The McCallum's Fabulous Little Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time each year. I love decorating for everything, visiting family in Louisiana and Arkansas, wrapping presents, cooking and eating good food, etc. Everything about Christmas is magical and it should be, especially if you celebrate Jesus' birth as my family does. Of course we do the Santa thing and Scout Elf as well, but Shaun and Mason both know the real reason we celebrate Christmas and that is all that matters.

 Scott, the boys and I on Christmas Day at my Grandparent Walker's House. 

Speaking of Scout Elves...Bernard, our elf was quite mischievous and generous this year. The first day he arrived, he thanked the boys for being so great this year. They were quite awesome, I have to admit. They behaved as they should, got so much better about doing their chores, were absolutely precious during the time of losing our Papaws, and worked super hard in school!!! We were very proud of them, so Bernard treated them by showing up with Build A Bear surprises for them. He challenged them to go out and build their own Christmas buddy to enjoy the holiday with. It was a fun way to kick off the month.



If you know me, then you know that I am a white light kind of gal! There is nothing wrong with multi colored lights on your tree, but they better not end up on my tree. Last year was a disaster because of this, which resulted in me redecorating the tree when the boys went to bed and coming up with a clever little tale of why the lights were now white. I know, I know....I am a terrible person, but it is a problem I can't help. I was born this way :)


This year, I decided to loosen the reigns a little and agreed to have green and white lights on the tree. You probably think this isn't a big deal, but it was and still is a big deal to me. I hated them. I thought the green lights would grow on me, but they NEVER did. Everyone that came into our home loved our tree and raved about the green lights. As much as I love these people, I still think they are crazy.

Next year, I have a plan...if this plan does not work then we will have two trees. One in the boys playroom with 100 different colors on it and one in our living room with classy white lights on it. My plan is to put white, green and red lights on the tree. I am crossing my fingers that I love it because I really do not want to put up and take down two Christmas trees along with the thousand mini trees we have scattered throughout the house.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent in Crowville with my family due to the time we were supposed to have the boys back to their mom so that they could spend Christmas with her and her family. We didn't have enough time to drive to and from Arkansas due to the time constraints. We have joint custody of the boys and split everything right down the middle, except holidays. Easter, Thanksgiving, and Halloween are every other year, whereas Christmas, is split between both families. This year was no different. However, an hour before Ashley was scheduled to pick up the boys, we received a call from Robby (the boy's stepdad) saying that Ashley was in the ER. Mono was her curse...she is still recovering.

 Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's House with the Freeman's, Dalleo's, McCallum's and Walker's.

 Bernard, our elf, brought the whole family a set of Christmas PJ's!

 Mason with his new pellet gun from Mom and Dad! The boys love their new guns!!!

  This is a picture from Christmas Day at my Grandparent's House. We celebrated with the Vinings, the Week's, the Dalleo's, the Walker's, and the McCallum's.

 Santa brought the boys Rock Band. They were quite excited, as you can tell. This is before it was even plugged into the television.

 Mason with his loot from Daddy and I.

 Shaun with his loot from Daddy and I.

 Daddy with some of his loot from the boys and I.

My sister and brother in law on Christmas Day. We are patiently waiting for Baby Boy Dalleo to make his arrival in the world. It's close!!!

 

We kept the boys through the weekend and ended up in Arkansas a day early for our two night trip. We had a great time visiting with Scott's Dad, Brother, Mom, Granny, Aunt and Uncle. Our time there is never long enough, but we make the most of it. Scott's Mom and I were even able to find the time for a little thrift store shopping!!! My favorite past time!!!

 Shaun is obsessed with Sharks, so he was very excited to get a new book on Sharks.

 Memaw had Mason a chef hat made with his name on it. He loves it!

 We are from West Monroe, LA...need I say more, haha!

 Granny with her new cookbook and trivet.

