Thanksgiving

Is it too late to write about Thanksgiving? Oh well. Sorry, I'm catching up. In November, my whole family, The Andersons, got together at a cabin in Brian Head for Thanksgiving weekend. Some of us came for a few days and some for just an overnight, and we had so much fun! Well, those of us who didn't get knocked out by the altitude sickness-- 9,000 feet will cause a few migraines and make a couple people throw up. For reals. I was not sick, although my children kept me up most nights, and that was a saving grace for me. I think its because I spent 3 weeks planning meals and organizing and 2 weeks packing my own familys' stuff--and I was given a reprieve from the crazy migraine thing because of all my planning. Or maybe I willed it away. Who knows. Tender mercies! We had tons of food-- and we had a Karaoke night, a family slide show and family bingo with prizes. We built snowmen, and slid on the tiny driveway hill. The kids loved it. They were so excited about the snow. I don't have pics of everyone who was there, but here are a few scenes from the weekend.

A swirling vortex of activity at the cabin.




Cute tiny people enjoying going down a very tiny sledding hill.


Me & my Sisterface.

Kellie, Grandma Wendy & Kevin

Grandma and the girls after making snowmen outside

Aunt Kellie and lovely Ella

Kayleigh doing something with a present during our Christmas exchange, and as for Wendy's eyepatch : I cannot explain this.

Shelly & Ashley going for a ride. Shelly really likes USC. hehe.

me & Annie-- she loved the snow, but her mittens kept falling off which is very upsetting

Dad & Matt "sledding" Notice Matthew is sledding without a helmet. Only because the hill was uber tiny. I'm not keen for a repeat of last years' action.

this was at home while I was packing, my children, who you can see always look

like child models, were very anxious to wear the snow boots I was attempting to pack.

I really should have a picture of Maren and Uncle Brad here, but I don't. My kids were in heaven with all their uncles. They love to be wrestled with, snuggled, teased and kept busy by my good brothers and brother-in-law. Maren, playing blocks with Uncle Brad said, "Uncle Brad, you make me so happy!" That Maren, she is good with a line!

Anyway, Thanksgiving made me very thankful for my good family. They are great! Who else will take terrible pictures of you when you sing karaoke and publish them on the internet?Who else would get your children dressed from head to toe in snow gear and take them out for a walk in the snow so you can try to take a nap? And then play with them some more all day? Who else will rescue each other on the way down from Brian Head in a blizzard? Who else would drive up to a cabin in the mountains in the snow in racing tires? in a Honda civic? That's a family to love !

Crazy Hair

Just another reason that this child is getting away with EVERYTHING! Although I wasn't too charmed by her when she scratched my face and then made a fist and punched me in the face tonight. Can you believe it??? I blame her sisters. She learned it from them attacking her all the time! Oh well. I'm enjoying this cuteness while it lasts. This is what happens when dad "cleans" her hair up after she eats dinner.

(Also, if you read my last post-- sorry--I was obviously NOT having a good day, eh?)

Dear Life,

I am 34 years old and I still have no idea what I am doing some days. Generally, I feel smart and capable. But today, after 5 days of whining and tantrums from one child I am "worn to a raveling- and there is NO MORE TWIST!" I am not really mature, or wise, I am tired and displaying the emotional capability of a sulky teenager. Bleh. You really irritated me today Life.

I am 50% mother and wife, and 50% housecleaner. "What about Cooking?" you ask. Ha! My meatloaf was roundly rejected as unpalatable tonight. So, I guess I'm not much of a cook. I wonder sometimes what my talents are Life. Are there any left? Have they all died a slow death in front of the television? Do you think you could clue me in?

Life, I don't know what you have in store for me. Frankly, after twins, Anna and the head injury in 2 years, I don't really want to know. It might scare me. You can be like that sometimes, you know. Daunting. Yes, I think "Daunting" is the right word to describe you.

All I know is this: I love you anyway. I love (and heartily miss) Fall and squishing leaves beneath my feet. I love the sound of my children playing together. I love when my Dad comes to visit and tiny feet run from the other room, and squeaky voices shout "Grandpa!" or when Aunt Lindsey calls and my girls say, "Hi Aunt LindseyBRAD?" I love Hawaiian sunsets, I love clear blue water. I love reading the scriptures with my boy. I love snuggling my 5 people.

