Christmas Eve

This year we had dinner at Casey's parent's house on Christmas Eve.  We usually go to his Grandma Sorensen's house - but the family is just getting to big & her cute house in Mantua isn't growing with us!  It sucks that traditions have to change - but I guess every family has to deal with it somehow.  To start the night off - we were late.  We are usually NEVER late, but this night we were 30 whole minutes late.  What sucks - is I think it was the first time that EVERYONE else was on time.  I felt really bad - but I think we all survived our lateness. 

 

We had a delicious dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, a yummy green salad (it had almonds, Mandarin oranges, some type of vinaigrette...it was fab), and tons of desserts!  I should've gotten a picture of Casey's dessert plate.  I think it was filled up more than his dinner plate was.  He LOVES his mom's trifle & his family has a carrot pudding recipe that I swear he dreams about.

 

There wasn't a lot planned for the night - so the siblings just exchanged gifts.  Shelby gave us cash to spend on whatever we please & Colby & Tamara did a really fun 12 Days of Christmas gifts.  Let's see how good my memory is...

 

1 bag of potatoes

2 2-liters of soda

3 bottles of laundry detergent

4 bottles of dish soap

5 tubes of toothpaste

6 toothbrushes

7 pounds of pancake mix

8 pounds of rice

9 packets of gravy mix

10 packets of hot chocolate

11 bags of microwave popcorn

12 rolls of toilet paper

 

I thought it was a fun idea & I had fun opening each thing!  12 presents to open is just FUN!!

 

Caleb entertained us with a couple of songs.  Jingle Bells & Santa Claus is coming to town.  He altered one line in Santa Claus is coming to town, "He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for HELLNESS sake"  Now - I know that I say "For Hells sake" a lot more than I should and I guess he caught on.  oopsie.  He did end up correcting it on his own by the end of the Christmas season - so I guess that was good.

 Grandma Mona had LOTS of helpers when she was opening her presents.

 Every year I give Colby's family & Shelby's family little calendars for Christmas.  There is only 1 picture on each month & it is so hard to pick which picture to use!  They always seem to love them & I love to watch them reminisce as they are looking.

 Little McKenna just wants to love on my girls so badly!!!  She has been known to be a little rough with them on occasion, so my girls are kind of timid around her.

 Taylor is usually a good sport & will give a McKenna a couple of squeezes when she sees her.  Hopefully the 3 of them will one day be GREAT friends.  They are only 6 weeks apart.

 We even managed to get a fairly decent family picture!!!  Rylee & Logan aren't very happy - but that isn't too shabby for 15 people!

When we got home the kids all got to open 1 present.  A present of my choice of course :)

 Taylor was adorable opening her present this year.

Now the challenge for the evening.  Getting a picture of the cuties in their new pajamas in front of the Christmas tree.  I love this one of Caleb & Taylor - Rylee was NOT having it.

 Again - Taylor was being adorable.

 Casey thought he would try to help - Rylee did NOT like that idea either.

 This was the best I got this year.  Ahhhhhh - memories.

 Casey & I put the girls to bed & then Caleb helped us get milk & cookies ready for Santa.  He was so excited.  He didn't even want a story this night.  He kept saying, "We have to get to bed so that Santa can come!!"

 

Anderson Christmas Party

It's Christmas time again!   It sure seemed to arrive out of nowhere this year!  We are all feeling better (HOORAY!) and I can now start getting my house back in order from being down for 2 freaking weeks.  Downside to feeling better...I have to start making dinner again.  Every. Single. Night. 

 

The Saturday before Christmas my mom & dad's fabulous family got together.   We had dinner, played some games, opened presents, ate dessert & then were on our merry way.  I do love my family & they never seem to disappoint me for entertainment.  I am glad we aren't lame.  At some point in the evening on of Angela's boys said, "That was easy."  Jordon replied with, "Your mom is easy."  Angela replied with, "YOUR mom is easy."  To this second....it's still cracking me up for some reason.

 

Taylor & Rylee playing with some toys while the adults played games.

 Eva was SOOOOO ready for her close up!  She has the cutest cheesy grin that I have EVER seen.

 Taylor & Rylee were GREAT at helping Papa Don (& everyone else) when it was their turn for pictionary.  We decided we were going to play EVEN birthdays against ODD birthdays.  Angela raised her hand as even....ummmmm...her birthday is 11/23/77....which one of those numbers is even?  Silly girl.

 We attempted a picture of the grandkids by the Christmas tree....No workie.

 Caleb was so excited to open presents this year.  He got an awesome tool set from Blake.

Casey & I both got a gift card to Amazon.com from my parents (and some FABULOUS ground beef).  How in the heck are you supposed to decide what to buy when you have pretty much ENDLESS items to choose from?!?!

My parents gave Caleb a dreamlites monkey. He loved it.

In this picture Jordon is holding it up so Caleb can see the stars reflecting on the ceiling - the smile on his face is priceless.  Every night since he got it, he sleeps with it & turns it on as soon as we turn out his light.  He LOVES it.

My parents gave Taylor & Rylee an adorable wagon.  It will be so much fun this coming summer!  

