Calla's First Christmas!

My baby girl is now 10 months old and has celebrated her first Christmas! We have truly been blessed this year and got to spend lots of time with our family and friends during the holidays! Next weekend we still have 2 Christmas parties to celebrate...then we will be finished!
On Christmas Eve we celebrated with just the 3 of us and then went to late church. Then on Christmas Day my parents came out to spend the day and then in the evening we went to Chad's parents house.
Calla was really, really, really spoiled by everyone and we think that we are really blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends who cherish our Calla as much as we do! We know that each one of you had a very Merry Christmas and remembered the love that He has for us!

Before Church on Sunday

Showing off her snowman hat from Uncle Chris

Reading a book from Mommy and Daddy

Checking out her Ark from Santa

Playing with her Singing Sound Stage from Grandma and Grandpa Ripp

Away in a Manger

We have started our Holiday gatherings! Over the weekend we were with my parents and brothers, and of course Burlynn! Calla had a blast following Little B around and just exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house. Santa was in town on Saturday so we took the girls for a visit. Calla loved him andBurlynn not so much!
Calla got SPOILED by Grandma, Grandpa, Shane and B, and Uncle Jed! Our living room continues to grow smaller due to the large quantity of toys she has! On thing is for sure...she has no excuse to be bored at home!
This weekend we will just be at home and then my parents will be out here on Christmas Day to hang out and then we celebrate with Chad's family that evening!
We will not update again until after Christmas so we want to thank all of you for following our family this year! We wish you all to have a great Christmas and never stop Believing!!

The girls looking out Grandma's window!

The Big, Jolly, SCARY man!!

Little B with her new slippers riding on her new horse!!

Calla on her new Dora couch, checking out Grandma's tree!!

The girl's in their Christmas dresses before church!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!

Calla has had a busy week, learning lots of new things! She can now sit from crawling and pull herself to her feet. I went in yesterday morning while trying to get her down for a nap and she was standing in her crib smiling at me! She now likes eggs and crackers. And...she has slept through the night for 4 nights in a row!!!!!! God does love us and wants us to have more children someday! LOL!!! She loves our Christmas tree so much that we bought her a small one that she can actually play with and she LOVES it!
Chad and I went to GI yesterday for his Company Christmas party and Calla spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Ripp. We had a great time and Calla did too!

Standing in her crib...yikes!

Another tree picture...this time with her 1st Christmas hat!

She got into the wrapping/tissue paper and had a BLAST!!!

Mommy thought she needed a mohawk!

She pulled herself to her feet and then was waving at me!

Calla with her very own Christmas Tree!

Mommy and Daddy before the party!

Who's got a beard that's long and white?

Santa's got a beard that's long and white!!!

That's right...it is time for the Big Jolly Man to make his appearance. Calla got to meet him for the first time last week. She really enjoyed sitting on his lap and just smiled her cute Calla smile! We think that we are lucky that both Grandpa's have a beard...so hopefully she will never be afraid of him!

This last week she has really started to show us that she is growing up too fast. She pulls herself up to about anything now...most of the time, just to her knees, but occasionally to her feet!! Yikes...I want my baby back. :'(

In all seriousness though...Pastor Dave told of an experience he once had. A woman was telling about the Christmas program her children had taken part in at their elementary school. The woman was telling how cute they looked and all the fun songs they had done. Then she said...for some reason they had to bring Jesus into it and then they had to sing some religious songs. I don't know why they would bring him into it!
Jesus is the REASON for the season. Without his birth we would not have Christmas! Take the time this season to remember the real reason we celebrate and give thanks to Him and all that He has given for us!

Hanging out by the tree!

For some reason she was trying to crawl over the box!!

Wearing Little B's reindeer outfit from last year!!!

Mommy and Calla!

Calla and the big man...look at her arm propped up on his belly!

Where has time gone?

Calla celebrated her 9 month birthday yesterday! We had a good day just hanging out as a family. I have taken soooo many pictures this weekend b/c Calla has been doing so many fun things! She helped me decorate the Christmas tree on Friday and otherwise has been exploring every inch of the house. She has discovered that the fish tank motor vibrates and that vibration feels great on her teething gums. I bought her a vibrating teether, but she prefers the fish motor.
She has also found out that it is great fun to crawl under the coffee table and end tables. Occasionally she gets hung up on the shelf, but for the most part she maneuvers over them quite well!! It is also very fun to crawl under the end table and then under the piano bench and play with the pedals along the way! She also loves to play with all the CDs and DVDs on the shelf. Thanks for checking in on us and we hope that you enjoy this holiday season!

