Merry Christmas 2013!

We wrapped up our first southern Christmas last night….and all in all, it was great! It's gonna take some getting used to not celebrating with ALL of our family :( , but I suppose we will have to carry on with our own traditions.

The three amigos on Christmas Eve.

Leesy did great singing with the kids' choir at our Christmas Eve service. We may have bribed her with a milk shake…but hey, who's judging?! :)

My pretty girl.

I snagged this Barbie Jeep off of Craigslist for $40! They love, love, love it! Best deal ever!

Mimi playing "stinky feet" with Jonah. He woke up grumpy on Christmas morning, so Mimi was trying to pull him out of his funk. It didn't work. He was up at 7 am and back to bed by 8:30 am!

Jonah's new basketball hoop from his Auntie Anna and Uncle Kevin

My Aunt and Uncle bought Jonah this camo Duck Dynasty quad…so funny!  He doesn't quite know how to make it go yet, but he'll get there.

Oh how my free-spirited Callahan makes me chuckle! Anneliese is a " two hands on the steering wheel" kinda gal…Callie, not so much. 

Jesus' birthday cake…..German chocolate of course! Jonah dug right in. 

It's hard to believe we've already lived down here in Texas for almost 6 months! It feels like just yesterday we were saying goodbye to our friends and family and boarding that airplane. Time has really flown by as we are learning to settle in and deepen our roots. All in all, this transition has been tough but gone much smoother than expected. We have come to a place where we are beginning to trust more in the Lord and less in ourselves. And that's a good place be.

Our first cul-de-sac BBQ

We just organized our first cul-de-sac BBQ last weekend and it was wonderful! We've gotten to know most of our neighbors over the past 5 months but there were a few stragglers we had yet to meet. This neighborhood is UH-mazing. We are so so blessed to live in an area with so many children for my kids to play with. And the adults aren't bad either ;)

There are 8 little girls 6 and under in our cul-de-sac. Friends everywhere!

These two just warm my heart. They yell from one driveway to the other, "Hi best friend!"

BJ... one of my favorite Texans :)

Silly boy.

Disney On Ice- 2013

Casey, my mom and I took the girls and Cousin Kaylie to Disney On Ice last week. My mom took me once when I was a little girl so I was just dying to take my princess-loving girlies. They LOVED it! Such a special night to experience with them.

She saved and spent all of her birthday money from Poppi on that there cotton candy and crown. Sister LOVES her some cotton candy. Barf. 

Complete with fireworks and all!

Halloween 2013

Casey's parents flew down to spend 10 days with us over Halloween this year. We had lots of fun dressing up and Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. Please note that neither of my girls are wearing their actual, purchased Halloween costumes. They both woke up the morning of and decided to raid their dress up bins instead. Whatever...not a battle worth picking!

The Dragon and the Grandma 

Good looking trio eh??

Why oh why is she this big already?!

This kid just cracks me up daily. She combined her Strawberry Shortcake dress and glasses, Ariel wig and cowgirl boots to complete this ensemble. Once again, marching to the beat of her very own drum :) 

South Carolina 2013

So after a blown tire, a transmission replacement AND 24+ hours of driving in an enclosed van with Jonah, we arrived at Rachelle's and Robbie's house in South Carolina! It was road trip purgatory folks. Seriously. I NEVER want to re-live that day. But, once we arrived, we had tons of fun of course :)  

Riverbanks Zoo-Columbia, SC

Mr. Jonah Casey-16 months

The BEST part of this zoo is the giraffe feeding area. The feeding platform is raised so the giraffes are at eye level with you...so cool!

This was Anneliese's first time climbing a rock wall. She was unsure at first, but after some mama coaxing and 30 minutes of trying, we made it to the top. Those suckers are much harder than they look! I was sweatin it by the top!

Besties for 19 years and counting!  Children's Museum-Columbia, SC

He loved the water table outside the museum. 

All dressed up for Boo Zoo.

Pretty girl at the pumpkin patch- Clinton Farms, SC

Trike riding with the Daddy.

Love these boys!

Callie asked me to straighten her hair this day. Not used to it...so weird looking!


I absolutely love this family to pieces. I am so so blessed to share my life with a childhood best friend.  We are within driving distance now.... I predict much more frequent visits ahead!

2 months later....

So I totally meant to update our family blog more frequently than every 2 months...but wowza, I. AM. BUSY. This crew keeps me in a constant state of exhaustion. And I love every minute of it. Okay, not every minute, but a lot of them :) 

Callie turns 4!

We celebrated Callie's birthday this year  with a small pool party at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Small is not typically my style...but it was super nice! We've made a few good friends with girls around my girls' ages....such a blessing! My biggest concern moving here was building a support network of like-minded, like-hearted people...and we have! Such an answer to prayer. 

Strawberry Shortcake was her theme of choice this year.

Hard to believe this little girl is already 4-years-old. Sheesh Louise. 

My co-worker (and friend!) Sharon let us borrow this super fun blow up slide to use in addition to the pool. They had HEAPS of fun!

5 cute little girlies

She is applying lip gloss as we sing "Happy Birthday!" Such a diva. 

Soccer Season 2013

 We signed the girls up for fall soccer through the YMCA this year.   Just my luck, they ended up having soccer practice on the same day, same time, different fields. Yeah. Also, Callie is on a smaller field than Anneliese, so on game days, they're on different fields as well. Oh well! Thus begins the next 17 years of my the Thomas Taxi Service :)

3rd year

This is her first year on a big kids field. There are 16 players (versus Callie's 6) on the field at a time.  Casey and I could actually see her starting to understand the game a bit....spread out, pass the ball, defend your goal, etc. It's fun to see her starting to develop her own passion for the game. She is learning how to put her "shyness" aside and actually have fun.

Whew! Soccer in 90 degrees is quite a bit different than soccer in 60 degrees and rainy.  She was HOT!

Callie's first year of soccer! 4-years-old

So much cuteness in this picture. 

This picture summarizes Callie and soccer. Ha ha ha. Makes me laugh out loud just thinking about it. Sister is clueless. Absolutely, without a doubt, clueless. She has tons of fun...way more than Anneliese used  to...because she isn't shy. But seriously, she has no clue what's going on. She just kind of runs around, hugs and high fives her coach, eats the snacks. We have a little work to do. Daddy is going to take her out to our neighborhood fields this week to kick the ball around a bit. Love this kid's free spirit.