Christmas Time is Here

Finally! We have been very excited for Christmas this year. Bridger is understanding more and more about presents and is learning how to say Santa Claus. He also runs around saying, "Merry Kissmas!"

We enjoyed a white Christmas with LOTS of snow. Christmas Eve we had a bunch of friends over, ate until we were stuffed, sang carols, visited and the kids acted out the Nativity and had a gift exchange. Thanks to all of our friends for coming over and sharing this time with us, and also, thanks for the wonderful pies!!

One of Bridger's favorites was again, boxes with packing peanuts. He was lucky to have 2 this year. Bridger also got a rocking horse which was a hit. Carter got an exersaucer (mommy couldn't wait til Christmas, and it has been very nice for the past few weeks) We were spoiled with lots of other gifts: books, clothes, PJ's, shoes, a fondue pot, calendar, ben's favorite -a stuffed pneumonia bacteria (we need to post a picture)and lots of treats. We had so much fun, we wished Christmas was more than once a year.

Here are some of our pictures to share:

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!

This Christmas, I have been lazy. I have thought about the last 2 Christmases... in 2006, the day I came home from the hospital after having Bridger and started making cookies for our friends and neighbors. In 2007 I was pregnant and kept barfing in between making 50+ detailed homemade cards. This year, I have not sent out nearly as many Christmas cards as previous years, and the card that I did send out was just a picture. Why? Well, now as I am writing this, I am realizing that maybe I have wised up, or having 2 boys is wearing on me more than I realized. Anyway, the real reason is I feel like a Christmas card from me would be anticlimactic. If you are a close friend or relative, I have been overly advertising my blog to you, and if you really wanted to know what we were up to, you should be checking it....so you have seen a bazillion pictures of my adorable boys and should know more nitty gritty on us than you would like to. Now, after saying all of that, I loved all of the Christmas cards that we received, even from people who have blogs that we check. So thank you for being more on top of things than I am. Here is our official Christmas card:

See? More adorable pictures of my boys!

On a more serious note, I again would like to say Merry Christmas to everyone. My little family is so blessed, and I love the Christmas season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the source of all of our blessings. I am thankful for His life, His example and His atonement, which is the greatest gift we have been given.

Introducing Da Gang

We really love the street that we live on. We have found alot in common with our neighbors. Especially on those hectic and chaotic days that I have, when I am wondering "Are we crazy having 2 children under 2? What were we thinking!? (or not thinking) But here on Anthony Lane, all I have to do is look out the window and I see 2 more families that are just as crazy as we are. (Luv ya ladies!!) Here is a picture of the official Anthony Lane Gang. All the children pictured are within 20 months of age. We all have 2 kids..each family's oldest child is within 2 months of age of eachother, and the youngest child is within 4 months of age. We have the largest gap between our kids, which is 19 months. So, maybe, just to make us feel better, is it safe to say that we are the least crazy?

You can imagine how hard it was to take a good pic with them all even in it,

this is the best we could do!

The Young Crowd, the older crowd would not

hold still long enough for a pic

The Budding Neighborhood bully

Double punch toda face!

I Wanna Geen!

This may become a dinner time classic story in our family...... Bridger like most almost 2-year-olds is learning his colors. We were at our neighbor's house for dinner and Bridger kept saying "I wanna geen!! I wanna geen! Please!!" We looked around and kept asking him "what do you want?" as we pointed to several things on the table, and he kept repeating his desire.... "A geen. A geen!!" We still had no idea what he was talking about until he finally pointed to the cut up apples and oranges on the table. Oh!! You want an ORANGE?

Drum Roll, Please!!

Carter is a whopping 17 pounds and 4 ounces. In this family of skinny-minis, we are cheering him on! Keep it up Carter Cole!! He is now 4 months old and is still holding pretty steady on his growth curve (he dropped to the 89th percentile in weight, but is still at 94th for height) We are proud of our big, little guy! I love this picture as it shows off his rolls.... oh, I mean, thighs so well.

A Season of Gratitude

I love this time of year because it helps me to reflect on my life and how much I have been blessed. This Thanksgiving holiday, I am trying to be more specific about the things that I am grateful for:

Bridger always wakes up cheerful and happy. He is also very excited when Carter wakes up too. This helps me to be in a good mood as well, no matter how early it is.