Calla and Mommy before hockey!

Helping Mommy decorate the tree!

Sitting pretty!

Under the coffee table!

Standing up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wanted to wish you a Happy Day! We found many things to be thankful for this year and pray that we have even more next year! Take time to be thankful today.

As promised...

We had a fabulous weekend spending time with my family! Calla really had a good time playing with Burlynn and I think that the fun will only explode from here! We are looking forward to Christmas when we will have two times the fun we did last year. Enjoy these new pictures!

Calla posing before church

Should I knock it over?!?

We loved the weather this weekend and could not wait to go on a wagon ride!

Calla showing off her new jammies!

Burlynn wearing my shoes around the house!

9 month stats

Calla had her 9 month check up today! She won't be 9 months until next weekend, but we went in a bit early. She weighed in at 16 lbs 2 oz and is 26 3/4 inches long. Dr. said she looks great!! We are spending time with my family this weekend so we will have some pics to update early next week! Have a fabulous weekend!

Here is a picture of Calla and Charli from last weekend!

My Mom says that I am growing!

Tonight I saw Calla pull herself up to her feet for the first time! She crawled over her boppy pillow and put her hands on her big musical box toy and then pushed up from her knees to her feet. I am sad, but excited too!
We also got to meet Brenda and Charli today in GI to do some shopping. The girls were so kind to each other! Charli is SO sweet and adorable...I wanted to take her home!
We go to the dr. in a few weeks for her 9 month check-up so we will let you know how tall and what she weighs at that time.

Our Halloween Adventures

As you all know Calla celebrated her first Halloween this week and she was a penguin! On the 30th we went to the hockey game to trick-or-treat and then she wore her costume most of the game. At daycare they had a Halloween party and she got to wear her costume. The kids and Shirley went on a walk down their street to scare people...the kids told me it worked b/c two people got in their cars and left after they went by!!

On Halloween night we stayed home and answered the door and had only a few visits. :( Next year we plan on taking her out and about. This year we decided that her costume did not fit well in the car seat and she really could care less about the whole idea...it was all about the parents!

This morning she started saying "Mamamamamama" and I couldn't be HAPPIER!!!! Chad keeps getting her her face and saying "Dadadadadadadada" but she is not interested!!!
Here are a few more pics to enjoy!

Here she is sitting like such a big girl before going to daycare one morning!

Here are my teeth!!!

What are these things!?! They are not my feet...are they???

What is on my head!?!?!?!?

Daddy and Calla at the hockey game!

Happy Halloween!

Calla wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and we will update more later as to what festivities she took part in!

You can see my teeth in this one! Mommy finally got a picture with them showing!

Eight Months Already!?!?

It really is amazing how fast children grow and change. It does not seem like only 8 months ago that I looked like a walking house and now I have this beautiful big girl that almost crawls! Two teeth are in and we think a 3rd is not far behind. Tonight she was amused by the sounds that I was making and laughing SO hard that Chad and I had tears rolling down our cheeks from laughing at her! Enjoy her pics and the video!

Her teeth were bothering her and so she was sucking on a bag of frozen corn! We decided to put some corn in her mesh bag fresh food feeder and she loved it!

Garth!?!? I think she's in love just like Grandma Jules!

Cute Me!!

Chillin' by the front door...her new favorite hang out!

Two Little Pumpkins

What a weekend we had!! On Saturday we met Grandma Jules, Papa Bryan, Uncle Shane, Cousin Burlynn, Uncle Jed, Great Grandma Drohman, and Great Grandpa Drohman at Country Harvest Pumpkin Patch. We had a BLAST!!! The girls got to ride on tire horses, play in a tepee and a wooden train, go down a giant slide, travel a corn maze, pet goats and donkeys, jump in a giant jumper, milk a goat, paint their faces, play in a corn pit, and pick out a pumpkin!! We have decided to make this a yearly tradition and know that next year we will have 2 crazy girls to chase all over the farm. If any of you live close to the Hastings area I would strongly suggest this pumpkin patch since there was one low price to get in and then everything was included!! www.countryharvestpumpkinpatch.com Enjoy the pics and the video!