. Overall, it was a great time. The weather was perfect (besides the hurricane!) and it wasn't crowded because most schools had started back by then. We did miss experiencing our first significant earthquake, which Matt was disappointed about. There was a big one in Virginia that had several aftershocks with it and people felt it from Giles to Virginia Beach and up and down into other states. But we didn't miss all the natural disasters. Hurricane Irene came rolling in on the second Friday. We were safer in SC so we stayed put and watched it from our perch on the 5th floor. It was scary at times, mostly because of the wind, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what Matt experienced in Richmond (he had gone back early for his Fantasy Football Draft) or as what Pa experienced in Carson. Those parts of Virginia had a lot of tree damage. The hurricane also resulted in a very difficult journey home for Michelle and Scott. Their flight out of Myrtle was canceled and they had to rent a car and drive straight through to Chicago to pick up their car before going home to Indy. But everyone made it home safe and with no damage from the storm or earthquake. We fully expected to return home to a week without power but our neighbor said it didn't even flicker once. I was so happy to come home to a normal house after two weeks away.

This is the entrance to one of those cheapy beach stores that Callie loved! We had to stop and get our picture made with it BEFORE Aunt Missy arrived because she has a little phobia of "big" things.

Daddy and Aunt Missy arrived during naptime and Callie enjoyed that surprise very much!

This year, Callie slept on her very own air mattress on the floor. She decided she was done with crib confinement just weeks before this vacation so she now has this princess bed for her visits with Mimi and Yoo-Hoo. Not that she always slept ON the bed...

The Mall down the street from the condo had a train. Callie got to ride it many times because we love the Belk in that mall!

Callie loved driving around and looking at all the restaurants and putt-putt places, this year. She always knew when we were about to pass a giant crab, shark, pirate ship or plane. Her favorite was this dinosaur putt-putt place and so we took her one VERY HOT morning to play her first game of vacation miniature golf. She lasted one hole and then spent the rest of the time trying to climb, run or sneak to where ever there was a dinosaur.

She loved the colored water and thought it was hilarious to throw her ball in it.

Callie was her normal mermaid self. She loved the hot tub and made Yoo-Hoo chase her in and out of it, alternating with dips in the cool pool water.

She really enjoyed the waves this year and was able to be a tiny bit more independent in them because of her life jacket.

The life-jacket also provided us with handles with which to catch her!

Poor Uncle Scott had knee surgery the week before coming to the beach so he wasn't able to frolic in the waves or the pool.

Callie got her first official princess dress-up costume. She loved it, needless to say. Mimi kept her very occupied with countless gifts and surprises!

She now thinks every dress is a princess dress. When I put on a dress to go out on a "date" with Matt one night, she even called me a Princess!

Her great-grandmother, Beulah Mae, would have loved Callie Mae's "earbobs"!

Callie "helped" us work a puzzle. She would force pieces together and cheer or hand one piece after another to me and ask where it went, expecting that I would find its spot immediately.

She got to put the last piece in so that she could feel like she did the whole thing.

That lobster claw turned out to be a her favorite toy!

Callie got plenty of snuggles!

She also got to compare boo-boos with Uncle Scott...

...and they both got a little work done.

More snuggles...

And then the bright skies turned dark and the wind got scary!

I think I am ready to join Jim Cantore and the weather channel team.

The water ended up covering the entire beach.

These guys thought it would be fun to ride some waves. They literally lasted five minutes before realizing it was a stupid idea.

We all enjoyed some treasure hunting the next morning. I naively dressed Callie in something other than a swimsuit since it was chilly. But that didn't stop her from throwing herself into a little tide pool for a swim.

That's my water-baby!

Looking Back to July and Lake Time!

2011-10-24T14:18:00.001-04:00

It is time to do some "back-blogging". Today, I am trying to remember back to July and our time at the lake with my family. It was the last road trip from Louisiana for my sister and her family. After they returned from Virginia, they had to pack up and move to Utah. It was a wonderful visit for the most part, except for one very bad incident that left poor Nana needing surgery for a broken ankle. But Nana made the most of it and the kids gave her lots of extra love and attention, so I think it turned out to be a successful Taylor lake "stay-cation" after all. One of the highlights of our time at the lake was how well Callie and Brighton got along. They just love each other and played constantly together. Will also enjoyed getting attention in the form of laughs from Callie. Callie finally got the hang of swimming (with a life jacket) and didn't ever want to leave the water. I enjoyed being able to watch her swim from the shore when I didn't feel like getting in. One afternoon, Becky and I sat on a bench and watched Callie and Brighton "race" into the cove over and over. I will post the video. Another highlight for the kids was the big slide that Papa built for THEM. I emphasized the word THEM because, after begging Dad for a slide for most of our lives, he finally built one that can be used on land or off the dock. The only problem is that the slide is too narrow for Becky and my hips! This made us a little bitter. We found a way around it but riding down the slide on a folded up life jacket, but we still brought up the cruelty of it all often! Here are some pics of all the fun...

At some point, Will skinned his finger. Matt pushed on it and made it stop bleeding. Now Will talks about how Uncle Matt is "some kind of magic!"

Magic Uncle Matt

Callie fell asleep with a cookie in her hand.

Callie didn't love boat rides this year. She found them boring and frustrating because she just wanted to move around.

Rainy day craft time with Nana!

Callie enjoying a rare moment of play time by her self.

Brighton and Callie were extra destructive and messy when they were together!

Brighton brought along her collection of Princess shoes and wands to share with Callie.

Just look at those little chubby toes smooshed in those plastic shoes!

We celebrated Will's birthday a little early since none of us would be around for his actually day.

This was a common sight - three little heads on the other side of the counter, raiding the snack drawer without permission.

Callie was still in her "self-drawn whisker" phase.

Mom and Dad created the perfect nap spot for Uncle Nap (what Brighton calls him.) Brighton would randomly announce that Uncle Nap was awake when he was up and walking around. Matt's reputation really does precede him!

A few quiet moments with Nana.

Best Buddies

Callie was regularly exhausted because she refused to go to bed at night!

