Doug's Wedding

After sledding, we headed east to Columbus OH for Doug's wedding. Kayleigh slept all of 20 minutes in the car as we drove from Peru to Kokomo. We were thinking that we should skip the rehearsal dinner - but that fact that there was no sleeping, pretty much confirmed it. Of course, the Taco Bell we had did not agree with me, so I was up all night. Thank goodness for Shane! Even though he was "jet lagged" he took the kids down to the pool at 6:30am, and I got to make up for the sleep I didn't get that night. What a great guy!

Saturday night, everyone got dressed up in their finery. The kids and Shane in the hotel room before the wedding.

Kayleigh, Adam, and Lottie before the wedding.

Amazingly, Lottie took this picture of me. She took a few really great pictures over the weekend.

Logan and Kayleigh walk down the aisle (well, Logan sort of half dragged Kay-kay). They were funny: Logan was on the verge of tears about having to wear a boutonniere and Shane told him that after he walked down the aisle, Daddy would take the flower off. As he sat down on Shane's lap, he said, "Take it off, Daddy". Guess it worked! And Kayleigh's shoes didn't fit right - they fell off - but when she put the shoes on the wrong feet, they stayed on. So, figuring no one would notice, she wore her shoes on the wrong feet!

After Logan and Kayleigh walked down, Ashley and Bill walked down. Ashley look so happy - her normally big smile was HUGE! And she looked amazing.

Doug looked a little in awe when Ashley walked in.

The ceremony with Pastor Will officiating.

The happy couple - Doug and Ashley Callicott.

At the reception, there were babysitters for the kids. We used them for about an hour and a half before the dinner started. The kids had a good time hanging out with them. Then we got the kids for dinner. Between courses, all four kids were out on the dance floor. They danced with Bapa, they danced with each other, they did the "seal" - laying on the floor and pulling themselves into the middle, and they were crazy!

Chris holds Lottie and a very tired Kayleigh.

Shane dances with the boys - Logan in front and the Adam-monkey on his back.

Instead of clinking glasses to get Doug and Ashley to kiss, they had trumpets. The boys LOVED them.

Kayleigh in her Santa coat and dress.

Kayleigh gives Uncle Doug a hug. Hopefully, she didn't get ketchup on his suit!

Ashley - it was a great party and a beautiful wedding! We are so excited that you're in the family now!

Sledding in IN

The morning of December 8, the four of us flew up to the frozen tundra of the north, aka Indiana. Actually, we got the 6am flight to Chicago where Grandma met us when we got in around 9am. Poor Shane, he'd woken up early the day before and then left work early to get on the flight. Then he sat next to Logan - who talked the entire 2.5 hour flight. So there was no sleeping for Shane! In fact, he didn't go to sleep until 10pm that night! He was up for more than 24 hours.

The next morning, we woke up to snowballs being throw at us from the door. Well, actually, I got up to go to the bathroom, and Kayleigh walked in and chucked a snowball at me as I was on the toilet. Good morning!

This was Kayleigh's first time to really see snow (I know, this is pretty crazy!), and her first time to go sledding. You can tell she was having a blast!

Here she is going down the "big hill" next to the hospital parking lot (Shane's parents live across the street from the hospital). This is not the time that Grandma went down with her. That time, Kayleigh was having fun, but at the bottom the two of them barrel-rolled out. Grandpops was hoping it would be America's Funniest Videos worthy.

Logan had a good time too! But he really wanted to share his good time with Daddy. So here are the boys getting ready to go. They went the wrong way, and plowed through a bunch of big branches. Logan still loved it though, laughing and screeching all the way.

Here he goes, sports fans! Down the hill by himself!

After I went inside, all three kids, Keegan, Logan, and Kayleigh, went down in Keegan's big sled. I have video from Grandpops, but no pictures. But they were having a blast, even though there wasn't much snow on the ground.

It was a nice morning, especially since we had to leave before lunch to drive about 4 hours to Columbus, OH for Uncle Doug's wedding. We were hoping it would help them sleep in the car - but not so much...

