I meant to post periodically last week to keep up on all the hustle and bustle of the week, but clearly did not get around to it, so last weeks activities will appear in one big fat blog with a whole lot of pictures! Our holiday celebrations began on the 23rd when we enjoyed a visit from my aunt, uncle, cousin and grandpa. Grandpa flew in amist the crazy airways due to holiday travel and terrible weather delays. His flight was delayed more than 4 hours so we only enjoyed their company for about 2 hours before they were on their way back to the airport to pick up my other cousin and head on home to Solvang a few hours north of us. Grandpa sure enjoyed playing with Carter and his animals even though he was worn out from the travel.
We went to church on Christmas Eve, just like any other Sunday and then hurried home to begin the rolls for our traditional Christmas Eve clam chowder dinner. As mentioned in our Thanksgiving entry, Marc LOVES homemade rolls so no other kind will do and Carter is taking after his dad in this, too. They devoured half a pan before dinner. I used my friend, Julie's recipe this time and it's a keeper! They are pan rolls and it's a whole lot simpler than rolling out dough to make fold overs or crescents! After a dinner that was a bit rushed, I admit, we went to some friends' house to enjoy a little Christmas program. We forgot the camera so we didn't get any adorable pictures, but Anderson was the baby Jesus and Carter was a shepherd--costume and all. We came home after a little dessert and opened our Christmas jammies. Marc complains every year when he gets them, he insists he doesn't need a new pair every year so this year he got skipped. Maybe he'll get them every other year. Once we were clad in our jammies we took pictures, read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, finished the dishes, and tucked the boys into bed so Santa could visit.
On Christmas morning, Carter woke up grumpy, just like every other morning of the year, but as soon as we told him there were new toys in the living room he perked up and ran out to see what Santa brought. He's still not fully aware of who Santa is, but he loves new toys no matter who brings them! Santa brought Carter a new trundle train table--a great space saver for apartment living, how did he know?--and a train set. He enjoyed opening the rest of his gifts, too and asked if each were cars. It was a little sad to hear because the only cars he received were the ones that came early! But he didn't act disappointed at all. He helped Anderson, Marc and me open our gifts, too. While I was cleaning up, I walked into the living room and found Anderson had found his thumb way down by his feet--it was pretty funny so I grabbed a few photos before he got upset that he was folded in half! We spent the rest of Christmas with friends--some came for snacks mid-day and others came for dessert. Here's a picture of the boys before our friends left that night--Carter didn't even get out of his jammies all day! He loved them and didn't want to change.
Two days after Christmas, our friends from Utah came to visit--Mike, Kenna, Shara & Jane. Marc enjoyed discussing physical therapy stuff with his friend who is graduating soon from UNLV in the same field and Carter got to play with Shara who is just a few months older than he is. And Kenna and I hung out and cared for the kids--Anderson and Jane are two days apart! We ventured to The Grove--a large out door shopping experience-- and the beach. It was really fun to watch the kids chase the seagulls and play in the sand. Marc caught a cute moment with Carter sitting on his chair with his juice. Sometimes you wonder what is going through their heads!
Before Mike and Kenna left on Saturday, Kenna helped me give Anderson his first hair cut;--I just realized I forgot to save a lock of it, oops!--it was getting a little bit uneven. He has a huge bald spot on the back left side and Marc said the stragglies around his ears were looking a little comb-overish. It wasn't quite as devastating as Carter's first hair cut when I totally cried for 2 days. Maybe it's because Anderson still actually has hair on his head afterwards!
Last night we went to New Years Eve pajama party at some friends' house. There was
lots of great food and a great white elephant exchange and fun games, and we tried so hard to last until midnight but we started crashing around 10:30. We stuck it out until about 11:15 and then decided it wasn't worth it. We got home, put the kids to bed and crashed only to be woken up by a hungry Anderson at 12:30ish, a locked out resident at 2:30ish (Marc was on call), and a teething, stuffy Carter at 3:30ish. It was a rough night! Somehow or another, though Marc has found the energy to brave cold water and wake board at the lake with some friends today. I think they are testing out the dry suit one of them got for Christmas. Hopefully it works, huh?
Wow, I think that about does it. And even if it didn't Carter is begging for a gogurt right now, so I should post and be done until next time! Happy 2007!
The day after we got back from our trip to Utah our mothers group visited one of the local fire stations. It was super fun and the firemen there were very attentive to the kids. They even put on all their gear just for fun. As you can tell from the look on his face, Carter was very hesitant during the whole tour. He's very timid around strangers and in strange environments, and even though he's fascinated by anything with wheels, he wasn't that anxious to be around the fire engine. He wasn't even that excited to see his friends after a week away from them until the very end of our visit when they were running around the dorm room that the firemen sleep in. I guess he needed a warm up period, however short it may have been. Right as we were leaving, they got a call to go out which was a perfect ending to our short tour. The kids got to see the fire engine drive out of the garage with the lights and siren going off. Though he wasn't thrilled on the visit, every time we get in the car now he wants to know if we're going to the 'fire tation.'
Anderson's 4 months birthday came and went, mostly because we were preparing for our trip to Utah and Idaho--we were leaving the next day. We can hardly believe our little baby is quickly turning into a rolly polly one! If Anderson could talk here are a few things he would be certain to let you know:
