Finally a post! (and a long one at that)

It's been a busy few weeks since the holidays began, Jason's Mom flew in for about a 9 day visit, during that time we all went to York to celebrate Christmas, and Caleb turned 1 on January 4th after the new year began. So in probably the longest post of pictures we've ever put on one blog post, here is a snapshot of each of those events.

After arriving in York on Christmas Eve, the whole family went to church and out to Chapps at the Hill for dinner. Here are some family photos from that night.

Grandma, Pops and Grammy all with Caleb above.

Uncle Matt and Melissa with Caleb above.

The whole gang!

This was Christmas morning before any gifts were opened.

And of course...all of the stockings. That's Caleb's little stocking on the bottom (it was overflowing!)

Caleb opening up his stocking presents and showing his things to Melissa above.

Ready to start opening up his presents!

Playing with his drum from Great Nana Gow!

Of course we had to put him in a box! :)

Hanging out with Great Nana in the kitchen.

Some of the group enjoying Christmas dinner above.

Here are a few pictures of Caleb playing with his toys from Christmas/Birthday. We realized that we didn't take a single picture of Caleb ripping open a present since we took video of it all (and the video was on our other video camera that is not compatible to post here). So in lieu of you all seeing it, we'll just have to share that he enjoyed ripping one present open after another. He would play for a minute or so with a gift, and then move on to another one! There's Caleb with his ball popper from Mommy and Daddy above.

A really cute step stool from Grammy and Pops...he also got an adorable rocking horse (that again, we only have video of...sorry!)

Other really fun toys from Grammy and Pops above (this is only a fraction of the stuff he got from everyone...he was a blessed little man!)

And he got a ride on fire truck from Uncle Matt. I have to say, we think this is his favorite out of everything if there is such a thing. We will put him on and push him back and forth across the kitchen, and he just gets this genuine smile on his face of pure enjoyment. It is totally cute!

Now onto his birthday celebration that also happened Christmas day (so the family could be a part of it since his second party was on his actual birthday back in MA). This was his first of three (his last party is actually tomorrow...I will post pics from the other two sometime in the near future). Jason and I made his little round cake (the one above was just extra for the family) and it was fun watching him try it of course!

Good work Caleb! :)

Our last stop in York the night before we left was a get together with the Debes family. It was great seeing everyone, and Caleb actually got to meet two cousins of Val's that he's never seen before. One was her cousin Brent and his fiance Robyn, and the other was Danielle (which unfortunately we never got a pic of her and Caleb...but she is in the cousin shot below). Here's Jason and his Mom with Caleb at Vito's the night above.

Ahhh the cousin shot...one is taken at every event we have! From the left there's John in the back, Danielle below him, Sue Ann next to her, Matt, Andy, Val and Brent. The only cousin missing was Justin who couldn't make it down. We'll catch him I'm sure at the next event :)

A cute shot of the ladies, Val's Aunt Sue, Mom (Grammy) and Val's Aunt Mary.

Which one is Pops? Can you tell? That's Pops on the right, and Val's Uncle Harry (Pop's twin) on the left.

Uncle Matt trying to buy Caleb's love with snacks in the pic above!

And here's Brent and Robyn hanging with Caleb for the first time. There were other family members there but we only got limited pictures. We really enjoyed seeing everyone though!

Finally, a few parting shots of Grandma hanging out with Caleb before she had to head back to MN. It was a wonderful time had by all! More birthday pics to come!

First present and a little more walking!

Grandpa and Nana sent a Christmas package for all of us, and it included a really fun present for Caleb.  He has received many presents before from all of his grandparents, but this one just happened to be the first one he opened himself.  He seemed to really enjoy the process, so I imagine Christmas morning is going to be cute as he tears into his presents.

Look at that face of endearment.  You can just hear his little mind saying, "I adore my new cell phone!"

Here's a video we took tonight of Caleb walking.  He is getting much more proficient at it.  He walks from room to room, and is even more steady when he doesn't have slippery pajamas on :)

Greg Roy

Our awesome friend Rob got us all some really great Christmas/birthday gifts, including an adorable Colorado Avalanche hockey jersey for Caleb (which some of you may know is Jason's favorite team).  We couldn't help but post a couple of cute ones of Caleb in it!  Jason threw his jersey on for fun too!  You're great Rob, we love you!  Thanks again!

