What We've Been Up To

January has been long, cold and snowy, but we've had fun! 

I used to put Chase and Owen in this chair each month to take a picture of how they've they grown.  Jeff and I found them sitting here one night and thought a picture was in order.

 

I catch Owen in the pantry nosing around and yawning.

 

Cousin Sophie had a birthday party and we had a lot of fun.  Chase smiles.

 

Owen gives  a shy smile.

 

Owen eats a sucker.

 

Look at my sucker mama!

 

Chase, Sophie and Owen

 

All the kids are looking!  It's a miracle!

 

Chase and Owen give the birthday girl a kiss.

 

We painted with our new brushes from Nana and Papa Anderson-Owen shows off his hands

 

Chase works on his masterpiece.

 

Owen makes a hand print.

 

The view from above-lots of paint, hand prints and fun!

How to Keep a Dog Named Millie Away from Your Sucker

Millie is a dog. She wants my sucker. Here's what I do to prevent her from licking my sucker.

 

First you pull the sucker away and let the dog lick your lips.

 

Then you give her the stare-down while keeping the sucker safely in your mouth.

 

And last, you look that dog right in the eyes and you say, "No no Puppy!"

 

Once this happened Owen had to take pointers from Chase.

Egg Nog

Chase and Owen got to try egg nog at Christmas.  I think this could be an ad for Kemps!

 

Check out Owen's egg nog mustache!  He looks like he had the kind with liquor in it! :)

The Week from You Know Where

It's been the week from hell.  Excuse my language.  Let me give you a brief outline of what I'm talking about and I'm sure you'll agree.

Sunday:  Phone call from my mom saying my dad is in the hospital for back pain.
Monday:  I get sick with fever, chills, nausea
Tuesday:  I'm home from work sick and get "the call".  My Dad was diagnosed with cancer-Multiple Myeloma.  My world is turned upside down.
Thursday:  Owen gets sick in the night.  Vomiting and fever.
Friday:  We stay home from work and daycare to mend.

As you can see it's been a difficult week.  I wish I could say I've been the model Christian and have felt positive and trusted in the Lord the whole time.  I've tried to do this but I'm exhausted for many reasons.  What I do know is that God is good, He is just, He is holy, He is God.  In all the crap of life we can cling to the hope we have in Jesus and that this is not our home.  Eternity awaits and that's enough to get me to tomorrow.

 

 In the midst of the madness, I have two (actually 3) boys in my life who make me smile.  Here Owen smiles at Mama.

 

Owen displays his snowman

 

Love those eyes!

Chase

 

Chasey looks over his cup of hot chocolate

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