Christmas 2016

Christmas was lots of fun but also kind of crazy this year having a new member of the family.

The hospital gave these to babies born around Christmas. She's our best Christmas present yet. :)

But that's my excuse for the lack of pictures. A week of sleep deprivation= no pictures. And despite my best efforts to get as much as I could ready for Christmas before Ginger came, there was still a last minute thing or two...thank heavens for Amazon Prime and the UPS guys.

 Actually most of these are Travis' orders, so I did pretty well. :)

Through we didn't take pictures, on Christmas Eve we enjoyed the morning bowling with the Andersons and Wendels, and that evening we had our traditional sing and feast fest at the Talbots. Jaxon's pick, of course, was The 12 Days of Christmas. (Can't tell you how glad we are not to be singing it multiple times a day anymore. It's like the Christmas version of 99 bottles of beer on the wall...)

In the morning we enjoyed stockings, breakfast, and presents. The kids were really into Santa this year, which was fun. Jaxon's latest interest has been street signs and traffic lights (he is the worst backseat driver!). Travis really outdid himself as he made a large traffic light for Jaxon with a knob that controls the lights, and made blocks for some street sign stickers. Jaxon loves using these as he builds roads around the house.

And this blanket is for our cuddler, Violet, whose favorite color is "atún" (I don't know how she gets atún from azul, but we think it's cute, especially once you consider atún actually means tuna in Spanish, so we let it slide. :))

After presents we got ready for church. There was barely any people there, but we were able to round up enough primary children to sing a musical number we had been working on. A special shout out to my brother who was willing to come and accompany us (the one other pianist in the ward was out of town). He ended up playing all the hymns in the meeting so I could be with Ginger if she needed me.

We spent the rest of the evening with the Andersons and had a yummy Christmas dinner. We were so glad to see Aunt Julie and visit with Jordan and Carmen. 

It was so fun to have a Sunday Christmas, especially with a newborn. It really reminds you what Christmas is all about. :)

Ginger Jocelyn Anderson

We recently welcomed this little cutie to our family, and are now officially outnumbered. :)

We actually didn't think of the name Ginger until a week or so ago when we finally sat down determined to come up with some names. It was on a list of popular baby names, but not until page 5 or something. But there was something about Ginger that we liked so we added it to our list. And we ended up going with it! Probably helps that it's December. :)

I think she looks like the perfect blend of her older siblings. Jaxon and Violet have been so cute with her, especially Violet. She's really feeling like a big sister and will always bring Ginger things to "play" with and is so attentive to her needs.

We're so happy with this new beautiful addition. Welcome to the family, Ginger!

Go Cougars!

Last year we started a new tradition of Travis taking Jaxon to a BYU football game each fall. Jaxon's been looking forward to it for a long time, especially since we told him if he earned up enough money he could buy a "Cougar Tail" (a super long maple bar). I kind of forgot how long the doughnuts were- there was enough left over to bring home for me and Violet.

He brought his BYU pom poms and loved shouting and cheering the cougars on for the win. Go Cougs!

Halloween 2016

The kids absolutely loved Halloween this year. Jaxon had two costumes, Spock and a ghost. A ghost was his first choice, but since it covered his face (I guess I could've painted his face white, but I'm waaaay to lazy for that) he had to have a back up costume for preschool and other parties. Violet was Rapunzel (per Travis' request :) ).

 Her cousin was also a Disney princess (we didn't plan it like that), so they looked adorable together.

After a festive dinner at my parents we went trick or treating with cousins, which was SO much fun! I didn't get a chance to get a picture of Jaxon's ghost costume, but my brother took a quick one on his phone while we were out. Here he is blind and crashing into a stop sign. He was bumping into things all night. It was actually pretty hilarious. :)

The only unfortunate event that occurred was Violet losing her "puppy" somewhere along the trick or treat route. It's her only "lovie" and she's been miserable without it since. I went back this afternoon and tried so hard to find it, but it's gone. :( We've since ordered her a new one. I might not have gone to the effort if she wasn't going to be going through a big life adjustment here in the next couple of months....

Fun Fall Festivities

We've been trying to enjoy our time outside this fall before the cold sets in (and baby #3 is born). We've loved playing in the leaves...

Decorating haunted houses...I tried to do them with peaked roofs, I guess I'm just not coordinated enough for that. Whatever. Flat top is fine.

A couple visits to the pumpkin patch...

And carving pumpkins...

It's safe to say the kids were in great anticipation for Halloween!

Big Feet, Big Sister

I know kids grow like weeds, but Violet's feet are really something else.

I wish I could say that these aren't really her shoes, but they actually are. The angle of the photo plus the white soles against the darker background kind of make them look extreme, but...she's got big feet.

And then I need to include this picture of her collection of "peluches". She likes to line them up and bottle feed them, or cover them up with a blanket so they're not cold. Channeling some big sister duties already. :)

Second First Day of Preschool

Jaxon started his second year of preschool and he absolutely loves it. He attends the same school, so he's got all the rules down and speaks more English, thus the transition has been much easier than last year.

And of course Violet wanted to be included...

Still in pjs and hair in it's "natural" state...

I'm anxious to see how much he learns this year! :)