Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas! This is our holiday picture, taken at the pier by the Safety Harbor Spa near our house. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful community. It only took about 100 takes!

Did we really expect anything less? Caleb was cool with Santa, even gave him a high five, until I let go. It's still precious, isn't it? He recovered quickly when I picked him up. Even said "Bye-bye" to Santa. This is a "bootleg" copy. Didn't buy the disk so it's a picture of a picture. Classy. I know. :)

Our little man is now 17 months old. He's about 26 pounds. He's saying new words and phrases everyday. Thankfully the tantrums have subsided greatly (though I'm not convinced they won't return). It is such a joy watching everything through his eyes. I can't believe how big he is. He brings me so much happiness every single day.

Here are some pics of Caleb in his Christmas jammies!

My personal fave.

Here is a pic of Papa and the youngest grandsons, Nolan (Michael & Leanne's) and Caleb. We had lots of fun at their house Christmas Eve.

Such cute boys!

Caleb and Aunt Kimberly looking at the tree. You probably can't see in this picture, but most the bulbs on the bottom are gone, thanks to Caleb. He thought it was a riot to take them off then throw them down. Nana will get plastic bulbs next year. :P

He got a flute in his stocking and loved it!

Some family pics.

Looking so grown up! Cameron will be 15 next month! He's in 9th grade and continues to excel. He is really enjoying high school-between his social and sports calendars he's quite busy. Caleb loves to dance with Cameron in Cam's room. It's too precious! Cameron is such a blessing in my life!

This is Caleb with a blue tinged tongue. One minute he's coloring nicely, the next minute the tip is missing and he's sporting this. Yeah, we need to work on coloring.

He loves to stack blocks and knock them down.

Great Uncle Jeff is teaching Caleb the ropes.

Hope you have a very happy New Year!!

Caleb's First Visit to the Zoo!!!

We took Caleb to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa this weekend. We had so much fun! I couldn't wait so share the pictures.

One of the coolest features they have is the chance to feed a giraffe. It was challenging managing the video camera and the still camera, but I thinking I got a few good ones.

It's a little freaky seeing a giraffe this close up!

Caleb loved it!

This was taken right after they fed it.

Caleb loved the birds! There's an aviary house where there are tons of canaries flying around. You can buy a stick with bird seed on it and they flock to you. Byron and I were a little freaked out at all the birds flying at us, but Caleb just squealed with delight. Check him out!

Cool, huh?

Ahh, yes, I'm a lucky girl!

They also have a petting zoo with goats. Caleb was so good. He loved waving and saying "hi" to them. He was very gentle.

How adorable is this?! He's very into squatting down these days. Too cute!

One of my favorites!

See..proof that I was actually there. :P

16 Months..a little late. :P

Caleb and I started our Thanksgiving with the Turkey Trot. We had a blast! We walked/strolled the 3.1 miles with about 30,000 other trotters. Had the pleasure of seeing friends there and of starting a new Thanksgiving tradition with my little man.

Caleb made a new friend. He loves dogs!

And Daddy greeted us at the finish line.

We had Thanksgiving dinner first at Byron's Aunt Dee's house and then off to my parents. Twice is always nice!

Caleb and Papa love to snap their fingers. Too cute.

Aunt Kimberly let Caleb dig away into the mashed potatoes. She obviously didn't think he'd scarf down this much. Nana makes some good homemade mashed potatoes.

Too cute not to put in here.

Poor Cameron. He loves to take a nap after a long day of school just as much as Caleb loves to climb up and sit on his big brother.

Is this a Gap ad or what? So stylish that you wouldn't even notice he's only wearing one sock. :)

Ahhh!

Demonstrating his love of apples.

And his love of reading. He likes to read independently now.

Of course, we cannot go without saying Congrat's to the world's greatest baseball team!

He likes to say "cheese" now.

My beautiful boy.

He let me put this on him for about 10 seconds.

Here's the money shot for ya! Enjoy!