Christmas Eve

Caleb & I made some fabulous sugar cookies for Santa a couple of days before Christmas Eve. Santa is LUCKY that we saved 2 cookies for him! It was a struggle. Caleb is a little cookie lover! Actually - he's more of a frosting lover.

On Christmas Eve we headed to Casey's Grandma's house in Mantua. We had soup, breadsticks & desserts. TONS of desserts.

Here is Grandpa Brad helping Taylor open her present. She & Rylee got stuffed animal dolphins. Rylee was CRACKING up at hers.

Grandma Sorensen gave Caleb a cute lion. He loves it.
Caseys' Grandma made EACH girl in the family a knitted poncho. They are wonderful. I think that they are so cute & so warm! I also love the color of mine. What a woman!

Before bedtime the kids all got to open their Christmas pajamas. I love these kids. I can't believe that Taylor & Rylee look almost as tall as Caleb in this picture! We sat out Santa's cookies and milk and then went to bed.

Ho Ho Ho

One of my childhood Christmas memories is of my mom & sisters meeting my Aunt Sandra & her kids at Ogden's Christmas Village to walk around & see Santa. I think that I am going to start doing this with my little family. The city sure has spiffied the place up! This year it was way to chilly to take the girls out to wait in line, so Casey stayed home with them while I took Caleb. We met my friends MaLynda & Jess & their darling daughter Aliyah.

Checking out the baking display. Caleb wanted to eat a cupcake SO BAD!

I love these next pictures. I remember loving looking at all of the different displays & being so excited to see what was going to be in the next one. Here they are watching Santa's elves hard at work.The baking window.

These kids were so good. I was an idiot mom & forgot mittens for Caleb & his hands were freezing. Aliyah's coat was a little to big, so she let Caleb wear her mittens & she stuffed her hands up her sleeves. HOW NICE! What is mind blowing to me is Aliyah is a whole year YOUNGER than Caleb. She's at least a whole head taller & 20 pounds heavier. My kid flat out won't grow!

Caleb LOVED this train.
As soon as we got to Santa's door (after waiting in line for an hour & ten minutes) Caleb looked at me - his eyes full of tears & said "I want to go home." He was DONE waiting. Once we got in & he saw Santa he was okay. He didn't want to sit on his lap - but did tell Santa that he wanted a 4 wheeler & trucks for Christmas. Hopefully he's been a good boy & Santa can get him what he asked for.

Anderson Christmas Party

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL (busy, weight gaining, dramatic, stressful, magical, family fun) TIME OF THE YEAR! The Anderson Family Christmas party has come & gone. I look forward to it every year. We had a delish dinner consisting of funeral potatoes, rolls (from Kneaders...Y U M), halibut, salmon, beef roast, peas, veggie tray & cheese ball. It's weird how as the years have went by - we just don't seem to consume as much food as we use to. There were a TON of leftovers.

One of my favorite Christmas party activities is the yearly pictionary tournament. It's fun to see everyones " ART " skills. Here is a picture of Caleb & Blake. Blake's picture was "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus".

Still playing pictionary. I love how Dylan & Griffen both look super special.
Taylor (left) & Rylee (right) in their party cardys & baby legs from Aunt Ida.
Caleb got a Thomas the Train pillow pet from Grammy & Papa Don. He LOVED it...until he saw that Blake got a shark pillow pet. BUT - Caleb has since forgotten about the Shark & sleeps with Thomas every night.

Opening up a toy from Griffen & Blake to Taylor & Rylee. They were sleepy little girls during present time.

Caleb got the RIO DVD, some finger paints & a sucker from Baby Bodine.

My cute scarf & head warmer *WITH* a spot for your ponytail from my parents. Casey got some nice sunglasses.

All of the Anderson grandchildren. Griffen is holding Taylor & Blake is holding Rylee.

Super sporty Angela showing her new head warmer.

My parents got all of the kids these fabulous sleigh bells. I think that they are my favorite gift. My Aunt Marchelle made them & I think that she did an outstanding job.

The party was the day after my birthday...so my mom got a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting for us to enjoy.

Taylor (left) & Rylee (right) in their new pajamas holding their baby dolls from Grammy & Papa Don.

Happy Birthday to Caleb!

My Caleb turned 4 years old! Really? F O U R? It's been a lot of fun watching him grow. He is talking so much more. His new thing (which annoys me greatly) is when I talk to him & he doesn't want to have a conversation, he will say "Shush mom!" I'm attempting to get him to ask me NICELY to please be quiet.

