Playing catch-up!

OK, so I'm playing catch-up on my blog today for all the events that I've missed posting over the holidays. I posted SIX new posts with picture slideshows for each one (12 posts in total). You may even have to click on the 'Older Posts' link at the bottom of the page in order to see them all.

Campbell and Channing

When Campbell was sick this past weekend with pneumonia, Channing came over to bring her a Nemo aquarium that she had made for her out of a shoe box - so cute! Of course, Campbell had been on her medications for 3 days prior and was supposedly no longer contagious. While Channing was over, she went for a ride in the bike cart. It looks like she's almost too tall for it, but she seemed to still have fun.

The next day she went to lunch with me and Campbell and then came over to watch a movie (Campbell fell asleep for a nap). I took some pictures of their "silly faces" - this is Campbell's new thing.

See the slideshow below for pictures...

Campbell and Channing

Campbell's first trip to Six Flags!

Gigi gave us 4 tickets to Six Flags with 2 parking passes that she had gotten at work - thanks Gigi!! Since, Campbell gets in free, we were able to give 2 tickets to our good friends the Kirks. We also called the Pannos and Ratliffs who have season passes, and we were lucky to find a Sunday afternoon that worked for us to all go together. Matt and I hadn't been in years, so I wasn't sure what all there would be for Campbell to do. The weather was perfect, and the park wasn't crowded at all - it was great!! Campbell would have been perfectly happy to ride the swings all day, but she was able to enjoy lots of other rides with the kids too. She even went down the snow hill with Sydney, just the two of them. It was a fun trip!

See the slideshow below for pictures...

Six Flags

One more Christmas!

We had one more Christmas get-together with Nana and Papa, Matt's dad and step-mom. We had seen them on Christmas Day with all the extended family, but we typically find an alternate day to have dinner and exchange gifts with just the immediate family. We went over to their house for dinner on the 27th. Man, it was a busy week!! Everyday was a lot of fun though, so no complaints!! Besides, we are so blessed that we are able to see almost ALL of our family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents) every year....we are exhausted, but blessed :) ! We had delicious Chicken Spaghetti (one of my favorites!) for dinner, and then we exchanged gifts, played the Wii, and played boardgames. Campbell just loves to be with Channing, so she had a really fun night! They pretended to play the Wii...I think Campbell just enjoyed collecting all the controller that she could get her hands on. Then later the settled down to watch a Disney movie...surprise, surprise...while the adults played some games. It was a fun night!

See the slideshow below for pictures...

One more Christmas!

Another Christmas!

We had Christmas with Nannie and Pops, the great-grandparents (Grandma Barb, Papa Doc, Nama and Papa), Aunt Kiki and Uncle Bubba, and even Aunt Rae-rae! We celebrated with my family the afternoon and evening of the 26th of December since my dad didn't get back from his trip until that morning. We typically have Christmas with my family on an alternate day close to Christmas to accommodate Pops' trips. This usually works out well since Matt's families have always had their get-togethers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Anyways, we started this day off with a crazy trip to Dillards at NE Mall just in time for it to open so that we could swarm the tables of Santas that were on sale. For those of you who follow my blog regularly, you've already read about my new obsession! Then that afternoon we went over to Nannie and Pops' house for a turkey dinner and presents. Campbell wore her "Christmas party dress" for the occasion! She has yet to learn that not EVERY present is hers to open, but she was easily distracted with her new toys...and of course her Disney movies! There were quite a few presents, to say the least, so we had to keep her busy while all the adults opened their gifts. It was a great night!

See the slideshow below for pictures...

Another Christmas!

