Take a Gander at the Gee's: January 2019

November comes to an end

Isabelle was excited to show me, one day, that she had successfully taught Anni how to make appropriate "selfie faces":

Every now and then, the boys put their swimsuits on and have a bath with Anni:

Playing peek-a-boo with Daddy:

napping on mommy:

Thanksgiving 2018

We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year! The Anderson's went to Utah, but came back a couple of days later, so we still got to see them. The Grovers and Kory and Suzette came for the dinner.

Shawn, Terry and Evan playing Old Maid with Hannah Grover:

Maddie helping her grandpa get up outside Christmas decorations:

The boys watching a movie; l-r: Sander, Nolan, Pace, Abram:

It was fun to take Anni outside of Umatilla County for THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE!!! I think all the people were a little overwhelming for her, but she took it really well.

We were lucky enough to have a snow storm the day after we arrived! The boys were in heaven:

They immediately got to work building a snow fort:

Abram and Nolan:

Anni and Maddie:

Isabelle and Gracie:

More miscellaneous November stuff

Pace with a turkey he made at Kindergarten:

The boys nurturing Anni at her first doctor appointment at Dr. Harrison's:

We celebrated Kami's birthday. We miss her so much and are so excited that she will be home in FIVE MONTHS!! Isabelle held a picture of her (on the phone) while the rest of us sang:

We told Abram and Nolan that we wanted them to try basketball this year. They prefer soccer, but since it's not year-around here, they spend a lot of the year without a sport. Shawn coached Abram's team and Nolan got onto Jared Tesch's team. They both had a good experience:

Nolan and Anni:

Gifted

Isabelle has always had a talent for teaching! I was so proud of her and Abby Foust as they taught an amazing Young Women's lesson that they came up with all by themselves. Isabelle has so much poise and good thoughts to share.

November 10 - yard clean-up

It's still hard to wrap our minds around the fact that we can clean up this whole yard in one day! Shawn and the boys are deep into basketball, (Shawn coaching, Abram and Nolan playing) so I had the yard weeded and trimmed before they even got home after lunch.

SO, I then went inside and took care of Annie while everyone else hauled it off! The view from the window:

l-r: Isabelle, Abram, Nolan, Shawn

Maddie joins the picture as they load Aaron Ware's pick-up:

Isabell waving to Anni:

We hauled off a couple of pick-up loads; everything's set for winter.

More November pics of Anni

We fall in love with this little girl more every day and are so grateful to have her!

Her mom didn't show up for visits on this particular day, so we went to the park instead:

The girls and I went shopping for clothes for her right away, and it's fun to see such a cute little body inside those cute little clothes!

She gets showered with attention from all of the kids and her vocabulary tripled the first week!

Anni was really cute this particular day... my jowls not so much:

Maddie defeats her high forehead...

...her words, not mine:D One evening in November she asked if I could cut bangs for her. We like her new look, but it will be a tricky one for her to maintain with her naturally super curly hair!

She and Isabelle had a photo shoot...What a beautiful girl, inside and out!

Persuading Anni

We had the hardest time getting Anni to eat anything nutritious when we got her! It wasn't long before we discovered that she had a serious sugar addiction and didn't want anything else. We were told that she was fed ice cream for breakfast, candy bars for lunch and who knows what for dinner. Our work was cut out for us and dinners were difficult to say the least, but this particular meal she was such a ham that all we could do was laugh and take pictures:

I think Isabelle took all the pics.

I cooked meals that any baby would usually like: potatoes and gravy, etc., but she would shake her head and say, "EWWWW!!" Eventually I found that I had to force the first bite and insist that she chew it and swallow. Once she got that far, she figured out the food was okay and it was all up-hill from there.