Family Photos

My friend Laurie (some of you know her as Laurie's Tutu Boutique) took our family photos this year!  We had these taken in the fall so this post is kind of out of order but I wanted to post them!  

We went out to Jester Park which is just a few miles from our house and were there for about 20 minutes!  We are so lucky to have such a talented friend!!!

18 months

Playing in the SNOW!

Since we had a substantial amount of snow last weekend and my niece Lauren was in town, we got all bundled up and headed outside!  In the past, Cale has not been too excited about snow!  He would always look at it and say YUCKY "NO".  (In this case "NO" means "SNOW".  S's are so hard!!) :-)

This time, that feeling quickly passed.  He stepped in the yard, looked at his boot and tried to clean it off and then started having a ball! 

He had so much fun!! Here are a few more photos!

ISU Bowl Game!

We said at the beginning of football season "if we make it to a bowl game, we are going!"  Well, when the location was announced we thought about it long and hard, but decided against it.  Hopefully one day we can go, but NYC over New Years Eve just wasn't working out!  None the less, we had a great time with a house full of Cyclone fans and even a few Hawkeyes!

ISU girls and our future CYCLONES!
Shelly and Elsa (22 months), myself and Cale (20 months), Megan and Sander (almost 3)

Josie and Cale eating breakfast the next morning.

While we are on the football subject...I will include some photos from the 2011 Football season!  We didn't take Cale to nearly as many games this year, but he was at the Oklahoma State game!!  Maybe he is the good luck charm!

Cale, Bailey and Lauren

Josh, Sally and Mike

Mel and Brownie

Mom and Chris

Cyclone Football 2011

Possibly my favorite tailgating picture of the season.
Tailgating with a toddler!

Christmas 2011

Christmas is such a great time of year!!  It always seems like it is something we look forward to for so long and then it gone before we know it!  We celebrated with my family again the weekend before Christmas and were so glad to have 2 additional guests with us this year!  Joe returned home from Afghanistan in August so we were thrilled he was able to be here this year, and Bailey's boyfriend Broghan attended this year as well.  Everyone had a great time!

We celebrated with Josh's family Christmas Day and the day after.  We decided when Cale was born we wanted to try and be home on Christmas Eve so we could start our own family traditions.  We put out cookies for Santa and read the Night Before Christmas! Cale woke up Christmas morning and walked straight to the tree.  I know he had no idea what was going on so it was cute to see him so surprised!  He got to play with his new toys and then we got ready and went to church here at Assumption for Christmas Day Mass.  It was quite different than Christmases in the past...we walked in without coats on!  After church we packed up the car and headed for Griswold!  Another great couple of days with Josh's family!  

Here are a couple pictures from Christmas 2011!  

My dad got a football signed by Paul Rhodes and I think Cale thought it was for him!

Cookies for Santa!

Making some coffee in his new kitchen!

 

Disney on Ice and Jolly Holiday Lights!

Rewind to November 2011!  

Over the last couple of years Josh's sister Callie and I have taken the kids to Disney on Ice and then driven through Jolly Holiday Lights.  Of course last year Cale was only 7 months old and was amazed by the lights and music, but I wasn't sure how he would do this year.  Sitting still for more than 10 minutes is quite the challenge for a then 19 month old.  He did great!  He watched and pointed at the characters and even took a little nap!!   Hopefully we will continue this tradition for many more years!  

Cale woke up from his nap just in time for the show to be about over!

After Disney on Ice we drove through Jolly Holiday Lights and the kids got to sit on Santa's lap!  I was a little worried about this adventure as well.  Last year; no problem.  He reached right for Santa and wasn't scared a bit.  This year he was a little more hesitant, but did great!!  

Visiting Santa at the end of Jolly Holiday Lights!

Halloween--It's catch up time!!!

It's been on my list of things to do for quite some time and FINALLY tonight, I am taking the time to update our blog!  Let me start where we left off...OCTOBER!  :-)

Here is out little puppy at Halloween!  

He was not too excited at the beginning, but once we got going, he quickly caught on!  We tried to teach him to say Trick or Treat, but never mastered it.  He would walk to the door, knock, receive his treats and look at them and say BYE! We made it to about half of the houses on our street before he was worn out!

Daddy and Cale on Halloween!

18 Months!

Cale officially hit 18 months on Friday!  We had his appointment this morning and still growing away...even though the stats won't show that.  He is 28 pounds, and his head is 19 1/4 inches.  The nurse said his height was 33 1/2 inches which would really mean he SHRUNK!  I can assure you, this is not correct!  When she measured, I noticed that his head was pushing the top of the board back quite a bit, so I would guess he is closer to 35 inches.  (He was 34 inches at 15 months.)  Anyway...all is well with Mr. Cale.  He got 2 shots which he didn't really care for, but it was much better than I had thought it would be!  He cried when she gave the shots and then he was ok.  He just kept pointing and rubbing his leg!  Poor guy!  I always feel so bad when he gets shots!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  We are gearing up for family pictures this week and ISU Homecoming on Saturday!  Go State!