Such a Happy Boy

Cayle loves hanging upside down, and is such a happy boy! He is constantly smiling and laughing. He is a such a bundle of joy for us! We are so blessed! Thank you Lord!

Thanksgiving Celebration and x-country skiing

What a great weekend! Lots of relaxing time with friends and Cayle :) The first picture is Natalie planted in front of the tv with her coffee, waiting patiently for her cousin Delaney to perform the opening act of the parade. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find Delaney in the crowd, but the parade was fun to watch anyway!We had an awesome spread of food for Thanksgiving lunch. All this food below, in addition to the table of appetizers we had in the other room. Lots and lots of amazing food!
Cayle's first Thanksgiving. He wore his Thanksgiving bib to celebrate the event. He had started solids a few days before and had enjoyed rice cereal, bananas and avocado. Thanksgiving was his first attempt at sweet potatoes! He really enjoyed them...and his fingers, of course!
Family photo on Thanksgiving. Too bad Cayle wasn't interested in the photo!
Delicious, scrumptious mini cheesecakes made by Jess. Unfortunately, there were a few left over at the end of the day and she had to leave them with us. Pretty sure they were consumed for breakfast on Friday...
This next picture is hilarious. It was Cayle's first time to help decorate for Christmas. So, here he is holding on to Santa for mommy. Cayle looks so serious!
The next photos are from cross-country skiing we did on Saturday. We went up Valley Road to find some nice snow. It was Natalie's first time on the skis, and she only face-planted once!
Cayle at the end of our cross-country skiing session. He clearly enjoys his time in the Chariot. He was super-bundled up and stayed nice and warm :)
Only three weeks of school until Christmas Break!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We had a fantastic turkey day complete with the best turkey I've ever had, and the best sweet potatoes I've ever had, all while hanging out with great friends!

Thanks to my lovely wife for the feast, and for being with me, and providing me with the best son ever! Thanks to mine and my wife's families for all your love and support! Thanks to all of our friends for hanging with us and helping us out when needed! Thanks to God for giving us this wonderful place to live, and all of the fantastic food to celebrate this wonderful day! We are so blessed to be able to live where we do and work where we do and enjoy the activities that we enjoy with our baby son!

This really is a holiday to be celebrated with family and friends around a good meal! The food is a means to bring everyone together for good camaraderie. THANKS ALL!

Fantastic Day Off

Started my day with hanging out with Cayle and Natalie and having coffee. Wish everyday started with just a bit of lounging around like this. Swam at the rec center this morning for the first time in a while. It actually went really well! I remember this time last year, I was just teaching myself how to swim and breathe properly, and I SUCKED! It was super hard to get into any kind of rhythm. It's so nice now to just be able to go to the pool, swim 500+ yards, and get a good workout!
Cayle has started in on the avocodo... in case you can't tell from the green stuff all over his face...

After swimming we set up the house for the Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. We cleaned and arranged furniture, and Natalie slaved away in the kitchen preparing food for tomorrow.

At 3 I went and picked up Mark, and we headed up Valley road for some x-country skiing and snowshoeing. He snowshoed and I skied. It was fantastic! I got to explore a new side road. There was about a foot of powder that was completely untouched by human feet. Just the two of us surrounded by nature and silence. It was about 5 degrees up there, but we were soon taking off hats and gloves in an effort to keep from sweating too much. About 45 minutes up, and about 20 minutes back down for an awesome workout! I'm loving the skis, an excellent purchase it seems!Mark looking down over Valley Road down below us.
Is this picture senior picturesque enough???

ILL- INI

Lots of good college bball on the tube tonight. Saw a bunch of good games, a few blowouts, one HUGE upset in Mich. State, and also got to watch the ILLINI game. They played Yale, so the competition wasn't that great but they looked good! The look like they are finally starting to play together as a team a bit better, and may be buying into the motion offense. Unfortunately Cayle didn't get to watch it with me, as he was sleeping in preparation for Thanksgiving celebrations....

Doctor and Sunrise

We had Cayle's 6 month checkup tonight. He grew about an inch, but lost about a pound... :( Despite his weight loss, Doc said he seems very healthy! His energy levels are great, and he is eating well. We have to try to boost his calorie and fat intake a bit in order to try to get him to gain some weight. I wish I had that problem... Although it was nice when I stood on the scale with him yesterday to try and get a weight estimate for him. I was fully clothed with shoes and all, and holding Cayle weighed in at 198 lbs. Last year at about this time I was that same weight without clothes, and without Cayle....
I caught this sunrise on camera the other day. The pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the general idea. Now all I need is a nice camera to be able to shoot these kinds of pictures and do them justice....
Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning......

Cayle's Sunday

The day started out with Cayle having his first sampling of rice cereal mixed with a bit of milk. I couldn't tell if he was too big of a fan or not. I'm not even sure if any of it went past his lips or tongue....

In the afternoon we took Cayle up Valley Road behind the house for some x-country skiing. It was my first time on skis, and his as well. He seemed to pick it up really easily, and enjoyed it. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to click into my bindings, but once I figured that out, it was super peaceful and fun!

Cayle is getting ready to be packed up after his x-country skiing adventure... It snowed a decent amount up here. This is about 25 minutes up a dirt road from the house. The subie does so awesome driving in the snow!