Monday, December 29, 2008

The Christmas aftermath

We had such a wonderful holiday this past week. My family traveled up to spend it with us. There was lots of food, hot toddys, and no cards! We were all so worn out by the end of the night, we all opted for bedtime. Christmas morning was so much fun. Luke kept Emmett busy while the rest of us got ready and in place for the grand entrance into the living room where Santa had left way to many presents(Emmett was not THAT good this year!). There was a huge bear sitting at a table and chairs right where Emmett walked in. Mom and I had cameras going-one on video and the other snapping pictures! He looked very confused and almost worried. It took a bit til he got into present mode. We had to take a nap time break around 9am. While Emmett napped, the rest of us opened our presents and enjoyed a bountiful breakfast feast and bubbly mimosas. We also decided to put away a few presents that Luke and I got for Emmett til his birthday. He was already seeming to be overwhelmed and really could wait on a few of the gifts. When he awoke, we finished the rest of the gifts and played all day. It turns out Luke and I gave him the most annoying gift. We were sure it was going to be the talking Elmo. The talking Handy Manny tool set is soooo very irritating(a big thanks goes out to cousin Trish for finding the tools at Kohls!). We had crown roast of pork for dinner. It turned out very pretty and delicious too. Of course the fixings with it were good, but the pork was really the star of the show. I wish I had taken a picture before we tore into it.


Luke and Chrissy braved the freezing temps and blowing snow to spend the morning after Christmas at Red Lodge Mountain. The slopes were covered with about 4-5 inches of fresh powder! The rest of us came up to meet them for beers and lunch afterwards.

Saturday, "the girls" went post-christmas shopping in Billings. We left the "boys" to fend for themselves for the day. We hit many stores and saved tons of cash with the sales going on. We came home with a pretty loaded car. I actually got most stocking stuffers and a few gifts checked of the list for next year!

Mark had his 60th birthday this weekend! Wish we could have been there to celebrate! Wishing you a happy healthy birthday and many more to come!

Now the house is quiet as Mom, Dad, Chrissy, Ken and the dog Holly drove home yesterday. The house is cleaned , laundry is finally done, and I don't plan on cooking for the rest of the week due to the amount of leftovers in the fridge. Back to plain, old normal. See you all in a few weeks!





Playing with Uncle Ken's gift


Eating Santa's cookies
Playing outside in the cold
Christmas eve gift

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas morning

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is just the beginning glimpse of Christmas morning at the Anderson home.....

Friday, December 19, 2008

Christmas is coming...

I held a Christmas cookie play date on Wednesday that was a ton of fun. It was the ladies that normally get together and have play dates along with a few extra moms. Everyone brought a plate of cookies and their appetites! The cookies were delicious and we had a nice spread of dips, chips and other munchies. The kids were very well behaved and all played so nicely together. When nap time became apparent for many kiddos, everyone pitched in and helped pick up toys and headed for home. We will definitely have a second annual Christmas Cookie play date next year.







I finally got my Christmas cards in the mail and Luke and I stayed up to address them last night so they could go out this morning. I am so far behind this year..... We have gotten so many great cards in the mail. Wonderful family photos and beautiful wedding photos, and even a cute pop-up card from Great Grandma Yorty(Emmett has already demolished that one)!





All the presents are finally wrapped! That took a bit. I had to wait until nap time so I didn't have any help! At the cookie party, somebody had gotten into the closet where some of the gifts were stored. They had pulled out Emmett's presents(not wrapped at the time!) and Emmett and another little boy were playing with them. At least I know he will enjoy them Christmas morning! We can't have any presents under the tree until at least Christmas eve. Emmett just tears into them. This should be a really great Christmas!
Amy graduates from the Police Academy today! A big congrats goes out to her for all of her hard work and dedication. Sorry we can't be there, but you know we are behind you all the way!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Cold and Blustery day

It has been snowing since this morning and is now about 1 degree outside. Today was the Cody Christmas celebration...most of it outdoors! Needless to say we skipped most of it(ok, all of it). We went into town to pick up a few items at the grocery store for the weekend and then had lunch at the mexican place. It was a pretty snow in town, not blowing sideways like at our house. We had a pretty uneventful week, but a few funny pictures came out of it. The first one is of Emmett asleep in a precarious spot. He would not take a nap for me. So I let him run himself out and thought I would move him to the crib. He fell asleep under the coffee table. I would have had to move the coffee table to carry him to his crib, so I let him sleep on the floor. He woke up with a huge print of the rug on his cheek! At least I got an hour of peace.

