Winter fun... finally

I know it sounds like I have been complaining about the lack of winter we have been having. Temps in the 40's and 50's and lots of sunshine, it has been a really nice winter and we have enjoyed it. However I have to admit that being in Michigan I was somewhat looking forward to seeing some snow and being able to do some "snow" things with the kids.  (Please don't remind me of these comments when I am complaining in a couple of months.) Friday night we got what they called the first "big" snow for the winter.  It really was pretty and caused a big mess on the roadways but only amounted to 2-4 inches.  It was however enough snow for us to play in!

We had kitchen utensils, shovels, tractors, and dump trucks... all the essentials for snow play.  Chase loved following animal tracks in the snow finding "clues" to solve the mystery of the tracks.  FYI he concluded there was a monster in the tree.  He didn't agree with me that it was a cat.  Chase also loved playing in the snow piles left behind by the snow plow.  It was really hard to get him to come back inside.  Saturday afternoon our friends invited us to go sledding.  After our first sledding adventure I figured that this would be the perfect chance to get Chase back on a sled.  Two of his favorite friends and a smaller hill, here goes nothing...

Leah jumped right in.  Then with the help of Seth's special sled, Chase finally started to love sledding....

So the magic in Seth's sled was that it came fully equipped with brakes and the ability to steer the sled.  I have come to accept that my son, like most McMahan's, have a need to be in control :).  The idea of flying down a hill out of control totally terrified him but as soon as he had the ability control his speed and where he was going, he was having the time of his life.  Crazy kid! 

Date night!

Two of my favorite words when put together, DATE NIGHT. Last Tuesday night Kevin and I were able to get a babysitter and get out of the house!  We hit up our favorite Italian joint, Antonio's for dinner.  Kevin and I both eat super healthy when we go there. Carbs, bacon, and butter are healthy right?  If they were I think we would all be much happier people :). 

After dinner we headed downtown Detroit to the Cobo Center.  One of the perks of living in this area, that Kevin has been waiting patiently for, is the International Auto show.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera (so mad at myself for that) so you will have deal with the not so good phone pictures.

I have been to many auto shows in the last 11 years I have known Kevin but I have never seen anything as glitzy and elaborately done as this auto show.  There were cars on tracks on the wall...

There were cars on their sides...

Lincoln had an elaborate section and featured their MKZ concept car...

Looking through the Lincoln display took us into the very elaborate Ford area.  At this point I think we were still shell shocked at how how large the auto show is.  The cars went on farther than you could see and were all so well displayed.  The Ford area was demoing a new stereo system with a "ride"...

It is what you see in the top left of the picture (looks like a UFO).  You sat down in a roller-coaster type seat and it took you up to experience the new sound.  We would have loved to have experienced it ourselves but the wait was over an hour and time is ticking when you have a babysitter.  Since I won't be able to do justice to some of the cars we took pictures of I will just let the pictures tell the story...

And lastly Chase's hot wheels car on its own track :).  We had a good time checking out all the cars and really enjoyed some adult only time. 

Winter walking

One of the things I miss most about the summer up here is getting out and strolling around town with the kids. So after our couple days of snow and cold we had a beautiful sunny day today in the high 40's. My friend Robyn called and mentioned going on a walk and both Chase and I were so excited! We met at her house and got loaded up for our walk...






The sun was warm but the wind was a little chilly so we were bundled up. We looped around the block a couple of time and got some good excise. The kids were enjoying being back in their chariots and actually kept their hands to theirselves for a change! Of course all good walks have to come to an end, so we made sure ours ended somewhere yummy...



Panera is practically right behind Robyn's house so we stopped for some yummy soup for lunch. We had hopes to hang out there and eat but the four little ones with us had other ideas so we took our soup to go and finished back in the comfort of Robyn's house. At least there the kids were able to terrorize while we enjoyed our food :) I really hope we have more pretty days like today mixed in this winter so we can get back out and stretch our legs!

Sledding

Warning! The pictures you are about to see appear more fun than they actually were...









Ok so it wasn't a terrible adventure but let me explain my disclaimer. Chase has been so excited about going sledding since we bought him a sled in October. We really haven't had enough snow for sledding yet (and really didn't this time either) so as soon as we got a little snow Chase was ready to go! So we gather all the gear and drive to a local sled hill, bundle up and were ready to sled. Or so we thought. What we neglected to realize is that Our sweet Chase is a very cautious child and did not like the looks of the BIG hill.



Not wanting Chase to miss out on a fun opportunity we convinced him to go down a couple of times and he did enjoy it but was still a little timid. Leah on the other hand was ready to go again! I think next time we will find a smaller hill for Chase to enjoy.

Merry Christmas, again?

I know, I know it is the 14th of January and you are tired of hearing about Christmas. In our defense we did not return home from Charlotte until the 5th of January and when we got home we had more presents to open! So in reality I am not that far behind. We drove through the night again and were blessed with clear roads and quiet kids. We made it back around 4:00 am and transferred the kids to bed and went straight to sleep ourselves. Luckily the kids were not awake until nearly 11:00 am so we were able to get some rest and start getting settled. Once the kids were finally up they were quite excited to have more presents to open and all the toys from Charlotte out to play with.

Chase got the bike he had asked Santa to get for him.Grammie and Papaw got Chase a really cool rocket launcher.

Chase was reacquainted with his "tooter" aka his whoopee cushion from Uncle Ryan. So if my child says he is going to toot on you we know who to thank :). Chase also built airplanes and helicopters with his new constructables, played with his new bat mobile, and used his grabbers to pick up everything. Leah loved on her new dolls, played with her play food, and tried to do whatever her brother was doing.

Grandma and Grandpa had also gotten the kids bigger items and had them shipped to the house so we didn't have to worry about getting them back home.

Chase loves his new tool bench and Leah loves her new PINK bike fully equipped with a cell phone (a girls must have). Again and again we are overwhelmed at how blessed we are and received so much joy watching our kids have so much fun! Thank you everyone for such a wonderful Christmas!

Testing and playing

So I have been trying to figure out easy ways to blog from my iPad, it has so far been unsuccessful. I have been searching for an app that that is user friendly and I think I have finally found one! So excuse this random post but I am just playing :) Here are some random old pictures for your enjoyment while I play with my new app!



Chase after his first summer haircut.



Leah in her Daddy's glasses.



Chase in his mommy's glasses.



Big girl!



Ok I think I am done playing for now. Hope you enjoyed the random pictures that were originally taken with my iPhone :)

Happy New Year

Every New Years eve the Anderson's hold an annual dinner and party to ring in the new year.  The kids were up for some play time and through dinner and then were tucked in for the night.

After the kids were sound asleep we were joined by Grammie and Papaw to bring in the New Year. After some yummy snacks and few hands of cards we were ready to ring in the New Year...

Welcome to 2012 everyone!

Better late than never

You can call me a slacker or better yet you can call me cheap but I do have to say it is better late than never.

I wanted to make a gingerbread house with Chase before Christmas but with the hustle and bustle of present buying, parties, and getting ready for traveling we never quite got around to it.  A friend of mine instructed me to purchase the already assembled house so that I did not have to mess with constructing the walls and them allowing time for everything to set before it could even be decorated.  It sounded like a good plan to me, so when I looked at a couple of kits in the stores and did not find an already assembled house, I decided to wait until I could make it to the craft store.  Well of course that never happened before Christmas so when I went to Michael's after Christmas I couldn't pass up the not already assembled house for $1.50.  Long story not so short, Kevin and Chase assembled and decorated the house and Chase loved every minute of it.  Kevin did the icing but Chase did all the candy decorating.

I'm pretty proud of my little man!