The Growing Caldwell Family

The kids were kind to us on Christmas morning and waited until 6:30 to wake up! Not feeling so great was probably responsible for that, but I'll take the sleep. When Charlie first woke up he was in a rough spot. He felt horrible and had no interest in any presents. Fortunately, some ibuprofen got him feeling good very quickly and he was ready to get into the Christmas gifts! Sarah Graves was delighted when she came down! Chelsea clothes were a fun stocking surprise. A new doll with computer programmer accessories was fun! Sarah Graves is calling her Emma because she looks a little like her friend Emma from school. The doll wears glasses, has long dark hair with a fun pink streak, and she has blue eyes! A video game controller for the iPad and a big Nerf gun were exciting for Charlie! Aaron was pleased with LSU Christmas socks in his stocking. Sarah Graves was so sweet when she opened Charlie's gift, a cool Lego set, she ran over and hugged him!

Christmas Eve came with lots of anticipation! I was fortunate to work from home and be able to stop a little early so we had plenty of time to get ready for church. Thank goodness we did because Charlie started running a fever and not feeling so goo and in the midst of fixing Sarah Graves' hair she threw up! Fortunately, the kids were able to rally and we made it to church for their choir and handbell performance.  Charlie was ticked when another kid went up to the nativity and tried to mount the camel! Oh my! The kids sang and performed beautifully and the church looked so beautiful with all the festive greenery! So glad that Movie and Pops could be there with us.  Sarah Graves was such a helper and she set the table for our dinner! She did a beautiful job folding the napkins to make a pocket for the cutlery. The things she knows amaze me! Sarah Graves also took the effort to lay out our sweet treats! My budding hostess! I let the kids open their

Sunday morning, we woke up to another rainy day. We enjoyed a cozy breakfast, then headed for church.  Sarah Graves wanted for Lucy to see Santa Paws. Decked in their Christmas attire, we went to PetSmart to have her photo made. Lucy was eager for an outing and happily pranced around!  We also got down to decorating sugar cookies. Sarah Graves and I decided to use buttercream frosting instead of royal icing. The buttercream tasted really good, but the royal icing definitely makes details easier.  They came up with some fun designs!  We passed the afternoon playing some board games. Charlie was eager to have a playmate for Monopoly and Ticket to Ride. While we played, Sarah Graves whipped up a yummy snack of popcorn balls. After dinner the kids and Grancy worked on a chocolate pie! While the pie cooled, we went to see Christmas lights at Life University. It was really rainy but the lights were still pretty. Sing