Caleb was excited to help decorate his cupcakes. He LOVES frosting. He would barely get some frosting to come out of the bag & onto the cupcake & then he'd lick it off.

He wanted a train cake this year. Wish granted.

We had Casey's family come over & then my family came over a couple of hours later. Our house is not large enough to accommodate all of the love! Caleb helped each group sing 'Happy Birthday to Caleb' and was the loudest one singing each time. He would then applaud his awesomeness.

After he blew out his candles on his cupcakes with my family he exuberantly said "That's my boy!!!" It was hilarious!

He got a lot of great gifts. A basketball hoop, clothes, a nursery rhyme book, puzzles, a Thomas movie, slippers, a matching game, a Go Fish game, a tape measure, a James train & Sir Topem Hatt.

He loved his construction truck puzzle!!

Rylee, McKenna & Taylor partying it up. McKenna is 6 weeks younger than Taylor & Rylee. I love to see other babies. My little sister is going to have a baby any day & I am so excited to see her as well! My dad & Taylor relaxing.

Caleb & his birthday dinner - mac & cheese, fish sticks & corn.

I said to Caleb after I took the first picture "Let's take one more where you aren't being silly." You can guess why I didn't bother trying again.

He had a fabulous birthday surrounded by everyone that he loves. He is one lucky boy. His favorite color is blue & his favorite movie is 'How to Train Your Dragon'. He weighs a whopping 30 pounds. He loves to play with trucks, cars, trains....anything that can go. One thing that cracks me up is I will say "Caleb....you are so handsome!" He'll respond "NO!! DAD is handsome...I'm cute."

Decorating the Christmas Tree

I like to put up the Christmas tree & decorations that day after Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving......this is what Caleb decided to do to my cheesecake as it was cooling on the counter top.

I managed to keep my cool. I took them out immediately after seeing them & he FREAKED. He said "HEY!! Put my guys back in that mud!" So - I did. I wasn't about to make another cheesecake (my sister convinced me I was CRAZY to even think about it) so 'the guys' got served with the Thanksgiving desserts this year. I hope that Casey's family didn't mind.

Rylee wasn't too interested in all of the commotion while we were putting the tree up. She was to busy serenading us.

Taylor LOVED the cords under the tree. Not good!

Caleb stared at the tree for a long time. He loved it!

Caleb got a "How To Train Your Dragon" ornament this year. It is Hiccup riding on Toothless the dragon. Caleb calls them baby Toothless & baby Hiccup because they are so small.

Taylor & Rylee each got a precious ceramic stroller for their first Christmas ornament. It has a crystal star hanging from the canopy. I hope it is something that they will treasure later in life.

9 months

My sweet Taylor & Rylee just had their 9 month checkup. They are FABULOUSLY healthy! They are long & lean & adorable. They both have 4 teeth (2 top & 2 bottom) all of the way through & each have 2 more on top just about through. They are both doing the 'army crawl' & getting up onto their hands & knees & rocking back & forth. I'm going to be tripping over 2 little girls in no time at all.

Taylor

17 lbs 10 oz - 26 percentile

29.5 inches long - 95 percentile

45.2 head circ. - 80 percentile

Rylee

17 lbs 12 oz - 29 percentile

29.25 inches - 93 percentile

44.9 head circ. - 74 percentile

I don't know what I would do without my sweet cousin Amber. She has taken so many adorable pictures of my girls & I don't know how I will ever repay her for the sweet memories she has made for me. All of the pages for this post were taken at the end of September when Taylor & Rylee were about 7 1/2 months old.

Rylee....so sweet & innocent sucking on her little fingers....

POW! Right in the kisser.

Take that Taylor.
So stinkin sweet.

"Hey guys....we're getting kind of sick of this....

...seriously. All the clapping...whisteling...flashes of light....

Knock it off or I'm gonna lay down.

...I'm serious!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Come on Taylor...it's your turn."

My mom & aunt Sandra were in tears when the went through these pictures. I've never heard ANYONE laugh so freaking hard. They were actually feeding off of each other's laughter. One would throw in a cackle...the other would snort...then they'd cry....laugh...cackle...snort. Ashley, Amber & I didn't know whether to laugh along with them...cry because it's hereditary...or call an ambulance in case one had a heart attack.