Birthday Boy

Since I have neglected this blawg for so long, I thought a picture of the ONEderful one year old was in order. Here he is in all his all-you-can-eat glory:

Poxie, Spotty, Dotty

Well, we have three new children at the Anderson house. Their names are:

Poxie (Sophia)
Spotty (Elijah)
Dotty (Noah)

Guess why? :)

Where have we gone wrong in the dental hygiene department?

Several of Sophia's friends have lost a tooth/teeth lately and she is very keen on losing a tooth. She pretends her tooth is loose in hopes that it will actually get loose. The fascination with loose teeth is very high in our household. I thought she was excited about this childhood rite of passage because many of her friends have lost teeth....until today.

The conversation went something like this:

Sophia: Mommy, my tooth hurts
Mommy: (wiggling tooth) Wow, it looks like it is a little bit loose
Sophia smiles an excited smile.
Mommy: Do you want to lose a tooth?
Sophia: Yes
Mommy: Why do you want to lose a tooth?
Sophia: Because when my teeth fall out I can candy.
Mommy sighs.

Her 5-year-old rationale is that if she loses all of her teeth, she will be allowed to eat as much candy as she wants because there will be no more fear of cavities. :)

I'm a Winner!

I won! I don't think I've every won any kind of giveaway before. The closest "I've" got is winning and alarm clock at the grocery store when I was a kid, but it was actually my Mom who won it. :)

My friend Alison was telling me about this book. She recommended it, and I was looking forward to reading it eventually and now thanks to Anne I will get to read it sooner!

Has anyone else out there read this book and did you like it?

Thanks Anne!

Noah with his Thumbkin and the Patch with the Pumpkins

Autumn

While traveling to church last evening we were noticing that the leaves are starting to turn. I was explaining to the children that this is the "Fall" season, or, I said, some people call it "Autumn". Elijah was listening intently and said, oh, "all-done"! I suppose that the word autumn really does sound like "all-done" and isn't all done a good explanation of autumn? When autumn is over the leaves really are "all-done".

Okay, here are my strategies for coping with week-long meetings and three littles. We decided to have a detailed plan:

1. A clothing list for each night of the week (Graeme just wears his work clothes, but I planned out what the children and I are wearing each night)

2. Menu list for the week (this included all manner of things such as hot dogs, french fries and the like),

3. List of what must be done this week

4. The diaper bags and kids bags get left in the car each night and are replenished with diapers/sippy cup nightly

5. Mommy naps because she is getting awakened by baby and siblings. And, I'm too tired to remember what else is part of "the plan". Does that mean that the plan isn't working? :)

I've been a total blogging slacker lately. Last month we were on vacation for a week and had a wonderful time, and I haven't been online as much lately. During an overwhelming moment this past month I did feel my car "pull" towards Starbucks and I thought that maybe I was becoming a coffee lover, but alas, it hasn't happened yet. Although Jen, I did have some decaf coffee on vacation with those yummy flavored creamers you were talking about and it was good good good. Maybe I'll be a convert yet. :)

Anywho, that's my rambling re-introduction to blogville. :) Hi all!

Starbucks Review from a Non-Coffee Lover

Yesterday was my first visit to Starbucks. My sis-in-law and bro-in-law (My bro-in-law makes a mean cup 'o joe) gave me a gift card for my birthday. I was so excited to try out Starbucks and feel like a "cool person" who goes to Starbucks. I had no idea what to choose, so I asked the Starbucks employee what was popular. He said the Pumpkin Spice Latte was very popular and he liked it a lot. Well, I never knew that pumpkin went with coffee, but I thought I'd give it a bash because he said that it was good. I ordered the 12 ounce size with decaf, nonfat milk and whipped cream. The price tag for this "classy beverage" was well nigh $4. the calories from my little drink...260 (and that's with nonfat milk)...that's more calories than my Cheerios breakfast. I really enjoyed the experience...it was fun, but do people go here all the time? Isn't it just a bit pricey? And....hello, one drink is like a meal! My belly was full after I drank it...but it was very good.

