The Last Few Days of Christmas Break

One of the many benefits of being a teacher is having a Christmas break. Now that I am a mommy and a teacher having these days off from work is even more special. It gives me extra time to spend with my favorite little man!

The day after Christmas we did a little shopping for some after Christmas sales and then the weather finally warmed up a little bit and Caleb was able to play on his new toy he got for Christmas!

 We still need to work on the whole concept of the slide :) It was more fun to climb up than to slide down apparently!

 Climbing up the stairs

 Doing a little swinging 

The weekend after Christmas Daddy stayed home from the hunting club because it was yucky weather and we decided to go eat a big  breakfast and take Caleb on his first trip to the McWane Science Center.

 Waiting on Breakfast

 Pulling on the rope really hard to pull himself up 

 This was so cool...it was a huge Light Bright which was one of my favorite toys as a child!

 Making the balls float in the stream of water

The following week we did a little more shopping with Aunt Jill before Mommy had to go back to work!

 He is such a fun little shopper

We spent our last night of our Christmas break ringing in the New Year with our friends Chad and Mandi and their cutie Makayla. These two monkeys had so much fun playing together and we enjoyed eating, relaxing and catching up with friends.

After all of the Christmas fun it was time for mommy to return to work and little man to go see his friends at Mrs. Kay's. Gosh I sure do love having days to hang out with Caleb, but I am blessed to have a job that allows me to have holidays off, weekends off and the summer off! Let's start 2014 on a positive outlook :)

Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve started off at breakfast at I-Hop.

The whole breakfast crew

Family pic for the day

"Where are my pancakes ?"

After Breakfast we went home for nap time and a mini photo shoot :)

Not participating in Picture time very well

Stinker

That afternoon we went to Big Daddy and Momma T's to do breakfast with my immediate family. This was our first time to do "Santa" on Christmas Eve at their house, but it was Wonderful! After opening presents and playing we went to Nanny's house for supper.

 Someone is a "little" spolied

 Santa brought a basketball goal to stay at Big Daddy and Momma T's house

 "Nothing runs like a Deer" Our first John Deer toy!

 Big boy opening his presents

Every 1 year old needs a 4-wheeler :)

After all of our fun Christmas Eve night we went home to go to bed to see if Santa was going to make a visit. Someone must have been a very good boy, because Santa showed up with presents.

Clothes, grill, DVD player for the car, and a Mickey mouse tractor toy

Santa even left a surprise outside in the freezing cold :)

Christmas morning we woke up and had a yummy breakfast and enjoyed spending time playing with little man before all of our Christmas day festivities began. As soon as Caleb saw his new toys in the den his first words were " Ho Ho Ho".

 Cooking up some hotdogs on his new grill

 Order is ready :)

 Opening a present from Santa...what is it???

 A Mickey Mouse tractor!!

 He did not like the tape getting stuck on his fingers.

 Such a little stinker :)

" Say CHEESE!"
Later that afternoon we went to Great Nanny's house for Momma T's side of the family Christmas. We had a late lunch, read the Christmas story, played some games and opened presents.

 Helping cousin Derek read the Christmas story

Caleb writing his answer to Christmas trivia

 I think he got the answer CORRECT!!!

It's the best we could get of grumpy pants by this point in  the day :)
After we left Great Nanny's we went to see PawPaw and Nanny ( Daddy's parents) and opened presents with them. Once again someone was a little spoiled. After leaving their house we went home and Uncle Ben, Aunt Amy, Aubrey ( and two sweet little boys who we never knew were in the house) came over to exchange gifts.

 Uncle Ben helping Caleb unwrap his bubble blowing Lawn Mower!

These two cuties LOVE each other so much!

Once again Caleb was spoiled by all of his family. He got so many new toys and goodies. We had a wonderful time with our families and watching Caleb see the Joy and Excitement of the Christmas season. This year we worked really hard  trying to show Caleb the nativity, reading him his books of the REAL "Christmas Story" and trying to make him understand the true meaning of Christmas.  I think he sort of got it, because any time he saw a nativity he says "Jesus" and would point to his books and say "Jesus". As he gets older we want him to understand that Jesus is the main reason for why we celebrate Christmas at the Ross' house!

The Days Leading up to Christmas

Visiting Santa at the Mall

 

 

One of his many Christmas "church" outfits.

We had such a big helper this year with decorating the tree :)

Here is Caleb's finished product. I think he ended up having eight ornaments on one branch. Sweet boy worked so hard!

"Caleb" made snowman doughnuts and reindeer food for his Christmas party at Mrs. Kay's. I think they both turned out really cute.

Opening his present at Mrs. Kay's

Caleb with all of his school buddies having fun at their Christmas party

It's not a party without snacks :)

Someone was over party day at this point and ready for nap time :)

One of my favorite pictures of little man in his big boy PJ's

Cutie in his PJ's

Last minute Christmas shopping with mommy

Finishing our shopping adventures with a trip to Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet. After watching mommy dip her breadstick in the sauce someone decided to do the same. He loved it if you can't tell.

These are just some of the fun times we had leading up to Christmas. Stay tuned for the Christmas Eve and Christmas day post.

 

Pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Clause

We had a Mr. and Mrs. Clause photo session with YourPBJ photography. I was very anxious to take Caleb to get his picture made, because ever since he saw Santa ( from far away) he has been saying " Ho Ho Ho" and just laughing and smiling. Needless to say, when the time came close to see Santa up close and personal the feeling change. It wasn't laughing and smiling...it turned in to hysterical, can't breathe, scared to death crying. While we did not get one picture of little man smiling they are still precious and priceless.