Surprise, Surprise

Every couple of years we seem to have a pretty big surprise in the Baker family. In 2003 our first surprise gave us Ella. Our next surprise was Will in 2005. 2007 brought us Cal.

What could possibly be the surprise in 2009?

Thanks to modern medical science we don't have to name our surprise this year. Instead of adding to the family, Amy and I took a long weekend away from the kids in Cancun.

I woke Amy up on the 16th and gave her an hour to get dresseed and ready to go to the airport. I had child care arranged for the weekend and our bags were already packed. We had breakfast in the DFW airport and had lunch on the beach in Cancun. Here is a few pics from the trip.

We had a great time in Cancun and the kids had a great time with Mimi & Pop and Amy & Jason while we were gone. Thank you all for helping me pull off the surprise and for taking care of the kids.

Bed Head!

What has happened to Cal's lifeless, fine hair? Here's what he looked like after his nap this afternoon:


As you might observe from these pics, the boy takes awhile to wake up....not sure where he gets that?

Movin' On Up!!!

Last Saturday was a big day around this house!

Here's where Cal woke up:

And here's where he went to sleep:

And here's why:

The boys sleeping peacefully in their matching big boy beds:

Really, where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday (okay, so maybe last year) that we laid our newborn baby girl in that crib. We have had three precious babies sleeping in that crib every night for the last 5 and a 1/2 years. And now it is officially retired or so we think:)! You'd think that would bring a tear to my eye...but yet it doesn't!

Here's Ella in her new bed (queen size to most people but princess size to her!). We decided to pass her twin bed onto Cal and give her a new BIG bed since we know slumber parties are right around the corner. Can you tell she's a bit excited...

And our sleeping beauty...

Christmas Eve Fun!!!

We arrived in Austin on Christmas Eve afternoon. Pretty soon after our arrival, the kids went out in Grammie's and Poppa's front yard to put out their reindeer food they picked up at Santa's Village.

Cal spent much of the afternoon watching his beloved train. Uncle Jason made a tunnel out of presents which was super fun to watch!
We had our Baker traditional Christmas Eve meal at Pappasito's. I brought my camera but forgot to take a picture. It was delicious! Ella had her first bites of lobster. Just like her mama, she loved it!

After dinner we came home and opened stockings (aka large gift bags with pictures of a stocking on them).

Cal had a Christmas VeggieTales in his stocking and immediately had to start watching!Christmas Eve pictures in our new Christmas pajamas. Could they be any cuter (the kids and the pj's)?:Even Ella had to take a pic of Mom and Dad in their new pjs!Just before bed Ella, Will and Poppa put out the chocolate chip cookies that they made with Grammie earlier in the day and a mug of milk for Santa.After such a busy and super fun day, it was off to bed!

Happy Birthday Ginger!

We had a family birthday celebration for my Grandmother right before Christmas at her home. Lots of family were there to celebrate and we all had a blast!

Here's the birthday girl:Cal enjoying Ginger's new pet:Cal being tickled by Mike:Some of the girl cousins whom Ella just loves (Ella, Camryn, Sydney and Payton)Ella and Sydney:

The cousins did their own rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas where each person takes a number to sing and put motions to. It was pretty funny. This was Ella's and Will's first year to have their own number and they loved it!

Will was two turtle doves and he did such a good job! He got to sing the most times and kept up with the song perfectly.
Ella was five golden rings and she was super loud and cute:Here's Bub doing his six geese a laying. Yes, he's actually laying a foil egg. Classic family entertainment!Here's Sydney's eight maids-a-milking:At the end of each verse, the whole crew does the partridge in a pear tree:Fun Times!!! We love you, Ginger!

Christmas With the G's

We had a blast celebrating Christmas with Mimi and Pop and Uncle Bub, Aunt Kristi and Greer the weekend before Christmas. We did all our usual Christmas festivities...just a few days early. We had our Christmas Eve meal of tamales and chili and Christmas Day meal of Shrimp and Steak...yum!

Here's the attempt at a cousin shot on Christmas Eve:

Much better when Mimi and Pop were added to the pic!Christmas morning started with the discovery of stockings stuffed with goodies:

Will loved delivering presents:

Pop opening his "Dinner of the Month" Club certificate:Presents, Presents and more Presents!Ella loved opening up her bedding for her new really big bed:

After the presents were all opened, it was so fun to start playing with them! Here's Ella and Daddy taking on Uncle Bub in a mean game of Guess Who:

Big Will loves his new Matchbox cars:Cal really was here for all the celebrations! Sorry you're not in more pictures Big Man!

Seems like I should end this post with something to the effect of "Merry Christmas to All and to all a Good Night"! However, our Family Christmas Celebrations were just beginning...