Brooklyn

Brooklyn started taking gymnastics about a year and a half ago. When she started she couldn't even do a cartwheel. She has been working really hard to start competing- she participated in an intrasquad competition at her gym. She has been nervous to do this because she feels she needs to be perfect. We were so proud of her for trying and look forward to when she starts to compete!

She also had her 3rd Grade program- they did "Take Your Hat Off When the Flag Goes By" I used to listen to the songs of this program everyday when we would drive to school with my mom so it was fun to hear them again.

Random Pictures

I was looking through some pictures and found some that made me smile.

Gracie came in one day in this get-up. She had raided the bow drawer and was quite impressed with her efforts. I love that she even has bows attached to her shirt.

Ella discovered that the little step leading from the kitchen to the TV room makes a perfect pillow. She loves her babies and binki- we need to get rid of it soon.

Gracie discovered a carrot that looked like a V and wanted a picture- she likes to make silly face every time I take her picture.

Brooklyn and Gracie love to color- so does Ella.

Ella found Sean's hat and put it on by herself. I love how cute she looks!

Poor Gracie

Let me preface this post by saying that we jinxed Gracie when we named her Gracie. She is anything but Graceful and quite frankly clutzy- but we sure do love her. If there is ever an accident going to happen, a drink to be spilled, or someone to get hurt, Gracie is the gal.

On this particular day, I was in doing the laundry and heard Gracie start to cry, nothing unusual. She came into where I was dancing around and crying saying she had hurt her side. I say the typical things to her that I usually would, "Darn it" "That's too bad" "I bet that it hurts" etc. She lifts up her shirt and I realize that we are dealing with more than a little scratch. I pick her up and start looking at it- the light isn't great so I go into the big family room and look and to my dismay there was a piece of wood sticking out of her side. I try to pull it out, but it was not moving and I was worried not knowing how big it was. I call the doctor's office to see if we can bring her in there to avoid the emergency room, they say yes and I get her ready to go. At this point, I call Sean and tell him to get home immediately and call Nat and ask her to get in her car right that second to come and get Brooklyn from school and get Ella. The doctor's office calls back and says to take her to InstaCare or the ER- we opted for the ER. Sean gets home looks at it and tells Gracie he will give her 50 bucks if she will let him try and get it our. Bless her heart, she did, but it didn't work. So we load her up and head to the ER. The poor thing had to get shots inside of it to numb it so the doctor get could it out. When it came time, there was a doctor, 2 nurses, Sean, and I holding her down. The doctor had to make a little incision and dug around for what seemed like hours, although I am sure it was minutes and got several different pieces out. The nurse asked the doctor what the odds were that it would be so superficial and in horizontally. Which is very lucky because it could've pierced her abdominal wall creating other issues. The nurse made the comment to us that she works with a lot of kids now and over the years and could tell that Gracie has a very sweet disposition and what a sweet little girl she is. Which is very true, she may be a clutz, but she is super sweet. That made me tear up I must say. When the doctor was done, he said that the incision he had made could use a few stitches, but there is more risk for infection. We opted for a scar and not stitches. I was keeping my family up-to-date during the ordeal and my Aunt Paula and Marlee could not stand being at home while Gracie was going through this so they drove over and were in the waiting room when we came out. Gracie was sure glad to see them- as was I. We feel so very blessed that this incident wasn't any worse than it was. Good thing for her little lion and Sean's phone- she watched Angelina Ballerina the whole time taking her mind off of it, somewhat.

So you might wonder how exactly she got a piece of wood in her side. We have- or had- this little stool that was at my Grandma Ila's house and we have had it for 8 years. Well one of the spindles on it broke several years ago creating a jagged edge- Sean thought we should get rid of it, but it held a lot of sentimental value to me and I always planned on fixing it. So it never go thrown out. Gracie was standing on the stool trying to get something out of a cupboard and somehow fell and ended up with the wood. I don't think it would ever happen again in a million years. We won't have to wait and see because Sean took out the stool and it now resides in the landfill.

New Year's Eve

We had the annual Anderson New Year's Eve party. It is such a fun, laid back night! With lots of yummy food and even better company. We rang in the New Year East Coast style at 10 and then headed home. As we were coming into Smithfield we could see some really weird lights in the sky. The gals were excited when we discovered they were floating lanterns like in Tangled. Here's to a great 2013!

Christmas Dresses

I have always loved to get matching dresses for the gals for Christmas, this was the first year that Brooklyn had outgrown the little girls size. So we went with a color scheme. I sure do love these gals!!

And the way most of the pictures turned out. Why does it have to be so hard to get a picture?

Fun, Fun, Fun

The gals were so excited for Brett and Chelsea to get here- they could hardly contain themselves. We tried to fit in lots of fun with them while the were here.  It was also fun having my parents come along to the activities. Gracie wanted to go to the Fun Park for her birthday, but wanted to wait for Chelsea to get here to go. She prayed every night that they could go. (It is not the funnest activity for the adults, but how could we tell her no when she was praying for it.) We also had a day of sledding and tubing and make a trip down to Temple Square to see the lights. We also had some fun low key days of just hanging out.

I am not sure who had more fun- Brett pulling the kiddos or them riding. Gracie wasn't so sure about it and didn't know if she wanted to try it. But, she did and loved it! I was proud of her for trying! The highlight was Brett taking Brooklyn for her last ride. He took off as fast as he could. Snow was flying up in her face and couldn't get them to stop. Finally she fell off- that made both of the gals going in the house bawling.

Gotta love the snowball fight that ended up with Gracie crying!

This is an inside joke, but Brett kept changing up his hat and I would take a picture of it every time. Sean started making fun of me for doing it. So every time Brett would move Sean would say I should take a picture. And gotta love the photo bomb of Brett behind my dad.

It was SO SO cold! Our attempt at trying to get a picture. Sean was fighting a cold and kept his face covered as much as possible!

Classic picture of the trip. The kiddos had been dragged from activity to activity and were so tired. Brooklyn wanted to ride in the stroller and was mad that I wouldn't let her. So she wanted in the picture, but her face shows exactly how she felt about it.

Enjoying the Fun Park

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a success!! Christmas morning was so much fun! The gals slept in until 8- we woke Ella up and the fun began. Santa spoiled the gals and they were so thrilled with everything they got. They were so excited when they saw that Jingles got to stay and watch them open their presents. They were so gracious and kept saying, "Thank you so much Santa." Ella took her time and could not stand to have the wrapping paper on her hands or on the ground. She would have a little piece and do her little whine until we got it from her- then she would go back to opening and get another piece and same thing- whine until we took it from her. Then she would play with her toys and enjoy them. 

After we opened presents, we headed to Paula's house for a delicious Christmas breakfast. We came back home had naps and played with toys and then headed out to my parent's for a yummy dinner and more family time. The gals were spoiled rotten by everyone. I love spending time with my family- we have so much fun together. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. I am always so sad when Christmas is over!

I love the look on both of their faces!

My dad and brothers

My parents got an IPad- not sure who is more excited them or the grandkids!