Happy New Year!

Wow - what wonderful fun-filled past two weeks we've had since the last update! We've truly been enjoying the spirit of Christmas, the anticipation of Christ's birth and good times with dear family and friends. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as well!

I'm going to start with us kicking off our Christmas with our first trip to the Zoo for Zoolight Safari. David ended up working late so it was the girls and me along with Gran - we had a blast (but I will say it's mighty expensive for an hours worth of fun!) and enjoyed spending time among all the pretty lights and with Gran. Catherine Ellis loved it and Caroline had almost as much fun - I wore her in the Bjorn and she just kicked and clapped at all the fun and excitement swirling around her! Think we'll do this for years to come!

Not sure what to think about the snow!

Family pic in the snow - love Caroline's face here!

Catherine Ellis and Gran in the snow

Petting Zoo - Catherine Ellis was pretending to be a live animal - convincing?

Carousel ride - a favorite with both girls - we rode it 3 different times!

A quick pose in front of the AU tree -
there was an AL tree as well, but Mommy was taking the pictures:)

As you can tell we had a blast -thank you Gran for a wonderful treat to kick off our two week Christmas vacation! Next up Christmas with Aunt B & Uncle C!

7 months

Happy 7 months sweet Caroline! What a fun time for you - you're learning new skills every day and you are certainly no longer a 'stay in one place' child. You're a wiggle worm and yearning to be on the move these days! You've been sick with the croup all week - you're still running a fever and not feeling well today, but smiling away! Your onesie says "best gift ever" - we all agree!

7 months - December 15, 2011

Here are some wonderful things you're up to at 7 months:

• you have two teeth! They are your front bottom teeth and they are super cute!
• your hair is growing, growing, growing and it's dark!
• you are a rolling machine - you could roll all over the house if we'd let you.
  
• you're super wonderful at tummy time - we think it will be no time before you're crawling. You've got a big sister to keep up with after all!
• you can sit up well by yourself - we use the Boppy from time to time because you're still perfecting your balance, but you love to sit up.
• you've graduated to the high chair - you LOVE it!
• you're eating solids and have liked most everything you've tried: sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, apples, blueberries, apricots. You don't like peas or oatmeal so far, but we're working on it. You are eating three 4 oz jars a day.
• you're sleeping better at night - you have been on a streak of sleeping from 7:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. for a few weeks now. And you've gone until 6:00 a.m. a couple of times.
• you are still napping okay - not great, but enough. Most days a couple of 30-45 minute naps after awake time - especially at school. At home you will take longer naps of up to 2 or 2 1/2 hours.
• you grab at everything you see - you especially like to grab hair or glasses.
• you love the constant entertainment that your sister brings to your life.
  
• you are jabbering big time - you can say dada, but don't know who you are referring to yet.
  
• you are beefing up, finally. At our doctor visit this week you were up to 16 lbs 13 oz. Almost a pound in two weeks - you go girl!
• you're wearing 6-12 month clothing.
• you had your first round of steroids this month for the croup - you took them like a champ.
• you've figured out all the toys on the excersaucer - you like to make the music play the most.
  
• you nurse 5-6 times a day depending on your wake up time.

“You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16:11 (NIV)

32 months

Happy 32 months sweet Catherine Ellis! You are moving, shaking and changing the world around you - watch out world!! As you often tell Mommy and Daddy "you so proud of me!" - we are precious child, we are. The Advent season is all about the anticipation and joy of the arrival of baby Jesus .... it is with great anticipation and joy that we also awaited the arrival of our first-born three short years ago. We adore you - you bring so much laughter, joy and awe to this family - our world certainly is forever changed by you!

December 9, 2011 - 32 months

Here are some things you're up to:

• you are almost completely out of pull-ups - you're dry 5 out of 7 nights and most every time you wake from a nap - we're ready to tell them goodbye and so are you!
• you talk very well - you're super verbal and know TONS of words. You can now recall words after thinking for a few seconds and complete your sentences correctly without the assistance of an adult.
• you're a GREAT big sister. Caroline adores you and gets quite the kick out of you. You're loving, kind and compassionate to her.
  
