Singley Christmas

This past Saturday we had our Singley Family Christmas get-together. Everyone met at Aunt Joyce's. She lives in Green Cove Springs, way out in the middle of nowhere! The great part is that she has tons of land and play space for the kids (young and old).

Bryan woke up sick that morning, so I was on my own getting Cale ready. It is not bad getting him ready solo when I am prepared for it. But I wasn't prepared for it and quickly started running out of time. Somehow we made it out the door only running a few minutes late.

We had planned to ride with Jason, Jenny & Brody, since it is such a long ride. We all rode in my Tahoe, but I let Jason drive. He was thrilled about that :)

Once we were there we had lots of food and a fun visiting. It was a little strange because this was the first year without Daddy. I miss him terribly. I found myself constantly thinking about him because he and my Aunt Joyce look a lot alike to me. We all miss him, and it is especially hard during the holidays.

But the kids kept us entertained. After opening a few gifts, it was outside to play! The big kids played football and the younger kids played with bubbles and ended with a ride in the wagon pulled by the "tractor". They loved it!

While we were there, we got all the great-grandkids (minus the 2 that couldn't make it) to take a picture with Granny. There were a lot of cameras going off, so nobody knew exactly where to look. Here are a few that I got with my camera.

Tons of Christmas Pictures

Here is a recap of our Christmas day.....

We started off the morning with stockings and presents at home. It was fun watching Cale "open" his presents (I have a short video if I can figure out how to get it from the camera to the blog).

~Stuff from his stocking~

Next we were off to Granny and Papa's (Bryan's Parents) for breakfast and then more presents. Cale was hilarious. He started to get sleepy about the time we were ready for presents, so we did his first. After all of his presents we put him in the swing thinking he would go to sleep. Boy were we wrong. He talked and kicked and played the whole time we did presents. When it was all said and done, he finally crashed!

~Cale and Uncle Brett~

~Cale and Aunt Valerie~
~Playing with Granny's plant~

~He finally went to sleep~

After presents we hung out and ate lunch and then watch one of Bryan's DVDs (a comedian named Jeff Dunham). That was lots of laughs. From there we headed home for a couple hours of quiet before going to our next stop.

~Our rocker from Bryan's parents to match our swing~

Our last stop of the day was Nana and Poppy's (my parents) house. There we tried numerous times for a family picture. Cale wouldn't smile, but I guess that is only because we wanted him too :)

~Mommy and Daddy's best present~

~One of many attempts~

Again we had a great meal and tons of presents. Brody was the best one to watch. He got so excited! Cale will be there next year and it will be fun all around. After all the presents were done, Cale got a bath, bottle and was out. Mom has a crib so it is really nice to be able to put him to "bed" while we are there.

Then it was time for a game of Taboo! We had lots of laughs and "I cant believe you didn't know that"! We always play a game on Christmas night at Mom's. It is usually a game that somebody received as a gift, but no one got a game this year so we broke out an oldie. It was still a lot of fun.

~Cale's Christmas Dinner....Cereal and Applesauce~

Finally it was time to head home. It was a long day, but we would not trade being with family for anything!

Christmas Surprise

I must first start by saying that we had a great first Christmas with Cale.

With that said.....

Here is my Christmas Surprise from my sweet little boy! I was not expecting it and definately blown away. Now let's just see if I can figure out how to get some videos uploaded to the blog :)

Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

John Deere Baby

Bryan went out to Granny's to mow the leaves today. Cale and I came out to meet him so we could go for lunch. Once Daddy finished the actual mowing part and turned the blades off, he took Cale for a little spin. Cale wasn't too sure what to think. His facial expressions are priceless!

New toy

Jason and Jenny bought me an exersaucer for my baby shower. Cale has just now gotten big enough to use it. So I asked Bryan to put it together last night. I had about a million parts so it took a little while. But once it was done, Cale loved it.

There is a mirror on it and he is looking at himself.

Christmas Candy

This past week my mom came out and stayed a couple of nights so that she could watch Cale for us. While she was here, we started on our annual Christmas Candy. For as long as I can remember, my mom has always made chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate covered coconut. Well last year she passed the tradition to me. Last year I did it (while in the early stages of pregnancy and very sick). Bryan helped the best he could, but making candy is not really his thing.

Well this year I figured I would take advantage of mom being here and her willingness to help. I mixed all the peanut butter and she rolled out the balls. While she rolled, I mixed the coconut and spooned them out. Then I cleaned up all the mess while mom finished up with her peanut butter balls. That is normally the hard part. Not so much this year. It seem to take no time at all.

Then came the dipping them in chocolate part! I was on my own for that part. Let me just say that it took FOREVER!!!!! I thought I would never finish! Bryan helped with getting them out of the fridge and then putting them back in once they were dipped.

