The Growing Caldwell Family

We planned a fun outing to the movies to enjoy Wonka and dinner! The movie was great and dinner during a movie is always a treat!  

 Day after Christmas Aaron and I were back to work - thankful that work slows down a lot during the holidays! After work we spent time as a family trying out a new game that Santa brought! Turns out Sarah Graves is pretty competitive! The game has you collecting visits to National Parks and it was pretty fun! Nice to have a quiet evening to enjoy time together!

I love how our Santa pics turned out this year! Rod is very kind and keeps thinking of ways to keep it fresh! Sarah Graves and Charlie are very sweet and don't complain about going for portraits with Santa. I love the momento for each year! Santa is photo bombing us! I love this fence pose for my big kids!  My cool kid! This beautiful girl has gotten so tall! They each asked for one thing and Santa was astounded they didn't have a longer list. They are very grateful when it comes to toys and extras.  I love how our card turned out this year!  

After celebrating Livy, we were ready to dive into the mountain of gifts from Lovie and Pops! Because we take turns watching each person open, telling stories, and doing quick try ons and unboxings this takes a few hours. We enjoy doing it this way and I think it helps the kids appreciate the joy of giving and watching someone enjoy what you gave them.  A new doll for Livy. A toddler that she decided is three years old with a Christmas birthday like hers! Lovie with the two new babies - Katie and maybe Perseus Nay and Sissy are going to learn to crochet! Sarah Graves spent a lot of time designing and sewing Barbie clothes for Olivia. She took great care to make each piece and really thought about Olivia. It was a special gift! Charlie got a comfy! Look out! With a gaming chair and this to keep him comfy, he may never come out of his room! Aaron is going to be ready for anything on our next cruise! Pops is set with "shampoo" and now Aaron will be with "sunscreen"! Su

We can't forget that for Livy it is not just Christmas, but also her birthday! Our first activity was to celebrate her birthday.  She was so excited to celebrate and very happy she got to decorate for her party! Her elves even came to help her celebrate! Lovie had a yummy lunch spread for all of us!  

Sarah Graves was the first to wake and let us all sleep until 7:30 before she came to get us up! She is very thoughful! Santa came and he brought their big ask and a couple of extra surprises! Sis didn't ask for this new baby, but she was quite taken with her! She decided to call her Katie, which may get a little confusing with her long love Kate!  Charlie really wanted a gaming chair and this one brought a smile! Sarah Graves' big ask was for a rolling duffel for her upcoming travels and this deep purple one will make travel easy! A rock tumbler was a fun surprise that Charlie was eager to try out! For several days it has sounded like a perpetual rainstorm in the garage as the rocks tumble! Charlie is a big fan of pandas and these panda socks were a fun surprise! They love looking through their stockings and of course finding fun treats! Sissy discovered she loves Milk Duds, which we jokingly call Milk Dudes after watching The Middle and the Heck family ate off label "Mil