Chop, chop.

On Sunday, we headed to Cumberland to Vinings to chop down our Christmas Tree. We started going to Vinings when we bought our house so this was the 3rd annual trip. Calia was ready for lunch and nap (she had spent the night at Papa and Yiayia's house and we picked her up at their church), so she was prime...

Pick this one, Charlie Brown(e)

Kevin and the "kids"

Not too happy about Daddy cutting down the tree.
Timber!!!

Cookie Swap

This past Saturday was a busy day! In the morning, Calia and I went to my cousin Katie's house for a cookie swap. Most of the Greek females in my family were present and I went home with 10 different 1/2 dozen sweet treats (Kevin was psyched!) Here are some of the pictures...

Proud 2 Yiayia with Baby Ray and Calia

Apparently, only boys look at the camera!
Sweet girl
Guinea pig!!
Ray is pulling on her pig-tail, I'd say she's not to happy.

Happy Hour

Calia and her lime

Dancin' with Grampa

This past Friday night, we met my dad and some of his friends out for a pre-holiday happy hour at Thatchers. Calia was her usual entertaining self...chowing on french fries, pasta salad, and chicken, and sucking on limes. Then when the band that was to start playing later that night was warming up, Calia enjoyed dancing during the sound check. If Calia at age 16 months is any indication, we have a party girl on our hands! Wonder where she gets that???

Last Day of Music Class

Ready to go to class!

Calia visiting with everyone.

Party Time

For the past 10 weeks, Calia and I have been going to Music Together in Yarmouth. She has loved it and our last class of the semester was this morning. Calia was lucky enough to have her Daddy come to the class as well. It's amazing how much Calia has changed in the past 10 weeks. when we started in Sept, she had 2 teeth (now has 8), she was crawling, not standing alone (now walking, stooping, standing, dancing, she does it all). Even the other mom's said she's the most changed! She loves this class and now we are off until Jan. Goodbye, so long, farewell my friends....

NYC

Ferry Ride across the Hudson

I love New York, but not the Yankees!

Abigail and Declan

Wheeeeee

Tired Bubba

Turkey Day

Sitting on Declan's chair/stool

Calia was OBSESSED with it!

Throwing balls down the stairs with Abigail
Hanging with Declan
Three peanuts at bed time
Calia and Abigail in matching PJs

Well, another Turkey Day come and gone. This year we spent in in New York with Kevin's family. Calia loved the turkey, stuffing, and all things pumpkin! She also had fun playing with her cousins...Jeremy, Abigail and Declan. On Black Friday, Shelly and I headed out to the mall without kids and got some great bargains! On Saturday, we headed in to NYC. We took the ferry in from Jersey. Calia's first ferry ride! We ate pizza on Broadway at Mariella (big sign about Oprah proclaiming it best pizza), went to Central Park, Kevin took Calia on the Central Park Carousel (goes a lot faster than the one at the fair!), walked through the zoo, walked up 5th Ave (way, too crowded), walked by Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, then back up 49th to wait for the bus. Calia fell asleep around Rockefeller Center and slept through the bus, and ferry ride back. Poor Bubba in the big city!

Coda and her new furry friend

Coda and Jackie the kitty

Colorful girl a walkin'

15 month wellness visit

Yestrerday, Calia had her 15 month well check. Here are her specs...

Weight: 19 lbs 9 oz (10%)
Height: 30" (40%)
Head 18" (50%)

We couldn't believe she still has not hit20 lbs! Our peanut.

She got 3 shots and with the exception of a second flu shot in a month is DONE until kindergarten! Woot!

Punk Rock Girl??

Welcome new Kitty

Hmmm..this is a new box and there's something furry inside!

Kisses for Kitty

If I could just reach...

"I think Kitty likes me"

Classic Calia

Having a Diva-moment about getting ready in the morning

Doing her daily stretches

New teeth, walking, and doggies

Calia and "Tada"

Best of Friends

Yo Coda, why are you outside?
Belly flop
Where are we going now???
I love raw hide!

Today Calia popped through her 5th tooth, her top right lateral incisor. Also this weekend, she has really kicked it up a notch with the walking and I would now count her among the bipeds. Not just with prompting to walk to one of us or a toy, she'll walk across the room just for the sake of walking. Similar to her transition from commando crawl to classic crawl, she has realized that it's faster to walk, or run for that matter.

