Santa's elf

Below: the sag has officially been busted. Check out them pants. (OK, so Don just read this and was like: what is a sag? Well, I thought it would be clever to play on the "bustin a sag" phrase. I guess that purpose has now been defeated. )

Hey, at least he's eating an apple!
Maybe that will make up for him eating a sucker in the next picture... I often let the older boys have a piece of candy after they do their homework... Guess who has also discovered how good candy tastes?
Merry Christmas!
Oh! and here a blast from the past. Anyone recognize this little tot:

I'm dreaming of a white....

Good stuff

Tubular

Well, I took Caleb to the ENT this week because of his ear infections. He recommended tubes. So yesterday (Friday) morning, I woke up and got Caleb up @ 5:00. We went to the Kentucky Surgery Center 30 minutes away. Overall, he did great, considering he couldn't have anything to eat or drink. He would cry some, but I was usually able to console him eventually with his blanket. Finally, it was his turn. He went right to the nurse and put his head on her shoulder even! She was showing him off to the other nurses as she walked him down the hall. It was kind of a weird feeling waiting in the lobby away from him... I had been pretty nervous. But I knew that God was with us, and had friends and medical staff reassure me of the simplicity of the procedure. When I came back to him (10 to 15 minutes later), he was awake but calm. However, when he drank all of his bottle and I refilled it with water, he got really upset. The nurse helped me get my things out the door while he was screaming. He soon settled back down in the car, watching a video. Thank You, Lord!
So far, he seems better, not quite as fussy. We will see if the ear infections lessen.

By the way, the previous paragraph was journaled several days ago.
Anyway, he is doing well, and still just as feisty, as you can see from my illustration choice.
;)

Fun in a box

Who needs new toys when you got an empty box?

A Caulley family Thanksgiving

So it was a Caulley family Thanksgiving this year, but truthfully, only half of our families were represented. We missed the half!
Here are a few snippets of the fun we had. We are so thankful to Rich, Laura, Nicholas, and Andrew for coming up. Jon David and Luke were very sad after you guys were gone! We even had some tears...
First, the guys and Laura went to Mammoth Cave near Bowling Green. Caleb and I skipped out on this one.




Thanksgiving day itself was very relaxing. So much in fact, that I didn't even take a pic of our Thanksgiving meal! Well, I guess it always gets a little crazy around meal time... but overall, the day was relaxing. Everyone pitched in, and we enjoyed our turkey dinner very much. Laura even made ribbon jello!
There was much game playing, of course!


And cuddling too.It just went by so fast!
I must interject at this point--before the good-bye photos, that one of the highlights for me was when Laura and I went "black Friday" shopping. We had decided to set our alarms for 4:30 A.M. Laura strictly forbade me from leaving the house without her. So when I woke up @ 3:00 and couldn't go back to sleep... you guessed it. I mean, come on, I was laying there thinking about all of the good deals that just couldn't go to waste! I even came into the family room, got on the computer for a few minutes, and found something that we had been looking at the night before. That's it, I thought. Must. wake. Laura. So I texted her, then called her. She was a trooper! Off we went, and we just thought we were crazy! Oh no, people... there was crazier out there. We got to Target at 4:15--15 min. after opening, and the line of people was still all the way down the front side of the store, into the next parking lot! Not only that, it was snowing! And freezing cold. Laura and I were shaking while standing in line. But we did get some door busters! So fun!

But then there was the getting in line. I have NEVER seen anything like this, EVER!! The line started up by the cash registers, all the way to clothing (where the dressing rooms are), all the way down through toys, to the Christmas decorations, all the way to electronics, and still around towards the greeting cards... OH! It is NOT a joke. The line literally went in a square shape all around the store... or maybe it snaked through the middle at one point to divide it up... I forget! Thankfully, Laura and I found the other line! The one starting in electronics, by the pharmacy, and going straight down only ONE side of the store, to the registers. We got a little nervous that our line wouldn't have the authenticity of the other line... Would we be "found out"!? Thankfully, the Target workers just put us right through one at a time. I felt so bad for all of those in the other line, oblivious to the shorter one! But Oh, was I grateful.
Ok, next: Walmart. Which opened @ midnight this year. Well, after having survived the Target craziness, the desertland that Walmart was (be it picked over) was a breath of fresh air. And actually, there were still plenty of deals to be had!
Finally, we finished off our morning at McDonald's. Is there anything better than a McDonald's breakfast when you are starving and exhausted? Oh! So fun! We were home by 9 A.M. :)