Poor Nana, exhausted after her night in the E.R.

Making the most of Nana's constant sedentary position!

We did our annual photo shoot in matching dresses. They were sooo cute together!

I can't wait until Callie gets to see her cousins again. I just know they will pick up where they left off with no hesitation.

The Hokies Kick Some and We Visit Some...

2011-10-09T23:07:00.002-04:00

I have given up on blogging in order and have decided to just start with the recent and then I will go back and fill in what I missed this summer. Tonight's post is from the weekend of September 16th. Callie and I first went to the lake for a very quick visit with Nana and Papa. And then we met Matt, Mimi and Yoo-Hoo inBlacksburg for Callie and my one home of the season. Matt goes regularly, but Callie and I prefer to visit Lane Stadium only once a year. Besides going to the game, we were also able to visit my friend Sarah and see her new "babies". She has recently added several miniature donkeys (called wooly asses) and one mammoth donkey to her extensive equine collection. I was dying to see these new babies and Callie loves going to Sarah's house to visit her horses. On Saturday, we went to the Tech vs. Arkansas State game. The Hokies won by a lot which made it easier to leave at half-time once the novelty of being at a game had worn off for Callie. She really did enjoy it, clapped a lot, giggled and bounced during "Enter Sandman" at the beginning and especially loved seeing the band and the tubas. She made it onto the jumbo-tron once again this year but she was too busy coloring to notice.

The weather at the lake was very warm but it turned really cold overnight which made for a very chilly visit to the NRV. Callie enjoyed outside time at the lake, including swimming and some croquet. Nana's leg was healed enough for a swim.

Yoo-Hoo came along for the donkey visit too.

Gives new meaning to the term "cow-lick".

Giving baby Valentino a big hug.

Valentino might seem like a normal donkey size but he is a Mammoth Donkey and will get bigger than a horse when full grown.

Meeting Pippa who was born the day of the Royal Wedding. My name suggestion was "Duch-ass" but Sarah thought Pippa was a much more civilized name for a donkey.

Nice ass Sarah! (Sorry, could not resist!)

This little guy is Frosty. He has been mistreated in his previous homes and Sarah has taken him. He is very shy but he let Matt love on him some.

Callie loved the horses and donkeys but she also loves rolling in the grass and playing with the gravel in the corral.

And, of course, Sarah let Callie sit on the sweetest horse in the world and, of course, Callie loved it!

Thank you Sarah! I miss you very very much!

This is about how interested I am in what's going on too. And Yoo-Hoo is just faking interest.

Here is a video of Callie and Daddy jumping to "Enter Sandman" as the team ran out.

When we left the stadium, we got an unexpected treat - a ride up the hill to our car in the BT. Callie LOVED this! And so did Ma-Maw. Otherwise, it was going to be a very long walk!

Flower Girl Part 2 - Meredith and Ben's Wedding, July 2, 2011

2011-09-23T12:36:00.001-04:00

Callie had another opportunity, this summer, to wear a princess dress and try to steal the bride's spotlight. She was the flower girl in Matt's cousin Meredith's outdoor wedding this past July. The location was Aunt Laura's family property in Giles Co., a beautiful setting by the creek. It was a gorgeous wedding, perfect weather (maybe just a little too hot, but no rain despite the forecast for it!) and everyone had a wonderful time. Callie was a little more distracted at this wedding, probably because she was outside and she was a little hot and fussy. I escorted her and the ring bearer, Meredith's cousin David, down the hill to the ceremony and then let Callie and David go on their own after crossing the bridge. Callie stopped and dumped out all her petals and feathers, but then, instead of prancing down the aisle like she did in Michelle's wedding, she stopped to play with the feathers and then wouldn't move. She had to be helped out of the aisle by Daddy, but the bride did not mind and Matt's Uncle Don said watching Callie's antics kept him from crying all the way to the little gazebo in the front. Callie, Grampy YooHoo and I sat under a tree during the ceremony and kept Callie busy with coloring. When it was time for her walk back up the aisle, she was must less enthused and I ended up having to carry her up. She didn't want to stop coloring. After pictures, I changed her into a cooler dress and she danced the night away under the tent. Thank you Meredith and Ben for letting Callie be part of your special day!

Practice makes perfect.

The creek was a big temptation for her!

Helping Ma-maw down the hill...isn't that cute!

She insists on looking at the pictures of herself after they have been taken.

Janny got some Callie time.

Callie was excited to get to spend the weekend in a hotel with Aunt Missy.

Cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Brie

I definitely got a good leg workout in that weekend with that hill!

Wedding time!...

I made these for Meredith's Bridal Luncheon but she was able to work them into the decor on the head table.

Pretty classy for Giles County ;)

Andrew and the Groom - both so handsome!

Meredith's cousin Kristin was looking way too grown up!

A few daddy-daughter tears were shed before the ceremony...

I only wore the hat a little...I promise. This picture reminds me of those you see in the tabloids of movie stars trying to hide from the paparazzi. At least that is what I thought I was. I did, unfortunately, come across this picture from a royal wedding blog of how NOT to wear a hat to a wedding. I am in denial...I think I rocked it...and I would wear this red and magenta outfit too! Check out those awesome shoes!

Callie's extra handsome escort...he definitely rocked that suit!

Proud, and exhausted, parents!

I gave them the award for the most romantic first married kiss of any wedding I have seen. Their response was that they have had lots of practice since they have dated since they were in Jr. High!

This is how Callie and I came up the aisle!

And this is why she didn't want to do pictures or anything else. She has to finish the entire book in one setting!

The outdoor setting and really creative photographers resulted in some unusual but adorable photos.!

the Little Princess...

Both of us princesses enjoyed a ride back up the hill!

This was the only oops of the evening! A combination of the uneven ground under the table, baker error and the heat caused the cake to be more Dr. Seuss than Martha Stewart. The top layer jumped for it before the reception started so cake cutting became the first order of business!

More plaques..

Callie got a few Daddy moments in.

And then lots of Yoo-Hoo and dance floor time!

