Here Comes Santa Claus

Everyone was excited for the special guest at our ward party. I think Shermie wasn't sure if it was OK for him to be, but i think he was.
Tuffer is our little doubter this year. He was suspicious, but still interested.

This was Matthew's told you so look. No doubt here, he talked to Santa on the phone.

Nic just loves presents.

Annalyn wasn't to sure at first but we got a good photo.

I love Christmas and the magic it brings!

Playing Peek-a-Boo

Annalyn's favorite game right now is peek-a-boo. Today she was playing with her Dad and Nicholas. They were having a good time.
She likes to be covered and try to get out. When she does we say peek-a-boo which usually gets her laughing.

She and Nic played for an hour.

Then Nic had to go to bed so she just played with Dad.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow...

...Especially if it means no school! Seven inches overnight. The boys could hardly stand it when I told them that the schools had been closed.
That is until they found out that they had to shovel the driveway.

They did a great job of moving all of the snow. I love snow days! Annnalyn even helped by wiping up the floor after the boys came in with their snowy boots.

Such good helpers I have! After they finished the driveway we went over to Grandma's for hot chocolate and Christmas baking.

Silly Daddy

Sherman found a new game to play with Annalyn...
He holds her bottle up and squeezes it into her mouth. It is too funny. She seem to think so also. The goof balls.

We sent a video in to America's Funniest Home Videos. Maybe we can win. Personally I think it's Priceless!

A Walk Downtown

Saturday we did some window shopping downtown and took a walk to see "The Art on the Corner". The Boys thought this bike was cool so we got their picture with it.
Annalyn need her own shot. She always steals the show.

At 6 Months

I can't believe she's already six months old. Our Annaboo is growing and learning so quickly! At six months she is already sitting up on her own...
...Tummy crawling and getting ready to crawl on her knees. She crawled on her knees few inches last night. By Christmas she will be all over the place.

... And she got her first tooth! What a sweet, smiley girl! The tooth has interrupted the sleeping through the night that she was so good at. It is hard to get her back on schedule. It's coming back slowly but surely.

...She is eating all kinds of food now and especially likes to feed herself. Daddy spoiled her with her own cake donut the other morning. She loved it!

She is too much Fun!!

New Moon Girl's Night

What an awesome time we had as we went to watch the much anticipated Twilight: New Moon movie. I love girls night!
The New Moon shirts were a must, check out Annaboo in her Team Edward shirt.

We ate dinner with all our friends from book club to celebrate our one year anniversary of the G.J. Girls Book Club.

The movie was excellent so I will probably be sneaking off to watch it again soon.

Big Brother's Are Awesome!

Shermie is such a big help with his sister. This is the first time he feed her and she seem to think it was pretty cool. She ate the whole bowl.
He picked up pretty quickly how to wipe her mouth with the spoon and get the spoon in her mouth without getting it everywhere.

What a proud brother, look at that smile.

All the boys love to help with Annalyn. It is so nice to have so many hands looking after such a sweet girl.

Cookies with Gramie

It's that time of year again. Baking with Gramie time! This year Sheali jo and Nicholas made my favorite cookies, Almond Crescents. They did it all, from grounding the almonds to dusting the cookies with powdered sugar. These cookies where so good they mysteriously kept disappearing from the plate.(seemingly every time Pop pop went through the kitchen, coincidence...I think not) The ones that made it home with him didn't last much longer. They were gone before he made it all the way through the door. Yummy!


Ingredients
1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar


Directions
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine flour, almonds and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Divide dough into fourths. Form crescent shapes, by rolling small balls of dough into a rope about 1/4 in. diameter and 2-in. in length. Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 14-16 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes. Dip and cover warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Place on wire racks to cool.

Annalyn's First Almond Crescent

"Man, these ARE good!"

Halloween '09

Batman and Gang

Rt to Lt: Two-Face(Matt), Robin and Cat Women, Joker(Tuffer)

Riddler(Pop pop), Penguin(Grandpa) and Poison Ivy (Annalyn)

Batman(Nicholas), Mr. Freeze(Shermie)

We had a lot of fun this year with the costumes and I'm glad that I finished them all in time (thanks to Grandma). The ward party this year was over flowing. Matthew won the scariest costume. They had a fun time trick-or-treating which they did inside because it was raining out. (the rain later that night turned to snow)

On the day of Halloween we went to a costume contest that the furniture store was holding. we registered as a family and the kids as individuals. Mande and Tim were there and entered Ava with Annalyn. They won first (Ava) and second (Annalyn) second prize was 2-gift certificates to my favorite kids clothing store, pizza party at Chuck E Cheese,and some other stuff. First prize was a photo session (think we have that one covered so I'm glad for second,hahaha). Matthew got second in his group and Shermie got third in his. I think when it came to the family group the judges figured we had gotten enough prizes and I have to agree. All the kids looked Awesome!

That evening before we were inundated with all of the valley's trick-or-treaters, Mande,Tim and the kids came over for dinner. Sean,Kelli and the girls stopped by to deliver a treat, homemade spud nuts. Yum. It was a great evening.