Another Christmas Gone!

Unbelievable...Christmas is come and gone again! We had a very low key Christmas this year. We were able to stay home and spend it as a family. Very relaxing!

The boys opened there gifts. Ethan got a Thomas Lego set

And Kaden got a batman lego set

I know what your thinking...where are these boys' shirts....well....normally they aren't wearing pants either...but we made them put some on for the picture

We were also able to spend time with Grama and Pops.

They came up and spent an evening with us.

Then we were off to Brian's parents for the Espenshade Christmas

Brian with some of the kiddos

And we also celebrated Uncle Sherwoods birthday...it was a great time!

Birthdays

As a child, December was always a busy month for birthdays. My mom's on the 13th, mine on the 17th and then my brother on the 27th. I can't remember a time when we didn't have a "shared" celebration, combining all of our birthdays and throwing one huge party. For the most part it was a lot of fun (as long as it wasn't combined with Christmas!) So it was really interesting when I met Brian and he said that his sisters birthday was the same day as mine.....now that's shared!

So today I want to wish my Mom a happy birthday from this past week

Happy Birthday to this young lady who celebrates with me today!

And then to my cute little brother who will celebrate later this month

My Baby Boy!

This weekend we will be celebrating Kaden's 5th birthday!!!!!

Where does time go.......

Hard to believe that 5 years ago tomorrow Kaden looked like this!!!!

And now...this! What a big boy!

Happy 5th Birthday K-bud!

We celebrated with some friends yesterday.

We had a lot of fun decorating sugar cookies.

Yum, Yum

Tonight we will go to the Etown parade and then tomorrow on his actual birthday celebrate with Grama and Pops and some family!

From Thanksgiving to Christmas

Another Thanksgiving come and gone. Unbelievable, Where has this year went???

We had another great Thanksgiving.

So much to be thankful for....food, family and most importantly a God who loves us and cares for us beyond our comprehension! What more could we ask for!

We spent the day at Mom and Dad E's. The boys were sporting their turkey hats that they had made a the library a few days earlier! They are definetly two little turkeys!

Mom and her apron and what is left of the turkey. What a great cook and host.

All the kids

And that was Thanksgiving and just like that we move right into Christmas.

Black friday we avoided the crowds and headed to a tree farm to get our Christmas Tree. Grama and Pops joined us for the adventure as we searched and searched for the perfect tree. We loaded a horse drawn trailer and set out on the quest.

As always it is fun to pick out a tree!

Nine Years!

It is unbelieveable how fast time flies!! On the 10th Brian and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!

Grama and Pops watched the boys for us so we were able to get away....do some shopping, watch a movie and have a nice meal out! It was a lot of fun!

Happy Anniversary My Love!

Shiver Me Timbers and a AOOOOWWW

We have been enjoying the fall festivities around our house this past week.

Grama and Pops came for a visit and brought the boys some pumpkins to carve.

The boys drew faces on their pumpkins, gutted them and carved (with the help off grama and myself). This was the first year that they both actually enjoyed the process!

The finished results

They were very busy preparing this treasure box that Brian built as part of

Kadens Halloween ensamble. Here they are staining it.

Ethan the "Postal Worker WereWolf" Grama bought this postal outfit last year on clearance and then she made it into a werewolf. It was cute and Ethan was able to carry all his candy in the mail bag

Kaden was a Pirate and carried around his treasure box to collect all his candy.

They both had such a good time.

Tomorrow they will wear their costumes for the last time

to the Halloween Parade in town.

Company

We have had a busy week.

Last weekend, Pops came to visit and helped us personally gather wood for the winter. While here he also helped SLR on their fall woodcutting day, along with Brian and Kaden. A lot of wood was cut and stacked, we are ready for the winter!

Our local volunteer fire department also held a community day.

The boys had the opportunity to ride on the fire truck!

Put out a fire

We also were able to watch a jaws of life demonstration. Enjoy some hotdogs and take a tour around the fire department! It was a neat experience!

Then this past week we had Rodney and Sue come and visit!

We were spoiled by having them here!

We had a lot of fun showing them around, visiting and then playing sequence!

Among one of the many gifts the boys received was a bug catching kit. We had a great time looking for bugs, although they are hard to find this time of year!

So thankful for friends and family!

Canada Part 4

Finally, I am getting around to posting the final pictures.

While we were home, Tayla celebrated her 1st birthday

My boys pee anywhere.....anytime.....any occasion....

Tayla love Mickey Mouse show so Jenn had a Minnie Mouse party.

I made the cake.

It did not take long to be devoured

Yum, Yum....black icing!

So that's it. We had a great time and were so blessed by all the people that

we were able to see and spend time with.

Canada Part 3

So Part 3 of 4...Here we go,

We spent an afternoon at my Aunt and Uncles house. We had a great time catching up.

Ethan loved their little kitties. This was one of at least 15.

They took us up to the pines where we picked low-bush choke-cherries.

My uncle made a picker out of a can. The boys had fun using them.

My Aunt with Ethan

My uncle showing which berries to pick.

The choke-cherries

The boys and my cousins.

It was a lot of fun picking berries! Not only did we get to pick them, my Aunt also made us some jelly to take home with us. It is delicious!!

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This is the whole Anderson clan at the small Lutheran Church my grandparents attend.

Tayla got baptized there while we were home. Brian and I are the godparents.

My grandmother, Tayla's great grandmother, made this dress.

Here is Ashley with my grandparents crazy dog.

The dog would not leave her alone...she must have biscuits in her shirt!!

Grandpa Keith and Kaden playing some croquette in the yard.

"High five Buddy!"

The days were long...and busy!

Poor Ethan got tired right out!

Tomorrow will be the last blog about Canada.

Canada Part 2

Traveling around was always interesting with three kids smashed into the back of a car or truck! Luckily our trips were always pretty short.

We took a trip to the lake one day. We had a lot of fun taking pictures until Kaden fell out of this tree!! Good thing my mom was there to tell him to "Get up"!

My sister and darling Tayla

The boys had a great time 'hanging around' with Aunt Jennifer

All of my mom's side

My brother and his girlfriend Ashley

Uncle Ryan and Ashley spoiled the kids with their gifts!!

Two spidermen outfits and a skunk

My sister, her husband Tim and of course Tayla

My good friend Christy and her daughter Quinn

The boys and Quinn sporting their new glasses from Christy

Our trip was filled with seeing so many people.

More to come tomorrow............