Santa came!!

Santa came and visited us. He left Anna Grace three presents. They were just what she wanted....Sing and Dance Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie's house and Tanner and Barbie.

A trail of candy canes guided Anna Grace from her bedroom to the den where her presents were under the tree. We heard her coming down the stairs collecting the candy canes and saying, "Look at all the candy canes, Big Pop!"

Here is AG as she walked into the den.

"Santa came!!"


"Look at my Sing and Dance Pinkie Pie, Big Pop!"


Anna Grace was so excited. We had a wonderful time watching her play with each of her presents.

Here she is checking out Tanner and Barbie. Tanner comes with treats that you feed him. After he eats them you press his tail and he goes to the bathroom. AG thought it was great.

AG and I playing with Pinkie Pie's house. Yes, I know I look beautiful in the morning. I had no time to get ready. AG was coming down the stairs, so I had to jump out of bed to get the camera ready!

"Sit Tanner sit. Good dog." Here is AG playing with Tanner.

This picture was priceless. AG was sitting on the floor singing along with Pinkie Pie and stroking her hair. She was so happy! It was so sweet.



Gram and Gramps came up on Christmas day to celebrate with us. AG had a few more presents to open from them. Here she is opening up her new PINK laptop computer. She loves it. It has lot of fun learning games on it.

"Thanks, Gram and Gramps! It's just what I always wanted!" AG received Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip Barbies from Gram and Gramps.

We truely are blessed and we had a WONDERFUL Christmas!! We hope you did too!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas....

Well, we made it to Christmas eve and everyone was filled with excitement.
Big Pop read us the story of Jesus' birth from the gospel of Luke and the wise men's visit from the gospel of Matthew. As he read the story, Anna Grace and Wyatt put Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds and the wise men on the cake. Then we put candles in the cake and sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus". It was such a wonderful night of really focusing on why we celebrate Christmas.


Big Pop is reading the story to us. AG and Wyatt are listening intently, so they know when to place the right people on the cake.

Anna Grace places Mary on the cake while Big Pop reads, "He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Wyatt places the final wise man on the cake while AG watches him.

Here is the manger scene on the night Jesus was born. The wise men did not visit Jesus until he was about 2 years old, but we had the little wise men characters, so my dad read about the wise men from Matthew, so AG and Wyatt could put them on the cake too.

Two candles on the cake - one for AG to blow out and one for Wyatt to blow out.

"Happy Birthday Jesus! You are the gift!!!"










After celebrating Jesus' birthday, we went into the den to open presents!! We told Anna Grace that we give each other presents at Christmas because God gave us Jesus. He is the gift to us. The wise men brought Jesus gifts, so we celebrate by giving gifts to each other.

Anna Grace opening her present from Wyatt, Aunt Sage and Uncle Wes. It was a Sleeping Beauty doll and accessories. She was ecstatic!

Anna Grace in her new cooking apron we gave her to wear when she helps Thomas make pancakes or helps me make cookies. She loved it.

Anna Grace's new ballerina book. It is a cute story with Anna Grace's name in it.

Anna Grace got some knee pads, shoulder pads and a helmet from Nana and Big Pop. This will help her when she drives her gator.

A picture of Anna Grace all decked out in her new gear.


Before bed, Anna Grace picked out some cookies and pretzel sticks to leave out for Santa and the reindeer. She also left Santa a note thanking him for her presents. She made it for Santa earlier that day. Then we read "Twas the night before Christmas" and tucked AG in for a long winter's nap.

A John Deere Gator

One of Anna Grace's big Christmas presents this year was a John Deere Gator. My parents got it for her and they were so excited about it that they wanted to give it to her on Christmas eve day. We took her on a scavenger hunt to find it.


Where could it be Nana?? What am I even looking for??

How big is it?? Is it in the tree house??

Is it a letter?? Is it in the mailbox? Oh Look! There is a letter from Santa in the mailbox. Is that what I am looking for?

