Christmas Greeting 2011

This has been a year to remember, a year of blessings to celebrate!

First, Anthony graduated from dental school. Finally, after 8+ years of schooling, he is officially done! Even better, he truly LOVES practicing dentistry. He began working in June for a private practice with offices in outlying Dallas suburbs. Not sure if it’s working with the patients or having off every Friday, but either way, it’s been a great career choice for him.

To celebrate Anthony’s graduation and April turning the big 3-0, we headed to Costa Rica for a tropical getaway, leaving Tanner behind with family. This was the first BIG vacation we’ve taken since our honeymoon so we definitely made the most of it. It was fun being on Anthony’s old mission turf, swinging through the rainforest on canopy ziplines, swimming in ocean with engulfing waves, and taking RV tour through the mountainous jungles. The latter of which I’ll never forget, thanks to the scar on my leg. Anthony, of course, was in LOVE with the food. I missed the good ole American cuisine, but could take the fresh bebidas any day.

As if turning 30 wasn’t enough, I was able reduce my hours to only 2-3 days a week and get promoted to senior manager at Deloitte. I enjoy having a few extra days each week to plan mommy/son dates. Our favorite hangout places include the Dallas Zoo, Children’s Museum, Arboretum, and let’s be honest, Tanner’s bedroom where we race cars, build forts and trains.

Tanner also had a year to celebrate – finally mastering the toilet, turning 3, and starting preschool. When I dropped him off at preschool, his parting words were, “Don’t worry, I won’t have an accident!” He adores his teacher, Ms. Kennedy, and he lucked out to have 3 of the 5 kids in his class be his b/f/f’s from church. We love hearing the stories he comes home to share. “The pilgrims sailed to America on the Mayflower. Now say M-A-Y-F-L-O-W-E-R.” I’m pretty sure Tanner could recite the nativity story better than most adults with details like, “King Herod was really angry and didn’t like baby Jesus so they had to leave.”

Tanner is just beginning to grasp what “work” really means. He gets his teeth checked out by Dr. Dad so he totally understands Anthony is a dentist. He asks me, “Mom, what do you DO to people?” as if it were a bad thing. Explaining I’m an accountant and work with numbers/ money/taxes all day is a little difficult. And just when I think he gets it, he’ll ask, “Mom, does your work have lots of toys like my school?”

Most exciting, our prayers have been answered and we’re expecting a baby girl arriving in April. Some years we climb mountains, and other years we get a view from the top – where we can pause and look at the beautiful world around us. We’re grateful for the Christmas season that has allowed us to “Be still, and know that I am God.”

May your hearts and homes be filled with the Joy and Peace of His Love.

Love, the Callisons

Thanksgiving to Tanner

Tanner has been learning all about Thanksigiving at preschool and telling us the stories at home.

"The pilgrims sailed to American on ship called the Mayflower. Now say, Mayflower." Apparently, we needed a refresher.



He also learned about the Indians -- "Squanto was the one who stayed with the pilgrims. He taught them to plant corn by putting a fish on top of the seed."

He came home with the most adorable craft projects-- a mother carrying a baby in her papoose, a cornicopia stuffed full of thanksgiving food, and little thanksgiving figures on popsicle sticks. He just LOVES going to school!



One night as we were eating dinner, he saw the roll and mashed potatoes and asked, "Is this Thanksgiving Dinner?"

And in case anyone is wondering, Tanner is thankful for "Fire-fighters!" I only wish I could capture his voice saying this...cause it's the most adorable thing ever!!

It's Hallo-scream!

Tanner has been SO excited for Halloween.

In September, we went to the library on checked out tons of Halloween books. That very night -- he declared he was ready to go Trick-or-Treating. Convincing him he HAD to wait another month was very very difficult. So when the day did finally come, he was SO happy!


He loved everything about Halloween -- his favorite stories were the ones with mummies, goblins, witches, and ghosts. But he had more nightmares from those dang critters chasing him. We had to constantly tell him and he eventually would remind us, "They're my friends and Jesus is watching over me [quite literally with a picture next to his bed]."


PUMPKIN CARVING

We got our pumpkin early and Tanner couldn't wait to turn it into a Jack-o-Latern.

We thought he'd love the goopity-goo, but he had some severe reservations about sticking his hand in there. It took him a few attempts...but he finally pulled through!

His only request, "I want him to be S-C-A-R-Y!!" Five minutes later, "Dad, that's not scary!"

