We're ready for Christmas!

Aniston and I have all the decorations up, I've finished all my Christmas shopping, there's a good foot of snow outside, we've played in the snow(Aniston is a pro at snow angels), and even built a snowman! We're ready for the holidays, and can't wait for Santa to come! This year I decided we couldn't have a deep dedication to the "U" or live so close to campus and continue to decorate the tree blue. The tree now sports red and green, and even has a new skirt(my first attempt by my no pattern self).
Aniston is constantly saying "maybe Santa will bring me that", and Chris and I are constantly saying "if you can't behave, Santa won't come". This year one of Santa's elfs, Ernie, is at our house to keep an eye on Aniston for Santa. We have a candy count down made, and this year we're starting the tradition of opening a Christmas book each night and reading it.
Aniston's wish list so far...
"those Barbies at the store"
"some horses and ponies"
"Ironman ornament"

the snow angel pro
my first snowman in years!
Aniston was a great helper!
The tree's skirt

River buddy

I love being an aunt to the cutest, chubbiest, sweetest little boy ever! We had a blast celebrating his 1st Birthday and spoiling him all weekend! He wasted no time when he got his cake! He dove right in, face first!

Thanksgiving

We were lucky this year and had Thanksgiving with both the Jones Family and the Bolander family. I love Thanksgiving; not only the delish food, but I absolutley love to be with my family!
My favorites/thankfuls this Thanksgiving...
awesome STG weather
huge bed in STG
Shanna's patience
(Aniston LOVES Grandma's dress-up shoes, and they are the first thing she gets her hands on when we go visit!)
Dave's Coke
Jocelyn's camera talent
(Aniston posing for Jocelyn during the photo shoot)
coversations with Brooke
Rob
(Aniston, actually all 3 of us, LOVE Rob!)
Trevor's computer talent
Jenna and Brian's great baby makin' skills
being an aunt
Watching these 2 play together is shocking! They almost NEVER fight, and ALWAYS have fun together.
Jones family Thanksgiving 2010

Papa's turkey frying skills

Grammy's extreme amounts of food
homemade rolls

a bigger kitchen
layered jello, thanks to CRB

Stefen's comment about feeling fat
Bri's elbow in my plate, never sit by a lefty...
full belly
snow
(Our other baby...oh and a shot of the snow on Thanksgiving day)

The Bolander family Thanksgiving 2010
(We missed Scott and Shelbi VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY much!)
I'm most thankful for Chris and Aniston.


This year has flown by, Aniston has grown into a little girl, Chris has accomplished a lot in school, work, and physically, and I've been able to enjoy it all!

Finally got our family pictures taken...it's been 2 years. I absolutely LOVE them all; thanks FotoFly!

Finally!!!

We have been so excited about Joe, Kalli, and their darling kids moving up north, because they have been such great friends! We love doing things with them, so once they were settled in, Kalli and I made plans to take the kids to the Zoo. I loved watching Aniston and Presli play together with little Madden right by their sides, catching up with Kalli, lovin' on Knox and his chubby cheeks and darling smile and giggles, and watching Kalli do it with 3!! She's amazing, and when I tried to put myself in her shoes I had an anxiety attack! She's so calm and is an awesome mom to those darling kids! Aniston was in HEAVEN!!! She not only likes animals, but loved being with kids. I'm excited to do more together and VERY excited about whipping out some crafts with my old crafting buddy(I think bows are history and we'll be moving onto bigger things!).
Aniston and Presli riding the train.

Aniston, Presli, and Madden playing on the Rhino
All 3 kids riding the "Caroself" as Aniston would call it

Our little 3 year old is growing up so fast! She learns new things continually, and she is becoming more creative, imaginative, and funnier every day.
Lately she has...
been calling Grammy Gram
asking to watch Iron Man 2 and says it's her favorite. she even wants the Iron Man toys
writing every letter in her name all by herself!!!!
helping with chores
not taking naps
being more and more sassy by the second
making up words like "intrusting"(she says "you are intrusting" in an insulting tone)
coming in our bed early EVERY morning!!!!
naming all her toys...ana, kalli, hanna, and names she makes up that are really out there
wanting to go talk to people she sees where ever we go, but then won't talk?!
moving around so much better!! she is jumping, spinning, twirling, and dancing around. we took her to a gymnastics class and she was really timid but liked it too!

Even though some days can make me crazy trying to keep up with her and make sure she knows how to behave, I'm loving every second of it! She is and has always been so sweet and full of love!

October 2010
Daddy helped Aniston gut the pumpkin and make a face on it.
Aniston made a pumpkin mask pretty much all by herself!
she loves to wear my clothes
I found her unloading the clean dishes without me asking her to help!


2 reasons not to sleep by her...
#1

#2

Aniston was getting sleepy one night, and pulled out the chairs and made her own bed!

Halloween 2010

Halloween was great this year! Grammy saved the day when she pulled out wings she had purchased a few years ago, making the costume decision VERY easy and simple to make. Aniston was totally content being a lady bug princess, and she was even more content walking around in the wet rain collecting treats!
Checkin' out her make-up. This girl loves her make-up and asks me if she can have red lips even though Halloween is over.
Miss Aniston putting her shoes on to go out and collect some candy.
the lady bug princess
the fam...Cru Jones, his side pony wearin' girlfriend, and the lady bug princess
Grammy came out with us, and she even wore her costume!