Christmas 2008

This Christmas was very exciting!! We made lots of birthday cakes for Jesus and opened a lot of presents. Its funny how quick 3 year olds pick up on "this is my present". Christmas eve eve Aunt Lee came up and we all went to chucky cheese. Claire even sang us a very exciting song that goes to twinkle little star tune. We had a great time and then we went back to mimi's for a slumber party. We got up Christmas Eve and went to see Grandmother Allred. After visiting her we came back and had a WONDERFUL steak dinner and then read the Christmas story and opened up presents. Claire, you got book, moon sand, leapser2, wagon, games, an addicting shiny purple ball, and the biggest thing was the smart cycle that mimi, papa, and aunt lee got you. You love it! Maggie, you got diapers, some play toys, and a puppet that mimi made. Too bad you slept through it. But thats ok it did not seem to bother you. You woke up ready to eat as usual. We all had a great time. Christmas day we got up and of course first thing is maggs had to eat but then Claire, you got to see your big present. Your motorcycle. You love it. We had to get you a helment. Its pink and purple of course. Its pretty fast. We have to walk pretty fast to keep up with you. Eric, Susanna, and the kids came over. Each of you got a camera from Granna. You love to take pictures. You also got some board games and some bathtub markers. Maggie, you once again slept through Christmas and it still did not seem to bother you.

Chesney

This is Chesney. You guys (Claire and Chesney) are about 2 weeks apart in age. Its hard to separate you two at church or really anywhere. Chesney is more of the layed back and calm type and you are quite the opposite. I guess opposites attract! You guys play very well together and it melts my heart to see you love your friends! We love you Chesney Best!

MeeMaw

This is Meemaw. Maggie, your first name is from meemaw. She lives with Aunt Brenda. Meemaw loves kids and she loves you guys. Everytime we are around she always wants to hold you maggie, and play with you Claire.

Maw Maw and Paw Paw

This is Maw Maw and Paw Paw. They love you girls to pieces. Claire, you use to hang your tongue out of your mouth and it reminded everyone of pawpaw. Maggie, you do this a little bit but not near as much as Claire did. We love us some mawmaw and pawpaw!

Madyson

This is Maydson.Claire, she is your partner in crime. You dont agree on a lot but one thing you do agree on is how much you love granna. You and Madyson took your first bath together last week. You had a great time splashing water outside of the tub(which you know is a no mam). We always try to make sure you have the exact same thing. othewise me and granna will need to head to the looney house.

Hannah-Bananna

This is Hannah-look in granna's arms. She is now 13 months old. She is so close to walking. She better hurry it up because Benjamin will be here really soon. Claire, you love playing with Hannah. Anytime you see her she makes you smile. You love to play with her and to make sure she has everything she needs.

Caleb, Uncle Eric, Aunt Susanna

This is Caleb, Uncle Eric, and Aunt Susanna. Claire, you love playing with caleb. You remind me so much of him and all of your excitment. When Caleb was a toddler I remember him walking around our house that leaned downtown. He could hardly stand up but the "lean" seemed to pull him on over. Aunt Susanna is fixing to have another baby boy. His name will be Benjamin. He should arrive in the next month or so. Uncle Eric works for Raggtop and sells cars. He's pretty stinkin good at it.

Pops

This is Pops. He loves popcorn. He also loves you guys very much. Claire, when daddy was traveling Pops came over and put your new big girl bed together! You were so excited! You never know what pops will have up his sleeve.

Cooka.... Granna

This is Granna/Cooka. Claire, when you were learning to talk you were trying to say granna and all you could get out was the g sound which sounded like c. Then you just started calling her cooka. When you are around madyson and caleb you call her granna but when you are by yourself you go back to what you have always called her-cooka. It will be interesting to see what Maggie calls her. Granna loves you guys so much and loves to spend time with you. We will keep her!

Aunt Patsy and "Aunt Daddy"

This is Aunt Patsy. Boy is she fun. She takes you (claire) down to the water and walking when we go up and see her and grandmother Allred. Aunt Patsy's grandkids call Uncle Barry "big daddy". Claire, you call him aunt daddy. its really cute. Aunt Patsy makes us smile and means a lot to our family. We love you aunt Patsy and "aunt daddy".

Papa

This is Papa. He's the one that likes to call Claire different names when he is getting in his car to leave. Claire loves her papa. You love to go with mimi and shut the garage door when papa leaves. When he pulls out you hit the button and then get down and run and wave to papa until the door closes.

Grandmother Allred

This is Grandmother Allred. She has gone through several names. The first one was mimi but then you called Mimi this and it was confusing so then we said grandmother allred could be More Mimi. This worked for a little while but then Mimi decided that the best name to call her was Grandmother Allred. So this is what you call her Claire. She taught you how to say YIGHT... light. She gave you a purple dog that you have to sleep with every night. She use to live with mimi and pappa but she moved up to a little house near Aunt Patsy's house. We love her very much!

Aunt Rie

This is Aunt Rie. She is your great aunt.Maggie, your middle name is Marie after Aunt Rie. She loves you guys so much. When I was growing up she used to take me to so many fun places. One memory we have is going to the circus and seeing the elephants poop. For some reason that was a big deal to me. She always wants to know how you are doing and loves to buy you fun stuff. We love you so much!