How cute are my boys? :)

A Few Steps on Video

This is kind of a chaotic video with me turning around a lot (sorry about that) but I wanted to post something that shows Caleb taking some steps.  He can definitely take more in a row than what we caught on camera here, but at least it's a start!  I just wanted to get something posted because I have had a few people ask to see even a little video of it.  We'll be sure to get a better video on here soon with him practicing walking as well!

Guess What?

Caleb is going to be a big brother!  We just found out about a week and a half ago that we are expecting, and we are just thrilled.  We haven't been to our first appointment yet, but I am about 7 weeks along, and the baby should be due somewhere near the end of July.  When we found out we were pregnant with Caleb, I took a test while Jason was home, so we found out together.  This time though, I took a test right after Jason left for work, and when he came home, Caleb and I met him at the door.  I told him, "Caleb has a message for you!"  When Jason came in the house he saw a note on the table from Caleb that said, "Dear Daddy, I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER!  I can't wait!  I love you!  Love, Caleb."  I also put out newborn sized girl and boy onesies for fun.  (Don't worry, I didn't go out and buy girl clothes already, this was a onesie given to us by our friends Tim and Amy who are missionaries in Thailand and couldn't take all of the cute clothes for their girls with them.  They gave us a few things in case we ever had a girl!)  We are excited to find out in a few months if Caleb will have a little sister or brother! We also got Caleb a "Big Brother" t-shirt to wear for church last Sunday as a fun way to tell our friends.  We are SO blessed to have Caleb and our little one on the way.  God is SO good to us!

Caleb Took His First Steps!

We don't have any videos of this yet, but we thought we would share that Caleb took his first steps by himself this past Sunday!  He is still very cautious about it, and has only taken a few steps at a time.  But we're sure that before we know it, he'll be taking off!  We just wanted to share that exciting news with everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Recent Visitors

I had a few moments since Caleb is napping, so I thought I would post a few pics of some recent visitors we have had.  The first is of our friend Sarah Ansell (her husband Chris and I went to high school together), Chris, Jason and I all went to PSU as well and did Crusade together there, and Chris even graduated from Gordon Conwell, the seminary Jason currently attends. Sarah works for a ministry called CCO, and she was in the Boston area a few weeks ago recruiting, so she stopped over for dinner.

Caleb was checking her out in the picture below.  It was funny, Sarah and I were sitting on the couch catching up before Jason got home from work, and Caleb was on the floor playing with some toys.  He kept pulling himself up on the couch and slowly coming over to Sarah...and he kept grabbing her big toe.  I guess that was his way of investigating on whether she was safe to befriend or not.  Too funny!

Then Grammy and Pops visited at the end of last week into the weekend.  We did some antiquing in Essex and went on the trolley in Salem since we had never done that before.  It was Caleb's first trolley ride although it was a bit rainy outside.  He seemed to like it!

Here is Pops with Caleb.  Below, they are taking in the scenery together.  How cute is that?

There's Grammy with Caleb!

Finally, the Lil' C just being cute :)

Grammy and Pops gave Caleb some fun new toys on this trip too, including a little fishing rod set (Pops is starting him early...I bet a lot of you aren't surprised by that!)  I'll have to post some pictures of him playing with that stuff when I get around to getting them off the camera.

Caleb being Caleb

So it's been a little while since I posted, so I thought I would do an update post on how Caleb is doing these days. There is no question that at this age, they really start to show their personality. He has his moments, but overall he is just a happy little guy...who gets into everything I might add! Caleb is now just over 10 months old, he is about 30 inches long but only weighs about 18 lbs. He is quite the tall string bean like his Dad! He can stand up without using anything for support, and sometimes stands there for 30 seconds or more at a time. We have tried to catch this on video, but he never seems to want to do it on cue. We'll keep trying! Here are some of the many faces/sides to the little man!

One of the first cold days recently when we were on our way to the park. Caleb was excited (yet being patient) to get there.

Caleb has begun using straw cups since he didn't really ever take to sippy cups. Since mastering the straw, he has started to make fish faces at random times. Super cute huh?

This face we have no idea where it comes from, but he'll pull it out every now and then. We think he looks like like a bass or a crappy fish. We affectionately call him our bottom feeder :)

And here was a not so happy Caleb as I strapped him in the car seat to go to our class at the library. He cheered up, but look at that sad little face above!

Here is the adventurous side of Caleb caught on camera. We had some friends over for a baby playdate that morning and his friend Liam climbed the stairs (which up to this point I had never let Caleb try it), and Caleb followed him. I couldn't believe he climbed all the way up! So later that day, I taped him doing it. I'm guessing he would have done it a long time ago if I would have let him!