 Granny, Memaw, Mason and Shaun

 Shaun and Mason in Arkansas. This is one of my favorite pictures of them from Christmas.

 Shaun and Mason

 Scott, Mason and Shaun - Daddy and his boys

 Our family picture from Christmas in Arkansas

 Memaw and her boys

 Memaw, Mason, Shaun and Granny

 Scott, Memaw, Granny, Robert, Mason and Shaun

 Scott and Shaun

 Scott and Mason

 Shaun

 Mason

Like always, Christmas Season has to come to an end, but if you are like me, you strive to keep it in your heart all year long.

God Bless,
Mrs. McCallum

Update

I am ashamed that I have not posted anything since April of last year, but what can I say, it was a crazy year. I will try and catch up with this one post...

Vacation
Scott, the boys and I took the best vacation ever. We spent a week at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. If you have never done it or considered it, you should. We stayed at one of the onsite hotels so that we could experience everything they had to offer. It was amazing. One of the main perks of staying on site is the early entry to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the Express Passes, and the water-taxis that take you to and from the parks, hotels, and City Walk. We didn't want to leave and we are already planning another trip there next year. I will have to do a post just on our experience, complete with pictures another time.

Loss in the Families
Scott and I both lost our Papaws this summer. It has been a hard year for both of our families. Both of them had a different form of cancer that was Stage 4. Losing them has been very tough, but through the loss of them, we both have felt a peace that we know can only come from God. They were both God fearing men who had given their lives over to Christ. We know that we will one day see them again.
 
Scouts
The boys, their mom and I went to the annual Mom and Me campout in October. The plan was to stay Saturday night together in a tent while enjoying all of the Scout activities. We were there a matter of hours before we were rained out this year. As sad as the boys were, we were able to turn things around by having our own Mom and Me campout in their mom's living room. We invited one of our close friend's and her son to come along, since they were at the campout as well. We had a great time eating pizza, watching movies, playing games and falling asleep all piled up in the living room. It was a Mom and Me that I will never forget.

Halloween
The boys were with us this Halloween. We took them to our Church Carnival before going Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. Some of the family met us at the Church so they could see the boys. Mason was a Ninja and Shaun was a Shark. Scott and I even tried to get in the spirit and "dress" up this year.

Thanksgiving
Scott and I did not have the boys this year as it was their mom's turn to have them. We decided to spend our holiday in Crowville with my family so that we could spend Thanksgiving with the boys in Arkansas the following year.We continued with our tradition of the Thanksgiving Journal where we ask family members to write what they are thankful for. I know that we will be thankful we have it one day so that we can look back and see what different ones wrote. Since we did not go to Arkansas, we invited Scott's granny and mom to come down for the weekend. We hosted a party at our house while they were there. Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving.

I will post a separate post on Christmas and Photography Updates!!!

Have a great one,
Mrs. McCallum

Mason turns 8!

Mason's birthday was on the 4th of this month, so we celebrated his birthday with a swimming party the following Saturday. It's Louisiana, so the weather here is unpredictable, therefore we had an indoor swimming party at Underwater Treasures in Monroe, LA. We had invited all of his class mates and fellow scouts, but only two little boys showed up. It didn't bother him too much because he was having too much fun playing with his brother and the other little boys. I think he realizes that the important people were there, his parents, step-parents and two sets of grandparents.

He is now 8 years old, which makes me wish time would slow down just a bit. Days, weeks, months, and years are going by way too fast now.

Here are a few pictures from his party. He had a Ninjago themed party like his older brother had back in January. I wanted to make sure that his party was a little different from Shaun's, so I made his invitations a little differently.

 I didn't want to pay someone to make these when I am capable of creating and printing them myself. I printed these on card-stock, cut them out and sent them with Mason to school and Scouts. He loved them. I tried to put his eyes on the Ninja, but Mason didn't like it as much as he did the originals.

 Shaun at the party! He found a starfish at the bottom of the pool.