I think that drinking coffee is about an experience; it's like belonging to a sort of "brotherhood" of "coffee people". I don't think I belong to this group. It's expensive, high calorie, and it has caffeine. Now, I don't want to stir up trouble with all of my coffee loving friends, but is it really right to be addicted to caffeine? We learned in health class that caffeine is a stimulant. I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but what's the big draw with coffee? It's a nice treat once in a while, but why do people love it so much?

5 Year Old Theology and a little more...

Today we were reading our Bible Story book and at the end of the story is questions. I asked Sophia and Elijah, "What does God own?"

Sophia: Our toys, our house, our fridge, etc.
Mommy: Did you know that God owns you?
Sophia: Yes, and he owns Elijah, Mommy, Daddy, etc....and there are fat people too, but that's okay.
(Mommy tries to stay straight faced)
And Elijah, his head is not like a rolled up ball, but that's okay too. :)
(Mommy laughs)

I think what she was trying to say was that Elijah's head is not sphereical, and no, we don't go around calling people "fat", she just came up with that one on her own. :)

Ooops...

...here is the link for the castle bundt pan. I forgot to put it on my original post. :)

Baking Weather

I got two new bundt pans for my birthday. This one is my favorite. The kids get a charge out of it too...thank Mom & Dad! :) I also got some muffin tins and a cake tester. It is August so I didn't think I would get to use them for a while because of the heat, but alas, cool weather is here and cool weather is baking weather!

I started my bake-athon on Saturday with this. I used the castle pan and it turned out so nicely. The pan was great and I didn't have to scrub at it...it was that non-stick. After the Zucchini bread cooled, Sophia and I baked Blueberry Muffins. She enjoyed sprinkling coarse sugar on the tops of them before we put them in the oven. I think she liked eating the sugar even more. ;)

Then yesterday, I decided to make a mongo batch of this. It has a lot of bananas in it (for health, right? :)) so it is a very dense bread. My new cake tester came out clean, but my loafies weren't quite set in the middle, so I decided to slice the bread and lay the slices on cookie sheets and bake them until each piece was set. It worked pretty well.

Mmmm, I love the smell of something sweet in the oven! :)

Electronic Age Dreaming

I heard Sophia calling (aka screaming over the hum of the air conditioners) after her nap today, and went upstairs to see what was going on. After chatting with her for a couple of minutes I asked her if she slept today. She replied, "I started to, but when I fell asleep my dreams turned on, so I woke up". I guess these days there's no such thing as drifting off into dream land....it's all about electronics and flipping switches and turning things off an on...even to my 5 year old. :)

I'm a Homeschooling Mama

Well, we started homeschooling, but in an underachiever, laid back kind of a way. We "do school" on our bed in the bedroom, it's just so much more comfy! :) Sophia loves it and she has read a few words like "mat". So far it's been a lot of fun.

I decided to start early because I was ready and she was very eager! I tried to take Friday off from school and she still wanted to do school. In fact, she did worksheets with Graeme today. I think she likes all the pretty colored pictures on the worksheets. It's also nice to go up to the air conditioned bedroom and spend some quality time together.

So, I hope the fun continues till the end of the year!

We've taken the plunge!! Yippee!!!!

The Car and the Scars

Well, it looks like my baby will be abiding with us a bit longer. Natasha (my first car) was able to be fixed after all. She's still limping along as she needs new tires and some new noise has cropped up, but she's gonna make it (for now :)). When I bought her 8 years ago, my Mom said, "You'll be driving your babies around in this car", and she was right! However, I did not know how interesting a ride it would be...three car seats in the back seat of a little Nissan Sentra puts Mom's head about 2 inches from the windshield...it's a wild, wild ride! :)

Safety Warning: If you are clutzy, do not attempt to drain a large pot of boiling pasta. Instead, opt to "scoop" out some of the water first so that you do not burn your hand and wrist.

Yup, I'm a clutz. A Doctor's office co-pay, ibuprofen, and several yards of gauze later it's still covered in bandaids. I'm THANKFUL that the kids weren't nearby when it happened or they might have been burned too.

The Most Delicious Baby...

...thought you Anne of Green Gables fans would like my title..."you speak of a baby is if it were something to be et"...

He really is delicious though, don't you agree?! :)

5 Years ago Today....

Our sweet baby Sophia Rose was welcomed into our family....wasn't she cute...and sooo tiny!

