oops forgot the Children's Museum Post

This one has lots of PICS!

On December 12 when Auntie Amy was here visiting we went to the Dupage Children's Museum in Naperville with Andy's brother and his 2 girls.

Making Mobiles

They had a blast and of course got soaking wet! Even with smocks on...

The 3 stooges actually working together!!!!

Auntie Amy in the water bubble. : )

Then we all got soaked but laughed so hard and had a great time!

We finally got them away from the water....

Andy and Samantha in a real bubble!

Alaina even seemed to have a good time--especially in the air ball popping area.

I think this entertained the adults more than the kids.

Then off to the wind tunnel--maybe this will dry them off...

Back to the bubble thing..while we dried to dry Samantha's shirt on the hand dryers...

Cousins!

Brooke loves to hold Alaina!

Christmas at Auntie Laurie's

We then were off to Auntie Laurie's for our immediate family McGinnis Christmas Celebration the weekend before Christmas. It was my sisters year to spend Christmas with her in laws so we had ours early. Andy Sam Ali and I got to have Christmas for most of December... We loaded the minivan and allowed Sammy to watch a DVD finally--it was terrific! And Ali did pretty good! She slept for most of it! Even as Sammy sang Hannah Montana.

Of course we still celebrated with our annual matching pajama's. This year my Mom went nuts with Flannel Camouflage (my bother in law hunts).

Samantha was definitely a fun age this year making a Christmas list. I think it was about 4 pages long... She had asked for a Fisher Price Dog that Grows and had showed everyone the catalog. So my Mom ordered it for her..but as Sammy opened it..she can be too smart sometimes...she actually turned to Andy and said.."I pointed to the White one in the book not the brown one, but this is OK"... This dog is a bit creepy and actually says your child's name ( a little like the guy from Silence of the lambs) and does grow every day. Sammy loved it.

Here are the cousins..I am not sure why JP is doing his best John Travolta imitation...it is not easy to get 5 kids between 6 months and 9 to lay still!

Ready for Church

Day-Care Christmas

The daycare Christmas party got postponed due to the crazy snow storm that hit Chicago land that day (Dec 18?) but the girls were already dressed so of course I took a picture--or 30!

Turned into a stay home day!

Anderson Christmas

My 2 nieces and my 2 monkeys.
Andy's Grandma and Sammy

Andy's Aunt Karen will not put the baby down! : )

The girls caught at the dessert table....

Andy called this fishing for baby...entertainment with children...

We opened gifts the next day...

Alaina spit up on her dress at church so she is in her Hawkeye jammies instead of matching her sister...

Auntie Amy got creative and crafty this year and made Sammy a Whale Tale Pillow!!!!

She loves it!

Early December 2008

Auntie Amy was coming in from Florida for Anderson Christmas and Sammy wanted to help clean the house!!!!! So I put her to work cleaning the floor...Auntie Amy and Alaina

Ali was able to Army crawl and get her own toys out!

6 month Check up

My Ali girl was 6 months in December and doing great. We hadn't started her on much food yet cause at her 4 month check she was still a little low on the weight charts (still bigger than her sister was) and we had to get her more fat. We did start cereal at around 5.5 months and the doctor cleared us for veggies. She eat like a champ. She was 25 In long (~25th percentile) and 13 lb 15 oz. (~20th percentile) She started rolling a little before 4 months and got around with a purpose by 5 months. She was sitting pretty well at 6 months but not for long periods of time.

happy half birthday

Sammy feeding her sister!

Eating a pancake...