FUN WITH THE TEEPEE
This video is a little slow to get started but pretty fun to watch. Cal and his daddy really enjoy playing in the new teepee. We think it will be a hit for years to come.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

Let's just say we're not quite ready for the Four Seasons....Cal really enjoys dribbling milk down his chin and sitting on the dining room table while he eats. Maybe next year our manners will improve enough for us to eat with real people. For this year, it's a good thing it was just the three of us at home.

SANTA WAS HERE!!!

Santa was very good to Cal this year. Among the favorite loot was a big teepee, a 4 wheeler truck with pedal speed control (max 2 mph!), lots of new books including Good Night Moon (the new favorite), a guitar, some new forks and spoons (forks are HUGE with Cal) and a talking animal farm board. We also got a rocking horse we are afraid to get on (but warming up to, slowly but surely). Here are some fun photos of Christmas morning.

CHRISTMAS EVE -
We had a great day on Christmas Eve. We were invited to brunch with Meg and Jay Propes and their boys Walker and William. Another couple and their son joined us. Cal ate at the "big boy" table and did GREAT with the older kiddos while mom and dad tried to enjoy an adult meal for a change....Later that evening we went to church where Cal gave us the best Christmas present ever - he learned how to smile for the camera!! While he has always been a happy kid, he has also been pretty wiggly and tough to get on film at the right moment. Tonight he showed us that he can do it when he's in the mood so we kept snapping away as long as he would let us. Got some great photos - we hope this is a trait he will hold on to for a while! More news after Santa comes tonight....

Cal and Santa - Round 2

Turns out Santa was not really Cal's friend this year. Read on for details:

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE PHILLIPS CLAN WEEKEND.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING...

Mom and dad were grounded from travel this Christmas since Cal's baby brother will be here in 4 weeks. So the Phillips clan traveled to Austin to have an early family celebration together. Good times were had by all. Cal and his cousin Russell attended a breakfast with Santa - neither was very interested in actually meeting the fat man but we had a blast decorated cookies (i.e., eating icing) and playing with the other kiddos. We also took the whole family to see Austin's "Trail of Lights" in Zilker Park on a particuarly cold night. Russell and Cal got along great (most of the time) and have fond memories of each other.

BIG BOO BOO :(

The first week of December, we got the dreaded call from the director of his school that he was hurt. This was not the normal, almost daily, call from the teacher (Cal got bitten, again, Cal fell and bumped his head, etc.), but the "he's really hurt this time" call from the actual director. It appears that he was doing some over-eager dancing in his classroom near the door and fell in just the right place so that he slashed his forehead open on the industrial door hinge. The director was pretty clear that it would definitely need stitches so mom made a beeline for school. By the time she got there, he was calm, no longer bleeding and had a bandage on. The cut was deep and wide and since our pediatrician's office does not do stitches, we went straight to the ER where we spent 2.5 hours getting 4 stitches above Cal's left eye. He was a trooper and did great during the process except when he had to be handled by the bad men in the green pajamas. It has healed nicely but didn't look good early on. WARNING - THESE PHOTOS ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART (or stomach).