We have also been dog stting for Gabbro (aka Gaby) for Andrew, Deb, and Eli. Gaby is a 8 1/2 year old yellow lab. Calia had been trilled to have 2 "tadas" round. I think Gaby is liking it here, Eli isn't quite on full table food and Calia loves to feed her 4 legged friends. I think Kevin has enjoyed having 2 dogs around this weekend, too. I'm not quite sure how Coda has felt, apparently Gaby outran Coda at the park yesterday, and has been receiving a lot of attention from Kevin, Calia and myself. Tonight, things will get back to normal, and I won't have to vacuum twice a day!

Last night while watching LSU beat Tennessee (Geaux Tigers!), we had walking bootcamp. When she'd get too tired, Calia would play with her Mickey Mouse push/ride toy. She kept trying to slide over it, but she'd open the seat; therefore, making a hole in the center which her big belly would get caught in. Quickly, she'd give up, only to go back and try it again...and again...and again, opening the lid everytime. Calia loves to go over or under things, anything. It must be more fun to make a jungle gym out of every obstacle in your path.

It's fun to watch how her mind processes things. And how she plays when she doesn't know we are watching, talking to herself, very animated. I've loved every stage, but this one is extremely fun, watching her personality develop. Like today, Coda and Gaby were outside with Kevin, so Calia decided it would be fun to make fish faces at them on the glass door that Mommy had just Windexed. She was giggling the whole time, too cute!

Piggies

Besides the fact that she's chewing on a Velveeta box, you can see Calia's hair is getting long enough in the back for pig tails or a pony tail. She looks like such a big girl.

Boston, cont...

Boston Commons

In China??
Making wishes

On Saturday, it was rainy and windy, so they stayed in while I went to the conference. We met up with our friends Chris and Jessica for dinner in the North End, yummy italian. Calia loved the calamari and of course nice bread. On Sunday, we walked over to the Commons despite the wind. We then headed home, stopping to eat lunch at Jin (that big place on the hill on Rt 1 in Massachusetts). We felt like we were in China. Anyway, it was good to get away, but better to get home. After 3 out of 4 weekends in October spent away from home, we are looking forward to November.

Boston

Who me??

Who are those dolphins??
Posing with the walrus
Looking at the big fish
Ready for dinner at Abe and Louie's

We arrived in Boston for PriMed last Thursday night. After dinner and Calia's flirting with all the men at Jose McIntyres, we called it a late night. Friday, I went to the conference in the am, met up with Kevin, Calia, and George Zourdos (a friend of Kev's from college that works in Boston) at the Purple Shamrock for lunch. Kev, Calia and I then headed to the Aquarium. Calia loved it! From her perch on Kevin's back, she took in the fish and spent a considerable amoutn of time waving at the penguins. She took a late afternoon nap before we headed to Abe and Louie's for dinner with a Pharm Rep friend (hey, he picked up the $420 tab!) Calia dined on crab cakes, their signature bone in filet, spinach, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries and creme brule, not too bad for an almost 15 month old! We gave her a dessert menu to look at and asked her what she'd like and she pointed to a $225 cognac, yeah maybe in 20 years!

Happy Halloween

Calia and Ben

Eli, Calia and Ben crammed in a chair.

Calia had a melt down because both of her arms were pinned behind the boys.

Yesterday, after stopping to trick or treat at Calia's 2 Yiayia's house, we headed over to her Yiayia and Papa's house. Two of my coworkers...Amy and Andrew, their spouses, Josh and Deb, and their little boys, Ben and Eli (ages 10 mo next week and 9 months)...joined us. After eating some chili, the kids played for a bit, then we took them trick or treating. My mom's neighbor, Kathie, is also a nurse at our Pediatics office, so she had baby food for the little ones. Otherwise, it was 6 adults using their 3 little ones for candy. My parents neighborhood is filled with kids, so most houses had buckets sitting outside in a "help yourself" fashion. It was fun. Calia enjoyed it much more than last year, beign stuck in a chilipepper bunting wasn't as much fun as being a busy bee. Here are some of Amy's pictures. I still have to down load mine, and all of our pictures from our weekend in Boston...