The video is hysterical. I think it was from Monday and it had snowed the night before. So we were kinda home bound for the day. We did go outside for a few minutes, but mostly stayed inside. Emmett and I built forts out of blankets and the couches. I basically felt like I was a kid on a snow day. Not sure why I thought riding on Emmett's sit and spin would be a good idea, but it sure makes for a funny video for when Emmett and I showed Daddy later that night! Emmett laughs and giggles the whole time. I think cause he can't make it spin, it must be pretty fun! I bet I can get my sister to take it for a ride when she is here for Christmas......







Grammy and Poppy sent Emmett a musical card that sings Holly, Jolly Christmas when you open it. He loves those cards. They also sent some stickers that you get for free in the mail around this time. I think he loved those even more. I helped him take them off the sheet, but placed them where he wanted. He started with his coloring book and moved on to a bigger canvas....daddy's shirt! Luke was covered with them. It was a pretty cute sight!


Lastly, he has wanted something for the corner of the counter all morning long. Finally we figured out it was an apple in the fruit bowl. Luke got one of them out and started cutting it into pieces. That started a tantrum so we gave him another apple to carry around and that seemed to solve the problem. He wanted to eat it himself. Such an independent! He lost interest after a few bites but worth it for the kodak moment! Hope you all are enjoying the weekend so far. I catch up with everyone next week!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Playing in the snow







I had no idea that it was going to snow this morning! We woke up to a few inches and now it has started to snow again! I love when the ground is white. I bundled Emmett up and headed outside to play. He loves the white stuff! We ran around the backyard for a bit and then to the driveway to play with the snowshovel.



Our turkey dinner last night was delicous! It wound up being pretty funny as well. Emmett shoved a pea up his nose and it got stuck! Luckily, we have nurses for neighbors and they came over with a hemastat and pulled out the pea. We were worried about using tweezers cause of how far up the pea had gone. Emmett was like a new man once the pea was removed. We all had a good laugh after that one.


Sunday, December 7, 2008

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Fun decorating the tree

We had a blast finishing up the tree with a few ornaments. I didn't realize how many of our ornaments are glass so none of those were put up this year. Maybe in about 10 years....

Emmett's vocabulary is really taking off. He pretty much can mimick any word you give him and some have stuck around. The video is demonstration of his expanding holiday vocab!

















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Pictures with Santa

The Holiday Open House at the Historical Center was nice and also quick. We got in line to see Santa and were thru in no time. Emmett sat on Santa's lap and never changed his expression. He wasn't sure what to do. As soon as we left he "wowed" and "Ohhhed". Just not for the camera! Oh well. They had this beautiful Christmas tree made of antlers and lights. Very unique. Emmett really liked walking around the animal displays and there is a children's section that we played in for a bit. We all were hungry and ready to head home after only an hour.


Today we are going to hang the ornaments on the tree, while watching the Chiefs-Broncos game. Since we both were sick for Thanksgiving(Luke on the day and me for leftovers!), we are reliving the holiday with a turkey and all the fixin's for dinner. Should be a nice day with the family!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Christmas festivities begin!

So Luke and I had a friend watch Emmett so we could go to our first Christmas party of the season. It was at the Olive Glen Country Club, which was decorated beautifully. There was plenty of items on a silent auction that we did not need to spend money on so we walked right by and headed to the bar. The food was a bit overdone so it was a tad disappointing for our night out. Plus, it was served really late so we were a little late getting back to the sitters. All in all, it was nice to get out for the night, but we had hoped for a much better meal! We are in the works to go see Santa today so I will post some pictures when we get back.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Volleyball

SO while I was in Colorado, MOPSquad did very well in the tournament and got us to the finals last night. We won the whole thing! It was a great time playing with all those women and look forward to it in the future!

Video from Zoo

This is Emmett and Deb chasing the peacock. Listen closely!

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Love, the Flu















It was a great trip home to see both of our families. Except we all were sick at some point or other...with the flu. We had a wonderful dinner at Matt and Becky's on Sunday before the holiday. It was loaded with food, drink and fun for the kids(of all ages!). They blew up the jumpy thing and had a blast. Emmett slept thru dinner, which gave us time to enjoy ours! He wound up getting sick in bed that night(he was definitely the carrier of the plague). He seemed ok the next morning, maybe a bit congested, but didn't really think too much of it at the time....
We visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on Monday. The weather was nice and we decided to take advantage of it while we could. Debbie was able to take off work for the afternoon to join us. The zoo is perched up on a hilltop with amazing views, large hills to climb and tons of really great animals. You can even feed the giraffes! Emmett loved their big bluish tongues! Emmett and Deb wound up chasing a peacock and it's on video! Emmett and Grandma are yelling "I'm gonna getcha!". Pretty cute! There were hippos, monkeys, a crazy moose, mountain lions, otters, a bear "cleaning" himself and a play area called My Big Backyard that was a ton of fun. Becky and Max met up with us there and we got to walk the zoo with them til we all went home for naps.






