In the Christmas Spirit

We went to Opryland Hotel this weekend and had a fun time looking at the lights.That is an elephant behind us, if you cant tell. Kaleb liked the animal theme this year.
With Daddy and the Santa bear...
This was the section of the tree that Kaleb decorated. We thought it was great, but what is even funnier is that as I am sitting in front of the tree now, only one of those balls are still in the original position (and Jason and I have not touched them). Kaleb will put ornaments on and off throughout the day, although mostly just off...
Daddy making sure that Kaleb didn't fall through the window. Kaleb was actually pretty steady on the ladder.

THANKSGIVING WITH PAPA AND GIGI

My parents came up for Thanksgiving. They had not seen Kaleb since July. Although we Skype every week, Kaleb is rather shy on the computer so he doesn't talk much, but they got to see the real Kaleb this past weekend. We all went to my Grandmothers house in Clarksville where my Aunt, Uncle and cousins met us as well. We had a good time, except for the fact that Kaleb did not want to take his nap for 3 out of the 4 days they were here. Below Kaleb is showing Papa how to do the elliptical.Kaleb just loves his GiGi. And I love GiGi too! We were able to go Christmas shopping and take a few evenings off reading with them around. Thanks Papa and GiGi!!
We decorated one tree while they were here and I think everyone had a good time!

We're going to visit them for Christmas, so we'll see how a 2 year old does on a 10 hour car ride.

In a typical day

In no particular order (b/c I still can't figure how blogspot posts pictures after 2 years)...

We go somewhere fun. We have gone to Chucky Cheese twice now and Kaleb loves it (and we do to). My memories of Chucky Cheese as a kid consist or germ infested ball pits, dirty floors, flat, cold greasy pizza and frustrating games of ski ball. (Although I still loved it as a kid) So, when Jason begged and begged to go, I finally gave in and brought my 3 bottles of hand sanitizer. But, much to my surprise, the one nearby is really clean and does not have a ball pit. The best part of it is that all the games are only 25 cents (unlike Dave and Busters, etc.)

We also go an indoor gym at a local church that has tons of padded tunnels, walls and slides for Kaleb to climb. I hope to start him in an indoor swim class and/or gymnastic class this winter when I won't want to go outside at all.
We watch Wiggles. I HATE the Wiggles! For some reason Kaleb LOVES them. He knows all the characters by name, except the pirate which he calls Arrrr! Recently I've tried to get him interested in Sesame Street again, which is working. It is so much more adult friendly and is actually fun and educational.
Kaleb takes a nap. For some reason he always sleeps horizontal in his bed, on his pillow, so his feet hang out. Even when I try to get him lay the "correct" way, he moves quickly back to his favorite, seemingly uncomfortable position.
We make dinner. Kaleb loves to pull the chair up by the counter and help me dump the ingredients into the bowl. He is such a good little helper.
He hangs out with Daddy. Although, it is rare to catch them in this pose (that is...not moving), they are usually playing trains, making up some crazy game that I would have never came up with in a million years, doing art, or wrestling.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY KALEB!

This year we celebrated Kaleb's 2nd birthday with family. I figured it would be the only year I could get away with it, b/c next year he'll know what's going on and want a party with his friends too. He is so obsessed with choo choo trains that I made him this cake with candy freight. I must say I was surprised and proud that it came out looking like an actual train (although up close it looked a bit furry!)He definately liked the way it tasted...he kept sneeking the candy off the top. His big birthday gift was a train set/table....We could not pull him away for a few weeks (which was great for me b/c I got a lot of housework and dinners made) but now he doesn't play with it as much but at least 2-3x/day.
Nylah had to help him open his gifts b/c he was too into his milk.
This is our attempt to teach Kaleb and Nylah to share. This way they could both ride the bike. For a while I actually thought Kaleb was catching on to the sharing concept, but recently he's been coming up to us and saying "share mommy" and grabbing whatever he wants out of my hands. I guess it will take a little longer.
Kaleb's really started to copy what we say. The other day Jason was dressing him and he put a plain white T-shirt on him and Kaleb looked at it and rubbed his hands down it and said "How cute!" I guess I say that when I'm dressing him...I've never noticed...