Holly in Blessing Dress 1 Year Later

One year ago today, we blessed our little Holly Ann in our living room because there was a massive snow storm and we weren't sure everyone would be able to make it to the church on time. (Some wards, like Layne's, canceled church because they couldn't keep the parking lots cleared.) By afternoon time, the skies cleared and the temperature rose, the roads cleared, and everyone who was supposed to make it, did. I didn't want to reschedule the blessing because my mom was here visiting and I had a ton of food prepared. In the end, it was a beautiful, happy day.

So today, being one year later, I decided to dress Holly in her blessing dress and take pictures. It was a little tight across the chest, but other than that, it fit pretty well.

February 2, 2008

February 2, 2009

Holly loves to sit and spin in the rocking chair. Look how mad she got when I tried to make her stand.

Trip to the Dinosaur Museum

My friend from Cedar Hills, Deanna Williams, invited me to go with her and her son, Rowan, to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point last Thursday. I called Rachelle to invited her along because she has a season pass and Zane loves to go. It was too funny, because when I asked her what her plans were for that day, she said she was taking Zane and Gwen to the Dinosaur Museum. What a coincidence. It worked out really well for us that she could go, since we (me & Deanna) could get in for half price by being guest of a season pass member. We met right when they opened and the kids had so much fun. Rachelle could only stay an hour, but Anders still was so excited to see Zane. I would have gone crazy trying to control Anders 4 months ago, but he is getting easier to handle in public now...not so willing to run off and throw fits. Andersen's favorite parts seemed to be running through the tunnel, playing with the toy dinosaurs, and digging in the sand to find bones. It was also fun for him run around with Rowan and explore. After 2 hours of play, Deanna and I enjoyed a nice sandwich from the Dinosaur Deli while the kids ate PB&J sandwiches. We had an enjoyable and we'll have to do this outing again. Big thanks to Deanna & Rachelle.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cross Dresser

Rachelle gave me some hand-me-downs a few weeks ago and I recently went through the bag to sort. The bag contained 2 Halloween shirts...for girls. This purple shirt has a pumpkin on it that lights up when you touch it. This, of course, was very appealing to Anders. He insisted on wearing this shirt. It's at least 2 sizes too small, but he was able to squeeze into it. Holly was even mezmorized by it. He wore it a few hours and then I couldn't allow the girly shirt on him any more!

I Know An Old Lady...

I'm sure you all remember the song...I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. I was thinking that today as Holly disappeared behind the couch and then a few seconds later reappears with something in her mouth. I stick my finger in to swipe the mysterious item out. Out comes this slimy black thing and I realize it's a fly. GROSS! Why are there dead flies in my house in January????

Quick Updates from New Year's, etc.

I last left off with Christmas Day and the day after. On New Year's Eve we met up with Layne, Rich and kids at IHOP to celebrate Turner's 9th birthday. That's where he wanted to go and that was fine with us, because we recieve coupons in the mail that day...plus pancakes is something that Anders will eat. We had a lively dinner to say the least, but Charl enjoyed his chicken fajita omelette and enjoyed my crispy chicken salad. After dinner we went to Layne's house and put a movie on for the kids and we played Settler's of Catan. I usually do poorly at this game and Charl gets really excited to play this game. Two hours later and kids cruisin all around us...(I guess they weren't too interested in the movie) the game ended, and I WON! It was a close game, but right at the end the cards fell in my favor. We left for home around 11 pm and the kids fell asleep in the car. We put them to bed and we had 15 min. to spare for the New Year.

Then we had a relaxing morning. I did some house cleaning and then prepared the pizza sauce for our afternoon New Year's Day party. The Pews, Keith & Amber, and Granny & Teresa came over to watch football, play games, and EAT! The pizza turned out well...I'll definitely make it again. We had tons of snacks and Keith brought his PS2 (Playstation) so we ended the evening playing guitar hero. It was our first time playing it and Charl and I weren't too bad, though we only played the easy mode.

On Jan. 3, we went to Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch to celebrate Teresa's 40th birthday. (We left Anders at the Pews and we took Holly with us. She was a jewel in the restaurant...we knew Anders would NOT be a jewel, so that's why we left him with the Pew kids.) We got seated at the large round table in the back room, since we had 10 people. It was a good time. Afterward, we picked up Anders and took Rachelle and Gwen with us back to Granny's house to hang out while Tim and the rest of the gang went to BYU vs. Wake Forest. Wake is ranked #6 and won, but it was a close game. We had ice cream when they came back and Teresa opened some presents. It was fun day with family.

