Caden's First Christmas Continues in Waco...

Phew! We made it! We're back in the Rock after an exciting week of Christmas festivities. We could not have asked for a better time with our families this week! As you've already seen, San Antonio was TOO much fun and our Christmas Eve and morning at home exceeded all of our expectations... and guess what? We continued to celebrate in that very same way in Waco! 

Caden was excited to pack up all his stuff and head to Nana an Paps' house after his nap on Christmas Day. He wanted to be sure to make it there in time for all of the fun. His Great Poppa and Great Gran had already arrived and he just knew he was missing out!

But as luck would have it, we pulled into the driveway at the EXACT same time at Aunt Cori and Uncle Tag... it was perfect! Divine timing! The Waco Christmas celebrations could finally begin!!

Caden was ready... waiting for Aunt Cori and Daddy to pass out all the gifts...

Caden was excited to see his VERY own stocking hung on the mantle between his Mommy and Daddy's! It was the perfect stocking, hand-picked by Santa's VERY special elf! The elf even took the time to monogram Caden's name right above Rudolph's antlers... perfect, I tell ya!

After the presents were all passed out it was time to go around the room, youngest to oldest and open the presents one by one. Since Caden is obviously the youngest he got to start, but you see the thing about Christmas this year is that Caden has had MORE presents than ANYONE so the one at a time thing can get a little tricky... so Caden was basically opening up presents the entire time...

His silly Aunt Cori kept putting bows in his hair... this was just one of about 20 that he got stuck with! :)

I'll help you Mommy! Caden wasn't too interested in opening HIS gifts, but he did want to help me with one really big box of mine!

Caden got the greatest stuffed Moose to go with his If You Give A Moose A Muffin book... he was so proud of it and of course sure to give him plenty of hugs!! Caden does like to give his hugs!! I love the picture below... you can see his top two teeth! I'm afraid he's got horse teeth like his Mommy... nice and big! :) But he still only has 4... come on teeth... keep a comin'!

Caden got lots of great things from his Great Poppa and Great Gran, his Aunt Cori and Uncle Tag and his Nana and Paps... but I hate to say it... I think he played a little Christmas favorites because the wagon from his Nana and Paps sure was a BIG hit! We had to take a ride immediately... because that's what you do on Christmas!

Don't worry, Mr. Moose didn't get left behind... he wanted to check out Caden's new wheels too!

More to come on the wagon later... 

After presents there was LOTS of food to be had. Caden got to eat some very special mac n' cheese and enjoy the Christmas dinner conversation with the rest of the fam! Such a yummy dinner!!

The next day was exciting... busy... but exciting. Saturday morning the Cade-man braved the Waco shopping mall and Cavender's Boot City with the "kids." He was a GREAT shopper and made sure that everyone he passed felt welcomed with a little Cade-man wave! 

After a late, but long morning nap, the girls took Caden to the Mayborne Museum! Mommy has been wanting to go there for quite some time and Nana so graciously offered to take us, so we took her up on it. The boys were golfing so it was only right we got out and about the town!

It just so happens that the Mayborne was featuring a train exhibit this month so we got to stop by and see a few trains before we entered the main part of the museum! Caden loved watching them go around and around!! Choo, choo!!

I was so excited to see how Caden would do in this type of setting. I was so anxious to go and do things like this, this summer when it was so hot, but I knew he wasn't quite old enough to enjoy it. Now that he is walking so well and doing so much more I was hoping that he would really get to participate and enjoy all the sites and sounds of the museum... and guess what??!!

He did! He loved it! He was such a busy guy!! He slept for 12.5 hours last night... I think museums are going to be GREAT places for Mommy and Caden to hang out!! 

First up was an exhibit where kids could toddle around the town... there was a grocery store, a post office, a gas station, fire station, kitchen, farm... you name it... Caden got to do it all! He loved the grocery cart... 

Aunt Cori was even so kind as to fill Caden's shopping cart up with gas... haha! We tried to get him in one of the cars, but he didn't quite grasp the concept of moving his little feet so we decided that the shopping cart could have to do at the gas station!

After he tried the big cart, he tried the hand basket too... I think he's a fan of the big cart!

Next up was a tour of all of the different city vehicles... a school bus...

A fire engine...

And a police car... Nana and Caden... taking a bite out of crime!!! High five, Nana!!! Sorry I left you hangin' girl!

Of course when we saw this next thing we HAD to stop... it was a worm that you could crawl through. Caden needed a little encouragement to crawl through, so I got on my belly, in my dress with my camera in tow and crawled through the other side to entice the lil man to come on through... oh the things we do...

Yay, Caden!!! Welcome to the flip side!

The next stop was Around the World... where we found all sorts of different characters to stick Caden's pretty little face in... ironically, he looked best as Osama Bin Caden... go figure!

Aunt Cori insisted on dressing Caden up in one of the many outfits in the room... 

And while we knew that Caden's Daddy wouldn't be too happy with out next stop we did it anyway... we had High Tea in Waco!!

Don't you love Caden's feather boa??!! Whooo, whooo!! 

Thanks for the tea Nana!

Oh no! You're going to tell my Daddy?! And show him the pictures?! No, Aunt Cori that's not funny at all!! 

We had to quickly make up for our estrogen overload and head to the Native American exhibit...

Me, Caden! You, Buffalo! She, Mommy!

Where's a guy's gun when you need one?! Nana, you got yours?!

Bang, bang, bang... 

The passy went in here... there are WAY too many things to stick in your mouth in a museum... the passy is a great quick fix! :)

This next room was a lot of fun... it was a water room, with all sorts of fun things to play with. Caden and I enjoyed putting our hands in the COLD water and watching the other kids send the boats and rubber duckies floating by.

This was pretty hilarious... you stand in the middle of the hula hoop and pull a lever and try to raise a bubble wall all around you. The first time, I tried to hold Caden and pull the lever. Since I only had one hand on Caden and he is always on the move, he ended up stepping off the ledge into the bubbles... one very wet shoe later, we decided to let Nana help!

And our last... but not LEAST favorite by any stretch was the PIANO! Like the movie Big. Didn't you always want to have one of those things? And play Chopsticks on them with your best friend?! Well... I got to live my dream on Saturday... 

Caden LOVED the piano... he ran, walked, back and forth SO many times. He literally went and went and went until he could stand no longer. It was hilarious! We could try to pull him off and show him something else in the music room and he'd toddle right back and go at it... walking back and forth, back and forth!

Sweet boy!!
After the museum we had to catch the last little bit of daylight and take a wagon ride to feed the ducks. Mommy and Aunt Cori aren't so much into ducks... in fact we're a little afraid of them, so Nana took one for the team and led us on our duck hunt!

Mr. Moose made the trip again... he couldn't miss seeing Mommy and Aunt Cori run from the little quackers!!

Woah, Nana... watch it! That one looks a little hungry!!

You'll be glad to know that no ducks or humans were injured on our little adventure, but Caden did get a few stray kisses from some passing puppies... he wasn't too thrilled about it and I can't say that I blame him. They were no where near as refined as his puppies... 

Today, we played hard and ate a yummy lunch before we headed back to the Rock! We couldn't believe our Christmas celebrations had come to a close, but we didn't stay sad for long, knowing that we'd see everyone again on Friday for a very special little boy's birthday party!!

Thanks Nana and Paps for a great Christmas in Waco! We'll see you on Friday!!

Hope everyone had a most wonderful Christmas!!