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, Campbell woke up to find that Santa had brought her a brand new kitchen! As much as Santa anticipated her overwhelming excitement, he was terribly disappointed that all she wanted to play with that morning was her fishing puzzle that she has had for months. Sorry Santa! She eventually became more and more interested in the kitchen, but it took a while. She also got some fun Sesame Street bubble bath paints. We enjoyed a waffle breakfast in the morning with just Matt, Campbell and myself and then got ready to head over to Aunt Janay's and Uncle Richard's to see the extended Cheatham family. They always get together the afternoon/evening of Christmas Day. Before leaving the house, Campbell had to go pet the reindeer in the front yard and give them hugs goodbye. At Janay's house the younger kiddos usually end up playing in the designated playroom that has a TV and DVD player. Of course, we find Campbell and Channing all snuggled up in their "zone" while watching Disney movies...surprise, surprise! The adults have a gift exchange and play games (while stuffing our faces all day as well). It was a good time!

See the slideshow below for pictures...

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve with Gigi

We always spend Christmas Eve with Matt's mom's family. This year Fetts (AKA Ted, Mr. Fett, Petts) had a stem-cell transplant on Christmas Eve, so he was surely missed since he was in the hospital. We had a mexican feast for lunch at Gigi's with Gigi, Sassy (AKA Sara), Kay-kay (AKA Katie), Channing, Matt, Campbell and me. It was great!! Then we opened presents. Campbell was much more interested in presents this year than last year now that she is older, but she is still very anxious to open the toy immediately or move on to opening the next gift...there is no sitting still once we begin opening gifts with her...let's keep it movin' people!! Campbell also enjoyed a tea party on Gigi's fancy Spode dishes....she actually has a Spode tea party dish set to go with her "grown-up" dishes too! I flinch everytime Campbell drops a piece of the set, but Gigi swears it's OK :) .

Then, we went over to Aunt Lala's early in the evening to see the rest of the family. Campbell and Channing really enjoyed getting to try out McKellie's new "jumpy jump" (that's what they called the trampoline). Campbell fell on her face multiple times, but she still loved it! Campbell and Channing also enjoyed vegging out together for a movie...they both tend to zone out when the TV is on. We always catch them together cuddling while staring at the TV - so cute! We enjoyed a WONDERFUL homemade Italian dinner...Grandma's famous pasta and meatballs, which is of course always served with delicious homemade bread! It was so yummy as always!! Then we opened presents and played games. Campbell got a bucket of play food to go with her new kitchen that Santa would be bringing her that night ;) !! She couldn't wait to dump out all 85 pieces!!

See the slideshow below for pictures...

Christmas Eve

Our Biker Chick!

Campbell LOVES our new bike cart!! She also LOVES to wear her new helmet, which is great since that could have been a terrible fight if she didn't want to wear it.

Here she is "helping" Daddy assemble the bike cart.

Here she is ready to go, waiving bye bye to Mommy.

Enjoying the ride!!

Here is her "messy hat hair".

Here she is ready to go again!!

Santas, Santas, and More Santas!

Matt's mom (AKA Gigi) collects a Christmas village. She collects a Department 56 village called Snow Village. Now, it's not just some cute little collection that she gets out and sets up on a table each year with a few things that plug in and light up. Really, it's more like a country than a village! I don't even know how many pieces she now has, but I don't even want to think about how long it takes just to take each of them out of its box each year and then pack it up after Christmas. Really, until you see it in person, you just can't imagine how elaborate this village is and how many pieces there are to it. There are so many pieces actually, that she has this incredibly talented man named Ed come to set it up every year. Now, I won't even get into Ed's house in this post, but it's even crazier the number of pieces that he has!! He actually has an Open House each year for people to come see all of his Christmas collections setup. But back to Gigi, she has quite a few pieces herself! Ed sets it up on styrofoam that he uses some special tool to cut to make it look like ice and snow and he even uses a glitter spray for added effect. Then he somehow manages to plug in what seems like a million plugs that are all controlled by a few little remotes. It's very impressive, and we definitely enjoy the village at Gigi's house each year! Since she has enjoyed her collection so much, she has always encouraged me to find a Christmas collection of my own. I honestly was too overwhelmed at the thought of how much a village would cost and the time involved in setting it up each year, so overwhelmed that I have never been able to find a village of my own. Knowing that the idea of a Christmas village was not something I was ready for, she bought us a Snow Babies "starter kit" for our first Christmas that we were married. It was such a sweet thought...she was trying to help me find something I could collect, and the Snowbabies were definitely less expensive and required less setup than a village would. The following year, we moved into our first house (the house we are in now). For Christmas she got us another Snowbaby piece called Home Sweet Home. Again, SO sweet. The idea of getting a new piece each year was such a cute idea, but Matt and I started to get a little freaked out at the idea of too many Snowbabies in the house. There's something about these sweet little doll faces that are all off-white from head to toe with blue eyes that creeped us out for some reason. We had to tell Gigi that we were done collecting Snowbabies. Gigi, we love you, and it was SUCH a a sweet idea!! Luckily, we can still make jokes about it to this day!