CHRISTMAS DAY

We got up around 7 am. (We actually got to bed at a decent hour since we had done all the wrapping a few days earlier and we didn't have any major assembling to do...the advantage of 2 year old and under toys.) We took the kids down to the basement. They didn't really know what to think. Andersen went straight to the tree and started pulling off his new snow globe ornament, oblivious to the presents under the tree. We had to encourage him to open his presents. The first one he opened was a set of "CARS" cars. He was so excited and he wanted them out of the box immediately. He would have been content with only getting that, but then we showed him his new landscaped carpet to drive the cars on and that's when he discovered his new train set (a hand-me-down from the Pews). He played with the cars and train for quite a while before he opened another gift, so that's when we had Holly open her gifts. (She just got to pull hers out of gift bags.) She got a pink Fisher Price phone, stacking cups (her favorite), a See and Say, and the Fisher Price boat. She was quite content and even a little overwhelmed since she had just opened a ton of presents a week earlier for her birthday. We got them both the Fisher Price Barn as their main Santa gift and they both liked it, but Holly played with it more because Andersen could NOT put down "Mater" and "Doc" the rest of the day. He was really cute...he got 6 cars in all and his 2 hands could only work 2 cars (Mater and Doc), so he made me play with "Sally" and "Chick" so all the cars could play together. Andersen also got a "Rocket" (from Little Einsteins) bath toy, some clothes, and some "hot wheels" but he didn't acknowledge the hot wheels so I'll save them for his Easter basket. I got some running shoes and a watch. Charl got some exercise equipment, a shirt, and a DVD (The Dark Knight). After all the new toy fun, we went upstairs and I made French Toast with berries and cream for breakfast. It was a great morning.

Andersen & Holly posing with Santa presents before they tear into them.

I love this picture of Anders. He is so happy with all his new toys.

Now I will know what time it is. I love my new watch!

Look at the funny looking man on the TV. When we first turned on this channel, it was just a picture of a log fire and Christmas music was playing...then some other random stuff came on. I have a few pictures with funny stuff on the TV screen.

The boys eating a great breakfast

We got a ton of snow on Christmas Eve, so Charl had to shovel while Holly took her morning nap. When she woke up, we went to Charl's parent and had "brunch" food and opened more presents. They gave us an HD video camera so now we can capture all our fun moments. We also got Kung Fu Panda, so we watched that later in the evening. The day after Christmas, we went shopping to find a new Christmas tree. (We figured we would get a better deal after Christmas than before). We ended up finding a 9' pre-lit tree from Tai Pan Trading. (The box was so big, that we barely fit in the car with the 2 car seats and a double stroller, but we managed.) We have a 9' ceiling, so I'm not sure what I'll do for a tree topper...I have a year to figure it out. I made Charl set it up because I had to see how it fit in the room and I am very happy with it. After we bought the tree, we went to spend the rest of the afternoon with Layne's family. We ate snacks and watched Kung Fu Panda (again) so their family could see it too. We had a wonderful Christmas and we feel so lucky to have so much family around. (Maybe someday soon we can get mom and dad to come back west so we can see more of them.)

Andersen getting a shoulder ride from Turner. I think Andersen is having more fun than Turner.

Our new tree. We will enjoy this next year and many years to come.

Sunday Before Christmas

December 21st: the Sunday before Christmas. The morning was a little hectic as always...trying to get ready for 11 am church. Charl had to be there early to practice with the choir, but he came back to help me load the kids in the car and get back to church (Advantages to living 100 yards from the church...and yes, we drive when there is snow.). I dressed the kids in their new outfits. Holly's new shirt had a hole in the sleeve...oh well, she wore it anyway! Andersen probably could have used a smaller sized sweater, but he'll be able to wear it next winter, too. I was worried about how well I'd be able to handle the kids while Charl was singing in the choir, but it actually went pretty well and the choir sounded great, too. We sat in the back overflow and I brought a "new" truck for Andersen to play with and that seemed to do the trick. After church and naps we headed to Granny & Grandpa Louw's house to celebrate Holly's birthday with everyone. Granny also pulled out the costume box and we acted out the Nativity. Here are some pictures from the day.

The birthday girl getting lots and lots of attention from her cousins (Zane, Micah, & Emily).

Anders with Zane and Izak.

Silly Boys!

The best dressed wise men you will ever see!

Big shepherd and Little shepherd.

A whole family of shepherds.

Holly's thinking "Another cake?" and "What a big candle!" Andersen just isn't sure he can wait for the Happy Birthday Song to end.

Holly finding and eating chocolate cake crumbs from the seat of the highchair.

Opening lots of fun presents from Granny & Grandpa, the Pews, and Aunt Teresa.

Holly and Zane playing with Holly's new toy...Clipo Table.

At the end of the night I tried to get a nice family picture taken so that I could use it in a Christmas card, but Anders never seems to cooperate in "nice" family pictures. Charl was tossing him up in the air and catching him...so we got a lot of pictures of him laughing, but we didn't get a picture of him smiling and sitting nicely. Someday I may get a "nice" family photo. For those reading this, you may be wondering where that Christmas card is...yeah, it never got made, but we still hope you had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you peace, love and happiness in the New Year.