If Only We'd Known...

We had no idea the monster we would create with this first seemingly innocent plate of pasta.


He broke the restraints of his highchair and set out to conquer.

No one's plate was safe from the monster we had unleashed.

Rock It Like Britta

Britta had such a fun time playing fall soccer. She ran hard for the ball, scored and saved goals, and still had energy for a photo shoot:

First Day of School

Avery decided she needed a book bag for "school", but instead of crayons, pencils, glue, etc., she packed fancy shoes, a doll, and jewelry. Yeah, she was set.

Britta was too excited to walk to the bus stop so she took off at a run. Eden, not one to be left behind, took off after her.

When Avery, Weston, and I finally caught up, I was able to snap this sweet picture:

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

We celebrated Eden's 7th birthday towards the end of summer. She had a big "extended family" party while in Texas, so at home we had a very low key party with Ben. We went swimming, had cake and ice cream and opened a couple of gifts. I remember the day she was born, holding her late at night just wondering who this little person was going to turn out to be. She is fun, smart, impish, beautiful, caring, and tender. She's become so much in just seven short years. I can't wait to see what the next seven will bring!

And You Were There, and You, and You...

So like Dorothy I too went on a trip that I have no proof of. The kids and I went to Texas and I did a horrible job taking pictures. I don't know how I managed to not take pics of the kids with their cousins, grandparents(both sets live there!), and all the fun things we did. I brought my camera. I even made sure to replace the batteries before leaving. All I needed to do was aim and click! Seriously. I think gorillas from the zoo would've done a better job documenting our trip! I wonder if they hire out their services...

Feelin' the Familial Love in Utah

Dan the Man got himself hitched this summer! Weston and I flew to Utah for the wedding and had a blast with my whole family. Had a lot of fun meeting Natalie and her family, helping with the reception, and like every Anderson get together, late night talking and junk food. Below is a picture of our almost all nighter ice cream party.

Dan and his awesome lady Natalie.

Anderson gals holdin' down our table. Moose Man was sitting with us, but we kept making him get us food and drinks. Now before you start thinking we were taking advantage of his kindness, please know we had his best interests at heart. We knew catering to our every whim with no hope of payment or reward would build character. Really, we were looking out for him.

Not Everyone was Feeling the Love

The Few, the Proud,the Andersons?

Nothing Separates the mice from the men like a day of riding roller coasters. Some came ready for victory. Some(Moose Man) came afraid. But all conquered. At the end of the day we walked back to the car a little taller.

New Posts Coming Soon!

Well, it's been a while. Excuses? I have plenty. But let's not focus on the negative. Instead, let's embrace the positive and move forward. And by moving forward I mean let's take a look back at all the things we've done these past five? six? months. Tomorrow. 'Cause it's late, and I'm tired, and posting pictures with captions tries my patience when I'm well rested. It wouldn't be pretty right now.

Coop Gardening

Our apartment has a 50 square foot patio that is bordered by evergreen shrubs and gets western exposure. The first two summers we were here we attempted to grow vegetables and berries without much success. Everything either got picked early and thrown, withered on the vine, or was ravaged by the local squirrel population. We were ready to give up on gardening when I read an article in the newspaper about an organization called Sharing Backyards. The website matches up urbanites who have gardening space and need assistance with those that are seeking gardening space and can provide assistance. There wasn't anything for our area when I checked, but talking about the concept with friends produced even better results.



One of our friends from church mentioned that they had done a garden for a couple of years but with measured success. And the kids had seemed less than enthusiastic. We talked our way into a co-op style arrangement where we would provide labor and skill and they would provide the same as well as the garden space. Over the months of February, March, and early May we worked to install a french drain, install fencing and raised beds, add improved soil and mulch, and (finally) plant the garden.



April and May were very wet which meant we didn't have to water much. But the cool weather and mostly-absent sun put everything in slow motion. After the sun re-appeared in June, the garden took off. We've already harvested some cucumbers, string beans, cilantro, and basil, and now the squash, tomatoes, and peppers are beginning to ripen!

Be Smarter than the Blog!