One good thing being married to a dentist are those amazing fine motor skills. So Anthony does all the carving in our house, while the rest of us roast yummy pumpkin seeds.

HALLOWEEN PARADE

Tanner's preschool had a Halloween Parade where they marched around in a circle and then sang the cutest songs. Tanner's favorites were, "5 Little Pumpkins," "Scarecrow, Scarecrow, touch your toes" and "The Back Bone is Connected to the..." song.

He'd come home with singing these songs and then insist I sing along with him, but it's a little difficult if I don't know the words.

Tanner's preschool class. He's SO lucky to have his favorite pals in his class. And 5 boys...and the 1 girl is his b/f/f. Doesn't get much better!!

Tanner's class next to "witch" Kennedy. He just adores his teacher and I can see why!

Trick-or-Treating

For Halloween, Tanner wanted to be a superhero. People kept asking him which superhero he was, and he'd say, "I'm Tanner the Super-Hero!" I found a great deal and had the costume custom made with the letter T on the shirt and cape. He's obessed with his name at the moment:)

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of licensed superheros, but it's most likely a battle I'm going to lose. Ever since he got Spiderman face painting at the Arboretum...it's opened up a whole new world.

I'm just glad that we settled on a Superhero. He kept changining his mind and even insisted on being a witch, at one point, after he talked with Avery and learned she was going to be a witch too.

On Halloween night, we went Trick-or-Treating to our favorite friends in the neighborhood. He knew just what to do this time (no trying run inside people's house like last year!). He got so excited getting all the candy. After a block or too, he was ready to come home. I offered to hold his bag, it was quickly rejected. There was no letting go of the bag until we were back home and he had a piece of candy in his mouth. He's a smart kid -- knew exactly what I'd try to do -- and there was nothing coming between him and that candy.

The ironic part is -- Tanner isn't a huge fan of candy. I had a candy bowl with candy corn and offered him a piece one afternoon. Horrified, he responded, "No, that'll give me SUGAR BUGS on my teeth!"

So folks, that's what it's like being having a dentist as a father.

Test run of blog

I wanted to try out a new way to blog.

Wilderness Retreat

We packed up the car and headed to Robbers Cave State Park in OK for a wilderness retreat. One of our nieces, Emma, worked with her dad to plan a family camp out.

I'll be honest, I was tired, pregnant, and not all that excited about it this trip. Turns out, what you need most, isn't what you think it is. We had a great time being away from the city and enjoying God's beautiful creations.

Here are some memorable moments from our trip.

(1) Miss Sophie - Our camp site was on the bank of the river -- absolutely beautiful with the sun setting and fall leaves changing colors. While we were yet unpacking the cars, Sophie managed to do the unthinkable -- jump into the water! Of course, she claimed it was an accident. We should have expected as much from the crazy 3 year old...but she was given amble warning. Luckily, we could share Tanner's extra shoes/coat so she could be all nice and cozy.

(2) Mr. Tanner, on the other hand, had another "accident" that was completely my fault. On the car trip down, we put him in a diaper so we wouldn't have any emergency potty breaks in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. While we were getting settled in and making dinner, Tanner mentioned he had to go to the bathroom. I didn't feel like hiking down to the bathroom to take him -- so I told him just to go in his pants. He gave me a weird look and then repeated to ask to go to the bathroom. Well, needless to say, he finally headed my advice, except to my horror, I realized he was not wearing a diaper (Anthony had already put his undies back on). I just told my child to pee in his pants, awesome!

(3) Miriam - 8 years old, going on 20. My favorite quote all weekend, "I'm glad I'm not like those other fancy, frilly girls. Alls I need is a slick of chapstick and I'm good to go."

2nd Favorite Quote: Getting ready to eat pancakes and pouring Aunt Jemima syrup on Tanner's Pancakes. "No, mom! That's girls syrup. Do we have any BOY syrup?"

(4) Robber's Cave - We hiked up with the whole family about a mile to Robber's Cave -- an old cave that robbers used to make their escape over 100 years ago -- until finally it was purposefully dynamited to prevent such escapes.

We should have know with the ones, they always prefer to take the path less traveled. The was a easy trail for us to hike up, but of course, the kids preferred to climb the rocks no matter how steep. And with toddlers, it can be quite scary, to say the least.

Somehow we made it, safe and sound. Here's a breathtaking few from the top:

Inside the cave, we had our own sort of fun:

Nature's playground.

Cassidy is always the adventurous time, and if you saw her dad, you'd understand why.

(5) Roasting S'mores by the fire. The BEST part of camping and the only reason I agreed to come in the freezing cold weather. It doesn't get much better...