Somedays I feel like I married MacGyver. Ben is so creative and innovative. In every situation with Ben, I know he will think of a way to fix it, mend it, move it, build it, cook it, heal it, clean it, grow it, improve it or prevent it. I feel very lucky to have married such a smart guy.

Every week my mother-in-law calls one to five times. This makes us feel loved and missed.

I am thankful that our neighbors are our friends. This means a lot to us not having family close by.

Right now we have the best health insurance we have ever had and probably ever will.

I am pleased that Ben has a job that helps him feel fulfilled. He is great at taking care of sick children.

I am thankful that I get to teach expectant parents as my job. It allows me to reminisce the fun and life changing things that a new baby brings.

I am thankful that we have a savings account and it actually has money in it.

I am glad that we have enough space in our home to entertain our energetic boys.

I love that Carter sleeps 8-10 hours each night before waking up to eat.

I have a lot of friends who don't have dishwashers. This is a luxury I enjoy everyday.

I am thankful that we have close friends to have Sunday dinner with.

I am thankful that I know that there is a Prophet on the earth today that speaks for God who warns us and gives us guidance. This helps me feel peace in such a chaotic world.

I love being goofy and childish with my children. I love being the person who makes them laugh and smile. Who could ask for a better reward?

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone! I know we all have a lot to be thankful for.

"You're My Little Choochy Face...

.....My choochy whoochy, oochy, little choochy face!" To all my sisters... I know that you are singing the rest of the song in your head, and potentially it will STAY in your head the rest on the day. Sorry!! For those of you who didn't grow up watching and singing along to the movie "Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang " You can borrow the movie from me and you will know what I am talking about. Anyway, one of Bridger's dominant features as a baby was his cheeks. So for his nickname, we started calling him "Choochy Face." Because it fits, I can't help calling Carter the same thing.

Halloween

I made this post a while ago, but I guess did not post it. We had a fun Halloween and enjoyed trick-or treating.` As soon as Bridger recognized that he got candy when he held up his bucket, he was on board. He was scared at some costumes, loved looking at the jack-o-lanterns and asks for his "bucket? candy?" everyday. Carter is a fantastic second child and "came for the ride" like always. Yes, I know Carter is a girl M&M, and Bridger's outfit is way too big.... but that's what you get when you take both boys with you shopping.... grab and leave!

Da Bottom Lip

SO, Carter refuses a pacifier. I have heard parents complain of this dilemma with other babies and thought, "How does a baby 'not take a pacifier' ...just shove it in!"(because Bridger loved a pacifier and obviously, if MY baby does it, shouldn't everyother baby do it?) Yes , I am now being cursed for judging other parents. Now I know that you can "shove it in" all you want and unless the baby is willing to suck on it, it does not matter how many times or how many types of pacifiers you try, if he doesn't want it, he doesn't want it. End of story. Luckily for me last week Carter found something he will suck on and for the present time loves to...his bottom lip. It cracks me up and he looks a little goofy doing it... But, hey, whatever works.

Sharing Boys

On Sunday as I was dressing Bridger and realized that all of his onesies were in the laundry. So we borrowed one- from CARTER. I always knew that my boys would share clothes, just thought that it would take a few years, not months!

A Day on the Farm

Last week we went to Schuster's Playtime Farm, a pumpkin patch and petting zoo that lots of city folk around here go to. Yes, it is a sad fact that we are officially "city people." And this realization, again, left Ben in mourning for the rest of the day. For those of you who don't know, Ben was raised on the empty plains of Wyoming, which he dearly misses and longs for the day when he too will have his own piece of land with grazing cattle, horses, chickens, goats and many sheep. He talks about it often and refers to is as his "hobby farm" trying to make it more appealing to me. I was raised on a dairy farm and frankly don't miss it at all. There are two things that we both agree on and they are Bridger would be a great country boy and a farm is a great place to raise children. So until Ben gets his hobby farm, we pay people to experience what Ben and I did everyday as a child. Bridger loved it....Well, he loved climbing all the fences, tromping through all the mud and puddles, playing in the piles of corn, lifting all the pumpkins he possibly could and having the chance to run wild without hesitation. Bridger liked looking at the animals from a far, but wasn't too keen on them close up. Carter was a good sport until he got cold and hungry. We had a great day out in the country and have some fun pictures to share.

