More Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 has been a great one--as I said before, it's Calla's first Christmas and celebrating with her as a part of our family made it extra special! We can't wait for many more to come as the magic for the girls will only grow. 

Our first family Christmas was the Goolsby family Christmas. It was great to get together at Chase's grandmother's house and let all the littles play. There aren't too many of them, but they had a great time! The girls enjoyed started off our Christmas break with this gathering of loved ones. 

The next night was our second celebration, the Edwards Family Christmas. Always so much fun and filled with love and laughter. Littles running around squealing and enjoying each other. Again, it's always so great to be with family around the holidays. And we are so blessed that we have so many to share our time with! 

Then it was Pa-Paul's birthday. Chase made a dinner of catfish, fries, hush puppies, and biscuits. It was delicious. An especially nice treat from the holiday food. He opened his gifts and everyone just enjoyed being together--especially Augusta and Maddie! 

The next day, we made Christmas cookies! We tried a new recipe this year, Cake Batter Chocolate Chip, and they were amazing!! Pretty much everyone loved them, except mom and chase said they could've done without the sprinkles. Augusta had a blast making them, helping to mix ingredients and sampling the chocolate chips and sprinkles in the process! ;) Aunt Lys and Uncle Brad also made it down to our house to celebrate the holiday season! 

And then Christmas Eve was finally here. Augusta had been super excited about Christmas Eve from the beginning, not sure what triggered this but it was cute. We had our celebration with Chase's parents and his brother's family. It's always so fun to be with everyone and watch them open gifts. I love seeing our nieces faces, along with our own girls. Anyone can tell you, the more children, the more alive and magical the spirit if Christmas is! 

The next morning we awoke to find that Santa had visited! I guess both girls were on the nice list because he sure did spoil them! They loved opening all their presents. Mommy and Daddy did too! Though I loved my gifts, seeing the smiles on those baby faces (Chase included) is definitely what made my Christmas!  Mims and Pa-Paul even stopped by to visit with the girls and hear about Santa's visit. So did Gammie and TT for a quick bit, then it was off to their house. 

We loaded up our monkey bread and gifts and headed down to my parent's house for the rest of Christmas morning. The girls got even more gifts, and though they loved them, by this point they were on overload! Augusta wanted to open everything--just get it out of the packaging. And Calla, well, she actually slept through the whole thing. How that happened with my family, I have no idea. I guess she was super exhausted!! 

After a long afternoon nap, we headed back to my parents for Christmas dinner. It's so nice that they still spoil us and make all the dishes themselves. I'm sure this will be coming to an end shortly! But we had a lovely dinner, and it was so nice to have everyone together for the holidays. 

Christmas 2014 sure was a great one! And a great way to wrap up the year. Can't wait to see what 2015 holds! 

Calla is another month older!!

The post title says the short if it--baby girl has grown another month older. And boy has she done some growing this month! 

Let's start off with the biggest news first! Calla Jane is officially a walker!! Two days shy of mine months old and she took off! She's taking after me and her daddy as we both walked at 8 months. But it is so crazy to see this tiny person walking around on two feet! She just seems too small! But it is precious to see her determination and how proud she is to walk to you! Such a fun time! 

You also have four teeth now! So adorable! Two on the top and two on the bottom!! You aren't afraid to bite either, though you don't mean to. It's only when you're trying to eat! 

Speaking of which, you still love eating! You have been eating more table foods, like sweet potatoes, Mac and cheese, fries, Cheerios, and even spaghetti o's. You also love your juice...you've tried orange mixed fruit along with your apple and pear. You love your puffs, and have started eating the little Crunchies (basically baby Cheetos). You love to be able to hold them and feed yourself. That's your main thing with eating, you want to be in control! We discovered the Gerber babyfood pouches and you suck those things down. You can kill it in under five minutes! Prob your new favorite thing! 

Keeping up with the new foods you've tried is getting crazy, but as for baby foods you've tried oatmeal, granola, and baby yogurt. (All these have been in mixes). We also found you'll eat squash in a mix--win! You've eaten broccoli in a mix, daddy's favorite. And Mommy's favorite, raspberries! You aren't too picky about anything! 