 Mason, our sweet little birthday boy!

The Ninjago themed party favors. The take out boxes were filled with rubber Ninja throwing stars from a Karate Shop, along with Twizzlers.

 Me and the hubby!

 Mason and his friends!

 Mason wanted a cookie cake instead of the traditional birthday cake. Albritton's in West Monroe, LA has some of the best cookie cakes!

Trick Candles!!! He couldn't get them to blow out!

Celebrating Easter

Scott and I do not have the boys this year for Easter as it is their mother's turn to have them for the holiday so we celebrated Easter as a family last night. When I came home from work, the boys had hidden Easter eggs all over the front of our yard. We spent an hour and a half looking for eggs and re-hiding them for each other. We have been doing that off and on for the past week or so. I have really enjoyed it, as it has reminded me of the fond memories of hunting eggs as a child. We also exchanged small Easter gifts. We always give the boys a little something for each holiday. This year we gave them the movie Rise of the Guardians. If you have not seen it, see it! It is a wonderful children's movie and was our favorite of 2012. They were also given Cadburry eggs, a new toothbrush, pencils, notepads, erasers, and other small school supplies. Scott was given a few DVDs to add to his collection and some of his favorite candy and I was given a beautiful basket, ceramic bird (I love birds) and a candle that smells so good it makes you want to constantly eat! That may not be a good thing. It is always nice to receive a little something that your family has carefully picked out for you. Lily, Leia and Jay even received an Easter bone. They were quite happy with their little gifts. After gifts were exchanged, I made pancakes for dinner. The boys have been asking for me to cook breakfast for dinner for a week or so now, so I thought what better night? I know that our plans were nothing grand, but they couldn't have been any better for my little family. I was even able to snap a few "Spring" pictures of my two favorite little fellas. Here are a few...

 

Ring Pictures

At the beginning of the month, one of my dearest friends came to town for a fun little photo session. In our circle of friends, several of us love to take and edit pictures on the side, so Kristy was in luck! She came to town and we dusted off our cameras. We had a blast and we all put a little of our own style into the pictures. Kristy and Sean will be getting married in a few years. They want to have a long engagement, so we should have a lot of photo opportunities between now and then. Since they live in New Orleans, we added a little NOLA flair to a lot of the pictures. Kristy and Sean both love different comics, so we were able to throw a little of that into her pictures as well. I can honestly say this was one of the most fun sessions I have ever been a part of. Partly because the props were awesome and partly because I was with some of my favorite people. Here are a few of the pictures that I took and edited of Kristy!

Gus & Morris

A little over a year ago, Scott and I promised the boys that we would get them kittens as soon as we had a house. Therefore when Scott and I started looking to buy a house, the boys instantly reminded us of our promise. Turns out one of my best friends had just picked out a fluffy orange kitten from a lady at work. When I saw this fluffy orange kitten, I was in love. I asked her if she could get us one as well. She did and even housed it until we moved into our home. When she came to bring us our sweet little kitten, she brought two. She said that we could have hers as well b/c they were brothers and were inseparable. She said it would break her heart to separate the two of them as they were too precious together. It was so sweet of her to do that and the boys were ecstatic. We had previously named our kitten Gus and she had named hers Morris. They are both fluffy, orange boy kittens with completely different personalities. They are precious with the boys but are picky as to who they sit with. Gus loves for the boys to love on him, but he wants to be in Scott's lap or Scott's rocking chair at all times. Morris is more picky about who he lets love on him but he is not a mean cat. He is just particular about who touches him. He loves me and sits with me no matter where I am. He even follows me into the bathroom and trust me, it is kind of difficult to enjoy a bubble bath with a cat peering over the edge the entire time.

They are not "inside" cats, but they are inside when we are home. They let us know when they want outside as they sit by the door and meow until you open it up to let them outside. I think we have them trained pretty well. Our lives are definitely better with these little creatures in them.