Callie the Artist (creative adventures in June)

2011-07-30T19:38:00.001-04:00

To wrap up my June-blog blogging (just in time for August!), I wanted to write about all the changes we have seen in Callie lately and her very unique personality and style that is becoming more apparent to us each day. Callie definitely marches to her own beat and has specific likes and dislikes now. And one of those major "likes" is art. She may not look much like her mommy but she is certainly taking after me in that one area. She will color and color and color - intensely - for long periods of time. And it is not just scribbling all over a paper. She will pick one color that will be her main color for the day and she will color EVERYTHING that color. When she has finished a picture, there are no white spaces left inside the lines of the object she is coloring. This coloring in the lines came about fairly suddenly one day after she watched our friend Charlotte color. I have been teaching some art lessons off and on, as time permits this summer, and Callie loves to participate. She was already a good colorer for her age, but once she watched Charlotte color (Charlotte is 5), it was like something clicked in her mind and she new what to do from then on. The most stunning thing for us, though, has been her drawing ability. I know I sound like just another mom who is completely infatuated with her kid and thinks they are the best at everything. But Matt and I actually researched developmental stages of drawing and realized that Callie is on par with a 3-4 year olds in that area. She may not be completely understandable when she talks, although she is improving her verbal skills daily, but she is definitely ahead of the game when it comes to physical tasks and mental ones. She regularly amazes us with her problem solving and her creativity and quirkiness. Just take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself!...

Hard at work with watercolors at her art table which is now in the living room. Combining her art space and mine no longer works because she isn't satisfied with her art tools once she sees me working with mine!

Coloring on herself - she is really into body art. I think Matt's tattoo inspires her! She loves to look at it and trace it with her finger. Washable marker tattooing is the closest thing she will be getting EVER, if mommy has anything to do with it!

Matt drew a cat nose and whiskers on her one day and now she draws it on herself regularly and then walks around meowing. This is her version of whiskers and nose...and apparently a beard as well. She also decides at random times to act like a cat. One day it was when she was walking through Walmart with Matt. She bent over and started meowing. Matt just let her go with it until she dropped to her knees and wanted to crawl around the store!

Her biggest inspiration (pun intended!) is Oliver. The two have become very close. He meows around the house for her when we are sleeping because he wants her up. I think he will be her first bed buddy once she is in a big girl bed. Maybe then he will stop meowing. We call him our rooster. This picture was taken after she had finished making a pizza on Ollie's belly with her wooden pizza toy. The toppings fell off before I could get the picture.

Here is Callie coloring in the lines while working on her peacock picture (see previous post for backstory on the peacock.) You will also notice that she is a lefty. She got this from Matt's grandmother or my grandfather. No one else is a lefty in the family that we know about.

Here's her precious little hand stamping the eyes of the peacock feathers.

And here is her finished picture. We ended up making two. One for Daddy and one for Pa as Father's Day presents.

She also made Yoo-Hoo a mermaid picture (with lots of help from mommy!) and a flower picture for Mimi as a retirement present.

A quick side note: I started a new art blog called Manda Panda to keep track of my own whimsical paintings and kid's room decor and also as a place to post project ideas and things that Callie and other kids have done at my house. I will soon post the peacock project details so check it out and share with others.

One night, Callie was drawing on this posterboard. She first amazed us by drawing the oval object you can see in the middle. She added two eyes and a mouth to it and said it was a fish. I asked her to point out the eyes and mouth and she proved to us that she had intentionally drawn them. (the circle thing in the middle of the oval is a fin, I think.) But then she started drawing the object next to it. Matt watched her and thought to himself that it looked like a duck. Once Callie stopped drawing she looked up at him and said, "Daddy, guck guck" and pointed to the duck drawing. We both stared at it in disbelief. Here is a black and white version of it because it is hard to see in the orange she drew it in. You can see the duck body shape, a wing and then two eyes and a pointy beak. She loves ducks, including Daffy and Donald, and loves to visit the neighborhood ducks so it was not surprise that she drew one --just very surprising that she actually knew HOW to draw one!

And finally, to finish up my long list of bragging, here are some pictures of Callie doing some of the funny, quirky things she does.

Her wings she asked the balloon guy at Friendly's to make for her. She loves for Daddy to make her fly and can now almost say "butterfly" correctly!

Yoo-hoo hasn't gotten around to caning this little rocking chair, but that doesn't stop Callie from rocking in it!

She insisted on bathing with her new pool toy.

She loves hats and loves to pick out her own shoes. She went to AC Moore with me in the outfit above. Matt took this picture mostly because she was watching Star Wars and was loving it. He was so excited!

Here is her typical shoe choice. Rainboots and jammies go great together, don't you think?

Zoo Night in June

2011-07-29T18:25:00.000-04:00

I am in catch-up mode on this blog right now and this is the second post for the day. Be sure to look at older posts to make certain you didn't miss one. Before July ends, I hope to have completed all my blogging about June! And one event for us this June was the members-only night at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. It was a nice evening for a party with the animals. It wasn't too hot and the rain held off. We haven't been back since because the heat but hope to use the membership a lot in the milder weather months. Callie certainly loves it and Matt and I do too. Here are some pics from our zoo night.

Llama llama, bad hair momma! Glad I have already gotten my hair done since this picture or I would be out the door right now to fix those roots!

Looking at the bears with Daddy.

Callie identified the otters on her own, surprising us that she knew that word. She enjoyed watching them play.

This family of geese were enjoying the night at the zoo as well.

Callie wanted to keep going back to the giraffes. She would say, "Bye bye, raff." but then ask to go back once we walked away. Another highlight of the night for me was when she said goodbye to the elephant poop.

Holding hands with Daddy.

This peacock practically crawled onto Matt shoulders. Callie was fascinated with it and the others squawking around. It inspired us to make peacock paintings the next day during art time. Here is Callie's picture of a "poocock" as she pronounces it!

