Christmas with the Andersons

We celebrated Christmas with my family over New Year's.

aunt Kate and Owen and Chase

 

Jeff and I in front of my parents' flocked tree-which they ended up with because it was one of the few trees remaining.

 

Lane, my sister Kate, Jeff and I

 

This picture was Jeff's idea

  We made the snowy trek to SD in bad weather that made the drive less than enjoyable.  It wasn't bad the entire way so at least we were not white knuckling it the entire way.  We got to spend some time with my sister, Kate and her husband Lane.

We opened gifts while the boys (Chase only) took a nap.  Owen actually opened most of the gifts for us and was so patient.  He kept walking up to a different adult holding a present for himself.  He would look at the adult with those sad puppy eyes and ask to open the gift.  We finally gave in and let him open one.  After Chase got up we let him and Owen open their gifts. They had a blast and got so many great things.  My mom cooked a great prime rib meal and we ate until we could eat no more. 

 

Dad and Mom

 

Owen helps Nana open a present

 

Owen helps Kate open a present

 Owen carried this present around with him and would ask everyone if he could open it.  He soooo wanted to open this gift.

 Jeff's new drill

 

Owen hangs an ornament on the tree.

 

Owen helps Daddy

 

Owen delivers a gift to Papa

 

Mommy helps Chase open a gift

Chase looks at his new DVD from Kate and Lane-Thomas!

What a pretty package.

New ornaments from Nana and Papa

Katie and my Mom put blush and lip gloss on Owen.  He thought he was pretty special.

Saturday we visited my Grandma Charlotte in Sioux City.  It was fun to visit her in her apartment, which was very warm and welcoming after the cold snowy drive.  We also saw my aunt/uncle/cousins.  The boys had fun playing with my cousin Bobby and even called him by name!  Sunday we ventured to church and Jeff and Lane sang in the choir with my Mom. I tried to keep the boys occupied during the service but we only made it about half way through.  The rest of the time was spent in the basement playing with the pool table.  (Yes, the church has a pool table-weird.).

 

Owen shows his car to Grandma Charlotte

 

Jeff, Owen, Chase and Bobby

 

Chase and Owen help Kate and Grandma get ready in the morning-actually they are taking over the bathroom by opening all the little make up containers.

 

My darling boys

 Our Family

 

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson with Chase and Owen

Fun

The boys have just been loads of fun lately.  They've also been very funny.  It's fun to watch them learn about humor and how to make others laugh.  Tonight they were in the bathtub just laughing hilariously at each other.  They would stick their tongues out at each other then touch the other's tongue and laugh like it was the funniest thing ever.  It was so loud I couldn't talk to my mom who was on the phone with me.

They love to laugh at different characters in books and on TV.  They love to imitate us if we do something funny-or not so funny- but when they do it it is very funny.

 

One of their favorite things to do is to tackle my head when I lay down. I don't know how it started but it's always been a favorite.  It can be quite painful, especially when my hair gets pulled.  This day they were putting their faces right next to mine and just laughing and rubbing their faces in mine.  It was so sweet.

 

Owen laughs with Mommy

 

Chase's bruise from hitting the wall

Lately Owen has been very possessive of me and calls me "My Mommy".  He does this when others are around, or when he just feels like loving on me. He'll give me this cute look, run at me, throw his arms around me neck, put his face next to mine and say, "My Mommy."  It doesn't get much better than this.

Macy's 8th Floor

We started a new tradition this year at Christmas and we visited the Macy's 8th Floor Christmas Exhibit. This year it was "A Day in the Life of an Elf."  The boys were in awe at the beautiful decorations, lights, little toys and elves.  They had fun watching the elves work, play and go to school.  It was exciting to see their eyes light up, watch them discover new things and remember childhood and the magic that occurs at Christmas.  We were going to wait to see Santa but the line was too long, so we got a big cookie instead!

Daddy and Owen waiting to enter Elf Land

Chase is enjoying the scene of the elves at school

Daddy and the boys look at the trees

Chase points at something cool

Owen looks at all the letters children sent to Santa

I try to explain Santa to the boys

Owen watches the elves and trees in awe

Owen and Chase loved the elf exhibit

Daddy with his boys

One of the trees

Chase laughing and looking so cute

Chase and I were talking about all the letters Santa gets at the North Pole

Owen is in awe of the rabbit conducting music and loves it!

Owen was scared by something, look at his eyes and little lips beginning to pout.

Chase and Mommy

Look Mommy-Chase is saying

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a wonderful time in our house to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  The boys got up early, as usual.  Actually we had to wake up Owen around 6:30 because he was sleeping so long!  The 3 of us were waiting and it was too hard to wait any longer.  We had set up the boys' new car ramp so it was the first thing they saw and boy did they love it.  Then the opening began.  Chase and Owen did not want to wait to see who a gift was for, they just wanted to open it. As soon as Chase opened a gift he was on to the next one.  Owen just wanted to play with his car and it was hard to get him back in the mood to open!  The boys got some wonderful gifts and were so happy and thankful for what they got. 

We had a little egg bake, Jim and Sandy showed up mid-morning and we began to cook.  Sandy made a great meal for us all and Pat's family showed up late afternoon for dinner.  We relaxed and the kids played and had fun.  We even had a Red Cake which was turned into a birthday cake for Jesus.  The kids each got a turn to blow out the candle and then we all enjoyed cake. 

Stockings stuffed full of fun toys!

 

Chase opens a new Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD

 

Owen and Daddy open a book

 

Chase is intent upon opening this gift.

 

Chase loves his new Elmo slippers

I love this picture of Chase staring at Elmo on his feet wtih Daddy and Owen smiling and opening in the back

Daddy helps Owen open a gift while Chase looks on.

 

Chase opens new jammies

 

Owen drives his new truck

 

Mommy helps Owen open his gift.

 

Owen plays with his new Doodle Pro

 

Owen still plays with his truck while Chase puts the Duplo box on his head.

 

Looking in his stocking, Owen finds treasures

Nana and Papa Berger and their grandkids

 

Chase and Sophie hugged . . . 

 

And kissed.

 

Owen had to get a hug in too.

 

Dinner time

 

Red cake is yummy!

 

Owen loves his cake!

A New Do

Daddy got a little scissors happy with Chase's hair.  So much so that I called him "chop chop" because of how choppy and terrible it looked.  To fix his hair our daycare lady, Kelly, had to make a drastic cut.  Check it out.  Introducing the new Chase!

Notice the yellow bruise on his cheek? That was a result of a crash with the window sill after he was launched off the end of the slide in our living room.  He looks like a cute little bruiser.