Mimi

This is Mimi.
Claire loves going to mimi's house. Thanks to mimi you(claire) now have to have your back rubbed, your arm rubbed, your leg rubbed. Although i will have to say that rubbing your arm til you fell asleep saved us on the air plane ride home from Disney. we love some mimi

Aunt Lee

Aunt Lee might be the coolest person on the face of the earth (apart from Celine Dion of course). She buys the really "different" things. Big red lobsters and silly string. She loves you guys more than you will ever know. She is my big sister and i absolutely ADORE her. I hope you can say that about claire, maggie. We love you aunt lee!!

Joshua Calfee

Joshua Calfee.
This is Josh. He is 8 years old and is now a grumpy old man. He loves to sit in your lap and sleep most of the day. He just wants to be near someone. Claire and Josh have a love hate relationship. He loves her when its time to eat and she drops her food( on purpose i think) and then when she wants to play with him he turns ugly. Honestly if someone pulled my tail, hit at me, kicked me, hid my duck on the table so i cant reach it, then i would turn ugly too.

Maggie Marie Calfee

My little Maggie Rie
Maggie, I always struggled with thinking how I could love and share my time with another baby. I prayed for a long time that God would change my heart about having another baby. He did.We tried for about a year and did get pregnant but we soon miscarried. It was a rough time because it took us so long but we made it through. 6 months later God placed you in my belly. It was a tough pregnancy. I had bleeding and some cramping the entire time I carried you. There were many tears and prayers for you. Finally, on July 28, 2008 you made your graceful appearance and I fell in love with you. You have been a layed back and happy baby. You dont sleep as sound and well as claire but you always seem to find everything funny.. Your smile brightens the whole room. We are now coming up on 5 months and you have not even rolled over yet. Thats ok, there is no rush! Your big sister loves you to pieces and she already takes up for you. You are precious!
We love you
mommy

Claire Makenzie Calfee

This is my Claire-bear
Claire, mommy and daddy had a really hard time getting pregnant. We prayed and prayed and God (in His timing) blessed us with you. You are a miracle straight from Him. You have brought joy to us and so many people. You were a very active baby. You started crawling at 6 months, walking at 9 months and by a year you were crawling out of your crib. You started finally talking at 2 years. I thought I was going to have to send you to a speech therapist because I was so worried about it. Now, I cannot get you to stop talking. You are learning so many things each day but what melts our hearts is when you say you love us and now know what that means. You are a beautiful miracle that we get to be a part of. We love you so much
mommy

Rodney

This is Rodney. He is a full time Pastor at the Downtown church. He's pretty cool. He loves music and he loves his girls!

12-21-08

Today we all went to church and as Claire would put it "sang songs to Jesus". Maggie wore her santa outfit that mimi made when claire was born. She was too cute!! Rodney has been working on a new song with the band and it was incredible...revelation song. After church we headed out to aunt theresa's house for calfee Christmas. Claire opened up one of her Christmas presents yesterday and it was a Dora doll. Dora went with us everywhere today. She even had to "take a break" as claire would put it and rest. mama Mitzi gave claire two Straw- ba-ba- ba- berry (as daddy Jeff would sing) shortcake movies. We had fun with maggies smiles and claire's energy! I attempted to do some cleaning out of the girls room when we got home. What an experience. Rodney and I love to watch Monk. I think i have watched too many because now i am really OCD when it comes to things. There is not much room to put things so we have come pretty creative with the "extras".... just take it to the garage. its amazing how much stuff you can put in a garage. we have a tiny walk way that we can get from the door to the laundry room to the garbage can. dad always use to make fun of me because he said when i was living at home i must have gone down the street and gotten everyones trash and put it in ours. yes, girls come with a lot of trash! i guess its good that they dont charge by the bag. we would be bankrupt by now. Mrs. Calfee will be on vacation until jan 5. we have a goal to get the garage cleanded out during this time. Hopefully we will reach that goal. if not, then we might all go insane. i have found that i am ocd when it comes to "clutter" in the house but buddy if you can close a door then it doesnt bother me. I am just like Monica on friends with the "locked closet". Out of sight out of mind. Brook- you always say that everything is so neat but remember i never let you look behind closed doors. :)

12-20-08

Today starts the first day of journaling for our family. so welcome to our world. sit back and relax because things here can be a little crazy. Rodney is 31- birthday 7-23-77. I am 27-birthday 2-12-81. Claire is 3-birthday 6-7-05. Maggie is the newest addition to our family at 4 months-birthday 7-28-08. Josh(our dog) is our first baby but has now grown into a "grumpy" ol man and will be 8 years old this year. Rodney and I have been married for 8 years in May. We have moved 5 times now since we have been married. whew, and we are tired. Rodney is a full time pastor at the Downtown Church and I get the incredible privalege to stay home with my girls!! We currently live with Rodney's mom and dad. most of you know them as granna and pops. Its a little tight here in these quarters but we are all hanging in there and waiting for God to show us our next steps.