• you're quite the artist - you bring home lots of fabulous art work every week from school.
• you're hair is growing (Daddy is so proud of you!) - you're growing a good looking mullet in the back :)
• you're wearing 2T clothing, but 3T fits you well
• Christmas has a whole new meaning this year - you're starting to understand why we celebrate Christmas (thank you for the nativity set, Meme!), some of the fun traditions, a bit about Santa Claus (you still don't like him) and the joy of the season. However, you don't get the presents part - you're not sure about Santa bringing them and the notion of being good or bad.
  
• you love your dance class at school and come home with moves and songs that you love to perform - Michael Jackson is a favorite these days. If I can catch this particular performance on camera it'll make my life.
  
• you're a great helper to Mommy, Daddy and your teachers.
• you're a good cook - you helped Mommy make pizza this week and it was super yummy.
• you still LOVE to read.
• Cain and Emma are your biggest fans and you love them dearly.
• you are still sleeping well - 8:00 p.m.-7:30 a.m.
• you love the blessings for meals - you learn them quickly and demand that we say the blessing before dinner without us reminding you.
• you say your prayers every night with Daddy - you thank God for lots of wonderful things and ice cream (it's good stuff, y'all!).

Sweet girl - we love you to the moon and back! We're so proud of you; don't you ever forget it!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1

It's the most wonderful time of the year ...

Christmas is here and we're finally all decorated at the Cain house! It takes longer to decorate as the years go by, but with all the 'help' we had from Catherine Ellis it sure made things go more smoothly:) We got our tree on Saturday and started decorating on Sunday. The house was finally completely decorated by Tuesday night. Let the good times roll!

I can't believe she is big enough to hang ornaments!

Our tiniest elf!

She provided the joyful noise while we decorated!

Helping Daddy with the angel

Don't drop me Daddy!

And guess who arrived Friday?? Elvis the Elf! If you're not familiar with The Elf on the Shelf - take a look. Basically the elf arrives a few weeks before Christmas (and the children get to name the Elf - funny that Catherine Ellis picked Elvis, hysterical actually) and reports back to Santa each night about the behavior of the little ones he is watching over. The neat thing is that each night he travels back to the North Pole and when he arrives back at the house he lands in a different spot. The next morning the kiddos (Catherine Ellis at this point) have to search until they find him. He has some odd hiding places - this is where he was this morning:

Meet Elvis everybody!

And last but not least to get us in the full spirit of Christmas we went to the Mountain Brook Village Christmas Parade on Sunday. Wouldn't you know we missed the parade, but it didn't matter, we still got to play with our friends, see some cool firetrucks and most importantly talk to Santa - here's how well that went:

William and Catherine Ellis on the fire truck

Um, yeah. Santa did not go over at all for

Catherine Ellis and Caroline just isn't real sure what is going on here.

Three cutest kids you'll ever find under the tree!

Headline News

If you all don't already know - we've got quite the celebrity living with us these days! Catherine Ellis was 'above the fold' in The Birmingham News last Monday, November 28th! What a neat surprise! We knew they were doing a photo shoot at the YWCA Child Development Center, but we had no way of knowing what photo would be selected and where it would be placed. We don't receive the newspaper anymore (I wonder where all my free time to leisurely read the paper has gone?), but my phone starting dinging and ringing first thing Monday morning letting me know that indeed a star had been born! So much fun!

Our 'live in' celebrity!

A close up of our hippie star
(she's telling them she's two, but it would be cool if it was a peace sign, right?)

Pailet Ann's Baptism

Thanksgiving weekend got better as the days unfolded. We headed to Camp McDowell after our Thanksgiving feast 2011 at the Cains and settled in for the night. It's always great to be back "home" and peaceful to get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life. We awoke to a glorious morning and the day of Pailet Ann Liles's Holy Baptism.

Caroline and I headed 'up the hill' to Miller Commons to spend some time with the princess of the day and her family and friends. It was so wonderful to catch up and meet the extended families of my dear friend, Allison Sandlin Liles. What an honor to be asked to serve as Pailet's godmother. I'm looking forward to a lifetime of memories with her and watching her grow and love Christ as a member of the Christian community. We're so glad she's an official member now!