3 Little Cousins Sitting In a Row

???

I posted pictures of our tree being taken down, but they are not at the "top" of the blog and I don't know why. Anyone understand this bloggy mystery?

Gracie Olives

Here's Grace eating her first bowl of olives...courtesy of Uncle Graeme. :)

VBS Craft

This is Sophia's rendition of a monkey...complete with princess crown, earrings, hairbows, blush, lipstick, and eye shadow....this was all her idea, not mine. :)

Timber!!!

The kids loved watching Luke and Andrew take down our dead tree. It was great...(almost) free babysitting! :)

Still Alive....

Yup, I'm still as Graeme would say, "in the land of the living". We have been so.so.so.busy.!

We visited Graeme's fam the first weekend of July. VBS was the next week and this week was "recovery" week. Wow, I didn't realize how much VBS can take out of the Mom! :) Sophia had a fantastic time at her first VBS! Every year it seems to be nicer and nicer. The carnival was awesome. It was kind of scarry though, because I remember playing some of the games at church kid carnivals when I was a kid...and now my daughter is playing them!

Noah continues to crawl and is trying his hand at standing alone...I think he's a maniac. He does not want to sit still. Not on my lap, not anywhere! It makes me sad because he's supposed to be my baby and he keeps doing big kid things like crawling, standing, etc. I get a "my baby this week" e-mail which talks about developmental milestones pertaining to Noah's age. Last week it said, "your baby may even get on all fours in the pre-crawling position", ha ha ha! He wants to move and be with the big kids and I'm not ready for it. Sophia and Elijah are growing up fast enough, but Noah, he's lightning speed!

We also learned that Graeme's car, which was my first car, is on her last leg. Yes, dear little Natasha the Nissan is about to leave our family. She was a good little car, but, alas, the price tag on repairing her brakes and rotors and who knows what else is too steep. Which means...the car hunt is on. Didn't we just do this earlier this year?

Oh, and somewhere in there I managed to get my attic organization done...woo-hoo, and took clothes and toys to the second hand store and to goodwill, and to friends....can we say "schlep"! So, after all of that, the house is emptier and my brain feels better. It is so liberating to get rid of useless items!

The Lord has also been teaching me some things during this crazy summer. I am learning a lot about contentment for each day and each moment. It's easy to wish you could be doing something else (like organizing or doing some "lasting" task instead of "mommying"), or somewhere else (on a Greyhound to AZ, lol!), or someone else but the fact of the matter is that wherever God has put me today is where He wants me to be a joyful Christian Mommy. Getting a break from the kiddos will not solve my problems, getting out the house won't, ice cream won't, even talking to my hub or other Christian friends will not. I need the Lord's direction for my days and fellowship with Him continually. In prayer and the reading of His Word is where I will find solace and strength for each moment...even when it is dinnertime and there is toothpaste smeared on the bathroom rug, bickering children, and a fussy baby. We were at Haven Baptist on Thursday night (it was so much fun!) and Bro. Gable made the point that in Jesus' warnings about the last days he shows special concern for Pregnant Mommies and Mommies of young children. The Lord knows what I am going through each moment of each day and he is concerned...even when I find my retainer in the toilet. :)

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Romans 12:12

The Many Faces of Noah

I have posted more pictures of Noah-poon here.

In the words of Gomer Pyle...

...Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

He is Houdini my friends. The day I posted about him crawling he started to pull himself up in his crib. Graeme lowered the crib mattress to the lowest level and we put him in the crib and watched as he pulled himself up...what a stinker! Also, he cut his first tooth (on the bottom) on the 15th and I saw that the second one (also on the bottom) was coming through, but today I saw he has already cut a tooth on the top and I didn't even know it was coming in, so now he has three teeth and it looks like the other five will be following shortly. My little man is just full of surprises!

What a Man!

The florist van arrived with this bunch of beauties today! When Graeme first sent me flowers he sent them annonymously to be romantic and keep me in suspense and after 6 1/2 years of marriage he is still as romantic as ever. My card read, "I love you" with no signature. What a man! :)

Elijah and one of our Butterflies

He Crawleth!