We left the springs on Wednesday to make our way up to Loveland to my parent's house. On the way we stopped to visit a few friends and have lunch with Cousin Allison and Chuck, and Uncle Bob and Aunt Donna. Allison and Emmett "played" pool. It was a hoot! Emmett ran around the pool table with the cue ball and Allison helped him drop the ball in a pocket, then they would run around to the return to watch the ball drop out. It was a great lunch and we really enjoyed getting to spend a bit of time with them during the holidays.
We fought some traffic thru Denver and got up to my folk's house a bit later than planned, but enjoyed the food and fun with all the family we had in town. Cousin Trish and Cody and their boys, Colton and Brayden were already there from Salt Lake. Aunt Jude and Uncle Bill made it in from Missouri a bit later that night(after a few missed turns in the dark!). We played lots of cards and games, watched lots of football and some of us got to eat our hearts out. Those of us who weren't sick on Thanksgiving. Poor Luke! He loves mashed potatoes and gravy. Not to worry...he played cards like a champ and really pulled through. We got up early to shop Black Friday- 4am! By the time we got into town, Chrissy wasn't feeling so hot. None of us felt quite right. We shopped right thru it. Until Chrissy needed to get home. She was next on the Flu's list of holiday cheer. We dropped her off to rest at home and went back to shopping. We were headed home, when mom wasn't feeling so hot. We wound up going in to the ER to have her checked out. Turns out her gallbladder was acting up. While at the hospital, I took a turn for the worse, got sick and Trish had to drive me home(Dad was there to stay with mom at the time). I think I slept most of the rest of Friday and felt better by morning, just in time to make the 7 hour drive. It was a gorgeous morning though. It snowed a bit the night before and made for a beautiful sunrise. As we began our trek home, we ran into 2 elk on the side of the road. It made for a good start to our day. Trish, Cody and boys got stuck on their ride to visit some friends on the way home. There was horrible road conditions and hours of road closures. Then, Aunt Jude woke up Saturday and was sick for their drive back to Missouri. No one felt good til Sunday or so. Now my dad's sick in bed today! We must have really gotten hit hard with some bug! Oh well.....best way to not gain any holiday pounds, I guess!






































Saturday, November 15, 2008

Elmo videos

These are pretty cute! Dark, but cute!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Elmo Makes Music











Emmett sure had a great time at Elmo Makes Music. I had a great time watching Emmett! I have never seen him so fascinated and joyful! He danced his heart out and then danced and sang and clapped some more. Courtney and I decided to get tickets for the show a few weeks ago and I am sure glad we did. Darby knew most of the characters and was in pure heaven. Calling out their names and waving. Emmett followed her lead and waved at all the furry people. Darby, Cooper and Emmett were so well behaved and it even lasted thru lunch. I have not gotten to actually eat my lunch at a restaurant in quite some time(we're definitely at that stage).







Emmett has recently found a stash of Daddy's cereal. "They're magically delicious!" is what I think Emmett is saying as he picks thru the cereal puffs to pick out the colorful marshmallows. He has also found pleasure in taking out all of the toys from the crock and putting himself back in. Must be a fun game.....cause the crock is almost always empty!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Something good in everything


With all bad things, there must be good. I got to visit with my family while back in Denver for a few days. It was good to see my brother Ken. He looks good and witty as always! Chrissy, too. We got to have a "few" glasses of wine on Friday night. Luke got to stay in Denver with Dayven and their friends for a beer after the service. He and Tim came back to my parent's house for a few toddy's as well. We had a good time playing cards(mom played too!) and catching up on old stories, at least that's what I can remember. Tim was attacked by Emmett's Christmas present and the game of airplane was played a few times. You know, airplane, where you lift someone up with your feet and try not to drop them. Pretty humorous pictures. Emmett loves to play this with Aunt Chrissy. He, fortunately, was already in bed by the time the adults tried to play.




Kate Williams gave Emmett a suit at his baby shower and he wore it to the service on Friday. He sure looks good in a suit. I wish my picture came out better of our family.