Decorating the tree

The week after Thanksgiving, we finally got around to putting up the Christmas tree. Of course, it took Shane a couple of hours to get all the lights working (much to his frustration).

Logan hangs some ornaments.

Kayleigh does a little decorating - in her PJs.

The gang

Looking at pictures on the back of the ornaments. It was fun when the kids looked at my picture ornaments from when I was their age. They couldn't believe that was Mommy!

The finished product! Beautiful!

The kids and the gingerbread man. That gingerbread man is like 30 years old! It was Daddy's!

Somehow, it feels so much more Christmas-y with the tree up. And our tree has so much personality! Every ornament is unique - from the longhorn skull bought at the Alamo, to the little s'more guy from Estes Park, to the nativity scene from China, to the Hawai'ian Santa Claus, to the Filipina Girl Guide, to the Matchbox car that lights up and works (and gets taken off the tree to be played with) and the multiple ornaments with photos on them (K's favorite is Mommy and Daddy on the elephant). I love our tree!

Thanksgiving in Galveston

This year for Thanksgiving, the whole Callicott Clan came to Galveston for some Thanksgiving festivities. We stayed in a historic house right next to the "Original" Mexican Cafe on Market and 14th. Nothing like waking up in the morning to the smell of cooking tortillas. Yum!

And there are always cooks in a Callicott kitchen -
Lottie, Gram, and Kayleigh in hang out in the kitchen.

Gram thought it would be fun to make Rice Krispie treat turkeys. Let's just say there was sugar, candy corn, sugar, and melted chocolate. So we had some messy, hyper kids.

Chocolate boys!

Gram does a clean up job.


The Strand
Here, Adam and Logan head out to the Strand.

We went to the Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe at the end of the Strand. They have an old fashioned taffy pull. And they guy who pulls it, will through you some as it comes out! Happy day!

On the way back to the house it started raining, which meant we ended up with three kids in a two-seater stroller. It was togetherness for a couple of blocks. Good thing for Shane the stroller rolls easily.


On the deck
The house had a huge deck with chairs on it. The girls were rocking in the rocking chair one morning. They were also trying to sing the Cinderella song, "Sing sweet nightingale", but the way Kayleigh sang it (and taught it to Lottie) was, "Sing, sweet, I don't care. Sing, sweet, I don't care."

Hanging out on the second floor deck with Uncle Chris. It's fun to have him home from Afghanistan!

While the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner (on Saturday) fries, the kids and Shane throw some pops. They had a great time! And Gram did a great job of stepping on the un-popped ones.

Kayleigh kisses on one of her main men - Bapa!


The Hotel Galvez
We went to see the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Hotel Galvez. Or as Chris called it, "returning to the scene of the crime". I like to think of it as the best day of Shane's life - hello!

Shane and Kayleigh in front of one of the Christmas trees.

Bapa and Gram gave their two favorite girls a lift.

We walked from the house to the Galvez. On the way back, Logan really wanted to go see the ocean, so we went down to the water for him. He loved it, the little Abercrombie model.

The four Flachmans.


Presents!
Daddy had to go to the store for batteries, so he got some HUGE lollipops for the kids. None of the actually finished them, but they had a great time getting super sticky!

Lottie, Adam, and Logan get ready to tear into their Christmas presents.

Adam opened his gift from us - it was put in a Pepsi Max box. He looked at the Pepsi box, and said, "That's not fun!" He was very bummed. Then he found two more gifts in the box, and he was much happier. Especially when they turned out to be LEGO Ninjago.


Hanging out in the Pool
The Galveston house had a heated pool. Which of course, the kids had to hang out in everyday. You have to be really careful of Kayleigh - she would try to swim to you when you weren't looking. But the little mermaid would not get out of the pool for hours!

Uncle Chris plays packmule to all four kids!

Kayleigh jumps in from the waterfall.

Logan jumps!

Adam - the flying banana!

Mommy and Kayleigh. Her poor little eyes were all itchy from the pool, but she refused to get out.

Aunt Amy helps Logan in the pool.

We had a great time in Galveston! Thanks Gram and Bapa!