I don't have any pictures - but Rylee got some cute dress up shoes from Griffen & Taylor got a beautiful necklace from Eva.  Rylee gave Eva a gear toy that I hope she LOVES.

Taylor got Griffen an awesome hooded Batman snuggie.

 Caleb got Blake a bop-it.  That game ticks me off.

It was a fun night!

I. Am. Dying.

Last Tuesday I didn't feel the best.  Just kind of run down - nothing to serious.  Wednesday....a little worse, but tolerable.  Thursday - death was knocking at my door.  You may think that I'm being a bit dramatic but I have NEVER been so sick.  My toes hurt, my hair hurt, my back was breaking, I was hacking up my lungs. . . .

I had to wait at the Dr office for 30 minutes & I was just about asleep when the Doc decided to show his face.  He was probably watching me on a hidden camera & just waited until I was almost passed out.  He took one look at me & said, "Uh oh.  I can look at you & tell you feel like crap."  After a nasty swab up my left nostril I was diagnosed with Influenza B.  The freaking flu.  To this day (8 days later) I am still sick.  My fever is gone, but I still feel like I've been hit by a truck.  To add insult to injury, Taylor & Rylee were diagnosed with it on Monday.  The both slept ALL day yesterday.  I bet they weren't awake for 4 total hours.  Today they don't have an appetite - but they aren't quite as sleepy.

Casey has been wonderful.  I slept for almost 2 days straight.  He took 2 days off of work & has been handling the dishes, the sweeping, the vacuuming & 3 meals/day for everyone.  I know, I know...stuff a woman does on a daily basis, but for a man to conquer this I was impressed!!  Caleb & Casey are both feeling fine & I am PRAYING that we are better within the next couple of days.  I have NEVER been this freaking sick!

Happy 5th Birthday Caleb

Caleb is already 5 years old!! 

Casey & I did the fun parent thing & we had a little birthday party for him.  It was actually a success!  Caleb has really been into all kinds of animals & insects lately so that is what we based the party events around.  (Now - by WE I assume you all know that I mean ME....Casey was a trooper & helped throughout the party, but I was the fabulous planner :) ) 

• We hid lizards, snakes & some whales in the back yard  & the kids had to find as many as they could. 
• I read them The Very Hungry Caterpillar book & then we wrapped them up in cocoons (toilet paper) & they busted out of them just like a butterfly.
• We helped each kid make 3 different puppets.  A lion, an elephant & a monkey.
• They all enjoyed some cupcakes & ice cream.
• All of the kids were so excited to have Caleb open his gifts.  They all wanted Caleb to open their present first!

 This year was the first year I didn't make his cake.  The silly boy wanted an ANGRY gorilla....it was out of my league.  I couldn't find a shape cake pan for that & all of the ones that I saw on the Internet stressed me out.  With the twins being all over & the day care kids & the challenge of a cake I didn't know how to make, I had it made.  It was AWESOME & DELICIOUS & Caleb LOVED it.  Hopefully next year I can make his cake again.

 He chose cheese pizza for his birthday dinner.  Y U M.  He opened a whole lot of presents!  He got a TON of jumbo toy animals from Casey & I - some stencils & Captain America on a motorcycle from the Jensen's - and some clothes (which he called AWESOME) and a semi truck from Casey's parents.  My parents are going to take him out to dinner later this week.  He was so excited to eat his cake.  He kept telling me, "Mom, I really want to eat the gorilla's face"  Wish granted.

Even Eddie was excited for the festivities!

How does this happen???

How do they grow from this.....

to this.....

 to this so quickly??

A new family member...& Christmas Village!

On Saturday, December 1st there were presents on our kitchen table!  Caleb opened them up & we have a new family member.

 Eddie the Elf!  Eddie will visit us every December & make sure that we are all being good boys & girls so that we can have a GREAT Christmas.  He flies back to the North Pole every night & reports to Santa on our behavior for the day.  Caleb wants to hold Eddie so badly - but he isn't to be played with or touched or he will lose his magic.  Eddie brought us The Polar Express DVD & a new Chrstmas book.

 When Caleb woke up on Sunday - Eddie had decided to read some of our stuffed animals a story.  How nice!!  Caleb thought it was pretty cute.

On Monday Taylor had an appointment in Layton at the Rocky Mountain Allergy clinic.  She has a weird rash around her mouth that sometimes gets worse when she eats.  So - probably an allergy or food irritation of some kind, right?  NOPE.  She was allergic to nothing.  The prick test was heart breaking!  They poked her back 4 different times & I couldn't even hug her because her back couldn't touch anything for 15 minutes after the pricking.  A Dum Dum sucker helped - it was a freaking mess, but she wasn't sobbing as hard.  She would start to cry all over again when the nurse would come into check though - that was kind of funny.

 

Since we were already down that way, we met my friend MaLynda & her family at Christmas Village in Ogden.

 Caleb told Santa that he wanted a big truck.  I hope that he is a good boy & can get one this year!  He also told Santa all about Eddie & Santa said that he had talked to Eddie & that he had told Santa that Caleb was being very good.

 One word comes to mind on this one.

Classic.

We ended the evening with dinner at the pizza factory.  Breadsticks, alfredo dipping sauce as thick as frosting, & a vanilla coke.  A fabulous way to end the night.