Christmas in Greenville

The day after Christmas, we packed up and went to my parent's house in Greenville, SC for a couple of days. We had a wonderful time visiting with my parents as well as my brother Jay and his girlfriend Stephanie. They drove all the way from Crested Butte, Colorado along with his dog Righteous. We exchanged lots of presents with each other, ate delicious food and spent a lot of time together. It is always so much fun when Jay is there. We really enjoyed getting to know Stephanie better this time as well. Caleb always calls her "sweet" Stephanie. We all agree with him! Jay and Steph ~ thanks for traveling all this way to see us. We love you!

The family

Caleb with Mimi and Grampy

Caleb got a new cowboy shirt and cowboy boots from Mimi and Grampy!

Kathryn watching everyone open presents.

Kathryn with her uncle Jay

Kathryn with Stephanie and Righteous

Standing outside watching Caleb play in the leaves!

Caleb with Uncle Jay and Righteous

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

We woke up bright and early on Christmas morning. Caleb was very excited to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought him. He was very overwhelmed when he went into the den and saw the tree. Santa had brought him a new train track with 2 new trains, a red scooter, a new North Carolina hat, some blocks, books, bath toys, a puzzle and a new remote control truck. Not to mention the stocking full of candya and toys. Caleb didn't know what to do with himself. He stood in front of the tree and with a surprised look on his face. He kept doing a little squeel with his voice. It was hilarious! All he wanted to do was run to the tree and knock down the tower of blocks that Santa had built. After he knocked down the blocks he ran into the kitchen. We asked him what he was doing and he just said that he needed to run in the kitchen for a minute! After a few minutes he was ready to open some presents. We had so much fun watching his reaction! He loved all of his gifts.

Waiting patiently on the stairs to go see what Santa had brought!

Daddy had to get the video camera ready!

Playing with his new remote control truck that does wheelies!

Check out Caleb's new scooter!

Kathryn eating Caleb's new train.

Looking at his new book

Kathryn loving the new toy that Caleb gave her

Sweet Christmas baby

After we spent Christmas morning as a family we headed over to Russ' parents house to spend the day with them. Everybody opened a lot more presents over there (Santa came there too!) and Caleb racked it up with new toys. Papa cooked a delicious beef tenderloin and we were really spoiled with gifts and good food!

Caleb's big gift from Nana and Papa ~ a race track with cars that race around and crash into each other. He LOVED it!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We had a great time spending Christmas Eve with Russ' family this year. His parents, his brother Greg and his brother Brad with his wife Anna and thier little boy Roane come over to spend the day with us. We let the children open up some presents and we enjoyed just spending some good time with the family. We managed to get all 3 children down for their naps at the same time so we were even able to play some games without Caleb constantly wanting a turn! We went to our church's Christmas Eve service at 5:30 and then came back to our house to eat our traditional Christmas Eve Meal ~ Wolfman Pizza! We had to get the kids in bed quickly after that to get ready for Santa to come!

Caleb opening up one of his fun presents - a Little People Fun Park!

Caleb and Roane riding in Roane's new "Beep Beep"

All 3 cousins - it's the best picture I could get of them 3!

Caleb and Papa

Our 2 little reindeers

Sweet Kathryn after the Christmas Eve Service

Christmas in Kingston

Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog. We have been extremely busy around our house getting ready for Christmas. I don't know where the time has gone! We have enjoyed the holiday season so far and it has been so much fun seeing it through the eyes of a 2 year old! Caleb LOVES everything about Christmas this year. He is very excited about Santa Clause coming in a couple of days! He has been asking for a car and a present. We will have to see if Santa will bring him those! Yes, we do Santa Clause with Caleb, but we also do stress the importance of the real meaning of Christmas. He can tell you the entire Christmas story - Mary and Joseph, Bethleham, Wiseman, Shepards, Angels singing "Glory to God in the Highest" and of course, baby Jesus born in a manger. His favorite song is "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem." Don't ask me why, but he loves it!

We went to Tennessee last weekend to do 3 seperate Christmas's with our families. Yes, they all live in the small little town of Kingston. Russ and I figured this out on our first date and the rest is history! My grandparent's live in Kingston, as well as Russ' grandmother (dad's mom). His grandfather (mom's dad) lives a litte ways up the mountain in Wartburg. When we go to Kingston, we always go back and forth between the families. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone, but it was exhausting! We drove the 5 hours on Friday night and arrived at my grandparents house around 11:00. After visiting with my grandparents and parents, we settled in after midnight. All 4 of us slept in the same room, so that was a joy! Caleb slept between Russ and I, so needless to say, none of us slept very well. We woke up early (thanks to Caleb, our little alarm clock) and enjoyed a nice breakfast with my family. My aunts, uncles and cousins all came around 10:30 and we celebrated our Christmas with them until 1:30. Then we said our goodbye's and rushed out the door to Grandma Rose's house (Russ' grandmother). We spent time with family, ate a big dinner around 5:00 and then celebrated Christmas with them that evening. We left around 9:00 to go back to my grandparent's house to sleep. Thankfully, Nana and Papa took Caleb to sleep with them, so Russ and I were able to get a good night's sleep. We woke up early Sunday morning and went back over to Grandma Rose's to eat a big breakfast. At noon we packed everyone up, said goodbye to Grandma Rose and went over to Aunt Carol Anne's house (Russ' aunt). We ate lunch and celebrated Christmas with Russ' mom's side of the family. This was a lot of fun because there is a house full of children. There were children, toys, presents and wrapping paper everywhere! We said our goodbye's around 4:30 and went back to my grandparent's house to see my aunt and cousin who couldn't make it on Saturday. We left Kingston around 6:30 and got back in Charlotte around 11:00. Caleb had a great time, got lots and lots of presents, and was absolutely exhausted! He slept the ENTIRE way home and then slept the ENTIRE night that night. He must have really needed that sleep. Believe me, that is not like Caleb! We were glad to be back home and we spent the next day trying to find places to put all of the new toys. We felt like Christmas was over because Caleb and Kathryn got so many gifts. It is hard to believe they are going to get more. Stay tuned...

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

We bundled up the kids last night and went to pick out our christmas tree. After much critiquing of the trees, we finally found the perfect one. We loaded it on to the top of the car and drove home. We decorated the tree this afternoon and Caleb had a blast. He got very good at putting the ornaments on the tree. However, there are a lot on the bottom branches of the tree because that was the only place he could reach! He is fascinated with the tree in the room now and everytime he comes in, has has to flip the switch to see the lights turn off and on. He is really getting Christmas this year and it is so fun!

Picking out our Christmas Tree:

Decorating Our Tree:

Showing Off Our Tree: