Christmas Day

We celebrated with Stacie's family on Christmas Day. Aaron and Helena enjoyed playing with their cousins Lexi, Julian, Anna and Maggie for most of the day. We enjoyed each other's company and a great meal together. It was a great way to wrap up the holiday excitment!

Lexi, Anna and Julian are burried underneath their presents

Helena had fun trying on Auntie Meg's bracelets

Aaron is excited by his gift from his Auntie Jill

Helena and Anna sit together for a photo

Helena enjoys having her picture taken, can you tell?

Christmas Morning

Aaron and Helena were excited by all of the interesting things that Santa left for them on Christmas morning. They didn't really understand that it was Santa that left the gifts, but they did enjoy seeing all of the new toys and packages that were under the tree on Christmas morning.
Helena enjoys a good book while sitting at her new table

Aaron also enjoys sitting at his new table with a book

Aaron and Helena stand in front of the tree with some of the things that Santa left for them

Helena looks around for the slipper that she lost among all of her packages and toys

Aaron works carefully to build a tower with his new blocks

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated the season with Scott's family at our house. After a tasty Swedish Smorgasbord dinner we opened our special gifts from one another. Aaron and Helena had a hard time focusing on opening the gifts, as they were so excited to play with the gift they just opened. It was a fantastic evening of fun and family!

Aaron and Helena pose by the tree

Helena all dressed up for Christmas

Aaron takes a seat to relax a bit before our company arrives

Cousin Calloway is just as excited as Aaron and Helena

Aaron and Helena sit with their cousins, Casey and Maya. Cal decided to sit this one out!

Snow Day

This past Friday we had our first signficant snow storm here in Connecticut. We were so excited to take Aaron and Helena out to play in the snow. I think we spent more time bundling the kids up than we did actually playing in the snow. Overall, it was a successful event. The kids wanted to go back out on Saturday morning!

Helena was not so sure at first but she warmed up quickly. By the end of our adventure she was trying to put the snow on her head!

Aaron did not need convincing, he loved the snow! He was very curious at first but loved the fact that he could throw the snow around so easily!

Twenty Months

Aaron and Helena are twenty months old now and they are becoming more independent and grown-up with each day! Their vocabulary continues to grow at a tremendous pace and their personalities couldn't be more different. Aaron loves to put puzzles together. Recently he graduated from using the pieces with the handles to matching simple puzzle pieces to the picture. Helena loves her baby dolls! She likes to push them around, feed them and wrap them up in a warm blanket. We are looking forward to an exciting holiday season with both of them!

Family Photos

We had our holiday photographs taken the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was amazing to see how differently Aaron and Helena reacted to the cameras this year. Last year, Helena was so shy and did not like to be photographed. This year, Aaron was much more shy and didn't want to leave our side. The photographers were wonderful and we ended up with really nice photos at the end of our session.

The Anderson Family - Christmas 2008

Helena- 20 months old

Aaron- 20 months old

Santa's Land

Last weekend we took the kids to Santa's Land in Vermont. It was a cold day but Aaron and Helena had lots of fun with their older cousins, Lexi and Julian. Both Aaron and Helena were afraid of Santa but enjoyed the park and looking at the animals that live with Santa.

Helena was not afraid to get up close and feed the goats

The ride-on animals and cars were a big favorite with both Aaron and Helena

Helena stood close to Santa but did not want to let go of Auntie Jill. Both Aaron and Helena enjoyed waving "bye-bye" to Santa though.

Aaron particularly enjoyed this spinning wheel at the park

Thanksgiving 2008

We celebrated Thankgiving with Stacie's family in Manchester. It was a very quiet and relaxing day with plenty of fun and laughter. Aaron and Helena loved following their big cousins, Lexi and Julian, around. They wanted to be just like the big kids! They also enjoyed quite a bit more of the Turkey dinner this year. Aaron's favorite portion of the meal was the mashed potatoes. Helena on the other hand preferred the green bean casserole.

Aaron preferred to be serious for his Thankgiving photo

We caught Helena as she was snacking

Lexi and Helena share some quality time together


Lexi sits in Grandpa's big chair with Aaron


The Anderson boys

Ready for Winter

We bought Aaron and Helena winter hats and gloves this week. They LOVE wearing them around the house, but HATE wearing them once they are outside or in the car. We are hoping that this changes the more they get used to wearing them, the cold weather has hit Connecticut for sure!

Nineteen Months

Aaron and Helena are nineteen months old this month and they are changing rapidly. They are talking and moving more than ever! They love to climb and play with each other now and they are beginning to really imitate things that they see and hear. Recently, Helena has taken a great interest in dolls. She loves to hug her doll and wrap her up in a big blanket. Aaron is very interested in throwing things. He used to just take an interest in balls, but now he is more interested in any item he can pick up and throw. Not such a good habit for indoor play, but we are working on it!

Aaron throws all of the toys out of the baskets and likes to stack them and sit on top.

Helena is such a happy girl! She will now smile when asked to say "cheese!"

Halloween 2008

This Halloween, Aaron and Helena dressed up as a bear and a rabbit. They enjoyed dressing up and although at first they were scared of Trick-or Treating, by the end of the night and ten houses later, they were experts at taking the candy and putting it into their treat bags. We went to Stacie's parents house so that Aaron and Helena could Trick-or-Treat with their cousins. We all had so much fun!

We wanted to get some photos of Aaron and Helena in their cosutmes outside in the leaves. As you can see, they didn't have as much fun as we had hoped. The two photos above are very authentic and in the moment shots of Aaron and Helena playing in the yard. Aaron hated it when his little feet fell off and Helena needed a bit of time to adjust to the idea of being a rabbit for Halloween.

Aaron and Helena pose with cousins Lexi and Ainsley. Helena was not happy about being photographed by the paparazzi!

Helena poses with her two loves of the evening, a Peppermint Patty and her glow in the dark necklace.

Fall Fun

The Anderson Family traveled to Lyman Orchards this weekend. It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed an afternoon of picking out pumpkins and apples. Aaron and Helena loved being able to run about, even though the ground was very uneven, resulting in lots of trips and falls. Aaron was overwhelmed with excitement as he lay his eyes upon all of the "balls" that the orchards offered.

This was Helena's first choice pumpkin. We had to convince her to find one she could hold.

Aaron was also excited by this large pumpkin. After several attempts at moving it, he too was convinced to keep looking for the perfect pumpkin.

Helping to pick apples proved to be much easier for Aaron. He helped to pick up all sorts of apples for our basket.

At one point, Helena decided to just sit down and take a break from all of the fun.

Birthday Fun

This weekend, Aaron and Helena went to Julian's birthday party. Julian turned four on September 15th.

Helena shows Mommy her teeth

Helena and her cousin Ainsley wait for their lunch

Aaron gets hugs from Auntie Jill

Helena loved playing with Lexi's baby doll. She looks like such a little mommy with all of her gear.