Callie and Kaboodle

My parents got a new kitten a few weeks ago and named him Kaboodle (Kitten Kaboodle is his full name). We have been here for almost a week now and Callie has loved playing with him since the day we got here. At first, they didn't know exactly what to do with one another. Callie would walk towards Kaboodle and he would get scared, but then Kaboodle would walk towards Callie and she would get scared. It has been great entertainment for both of them. Callie will walk around with one of Kaboodle's toys and he will run around and leap at her and at the toy. They also have a cardboard box that they both like to play in. If Kaboodle is in the box, Callie will try to step in it with him and he will grab her leg with his paws so that she can't get in. It hasn't been all fun and games though: Callie maliciously stepped on Kaboodle a couple of days ago and her ran and hid under the chair for an hour.
Callie hasn't exactly figured out how to pet the cat, so she usually either just pulls on his fur, pulls his tail, or (our personal favorite) just touches him on the nose with one finger.



They enjoyed seeing one another through the window the other day.

They were both very interested in Papa using the leaf blower yesterday afternoon, so they watched him for about 10 minutes while he was in the back yard.

Snow!

We got our first big snow of the winter this past week. I think we got about 8 inches total. Charlie and I were excited to take Callie out in it. We had to wait a few days though, because it was so bitter cold. Lucky for us, in Minnesota, you don't have to worry about the snow melting away!

So we got Callie all bundled up!

We went outside, but she didn't last long! She kept taking her mittens off, and then decided it would be fun to plunge her hands into the snow. A few seconds later, she was wailing. Her hands were freezing and she had had enough! It wasn't our last attempt to get her outside. A few days later, we bundled her again and Charlie pulled her around in this little "kiddie" sled. We kept her hands out of the snow and she seemed to enjoy all of her 7 minutes outside!

On Friday, we had our staff Christmas party, so Callie got all dressed up in her Christmas dress (thank you Gami). We intended on taking pictures of Callie with her friends at the party, but it was utter chaos. With 20+ adults, 15 kids/babies, and a dog all in a not-so-big house, you can imagine.


We leave at 5:30 am tomorrow for the south. Callie is ready to visit her family. We have been looking at her family picture board a lot lately. She likes to point to everyone and I say their name. Today when Charlie was changing Callie's diaper, he asked her if she was ready to see Papa and Bebe tomorrow. When he said their names, she picked her head up and started to look in the direction of the picture board. We weren't sure if it was a coincidence, so later he repeated himself and she did the same thing. I think she is beginning to remember names, although I'm sure it will be a while before she can say everyone's name.

From the Photo Shoot

Here are some more pictures that our friend Mindy Johnson took of Callie the other day:

Callie and the Christmas Tree

This is nothing to write home about (though I guess that is technically what we are doing by posting this to the blog), here are a few of Callie's first impressions of the Christmas tree. She was a little confused at first.

Thanksgiving and the Christmas Tree

For Thanksgiving we went to Lisa Reagan's parents' house. She and her husband, Matt, work with us on staff here in Minneapolis. We had a great time there and enjoyed letting Callie play with two of her friends, Annie and Maddux. Here is a picture of them eating their Thanksgiving meal:

And Sitting on the chair. You may notice a similarity between this an Callie's first Easter:


The day after Thanksgiving we rode out to Oak Grove, MN to cut down our Christmas tree (as is our family tradition). Callie didn't seem to know what was going on and she had trouble walking on the extremely uneven ground (even Jennifer had trouble walking). But in the end we picked out a tree that she liked. We will post a video of her reaction to the tree in our living room in the next couple of days.

Some New Pictures of Callie

We had a friend come over and watch Callie the other day. She also happened to be a photographer and got really excited about taking some pictures of Callie. Here is a link to her blog with the pictures that she took (you should read what she writes in the post, especially if you are from the South).
Here is one of the pictures that she took:

Thanksgiving Dinner with Students

For the second year in a row, we had all the students in our discipleship groups over for a Thanksgiving dinner. It is a good time for all the people that we are discipling to come and hang out together over at our house. Jennifer cooked some really good food (14 lb. turkey, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, green beans, dressing, pecan pie, apple pie, and cherry pie). Here are some pictures from the night:

This is a big step for Peter. He is always so nervous that he is going to drop Callie every time he tries to hold her.


