Happy Birthday Calee!

Our little Calee is 1 year old today! I don't know where the time goes. This last year has been the best year of our lives. It has been so much fun watching Calee learn and grow. She is such a little sweetheart and so stinkin' cute. I know it sounds like I am bragging, but literally everywhere we go, people stop us and tell us how cute Calee is. Her little cheeks, her little smile, and her cute curly hair. We have had people tell us that she looks like a little cabbage patch kid. Each day she just gets funner and funner. We've enjoyed having her stay little. Our other kids grew way too fast and were bigger and walking all over when they were 1 year old. Calee just started walking last week, this week she has been cutting teeth, and she is starting to really jabber a lot. We are having both sides of our family over tonight for a big birthday party for Calee. Happy Birthday Calee! We love you!

Carter

Carter made his first basket of the season tonight. He was pretty excited. It was fun to see him make a basket. We have been so proud of Carter lately. Not only is he getting better at basketball, but he did something last week that really made us proud of him. I coached the game last week and at the beginning of the game I passed out 5 different colored wrist bands. (We use colored wrist bands to teach the kids how to play man-on-man defense). We have 7 kids on our team and only 5 colored wrist bands. Well, one of our players got his feelings hurt because he didn't get a wrist band and started to cry. Carter saw this happen and didn't even hesitate a second to go over and give up his wrist band to his fellow teammate and say, "It's okay buddy, you can have my wrist band." It made Christy and I, (and everyone else that was watching) almost want to start crying. We were so proud of him.

Cute pictures of the girls

Here are some really cute pictures that I took of the girls this last weekend. Cambree was being her typical "silly" self. I still can't believe that Calee turns one this friday. It was fun having a three day weekend and spending lots of time at home with Christy and the kids.

Kinder Eggs

We went to the HOF german-fest out at the fairgrounds this weekend. Our kids had a blast making little castles, making gingerbread cookies and dancing the chicken-dance. One of our favorite things about going to the german-fest is buying Kinder Eggs. Anyone that has ever had a Kinder Egg knows how awesome they are. Christy and I have both been to Europe several times and we always bought lots of Kinder Eggs. Not only do you get really yummy german chocolate, but there is always a cool little toy in the middle that you get to put together. Here is a picture of Carter and Cambree opening their Kinder Eggs.

Crazy morning hair!

You think you've ever had crazy morning hair? Well, look at Calee. Our girls usually have some pretty crazy hair when they first wake up in the morning. This is what they looked like the other morning. Cambree's wasn't the craziest I had ever seen, but Calee's definitely was.

Carter's first Basketball game!

Carter started basketball this week. His first practice was monday night and his first game was tonight. I can't believe how funny it is to watch these kids play basketball for the first time. I am assistant coach on Carter's team and it is so fun to work with these kids and try to teach them how to play. They did really good tonight considering it is the first time these kids have ever played in an official game. I was really proud of Carter. He tried really hard and had some really good shots. I think that he learned that basketball is more than just making baskets. He can make shots all night long when he is over at the fire station with me at night, but tonight he figured out that he has to work on his dribbling, passing, working together with his team, and play defense. He was a little disapointed that he didn't make a basket tonight, but I told him that I was really proud of him and that he will make one next game. I think that he was a little overwhelmed by everything, but he told me that he had a lot of fun.

Look who is standing, and starting to walk!

Calee is standing up and starting to walk like a big girl! She started standing on her own the last couple of weeks. She is able to walk if she is holding on to her little stroller that she got for Christmas. She is so close to being able to walk on her own. Any day now, she is going to just take off and start walking. It is so cute to see her try to walk. She is still so little, and so cute. We are also starting to teach her how to go up and down the stairs. She can go up them pretty good, just not down yet. I can't believe that she will be one year old in a few weeks! They grow way too fast!

"Look! no hands!"

Learning "the stairs"

Lego Castle

When I was younger, I loved Legos. To me, there was nothing funner than taking a million little pieces and building with them to make something big and spectacular. I remember sitting for hours, carefully following the instructions and building everything just perfect. I had a big police station that was my favorite. It had a jail, police cars, and even police motorcycles. I have been patiently waiting for Carter to get old enough to start building with Legos. For Christmas, he got a really awesome Lego Castle set. We decided to finally get it out yesterday and build it. We sat for hours at the kitchen table putting it together. It was a blast! I forgot how much I love Legos. Christy even came over at one point and helped us put together a section of the castle. I can't believe how detailed Legos are these days. Carter has been playing with it non-stop since we put it together. He loves it! Building this castle, makes us really excited to go back to Legoland in California this march. Our kids still don't know that we are going. We are surprising them. I can't wait!

New Year's Eve

Last night was a lot of fun. We had friends over for a rockin' New Years Eve party! We had lots of good chinese food, drinking (Mountain Dew, that is), games, and treats. I bought Star Wars Clone Wars for the kids to watch. The funnest part of the night was playing Rock Band and Rock Band AC/DC on the Wii. The singing is the funniest part. It is always fun to watch each other make fools of ourselves trying to sing rock and roll.

Christy, Amanda, and Bryce
That is Carter behind those fireworks. Bringing in the new year.

Christmas 2008!

My favorite time of year has always been Christmas. I love Christmas music, I love Christmas lights, and I love reflecting on the Saviour's Birth. It is so fun having kids and watching them get so excited on Christmas eve. Carter had to sprinkle reindeer food in the front yard and in the back for Santa's reindeer. They also left Santa cookies and milk. Carter came and woke us up Christmas morning all excited, because he had already snuck out and peaked to see what Santa had brought. He didn't hesitate waking up his Sisters so we could all go out together. Santa was really good to our kids this year, maybe too good. All I can say, is that they are spoiled. Oh well, they deserve it. They were exceptionally good kids this year. Here are a few pictures of Carter and Cambree's favorite gifts.

Carter's favorite present this year was his Nintendo DS

Cambree's new purple bike

Cambree got lots of Barbie stuff this year

This is one of Cambree's favorite presents. She wanted this silly cupcake maker so bad! She has already been busy making us cupcakes to eat. She is so silly!

Calee's first Christmas!

This was Calee's first Christmas and it was so much fun to watch her experience everything for the first time. She loves Christmas lights and she loved our Disney Christmas tree. She also loved sitting on Santa's lap. It was fun to watch her play with the wrapping paper and all her new toys on Christmas morning. Here are a few pictures of her on Christmas day.

Carter loses a tooth!

Carter lost one of his front teeth right before Christmas. He wiggled it for days, but would not let us pull it out. Finally one day, I just reached in and pulled it out. He has another one on the bottom that he is been wiggling lately. I am sure it will be coming out real soon. While Carter is losing teeth, Calee is getting teeth. She has two little teeth poking through on the bottom in the front.