It was a beautiful service with a joyful baby - I'm not sure I've seen one more joyful at a baptism than sweet Pailet was! She let her godparents hold her, love her and bask in the joy and glory of her special day.

Allison, Pailet and proud Godmama Megann

The godparents, Allison and Pailet

Pailet's crew for Holy Baptism

"God of power and great glory, thank you for Pailet Ann. In so many ways, she is Your beloved child, in whom You are well pleased. Please bless Pailet Ann and me as we journey together in Your love. Amen."

Blessings abound ...

Hope everyone had great family time with their families! We sure did! It was such a wonderful weekend - we got to meet Baby Carrigon - the girls cousin and our niece - for the first time and spend time with the rest of the Ellis and Cain families. It was a wonderful day filled with good food, good fun and good naps (Amen!!).

Here are some pictures from our fun in Jasper:

One of the imperfects that I love as much as the 'perfect' shot!
(Thanks Kitty!)

Bundled up wizardly baby

Y'all - her hair is starting to curl!!

No trip to Jtown is complete without fishing for Pop's minnow

Her two accomplices here are her cousins, Jackson and Jake

Laughing at Pop Pop

Mommy and her sweet C

A little cousin lovin'

No trip is complete without a bounce on the trampoline

Bouncing with Daddy

CE and her sidekick

Cain loves Jtown visits too

Bouncing high ....

And higher ....

Cutest little cousins ever!

A little toss "up there Daddy" - a glorious day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2011 - 31 months & 6 months

Happy Thanksgiving - what a wonderful day! We have so much to be thankful for, but most of all for our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We're especially thankful for our families, friends, loved ones and if you're reading this you're one of those folks! I often say it takes a village and we are SO thankful for our little village. May today be a day that you all celebrate the wonderful blessings in your lives with those you love. We certainly are counting our blessings today!

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Colossians 3:15

Rub a Dub Dub in the Tub

Bath time has long been a favorite around our house and Caroline is quickly joining in on the fun these days! Soon we'll ditch the sling and she'll be sitting up all by her self like a big girl in the tub. Until then it's a family affair when we bathe her these days - big sister just can't live without making sure she helps 'wash' Caroline. And little sister seems not to mind big sister's supervising and assistance. Here are some pics from bath time a few nights ago:

Talking over our routine with my resident bathing assistant

Just hanging out with Mom and Big Sis - enjoying the suds

What's going on here lady? I wish I knew what was
going through her mind sometimes!

All hands on deck and what a good sport!

Save me Daddy!

Pan Can Fun Run

Two Saturday's ago we got up and rolling bright and early for one of our best friends Holly and her sweet family. Holly, David and I go way back - she was a CIT at Camp McDowell the year I was Head Counselor in 2001 and then she met David and they got to be great buds while attending the University of Alabama. She is Catherine Ellis's godmother and now my co-worker! So, needless to say Holly and her family are important to the Cains.

We signed up for the Family Fun Run at Homewood Park for Pancreatic Cancer. Holly's father, Mike, has Pancreatic Cancer and has been successfully fighting it for over 2 years now. We are so proud of his strength and positive attitude and of Holly and her family for weathering such a difficult time and finding the positive in all of this. So, a family fun run was the least we could do to support Holly and her father.

And fun it was! We got there a little early and played with several friends at the park - had a blast and then walked/ran the Family Fun Run! The girls had a blast, the weather was glorious, we got to see lots of old friends and raise some money for pancreatic cancer research. Catherine Ellis even got so excited about the run that she got out of the stroller after the first 1/2 mile and ran the last 1/2 mile with her Mommy! I think we have a future runner y'all!

William and Catherine Ellis starting the day off with a swing

"Way up there Daddy, way up there!"

Sweet C taking her morning snooze

Higher and Higher

All decked out in our purple

William and Stefie

Up she goes ...

Down she comes ...

Riding the purple dino with William

The Cains at the finish line

Ce, Stefie, William, Caroline and me

Emily and Caroline (she's taking it all in ...)

My little runner, eating her snack after her first 1/2 mile!

Catherine Ellis and Stefie

My girl wore her purple too! She was the hit
of the event with her flower hat!

Caraway's Crew 2011