We need to end the year saying Happy Birthday to Papa Q! We're so happy we got to see you last August and hope it isn't too long before we see you again. We hope you have a wonderful birthday and know we wish we could be there to share some cake with you. Happy Birthday!!!
Still in a holiday haze here. We had a great Christmas; mommy got a new printer so she can really start making cards and printing pictures, daddy got a new ipod to replace the one he lost, 
Tyler got a tractor lawn mower that he had been asking for courtesy of Papa and Grandma Anderson, 
Kendall got a little vanity to add to her low supply of girlie things, thanks Grandma & Grandpa Quattrin. 
And lots of other great gifts from Santa and family.
Tyler had been waiting so long for Santa that I think he was starting to think he wasn't coming. Kendall woke up first so we went and woke up brother to tell him that we thought Santa might have come. That was the fastest I saw him get out of bed in a long time! Then we went downstairs to see the mother load. All I can say was I think Tyler was a bit overwhelmed.We hope you all had a great Christmas too. It's times like these that we wish we were closer to family so we could all enjoy the holiday together. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!
It's basically been snowing since Friday afternoon. I'm not sure of how much exactly has fallen but lets just say A WHOLE LOT! 
That girl just loves the snow! 
Looked like she was trying to get dressed herself to go back out. Tyler on the other hand . . . still trying to get warm.
Well we had our first real snowfall of the season. Tyler has been anxiously awaiting snow. It snowed about a week back but it didn't stick around for too long; in fact by the time Tyler was able to go out in it, it had disappeared. 
So this morning when he woke-up and saw much more of it, he couldn't wait to get out there with his sled. Of course though the first thing Tyler thought was Santa must be coming today because there was snow. He says "Mommy mommy! Santa is coming today because he likes snow!" (I'm still trying to work on counting the days with our advent calendar but I just don't think he understands why he hasn't come yet.) Anyway Tyler scarfed down some breakfast and then was ready to get outside. 
Not too much and just icy enough for it to really work. The kids had fun with mommy toting them around the yard. 
We thought that the one branch above the enclosed porch would snap off but it didn't thankfully.
As you can see the trees were just bent over from the weight of the ice. I've never seen anything like it. And from what I could gather from other locals they hadn't seen anything this bad either. 
The second batch of pictures were taken the day after "clean-up" basically a snow plow or bulldozer just came through the street and moved all the debris to the side of the road. 
I wish I would have taken pictures of what it looked like when we left on Friday. It was amazing we could even get off the street, trees were just strewn all over the place. Two of the neighbor pre-teen boys were out clearing the street for everyone. And they did a great job too because UPS was actually out delivering packages to everyone on Friday. 
I wonder what the spring will bring, will we have to plant new trees? I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture or not but we lost two big ones in the front of the house. All I can say is thankfully they didn't land on our house.
Tyler had his very first dentist appointment. I was a little worried how today would go since he hates when we try and brush his teeth for him but he was a pro. A little apprehensive at first but pretty soon he was showing all 20 chompers without even being asked. 
No cavities, so I guess we're doing everything right so far. We will have to start flossing his teeth (oops, we hadn't been doing that, this should be fun). And unfortunately the dentist said that probably in 8 years Tyler will have to have braces. 
His teeth are already really close together and those permanent teeth will only be bigger. I guess there really isn't any avoiding braces since both Kevin and I had braces too. Kendall was at the dentist too cheering on Tyler. 
She kept saying "turn teeth" I hope she does as well at her appointment in a year and a half since she's my "I'm not doing what you tell me to do" child. Anyway great job Tyler!
Well a year after moving the family out here for a career transition, we'd like to think that maybe it was worth it. Kevin was the recipient of Boston Scientific's 2008 Marketing Excellence Global Contribution Award. Yeah Daddy! Not only did he get a nice plaque for his office but also some just in time spending money for Christmas. Now I was just excited for the cash then he told me we get a fabulous vacation out of it too. There were several options but I think we're going to do Nevis. Now all we have to do is find someone to watch the kids for 4 nights. Any takers?
Today we went and made a little visit to the Santa at our local mall. I couldn't believe how excited Tyler was to meet him. Last year he was terrified and wouldn't go near the man; this year he could hardly stand to wait his turn to tell Santa what he hoped to get this Christmas. (a tractor with a hay trailer). Tyler really hoped to show Santa some good boy behavior, look at that love with sister. 
There seemed to be something different about this Santa, he almost seemed sort of genuine. 
Every year when I've made my pilgrimage to the mall to visit Santa, the past few years with the kids and the ones before with my best friend, the Santa's either seemed grumpy because it wasn't the sort of job they wanted or a major perv grabbing my arse. I know I know maybe I was too old to be sitting on Santa's lap in high school and college but I had to hope he'd pull through and deliver my wish lists one of those years. Anyway this year Santa was not scary, he was a very friendly man who may have just put me into the holiday spirit.
We wanted to sing you a happy birthday Papa! We miss you and love you lots. Wish we could spend this day with you but hopefully this special treat is second best. Hope you have a wonderful day, Papa!