My babe crawls! This little boy is Houdinni! He started sitting up two weeks ago, and this week he started to officially crawl. I can't believe he's mobile! I need to start keeping small pieces from toys off the floor, I am just not ready for this yet, but it is cute to see him crawl and get around. My other babies didn't even sit up at this age and he's crawling and starting to pull himself up in his crib. He hasn't pulled himself up to standing yet, but he gets up on his knees and at the rate he's going he'll probably be pulling himself up in two more weeks! I can't believe my babylicious is getting so big!

Me again

Are you tired of me yet? Last night while I was putting the big kids to bed I put Noah in his Bumbo seat in the hallway. Well, the stinker wiggled out of the bumbo (he's been doing that for a while) and pushed himself up to sitting twice! I can't believe it. My other two were dead weights until they were a year old! He's sitting up...I'm not ready for this. I hope he doesn't start crawling soon...I'm not ready to remove all small items from the floor. That's my big news for the day...probably not too exciting to the rest of the world, but it is to me. Remember the post about the butterfly being fearfully and wonderfully made? My little "bubbly" is too! Isn't it amazing that a little baby can more than double their weight and be strong enough to sit up in half of a year? Where has the time gone? I'm so thankful to the Lord for my sweet baby Noah and the strength that he has to sit up and for the joy he brings to our home. We do not deserve his sweetness surrounding us every day, thank you Lord!

Fun with Friends

Today we had a great time with Alison and Abbi and companies at the Crayola Factory! My kids knew this day was coming and I was awakened to excited, smiling children this morning at 5:30 a.m.! Thankfully, they went back to sleep. Needless to say they were more than a LITTLE excited about going to the "Crayon Factory" and they were not disappointed! The kids had a fabulous time! It was wall to wall fun on several floors. We enjoyed watching how crayons and markers are made and then the kids had fun coloring and painting and, of course, playing! After lunch we went upstairs to the Canal Museum where the kids got to float small boats through a miniature canal. There were all kinds of fun exhibits: a hen house, an old fashioned washboard complete with clothes for washing, a mule, a train exhibit and a lot of other things that I can't think of! We met two other Moms from South Africa and it was fun to talk to them. All in all it was a fun day with our friends! Thanks girls!

For some reason I am having trouble uploading more pics, so here are the ones I was able to upload, two kiddos are awake now, so there's no time to try and figure it out!

The gaggle of kids...

Grace enjoyed playing in the water...

Cousins at Mickey D's...

The littliest observer...

Boy Sandwiches...

Noah got tired, so he decided to go to sleep amidst the hub-bub...

Kids and Butterflies

I know that Abbi already posted about their butterflies, but we too have butterflies. We ordered our later than they did, and our butterflies are just being born. Two of the five have emerged. Last night we released one of them and here is a picture of it...isn't it pretty? So intricuitly made and so beautiful just like we are...

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalmm 139:14

Here's a picture of my two big kiddos "campin' out" on the living room floor. They like to "hide um" under the blankets...

Still Learnin'

Sorry about all the uncentered pictures and words, and grammar mistakes...I'm still trying to figure out this whole blogger thingy. I made this blog 3 months ago and forgot how to sign in...isn't that silly! Anywho, I'm trying to figure all this bloggy stuff out and am getting there, one punctuation error at a time. :)

Last Minute Getaway

Yesterday Graeme and I had the last minute opportunity (thanks to some inexpensive tickets we acquired) to see "In the Beginning" at Sight and Sound. It was so much fun to get out just the two of us! We were on the second row. It was neat to be able to see everything up close althought I think I still prefer to sit farther back. It was very good! Afterwards we did a little shopping and grabbed some dinner. A great night out together. Thanks Mom for babysitting!

Sorry Hubs!

Sophia (pointing to old family photo of Graeme's family): "Mommy, is that Daddy?"
Mommy: "Yes"
Sophia: "He looks different!"
Mommy: "He was younger then"
Sophia: "oh"

*However, I do believe that is handsomer than every, I really mean it! ;)

We've been busy around here! Thanks Anne, for the yard sale tips!

Elijah looking not so happy (it's actually his interpretation of a fake smile)...

Here is my happy boys...

New Blog

Here's my new spot on the WWW!!!