Christmas Tour: Part 1

We were so blessed to spend 10 whole days in Greenville with the Andersons, Workmans, and Lieblers making some pretty special Christmas memories!

Mark looks up to his big cousin, Douglas

Mark showing off for his Nanny - Matthew being Matthew!

Aunt Jenny

Cousins, cousins, cousins!

Douglas, Matthew, Caroline, Keaton, Laura, and Mark - soon there will be 7!

Matthew and Keaton are 8 months apart and great friends

Mark was a big hit!

"Fa la la la la la la la la!"

Pancakes and Frosty the Snowman with cousins

They waited for us to get there so we could help trim the tree

Keaton and Nanny

Some quality snuggle time with Grammie

Meeting Halfway

The Hobbs are some of our dearest friends from Covenant. Some of my favorite memories of our life in Chattanooga right after we were married are hanging out at the Hobbs's house on Lookout Mountain. They have lived in Sheffield, England for 6 years, so we rarely get an opportunity to see them, especially now that we live in Hawaii. Thankfully, the stars happened to align this year for us to be in South Carolina at the same time. We got to spend the morning with Andrew and Valerie and their new baby Max who was born in July. Mark and Max were fast friends.

Such a treat to reconnect!

Oh, what fun!

One of my absolute favorite things about the holidays is baking. My happiness level can easliy be measured by how many times I get to use the Kitchen Aid mixer in a day. Jenny, Caroline, Laura, and I had a marathon baking day on Friday. We had a blast cooking up a truckload of goodies for the fam. Here's just a sampling...

Matthew the Big Brother

Cousin Matthew Liebler (3 years old) is going to be a big brother in April. We are so excited to have another Anderson cousin to love! Matthew has the funniest, sweetest personality and he loves playing with and talking to Mark when he's in his bouncy seat.

Today I said, "Matthew, you're going to have a baby of your own soon!"

Matthew puckers out his bottom lip, gives me his best pouty face and says, "Cept it's a GURL!!! I always wanted a BOY!!!"

Ho Ho Ho!

Keaton has made it very clear for several weeks that he wanted nothing to do with meeting Santa at the mall or anywhere else - which is why I was astounded that he agreed to have his picture taken with him at the mall on Wednesday. As long as he didn't have to sit ON Santa's lap...

Baby brother didn't mind at all!

Long Night

3:30 - loaded up the van and left the house

3:35 - realized we left bear and blanket and had to turn around

4:00 - got in line at the ticket counter

4:30 - finally got our bags checked and boarding passes in hand

4:31 - got in line at security

5:15 - cleared security and began our frantic speed walk to the gate

5:25 - boarded our flight (dirty looks from already-boarded passengers - it was clear they had been waiting for us)

5:45 - flight takes off

I sunk into my seat, and prepared myself for for the worst. I expected Mark to cry and Keaton to whine and complain the whole trip. I feel bad about that now because Keaton was a perfect angel, and Mark hardly let out a peep from the time we got to the airport until we landed in Atlanta 13 hours later. Favorable tailwinds made both our flights shorter than expected. Thank you Lord!

Mark snug in the Moby and Keaton watching "Wonder Pets" on the iPod

Keaton sporting his Cat in the Hat pjs while we walked to our connecting gate in Chicago

Scott drawing pictures for Keaton on the Magna Doodle

Are we there yet?

Grammie meets Mark for the first time in Atlanta

2 flights down - 4 to go. It's all so worth it! We are having such a fun time with family!

Twelve Weeks Old

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this little guy?

If he were any sweeter, I may have to munch his little cheeks off!

I can't believe he is 12 weeks old already!

He's making a marathon tour of the mainland starting next week. He can't wait to meet all of his family and friends in SC and OK, and his mama can't wait to show him off!

Let's hope that the lucky people sitting next to us on all six flights think he's as sweet and cute as we do!

Makapu'u

On Saturday, we got up early, grabbed some Mickey-D's for breakfast and hiked the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail as a family. As usual, Mark was snug in the Moby and slept right through all the fun.

Check out these amazing views from the top!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful, laid back Thanksgiving at the Heath's house last week. Karen and Tim tackled the turkey, potatoes, and pie, and we brought the stuffing, green beans, rolls, and cranberry sauce. We had enough to feed an army, but we made a pretty large dent in that feast - I have to say! This was the first time in 29 years that I had not spent this holiday with family, but we are so thankful that God had blessed us with such amazing brothers and sisters in Christ here in Hawaii. We are so blessed!