Famous Flower Girls - Part One

2011-07-29T11:43:00.002-04:00

There has been a lot talk about weddings these last six months because of two much anticipated events this Spring/Summer. Michelle and Scott were married March 26th and Matt's cousin Meredith married her nine year beau and highschool sweatheart on July 2nd. And, to be honest, if we are talking about much anticipated weddings, then I have to include the Royal Wedding in April because Dreama and I were completely transfixed to the television for the fluffly media coverage of the hats, dresses and guests of honor. And all three weddings have one thing in common (besides stunning brides, of course!) - they all had a little flower girl who stole the show! Everyone in the world who has a TV or a newspaper has probably seen the image of Kate and William's flower girl grimacing at their first kiss on the balcony.

But what most of the world doesn't realize is that there was an even CUTER and FUNNIER flower girl causing quite a stir in weddings this year. Here are some (well, make that a ton) of images from Michelle and Scott's beautiful wedding in March. I will post pictures of Meredith's wedding later, so stay tuned for Famous Flower Girls - Part Two!

This was a Spiers family event but it wouldn't have gone as well without Nana and Papa who helped me with Callie. Matt and I were both in the wedding so it was difficult to do all the wedding party duties and make sure that Callie was dressed, behaving and where she needed to be. Papa has cookies in this picture because his job was to lure the flower girl down the aisle and then stealthily exit with her before the ceremony began. Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!

Practice makes perfect!...and it did!

Callie and her handler.

Grampie Yoo-Hoo was very nervous about his father of the bride duties!

Handsome Handsome - this matron of honor got to go home with this groomsmen!

Scott's parents did a terrific job transforming the church gym into an elegant rehearsal dinner site.

The perfect couple!

Maw-Maw and Pa looking their best!

Daddy working hard to keep Callie occupied the morning of the wedding.

Callie had her own personal hairdresser (Nana)

Callie admiring herself in the mirror. This is my favorite picture!

And this might be my second favorite picture.

Nana worked hard to distract Callie during pre-wedding pictures.

Here we go...

Waiting our turn...I was reminding Callie of what she was going to do.

I didn't need to remind her because she did so well on her own! A petal flew out of her basket and she stopped to pick it up. I leaned over and told her she could leave it and that she was supposed to be dropping the petals out anyway. So she turned the whole basket over to make one pile of petals and then pranced down the aisle the rest of the way like she owned the place. Once at the bottom she greeted her Daddy and then Papa took her out to play for the rest of the ceremony.

Now it's time to party!!!

Callie enjoyed clapping for the wedding party introductions but she hated waiting for the first dances to end. She was anxious for her turn on the floor!

Daddy trying hard to entertain her.

You can see us in the background trying to keep her from wiggling down and running out to join Aunt Missy and Uncle Scott.

Still trying to make her escape back there!

She really got anxious when she saw Yoo-Hoo out there dancing without her!

FINALLY! Callie got her turn with Grampie and she didn't stop dancing the rest of the night! She was still out on the dance floor at 11pm.

Aunt "Janny" and Andrew

Nana found a dance partner in Hunter

She did stop dancing long enough to run laps in the balcony.

Hugs from Maid of Honor, Shelley

Callie was the center of all the dancing.

Quick break for some Aunt Missy kisses.

She loves her new Uncle Scott!

Back at it!

There might be just as many photographs of Callie as there are of Michelle and Scott!

Callie wasn't the only one out there cutting a rug!

Another quick break for some juice and Nana time.

Matt's Uncle Donnie and Aunt Peggy from Missouri

and their daughters Julia and Meredith.

Cousin Katie with her purple wine teeth and Pa.

Plaques I painted for the happy couple.

Time to say goodbye...

And after such a wonderful night, we were all looking forward to Callie's next appearance as the flower girl for Meredith and Ben!

Hey! The Rest of May..and Some Hay!

2011-07-12T22:16:00.000-04:00

Saying I am behind on blogging is an understatement. The last two months have been a whirlwind and now I am behind the entire month of June and on posting picture of TWO weddings. The picture below best illustrates the blog burden that I am now carrying. If the clothes were actually photos that are piling up just begging to be posted, then I am the person being smothered by them. It is actually a picture of Matt attempting to watch TV underneath Callie's attempt at folding laundry. She pulled everything out of the basket, one at a time, scrunched each thing around in her hands (her version of folding) and "neatly" put it all away...on Daddy.

Anyway, I hope to be caught up on summer before it is over which is more than I can say about spring. I am now going to attempt to forget that the heat index outside today was 110 F and try to think back to the events of the third week of May. That was the week that Callie and I made the trip to the lake and the mountain to visit family. We had a bridal shower to attend in Giles for Meredith (Matt's cousin) and so we added in a trip to the lake to visit Nana and Papa and some short visits in to Roanoke with my friends Allison and Catherine. I will also need to include Callie's latest stats from her 2 year appointment. She didn't get to the doctor until late May because her personal assistant was delinquent in making the appointment! Our not-so-babyish baby girl is now 35 inches tall (65%) and weighs 26 1/2 pounds. She wowed the doctor, as usual, and really seemed to enjoy the appointment, especially since she didn't have to get any shots! She is now big enough to play doctor and really got into whacking Daddy on the knee with the hammer thing. Dr. Springer suggested she get a doctor's kit for Christmas so I figure her doctor uncle should be able to hook her up! (Hint, Hint). And, finally, at the end of May, we had a very nice Memorial weekend with Matt's parents and Meredith and Ben, at our place. Whew! That seems so long ago that it literally took me 5 minutes of mulling it over to even remember that Meredith and Ben were here! Sheesh...better just stop writing and post the pictures.

Callie is really into hats now. This May Sunday, she made her name sake, Beulah Mae, very proud by sporting this bright red hat and lady bug outfit. Grandma LOVED red! Callie kept the hat on all through church. She was still wearing it when we picked her up from nursery and they said she put it back on any time it dropped off.

The next set of pictures I can't take ANY credit for. They are pictures that my dear friend Catherine took of her son Micah and Callie when we visited her house.

And now back to my mediocre photography! Here are some pics I took during our visit with Allison, Abigail and Chloe.

Chloe and Abigail cheering.

Callie was spellbound by Abigail's collection of princess attire!