Driving the tractor

The Llamas and cows

He would have climbed right over if we hadn't stopped him!

Bridger's pumpkin

Carter is DONE

Ben and Bridger on a barrel ride

We watched a pig race, Arnold Schwartspigger won

Feeding the goats, well, Ben is

Playing in the corn kernels

Proof of a good day

Talking Bridger

Ben and I are so amazed at how fast our boys are growing. Bridger has been full of babble with an occasional thrown in word for months. But just over the last week, he is picking up so many words and remembering so many things that he can now talk to us about. I am now making a list of the new words that he likes to repeat and use. He is at such a fun stage and gets really excited over alot of things. This week it has been the moon, buckets, leaves and pumpkins. He has stopped using "mine" and now uses "Bridger's" to describe EVERYTHING. We love it.

SO big!

Today I was looking at Carter and I am still so amazed at how big he is. I realize he is a big baby, and maybe you think the amazement should pass, but it hasn't. I will probably continue to be surprised for a while, so bare with me. I really don't feel like he eats any more than Bridger did, he rarely wakes up at night to feed anymore, so I just don't know where it is coming from. This is a picture of his cute little chubby face that I took today.

Mission: Organization

I realize that I have not been posting lately. I have been on a rigorous mission to finally get my house organized. I have been on a shopping spree for baskets and rubbermaids, organizational cubes, closets and shelves. I have been through every closet and cupboard at least once. (Carter is on his THIRD complete wardrobe change -6 month size, some 9) I have cleaned almost every inch of the house and I love it!! Having a clean, cute house brings me lots of accomplishment and joy. So, that is my excuse for not posting. I am rubbing off on Bridger, I fear, and he loves to sweep, vacuum, mop, dust, rake, shovel.... anything that he can sing "clean up" to. I have some videos, maybe I will post those later. Here is a picture with "Bridger's vacuum."

Carter comes along with all my chores, here we are loading the dishwasher.

Carter's Blessing

I had been feeling homesick after Carter was born and so sad that only 3 members of our extended family had been able to meet Carter. I found a weekend deal to Salt Lake and we jumped at the chance to take our little family to see our BIG family. It was a fantastic trip. We saw all of Ben's 5 siblings and their families along with some of his extended family and saw 4 of my 7 siblings and their families along with lots of my extended family and friends. We were very grateful that at last minute's notice so many people could come to see us. While we were there we blessed Carter. In our church, a " baby blessing" is a publicly preformed blessing where an infant is given a name and a blessing by a man (typically the father) who holds the priesthood along with a group of other men who hold the priesthood thanking God for the child and praying for favors and blessings upon the child's life. It was a very special day for us and I was so happy that members of our family were able to attend and help in the blessing. We really enjoyed being "home" for the weekend. Here are a few pictures of the day:

My Heavy Weight Champion

It's not everyday in this house that you get to have bragging rights about how much you weigh. So, I am proud to announce that Carter at his 2 month check-up is 14 pounds, 5 ounces and 24.5 inches long, both in the 95th percentile. Wahoo! We love our little chubby man!

Carter makes me Smile

The Johnson Scowl

Although I feel like we have very content and happy babies, as infants they do not reflect this disposition on their faces. When Bridger was a baby (pictured on the left) and started this facial expression, Ben blamed my genes and termed it the "Johnson Scowl." It seems like Carter has this same expression (pictured on the right). Even though I think Carter takes after the Tippets, I am still getting blamed for passing on the "Johnson Scowl." I must confess, I have made Bridger cry just by giving him the look and I know of a few others in my family who could do the same.

A Visit from Auntie Val

Aunt Val came to visit us for a week and we had lots of fun. Bridger warmed up nicely to her and was very sad to see her leave. We loved having her visit. These pictures are at the Memorial Union and we were feeding the ducks. Bridger liked the thought of it more than actually doing it:

This one cracks me up- he is eating the bread so the ducks won't come to him.