Lots of people in our small kitchen.


This picture is from yesterday. We were just sitting around the house as a family. We put this hat on Callie and thought she looked really cute, so we had to take a picture.

More Walking

Callie has been walking more and more. In this video she walks all the way across our living room and back to where she started:

We went to Old Navy a few days ago and she enjoyed walking all over the store. She is getting the hang of it more and more. We will keep you updated.

Play Dates

We have enjoyed getting the girls together for play dates the past couple of weeks. This first picture is from a few weeks ago. It was perhaps the first time all the girls had been together since August. Samm had us over to her house for lunch and play time. It was next to impossible to get this picture of the four of them. Notice Maddux trying to make an escape!

Last Tuesday, we all took the girls to the Mall of America. Each year they have something called "America's biggest play group." They had music, door prizes, dancing, free gifts. It was a little more geared to toddlers, but we still had fun. The first two pictures are of Callie and Annie. They are watching the guy on stage that is singing and dancing. The last picture is of Callie, Maddux, and Annie. We didn't get any pictures with Ellie Jane.




Stay tuned for more walking footage! She's been walking all over.

Callie is walking?

Earlier on this blog we gave you Charlie's prediction and Jennifer's prediction for when Callie was going to start walking. We don't know what really constitutes "walking" but this sure looks like it. So we have concluded that Charlie was right. She is 10 1/2 months old and she appears to be walking. Would you consider this walking?

New Callie Video

This is her playing with her doorstop, dancing, and resting her head on a pillow:

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween. We didn't dress Callie up this year ( I have a great lady bug outfit for next year), but we did put a hand-me-down Halloween t-shirt on her.



It was a pretty, sunny day (although the wind was a little fierce) so we had to get outside. Callie enjoyed watching Ellie Jane run all over the park.



Finally, we ended the day with some good ole Chipotle. Chipotle offers free burritos to anyone dressed like a burrito (i.e. wearing some tin foil). We had to take advantage of this special day! In fact, I get way more excited about this aspect of Halloween verses any other. It brought back funny memories of last year when we wrapped my gigantic, pregnant belly in tin foil! This year we just wrapped little "C". Stay tuned for more updates. Callie is starting to take a few steps and Charlie and I are on a mission to catch her in the act with the video camera.

Fall Leaves

It's been a rather rainy October, so anytime we can get outside we try and take advantage of it. We have 3 large maple trees in our backyard. It's beautiful to watch their leaves change, but it does leave quite a bit of raking for us (well, mainly Charlie) to do.



Thankfully, she didn't seem too alarmed that we put her in a large pile of leaves!

Weekend with Papa and Bebe

We had a great weekend with Papa and Bebe. It was pretty low key but we enjoyed eating out, going on walks, and going to the Northwestern soccer game. It was a fun weekend, and we were sad to see them go. We're already looking forward to seeing all our family at Christmas time!



It was hard to keep Callie still during the soccer game. By the end of the game she was raring to go. We took her down to the field and she probably crawled a good 50 yards.


She entertained herself during the game by climbing the bleachers.


We also went shopping where Callie got spoiled with a new toy. She loves it. I took about five pictures with her, Bebe, and the new toy. In all of them Callie was blurry. That is because she wouldn't stop moving! Hmm, I'm noticing a theme. I think it's safe to say God gave us an active one!

Apple Orchard Video

A video of our trip to the apple orchard:

Aunt Laura: Part II

The highlight of our time was definitely our visit to Afton Apple Orchard (they had big pumpkin patches too). It was the perfect fall day for apple picking. Apparently other people had that same thought because the place was packed. We took a hayride out into the orchard. We probably took more pictures than we picked apples. Callie did however pick her first apple (all by herself). Her Dad has that on video, so I'm sure he'll be posting that soon. She loved tasting/gnawing the apples after I would take a bite out of them. It was funny to watch her try and dig in with her two teeth.






All good things must come to an end. This was the last picture before Aunt Laura left on Sunday morning. We hated to see her go, but we'll be looking forward to seeing her at Christmas!