Christmas has been so fun this year. The boys are at such fun ages and really get into it. They were excited about all their presents. We have been busy traveling back and forth from home, Clarksville and Grundy, but feel so blessed that we can spend time with everyone over the holidays. We are so lucky to live so close to each of our families. It is hectic and tiring at times trying to get from place to place, but we wouldn't trade this time for anything.

Here are some fun pictures from Christmas.

The Kalainoff Kids

Teaching the Texans all about the snow in IOWA!

Like father, like son...There's dancin' in Isaac's soul......

Three handsome boys...

Another week down...

The boys are getting pretty excited for Christmas. In fact, we have our first Christmas celebration tonight at Ben's grandma's. It is all the boys can talk about. They have been good little boys and I am sure they will get something nice.

We had a bit of excitement this week. At daycare, Evan got hit by a flying ice chunk...three 5 year olds playing in the snow and ice and something is bound to happen. I am so surprised that in our 5 1/2 years of being parents, we have never had to make a trip to the ER for stitches. On Tuesday, Evan got hit in the mouth and split his lip open. Luckily, it wasn't an eye and he didn't lose any teeth. He did have to get glued back together. Apparently they try not to stitch on kids' faces anymore and opt for super glue...it is healing up well. He did have a pretty fat lip for a few days...

Here is a picture of him with his gingerbread house that he made at school. Can you believe that every kindergartener got to make one of these and take it home? I am sure the teachers had their hands full that day.

Our other excitement for this week is that Eli started sleeping through the night. For about a week now, he has been going down around 10:30 or so and sleeping until 6:00 or after. There were a couple mornings this week I had to wake him up at 6:45 to feed him and get to daycare! We can handle that!

Here is an Eli smiles from the week...

Three Little Elves

Ok, this is hilarious!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1203056740

A visit with Santa...

Our threats have paid off.....the boys visited with Santa on Friday night. I went with them, so I could sit Eli on Santa's lap and Ben pushed the stroller around to the exit part. He observed the whole conversation without hearing a word of it. The boys were just chatting away with Santa, happy as can be. Isaac told him he would really like a big fire truck and Evan was asking for a Transformer. And then, Santa asked THE QUESTION... The boys just froze, their eyes looked like a deer in the headlights. Ben knew exactly what had happened....the question? "Have you boys been good?" They never did answer, but they now know we are serious...Santa really does care if you are being nice! Ben and I are still laughing about it. The looks on their faces was just priceless...both of them, at the same time just froze. I have never seen two boys more nervous for Christmas morning...

7 weeks and back to work...

The Kalainoff Boys

It is hard to believe that my maternity leave is up...Eli is 7 1/2 weeks old and today was our first day back in the routine. Eli and Isaac both did very well today at daycare. Eli enjoyed watching the other kids, slept when he was supposed to and took the bottle well. That does make things feel a bit better, but it sure is hard to leave him. When I got there to pick him up, he had a huge smile for me. I think he was happy to know that I didn't reall forget him! I am sure he was wondering where I was all day. Isaac enjoyed feeeling important, as he got to practice his role as big brother! He is so proud!

Turkey on the loose...

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Here are some cute pictures from the week...

He Smiles -- 6 weeks

Eli is cracking some real smiles and it is so cute!

Big Boy Eli

Eli can hold his head up so strong! Here are some cute pictures of Eli during tummy time....

And with Uncle David....

And Uncle Brent....

And so it begins...

Evan started wrestling on Tuesday night. He came home and decided that he absolutely loves it! Ben had conferences on both nights of practice so I got to watch. It was so cute to watch him...he just listened so intently and worked so hard. He practiced some more in the living room after he got home...he had to show Ben and Isaac everything he learned. He is going to have a tough run of things already weighing 63 pounds! The other kindergarteners are about 15 pounds smaller than him. He had to wrestle a bigger kid at practice (3rd or 4th grade) and got taken down right away. When he came home, he wasn't discouraged at all...he just said that "Jacob's brother took me down because I wasn't protecting my legs" He at least knows what he needs to do. Right now, we are not going to do the tournaments, just the practices unless Evan really wants to wrestle in a match sometime after some more practices. It is fun to see him getting to experience all these new things.

Eli Update -- 1 month
Evan and Isaac have been so good with Eli. They are so attentive to him and are always trying to help out...they sing to him, hold him, give him his pacifier...it is so cute. They shared their colds with him last week. Eli ended up with a cold at 3 weeks. His nose was very stuffy and he started coughing. We waited it out for a week and finally we made a trip to the doctor. They put him on antibiotics just to make sure it didn't turn into anything worse. He has been on them for 5 days and he is doing a lot better. He weighed 11 pounds 11 oz. already! So, it looks like we are doing something right! He is sleeping pretty well at night and is almost ready to smile. He has cracked a few smiles, and he just looks at us like any moment he is going to smile a "real" smile.

4 weeks old and Happy Halloween!

Ok, so I am not crazy...the other night, Eli rolled from his tummy to his back two times. When I got the video camera out, he wouldn't do it again. Tonight he rolled three different times...this video is proof that I am noth making it up!

And here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch and Halloween. Evan and Isaac were Power Rangers.

Eli 4 weeks old