Christmas with the Thompsons

My mom graciously shared these pictures with me from the time we spent with them Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  We spent the early part of the day Christmas Eve relaxing and enjoying the time together.  Caleb loves being at my parents' house because he gets to play with their little dog, Belle (a pug).  April also brought along Stanley (her gigantic mane-coon cat), so Caleb spent some of his time chasing him also!  We opened our gifts early in the day between Caleb's naps and before our early dinner.  It's always a fun time to give to each other - I wish we could give gifts more often!

Then we headed out to the Christmas Eve service at my parents' church.  I love going to that service because it's such a quaint little white country church and it is extra beautiful during the candlelight service.  Caleb wasn't feeling the greatest because his molars were just beginning their revenge that night, but it actually worked out very well because he sat quietly through the whole hour-long service!  That is completely unheard-of for him!  Like I said, he wasn't feeling well.  Last year they threw a double baby shower for Caleb and a little girl who is five days older than him, so it's always fun to get the two of them together.  

Here are the two little ones with their mommies.  

All the kids had a blast playing together after the service.

Santa also showed up after the service, so Caleb got to check him out.  He played it so calm and cool!  After this picture was taken we added the little girl to Santa's other knee and snapped a couple more quick shots, but she was screaming!

Heading to bed on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning we got to open our stockings - such a fun tradition!

I love the expression on his face in this picture!!!

This is April's sled from when she was little, so my parents thought Caleb would be the perfect age to enjoy it this winter, and enjoy it he did!  Even in the living room!  We did take him out in the yard with it over break and he loved it.  Hopefully he'll forgive us for dragging him along in a pink sled!

Happy New Year!

Joel and I decided to have a New Year's Eve party at our house this year. We kept it pretty low-key, but it was very fun to have a large group of our friends together. We haven't been able to spend much time together as a group lately, so we had a great time. I was all excited and prepared for a few of the kids to enjoy playing with Caleb's new toys, but then they came in sleeping already at 7pm! Oh well, the adults had fun! We chatted, ate, and played Loaded Questions - and laughed a lot! Here is the only picture we have of the night: Our friend Becky and her son Malachi welcoming in the new year.

Molars

The past week and half Caleb has been pushing through his bottom two molars. He has been feverish, not eating or drinking well, rashy, and very crabby. Needless to say, it has been challenging, but the last few days have finally gone better. On Tuesday Joel and I were so out of patience that we drove to Mora just so we could drop Caleb off at my parents and go out to lunch on our own. It was a much needed little break! So after we ate lunch (Pizza Hut lunch buffet - yummy!) we stopped at the grocery store and bought Caleb some popsicles. He thought they were great!

A Year's Reflection

So here is our Christmas card from last year:

And the updated version:It's incredible what happens in a year!!!

A Hogberg Christmas

On the morning of Christmas Day we headed out of Mora, stopped at home to check on the cat, and drove up to Bruno. Waiting for us there was Josh, Dave, Pam, Marilyn, Paul, and Gladys. We had lunch together and then began the gift opening so that Caleb could open his before his nap. He had fun opening up gifts, but mostly just playing with the toys. He was so fun to watch! Of course he was very spoiled by all his relatives since he's the only grandchild on both sides so far. Everyone loved their time with him, especially uncle Josh!

These two have definitely bonded lately - they have lots of fun playing together!

He almost blends in to the presents!

One tradition of Grandma Gladys' is to give everyone oranges on Christmas to remind us of how blessed we are. She remembers many Christmases when an orange was the only gift she received, and was very thankful for it! She always has a basket of very large oranges, but this year there was one cute little clementine for Caleb - so here he is with his orange and in his cute Christmas jammies.

We headed to Dave and Pam's house to go to bed late on the 25th. On the 26th we took Caleb to his 12 month checkup, only he didn't get any shots yet because he had a fever from his molars coming in. Later that evening we had Christmas with the immediate Hogberg family. The tradition is to have cornish hens for dinner, read the Christmas story, and then open gifts.

So Caleb decided he would read the Christmas story to us this year! Well, ok maybe not yet. But he did open to the right page! He again enjoyed opening gifts - he's had many opportunities to practice! We were again overcome with gratefulness for the generosity of our family. The best gift of the night in Joel's opinion (and mine too) was a snowblower! With all the snow already this year, we were really hoping to receive one! Joel was SO excited!

We headed home on Saturday the 27th after a wonderful week of celebrating with family. We are so blessed to have such great family who we love spending time with!

Christmas #1

On December 22nd, Joel, Caleb, and I celebrated Christmas together. We had a nice dinner together (Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo - we decided to do something different than what we'd be having the next several days!) by candlelight and then moved into the living room to give gifts to each other. Caleb did pretty well helping to open his gifts this time! It was such a joy to be able to give him some fun gifts. We also enjoyed opening gifts from each other. Joel's gifts were very thoughtful - he's so generous! It was a wonderful celebration together. It felt like the first one with Caleb since he slept through everything last year! Traditions don't seem that important yet this year, since he won't remember any of it, but we're beginning some anyway. The one that he didn't get in on this year was watching the Muppet Christmas Carol - we watched that after he went to bed. Maybe next year he'll enjoy it!

Merry Christmas Sweetheart!

On December 23rd, we traveled to Milaca to visit my grandparents on my dad's side. My mom, dad, and April were there that afternoon learning how to make lefse. We had dinner together and then all headed to a nursing home for a service my dad did. My mom and I sang "O Holy Night" and Joel played for us. It was a nice time to minister together during Christmas. Caleb brought lots of smiles to the residents!

I'll have to do a later post on Christmas Eve because I don't have enough good pictures to do it justice yet!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Caleb!!!

We didn't actually celebrate his birthday late, I'm just very behind on posting pictures! Here it is two days before our Christmas break is over, and I'm finally getting some time to blog. Anyway, on Dec. 20th we had a birthday party for Caleb. There was a pretty bad snowstorm that day, so plans changed and we ended up having the party in the afternoon, which worked out very well. Caleb's great-grandparents on my side were not able to make it because of the weather, but everyone else braved the storm, for which we are so grateful!

Here is the star of the show - he loves being the center of attention! Any time there is activity going on, he's a very happy guy!

We had some toddler-friendly finger foods for a light lunch. We relaxed in the living room while we ate, so Caleb joined us in his high chair.

From left to right: Great-Aunt Marilyn, Great-Grandma Gladys, Grandpa Bruce, Grandma Pam, Grandpa Dave, Grandma Lori.

Dad, Great-Uncle Paul, Auntie April.

So Caleb didn't really understand how to open his own gifts, but once they were open, he was excited! This little lawn mower was the favorite of the day.

We had a fire-fighter theme, and he thought he was so cool in his hat!

Here he was playing peek-a-boo through the farm window with Marilyn.

And the cupcake festivities begin! Notice the little firefighters on the cupcakes!

Daddy helped me blow out my candle!

He dug right in and stuffed in handfuls! He was in awe as he hasn't had many sweets up until this point!

Are you sure you want me to have this?

This chocolate is wonderful!

It was a very fun day to celebrate one year with Caleb. We feel so blessed to have spent this year watching him grow and develop. What an amazing God we have! The beauty of his creation is so evident in children. Watching Caleb begin as a tiny helpless infant and grow into a toddling, babbling little boy has been amazing. We love you so much Caleb!