E&E's 4th Anniversary

Today Erik and I celebrate our 4th Anniversary! Thinking of our wedding day brings a huge smile to my face and fills my heart with joy! People tell me it was a bitter cold day but I felt nothing but love and warmth.

Day One.

 

Year One.

 

Year Two.

 

Year Three.

 

Year Four.

 (Wouldn't it be cool if the "year five" picture had five people in it???) :)

 

I love Erik more everyday because of the unconditional love and kindness he gives me and our two precious babies. I am so blessed he chose me to be the one he shares the rest of his life with.

We will spend the evening with our little family and enjoy a quiet night together after the babies go to sleep. It's so cold out, we'll probably have to snuggle all night. ;)

Tis the Season

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and the Anderson's have had a good time getting in the spirit of the season!
We finally got snow, and the kids and I couldn't wait to get out and play in it. Luckily we had a couple of nice days before it got so frigid.

Thomas was so excited to share his sled with Nora but once she became too heavy he started slipping backwards and said "Mama, Nora is tipping me."

The next snow fall finally amounted to something. Thomas and I waited all day long to get out and play. As soon as Erik walked through the door T and I got bundled up for some snow fun. He was big in to snow angels!

And we both ate a few hands full.

Thomas was out for nearly two hours and I had just about as much fun as he did.

The neighbor boy, Kevin, joined us once he got home.

Perhaps the best part about playing outside is warming up with some hot cocoa topped with marshmallows and whipped cream! What a warm way to end a fun night!

I adore the interaction between these two.

For the most part, he is very patient with her.

This is another beautiful sight to me, our little book worm!

 

He can't get enough of his books.

Time for a little Christmas photo shoot.

He is excited about the snow falling in the window behind me.

 Erik put our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving but he wouldn't allow ornaments to go up until after Thanksgiving. It was nice to have a little helper while I decorated this year.

He is becoming Mr. Independent and I don't mind it at all. :)

Now that all the decorations are up the boys can play with the tote. Thomas had a lot of "wagon" rides in this thing.

The decorations are up, the Christmas music is playing and now it's time to do some baking. Boys in the kitchen makes me smile.

Again, doing it on his own.

Finally, the fun part! Put one candy on, eat two, etc.

We're so happy Rob and Tanya were able to join us for the fun. Tanya was the cookie decorating queen!

I'm so excited they're having a baby, they'll be excellent parents!

Once we had the kids down it was time to get messy. Lefse Fest 2013! Making lefse was a new experience for Rob and Tanya and they both did great!

Lesson learned: You can never use too much flour when rolling out the lefse.

It was slow going at first but by the time we got half way done we were running a smooth operation.

Erik had a nice rhythm going so we let him take the reigns.

Such a fun night! Hopefully they'll join us for Lefse Fest 2014.

Thomas and Erik ended the weekend with a little fun in the snow! It was a balmy 10 degrees.

 

Erik travels for work this week so my parents are coming to play with the kids and I. Can't wait! (to have my parents here, not to have Erik gone.) ;)

Thanksgiving 2013

I enjoy so much about Thanksgiving:  Time with family, lots of good food, and the loooong weekend! It was so great that Erik was able to take off both Wednesday and Friday so we could have a five day weekend up north. We were able to leave the cities late Wednesday morning and get to Frazee in time to unpack, and get to Grandma Bette's for a pizza party! It was a small group but a fun way to kick off the weekend. Our lucky little kids got lots of attention.

 

Lauren Ann and Nora Mae.



 

Thomas missed his nap so he was sooooo tired after a few minutes of fun over at Grandma Bette's. I tried to get a picture of Bette, Thomas and Tom (my dad's cousin) and this is the best we could do. He is not smiling but he is trying with all his might to keep his eyes open. :)

I think it's safe to say Thomas gets plenty of attention. It's like they've never seen a young boy eat pizza before.

Always great to have my dad around when we've got the kids at a dinner party. He is always able to distract Thomas or help Nora relax. I think he is pretty proud of his "baby whisperer" skills.

Thomas and Tanner chilling out watching fire truck videos on YouTube.

We finally put Thomas out of his misery and took him back to my parents for bed. On the way home he said "Thomas has sleepy eyes." It didn't take long to get him tucked in nice and cozy with Grandma.

Thursday was a fun, busy, but relaxing day. We started the day with family pictures at my parents. This was the second attempt at a Christmas card picture and I'm not sure it was successful. Pretty hard to get two babies to look in the same direction at the same time AND smile.
Anyway, our next stop was a quick visit at Grandma LaRaye's. We stopped to see Great Grandma Hazel who was visiting from Bismarck only for one day. We were there for maybe 30 minutes when it was time to head over to Uncle Bruce and Auntie Mary's for a beautiful Thanksgiving feast! It was so nice to see their new home and Thomas was so excited about all their "toys."
Here he is driving the gator.

 Next up, a ride in the green John Deere tractor.

Time to take a break from the equipment to chase the chickens.

Finally, a ride on the four wheeler with Grandpa John.

 

 Meanwhile, inside Nora is snuggling with Great Grandma Rosie and Great Grandpa Dennis.

 

My camera had just come in from outside so the lens was a little foggy.

After our afternoon with the Anderson's we headed to Grandma LaRaye's to feast with her and Great Grandma Hazel. They worked all day on a beautiful BBQ rib dinner. Unfortunately, my camera died before this gathering. It was another long day for the babies; both had only brief naps.

Friday morning we packed up and headed to Fargo to visit Auntie Lisa, Uncle Marcel and Great Grandma Janice. It didn't take long for Thomas to find all the toys. He and Grandma enjoyed a tea party downstairs while Nora soaked up all the attention upstairs.

Lisa is in to repurposing old furniture. I love this highchair she did!

So sweet. Nora and the GAL.

 

I wanted a four generations picture with Nora but Grandma Christine was napping with Thomas. We can try again at Christmas.

Thomas loves it when Daddy holds "both babies."

On Saturday Erik and I got to spend some time together, ALONE! He took me to the local department store, out for lunch, and even let me stop at the quilt shop! When the kids woke up from their nap we headed to the farm. Thomas had a pretty great time!

Thomas and Grandpa found two buckets of legos, Thomas has a new favorite activity...dumping legos!

 

Dinner at Zorbaz was a great way to end the day.

Luckily, an hour before this we had much better luck with the family photo.

Nora Mae and Stephanie Raye. (Nora's cute dress compliments of Auntie!)

Erik spent Sunday in bed with a nasty bug. Nora and I visited Grandma Bette. Such a sweet shot of Nora Mae and her Great Grandma Bette Mae.