This is a picture of Gus and Morris. Morris is the one facing the camera. He is shorter, smaller and fluffier than Gus. Gus is nearly twice the size of Morris when they are standing next too each other or when you are holding them both as you can tell that he outweighs his brother immensely.

 

This is Morris in the bathroom, watching me take my bubble bath. He is a mess.

This is a picture of Gus after he came down from the tree! He had us terrified that he was going to die from being stuck in a tree for too long. He climbed one of the taller trees in our yard and after a day of being up there, we started to really worry. Pleading, begging, calling "Kitty Kitty", feeding Morris treats in front of him, etc. did not make him budge. You could tell he wanted to come down but was too scared to even try. We called animal control and the fire department with no luck from either place. So we prayed, pleaded and begged some more. After being stuck in the tree for two days, he finally came down. I snapped this picture as soon as Scott snatched him up and brought him inside for inspection and food. The poor thing lost a lot of weight from lack of food and probably dehydration. He has been checked out and is perfectly fine. Scott wouldn't let on how worried he truly was, but I knew he was thrilled that his "baby" was out of the tree b/c he wouldn't put him down afterwards. 

This is a picture of Morris that I just couldn't leave out. He loves sprawling out on our bed. I think it has a little something to do with our big fluffy comforter. Look how precious his paws are!!! I love kitty paws. 

I will try to find a few pictures of Magic, Benny The Turtle and Jay before my next post. I want to introduce them to everyone as well. After all, they are part of our sweet little family and our lives wouldn't be the same without each and every one of them!!

Lily, Leia, Jay, Magic, Gus, Morris and Mr. Turtle

To say that we have a house full would be a slight understatement. Scott, the boys and I have several little fur blessings that live with us as well. I wanted to introduce them to each of you. Today I will tell you about Lily and Leia as they have been in our family the longest. 

~Lily~
Lily is our Scottish Terrier. Lily has been with me for nearly 7 years now and has turned my world upside down at times. She has a mind of her own and knows exactly what she wants. She can be a sweet angel one minute and a devil the next but I would never want to change her. She is extremely stubborn but she still has my heart. I love her to pieces. Lily came into my life when she was only 8 weeks old and she has been rocking it ever since. I was in college and had always wanted an inside dog. At the time I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Lily has never been too partial to children, so when Scott and the boys came into my we were quite nervous about what might happen. She didn't like the boys at first but has warmed up to them and is very protective of them now. When they are sick, she wants to lay with them and when we are having a tickle war on the floor, she takes up for them. It warms my heart that my baby accepted my new babies like she did. My family would not be complete without Lily and now I think she feels the same way about Scott and the boys.

This is a picture of Lily when she was a puppy. It is one of my favorite pictures of her. I love Scottie facial expressions. You can ALWAYS tell exactly what they are thinking or feeling as they show it on their precious little faces.

This is a more recent picture of Lily. I tend to keep her hair a lot shorter than the typical Scottie haircut as we live in Louisiana and it is very hot and humid in the long summer months.

~Leia~ 
Leia is our precious little rag doll. We are not 100% sure what she is or how old she is a rescue dog. The vet seems to think that Leia is around 3 years old now. She has been part of our lives for two years on Father's Day. Our family would not be complete without her as she has completely stole our hearts! She demands a lot of cuddle time and is one of the most loving dogs you will ever meet. She has the sweetest personality and somehow manages to bless your heart each day with her humble attitude. I honestly believe she is thankful for where she is today.

This is Leia. She weighs a few pounds and is fluffy and white. She has a terrible under bite, but she wouldn't be our Leia without it.

This is a picture of Lily and Leia together. They love each other most of the time and are jealous of each other, all of the time. I did not pose them in this picture, this is just how they like to relax. The chair is just big enough for the two of them.

Later I will post about Gus and Morris, the fluffy orange cats that grace us with their presence. Aren't cats hysterical!