Special Gifts

Anna had a very good Christmas! So many thoughtful gifts that she will find joy in playing with for years to come! This is a little blanky with a monkey head that rattles and very soft blanket to curl up with! Thank you Jama for thinking of our little Anna! She loves her new soft toy!

And of course G.G. Olsen thought of Anna by making her a very special bear! It is so soft and sweet and Anna really took to it! Thank you for such a sweet gift!
She also recieved many other gifts from family and friends so mommy had to go through all her old toys and prepare them to move along. Our little girl is growing up! Infact in the last 7 days she has had 6 teeth make their way into her mouth. Ouch! Thank goodness for oral gel and tylenol! We only managed to have one sleepless night so that is good! So our little Anna is growing like a weed and getting very long! She is barely fitting in her 12 month clothing and she just turned 8 months! Crazy how fast it goes!

The Gift Exchange!

Here we are again! Another season of giving......and taking! This year the youngsters took to the game quite well! They almost look like they are conspiring some plot to take over the game! So innocent looking..... ya right! Actually they are sweeties and very glad to have them join in on all the fun! By the way, great job Carlee and Makenna!

It was quite a crowd in our house, I think the most we ever had in our house at once! It was very cozy and it made it somewhat easy to see and remember the gifts that were picked!
Anna was able to enjoy some of the fun and a lot of the loves from all her family! Cousin Denise giving Grandma Patsy a break while she opens her choice of gift! Auntie Kim is keeping an eye on the prize! This gift exchange is probably the best way for our family to do Christmas! Thank you all for making it such a fun evening!

Holiday Napping!

After all the excitement was over Anna was a very tired little girl! Ryan insisted that she nap with her new J.D. blanket! It was a great idea!

The baby's at rest! This won't be always the case but it was so sweet to watch them all napping together! Thanks guys for the great blog idea!

Christmas with Grandpa Ed's Family

Every year we get together with Grandpa Ed's family before Christmas but with busy schedules we decided on the day after Christmas! Luckily the snow was slowly disappearing so the trip was ok for them. We love the visits we get to have with G. Uncle Gino and G. Aunt Mardel and of course G.G. Lorraine. We had a delicious dinner and a wonderful time! G. Aunt Mardel enjoyed her little niece by feeding her her night cap!

The roads were clear so the family came to our house for breakfast and to get more time with Anna! Anna loves a crowd even when she feels a little under the weather. Her little cold might be contributed to her getting her 1st top tooth on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day her 3rd bottom tooth. And with the way she's chewing on her new toys I would say the next two are on their way! Here she is visiting with Grandma Des and GG Lorraine. It was such a nice time!
Grandpa Ed and his sister enjoying their time with little Anna!

Christmas Day!

After a little quite time at home and enjoying our first Christmas with little Anna we ventured over to mom and dad's. Anna had a blast! Ripping paper and watching all the comotion of the other kids.

This was taken at home! her first Christmas Day gift! The toy was alright but the paper was the best!:)
All the kids gathered around Auntie Kim before opening their Christmas presents! Anna really liked Ryan's hair! We had a great morning feasting and enjoying all the kids in their excitement of Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve!

We have done this tradition for quite a while! We spend Christmas Eve with Grandpa Ed and Grandma Des every year and Anna had a great time! Anna was greeted with a great toy that was like a walker with all the bells and whistles! (Literally)! That was a fun surprise and Anna took very quickly to wondering around and visiting everyone! Desire's boy's join in on the festivities along with her mom Mary! It is relaxing and always a good visit with good food! Anna was taking it all in this Christmas Eve!

Wow! This is great stuff! She had such a ball opening her presents!
This was her very first present she opened and boy did she have fun! It is always the best to watch children open their gifts at Christmas! Especially the first Christmas because the wrapping paper is so exciting!

Sicky on the Loose

Our poor little Anna has her first cold. We had a late night and early morning on Tuesday so Grandma came and picked us up to take us into town for a doctor's appointment. You know, it's better to be safe than sorry. She is such a trooper. These photos were taken Tuesday night after she had a great nap and fulfilling dinner. She wasn't going to let some cold get her down.

Oh boy! She finally saw the snowman that has been out since the day after Thanksgiving! Luckily she is still crawling backwards right now!
Peek-a-Boo!

We're Getting There....

8 months is just around the corner for miss Anna and boy is she trying to get somewhere! I caught her in this situation after less than one minute. She wasn't even crying, but it sure got quiet quick so I checked and there she was trying her best to get out of what she thought was funny.

It's the, Oh, your here, look from Anna as I captured her in the act!
Then the old routine of, I'm tired of this so back to rolling around. She is so funny to watch and I can't/can wait for her to start crawling. I know it is part of her growing but it is going by so fast! She's doing so great and that is all that matters.

Movin' on Up....

Last night I decided that Anna needed to know more about her home then just daddy's den! So we moved some of her toys and big blanket to the bonus/kids room. She loved it! So much more room! Does she look like she knows what toy will be her next choice?

As she shows me the flower! She loves this thing and I bought it to go on her saucer and it didn't fit but it ended up being one of her favorite toy's.

She is just loving the space and it allows us a new view! She was so cozy and happy playing with her toys and rolling around on her soft, fluffy pillows! Shortly after this photo Anna took a good long nap while I went and made sweet bread for the holidays!

My Sweet Little Anna

Anna is truly a joy to have around! Especially with moments like this one! She usually avoids the camera, doesn't make eye contact very well, so these are pictures of my cheesy little girl! My happy little girl! Love you Anna!