You are talking more and more, and becoming more social. You love to engage and smile at people. You are starting to wave and will sometimes even say "hi" or "bye". Your most consistent word is still dada though! You also love to blow bubbles and basically "spit" at whoever is holding you--but it's too cute to be annoyed with! 

You also love baths now. You've started taking baths in the big bathtub and you're obsessed! You love to splash around and get under the water. And you especially love when sissy is in there with you to make you laugh! 

Your favorite person is still your big sister, and she influences pretty much all your decisions, if she's not trying to make th for you. You love to play together--she loves to pull you on top of her and basically wrestle with you. You are fascinated by her dancing and especially her laughing. And you love all of her toys, your favorites being her lalaloopsy dolls. 

Since we've listed so many things you love already, I'll just go ahead and say that's there's not really much you don't like. You are much better about the Carseat, but you still want to be snuggled when it's sleepy time. 

You are still the happiest baby and pretty much smile and giggle all the time. The only times you get fussy is when you're hurt, hungry, or sleepy. And those can be cured with food or a snuggle. And you pretty much always wake up happy which is a blessing since your sister loves to wake you! We love you so much sweet, smiley girl! You are such a ray of light on our family and we thank God every day for blessing us with your presence! 

Christmas fun!

And Christmas season 2014 has begun! My most favorite time of the year! I just love soaking up all the family time, love, and magic associated with this season! 

Our first Christmas activity was putting up our Christmas tree and decorating the house with lights. This actually happened before thanksgiving--we just couldn't wait!  Augusta thinks it needs to be on at all times. If I don't immediately do it when we wake up, she instructs me to do so! 

Then we had to go and visit Santa Claus. I thought Augusta would love him this year...not so much. We've visited him twice. And since then had atleast three other opportunities, abs every time Augusta declares she doesn't want to see Santa. But at least we ended up with a sweet family Santa picture to document the year. 

Out elf on the shelf, Tinsel, is also back with ya this year. Augusta loves finding him each day. Her face as she points him out to you is priceless! 

Next came the town Christmas parade. Augusta had a blast watching with her cousins. And it was so nice that the weather wasn't super cold. Calla enjoyed the parade too and hardly made a peep during the whole thing! 

The next weekend was my mom's family reunion. It's always great to get together with our extended family; all that remain of my great-grandparents 9 children and their extended families. Augusta loved visiting and playing with distant cousins. She also loved the game of dirty Santa. She had a blast picking out gifts for anyone who would let her! And everyone enjoyed sweet Calla. She was passed all around and loved on by everyone! :) Post reunion we had a family shopping trip to tupelo which was a blast--call me a crazy but I love shopping during the Christmas season. Just being out in that hustle and bustle is so fun to me! 

Then this weekend we visited Starry Nights at Shelby Farms in Memphis. It was our second year to go and we loved it even more this time. Both girls were amazed. Calla soaked it in and goo keit talking about every display with complete awe. They also had a snow machine set up that she was obsessed with! She kept spinning in the snow saying, "This is amazing!"

Yesterday my parents got their tree and as our tradition goes, we helped them to decorate it. This year it actually wasn't just me decorating the whole thing!! My mom and sister were much more hands on. And Augusta was right in the middle if it all. Climbing the step ladder and hanging all get ornaments practically in the same spot! ;) 

Calla has been great with the tree--only twice has she tried to pull an ornament off, and our tree has been up nearly a month. She loves seeing the lights of the tree too. She smiles so big when you plug it up. 

Another fun thing this Christmas has been how into decorating and wrapping presents Augusta has been. She wants to help you wrap and place gifts under the tree. She likes picking a gift tag and writing the name on it. She also loves putting up ornaments and moving then around on the tree. She very into lights and inflatables. She's also gotten to Christmas carols and it loving Jingle Bells. Seeing the joy and amazement in my girls' eyes makes the spirit if the season more alive in me.