Okay, I enjoy blogging, well, I enjoy keeping relatives and friends up to date with what our family has been up to, but to be honest, blogging is extremely frustrating for me. Take the posts below for example. I decided to finally post Britta's birthday. I had all sorts of trouble getting pics to post the way I wanted them to. Whenever I tried to enter captions they kept disappearing! I don't know where they went,but let me tell you, they went. So then I got "smart" and decided to post the pics separately, after I explained Britta's B-day. I posted the pics first, so that that entry would be underneath the explanation, but no, for some reason it kept them as the latest blog entry and so now the whole post about Britta's birthday is a little messed up. So, enjoy the pics and then the explanation about Britta's party. It'll make sense eventually.

Pics of Britta's B-day

Ben made the "Willy Wonka" cake for Britta late (maybe too late) the night before.



Hope you enjoyed this trip through imagination land. Now bundle up, it's crazy January weather out there!

Better Late Than Never (Again)

Come with me to the land of imagination, where ladders climb you, books read people and nothings what it seems! It is actually January 12th, and I haven't forgotten to blog about Britta's Birthday, even though I remembered to blog Avery's!

Britta had her three best friends over for a pizza party and what was supposed to be a movie night, but you get four 5 yr olds wired up on cake and pop and throw presents into the mix, and there wasn't a whole of watching going on. We eventually called a spade a spade, turned off the movie and just partied!

(For pics see the previous blog-oops!)

Deep Thoughts, by Britta and Avery

Britta: "Everyone in the whole world is a girl except for the boys."

Avery: "A panda is a panda."

There you have it folks. Truer words rarely have ever been spoken. Now, take this moment to contemplate that truth, apply it to your lives, and I'm sure you'll be the better for it.

Yeti Garden Art - A Treatise

[Submitted by Ben]

Today I received an email from my sister suggesting an accessory for our co-op garden.


(A little background first. Stephanie and I found another family in our ward with a yard and a desire to garden. We struck a co-op with them: we contribute labor and supplies and we split the harvest.)


This is the email I received with the subject line "Ben needs this for the new community garden" and included a link to this item:

My younger brother Alan shared his thoughts on the matter:

Haha! "If you can't afford 'class' - you can still afford to CLASH!"

I decided to comment on her suggestion as well: First impression is that it would make a pretty useful scarecrow. Second impression, does Sasquatch work out?!?! Take a look at the guy - he's seriously buff! He obviously does a lot of bench pressing, arm curls, squats, and abdominal exercises. Does he use creatine powder? Where does he get his proteins? Does he ever carb-load before lifting?

Even with as buff as sasquatch is, I sympathize with the hair loss. Maybe he should follow suit with other body builders who have hair loss and just shave his head completely. That seems to keep with the image of masculinity and current trends. But how would that look with all the long body hair? I suppose it would diminish the mystery and fascination of sasquatch to look like you are wearing a gorilla suit without the mask.

And why is he looking to the side. With feet as big as his, he should be looking in the direction he is heading if he wants to avoid an embarrassing tumble. (Believe me, walking one way and looking another is dangerous; I know from experience).

This must be an example of true art because it really has me thinking about it. So many unanswered questions! Still, I don't think art belongs in the garden. It dramatically increases the risk of tripping while walking and looking sideways.

I Woman Hear Me Roar

Eden decided to get the thrill of her life and go parachuting...off her bunk bed. She really thought she was being daring so she was a little surprised that I started laughing about it and even encouraged it. Rock on Sister!




Britta decided to be a bit more daring and jumped without the parachute.





And Avery just warming up to the idea of daring, decided to jump from the bottom rung of the ladder.

Avery's Third Birthday!!

Avery started her big day off in true birthday girl fashion. She got dressed in her favorite dress up dress, and upon learning that Ben had already made her cake the night before, asked for cake for breakfast. Who was I to deny the birthday girl?



Avery wanted to go the park for her birthday. I did insist that she change her outfit. She had fun playing on the equipment, but once she saw a field full of dandelions, she was ecstatic. A side note: Picking dandelions is Avery's favorite out door activity. It doesn't matter where we are, where we are trying to get, or how late we are, if she sees a dandelion, she runs for it, picks it, and does a little skip and a dance. So we spent the next half hour picking dandelions.



We had a minor set back in our partying when she fell and scraped her leg, but a special birthday picnic lunch and sucker soon put things to rights.






And of course, the day was rounded off with cake, ice cream and presents. She was a happy birthday girl indeed.

American Idol's Fifth Judge

Ben and I love to watch American Idol together. It was definitely a lot more fun when Paula was on her crazy pills, but we love the music and the contestants, and Simon and Paula's ongoing love-hate relationship.

Because Eden is on Spring Break this week, we thought we'd let the girls stay up a little bit later and let them watch a few of the contestants perform. Britta, calling them as she sees them(scroll down a few posts) quickly began summarizing each performance. After Lil Rounds performance: "I think that at first she wasn't very good, but she just needed some confidence and then she got it so it was pretty good. I liked her." That's our Britta B!

Britta Putting Two and Two Together

Britta is my call them as she sees them kid. Here are a couple of funny examples of her putting two and two together and, well, calling it as she saw it:

(Britta saying family prayer) "...and please bless mommy that she'll get enough sleep tonight so that she won't be grumpy in the morning..."

(Britta stuck her finger into Weston's mouth) "Ouch! Mom, he bites really hard! You better switch him to bottles quick!"

Yes, Those are Boxes on Our Kids' Heads!

Kids are so funny and the games they come up with give us a laugh and keep us on our toes!






It all started because Britta chose to put her "Build A Bear" box on her head for a monster costume.






Then the other girls decided to put on the boxes and ram into each other! I don't know why kids do the things they do, but Heaven bless them all!

Odds Are...

When you are the only boy in the bunch(excluding Ben-he's a man!) and you're the youngest child to boot, odds are you are going to come across a lot of girlie toys. This happened to Weston recently. Avery left her "My Little Ponies" on the the living floor, and Weston having no prejudices towards girlie things(he's not aware of cooties yet), promptly picked it up and tried stuffing it into his mouth. I of course thought it was hilarious and wanted to document the first of many times Weston would be playing with girlie toys(whether coerced or by his own free will). Ben came in, took one look at me photographing our son with a sparkly pony, made some sort of comment about me "demasculinating our son" and went to get the bin of cars. The pony was traded for a car and Weston resumed stuffing and drooling.


A side note: Ben and I felt it was important to offer a wider variety of toys to our girls to round out their personalities, you know, mix in a few cars, tools, and dinosaurs with the polly pockets and baby dolls. However, when the dinosaurs and cars were inviting each other to tea parties and balls, we gave up.

Tooth Fairy Blues

I love being a mom, and I love traditions and holidays, I just wish some traditions were more compatible with the demands of motherhood, i.e. the tooth fairy. It's 7 o' clock at night, ben was out of town, Avery and Weston were sick and Eden comes running in to my room excited because she finally lost her tooth. She starts going on and on about the tooth fairy coming and what she'll leave for her. My mind begins to race trying to remember if I had any cash in my wallet, any in Ben's drawer, any change in the car-no, no, and no. I start in on the couch cushions when I begin contemplating ruining Eden's childhood and spoil the magic of the tooth fairy and tell her the cold, hard truth. Then I remember that Britta has some money in a jar in the laundry room...crisis averted.

NOT EVEN A WEEK LATER!!!!!

Eden lost her top tooth and again was extremely excited, and I thought to myself, well at least this time I know I have a dollar in my purse, whoo! So the day goes by, evening, kids in bed, I lay down to read a book and was so tired,fell asleep. Next thing I know, it's 6:45 am, and I hear Eden in tears talking to Ben while he's getting ready for work telling him the tooth fairy didn't come. SHOOT!!!!! Granted I was up a few times through out the night with Weston, and I should have remembered then, but I was only awake by the most technical sense of the word. Ben and I tried to smooth out the situation and told her we were sure the tooth fairy would come that night. All day, I kept reminding myself to put the dollar from my purse under her pillow. Well, I leave for a meeting, come home, go to my wallet to get out the dollar and it's not there!!! Oh that's right, I had to use it to donate to Eden's class for a book fair! So Ben goes to the store, 10 at night, to get her her favorite candy bar and it puts it under pillow. All is well.

Now, I know the easy and responsible solution would be keeping extra money on hand, but that would involve an extra errand to the bank or actually remembering to get cash back at the grocery store while I'm shepherding three kids past the candy section, loading grcoeries in the cart and telling Weston, "It's okay, we're almost done, hang in there buddy." Why oh why didn't the person who created the tooth fairy have a clause built in to make it easier on parents: "The tooth fairy will come within 1-3 days from the time the tooth came out."

Update on Weston

Weston is 5 and half months old!! He is rolling all over the place, sitting up on his own, and loves to gnaw on our faces. Eating is his favorite hobby, followed closely by drooling and excels at both. While he's pretty satisfied with strained peas, we can tell he's looking forward to using his two new teeth to their full extent to sample the food on our plates. He laughs and growls and blows raspberries and is a ton of fun to play with.

"...and just like that, our cat days were over...."

If you've seen the movie Forrest Gump then you will probably remember Forrest's transitions between phases of his life began with "and just like that" and ended with "my ______ days were over". And just like that his shrimping/army/running/etc. days were at an end. Two weeks ago, we realized our cat days were over.

Two Saturdays ago we returned our two cats Pepper and Piper to the adoption agency where we got them. Almost a year to the day that we got them, we passed the joy of pet ownership on to another cat family. We had been talking about doing this for the past six months. We'd offered to friends and neighbors. We posted on Craig's List. We'd even talked about just leaving the door open and letting them wander out 'on accident'. Fortunately/unfortunately, our consciences wouldn't let us go with the last option. So, we contacted the adoption agency where we got the pets and told them we were bringing them back.

Stephanie and I waited until the last minute to break the news to the girls. That Friday night we gathered the girls around us and informed them that in the morning we were going to take the cats back so another family could enjoy having them. We were completely unprepared for the responses we got:

"All right! I HATE it when they jump up on my bed at night!" (EDEN)
"Yeah!! No more cats!" (BRITTA)

Stephanie and I were rendered speechless. We were ready to launch into all of the reasons why it was not a good idea to keep the cats any longer only to find that the girls were already in a heavenly orbit anticipating total cat-less-ness. There was nothing more to be said.

The next morning we loaded all the cat paraphenalia and the two cats in the van and took them to the adoption agency. There were not really any questions asked. We left feeling like we'd just avoided another potentially uncomfortable discussion. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and vacuuming cat hair off of everything. At the end of the day, floors and counters were gleaming, and the smell of cats was completely absent.

In the two weeks since the cats have been gone, we only remember the cats fondly. No feelings of guilt or regret. I mean, come on - no more scooping the cat box!! No more watching to make sure the doors don't get left open. No more cats pawing you in your sleep. No more scratching of our couch. No more fur balls underfoot as you turn a corner. No cat food on the floor. AND we were able to reclaim the second bathroom. Truly, our cat days are over.

Normally we aren't able to walk away from our obligations this easily. So, we keep wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. So... is that it? Is it really just this easy? Based on our experience, YES!!

The Joy and Joyness of Buzz Word

During our Anderson Christmas Extravaganza of '08 I fell in love with a game called "Buzz Word". Perhaps it was just the people I was with(I miss you all so much!) but it was ridiculously fun to play and compete, and I told Ben I wanted the game for my birthday. Well, wonderful man that he is, he got it for me, and now I want to share it all with you! So, each week depending on how on top of things I am (don't hold your breath) I am going to post a Buzz Word Round. For those of you who have never played: There are ten clues. The "Buzz Word" is part of the answer to the clues. For example, Buzz Word is apple. Clue #1 is " The object of my affection. Answer-Apple of my eye." Clue #2 "Lump in a man's throat. Answer-Adam's Apple." I'll post one from the easy and hard categories. Feel free to post your answer in the comments section or just enjoy the mental exercise.

Buzz Word is "First"
1. Current commemoratives issued for stamp collectors
2. The ship captain's right-hand man
3. She resides at the White House
4. On the active roster of the football team
5. Foremost in quality
6. Attention is given in the order of arrival
7. Captain Picard battles the Borg in this Star Trek movie
8. Rod Stewart's heartbroken song
9. Rambo movie
10 What comes before your surname

Buzz Word is "Not"
1. Ripley's...
2. Gone, but
3. Unequal to a rose-colored penny
4. It doesn't end until it ends
5. Rolling Stones', "Love is love..." song
6. Inequitable
7. Les valuable than a pile of garbanzos
8. Verse spoken while plucking petals
9. Waste not...
10. It isn't Armegeddon

Do You Like Things?