Loving Doggy's

This morning Anna was having a great time watching "Sid and the Science Kid" after her breakfast. As you can see in this picture she was getting very excited and boy she got loud! Her loving doggies were outside and they heard her yell and they were by her side as quick as could be. I think they thought she might let them in but that was far from happening! In any case it made Anna even more happy to see her dogs out her window!

Snow Days!

This picture was taken the first day it snowed and Baker looked so awsome. As much as some people wish for such a day for the holiday season it can stop now! I love the beauty and the one day of sledding but now I'm ready to get out and go to town and it seems like that won't be happening anytime soon! Oh, well, it is still pretty! This was taken this morning at 10:00am and it was coming down hard but I love having a picture of our beautiful home in the snow! I must say it was a very cold picture since I ran out with just clogs on and no socks! I know not smart, but so worth it! By the way it is still snowing as I type! We are at 12 inches easily and there is no sign of stopping!

Holiday Playing

After the older kids went sledding and playing in the snow, Anna and I went over to mom's to meet up with everyone. Mom had gone to Costco and picked up some gingerbread house building kits for all the grandkids! We had baked off cookies the night before so Ally did some decorating while in the house with Jacob. Very cute and yummy!

After everyone had left I finally finished Anna's house! Not too bad and a lot of fun to do with all the kids!
Anna was hanging out in her saucer near the table and Auntie Kim watched Jacob. Anna enjoyed watching all the kids talking and creating! This is Anna very excited when everyone settled in at the table to start decorating!
We basically had one parent/grandparent to each child so it was a very organized chaos as you can see! Our new neighbor kids and their parents joined in on the fun! Haley, even showed me how to make a no stitch blanket! So easy and so warm and cozy! Even Ryan thought so after trying it out when we were done! Thanks Haley!

First Snow!

Anna's first snow! She was fasinated the night before watching it fall outside the window while Grandpa Ed was feeding her dinner! This morning when she woke up and we looked out her window it was so bright it got her all excited! So cute! I, of course, dislike this picture of myself but it is Anna's first picture out in the snow! It really sets the mood for the season!

Are we Sleepy Yet?

After our shopping trip we went to Grandma's house for some lunch and silly mommy thought Anna would be tired! So we came home after only taking a 20minute cat nap with Grandma and she went straight to sleep! She slept until 7:45pm. This is usually her bedtime but oh well! So Anna had her dinner and was ready to play! This first picture was taken about 9:00pm! You think she's tired yet?

Finally at 10:15pm I got the sign...the thumb and a wave at the same time!:) So she had a bottle and hit the hay quickly! Such a funny girl!
This was taken when she was having such a good time trying to decide to crawl or roll. She is getting stronger everyday! But she is still enjoying her speed in rolling! Nice smile Anna!

Shop til You Drop

It all started with me exchanging a way too expensive pair of shoes that I bought down at Nordstroms about 2 weeks before Anna was born. So once we arrived and with the wonderful weather (not!) mom and I took Anna on her first Nordstroms shopping experience. She was so cute in her little Christmas outfit and everyone just loved her! We hit every spot on the bottom floor of Nordy's and she just loved it! I know, who wouldn't! After mom also changed out her shoes we mozied on over to the Philosophy Beauty counter where our sweet Grace helped us way too well! Then off to the baby section! We were looking to find a couple cute outfits for some friends that recently had twin girls but no luck, so off we went to Macy's! We had places to go and clothing to buy so of course Anna insisted on staying awake! Finally after finding just the right outfits we just stopped and without any complaints Anna had a well desired bottle! So this concludes Anna's first really shopping experience!

What a girl!

Aunty's and Ryan!

After a busy morning of running around with mommy, Anna and I decided to stop and see Aunty Ally and the boys at Grandma's house! Ally was having some work done on there SUV so mom picked them up and had them for the afternoon! So Aunty Ally got her Anna fix and I got to hold baby Jacob for a few hours! Far trade!

Aunty Kim came to pick up Austin and Shelby and she got her Anna fix also. Smoochs to Aunty Kim!
Ryan insisted on laying down with Anna but I can garantee no napping took place! They are so cute together and Ryan loves helping Anna learn and she just loves him! It will be so much fun watching these two grow up together! Ryan actually showed her his John Deere tractor today and she loved it! So Grandma found the tractors for the baby's! Ryan was so excited for Anna plus the fact that he didn't have to give up his big tractor!

Christmas Songs!

When I took Shelby back over to mom's after our fun, crafty afternoon Shelby decided Anna needed to see all of Grandma's Hallmark Christmas entertainment. Needless to say Anna loved them all! She just started singing along! Funny girl!

Here is Grandma enjoying Anna's first taste of many fun Christmas surprises to come! I don't know who got more joy out of this Grandma watching Anna or Anna watching the song!
In any case we all were glad that Shelby thought it would be fun for Anna!Thanks for sharing Shelby!

Craft Time

Anna and I were lucky enough to get Shelby Monday afternoon while mom picked up Uncle Nels from work. So just like pre-Anna days I pulled out the craft box and this is what Shelby came up with! She does such a good job cutting now and it is so much fun watching her create! Great job Shelby and thanks for making such pretty candy canes for our Christmas tree! Anna had so much fun watching you, just think in a few years you can help teach her!

And the Rest of the Family....

While Anna was getting her picture taken with her new stocking our other children were at the door begging for attention. So, as best as they could the dogs finally got to come in and sit with Anna! I don't know who was happier?

Jack, the chocolate lab, was all over the place but he decided to stay close to Anna. Unlike Zeke who was just happy to be in the house.

Jack was so good with Anna! He gave her the ok with a little wet nose on the cheek, hence the face. They are going to have a lot of fun times in the future and they are off to a great start!