Hmmmmm... nothing new in the front yard. What are we looking for, Nana??

There is the Gator..... parked beside the shed.

Anna Grace has a tricycle, a bicycle, a big wheel and a pink car that all have pedals. We have tried to show her over and over again how to pedal and ride these fun toys, but she has no interest in them. Every now and then she will ask to ride one of them, but she never pedals. She uses her feet on the road to push it and make it go. Kind of like the Flinstones.
Well, she has a few friends with battery powered cars - Spencer, Bess and Mason to name a few. She loves to ride in them with her friends, but she likes to be the passenger. She is very content being the passenger and has expressed no interest in wanting to drive one.

Anna Grace has found the Gator. When she first saw it she just stood there frozen (almost scared) and looked at it. Then she slowly moved towards it and got in the passenger seat.

Nana told her to move to the driver's seat. This battery powered car was for her and she was the driver. She said, "I know that, Nana." Then we all stood there and watched her as she just sat there and looked at us and snickered a little bit. We told her to push the pedal to make it go and she said, "It kind of scares me a little bit." We told her it was ok and that we were all there to help her.

She was very cautious at first, but the more she drove it, the more she enjoyed it. Here she told Thomas to take a picture of her! She was happy now!

Wyatt came over and she even took him for a ride in her new "car". Wyatt kept smiling and laughing and saying, "Look Nana! I'm in tractor!" and "Look Big Pop! I'm in tractor!"

Wyatt had a great time and AG enjoyed driving him around the backyard.

Time to open a present

My parents came to Florence this year for Christmas. They arrived on Sunday with Anna Grace. She spent some time in Greenville with them this year. I missed her and was so glad to see her. Sage, Wes and Wyatt came over to hang out and eat dinner. Anna Grace and Wyatt saw all of the presents under the tree and wanted to open one so badly, so we gave in and let them both open a present. Then mom got in the spirit and wanted everyone to open a present. A few people opened a present and then we stopped. Here are a few pictures from the night...


Anna Grace opening her first Christmas present this year. It was a Cinderella barbie. We gave her friend, Belle, a Cinderella Barbie at her birthday party this year and ever since that day AG has asked Thomas and me to get her one.


She was very excited when she saw the barbie and exclaimed,"It's just what I always wanted!"

Wyatt opened up a present too! Wyatt LOVES animals. His favorites are horses and tigers. He got a felt barn and some animals that make sounds. When he saw it he was very excited and exclaimed, "Horsey! Horsey!" He loves his horseys!

Mom insisted Thomas, my dad and Wes open a gift too. Here is Thomas opening a Clemson shirt that my parents gave him. He plans to wear it to the Peach Bowl!! Go Tigers!!

I just thought this was funny, so I had to put the pictures in. AG always wants Thomas to play barbies with her and Thomas' excuse has been that AG doesn't have a boy barbie. So, I gave her a Ken barbie for Christmas so daddy can now join in the fun of playing with Barbies. Here she is opening the Ken doll.


Notice Wyatt is playing with his new barn and animals while AG opens her present.

"Oh Boy! A Ken! Just what I always wanted!"

Notice who has the Ken in this picture. Wyatt was so funny. He would say, "Ken! Ken! Farmer!" Wyatt thought AG's new Ken doll was a great farmer for his new barn and animals.

What do you want for Christmas?

Anna Grace is so excited about Christmas this year. She can hardly stand it and it has been so much fun to watch her. She has had her Christmas list made since October. She started out wanting about 50 things and it was getting out of hand, so I sat her down and told her that Santa was only bringing her 3 gifts because baby Jesus received 3 gifts from the wise men. She liked that narrowed her list down to three presents.

She is very into My Little Pony right now, and her favorite pony is all pink and named "Pinkie Pie". So, AG would like Santa to bring her a Sing and Dance Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie's house and Barbie and her dog Tanner. She is so excited about Christmas and can't wait to see if Santa brings her three presents.

