Santa's arrival and Happy New Year's Eve

Can't believe 2010 is almost over! It's been a great year and we're looking forward to another great year in 2011! God has been good to us - for that we are very thankful! Safe travels to all those traveling this weekend and Happy New Year!

Just a sneak peak of Christmas to hold our families over until I can load the pictures and do a long Christmas blog post. This is Christmas morning when Catherine Ellis discovered that Santa had indeed been to visit leaving her with some great toys!

B is for ....

beautiful baby girl!! That's right - another fabulous little girl is joining the Cain family - for now pink continues to rule in the Cain household ... say a prayer for Papa Cain!

She's perfect in every way - doctor said she looks wonderful - right on track, even measuring a bit early. Wednesday morning her heart rate was 144 and she weighs a whooping 10 oz ....go baby girl!

Merry Christmas to all!

Baby Cain 2 on December 22, 2010

Baby Jesus is coming!

This is our very first Christmas Eve at home since David and I started dating 8 years ago! We have had such a great time preparing for this time and today was a wonderful day! This has been a 'red-letter day' all around.

We've worked hard on keeping the reason for the season at the forefront of the traditions we are starting and here are just a few:

• Happy Birthday Jesus! - Baking a birthday cake for baby Jesus - can you tell CE and I aren't professional bakers?

Catherine Ellis helped Mama ice the cake - think we got more on us than the cake!

Happy Birthday baby Jesus!

• Wonderful time with friends - our visit with Santa was unsuccessful and while I understand the funniness behind pictures of screaming children with Santa - I'm not a fan and wasn't about to make CE sit on this man's lap and pay $15 for picture that portrays her while she is miserable (I know, I'm no fun). She clung to David like she thought we were going to leave her in the middle of the mall with him. She talked about him the entire time we waited in line, but once we got up close - it was all over. We did however enjoy time with the Nations/Baby William and Gmama Holly. Also Mexican on Christmas Eve Eve with friends is a new tradition we hope to continue!

Catherine Ellis and William

• Leaving out cookies and milk on a very special saucer with it's matching cup - just for Santa! I have to say - our Santa has been a real trooper (as he most always is!) and single handed put together both the table and chairs set and the pink retro kitchen for Catherine Ellis. It was quite the feat from hundreds of screws to the final product - so our Santa especially deserves his fudge covered Oreos and milk! Enjoy Santa!

Cookies and milk for Santa

Ready for Santa!

Looks like someone was a very good little girl - a pink retro kitchen with the works and a big girl table and chairs!

• The family service at St.-Mary's-on-the-Highlands - wow! This is hands down the best service we've attended together ever. There were probably 100 children at the service, it was loud, at times a madhouse, but overall magical. There was the Christmas story in the form of a pageant - including a real, live baby Jesus and fabulous music. Catherine Ellis was a star - one of the most well-behaved children there (again, without a nap! We are still in shock!). One of our favorite take-aways from the service is the wonderment in her eyes and the joy of finally seeing baby Jesus. We've been talking about him for days and I bet she said 100 times tonight "Baby Jesus is coming!" We tried to get her to say it on video - but you all know how that goes. She is so excited that baby Jesus is coming .... we are too!

"Fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

First Haircut

That's right ... I finally broke down and had Catherine Ellis's hair cut. It was getting pretty unruly and unmanageable - so I gave in. David and I both have family members that cut hair, but Friday I decided last minute that I was going to bite the bullet and cut CE's so I called Miss Lynn.

Miss Lynn has been cutting my hair and my mother's hair for over 30 years - there is lot of history with Miss Lynn and we love her like she's family. She traveled to Camp McDowell to style my hair for my wedding and has been with us through the the ups and downs of life - so who better than Miss Lynn - plus we were on our way to Alex City to have Christmas with my mother so it worked out beautifully.

Sweet Miss Lynn stayed at work late just to cut Catherine Ellis's hair - thank you Miss Lynn!

Nope lady, I'm not letting that sucker change my mind ....

Well, on second thought this sure is a good sucker

Yep, in bad need of a haircut - unruly hair all around ...

Off to a good start (notice Honey is clenched nearby)

A little peep pie with Meme

Sitting still for Miss Lynn

Hold still, Catherine Ellis (a quote from our favorite book "Oh, David!")

A curl or two from the back

So far so good

Hello Lynn ... Catherine Ellis loved that she could see Miss Lynn in the mirror

Admiring the new 'do' and getting some lovin' from Miss Lynn!

Sweetest Words on Earth

See for yourself -

Don't you agree? Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Sunday afternoons

Sunday afternoons are a time we use for slowing down before the craziness of Monday arrives. We have lots of favorite hobbies, but reading is one of our favorites. Catherine Ellis loves to read and this makes Mommy very happy - I'm quite the reader myself. Now that she's a bit older she likes to 'read' by herself and tell Mommy and Daddy the stories that she has faithfully memorized. We've been reading to her since she was just a few days old - so it's something she's never lived without and we're a-okay with that. Today she asked to sit in her rocker and 'read' - take a look at a favorite Sunday past time .....

20 months

Happy 20 months sweet girl! Every day seems to go faster and faster the bigger you grow - we often think it's not possible for time to go any faster, but with each passing month it does. We are about to start 2011 and you will be turning 2 before we know it! As we always say, what a joy watching you grow up before our very eyes!