A backwards ride on the biggest caterpillar ever!

Lake fun with Nana and Papa:

She got her first tick from this pile of hay. But she loved running and jumping in it.

And finally, some Grampy YooHoo and MiMi pictures:

This my look like a headlock but it is actually a hug! Callie loves to be hugged while she is watching TV and eating in her highchair.

Dancing with YooHoo. Matt plays the opening scene of "Working Girl" and Callie loves to dance to the "Jericho" song and watch the images of the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers. ("achew" and "owers" in Callie language)

And now this picture reminds me of all the ironing I need to do...

Callie's May Flowers

2011-06-04T11:35:00.002-04:00

Well, I am breaking out of the blog fog and finally updating after a very busy May month. We have been so busy and Callie is keeping me so constantly occupied with other things that I haven't been able to blog all month. We also had some computer problems and we were also out of town for Matt's cousin Meredith's wedding shower and a week long trip to the lake to visit Nana and Papa and some of my Roanoke friends. Finding computer time is very difficult now that Callie wants to be outside much more and also because she has some vendetta against the computer. The second my fingers hit the keyboard, she is all over me, demanding that I do something else with her. The same thing happens when I get a phone call. It is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" all the time until close to 4pm and that is when it switches to "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" Once Matt gets home, she doesn't let him have a second to himself and they spend the evenings playing "Uh Oh" (a game where he pretends to let her fling him into Mommy and furniture) and "Fly! Fly!" (pretending the laundry basket is an old WWII fighter plane, gunning down Mommy, the cats and then finally crash landing on the bed.) Callie is talking so much now. She rarely says a complete sentence, but she mimics phrases she hears us say and tries to say about anything you ask her to repeat. She is really entertaining us with her new language abilities too. Yesterday she was repeating, "Buy fruit. Buy fruit" because I told her we were going to the Farmer's Market to do that. Matt walked in and said he was leaving for work and said, "Bye, bye Callie". She replied with, "Bye, bye fruit!" leaving us both doubled over in hysterics. She loved that we were both laughing at her so she repeated it and then changed it to "Daddy fruit" once Matt tried to protest and say he was NOT a fruit. We are also realizing that she is listening to us and really understanding now. On the drive home from dinner last night, she interjected the word "baff" (bath) into our conversation about what we were going to do when we got home. I had no intention of giving her a bath last night but once we got home and she finished her snack she looked at me very sternly and said, "Mommy, baff", hit herself on the chest to indicate that she wanted her clothes taken off and then literally marched to the bathroom. We are so fortunate that, so far, she is not shouting bratty phrases or screaming "mine" or "no" over everything. She still is a very even tempered toddler. She even says, "yiis, momma" when she has been asked if she understands a request to clean or something I have said to scold her. One day she said "yiss, momma" with every block she put into the box. I felt a little like Hitler hearing this robotic mantra, but she is really listening and does things with a kind heart, not begrudgingly. One day, all it took was the mere mention that she should clean up her puzzle before I vacuumed. Two minutes later I returned and it was done. I stood there shocked and then praised her profusely and rewarded her with candy! I guess I shouldn't make a habit of that, but I was just so thrilled that she listened the first time and did it so effortlessly. This may seem like a long list of mommy bragging, but I wanted to write about these things so that I could read back on them one day in case she is a rebellious teenager!

Anyway, all our outside time and an unusually rainless May has meant that a lot of time has been spent outside working in the yard while she plays. Callie has also helped in the yard by picking up sweet gum balls, sticks and with the planting. Back in April, she helped Grampy plant his summer annual seeds. Weeks later, Grampy brought all the plants that Callie planted and they worked together to plant them in our yard. She loved everything about this process and showed her amazement at every step with her typical open mouth awe. Her flowers are coming up nicely and she loves to help me water, especially if it means that she gets very wet in the process! Here are some pictures from the seed planting in April and then the transplanting of the flowers in May.

Easter Bunnies and Wagon Buddies

2011-04-24T22:10:00.003-04:00

We had a very quiet day today for Easter. It was just the three of us for a change, I think it is the only holiday so far, in 10 years of marriage, that we haven't spent a holiday with some other family. It was still a nice day and instead of having an elaborate feast and lots of activities, we came home from church, gave Callie her Easter basket, ate sandwiches and all laid down for naps. We did end up having a smaller feast this evening and there has been much activity today considering Callie has been high on chocolate and jellybeans during the awake hours and she has spent that time tearing into everything. It is very hot here today too, which is why there are no outdoor Easter pictures like last year. We let Callie play in the playground after church for a while and when we got in the car she kept saying, "Hot! Hot!". So we spent most the rest of the day inside. And she looks a little flushed and disheveled in the pictures we did take.

I am also including a few picture of Callie and her friend Leah. Since it was spring break this week, we were able to hang out with my teacher friend Jacquie and her daughter Leah on Tuesday. The girls had a pretty good time together. Callie is still not playing WITH other children much, just playing in the vicinity of them but they didn't fight over too many things and seemed to enjoy each other's company. The pictures of the two of them in the wagon reminded me that I had a picture of myself and a friend in a wagon from when we were three. So I scanned the picture and will include it below.

The cookies we made this week (well, the cookies I made, mostly. Callie helped cut the shapes then spent the rest of the time begging for a "guck guck" or a "hop hop hop".)

Her basket. The Donald Duck sings and dances and screams at you if you pull his ears.

Dancing with Donald.

Trying on the bracelets and necklaces while Donald dances around her.

Ready to go to the park in the wagon with Leah!

Me at age 3 1/2 with my friend Suzanne. (In case it isn't obvious, I am the one with the pig-tails.)

Hunting for "Ecccks!"