I started dipping at 3 and didn't finish until about 7:30! There were several Cale breaks in between, but it still took a long time. I am glad to say that I do not have to dip another peanut butter or coconut ball for another year!

Serious Bubble Blower

My little man has graduated to a "Serious Bubble Blower". He means business when it comes to blowing those bubbles!

Picture Tag

I have been tagged by Christen to a picture challenge. Here are the rules....

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

This was taken 2 weekends ago at Brody's 2nd birthday party. He is really getting into opening gifts!! (It was a Choo-Choo Train by the way.....they are is favorite right now!)

I tag.....JoBeth, Kerri, Jenny, and Kristen

Cant wait to see your pics!

He did it!

My little man finally rolled over!

The only bad thing is that it happened in his crib after we put him to bed so neither of us got to see it :( We put him down (awake) and he was quiet for about 10 minutes. Then he started fussing. I just figured he had wedged his way into the corner (he is good at that). So Bryan went to check on him. He came back into the hallway laughing. Again I thought he was just up in the corner or sideways, but no, he was on his back just a grinning. I cant believe he finally did it! I just hope we actually get to see it happen soon.

While I am writing, I figured I would give a quick update on the baby food adventure. Cale LOVES it!!!! He is digging the cereal and applesauce mix. He is really getting the hang of it. Tonight Bryan fed him (because I had to go grocery shopping). He said that he couldnt hardly get it in his mouth fast enough! He is a champ when it comes to eating, and apparently a quick learner!

Yummo!

Cale is officially old enough to start cereal! Yay! So we tried some this morning. He was so funny. He made some crazy faces! His biggest problem was that he didnt know what to do with it. I would give him some and then put his pacifier in to get him to suck it down. He did ok with it that way. I am going to get him some applesauce to go with it so maybe he will like that a little better. Here are some pics of his first round of big boy food!

Busy Day

Yesterday we were very busy. We started the morning with Cale's 4 month check up and shots. He is currently 16 lbs 13 oz (75%) and 26 1/2 inches (90%). He passed his check up and then came the yucky shots! He did great though. He cried when he got them but calm down right after it was all over.

Next we headed off to see Santa. He was running late so we walked around Dick's until he arrived. Santa finally showed up (about 30 minutes late) and we got a great picture. This year he is too little to be scared so we thought we would take advantage of that.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed towards Mom's house at the beach. Cale fell asleep in the car so Bryan drove me to do a few errands and we let him sleep. When we got to Mom's we changed his diaper and got him back to sleep for a good nap.

Next stop was UNF for Mom's graduation. I must say that I am extremely proud of my mother. She has worked her tail off to get where she is and she graduated with honors with her Bachelors in Nursing (BSN). Way to go Mom!

Cale and Brody didnt care so much for the ceremony, so Jason and I spent the whole graduation in the lobby trying to wrangle our children. Cale obviously wasnt running around, but he was very fussy. He is starting to get a cold, plus he had shots, and he was sleepy but fighting it. We survived the graduation and it was back to Mom's for her Celebration Party!

We had lots of food and socializing. It was about 11 before we headed home and I was beat. Boy was I glad to finally make it to bed!

Wordless Wednesday

All tuckered out

I put Cale on his little play mat this afternoon when we got home so I could get a few things going (laundry especially). He was playing and started to fuss a little so I gave him his pacifier. Within 30 seconds he was asleep. He still had his toy in his hand. I guess he was a tired little boy. So as he sleeps I am blogging :)

Christmas Tree

We finally got our tree this weekend and got it put up. Bryan and I love having a real tree. The smell has filled the house and now it is Christmas time. Cale loves the lights on the tree! He just sat and stared at them.

Here is a sneak peak of the pictures I took for our Christmas cards. I was going to go have them done, but we are tight on time and money, so I decided to do them myself.

Happy Birthday Brody! and Go Gators!

Brody turned 2 this week! We had his birthday party yesterday afternoon. For his birthday he got a great big play set outside. Needless to say the kids LOVED it!!! Even Cale got in on the action. It had a little man swing on it. He fit in it perfectly! I took some video of him in it, but I cant get it to upload (I will try again). For now here are some pictures.

Brody was all about his presents this year. Last year he still wasn't quite sure what to do with them, but he knows now! Let's just say that Christmas is going to be fun this year!

And of course, as most of you know, we are all HUGE Gator fans! So of course the SEC Championship game was on. We had to do presents and cake during half time so that the guys would watch :) After that some of the partiers went home. But the same ol' gator game gang stayed to finish the game. GO GATORS!!!!! SEC CHAMPS!!!!