the pup.

our wild puppy.

 he is a year and a half and SO full of energy.  while not our chief mischief-maker, he can hold his own when it comes to trouble.  but look at this face...who me??? with those sweet eyes, it's hard to believe, i know.

 but he is so sweet and we love him.  most of the time.  

sweet jakers. 

family christmas picture.

merry christmas from the campbells!

campbell christmas.

after abilene, we headed to brownwood to have christmas with the campbell side of the family.  it was filled with great country christmas cooking, our best christmas sweaters, lots of family and of course more presents! 

Katie and Hannah in their christmas best....Hannah won the best sweater vote!

cole opening his prize for best kid sweater....he got the game operation! (not exactly age appropriate right now but he will love it in about 5 years!) but look at that cute sweater...he won by a landslide.  can you believe i got a brand new children's place christmas sweater (with tags!) at goodwill for $3??  i know, i was excited too!

he also LOVED jumping on the trampoline with his cousin Shailee

rolling in the tissue paper is always a fun activity!

 playing with aunt barbara and his new toy from aunt glo!

hanging out with papa

we had a great time in brownwood.  for our chinese christmas gifts, brenner was able to steal the much coveted pocket knife and i got a clothes steamer (while it may not sound like much we are very excited!) what a blessing it is to be with family!  

christmas morning.

we spent christmas day in abilene with brenner's family.  obviously, cole enjoyed christmas more this year than last year, as he has loved christmas trees, lights and new toys. He loved playing with his cousin bill and more specifically, bill's new iphone.  

 cole agrees that the iphone 4 is way better than the 3.

 you mean i don't get to keep the iphone????

 and of course he always enjoys a ride from uncle! (who usually looks happier than this!)

he loved to play "santa" and deliver the gifts to everyone in the family.

 and of course he loved to open his own gifts.

it was a great christmas morning.

and here are a few other christmas pictures...

my best shot at a christmas photo in front of the tree.

 cole and dad....again, not the best shot but better than nothing

 and as if i didn't already know that my picture taking time was ending.....

cole made it very clear!

i hope your christmas was filled with family, fun and most importantly the love of Christ as we celebrated HIS day!

the end of an era.

today is the last day of my twenties.  here is a little flash back to the beginning of my 20s.  

this was our engagement picture.  wow.  we look like kids.  who am i kidding.  we were kids!  unlike the mature people that you know and love today.  

anyway, tomorrow i turn 30.  i am not sad about it.  i haven't even thought about it too much.  but i would lie if i said that i was looking forward to it. while 30 is certainly not old, in my mind it has always been linked with responsibility and an acceptance that you are an adult.  but i have a child so shouldn't that have already hit me?  i just feel like in my 30s it will no longer be acceptable to wear a t-shirt and leggings in public.  i feel like it will be frowned upon to eat lucky charms and slurpees and keep a bag of sour patch kids in my night stand (you know that you do this too).  it's not that i feel old, it's just that i am not sure i want to change my ways that i think i am supposed to when i am in "my thirties".  i don't know.  we will see how it goes.  i will keep you posted....but don't judge me too harshly when you see me in my pi phi shirt tossing back some gummy bears.  

cutie pie.

I must warn you.  the following post is full of pictures of cole.  totally cute and adorable pictures.  be prepared for a cuteness overload.  oh yeah, and he's not wearing any clothes, so be prepared for that too.  

baby roar.

 concentration.

 trying to sneak an ornament off the tree.  little stinker. 

 funny face.  

we get a lot of those these days as we seem to have a little comic on our hands.  and look at those little skinny baby thighs.  scrumptious. 

oh yeah, he is wearing socks.  i wouldn't want the baby to catch a cold in the house.  

i'm a good parent. 

 trying to stand on his head is our newest discovery.  he's hasn't done it yet (thankfully) but he does enjoy seeing the world upside down.

hamming it up.

 kissing his horse.

1.2.3.

one puppy fast asleep.

 one puppy sawing logs.

 and one puppy desperate to play.

a typical evening in our house.

please play with me. 

nativity.

i got cole his own nativity scene this year.  i figured that it would be a good thing for him to learn the 'key players' in the christmas story.  cute right?

 i had to chuckle at the political correctness of the wise men.  

 here is baby jesus.  we have had lots of good conversation about baby jesus.  it started out with me teaching him about baby jesus, that he is laying in a manger and was born in a stable and is God's son and so on.  

however, the conversations have quickly turned to "don't throw baby jesus", "please don't eat baby jesus", "cole, please don't give baby jesus to jake", "please don't chunk baby jesus across the room" and...well, you get the point.  

so baby jesus is well loved and well played with around here.  cole is especially fond of him compared to the other figures which i think is cute (although the camel is a close second).

is it just me, or does it look like jesus is giving two thumbs up? 

ornaments.

i put up our christmas tree this past week.  i LOVE christmas.  i love christmas decorations, although i don't have too many.  and i really love my christmas ornaments.  i have at least one ornament from every year of my life and i love to go through them all and hang them on the tree.  here are some of my favorites.

my little mouse in a pinecone from my first christmas

the bread dough ornaments from '82 and '92

 the light-up gingerbread house

 bernard and bianco...these treasures came from the mcdonalds happy meal box in 1988 (i think)
these are silly but over the years, the silliness turned into sentiment and now i love them.  thank you mickey d's.    

 and the best for last....jesus in a nutshell!  made in sunday school when I was like 4 and my christmas tree is not complete without it!

last year cole received some really special ornaments for his first christmas.

this one was from my cousin's family.

 this one was from my parents.

aren't they so cute?

i have many more ornaments but i will refrain from picturing them all for you. so now you have a little glimpse into our christmas.  i will tell you about more christmas traditions later.