2011-04-20T10:13:00.001-04:00

Callie loves eggs, both scrambled and chocolate and so we are celebrating Easter this week with lots of fun activities, and lots of chocolate. Callie and I will be making shaped sugar cookies tomorrow, we have window stickers decorating the sliding glass door, we have a special Good Friday service at church and then comes Easter Sunday with her basket, church, lunch and probably another chocolate filled egg hunt. We started the week with a trip to Pa's on Sunday afternoon. Callie had the best time she has ever had there. It is fun to see her getting older and being able to enjoy running around and exploring the more rural landscape at Pa's house. We hid eggs for her on Sunday and everyone enjoyed watching her hunt for them and then stuff her mouth full of chocolate later. While reflecting on what Easter means to us as Christians and while praying and reflecting over the death of a dear lady at church this week, special moments with family, like these from Sunday, have become even more precious to me. Not just because I want to enjoy and appreciate every moment I have in life with my loved ones, but because I was reminded that every precious moment is just a glimpse of the joy we have in store for us in the next life. That is what Christ's death means to us. Because He has conquered death, there is so much more than this to look forward to, which is a great thought because so much of THIS is so wonderful!

Callie is "Twooooo"!

2011-04-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

If you ask Callie how old she is, she will enthusiastically answer, "Twoooo!" She will also hold up her two pointer fingers or attempt to hold up just two fingers on one hand. This is an improvement from the first few times we tried it and she would hold up eight fingers each time. I don't think she understands what being two means but she definitely understood it was her special weekend. She was deep into wrapping paper from Friday (her actual birthday) through Saturday and then enjoyed opening all her birthday cards on Sunday. Saturday was the especially festive day. We had a barnyard themed birthday party for her and invited a bunch of her little friends. We had eight kids and about 12 adults crammed in the house Saturday morning. It had rained the night before and it was cool so we decided to keep everything inside and it all worked out just fine. The kids enjoyed exploring the house and playing with Callie's ridiculous amount of toys. Callie enjoyed seeing people in her house, although I think she was a little confused about why they were all there at first. We had BBQ (thanks to Grammy!) and pigs-in-a-blanket and animal cupcakes that I made and animal-shaped cookies that my friend Mary made. We ended the party with a very messy art activity which the kids seemed to enjoy much more than the adults. All the mommies had trouble understanding my relaxed attitude towards paint messes! Callie was sad and exhausted while saying goodbye to everyone but she had a great nap and woke-up later to another big surprise -- Daddy had put her swing set up in the backyard during her nap! She is really enjoying her new outside toy and I will enjoy it much more when it is not covered in yellow pollen every day! Callie is, so far, a pretty composed two year old. No major terrible two moments yet (knock on wood!). Here are some pictures of the fun weekend! My parents weren't able to join us but Grammy, Grampy and Aunt Missy were there. We just said a tearful goodbye this morning to Missy. She is off to her new life and new baby (puppy) in Indianapolis. We were glad that she was able to stick around for the party and we will miss her terribly! I will post wedding pictures once I finally have a chance to sift through them all.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time online shopping for these balloons! But they were worth it!

Mrs. Potato Head

A football, emphasis on the word "foot". She is trying to figure out why it is called that.

Finally! The present she had been snooping around and begging for since I bought it at a consignment sale --The Wonder Pets!

A tiara from Aunt Missy

...and now for the big box! Mommy's proud consignment shop find! A village complete with a house, church, coffee shop and tons of people, plants and cars...all for just $30!

Little Mermaid slippers from Grammy and Grampy!

A princess soccer ball (we bought a lot of sports and outside toys this year.)

Demonstrating for everyone how she says her prayers.

A big girl basketball goal! Pink and purple, of course!

Time for the party...

Sara finally got a chance to wear the random costume that her Grandmother sent her.

The farmyard cake. My first attempt at artsy cupcakes. A lot of planning and sketching went into these!

Pigs, sheep, purple cows and chickens.

My friend Mary made these yummy cookies.

Callie got a new barn and animals for her birthday as well.

What is happening??? Why are all these people in my house?

The balloons were a good source of amusement.

My kitchen staff was a life saver!

Callie's basketball goal was popular.

Callie stole away to her room and played by herself in true only-child fashion!

Matt stole away to his room and got out the "boy toys" for Matti and Noah. We will have to invite them back to play with Matt and his action figures more often!

The birthday girl is ready for her cupcake and birthday song! (She also enjoyed some birthday Doritos for lunch!)

Digging right in this year!

Playing with her horse cookie.

Noticing that other kids have different cookies and cupcakes.

"Maaamma, Maaaamma, Maaaamma" -- begging for what she didn't get!

Art Time!

Callie had no reservations about making a huge mess.

She was very sad to see everyone leave.

This is her special friend, Sara. She reminds us so much of Brighton in her looks and her goofy personality.

The aftermath...

An empty and quiet house during nap time but...Daddy was putting together the swing set so more fun was in store!

Callie's reaction to seeing it for the first time.

Grampy got her a Clifford swing like they have at Tumbles.

What a fun birthday! She also got a trike from Nana and Papa, but I will save those pictures for another day!

A Smiling and Tumbling Tornado

2011-03-18T21:42:00.001-04:00

Most of weekly fun this winter has taken place at J.W. Tumbles, a children's gym near our house. We joined shortly after the holidays thanks to generous donations from both sets of grandparents to cover tuition and joining fees. Callie attends a "Wigglers" class there on Thursday mornings and also goes to at least one open gym a week. She LOVES it! I researched and asked around for a few weeks to try and find the perfect place for her to get some of her energy out during the cold months. One visit to Tumbles and I knew we were in the right place. She could barely wait to get her shoes off when we walked in the door. Over the last six weeks or so, I have noticed many positive results from the physical and social opportunities that this place offers. And, surprisingly, she has gone this long sharing slides and germs with other kids and hasn't had a bad cold yet. Another apparent love for Callie this winter is shoes. Well, I guess this isn't new, as I reported last spring, when she was dancing around and showing off her new shoes. But now she can say the word shoe and she does so OVER and OVER in the stores. She says the word with a very prolonged "sh" sound at the end. She loves to try them on and loves throwing them in the cart if we are in a super store. Just last night we were in Rack Room with Aunt Missy, trying to find some shoes for the wedding weekend. I tried on practically every pair in the store while poor Michelle chased a hysterically happy and extremely destructive toddler around the store. Occasionally I would see a little blur and hear a high pitched squeal as she ran passed my aisle, wearing shoes on her hand and pulling boxes off the shelf as she went. I am not sure the employees of Rack Room thought she was as cute as the trainers and Tumbles do. Here are some pictures of Callie at Tumbles. Incidentally, she is also getting a reputation for always traveling with a posse because Grampy, Missy or Daddy are usually in tagging along to watch her in action. (in addition to Mommy, of course!)

