The Growing Caldwell Family

I just had to share this cute picture of my new niece, Olivia Claire! As Sarah Graves says, she's adorbs!

We also went to see the holiday lights at the Botanical Gardens. We went last year and thought they were amazing, so we wanted to share it with Grandaddy and MiMi.  It is a popular event and even though we purchased tickets ahead of time, we had to wait to get in. It turned out to be a great photo op!  I think the kids enjoyed the rainy evening and the chance to splash around in rain boots with umbrellas just as much as they liked the holiday lights!

Christmas night, Grandaddy and MiMi arrived to celebrate the holiday with us. We were all executed to see them and enjoy a few days together. Friday was pretty relaxed. We exchanged gifts with them, watched Louisiana Tech win their bowl game, and let the kids enjoy their new toys all day. Of course, they didn't care how chilly it was outside, they wanted to play with their new play-dough sets! That evening, we saw the lights at Centennial Olympic park and enjoyed dinner down there. She was so excited to wear her new Elsa hat and gloves!

This little love was the biggest gift of all arriving on Christmas morning! Jeanne' thought she was in labor on Sunday, December 21. That was the first night I stayed over to support Jeanne' during her labor. We quickly figured out that she had a pattern of having a lot of contractions at night that were almost gone by the time the sun was up. I went on to work on Monday and took care of things at home Monday night knowing I could quickly get there if things picked up. Tuesday, December 23, I went on to work, but soon they called saying that contractions were still steady and the midwife was coming to see if this might be the day. I left work to be there with her and we expected a baby soon. The midwife determined that she was a ways off from delivering and advised Jeanne' to get some rest. I worked at Mom's house and we had a pretty easy day waiting for things to pick up. True to form, they started to pick up as evening approached. Jeanne' was working much harder ...

We let the kids open some of their gifts on Christmas Eve. When I was little, we usually celebrated Christmas with my Mom's family on Christmas Eve and spread the presents out a bit. It makes sense to me to let them enjoy a few at a time! Plus, what kid isn't dying to open a gift? For those who so thoughtfully sent my children a gift, we appreciate it very much. As they unwrap each gift, we remind them of who sent it. I have good intentions of writing you a note, but it may take a while. So, a big thank you to Grancy and Ger Ger, Gramma, PaPaw, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Les, Aunt Arden and Uncle Chad, and Uncle Steve for the thoughtful things you sent. Also, to Aunt Lexie and Uncle Tim for yours. If you don't see a picture of a child with your item, he or she did open it, but it gets chaotic with two of them opening things at once, and Charlie doesn't want his picture taken. We do the best we can :) SG got into our matching pjs and caught...

We managed to get ready for Christmas Eve service a few minutes early and took a few pictures. That may have been our Christmas miracle right there! Our church does a children's service in the late afternoon that is really focused on kids and lets them be a part of it. There are paper bags with head pieces to make a "costume" and you grab one on your way in. Charlie chose to be a cow and Sarah Graves chose an angel. During the service the children do readings and we sing Christmas carols. When it's their turn, the kids come forward to be up front. Sarah Graves loves when they bring the kids up front and is always eager to go. I was so proud of Charlie when he went right up there with the other animals. He went up like he had done it many times before! Our baby is getting to be such a big boy!

Sarah Graves' pre-k class sang carols in the cafeteria at Home Depot and oh the cuteness! When she went into her guitar moves, it was so funny! They performed four songs: Feliz Navidad, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Jingle Bells. Their teachers had choreographed moves and some musical props to make it a full performance. The cute fella on the right is her good buddy, Hank. She tells us that she is going to marry Hank even though he is an Auburn fan! Charlie came to watch his Sissy and he was really taken with this carved Homer on Home Depot's main street. So cute to see him hold its hand!