Cade's First Christmas!

We spent a little over a week in Great Bend bouncing back and forth between our families for Christmas celebrations. It was another great holiday, and extra-special with Cade! Tried to take lots of pictures but, as always, I just end up with random snap shots. Here's our Christmas in pictures!

We kicked off our visit to GB by taking in the annual Vespers service by the high school choir. MaKenzie had a solo and did a wonderful job.

The Vespers service is very rich in tradition so I really enjoyed the performance and even reminisced a little about when I was in the choir and show choir...10 years ago...

Aunt G Dawg on duty

The fam decided Cade's hair needed styling




Dad even had an opinion about it...




We affectionately referred to MaKenzie as "Christmas Barbie" for the holidays as opposed to just "Malibu Barbie" like usual...

He chews on EVERYTHING...it's like he's a beaver sharpening his teeth or something



Presents? For me?!

I tried to make a few a little easier to open...but he still was pretty indifferent about the whole thing. I knew he wouldn't understand but I really thought he would want to at least play with the wrapping.

Not so much...notice the meltdown face


G Dawg spoiled Cade rotten with lots of toys and an awesome KSU football jersey!




Christmas Eve PJs at the Keeley's were hilarious!

Now I can match Cade!

Christy

Beth

Cindy & Lukas

Cade must have been VERY good this year...or atleast since May...when he was born.

Christmas Day breakfast

Matt and I

Lukas & Cade

Presents!

All mine?

Do not try to take these from me!!

This may be his favorite thing he received...the hammer to a peg pounding bench. He chews on it all the time.

He loves this singing basketball goal...

But isn't quite ready for the concept of shooting...much to Matt's frustration :)

Another great holiday season in the books! I enjoyed getting to relax and even made it to the gym to workout a few times and also was able to connect with some high school friends!
Megan and Emma came over

You can tell they live up North! SO cute!

Now we're just soaking up these last few days of rest and Cadeness. It will be hard to be away from Cade when normal life resumes. He's changed so much in the last week it seems! We came back to KC and he is all over the place with his quick army crawl and into EVERYTHING! Baby-proofing to come...soon!
Hope everyone had a wonderful and restful holiday!

Finally...

A smiley face indeed on the school calendar. Farewell students, see you January 5th. Some professions may get large Christmas bonuses, but I'm content with the handmade gifts and a calendar that looks like this. I love my profession.

Comb-overs & Christmas Sweaters

Matt's team organized a festive Christmas photo shoot. I tagged along because we weren't sure if they would have anyone there to actually take pictures for them. (You can't really count on college guys to think through the details). Much to our surprise they had arranged for an MNU booster with all of his professional photography gear to capture the moment for them. Cade and I were still glad we attended as it was hilarious.



Getting a little awkward...



Cade wonders if this is normal. I guess we shouldn't be worried by the comb-overs and women's sweaters...it was all in the name of team bonding. :)

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

I am straight-up in denial that it is already Christmas time. It can't possibly be the holidays yet. I don't know if it's because we've had such a warm fall or that I've just been pre-occupied with other things but the days have just flown by. I welcome Christmas break though. I CAN tell that it's time for a nice long break from school. My nerves are wearing thin. Very thin. Random shots of how we've been passing the time...

Cade will look so different once his front teeth come in all the way. I try to get close-up pics every few days to chronicle this monumentous milestone.


I finally got to go to Peachwave with the Hepker's! It's a new frozen yogurt place in the neighborhood and I've been dying to go. They have a gazillion flavors and a gazillion more toppings. I get excited about places like this...however I always end up making the worst possible combination ever and then just spend the rest of the time wishing I had made whatever combination Matt made. Notice how my bowl is much more full than everyone elses? And notice how extremely excited I am to be there?


It's time. I guess. I've been reluctant to start Cade on any baby food as I think it's a marketing scam and don't want to do anything to rock our (somewhat) smooth nursing routine. We started off with some pureed bananas. He HATES it. It's quite entertaining to watch though.


With the introduction of baby food comes the need to start brushing those teeth. It's actually a super-fun part of our evening routine. Cutest fuzz-head ever?!


And finally, my Christmas craft project. My mom helped me get started and now I'm making one of these for pretty much everyone I know for Christmas. Get excited...it could be you. Time consuming, yet therapeutic.

7 Months

Let us reminisce...






Mr. Christmas doesn't want to sit down

Our hair is a little out of control these days. Someone tell me when a hair cut becomes absolutely necessary...I might not know.

And how bout those teeth?! 7 of them! 4 on top and 3 on bottom.

No, it's not your computer. The Christmas tree clip-art is blue. I desperately need to replace the ink cartridge. I never remember since I only print about once a month.

Posing by the tree


We officially have a scooter/army crawler on our hands. He's picking up speed too.


He loves to stand.


And read/eat books!


What a ham!


It's a great Christmas this year because he doesn't really venture over to the tree too much and we can Christmas shop for him right in front of him!


Sidenote: I'm curious what he weighs but haven't taken him to the doctor for an official weight check as last time (at 5 months when we went in for weighing only) the nurse made me feel like a psycho for getting him weighed "purely for the baby book." I didn't add that it was actually for my blog. I'm tempted to use the produce scale at Wal-Mart...maybe when they aren't very busy?