Singing during circle time with "shaky eggs".

There are several slides and she runs back and forth between all of them. She just this week conquered the large climber with the high, bumpy slide. Now she is a pro at all of them!

When she isn't on the equipment, she runs in circles and squeals. I am regularly asked if she ever stops smiling or if she is always that happy.

She loves the zip line but hasn't tried the rock climbing wall yet.

She doesn't really like to sit still for circle time but she is always the first one wanting to try the skill of the week. This week it was flipping. And, as you can see, she liked it! This is her face after landing.

She is also getting a lot of interaction with kids her age and older. The older kids enjoy her because she always follows them around and laughs at everything they do. One day she was literally being tugged in three directions by older kids wanting her attention. We do, however, have a little problem sharing balls. She seems to think they are all there for her and will just walk up and take them away from other kids. She likes to drop them all in this blue tube and she won't stop until they are all in there.

The trainers set up a new obstacle during each class like scaling walls, or running and jumping.

Callie's absolute favorite time of each class is when they get out the swings. When she sees the trainers enter the closet to get them, Callie will run over to the area where the swings are attached to chains hanging from the ceiling and she will point and direct the trainers on where to hang them. She always has to be the first one in a swing and she doesn't want to stop until it is time to put them away.

She enjoys Mr. Crab (the ball pit) a little but once the puzzles and books come out she could care less about the other toys. Her books and puzzles are definitely her favorite things to do at home.

Winter Wrap-Up

2011-03-18T21:07:00.002-04:00

Well it is definitely spring here and it is about time to finish up blogging about our winter events. Michelle gets married in a week so there will be a whole lot of photos to share after that. The only other family events that I haven't posted pictures of are our "Christmas" with Pa and the Spiers/Lastovica side of the family and Steve's (Grampy's) birthday. Those two events coincided this year. We celebrated Christmas with that side of the family and his birthday at the end of January. Here are some pictures from that weekend and then many more from other things that we did or that happened in the last two months.

Callie helped Pa open his presents from us and he helped her open her presents from him.

Callie got to try on a pair of antlers and I got a very detailed description of how those antlers were removed from the deer and how the remaining scalp is dried to prevent it from smelling and then how the skin is sewn up and attached to the plaque. Pa repeated commented that he thought I would be good at that particular skill!

Yep, that is one exciting birthday party!

Callie helped Grampy open his presents too, but I think she was usually disappointed in what they turned out to be!

Her "stinker" face! This expression means, "I know I have Grampy wrapped around my finger!"

And here are some of the random photos...

As if she didn't resemble Daddy enough, this particular morning I caught her sitting in his chair, wearing his hat and, of course, watching TV! That's Daddy's girl!

Callie's hair is so long now and I would love to put it up in cute do's all the time but she won't sit still for much. This particular day I was able to braid it for the first time! Hopefully, there will be many more braids to come!

For about a week, her favorite activity was playing librarian. She would beg for me to put the side of her crib down and then she would spend about 30 minutes throwing books over the rail. Once she was satisfied with the pile, she would ask to be put in the crib with the books and then she would sit on the pile and read her pile of "ocks" [how she says books] for a long, long time! It was a nice break for me but the clean-up was a little annoying!

Callie loves any restaurant that serves fries but she especially loves going to Friendly's on Tuesday night for Kid's Night. She gets to eat free and most weeks her "boyfriend" Ryan, the balloon guy, is there. This particular night he made her three balloon sculptures because she kept smiling and making animal noises at him. He could barely get through sculpting the monkey because her monkey impersonation was making him laugh so hard. She remembered the ducky that he made her on a previous visit and so she looked right at him and quacked until he made her another! She is already planning on asking for an elephant next time. We went one night and he wasn't there and she kept looking at the place he usually sets up and doing her elephant sound and arm (trunk) motion. She was very disappointed that he wasn't there.

I put this picture in here just for Janice. I wanted her to see how I used the snowflakes she made me to decorate our mantel for January and February. It worked too, we got lots of great snow!

Callie also got her first official hair-cut recently. It was just a little bang trim but I wanted to make sure they were professionally cut before the wedding.

Whew, that was a lot of catching up! We had such a fun winter that Callie still begs to put on her snow pants, even when it is warm outside. (She also spends a lot of time in her Tigger costume from Halloween).

A Winter Cousin Reunion

2011-02-18T19:01:00.002-05:00

As I write this blog entry, it is 75 degrees outside and feels more like a summer evening than a winter's night. It is definitely an odd time to update the blog with more snow memories. But picture of Callie and her cousins playing in the snow are cute no matter what the season or temperature. Becky, Jon and the kids came up after Christmas this year and, after they spent some time in Williamsburg and after Jon flew back home, Callie and I picked them up and we all went to the lake for a week. The first few pictures are of a quick outing to the aquarium that we went on a few days before heading to the lake, while Becky was still with the Schumachers. They came to our house first and Brighton and Will immediately invaded Callie's playroom and took over all her toys. She just watched from the side and wouldn't interact with them. When Monday morning came, I asked Callie if she was ready to go pick up Will and Brighton and she shook her head vehemently and whined her little "no" sound. But she quickly warmed up to them and missed them so much once the week together was over. It snowed just an inch or so at the lake, but it was the perfect amount of snow for sledding as you will see. We also celebrated Becky's 30th birthday, met up with our cousin and met their new little baby, went to the mall for a not so fun shopping spree with three whiny kids, visited Grannyroo and went on walks and "tractor" rides. It was a great week full of squealing, tickling and chasing (the kids, not the adults!) and we all can't wait to get back together again.

