Blank Family Photos 2013

Since my side of the family isn't able to get together but every couple of years, we had a friend of Jeff and Mandy's stop by to take some family photos!

She was nice enough to take one of us!

The whole crew!

Yaya, Papi and their grandbabies:

The three amigos!

Piggy snuck into the shot :)

The Biltmore Estate Visit

I've wanted to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC since we were stationed back in Lejeune (2004-2007). Because Michael was deployed so much during that timeframe, we were never able to go! We booked our tickets and had my mom come along to experience some of America's history with us! The Biltmore Estate is the largest privately owned estate in the U.S. and was built back in 1889 by George Vanderbuilt.

It was a 5 hour trek, so we stopped for some Cracker Barrel on our way :)

We woke up early (shocker, Caleb wouldn't sleep in the pack-n-play) so Caleb, Michael and I went in to Antler Hill Village to look around before our tours.

Peek a boo! I'm not a pill when we're traveling!

Michael did some wine tasting from the vino grown on the estate.

So Caleb and I enjoyed some grape juice :)

Sticking his whole face in it:

Afterwards we all went on a carriage ride through the grounds! It was fantastic and the lady providing the tour gave great background and insight into the family's life.

The stables:

Daddy and Caleb.

Caleb with me and my mom.

We were able to get out of the carriage in a lookout where you could see the estate (in the summer you wouldn't be able to see it because of all the foliage).

Yaya and Caleb:

Caleb got to pet the horses:

Heading back into the stables:

Collecting rocks with Yaya:

Heading to the estate for our dinner reservation and candlelight tour.

Looking around in the gardens before dinner:

The back of the estate. The whole house took 6 years to build and covers four acres of floor space, has 35 bedroom, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces! My favorite spots were the underground pool, workout room and bowling alley! There was live music throughout the house and the garden room in the front of the house was astounding with all of the woodwork and windows!

The whole estate was decorated lavishly for Christmas and it was breathtaking (especially when it was all lit up at night)!

The front entrance.

A gift ship in the restaurant area:

"Someone" wasn't on their best behavior (hmmm ... a good nights sleep and a nap would have helped), and he was only happy if he was playing the spoon game with Yaya or eating dessert. Ugh.

The spoon game was super cute though :)

Eating chocolate chip cookie:

... and milk (with his chocolate-covered face).

Michael was checking the messages from the Marine Corps intently - we found out during dinner that he was selected for Major (WHOOP!!!)!

Photos weren't allowed in the house, but I snuck this one looking down from the top of the balcony on the spiral staircase:

A panoramic view of the estate at night:

The HUGE trees all lit up in the driveway to the house.

Big Buddy was *just* tall enough to help push the button on the elevator at the hotel. It was a quick trip - but absolutely worth it!!

December 2013

December was an insanely busy month for us! It started a little slow, but quickly picked up towards the end with multiple trips. 

 Caleb decided he wanted to carry the dog bed around everywhere ... and then took a rest in it when he got tired.

 December was the month that Caleb decided he wanted to wear any shoes that were left unattended. He loved wearing my slippers (and did really well walking in them!):

We threw an ugly Christmas sweater party for Michael's class so we had to go and find ugly sweaters to wear!

We woke up early one morning and hit Cracker Barrel for some breakfast. Caleb really liked the color crayons:

He is also very serious about his stickers.

Not kin. At all. :P

It warmed up just enough where we could justify going to the park to run ... he wouldn't stop running!

A puppy hood to run around in.

Someone doesn't like it when Daddy goes outside without him ... so Michael kangaroo'ed him :)

Our ugly Christmas sweater party was a lot of fun! The white elephant gift exchange was a hit!

Teething on the Christmas toys:

Piggy got a little Christmas treat with the leftover ham :)

Papi and Yaya came a little before Christmas! It took Papi, Sasha, Piggy and Caleb to get the small balls out from beneath the couch!

Caleb found Papi's shoes :)

Cruising around and showing off:

New Goodnight Moon pjs!

My whole side of the family all met in Fayetteville, NC at my brother's house to celebrate Christmas! Caleb enjoys all the pink toys in the predominately girl house!

Uncle Ryan with Scout and Caleb:

Uncle Jeff with Scout, Savannah and Caleb:

 Papi and Yaya helped Savannah and Taylor put together their puzzle:

 Caleb enjoyed having Papi push him around in the stroller:

Lots of stockings!  All made by my Aunt Sheila!

Reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve:

All the kids ... Caleb's face tells the scene.

All the kids minus CJ:

Papi and Yaya with their grandbabies:

Me and Caleb:

Papi and CJ:

Michael and CJ:

Looking down at the tree after Santa came to visit:

Waking up super early ... with his glow baby :) It was nice that CJ wasn't in his crib yet!

Checking out the Christmas loot:

Opening stockings. Santa knew how much Caleb loves his baths so we got some bath books and some finger puppets!

Opening presents - he actually "got it" this year!

A new Aggie football (he broke the sound in the old one he played with it so much!):

Puzzles!

Christmas chaos:

Everyone's a comedian :P

Playing with his Hawaiian ukelele!

Hanging out with Daddy:

Piggy and Butch got some doggy Christmas cookies too :) (Diva Sasha didn't want any) lol ...

Looking over Taylor's USMC toy:

Papi and Scout examining the jewelry box with the ballerina:

Yaya and Caleb zooming on the German bike:

Playing with his flashlight in the stroller :/

Pushing buttons on the Reveille nightlight! 

Practicing abc's!

My little doodle :)

Changed his pj's for Christmas night ... since he played in his other ones all day long!

Our little family

Tired Big Buddy:

We went home after Christmas and Caleb immediately played with his new bath toys!

Santa had visited our house while we were gone so Caleb had more toys to open when we woke up!

He really liked looking in the stocking:

Putting all of his stocking stuff in his new red wagon:

He got his own computer (hopefully he'll leave ours alone now!):

The kid loves tools!

He was really into ripping the paper off by this time!

Reading the card from Caleb's great-grandparents in Texas :)

His new favorite seat:

Playing with his computer!

Bailey cat even got some new toys (that she actually played with!):

He loves him so sour cream dippy for his quesadillas!

Starting to tear the house down for our,  yet another, move up to Quantico!