Spring is coming.........

Spring: with lots of pollen, bees everywhere, beautiful days followed by really gross days, 80 one day and 56 the next........it's a good season :) One of the reasons I really like Spring is because the good days are SO Good that they totally outweigh the bad ones! Chris and I went to a concert a few weeks ago and the artist said that one of his top reasons for liking spring is because it is a time of year when it is so visible that the Earth itself shouts the Resurrection Story. And it really made me think about what a true statement that is. Not only does everything come back to life and bloom again, but as I thought about it with people, it's the time of year when all the neighbors come out after being cooped up inside all winter. It's amazing to see how much everyone's kids grew or what new things they're doing now. And it's pretty amazing to think about our own kids and how they've changed over the winter. It provides me with hope that everything is truly "just a season" and that there is good and bad to come from all of them!

But speaking of new life, Garner Matthan Callaway decided to show up last weekend! He tried to beat Creed out for the weight record but didn't quite get it. Weighing in at 9 lb 7oz he's still a big boy! Christa definitely beats me tho, because she actually birthed him and I took the easy way out :) We're so excited for our new cousin!

One of the great "spring" things that we've picked up as a tradition is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's. This year wasn't a great year because all 3 kids without Chris is always hard. Thankfully Karen and Garrett were there to help us out! Either way, I had to wake up both boys to go in order to be back home to teach a lesson so that didn't really help anything.

Cadence is in the bounce house - and yes she picked out her own outfit and I let her wear it to school!

Creed loved him some ice cream! Caleb Shaun did nothing picture worthy so he didn't get his taken - remember he was woken up to even go and he doesn't love ice cream so it was pretty much a bust in his world.

Spring coming means that the bikes come out! We went for a walk last Sunday all together and it was so much fun. I can't believe that we have 2 boys who can each ride in their own thing and not need to be in the stroller, but we do!

The picture of Cadence on the tricycle makes me laugh because I so remember when she could really ride the thing! Now, her legs are definitely too long but she had a good time anyway!

Caleb Shaun prefers his walker if we're going to make him walk outside and so, he gets to use it - mostly because it's super cute.

Here is a video of him with his walker outside.

Christmas Day at Disney

Chris and I spent lots of time talking about what to do for Christmas this year. As we talked, we both had the feeling that the Christmas season was getting lost in all the busyness of life at the holidays. Church programs, school programs, recitals, parties: all good things, but certainly things that became huge distractions to our family this year. We believe that God has called us first and foremost to live and speak the gospel over our children in every way possible and so, for our family, we decided that this year instead of making a big deal of presents that will be fun for a little while and then be thrown into a corner with all the other toys, we would take the money we would spend on Christmas presents for the kids and have a big family day on Christmas instead. So, for this year, we thought that Disney would be fun. We decided to go to EPCOT because we figured that Magic Kingdom would be ridiculously packed and we love EPCOT so it seemed like the best choice for us. So, Christmas morning, we packed the kids up, put on our matching Mickey Mouse shirts (because we were that family) and headed to Orlando. The kids had such a good time and it was such a simple, not stressful day for - until it got dark and cold - then it wasn't so much fun. :( But until that point, it was great and here are some of the pictures of our Day of Fun.

Heading into the park - I told you we had matching shirts :)

PLaying with a fire truck - just what you think of with Disney World, right?!?

in Finding Nemo, playing fish matching games

and looking at the real fish!

Playing in a fountain while I fed Creed

See?

Chris and Cadence entertaining themselves in line for a ride - by far my favorite pictures of the day :)

Racing Cars

Stopping by the potty for the millionth time

EPCOT's Christmas Tree - one of my favorites

Mary Poppins decided to go to EPCOT for Christmas too!

Playing drums in Africa

Proof that Creed was there!

and the beautiful crashing of the kids at the hotel!

We so enjoyed our day together and will definitely make this a bigger Andersen tradition. It only makes sense really that we would take the focus on Jesus' birthday off of what earthly stuff we could have, and focus instead of the gifts that God has given us. Jesus - the greatest gift ever! and our family - a pretty close second :)

Christmas - so late that's it's ridiculous!

There is no excuse for a Christmas post in March but I need it documented so that when I decide to print my blog out as a lazy man's scrapbook, Christmas of 2010 will be included in the book :) So, here it is, we did "Christmas" with the Wilson's on Christmas Eve because it was the year for it. So, Christmas Eve morning, there was a plethura of presents to be opened and enjoyed.

Our traditional Christmas present with all the loot!

Random shots of our Christmas Celebration.

Mom's Tree for 2010

Cadence opening her Princess Tiana box from Lellow GiGi and PaPa - she loved it and now officially has every Disney Princess Dress.

Liz and Shan with their boxes

It was all kind of lost on Creed but he enjoyed being held by PaPa during all the chaos.

Caleb Shaun was digging the whole present thing and got more trucks and balls and boy things than had ever been in the Wilson House before!

The Grahams and Lourceys were there too and we were so glad we got to hang out with everyone. Janey loved her dress up stuff. She's got a great role model for all things dress up in Cadence!

I'm so grateful for our family and the fact that we get to celebrate so many holidays together. We are certainly a blessed group of people!

Soccer!!!

We wanted Cadence to try playing a sport and her Dad decided that that soccer would be a good first choice. Easy rules, lots of running. Well after a few practices and the purchase of some super cute soccer equipment here are a few highlights from her first game!