Happy Birthday Jamie!

We hope you had a wonderful birthday! All the fun started last night at Jeff & Courtney's and carried on into tonight with more family and great food!

Every year Jamie request the same thing....a "real" strawberry cake and enchiladas and every year the cakes turns out crooked and the icing thin. Can someone please tell me how to make thick icing????

Caleb was so excited to help make the cake and he did a GREAT job. He is turning into a little chef. (just like his Daddy) Jamie's Mom, brother and sister came over tonight to help us celebrate his big day.

Happy Birthday babe! We love you SO MUCH!!

Sweet Boys

We took the boys to the Red Caboose Park today and they had a blast. This is Caleb's favorite place to be and soon to be Ace's too, I'm sure. It seems like we have all been sick so much lately with ear infections, bronchitis and runny noses that the boys enjoyed just being able to run and play outside.

I look at these pictures and just can not believe how big they are getting. Where are my babies??

I promise they really do love each other! I try all the time to get a good picture of the two of them together and every time Ace starts crying..but I LOVE this picture anyway!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Best Buddies

What a beautiful day...after church we came home, ate some breakfast, opened all the windows and headed outside for a day full of fun! The boys were so excited to be playing outside again. We are so proud of Caleb for being such a great big brother! He is so good with Ace and wants to show him how to do everything....and Ace wants to be just like Caleb.

Caleb was showing his little brother how to cut the grass...

how to play ball.....

how to ride his motorcycle...

Ace, you are the luckiest little boy ever to have such an awesome big brother!! I hope you always enjoy each other like you do now!

Momma's little helper

How did I get so lucky?? I have two precious little boys that LOVE TO CLEAN!! I know, it probably will not last but I am sure enjoying it right now.

Caleb has always been the best little helper! When he was six months old he got his own vacuum, mop and broom because he would always want to help clean and we still have it and it is still used everyday. Caleb's teacher's at daycare tell me everyday that he is the only one in the class that cleans and picks up without being asked. It makes me so proud! We have always made him clean his room before going to bed and I guess it worked!

I want the boys to always know that men clean too!!

Ace also loves to help Mommy. Most of the time I get a lot more "help" than I ask for. His favorite thing to do is loading and unloading the dishwasher. If you ever eat in this house you better inspect your silverware very carefully before you eat. Just because it is in the drawer does not mean that it is always clean, thanks to Mr. Ace. :)

And sometimes they "clean" too good!

Good job boys, keep up the good work!

New Year and New Beginnings

2009 has already started bringing BIG changes to the Anderson family! Jamie has been talking for a few years now about going back to school but we were never really sure how we could make it work because he HAS to continue to work while going to school. We knew that finding the time to work, go to school, study, sleep and still spend time with the family was going to be a real challenge. He has finally decided that he is ready and he is going for it!! He is going to Nursing School!!



Even though this has been talked about for a long time, once he decided, it all started happening really fast! Within a matter of 3 or 4 days he made his decision to quit his job and enroll in a class to become a certified nursing assistant while he is in school. By becoming a CNA it will be a lot easier for him to go to school and still work because of the flexible work hours unlike his sales position.



We are really excited but really nervous how we are going to get through the next two years! We both know that this is a good decision and a step in the right direction but it is a scary change!



Jamie will get his certification on January 15th and then hopefully he will be able to get a job VERY soon after. He has already spoken to come school's about their nursing program but has not yet decided which one he will attend. That is another decision that will have to be made in the next month or so.



I am SO extremely proud of him for deciding to do this. I can not even imagine being in school again and I know that as nervous as I am about the "unknown" it is that much worse for him!



Baby, I want you to know how much I love you and I am behind you 100%. I know that tough times are ahead while we figure out how to balance this into our daily schedule but we can do it! Thank you for always thinking of ways to better us as a family. We love you so much and we are so proud of you!

Our Family Christmas 2008

What a fun Christmas it was this year!! There is nothing better than watching your kids eyes light up when they see their toys from Santa. Caleb was so excited about Santa this year. Meme had all the kids over to make reindeer food and Caleb could not wait to spread it in the yard. I was afraid that we would never get him into bed Christmas eve but it was just the opposite! Christmas eve night we went to a candle light service at our church then we had Christmas at Nana's house and then we had to hurry home to put the cookies and milk under the tree and spread the reindeer food. As soon as we pulled in the driveway Caleb took off running in the house as he was taking his clothes off down the hallway. He got his pj's on and could not jump into the bed fast enough! Wow! I was shocked!!! He knew that Santa would not come until we were all asleep.

The next morning when Caleb woke up he was so sweet! He ran into the living room and the first thing that he saw was Ace's motorcycle. Ace was still sleeping but instead of Caleb looking at his presents he wanted to wake Ace up to tell him about his motorcycle that santa brought him. Caleb has the sweetest little heart, always taking care of everyone else first.

Ace had no idea what was going on so Caleb stepped up as the big brother and unwrapped all of his gifts for him. I don't think Caleb had a problem with that at all.

The first thing that Ace noticed were the cookies that santa did not eat, NOT the presents!!

After the excitement of santa it was time to do it all over again at Meme's house! All the kids were so much fun to watch. They could not open their gifts fast enough!
My favorite gift this year was from Chandler. She made a little dish with the letter J on it for me at her school. It touched me so much, she could have made something for a number of people and she chose me. She is such a special little girl! Jamie was excited to get a leaf blower that he has wanted for a couple of years, this I know was his favorite gift!

Caleb made all of his grandparents coffee mugs that he decorated all by himself. They all loved them and he was so proud!
Mom called and asked Jeff and Jamie if they wanted to take on the responsibility of frying a turkey this year. I have never seen two grown men so excited!!! They were worse than women...on the phone with each other all the time, researching on the internet and comparing recipes. They gave us all a good laugh....Here they are where they spent most of their time.... just watching it cook!


Guys, you did a GREAT job!!! It was wonderful! I think this is going to become an every year job for them.

We could not have asked for a better Christmas, we are so blessed! We hope all of our family and friends had a Christmas as special as ours and we wish you all a Happy New Year!