Anyways, I went a couple of years still with no collection of my own. I did decide sometime in 2007 that I really liked the North Pole village (another Department 56 collection), but I was still not quite ready to claim that as my collection. My grandmother decided she would start collecting them in case I would eventually want them. My sister also found another Dept 56 village to collect called Christmas in the City. Now, just like Gigi, my family tends to obsess over their collections. Rather than collecting one piece each year, we like to start off with a good-sized assortment from day 1! Although, Christy and Nama still don't have quite as many pieces as Gigi, they have quite a few considering they have only been "collecting" for maybe 2 years now. My dad has stepped up to the challenge of setting them up in a creative way like Ed, so he even borrowed the fancy tool to cut the styrofoam for my grandmother's village. Even though my dad hasn't picked a village of his own, he is pretty obsessed with them too! Thanks Gigi, you've got my entire family hooked now :) !! It's been a lot of fun for them. They are looking on Craig's List and EBay year-round for good deals. It truly is an obsession!

So, here I am 5 years after my first Snowbaby, still without a collection of my own yet. Well, this year when I was setting up our Christmas stuff I came across a Santa that Gigi had gotten me when Campbell was born. Campbell was born November 29th, so I was in the hospital just in time for Christmas decorations to go up. Gigi brought us the sweetest gift at the hospital, this Santa holding a baby in a white gown. It was precious! It is a Clothtique Possible Dreams Santa called Best Gift of All. Here is a picture of the figure:

Anyways, I started looking online this year to see which other Santas they have....oh my!!! There's this whole world of collectibles out there that I just didn't know about! I became obsessed with looking online for all the different figures you can get. I told Gigi and the rest of my family this year that I decided I wanted to collect the Department 56 Clothtique Possible Dreams Santas!! I had finally made up my mind! So, in true McDaniels-Cheatham-Fett fashion (ha ha!), I decided to start my collection with full force!! I decided in early December (maybe late November) to collect these Santas. I started with one from Gigi, and by the time we put our Christmas stuff away this year, I had 12!!! Gigi gave me two more for Christmas gifts.....The Dog Walker and Makin' the List. They are adorable!! The Dog Walker is Santa in a sweater and pants with red and green tennis shoes on walking three dogs - SO cute! I can actually write names on the list that Santa is holding in the other figure!

Then, the day after Christmas we heard that Dillards was putting them on sale 50% off along with their other Christmas decor! My sister, my mom and my grandmother all got in line and Dillards with the rest of the "crazies" that morning to barge down the door as soon as they opened. Matt, Campbell and I got there just in time to walk in the door too. It was a mad house!! People swarmed the tables of Santas....I'm surprised a fight didn't break out! There were husband and wife teams that would split up. The wife would go crazy finding the ones she wanted and then drop them off with the husband who was standing away from the crowds protecting their pile of Santas. People even had bags and carts to help them carry the boxes the cashier counter. It was hilarious!! I looked at Matt and said, "what have I gotten us into???" Funny enough, we even ran into Gigi at the mall!! We were all there going crazy over the Santas - so fun!! I walked away with 5 that I purchased myself with some Christmas money from Gigi :)....thanks Gigi!!! I got a Santa holding an American Flag (not pictured), a Santa on a motorcycle called Christmas Joy Ride, a Santa reading the Night Before Christmas to a little girl and boy, a cowboy Santa throwing horseshoes called Ringer Santa, and a Santa in a tuxedo with a martini and a plate of cookies called Shaken, Not Stirred. SO cute!!

