Caleb's first Christmas

Caleb really enjoyed his first Christmas.














He liked the wrapping paper the most.














He got a good book to read at the Krosschell party.

Caleb opening more presents with the DeYoungs.
Caleb hanging out with Uncle Joey and his girlfriend Sarah. Welcome home from Tanzania Joey.After presents it's time to go bowling....who will win the trophy this year???
After bowling we're a little slap happy.Hanging out with Aunt Sara at our final Christmas party.Thanks Grandpa.










NEWS:
Two new Detroit
Lions players!
Ben and Chris.








Spiderman at OUR
Christmas party???









Nice undies
Sam!





Caleb loves his new doggy from Uncle Scott and Heidi.

A special thank you to all our loved ones who made this Christmas so memorable for our family. We love you all!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. We didn't do a Christmas card this year, but wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season.
Caleb enjoyed his first experience with bringing a tree into the house. He loves to play with the ornaments, and turn the lights on every morning. It is a good thing he's not crawling, or I'm sure the tree would be on top of him.

Caleb loves to sit by the Christmas tree and play with his toys. Any time of the day in his PJ's.














Here Caleb is sharing some quality time with his daddy.














Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa DeYoung, Great Grandma and Grandpa Schaap, Aunt Sara, and Cousins Ben, Chris, and Sam. It was so nice to spend time with family.We also went to cut down a tree. As you can tell it was really cold, so my mommy and daddy bundled me up so warm that I could barely move. I look like a marshmallow man.
We finally picked out a tree. Don't you think it's perfect?
Here is my daddy cutting down my first Christmas tree.After Grandma and Grandpa Krosschell, Uncle Scott, Heidi, Uncle Brian, Aunt Tara, Uncle Marc, and Aunt Jen finally chose their tree we were off to get something to eat. Here we are at Main St. Pub in Allendale............from what they tell me this is our Thanksgiving tradition. I think I like Thanksgiving.

Dinner Time!

Caleb was telling me tonight that he was really hungry. I'm not sure if you can understand him.

So........he started to eat. He's just like his mommy though and really enjoys his sweet food (pears, apples, peaches), but when it comes to veggies not many make it into his mouth as you can tell.














He thought it was hilarious. Me.......not so much.














Watch and see how those veggies got all over his face.



Then we were off to the tub to wash those veggies off his face. I think he's posing for the 2016 synchronized swimming team.














Now we're all clean and it's off to bed.

Good Night!

Halloween #2

For Halloween this year Caleb (or should I say the Kiss) made his rounds to Uncle Scott, Uncle Marc, and Aunt Jen's house. After showing off his costume to them we were on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Krosschell's house, but on our way we had to call Grandma and Grandpa DeYoung and Caleb had to tell them what he was for Halloween. He kept the costume on for a total of 5 minutes. What fun. So cute you just want to kiss the little kiss.

Here's Caleb with his Aunt Jen (He started out the night all smiles).




























Caleb with Grandma Krosschell (you can tell it's the end of the night, no more smiles).














Here is another video of Caleb per request from friends. He loves his tongue.

Happy Halloween!

Caleb didn't want to take a good nap yesterday, but he was happy all day. Here is Caleb on no sleep. I think he takes after his mom because she gets slap happy just like Caleb (although mom's tongue is never out that much). I think he was trying to tell me about his day at Grandma's house.


Happy Halloween!!
How cute are these four? We have William the cute pumpkin, Natalie the beautiful princess, Laney the stinging bee, and Caleb the kissable hershey kiss.










I think Halloween was intended for parents to get a kick out of dressing up their kids. This is Caleb with hair, "man that came in dark, who's kid is that?"














Yes we had fun too this Halloween. Jeff was Ron Burgundy, and I was Veronica Corningstone from the movie "Anchorman".

Caleb's "Firsts"

One of Caleb's "firsts" is eating real finger food. Here is his attempt at chewing and swallowing.


Here he is grabbing his puff and trying to get it into his tiny mouth. I can tell by the look on his face that he is really excited (or just shoveling food in).














He hasn't figured out how to open his fist to get the puff into his mouth. It's a little frustrating to watch but......he finally got it.















Another "first" for Caleb included mowing the lawn for the first time with daddy. He seemed to really enjoy it. Now I think that means mommy is off the hook for several years.

Orchard

Friday night we went to the Orchard. Caleb enjoyed his first tractor ride, picked his first apple, and saw his first pumpkin. I think his favorite part of the whole adventure was trying to eat the perfect size apple for him.





























If you look close here is where Caleb was trying to eat the apple!! So cute.

First Words?? Or Babble??

Caleb turned 6 months on Monday, crazy how fast the time flies by. This morning we woke up to a lot of babbling noises. Here is video of our first sounds this morning. It can only make you smile. Is it first words or is it babble (guess who thinks it's Caleb's first word?)?

















Caleb loves to gnaw on his finger, or anything he can get his hands on.

Sam's 4th Birthday

Sam turned 4 this September (he's the one in the middle), so we had a bash over at my sister's new house with pizza, cake, and ice cream. Chris is the goofy one holding Caleb, and on the far right is our oldest nephew Ben making the silly face. Boys will be boys, and I'm sure Caleb will fit right into the mix with his cousins!! What a good looking bunch of kids.

Lions Weekend

This past weekend we went to the Lions Packers game in Detroit with the Krosschell family. We drove to Detroit with Scott, Marc, and Jen, and met up with Brian and Tara (coming from Chicago). It was a ton of fun. Saturday the girls went shopping at Summerset Mall while the guys watched the Michigan game at Friday's. Then Sunday morning we went tailgating before the game and Jon and Cricket Potvin stopped by to hang out with us (they're huge Packers fans). The Lions almost pulled it out, but with 5 minutes to go they gave up 20 plus points and of course we lost. Then leaving the stadium we had to walk over a half mile to our car in the pouring rain (aka Hurricane IKE) because someone thought it would be cool to steal all our umbrellas!! I was more mad about the umbrellas than the game I think. Oh well, Lions are only 0-2 they could come back right? Superbowl here we come!!

What's our little man doing now?

Caleb is doing more every day. It's so amazing to watch him grow and learn new skills. He smiles every time we talk to him and say his name, and he loves to give great big hugs.

Labor Day Weekend

Every Labor day weekend we go somewhere with the entire DeYoung clan. For the past several years we've gone to the VanBuren Youth camp. We spend two nights in the cabins, eat in the camps dinning hall, swim in the lake, fish, and play games. This year was a little different now that we have an addition. We stayed in the same cabin as my parents. I was a little worried how Caleb would sleep, being that my dad snores very LOUDLY. But once we rigged up an outlet for the sound machine Caleb slept great. I only had to get up once to tell my dad to stop snoring so I could sleep.
Jeff was happy that my parents brought a mini TV, and I'm talking 3" TV, so he could watch the Michigan football game. He gets a little antsy every year because he has to miss the kickoff to the College football season.
Now it's back to the start of the school year. Jeff's back at work teaching two classes of remedial algebra and three classes of Advanced Algebra. He's happy to get back into the routine of things. I'm back to work also. I'm working part time and loving every single minute of it knowing I get long weekend every other week.........LOVE IT. Caleb is getting into a routine also. When I'm at work he gets to go to both Grandma's houses and every other week he gets to go to his friend/neighbor Laney's house. Things are good.

Boating with the "marshmellow man" and cousins Ben, Chris, Asher, and Grandpa.

Caleb loves his Exersaucer!!!

We also got a chance to hang out with some college friends over the last couple of weeks. Sara was in town with new baby Micha, and Lisa was here on her summer break from school in New York.