Anderson Family Photos ~ Ali @ 8 months

Mama, Daddy & Dru came down to spend Thanksgiving with us in Florida.

We asked Caroline to take some family pictures for us -

Ali is changing so much and I wanted to capture the time we have together so that we can cherish it for years to come!

She loves her Uncle Dru!

Do these look like proud grandparents, or what!?!

Mama... I think I understand now HOW MUCH you love me!

The whole crew...

My daddy, Lin, with his 1st and only grandaughter...

You can FEEL the LOVE in this picture!

So precious... I love you daddy!

~~~ flying baby ~~~

The precious little girl I always dreamed of having one day...Growing, Growing, Growing... Ali at 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 8 months...

Ali's Baptism

Today Ali was baptized at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Palm Bay, Fl. Ali's baptism is a symbol of our commitment to raise her in a Christian home to know and love God. This was a very special day to celebrate with friends, neighbors, and our family.

Pastor Jerry Klem did a great job with her baptism
and with the Thanksgiving service.
After the service, Mama (CiCi) had prepared a catered lunch
for friends, family & neighbors to celebrate Ali's baptism.
Ali was making faces at Hailey ;)

Crash 'O Rama

While CiCi & PopPop were here and couldn't wait to keep Ali all by themselves, Eddie & I went to Bithlow with Dru, Phil & Marja to watch the Red Neck Event of the Year...
Crash 'O Rama!

School bus races... Trailer races... Reverse races... you name it!

Phil & Marja... Me & Eddie

A cold front came through!
It was super cold...especially for Florida!

the result of the trailer race...Me & Dru ;)

Happy Birthday Hailey!

I can't believe it, we have a 7 year old... beagle!

This is her most recent "professional picture"
- Thanks Caroline!

Hailey is AKA "BTdubbs", "Dubbs", "Beeeeagle"
She is trained on the radio fence and knows lots of tricks.
Her favorites are:
"high five", "sit", "down", "shake", "stay", "take it"... and "who is it?"
She is so good with Ali, and Ali just lights up when she hears Hailey coming!

Hailey's Adoption Story...

Almost seven years ago Eddie and I had just moved to Florida. We decided we wanted to have a little companion (our first kid). So one weekend, I was flying back from a weekend in NC and Eddie called me with some exciting news - he found a breeder in Viera that had 2 beagle puppies left, one boy and one girl. He picked me up from the airport and we went to meet the little ones.

This is a picture of little Hailey with her Mommy!
She was a playful little puppy! She still loves her "blue bunny".
It is one of the few toys that she has not buried outside in the flowerbeds!
You'd be surprised what we find when we're pulling weeds ;)
How precious!
Eddie was giving her the tour of her new home...
Puppies are SO cute!
3 days after we brought Hailey home, she took her first (of many) long road trips to NC!
Look at that face...
Now Hailey is all grown up.
She is such a wonderful, amazing, sweet, loving, adventurous, smart dog!
WE LOVE YOU HAILEY!!!

She's on the move...

Ali is crawling like a pro now, but she's not stopping with that! She's figured out how to pull up on anything... We have a circular ring toy that she uses to get lots of practice standing up and holding on to. (Thanks Karen & Steve!) We are SO blessed to have such a Happy Little Girl!!!

The turkey is bigger than Ali!!!

This year Mama, Daddy & Dru came down to Florida for Thanksgiving.
My goal was to get all of the grocery shopping done ahead of time so we could spend our time together instead of shopping. So the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Ali, Eddie & I went to church, then stopped by Sam's to get our turkey. As we were unloading, I had the turkey and Eddie had Ali... I was thinking to myself... man, this turkey is really heavy! We wanted plenty of left overs, so we got a 19lb turkey... then it dawned on me -
This turkey weighs more than our daughter!!!
Ali was only about 15-16 lbs!

So, of course, we took a picture! (or three)
The following Monday, Eddie went to get Ali from Ms. Shelia's and
he brought home a "Lil Indian"... they made these feather headbands and little votive candle holders out of baby food jars! so cute and so cleaver.
Ms. Shelia & Miss Aimee really go the extra mile for the kids they watch!
These pictures are a little blurry, but are so funny I decided to post them anyway. Ali learned how to make the Indian sound - she cracks herself up!

ABC's

Eddie and I have been going through the alphabet with Ali since she was very little.
These are the ABCs we made up for Ali...

A - Ali
B - baby
C - CiCi
D - Dada
E - Eddie
F - family
G - Guga
H - Hailey
I - I love you
J - Jesus loves you
K - kiss
L - love
M - Mama
N - Nana
O - our precious family
P - precious
Q - quiet
R - Rye
S - smile
T - terrific
U - unique
V - very special
W - wonderful (we way wally woo)
X - x-ray
Y - yummy
Z - zzz zzz zzz (good night)

Christmas Ornament Play Date!

Ali invited lots of her friends and their mom's over to make Christmas ornaments. We used Sculpey oven bake clay to capture the precious little hand prints & foot prints of the kids.
I think we had 12 adults and 15 kids (under the age of 4)! WOW!

April & Tiffany w/ Elliana & Bryleigh
me w/ Ali & Eddie has Nathan
These are some of the little Christmas tree footprint ornaments we made...
You would be surprised w/ what you can do with only ONE HAND!
LOTS of little kiddos!
The goldfish were definitely a HIT!
Josiah Culley taking a snack break...
Alex (A-Train) Ollis
Two of the three Elam kids - so sweet!
Anna Banana Billman - reaching for the stars!
Jason & Dax playing w/ Eddie & Hailey outside...
--- Thanks for sticking around to help out Eddie!

We had a great time visiting, the kids had a good time playing together, and we have precious little ornaments to hang on our tree and capture the memories of our little ones... they are only this small once, and the grow up SOOO fast!