Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving was indeed happy this year!  We had another delicious dinner with a lot of family, with so much to be grateful for.  We missed having Grandpa and Grandpa Anderson with us this year, but know they were in good company back home in Wisconsin. We did have a new family member join us this year though…Miss Sloane! 

The Crossmans!

The boys did great this year, actually sitting at the table with us for most of the meal! As is our family tradition, we went around the table with everyone sharing something they are thankful for.  Generally this results in some happy tears as love is shared.  The boys kept it light however, Arjen was thankful for toys, and Gus thankful for AutoBots.  Guess we need to work a little on getting outside the egocentric circle of preschooler life.  

The heads of the table

Sorry for the blurriness here, but I was somewhat proud of my selfie skills! Missing Shannon, Sloane and the boys in this pic, but you get the idea…just a "small" group of 18 for dinner this year.  

As much as I love Turkey day itself, the day after is almost more my favorite.  Nowhere to rush to, the jammies can stay on for an extra hour, and these days, its fun to catch the proud Baba playing with all of her grand-babies! 

Making faces with Sloan-ie

Arjen tried negotiating for nap time under the leaves (or what's left of them)

Gus showing his creative imagination with Baba and the Moose autobots (incase you haven't picked up on the theme here, almost anything is worthy of becoming an autobot if it means Gus gets to play Transformers!).  They quickly turned into princesses Elsa and Anna though.  Frozen remains a close second behind the Autobots!

Thanks to all of our family and friends, near and far, for sharing your lives and love with us!  We are grateful to have you in our hearts!

Reading Rainbow

The boys have been obsessed with Transformers lately.  To say obsessed is to put it mildly.  Arjen got a Transformers RescueBots book for his birthday, and it has been read every night since.  Along with a Decepticons book kindly passed on from their cousin.  One night this past week, Arjen said he wanted to read it.  And so he did, sort of.  The memory on this kid is amazing.    Little did we know that Gus was also ready to start "reading." 

These videos are uncut and lengthy, but how do you delete bits of your children "reading" a book out loud for the first time?  

So you think you can dance?

Happy Halloween!!

Eet's ah Go!

The mustaches didn't last too long, but the boys had a good time going door-to-door through the neighborhood.  We heard plenty of "I got candy!! I like trick or treating!"  

Inspecting their loot...

There was even some fun passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  Although this one was a little bigger than the average kid!

Happy Halloween!!!

Are you ready for some football?!

Who doesn't love a friendly game of football? 

   

Happy birthday Andrew!

Lot's o' birthdays in a short span of time for this fam.  This year, Gma Cherie and GGma Darlene got to visit us for Andrew's birthday.  The kids had a lot of fun "helping" Dad open his presents.  Our Ninja crew is now complete…Arjen specifically said he wanted to get Andrew a red ninja mask, like his orange one, so they could play Ninja's together.  He also pretty much listed off everything else he got for his birthday, as what he wanted to get dad this year.  It was pretty cute.  

We had a great visit with "the grandmas".  During the days, the boys had fun playing tour guide, pretty much around the entire bay area, making it all the way down to Half Moon Bay to check out the pumpkin patches that we've been hearing about for years.  I was working, but enjoyed coming home to see everyone for dinner and hear about all the adventures.  

Helping Dad open his presents

Sorry for the blurry pic…best I could get of the majority of the bday dinner crew…and no, it was not a Packers game night, but the team spirit was running high regardless!

The October bday boys sporting their new Packers gear (and Arjen is holding "bumblebee" his new transformer toy)

What's a trip to CA without a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge?

Any visit with "the grandmas" wouldn't be complete without a game of Shanghai! 

Happy 4th birthday Arjen!!

Four years old!!!  All of a sudden we have a full blown kid.  This guy is no "preschooler" anymore.  He continues to show us just how smart and grown up he's becoming.  It's frightening and amazing all in the same breath.  

What he's doing now:

- easily riding his bike all on his own, up and down hills, in circles, to the park…in fact, he got a new big bike for his birthday!

- writing his name and any other words he has the patience to write out if we help with the spelling

- helping in the kitchen (a fave is helping make pancakes on the weekends)

- bossing his little brother around (I'm hearing more and more of my own words coming out of his mouth and being directed at Gus these days)

- tattling on his little bro ("Mom! Gus dumped out the legos!") or worse yet, blaming whatever they both may be in trouble for on the little bro.  It's impressive.  ("but Gus did it!") 

- trying to do anything Dad does (he's a big fan of helping to hitch/unhitch the trailer)

- playing Wii video games (he's a big fan of being the luigi character in Super Mario Bros, mariokart, and olympic winter sports)

- acting out his new ninja skills that he has picked up from watching Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

- telling us he loves us, then taking it to the next level (I love you 100! I love you 42 hundred! and whatever other big numbers he can manage to spit out that are higher than what I come back with.  Definitely one of my favorite current games to play with him!)

Life with this guy is nothing but interesting, enlightening, and exciting!  Happy Birthday Arjen! We love you infinity!

He chose Chili's for his birthday dinner - he loves being able to "read" his own menu (pictures) and choose his own food.  The free birthday ice cream didn't hurt either, although, he wasn't too thrilled when he was in the spotlight while the waitstaff sang "Happy Birthday" to him!

Decorating for his Orange themed birthday party

The fam came over to help us celebrate Arjen turning 4…The kid couldn't have picked a better favorite color to have  with an October bday, and during a Giants playoff streak!

I think he likes the new bike, even though he told us we needed to take the training wheels off!

the Orange Crew.  

Gus was grateful to Aunt Shannon for bringing his shopping cart downstairs.  God forbid that thing didn't follow him from room to room!

Checking out a little Giants action

Turtle power!

Sorry for the darkness…the boys were enjoying a moment outside with some new transformer RescueBot toys

Think he partied hard enough?