(6) Freezing Cold -- When I first decided to come, I didn't realize it would be in the 50s for the high. At night, it must have gotten into the 30s. Anthony reassured me I'd stay warm with the sub-zero sleeping bag. "When I use that sleeping bag, I don't need anything else on, otherwise I got too hot." Well-- I beg to differ. Even with my 3 layers of clothing, I froze. And poor Tanner did too. He kept waking up every 30 minutes. Around 2 am, he started screaming, "I want my shovel!" (i.e., another nightmare about having to share his toys). Anthony about had it and dragged him to the car. He didn't like that much either, but made a truce with him he could return to the tent if he was quite and slept in his own sleeping bag. It worked like a charm cause that was the last time (that night) he woke up.

(7) Keys. On second thought, though, it wasn't the smartest idea. On the late-night escapade, turns out the keys got left in the car and Anthony locked it. It's hard to think straight in the middle of the night. Luckily, a few phone calls and $20 later, we were back in our car. I was shocked at how quickly the "locksmith" worked his magic, but I'm sure there's a few scrapes I don't want to know about. The important thing -- we got our keys!

I've learned my lesson. Next time, we're sleeping in a cabin!

Despite the cold weather, we definitely enjoyed the beautiful scenery, mugs of hot chocolate, a quick snooze by the lake, s'mores by the fire, paddle boating in the sun, touring the nature museum, feeding the huge goldfish, and enjoying time with family.

The kids were entertained 110% of the time. Turns out, all kids need to be happy is dirt and shovel and spent majority of time building some sort of castle. They tried to go "fishing" but only caught weeds. At least they got to see/touch some other fisherman's trout. Tanner also enjoyed "going on bear hunts" along our hike the following morning.

Fall Festivities -- State Fair of Texas

In Texas, the State Fair is a BIG deal.

In preschool, they spent a few days learning about the State Fair of Texas and even had off one day for Fair Day. Tanner made a poster of the mascot, Big Tex, just as big as himself and he couldn't wait to see Big Tex in person. However, he immediately got scared when Big Tex started to talk. And I don't think he had any idea of how big "Big Tex" really was.

Down on the Farm

They have a cute exhibit where kids get to go through the motions of working on the farm -- planting seeds, watering the crops, feeding the animals, gathering the eggs, harvesting the fruits/veggies, and then delivering the goods to the market -- in exchange for money they use to buy a treat.

All these activities are right up Tanner's alley. He LOVED it!

Planting a seed in the dirt

Can what Tanner's favorite part was??? Riding on a tracker!



Petting Zoo

It's not every day you get to feed and pet a giraffe, zebra, you name it! Or see baby piglets just a few days old.

We also went to the horticulture building to see llamas and other sheep-like animals (can't even remember the names) getting their hair trimmed for upcoming competition. After they were sheered, they wore specials jackets to keep their coat soft and masks so they don't eat shavings -- they're on a strict diet. Never knew how intense these competitions can be...

We saw the fattest, biggest pig too. If I had to guess, it was over 10 feet long.

Lil Rodeo

Tanner got to be a real 'cowboy' and participate in his first rodeo.

Tanner had to rope a "cow" and be the first to knock it down. He didn't really know what was going on and gave me that look "why the heck did you make me do this" beforehand. Can't help it, it's what moms do best.
But he made a new friend. And enjoyed riding on a "horse."

Car Show

We also watched the Ultimate Dog Show and Mother Goose Story time.

On a whim, I decided to let Tanner have a peak at the car show. And honestly, this was his favorite part. Who needs rides or deep fried food anyways?

He could have stayed here the entire day. He was so enthralled. And for once, they don't mind if you pretend to take a test drive the real-deal.

Fall Festivities -- Dallas Arboretum

At the beginning of Fall, I felt like summer had gone by way too fast and before I knew, it was already over.

But in Texas, Fall is really where it's at. It's too hot in the summer to do anything outdoors that doesn't involve water and swimming pool. So we definitely make the most of our beautiful fall weather.

My favorite place to celebrate fall is the Dallas Arboretum -- we love the pumpkin village, hay maze, petting zoo, Kindermusik, and yes, even face painting.

And this is where the obsession with Spider Man ALL began.

(Laughing after getting a peak in the mirror)

Watch out for those spidey webs!

Petting the soft pony. Tanner thought he had made a new friend until he looked away and the pony almost knocked him over.

And there's nothing better than hanging out and playing with friends!!