Future Member of Dancing with the Stars...

Could Myah have a future on 'Dancing with the Stars'? While ballet lessons and tap classes may change the future of my prediction, at this moment I'd have to say 'no'. It's not that she doesn't try, it's just that whole rhythm and beat thing. This leads me to go back to the age old question of nurture vs. nature. Is it genetic or is it my influence? I hope that her biological mom was rythmically inclined because, while I'm ashamed to admit this now, the past cannot be undone: I was on the cheerleading squad in high school. I was also given the nickname 'Robo-dancer'.

Buddies and Bowling

While in PA we get together with my Mom's side of the family every year on Christmas. This year, due to travel for ourselves and my one cousin, we delayed the get together until Saturday. There's always a lot of kids, a lot of food and needless to say, a lot of noise. It's always a blast and a great way for everyone to catch up with each other. And to think that I thought it was hard to get three kids to look in the same direction at the same time...




Before we left for Phoenix, we had to take Caleb bowling. I'm not sure why, but the child loves to bowl. We decided to take him bowling for an early birthday party. My dad, Rob, Caleb and I all bowled a game. Needless to say, Caleb and I were not in contention for first place. In fact, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even break 100 - I got a 99 - with the bumpers up. I like to tell myself that I scored that low on purpose. So Caleb wouldn't feel left out...

Celebrating Christmas - A Day Late

Christmas day was spent either inside a car or inside an airplane. It was a long, long day. A special thank you to Alex for giving us a ride to the airport at 4:00am on Christmas morning. Their son Leo gave Caleb and Myah stuffed animals for Christmas - Myah's was a girl moose and Caleb's was a boy moose who's antlers lit up. It kept him very happy on the plane - thanks Leo!
We celebrated Christmas the day after with my parents in PA and my brother and his family. We hadn't seen their little boy since he was 5 weeks old and, boy, has he changed. He has already surpassed his older cousin Myah in size (not too hard of a feat, but she is six months older than he is). The kids all had fun playing together but I never realized how hard it is to get three small children to sit still and look in one direction at the same time. I don't think it happened the entire time we were in Pennsylvania.

Looking up the chimney for Santa.

Josiah, Caleb, Myah and Dodge (my brother's dog)

Watching Josiah open a present.

Myah got her own purse, so hopefully she will stay out of Mommy's.

Myah had to hand each piece of wrapping paper to someone before she would pull off another piece.

Caleb's beloved Star Wars Legos - the one thing he specifically asked Maw-Maw for.

Chewing on a Light Saber - thinking about joining the dark side.

Helping Pop-Pop open his present.

Getting ready for Christmas dinner.

Myah's favorite thing? You guessed it - bread!

Christmas Eve

We let Caleb open his presents on Christmas Eve because we had to leave the house at 3:30am on Christmas Day to catch our flight to PA. Santa doesn't do 3:30am and neither do we. In case you are wondering about our lush, beautiful Christmas tree, it is the first year we bought a live tree. We've always had fake trees because we are never around after Christmas to take it down and don't want to come home to a big pile of needles. For the past several years we've had a huge 15 foot, pre-lit tree. However, this year we couldn't put it up because we no longer live in a house that has a two story room. Rob and I were fine going 'treeless' this year, but Caleb was insistent that we have a tree. So, in my infinite wisdom, I suggested one of the potted trees that we saw at Walmart. They were only $15 and since it's in a pot, we could have a nice houseplant after Christmas. When Caleb and I got to Walmart and I started pulling individual trees out of the bunch (trees look so much nicer when they are clumped together) I noticed how much they resembled Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Caleb didn't seem to notice, or care and went on to decide which tree was the best looking. After purchasing the tree, we proceeded to load it into the front seat of the Mustang (not the smartest car to use) and brought it home where Caleb happily decorated it.

Our beautiful tree in all it's glorious splendor.

Caleb is very excited over the size of one of his presents.

Pondering how to mine crystals.

Very excited about Wall-E (the robot) pajamas.
He was even more excited when he first opened them and thought they were sheets. Go figure.

Merry Christmas!

Here is an excerpt from Caleb's Christmas program. I need to apologize if the camera shakes a little bit - I was laughing my head off. Caleb really gets into the motions. Notice how far away from the other kids he is? We couldn't figure it out at first, but then after seeing him do his thing, we figured that the other kids just didn't want to get hit. Enjoy!

One Year Ago...

Last year on December 21, we officially accepted our referral of Myah.

One of our referral pictures from 12/18/07.


One year later.

Meeting Santa Claus

We took Caleb and Myah to visit Santa tonight. We even coordinated their outfits to match Santa. Caleb is still in 'awe' of Santa and kept asking,"Is this the real Santa, or just a helper?" Myah didn't want anything to do with Santa as you can plainly see (and hear). She stayed on his lap just long enough to snap a couple of pictures. As we were leaving, Caleb became very concerned for his little sister and asked if Santa would still bring her presents, even though she cried. We explained that Santa understands and yes, Myah will still get some presents. We were about 99.9% sure she would cry when she sat on Santa's lap - she doesn't even like the plastic light-up Santa at the store.

Myah's Many Faces

See my tongue? It's lots of fun to stick out.

These are my teeth. I have eight of them by now.

Aren't I just the cutest little stinker?

I Like Cranberry Sauce

Even though it's a little sour, cranberry sauce is fun to eat!

Illinois Thanksgiving

A few pictures from Thanksgiving in Illinois.

Picking out a Christmas tree with cousins.

Caleb and cousin Ryley playing out in the snow. Myah watching from (and kissing) the back door.

Opening a few early Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandpa.

Is someone pretending to be asleep?

Out to dinner with Grandma and the cousins.