Life, you are a hard ridiculous experience sometimes. I once went through a time when I wanted to quit you. Badly. But I'm glad I'm still here. Thank you for one more day with the fattest squishiest baby I know. Thank you for the workout sweeping up sand from the sandbox and scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees. I find it therapeutic. Thank you for family hugs before bedtime. Thank you for quiet after 8 pm. Thank you for ice cream. Heaven knows we need it.

See you tomorrow,

Me

Happy Halloween from the Big Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, the 3 Little Pigs (and the Red Power Ranger)!

Hope you had a Happy Halloween! We did! From right to left: Red Power Ranger, Brick #3, Big Bad Wolf, Styx #2, Little Red Riding Hood and Straw #1!

Gilcrease Orchards

Mommy and the two who didn't run out of the picture!

Daddy and the gang.

Anna picked this very tiny green pumpkin. It obviously made her quite happy.


Matthew, Annie, Maren and Evey-- Evey didn't like the itchy hay.

We took a family trip to Gilcrease Orchards a couple of weeks back to pick pumpkins. The kids had a great time looking for their own special pumpkin. We got lots of little tiny pumpkins, a couple big ones, a bunch of apples fresh from the trees, some delicious lumpy pears (already picked fresh), and some Gilcrease Apple Cider. I love fall! The orchard is not quite Moods Farm Market in South Jersey, but it works for here. If they added Apple Cider slushies, it would be perfect!

up late

wrapped in her blanket mumu with sweet bed head hair

rocking the granny glasses

its hard to pull off this look, but I think she does it well

I let Anna stay up late the other night. She had a late nap and everyone else was in bed, but she was up jumping around. She was snuggly, smothering me in kisses, patting my face, and jabbering and being ridiculously cute. She is so fat, I had her show me her cute belly just so I could tickle her chubby bod. She definitely has mom, and especially dad, wrapped around her finger.

When she started getting snarky and hitting me in the face,

I said, "You are up too late, you need to go to bed."

She says, "No! No bed!"

I said, "What!! You are too little to talk like that, you don't say no, you say Yes!"

To which she immediately says, "Yes! No bed!"

Smarty pants.

Goodbye Summer

Since its now our lovely "fall" weather here in Vegas (86degrees thank you very much)-- and since we've finally gotten past the last 100 degree days of the summer, I thought I'd finally post some summer pics I've been meaning to post for a while. We went swimming at our friend T's house all summer, thanks to her generosity, and I finally brought my camera one day to document our fun. The girls loved the water, Evey tried to drown herself multiple times of course, first by wading right in and attempting to "swim" the very first day, and on the last day, by going down the slide all by herself without anyone there to catch her at the bottom-- you know we call her "Evey Knieval" right? And, there was nothing cuter than Anna and her fat body squished like a sausage into her suit and happily toddling around the pool. Matthew did a great job swimming and Maren could paddle all over in her float. So much fun!

shoo fly, don't bother Me!

My girls love bees. Have I mentioned this before? They call every winged creature a bee. Anna can even buzz for you if you like. Last week, I put on "The Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh" during quiet time. Not understanding that bees are, in point of fact, Pooh's enemy, they giggle and shout when they see the bees-- "ooh Bees!"

Yay for bees.

So, today, I got the biggest giggle at 7:30 am. A slow, wretched fly--one of those kind that is so stupid that it goes crazy repeatedly flying into a window or mirror -- you can hear it thumping and buzzing, but its too dumb to stop-- you know that type of fly? Well, one of its ilk started flying around the breakfast table.

This created quite a stir at the girls end--"Look! a bee! a bee!" They were so happy. They all started pointing and laughing. It was delightful. It was pure joy-- even if it wasn't a bee. I told them, "Its a fly." They didn't really care.

Then, the crowning event---- The fly landed on Maren's eggs. (Did you inadvertantly convulse? I know I did- bleh.) But, oh the joy! Maren shouted out-- "Its on my eggs!" with the same voice that says--"Santa Claus came last night!" or "The easter bunny left me a basket!" And Evey followed up with "on the eggs! on the eggs!"

This was followed by many squeals and giggles; so many, in fact, that I found myself laughing along. Then, the slow, wretched "bee" visited Eveys eggs, where it was greeted happily, and then, Anna's eggs, where it was again, welcomed openly with love and excitement.

Until finally, unable to stomach the grossness, I whapped it with a towel, and it, and a few eggs, flew off of Anna's highchair tray. So, that was the end of the happiness; although they didn't seem to really know that I had killed it, until I picked it up with a paper towel and we had to say, "goodbye fly."

Man, in retrospect now I feel like a big meanie. Parents are such a downer.