Christmas with the Andersons

After a very fun filled Christmas morning, we left the mess in the living room and headed on over to my parents' house.

Santa had arrived there too! He left presents on the back porch and on the deck!

Along with some jingle bells that must have fallen off of the reindeer! Cole was amazed.

Like mommy, like daughter.

 I just love this one of my parents. 

 Uncles are good for some crazy fun. :) Notice how Cole is still playing his harmonica while being tossed in the air!

 Oh heaven! Jay got us a family gift of a popcorn maker! We love it and have already used it for movie night this evening.  

 Charlotte will only stand to be next to Dakota for so long before she tries to scramble away!

She actually is getting much better around Dakota and only feigns a whimper when Dakota comes trotting by.  Dakota is really a very wonderful dog but is much bigger than Charlotte.

 My Dad is from Chicago originally (or Chicahgo if you are from the Mid-west. I still say it like that even though I grew up in NH since my Dad still has his mid-western accent.).  Anyway, he's a big Bears fan.  Brendan obviously is a big Pats fan which naturally means  Cole is a Pats fan. So Cole and my Dad have a big "rivalry" about who's better, the Bears or the Pats.  When Cole opened up this Pats hat, he was positively gleeful when he shouted, "See Grandpa I told you Santa was a Patriots fan!" I was sorry I had to tell him the hat was actually from Kerry!

 Kerry was dubbed the Queen of Gift Cards.

 Although Charlotte likes to undress her dolls, she also likes to dress them too.  She got a couple new outfits from Great-Grandpa and she had to put them all on the baby at the same time! In the second pic, Charlotte is playing with my dollhouse from when I was little. This dollhouse is beautiful although another little girl (ahem, Kerry!) defaced it bit on the roof with names of her family!  My parents told me I could take this for Charlotte to use which I am so excited about!  I was reading a photo blog and came across this post where her husband made a dollhouse and she decorated it. It's a little too bright for me but it gave me some ideas to decorate mine (I mean, Charlotte's) with!

 One of Cole's presents was a "rocket" launcher. You just press it down and push it up and it launches super high.  Grandpa and Cole called it "the bomb" and I think they were out on the porch for 45 minutes launching this thing over and over again.  

We skyped with my Grandfather in Nevada!  How cool is that? I sure do miss him so.

Presents- blah! Who needs them?! Wrapping paper piles are the best!

Charlotte laughed and laughed for this. She was buried and then popped up  and then would point out who around her had a turn next.  Our video camera space ran out so I didn't get any video! So bummed.

Wonderful day.  Kids were totally tuckered out by 6 and stuffed with the special Anderson family cake and frosting (recipe from my Slovak great-grandparents!).