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