One day these girls might be too scared to get right up in the face of this crocodile, but they weren't a bit afraid that day.

Brighton's snowball eating had some rather nasty consequences later. It wasn't always pure snow. She seemed to prefer it to have leaves and dirt mixed in.

This was how Callie preferred to be pulled back up the hill. We called it "the injured skier" position.

A big hug for Callie from Will.

Ready...Set...Go!

Last time these girls were together, they looked like this...and they interacted but weren't quite best buds.

Six months later, they really enjoyed being together and started what we hope to be a lifelong bond. Brighton was very protective of Callie, holding her hand and shielding her from the wild, tickling Will-monster. And Brighton regularly stated aloud that she loved Callie and even referred to me as her Callie-mommy. Notice, in the bath picture, how different their skin tones are!

Here is a cute video of them chasing each other. The growling noise is the garbage disposal. When Callie started giggling, Brighton thought it meant it was time to chase each other.

Grannyroo was having a very good day and enjoyed being near the girls. Will has hit the stage of being frightened by older people and did not enjoy being there as much as his cousin and sister did.

Callie also learned a new skill at Nana and Papa's house. She figured out that steps were best descended on her belly. Brighton is at the bottom of the stairs playing with the light switch which explains why the light in this video keeps changing.

Blizzard on the Bay and at the Beach

2011-02-08T19:14:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the photos taken by Steve and Michelle and my parents as they explored the snowy wonderland of our Christmas blizzard. Steve and Michelle were able to get out to see what the bay looked like in the snow and Mom and Dad were staying at that ocean front so they got to explore down there. I would have been more jealous of their opportunities to see the sand and ocean in the snow except that since we were farther away from the water and more south them, we got twice as much snow as they did. And I don't think I would trade our 15 inches for anything. If you want to see pictures of Callie in the snow then check out my previous post.

Michelle on the path to the bay (up ahead).

Snow covered sand dunes.

You can see the ships in the background.

The Turtle Cay Resort where my parents stayed.

Either snow or sugar covered palm trees.

The courtyard at their resort.

Makes you wonder if this guy is aggravated at the uselessness of having to clear snow while it is still coming down or is he happy he finally gets to use his snowblower.

Strange natives of the polar region.

A very confused little beach bird.

Callie the Snow Princess

2011-02-08T12:22:00.001-05:00

I love getting snow down here because it makes me feel like I am back in the 'burg. We have had a great snow season so far this winter and, being the snow baby I am, I want even more. The day after Christmas brought a blizzard like this area hasn't seen in years. Second biggest snowfall in 100 years, actually. We had 15 inches at our house. Mom and Dad were snowed in at the ocean front in a cushy hotel suite with a fireplace. They enjoyed their time there, walking on the boardwalk and seeing snow on the beach. Matt's parents and sister were also snowed in at the bay in her condo. (I will post images from the bay and oceanfront next). Callie was initially hesitant about diving right into the the deep, fluffy white stuff, but after a few minutes she "warmed" up to it. The deep snow lasted several days so she was able to play in it on multiple occasions. The local weatherman predicts that we are in for one more late season snow storm, so maybe Callie will get more use out of her snowsuit this year. I think I am the only person in Hampton Roads actually hoping for that, though!

View from our front window.

"I don't think I like this, Daddy!"

Poe begged to come out with us and then immediately regretted it. Ollie and Chester watched from inside. This is Oliver's "That cat's an idiot" face.

Poe eventually made his way to the tray we put out for the cameras to sit on. He is looking at Matt and meowing in desperation. We did eventually let him go back inside!

Throwing snow at Daddy!

Loving the snow now!

A quick visit with Tigger before going inside for a nice, warm bath.

Callie's next time out was much warmer thanks to a new snowsuit from Grammie.

Just look at those adorable frozen cheeks!

Building a little snowman with Daddy.

Much more excited to be in the snow this time!

Only 11 More Months Until CHRISTMAS!

2011-01-22T13:31:00.001-05:00

Rather than say that this Christmas post is late, let's just say its purpose is to help us get in the mood for next year! Here are some pictures from our cozy Christmas in our little blue house on Derby Wharf. My parents and Matt's parents and sister were all able to join us again this year. It might be the last year we are all able to be together like that since Michelle will be venturing off to wedded bliss and, HOPEFULLY, Becky will live closer next year to make it easier for my parents to visit with her at the Holidays. Not that I don't love having everyone at our house. I just know that each year brings surprises and new situations. So, this year, I went all out decorating and we all enjoyed a blessed Christmas with our little Callie Mae.

Callie's Christmas actually started a week early when we visited everyone on the mountain.

This is how the tree looked when Callie got up Christmas morning. Her "Santa" presents included a kitchen, a cart full of food, a hedgehog beanbag chair, a stuffed horse and Tickle Me Elmo.

Grampy (aka "Yoo-Hoo") requested a special shirt for the season. It says "All I want for Christmas is Yoo-Hoo" although I don't think Callie minded having the three other doting grandparents around!

Many presents required assembly this year.

Callie has a sixth sense for knowing when a new looking food is a dessert.

Cute Callie faces!

I couldn't resist posting the next two photos. The first is apparently proof that a girl's best friends is actually tupperware, or at least its Dreama's favorite thing, by the look of joy on her face. The second picture, well, I have no explanation for why my Dad appears to be having a stare-down with a toy horse.

It's not Christmas around our house without the boys nosing in on the gifts and finding new places to nap.

Chester is checking out Michelle's new shirt.

Fat boy Ollie was disappointed the cart was full of fake food.

Callie's present opening spanned several days due to her toddler attention span and the amount of gifts she had to open. This is the reason she is wearing so many different outfits in these Christmas pictures.

Playing kitchen with Daddy.

She insisted on wearing her new hair clips all at once. She should have shared one with poor hairy mommy.

"Just set those presents right here and I will get to them later"

Our delicious Christmas morning brunch was a group effort and consisted of Strawberrry and Banana smoothies, Sausage Stromboli, Scrambled eggs, Grits Casserole and homemade Cinnamon Buns.