Our Christmas

The kids opened up their presents, then their pizza shop. They have stayed very busy making pizza for all their hungry customers.

We headed down to Gresham after John got off work on Friday. Bubs wore out just before hand and this is the position we found him in.

We headed straight for Anderson Christmas...with almost the whole crew.

I am one lucky girl.

On Saturday we were with the Petersen side. The celebration kicked off with all the "big" kids (2 & up) singing Happy Birthday and bringing out Jesus' cake(s). There was one cake per kid...which made 4.

The big boys doing a really good job of sharing...that is such a hard thing to learn.

Attempt at Christmas jammies shot. Jack & Sam were already headed home.

Meet Olive Anderson. She is Aubrey's baby and she goes with us everywhere. Aubs needs to have a girl somewhere in the mix with the lot of boys, right?

These two are hilarious. And they love each other.

We have the cutest nephews in the world. See what I mean? This is the latest edition, Levi.

We had such a happy Christmas. We are so blessed with such great families.

Caroling, Parties, And More

We've been up to quite a bit lately. This is a terrible picture, but a wonderful group of friends who we've been going caroling with through the month of December. Each week we go to a different neighborhood.

I've had a lot of fun lately making different breads. English muffins are lots of fun and make incredible breakfast sandwiches!

We watched Daddy fly a man in a big red suit into town.

Hosted the Anderson family reunion. This was about half of the crew that made the trek over to our neck of the woods.

During the singing time all three kids made their way over to Daddy's lap. I was being very helpful by taking a picture. :)

The ONLY picture of Stuart smiling on his birthday. Somebody was Mr. Cranky Pants that day. I think a tooth and growth spurt may be the culprit.

You wouldn't guess it from this picture but this kid LOVED his cake. I asked him, "Stuart, is that yummy?" to which he replied, "DAH," with a huge nod of his head. Every time he would take a bite he would start nodding his head as if to say, "Yes, this is delicious." And he finished every last bite.

Reading his birthday card.

Aubs & Bryant dancing to a song from Holiday Inn. They are really cute if I might say so myself.

And then the attempts at a 1 year birthday picture. To start with I don't have a fancy camera. To continue it probably wouldn't matter if I did because I am not a photographer. But we tried.

"You want a picture, Mom? HA."

Debonaire.

Happy in the rocking chair.

"Did you want me to smile? Not today."

"Blech...It looked good, it doesn't taste so good."

Squishy cuteness. Oh how I love him.

Stuart Graham

Is it even possible that one year ago today we said hello to our Stuart Graham? Stu boy, what a joy it was to meet you for the first time and to introduce you to your sister and brother.



It's fun thinking back to that afternoon when we all were waiting in anticipation to find out whether you would be a brother baby or a sister baby. Most everyone thought for certain you were going to be a girl but the minute your name was announced we thought, "Well, of course he's Stuart. He is exactly what our family needs."



You certainly have a spirit of independence in you and you are unafraid of danger.
You have been the quickest to walk out of the siblings and the day after you took full steps across the living room I found you standing on top of the fireplace. You love climbing...everything. I recently found you on top of the table in Aubrey & Bryant's room, looking out the window.




Another special thing about you is I would call you a collector. You find empty boxes (like the butter box I left out to burn later) and travel all around the house picking up odds and ends and placing them in your new box. Or cup. You always have some store of treasure in one hand.



Daddy & I pray that you will have a strong soul, steady and firm in your pursuit of God and the plans He has for you. We pray that the determination we have seen in you will grow into a determination to love and serve others, showing them Jesus' love for them. Our hearts are so full of joy, little man, that you are in our lives. Happy birthday. We love you.

It's Always Fun...

...to watch Daddy fly his helicopter. They thought it was cool that he was flying Santa in, and were excited to give Santa pictures they had drawn.

Bonus was Daddy waving as he was shutting down the helicopter. I love John. And I love how deeply he loves his family.


{video credit: Melanee Berman, friend}

I May Have Laughed. And Related.

I may look a little disheveled, but I sure do love these littles.

Away In A Manger