Welcome to the World

Luke Auston McCallum

Aunt Kassa and Uncle Derek welcomed baby Luke into the world last week. We're excited to get to hold him and love him and return all the spoiling they've given to our kiddos over the last couple of years.

He is a perfect little angel, of course.

Waiting for Luke

We got back to Kansas City at 9:30 monday morning. Aunt Kassa was induced early that morning, so I got the chance to spend the day at the hospital with the rest of the family, waiting for baby Luke to arrive. She was in labor for 27 hours, so Luke wasn't actually born until the next morning. And I thought I might miss it!

We played scrabble to pass the time. The two grandmas played "born" and "soon" one right after the next without even thinking. Wishful thinking.

I thought it was great how Kassa's dad could be found right outside her door at any given time. This was one excited family.

Go Fly a Kite

Preparing the kite for flight.

Who knew Daddy was such a great kite flyer? That kite was HIGH.

In Grandad's arms.

Flying the kite.

That great kite flew for 2 hours while we ate lunch. Grandaddy and Natalie quickly reeled it in with another of Grandad's great ideas.

Coming in.

Got it!

I just love photos that involve Natalie, the ocean and a pier. We miss you, Crystal Pier.

Reindeer Games

There's always a competition after lunch on Christmas Day. This year everyone got their turn at trying to maneuver the remote control fire truck through the living room in the fastest time. Uncle Rusty and Coni were the proud winners.

This is Natalie putting an ice pack on Rusty's lip after giving him "hot coffee" to drink. Somehow she tricked him into drinking that stuff over and over.

Just thought this was cute of these two playing together.

Christmas Dinner

In Mom's opinion, there's no place like home when it comes to Christmas Dinner. It seems Sutton agrees, although his peas would probably taste the same no matter who heated them up.

Notice that sweet happy face in the background.

Granny always pays such close attention to detail.

The rest of the gang in the living room. See the girl in green? That's Aunt Angel. See the big pile of green mush on her plate? Those are delectable, only found in the South, took all day for Granny to cook Collards! Maybe my favorite part of the meal. It's a close tie with the corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, stuffing and gravy, ham, turkey.....mmmmm.

Uncle Rusty sharing his deviled eggs with Natalie. Now that's love.

Stuffed Stockings

We don't exchange gifts with the adults in our family. So, stockings are Granny's way of getting around this rule so she can still give us all gifts. If it fits in the stocking (she even breaks this rule), she can give it. We love that Santa still fills our stockings at Granny's. There's some really good stuff in those stockings. For instance, note the Chick-Fil-A calendar peeking out of Mommy's stocking.

Sutton's first stocking.

Natalie thought this was pretty cool.

Her stocking is one of the smallest, but somehow she still gets lots of goodies.

Gifts

Sutton liked to eat the ribbon.

Daddy got a new coat.

Grandad got a Butter Girl for buttering corn.

Natalie got a church dress for her baby doll.

And Mommy got Photoshop Creative Suite 4!!! I was like a kid with a Wii, only more excited. Now, to find the time for editing the days away. Where will I even start? I may have to get a job to pay the sitter to watch the kids while I play! I guess there's always naptime.

Christmas Morning

It just doesn't get much better than Christmas morning, does it? The sleepy eyes, bedhead, jammies, gifts. And I think the more kids you add, the merrier it gets. Even when they're just little baby-type kids.

Santa's gifts: The picture above shows Natalie with her purple baby, and the one below shows Sutton with his wobbly Lion.

This "toy" sang Away in a Manger and Joy to the World, Natalie's favorites.

Granny showing their new fish tank.

Snapshot: Natalie into the gifts, Mommy into documenting the day, Daddy making sure brother feels loved.

The Purple Crawling Baby

I'm gonna try and give you the quick version of this story. Natalie sat on Santa's lap and had no response when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, so he suggested a baby doll. After that, anytime we said anything about Christmas or Santa, she'd say, "I get a baby doll for Christmas." When we arrived in NC and people started asking what she wanted for Christmas, she'd say, "Purple Crawling Baby Doll." She said this at least 30 times. So, Santa got her the crawling

baby in purple pj's from Target that he just knew she was talking about. Please note: this was the ONLY thing Natalie would say she wanted for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, on our way home from dinner, Mommy was prepping Natalie for Santa, saying "Are you so excited for Santa to come and bring you a purple crawling baby? It will crawl all around and be so cute." Natalie responded, "Not a crawling baby Mommy, a crying baby." Um, "Yeah, but it will probably crawl too, right?" Natalie: "No, she not crawl. That makes her sad. She cries (while signing CRY so her misunderstanding mom will please get it once and for all). And you give her a bottle and her paci and she stops crying." Mommy thinks, Oh, like the one Izzy has. A big, cozy, crying baby for her to soothe. Not a hard little baby that ONLY crawls. We get to Granny's, get Natalie in bed and it's 8:47pm on Christmas Eve. Santa's already delivering gifts somewhere in China, so it's up to us to help him. Target, closed. Wal-Mart, closed. K-Mart, open til 10 (but I wasn't hopeful as we'd been there earlier in the week). It was our only hope. On our way to K-Mart, I call Toys-R-Us and they're open til 10. To hasten this story, our receip

t for the ONLY crying doll, who happened to be wonderfully cute, cozy and wearing purple pajamas had the time 8:58pm printed across the top. Next year we're hoping Natalie speaks a little more clearly. Doing work for Santa is a little stressful, but fun and memorable when it all works out. She loves that doll.

Cookies for Santa, Pizza for US

This was the first year Natalie actually left cookies and milk for Santa. She was very concerned about Santa eating all her cookies and drinking all her milk. On Christmas morning she was more amazed that Santa drank all the milk than she was about the gifts he left under the tree.

Pizza after the Christmas Eve service is a family tradition for us Klings.

Don't you just love how everyone is looking so happy for this photo? I am such a great photographer. :)

Spoiled Rotten

And we wonder why they can't just fall asleep on their own, or need to "hold you, Mom" after a week with the grandparents. It's worth a few days of transition for them to get those few days of lovin in with the family.