There's not much that needs to be said about this one. Caleb is a snorer and it always makes us laugh!

There isn't much that Caleb is afraid of, other than vacuum cleaners and sometimes people (he is still going through his stranger danger phase at times). But we couldn't resist videoing him laughing at, but also pulling back from the horse Grammy and Pops gave him. He finds it funny, but there are some moments he's not too sure about it. Maybe it's because Jason was saying, "Moo" (which we know is not the sound a horse makes, but it's what makes Caleb laugh). Whatever it was, this video cracks us up!

Finally an attempt at getting him to stand for a long period on video (not a very good attempt it turned out to be), but at least Caleb is being silly and cute in it. We'll keep trying as I said. Before we know it though, we'll be getting him walking! Has hasn't taken a step yet, but he is oh so close!

Caleb's First Halloween

So we decided to go a little uncoventional for Caleb's Halloween costume this year (and I think that is probably the type of costumes we will do in the future too). It's always fun to be different! We went to a Halloween party with my Mom's group, and I think Caleb was one of the only babies there not dressed in a big fluffy costume (which is the usual cute route to go). And there were a ton of cute babies, Caleb's little friends were all just precious. There were lots of fun goodies, pumpkin decorating, a balloon and bubble show for the kids to name just a few things. We had a great time. So we made Caleb a New Kid on the Block (old school style), and we did it as a family affair, Jason was security and I was the biggest fan (wearing late 80's/early 90's clothes). I had ordered a vintage NKOTB iron on transfer to make a t-shirt, but I didn't receive it in time, so I had to improvise, but it all worked out in the end. On Halloween Day this past Friday, we dressed Caleb up and took him for a walk around 5:00pm or so where some neighbors gave him candy and little toys, but we didn't actually take him officially trick or treating (especially because it's Salem and it gets CRAZY here). To give you all some perspective, Salem on Halloween is like Penn State on game day. The influx of people is immense and it can get out of hand. So next year, we will probably take Caleb trick or treating in a neighboring town where our friends are. So this year he got to see a lot of dressed up people, get some candy (that we'll be eating!) and play on the playground before we headed home for the night. All in all, it was a fun first Halloween for him. Here's what we all looked like:

The 6th member of the band :)



Jason carried a boom box at the party that was playing " You've Got the Right Stuff", and above is Caleb dancing to it and getting ready for the party!

Jason as "Security".

Here I am (it's hard to see in this picture) with my hot pink dress, gold scrunchie and other fabulously ugly accesories! Ha ha! And of course I had to have my concert poster :)

At the party, we saw a lot of the babies/parents we have gotten to know really well through the group. This is Polly above dressed as tinkerbell.

Connor the monkey!

Two of Caleb's favorite ladies, Reese and Mia dressed as ladybugs!

A little bit of hat hair.



Kaelyn, Mia and Caleb posing for a photo-op!

I think Caleb is thinking, "Why are Mommy and Daddy dressed so funny?"

Finally, a group picture of the Moms and kiddos (the Dads were the picture takers so they weren't in it of course, but there were a bunch of Dads there...it was a huge party)!

Trip to Brooksby Farms

I have been a bit behind posting pictures, so I have a few events to catch up on. A few weekends ago, we went to an orchard called Brooksby Farms. It was Caleb's first experience doing the orchard thing (which is a favorite of ours during the fall). He really liked the pumpkins!

First we took Caleb to check out the farm animals. Here he is looking at the sheep above!

Next...on to the pigs!

Finally, looking at some chickens!

Then we went to the pumpkin patch!

We can't believe he sat on the pumpkin as long as he did. I think he liked the view :)

Can you see the straw Caleb is shoving in his mouth? It's pretty sad that I still took the picture before taking it out of his hand. Ha ha! This shot was just too cute!

Investigating the pumpkins. By the way, he wouldn't keep his shoes and socks on, in case you were wondering. It was really nice outside that day, so we just decided to let him go barefoot. Don't worry, we won't let him freeze! :) Also, he is wearing his new Halloween t-shirt from cousins Sue Ann, Tom and Courtney!

We really enjoyed the day. After seeing the animals and pumpkins, Jason and I enjoyed some cider donuts, got some apple cider and headed home with Lil' C. It is so crazy how beautiful the trees were with all of the colors, and how leaves are pretty much all falling now. Winter is coming that's for sure. I'll post some Halloween pics next!