December 9, 2010 - 20 months

20 fabulous things you're up to with one to grow on:

• you can say your name when prompted "What's your name?"
• you can repeat almost word for word what anyone else says
• your vocabulary is so big now that I can't even begin to list all the 'new' words you have
• you are talking in 3-6 word sentences
• you can make all the common animal noises when asked "what does a cow, sheep, pig, frog, duck, etc. say"
• your recognition of people is awesome - you saw a little boy's mother that you were in the infant class with for a very short time and knew immediately that she was Alex's mom
• oh baby! That's right - you love babies - LOVE babies. Your favorite baby friend right now is William Nation. He is almost 17 weeks old and you think he's the cutest thing ever. However, you don't like to share your Mama with him (we'll have to work on this!)
• you are cutting your 2 year old molars - the last 2 teeth that you need to complete an official mouth full of teeth
• you LOVE to drive Mama's car or Dada's truck - you can mimic what each one of us typically does while driving - changing the radio, singing, talking on the phone
• your love of music has now carried over to a love of dancing. If a tune comes on you are dancing and moving yourself to beat - you let nothing stand in you way to groove - not even a car seat
• your two best buddies are Pooh Bear and Honey - you take both of them everywhere
• your bossiness has come to life - whew! All I can say is watch out world:)
• your favorite book at school is "Oh, David!" and at home "Gossie" - you can repeat word for word every word of "Oh, David!" correctly on each page - it's a sight to behold
• you are eating almost anything and everything - you still prefer healthy fruits and veggies over meat, but you have some unhealthy loves like french fries - who can blame you?
• you are in dire need of your 'first haircut' - you still don't have much hair, but the front is long enough that you'll need a trim soon - still no sign of curls except for a few big ones in the back
• you've gotten very good with the spoon - the fork, well we need more work there. But as much as you love yogurt the spoon is a utensil that you are mastering well
• you love to sing - you can sing along a few words to some of your favorite songs.
  
• you like for things to be order - almost all things. You will line your baby dolls up in order of size, your ducks, your books.
• you love school - so much now that when I come to get you or attend a program that you are also attending, you will let me sit by you, but not hold you or take you away from your friends.
• you can count to 5 - sometimes it's a struggle past 3 - but you certainly have 1, 2 and 3 down
• you tell everything bye bye - the TV, your car seat, your shoes, your socks, your bed, the dogs, your books - it takes us a while to get out the door in the morning since you're telling every item bye bye.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Repetition

Oh repetition how Catherine Ellis loves you! It seems almost every action that Catherine Ellis thinks about she has to repeat the action and no matter how many times she repeats the action - it's just like it was the first time - every time. It's mind boggling to watch her in action sometimes - it leaves you wondering how she doesn't grow tired of them same thing, over and over and over. The wonderment of the world is fascinating to her!

Thanksgiving she entertained all of us for over 45 minutes of what we'll call 'bye bye, heyyyyy'! My brother was amazed at the simplicity of the action and just how much joy she got from repeating herself over and over. I think it goes back to being the center of attention at times, but at others the sheer joy of entertaining a crowd. I think she comes by both honestly - her father loves to entertain a crowd and I'm probably safe in saying that neither of us shies away from being the center of attention if necessary (I will say as I've gotten older I do not need that fulfillment near as much as I did when I was younger!).

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family in Alexander City - and we were right - Catherine Ellis loved Thanksgiving probably because she loves food:) Just kidding! She loved it because she got to spend some time with loved ones that we wish she could see every day. My brother, sister-in-law and mother made it a great holiday! We also got to see one of my best childhood friends and her family - it's always fun to catch up over the holidays.

We have so much to be thankful for - I wish we took the time every day to give thanks like we do on Thanksgiving - what a great reminder of all the blessings we have. It was a short holiday because we had a wedding that weekend, but we made the most of our time at Meme's and I think it's safe to say from the pictures I've posted below - all had a great time!

A little grace before the meal - she missed our meal, but joined us at the tail end - she's quite the poser sometimes

No holiday is complete without a little hide-n-seek

There she is!

Heading to see Meme

Hey Meme!

More hide-n-seek with Dada

Finding Dada

New Turkey Day look

Afternoon swing

Still on the go

Later Thanksgiving evening my good friend Nancy and her family visited - it was so fun to watch the girls play together. Catherine Ellis is not good about sharing - are any one year olds? - but they still managed to have a good time while we all caught up! Thanks for spending some time with us Bendingers!

Dalton and CE's first play date

Catherine Ellis was a bit territorial at first ....

Then she decided she might give sweet Dalton a kiss .. Dalton is not sure what to think!

Playing cars with Mr. Doug and Dalton

What a great time we had! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting.

1 Chronicles 16:34

Big Sister

Yay - I'm going to be a big sister!

That's right - Catherine Ellis is going to be a big sister in May! We are super excited about welcoming baby Cain 2 to our family. So far it's been a great pregnancy and the baby is healthy and developing well.

Catherine Ellis hasn't a clue that she's going to be a big sister, but we know she'll make a great one! We find out December 22nd what her sibling will be - we can't wait!

Every good and perfect gift is from above - James 1:17