3 Christmases

Not quite the movie with Vince Vaughn & Reece Witherspoon, but our family celebrated Christmas on three different days in order to be with our families.

On December 18th, we went over to Ben's parent's house for our first Christmas celebration.  Ben & I decided that this was the "quiet Christmas". 

Don't even ask how long it took me to load up the car to head to Missouri for the week!  Not only did I have to pack all of Kaden's necessitites but ALL of the Christmas gifts for everyone.  By the time it came to packing things for me, I was past the point of caring and my belongings became an afterthought.  As it turned out, I forgot my winter coat (luckily Ben brought it when he flew in).

Kaden did great on the 12.5 hour car trip, but gone are the days of my world-record setting pace.  Our first stop was to California, Missouri to see Grandpa Cook (or is it great-grandpa Cook?) and dad (or is he the new Grandpa Cook?) 

Anyway, we ended up spending a few nights before visiting Kyle and doing the annual Saturday-before-Christmas-shopping-marathon with dad.  Kaden was a trooper.
Kyle also saved us all by "flying" Kaden through Sam's on our last stop.

For the next few days, we spent some time back in Warrenton, Missouri with mom (grandma?).  One the 24th we celebrated our 2nd Christmas, which was considerably louder than the first. 

I didn't take too many pictures on my camera but enjoyed this one of the psychadelic tree...

Christmas morning

Ben & Kaden loaded into the Prius, while I got into Kyle's Saturn to make the drive [back] to California.  I always have fun with Kyle, but the drive to California was "typical Kyle".  He neglected to mention that his car didn't have heat until I was buckling in.  The further we drove, the colder it seemed to get.  By the time we pulled into grandpa's driveway, I had layered on Kyle's clothes from his suitcase and we were doing exercises in our seats in order to get the blood moving.  Again, always a good story when you're with Kyle.

Of all of the new people to meet at the LOUD Christmas with the Cooks, Kaden seemed the most at ease with my cousin, Daniel.  We thought it was because they had the same haircut.

Christmas 2009

Exersaucer

My good friend, Heather, is letting me borrow Danni's exersaucer since she has outgrown it.  I continue to be amazed at how much Kaden changes from week to week. Just two weeks ago he was too small & unstable to sit in it without assistance but now he likes to sit in it and play for about 10 minutes at a time.

As Kyle constantly marvels, "What is he thinking...?"

I often find myself asking the exact same question.

Good Lookin' Men

On Sunday we attended the Boys Ranch Christmas Cantata. 
Ben had to be there and I just wanted to tag along; I wanted to do something as a family & I desperately needed to get out of the house.  It also gave me a good excuse to put on some makeup, get out of my (Ben's) sweatshirts and put on some real clothes.

Overall, Kaden was a trooper.  He was quiet for the most part, especially while everyone was mingling and trying to find a seat.  He started getting restless about the time the lights dimmed.
I didn't want to be "that mom" with the agitated/wailing kid in church, therefore we did a lot of swaying & pacing the halls outside the sanctuary.  In the end, I couldn't really tell you what happened during the production BUT I made a few new friends- other parents of tiny children who were in the same situation. 
It was a good night.