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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Day



We had a lovely brunch with my side of the family at our house on Christmas morning but unfortunately took no pictures! Pictures are not usually top of mind for me, but I must work on that as when Anthony looks back he'll wonder where all these relatives are for major events.

After brunch we went over to Jared's parent's house to have dinner with the Anardis and had a lot of fabulous food and fun.

And now our life can slow down a bit again, and return back to normal!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was great fun at our house. I'm pretty sure Jared and I were more excited than Anthony was....that will of course change in the coming years. We were up early and waiting for him to get up.

Go see the surprise in the living room!

Opening a gift from Nonna

Found the blocks!

Playing with his remote control train.

There were lots of smiles to go around as Anthony discovered each new toy and unwrapped gifts. He really enjoyed opening presents and we loved watching him. My mom was able to join us for the weekend too, so she got to share in the excitement of a child's Christmas.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

We had a Christmas Eve brunch this year and opened presents with the grandparents. The boys (and the parents) were completely exhausted by the end of the morning, and we were so glad we decided to unwrap gifts early instead of waiting until Christmas day. We would have probably had a couple of cranky kids on our hands by the time we got to dinner. Anthony was blessed with a lot of wonderful gifts, and I'm hoping some of his new toys will keep him entertained! He is so busy and I'm always trying to think of new things that he would like to do - I feel like he is bored a lot of the time. But I don't think that will be the case any more!





Christmas Eve Dinner


We were excited to host Christmas Eve Dinner this year, and had a great time celebrating with our family. Where are the pictures of the family, you might ask? Instead of family pics today I'm sharing with you pics of dinner, which was one of the best meals I have had, ever, if I do say so myself.

To start we served a spinach salad with mushrooms, toasted walnuts, and shaved parmesan, and for dinner we had rack of lamb with a mint-basil pesto over smashed potatoes and peas. It was our first time cooking lamb and it turned out just beautifully. To finish, we had Lemon and white chocolate pots de creme for dessert.

We are now crazy about lamb over at this place. Up to this point we'd only had it in gyros. If you are a meat eater and don't have lamb in a regular rotation you really are missing out. Delicious!

Anthony was so excited for Santa that he had to go to bed ridiculous early (I think around 6:30). The craziness of the days surrounding Christmas really wore him out!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Puddin' Face

High on Pudding

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Pics with Grandma and Grandpa

This is how the pics started out....Lynda took Lucas from Kim's lap, and he was less than thrilled about it.

Both boys wanted to sit with Grandpa, which left Grandma all alone, which Kim is obviously enjoying.

These boys love BOTH of their grandparents so much!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Santa Visits!

Well Santa came to see Anthony this year, and boy did Anthony not want to see him. Which is hilarious, because as you can see, Kim's face isn't even covered up. We were sure Anthony would recognize him, but alas he did not.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Wagon Ride


Luke and Anthony thoroughly enjoyed pushing each other around in this little wagon at the extended Anardi family Christmas party. And I'm sure they loved that all of the adults were standing around watching them.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

It's Magical!

The three of us went to dinner and to Snowflake Lane and had such a wonderful time; definitely a tradition we will enjoy for many years! We don't take Anthony out to dinner with us too often, but that might change as he was so well behaved and tried a little of everything we offered him before eating his whole plate of honey chicken.


Me with two very handsome guys!
Anthony was so excited to see the snowman. When I asked if he wanted to touch him, his eyes lit up and he ran after the snowman! We've been watching Frosty a lot, and he has the hallmark dancing frosty along with several other stuffed snowmen, so I guess it's his favorite Christmas character.
He really liked the characters that walk around and wanted to touch all of them. We had to stop him at one point as he was just about to grab the fairy princess from behind....a little too much touching perhaps. He wasn't too impressed with the fake snow that was falling; he was definitely more interested in the drummers and the show.

Busted


I was in the other room and it was so quiet in the front room, so I headed out there with my camera ready as I was pretty sure I knew where I'd find Anthony....eating a gingerbread man on top of the table. So sneaky!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Startled Awake


I went in to wake Anthony up from his nap and found him completely asleep face down in this pile of books. Poor guy had marks all over his head; it must have been so uncomfortable. He was obviously thrilled that I was taking pictures of him the second he opened his eyes - he isn't even paying attention to me at all.

Baking

If you know me well, you know that I much prefer cooking over baking. But we have been doing a ton of baking this holiday season - I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone here! We made a few different treats earlier this week and delivered them to Grandpa's office and Great Grandpa Bob and Great Grammie Donna. Heavy on the sprinkles on these cookies, as that was of course his favorite part.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cookies!

As you would expect with any toddler, Anthony loves cookies! It sounds like "Gooky" when he screams it. Saturday he helped us make gingersnap cookies for his advent activity.


Enjoying his cookies!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Gingerbread House

On Friday, Anthony and I decorated his gingerbread house. This was by far his favorite advent activity, which totally surprised me. He spent an hour working on his house, and he put 98% of the candy you see on there - all I did was help him with the frosting which he smeared all over the place. One hour of paying attention to something has to be a record for this guy!




The finished product - a beautiful mess!

The next day Jared and Anthony decorated the tree; Anthony was more interested in putting frosting on his dad's face.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Christmas Pictures

were today....the boys were thrilled! More to come!

Painting Christmas Ornaments

Thursday's advent activity which Anthony really wasn't that interested in.

Hanging with Uncle Josh

Monday, December 6, 2010

Christmas Lights

We went to the Garden d'Lights exhibit at the Bellevue Botanical Garden tonight and it was absolutely amazing. We were so impressed with the displays - you have to go check it out if you're in the area. The event is free on M, T, and W nights during the holidays.

Look at the different types of flowers in this garden display.

Here is a lake with a swan, fountain (the lights are actually moving in person, so it looks like water), and beautiful plants surrounding the water.

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Vision is Still On!

I don't often talk about my health much any more - here or in "real" life. This isn't because I've given up hope or because I have accepted my current circumstances.

It's really because:

1) no one wants to hear about other people's health problems.

2) I am fully confident that this is not permanent and I'll be up and walking again. I have resolved in my mind and my life that this is something that I am going through, not something I am stuck in forever. I don't spend time thinking about my current paralyzation (is that even a word??); instead I focus on the other wonderful blessings that are in my life and the promises that God has given me in the Bible.

So if you have questions about how I'm doing, you can always feel free to ask, though I don't have much new information to share. But do know that I am still very hopeful, very optimistic about what is to come. And until then I am doing what I hope is my best to have a normal life and give Jared and Anthony a normal life.

I feel so much pressure from people, society, to "accept" that I'm paralyzed and that I'll be this way forever, and to move on with my life. To those people I'd suggest that they become paralyzed and then see how they feel about "accepting" their situation. One must always remain hopeful, for when you give up hope, you have given up everything.

As I've made new friends at the women's Bible study I've been asked questions like "how do you shower?" and "how do you drive?" and it's then that I realize that there is so much I haven't shared with you, my friends. Please feel free to ask me any questions at all about "how" I do things now....before this happened to me I would have never known how someone in a wheelchair showered, other than imagining them getting hosed off in their chair outside. Which is certainly not how we do things in this house!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Christmas Tree

Helping Dad with the lights


Hanging ornaments with Mom


Our finished tree! The Norway Spruce is my favorite tree, and that's what we ended up with again this year. As you can see we are testing out one present under the tree to see how Anthony does. So far he hasn't touched it - it's for Jared, and every time he sees it he points and says "Daddy's." We are really hoping that Anthony doesn't attempt to pull the tree over. So far he is doing really well and leaving it alone.

Snow