Proud Brother and Sister

Aaron and Helena love taking turns holding their new baby sister, Natalie. They are learning to be gentle around her and are very curious about all of the different sounds and movements she is making!

Welcome Natalie Paige

Natalie Paige Anderson was born on January 19, 2010. She weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz. and measured 20 inches long. Aaron and Helena are adjusting well to all of the new changes and already love their little sister to pieces. So far we are amazed at how different it feels only having one newborn to look after!

Christmas Day

Christmas afternoon we traveled to Manchester, CT to visit with Stacie's family. We were joined by the newest addition to her family, Gracie, who was born only three weeks before. Aaron and Helena loved playing with their cousins from New York, Anna and Maggie as well as Lexi and Julian, who we see often. It was controlled chaos, but so much fun!

Cousins (left-right): Julian, Anna, Maggie, Lexi, Helena and Aaron

Opening gifts

Helena's attention is caught by her surrounding cousins opening their gifts

Aaron was the last cousin to have gifts left to open, he was very particular about opening his presents

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was filled with lots of fun in the Anderson home! Helena woke up very excited to run downstairs to see if Santa had visited. Since we returned home late the night before, Aaron felt much differently. It took him about 20 minutes to get used to the idea of being up. At first, he didn't want to see if Santa had come or even get out of bed. After a short time of reading stories and waking up, he felt much differently. Scott's family came over a bit later for breakfast and playtime. It was a great way to start the day!

Santa has been here!

Aaron and Helena loved their new kitchen that Santa brought for them!

Helena poses in her new sled

Helena opens gifts from her stocking

Aaron shows off his new CARS night light

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Scott's family in Salem, CT. We went to Kristie and Adam's house for a nice dinner, followed by gifts and celebration. Aaron and Helena were so excited to see their Farmor and Farfar who live in Florida as well as spend time with their cousins and open their gifts. It was a lively celebration filled with laughter and cheer!

Aaron and Helena pose on Christmas Eve

Aaron and Helena are so excited for the celebrations to begin

The cousins pose for a group photo: Casey, Cal, Maya, Helena and Aaron

Daddy and Aaron open gifts together

Helena has a great time tearing open her gifts on Christmas Eve

First Snowstorm of the Year

This weekend we received almost 20 inches of snow. It was our first big snowfall of the year.

It took Scott almost three hours to plow all of the snow out of our driveway. What a trooper!

Aaron, Helena and I decided to make cookies while Scott was out removing snow. They were both such big helpers!

Family Portraits

Our yearly family photos taken for the holidays

First Birthday Party

Aaron and Helena were invited to their first birthday party hosted by a friend. Up until now, their birthday party experiences have only involved family members. A school friend had his third birthday party at a local gymnastics arena and all of the kids had a chance to try out most of the equipment. It was as much fun for the adults to watch as it was for the kids to run around and play!

Aaron tries the rope swing

Helena crawls through the foam blocks

Aaron and Helena wait patiently to jump into the foam blocks, a unanimous favorite among all of the kids.

Aaron and Helena crawl through the blocks together. It was interesting to see that they wanted to complete all of the centers together.

Helena crawls through a tube

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving, we had everyone over to our house for dinner. Aaron and Helena loved playing with their cousins and Scott and I felt like we saw very little of them because they were so busy entertaining Lexi, Maya, Casey and Callaway. It is amazing how much Thanksgiving has changed over the last few years. We loved watching all of the kids have fun together this year!

Aaron and Helena - 31 Months Old

Aaron protesting Mommy's picture taking

Helena smiles for the camera

Daddy takes a moment away from dinner preparations to dance with Helena

Fall Clean Up

We spent the weekend cleaning up the leaves in our backyard. Aaron and Helena loved playing in the piles of leaves around the yard! Scott raked up several huge piles and the kids were occupied for quite some time. When Aaron and Helena noticed us putting some of the larger piles of leaves in garbage cans, they ran right over to help! Who knew yard work could be so much fun?!

Helena poses as she sits in a large pile of leaves

Aaron liked to be buried in the leaves

Aaron picked up large piles of leaves with his hands

Helena was also able to gather large piles of leaves in her hands. She got very good at placing the piles in the garbage cans.