Then, we exchanged Christmas gifts with my family the night of the 26th. I received 4 more Santas as gifts!! I received Happy Wife, Happy Life from my grandparents...a very cute one of Mrs. Clause giving Santa a kiss on the cheek while holding a gift behind her back. I received the pilot Santa and one of the beach Santas (not pictured) from my dad (and mom....really my mom got them but then signed the gift tags from my dad since he's a pilot and he loves the beach Santa). The beach Santa is wearing flip flops, shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt holding a potted Christmas tree plant that has seashell ornaments on it - very cute! I even got a cute airplane in Canton as an added decoration to go next to the pilot Santa next year! My sister also gave me a Santa Sweets figure where Santa is wearing an apron and stirring some batter in a bowl (not pictured) - so cute!

All in all, my collection is off to a great start!! I'm really looking forward to setting them up next year....I'll definitely post some pictures ;) !! It will be interesting to see how many more I come up with in 2009!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

Well, I did NOT keep up my blog very well over the holidays! Now, it's overwhelming to think how behind I am on the pictures that we took and the things that we have done for the last month it seems. I guess I'll just start posting as I have time even though things may be out of order.

Matt's grandma made Campbell and I adorable matching fleece jackets for our birthdays! She also made matching fleece jackets for Sara and Channing for Sara's birthday. There will never come a day that I stop being impressed with the things she can do!! We are definitely blessed to have some creative and talented grandmothers between Matt and I!!

Here are some cute pictures of Campbell's fun after-Christmas outfit! She wore this to Nana and Papa's house on the 27th when we exchanged gifts with them. I love this picture of Campbell with Channing and her new kitty Molly. Now, every time we tell Campbell that we are going to see Channing, she says "and Mowwy?"

Campbell's sleep schedule was completely off while we had time off over the holidays. She was up SO late and then would sleep in late sometimes and then her nap was later in the day as well. This past Sunday, when she still hadn't gone down for a nap by 4:00 we figured we would just try to keep her up and put her to bed earlier than usual to help get her back on schedule. We were afraid that if she took her nap too late in the day that she wouldn't want to go to bed on time. Here is a picture of her by 5:30 watching Cars the movie. Sweet girl! Bless her heart, she was so tired! We just let her take a little cat nap before getting her up to eat dinner.

This picture is hilarious!! My parents gave Matt money for Christmas to buy a bike cart to pull behind his bike. It seats two children - very cute!! This way Campbell can have a friend or cousin (Channing!!) ride with her....and maybe someday a younger brother or sister. Anyways, we went to pick it up yesterday and we also got her a helmet. She insisted on wearing the helmet immediately while in the shopping cart in the store, which was pretty funny because it had a bunch of tags and cardboard around it since we hadn't "opened" it yet. She didn't seem to mind though. She repeated over and over again (which for any of you that have been around her for any length of time, you've heard how many times she can repeat things over and over!) "my hat to ride the bicycle." It was pretty cute! She even cried when we took it off her head to pay for it. The cashier kindly gave it back to her immediately after she scanned it. Campbell wore the helmet all the way home. She then threw another fit when we made her take it off to take a bath. As soon as I got her dried off, back in her PJs and brushed her hair, I put it back on her so that she would be happy. She also insisted that I wrap her up in the bath towel even though she was wearing her PJs already. It was so funny, because she wanted me to hold her like this.....in her PJs, wrapped up in the bath towel, with the helmet on that still had the tags and cardboard!