Anna Grace has been to see Santa twice at the mall, she spent a lot of one-on-one time with him at Thomas' office Christmas party last Saturday night and she spotted him on a motorcycle roaming the streets of Florence. She was very excited to see him on the motorcycle and is convinced that is his main source of transportation these days.

She has enjoyed talking with Santa and reminding him what she wants for Christmas. She can spout off the three things on her list to anyone that asks in a matter of about 5 seconds. It kind of reminds me of Ralphie on "A Christmas Story". Remember when he would tell people he wanted a Red Rider BeBe Gun? But he would say all of that stuff with it real fast about a compass and stuff? Well that is how Anna Grace sounds when she spouts off her list to people. I don't think they quite understand what she is saying. A typical conversation goes like this. What would you like for Christmas? To which she replies, "SingAndDancePinkiePie, PinkiePie'sHouse and TannerAndBarbie." All in one breath.

Here is a picture of her at Thomas' office Christmas party with Santa.


Santa looks like he is in shell shock and still trying to figure out what Anna Grace wants for Christmas....

It's Saturday!!!

There is a tradition in the Anderson family household on Saturdays. Thomas and Anna Grace like to make pancakes together. Anna Grace's favorite pancakes are chocolate chip and wildberry. Thomas prefers them plain and I like chocolate chip. Here are some pictures from a past pancake Saturday. On this particular day, Thomas and Anna Grace let me sleep in. When I walked into the kitchen, this is what I saw....too precious for words.


Anna Grace and Daddy heating up the griddle and preparing the ingredients for the pancakes. Anna Grace is going through a phase where she LOVES to help us "cook" in the kitchen.

Anna Grace is stirring up the pancake batter before we pour it on the griddle to make pancakes. On this Saturday, we made chocolate chocolate chip pancakes and they turned out pretty good! We are chocolate lovers though....

What would Christmas be without a Gingerbread House?!

Well, my mom wanted Anna Grace to enjoy decorating a Gingerbread house this year, so she bought one of those nice and easy kits at the store. Anna Grace and I went to Greenville for a few days and while we were there we decorated the Gingerbread house. Mom and Dad did a great job putting the house together. Once it was together we had to let it sit for about an hour before we could decorate it. Of course Anna Grace did not understand that part. About every 5 minutes we heard, "When can we decorate the gingerbread house?" Finally it was time! We all took our places at the table and with lots of fun candy, we decorated the gingerbread house. Anna Grace said, "I sure hope the gingerbread house doesn't run away while we try to decorate it." She was also worried about the gingerbread man. We told her the gingerbread man was sleeping inside the house. Of course that didn't suit, so Big Pop had to make the Gingerbread man "talk it up" with Anna Grace from inside the house.



It is FINALLY time to decorate the gingerbreaad house!!! Yea! (The duck looking in the window is Afleck, my parent's duck, dressed up like Santa for the holidays. No, it is not real, but he has an outfit for every month and AG LOVES to change his clothes! Her least favorite outfit he has is his witch costume for Halloween. She always takes him out of it b/c she says it scares her.)

Anna Grace placing each candy one at a time on the roof.

Nana is putting more "glue" on the house, so the candies will stick.

Anna Grace and Nana "gluing" and sticking candies on the house. My mom's mom, Nanny, helped a little bit too.


Now it's time for a family picture with our "masterpiece"! Nana is saying, "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"

Anna Grace and me with the completed house! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Anna Grace's class at school had a birthday party for Jesus last week. It was very sweet. They made Jesus a birthday cake and decorated it. They also told us the story of Jesus' birth and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Here are a few pictures from that day.



Here is the birthday cake the class decorated for Jesus.

Here is the class telling us the story of Jesus' birth. Their backs are to us because they are looking at pictures on the wall and narrating them for us. Anna Grace has her finger in the air pointing as she tells the story. I was very proud of her. She told the story with great excitement and cheer!

This is Anna Grace enjoying pizza and other homemade goodies at the party. Happy Birthday, Jesus!