Every once in a while I like to ask the girls a slightly off question or ones that makes them think outside the box. Their answers give a little insight to their personalities or as you'll see with Avery, insight to how their day is going. The question I asked recently was "Do you like 'things'?"

Avery: "I do not like Britta! I like mommy and daddy, and Eden, and Weston and food. But NOT BRITTA!"

Britta: "Yeah, sure." (My easy going child)

Eden: "What kinds of things?" (My very analytical child)

My Britta Bee

Playing with Britta is like performing a play without a script, and yet you're expected to know your part. Britta was apparently given the script and knows how it's all supposed to work, but I just can't seem to keep up.

Example 1:

Britta: "Mom, look the pig (imaginary mind you and completely invisible)is stealing the pie! She climbed on the table and jumped up to the counter. She's running through the market!!"

Mom: "Oh,no! Someone should stop her!"

Britta: "There, I fought her and took the pie and put it on the roof."

Mom: "Well, what if she gets a ladder and takes it again?"

Britta: (looking at me as if her suspicions that mom doesn't know anything have just been confirmed) "Pigs can't climb ladders."

Example 2: (Britta is pretending to be a dog)

"Look mom, the dog is walking to the door. Look, mom the dog is going out the door. Look mom, the dog is looking around. Look mom the dog sees a bird. Look mom, the dog is barking at the bird. Look mom, the dog is chasing the bird."

Mom: "I see doggy. You went out the door and chased the bird."

Britta: (sighing to herself) No, mom, I saw the door, then I went outside, then I looked around, and THEN I saw the bird. I'll show you again."

Mom: thinking to herself that she'd better go get a notebook, pen, and advil.

Example 3:

Britta: "I have free water for sale. Do you want some?"

Mom: "FREE water for SALE?"

Britta: "Yeah, do you want some?"

Mom: "Sure I'll take a cup."

Britta: "Kay, that'll be 4 dollars."

Mom: "But I thought is was free."

Britta: "It is."

Mom:....

Better Late than Never

So, this post is meant to give you a fly by tour of the last few months of our lives. However, I am not skilled in the arts of blogging and I couldn't quite remember to post pictures in reverse order so that the time frame lines up or makes sense...so we're going backwards from December to October and then within each event the pictures are going from finish to start...take an advil before you continue.

Our family spent Christmas in Texas with both the Anderson's and the Taylors. A bit crazy at times to juggle, but definitely fun and made some great memories. We don't have Taylor Christmas photos yet, but once we do we'll represent! So here are some highlights from the Anderson's Christmas:

The Whole Gang!!! Two parents, seven kids, three spouses, nine grandkids, a dog, and... did I forget anyone?

My Gang!

Will, Jamie, and my favorite red headed niece!

Mel and her crew! I love Drew in this picture :)

My favorite picture of the siblings. While this is pretty true to life...

This is a bit more accurate!

Random pic from the Zoo

My sweet Britta B just lookin' happy to be in Texas

Mel, Caroline, Jamie, and I went to...ah, Mel and Caro don't hate me, but I can't remember the name of your favorite restraunt!!! It'll come to me I'm sure as soon as I post this...

Still at "the restraunt"

HANNAH BANANA!!

Aw, Moose, words fail me...

Mel enjoying time with nieces and her kids

Avery decorating "her" branch on my parents' tree. It was loaded down with her contraband. Everytime I came into the living room Avery had a candy cane in her mouth that she had taken from her branch.

Not sure exactly what Melanie and Eric are doing, but fishing comes to mind...My question is what she did she use for bait?

Random pic from the park

Ditto

Ah, and here we begin a saga in reverse order. Bear with me:

VICTORY!!!! THE JAR IS OPENED thanks to...

The masters of Willakonda :) Until William combined his force

Eric was no match for...

THE JAR OF ARTICHOKE HEARTS!!!! It foiled us all with its ultra tight seal and unsurmountable slippy lid!

Pics Ben and I took of kids right before we left for Texas

Girls decorating their tree. Since we were going to be gone we didn't bother with a real one this year. The girls tree is about three feet tall, but I could not believe how many ornaments they were able to fit on each branch. Within the first week the tree was up it was knocked over at a least a jillion times, ornaments (plastic thank goodness) spilling everywhere. Before the girls decorate their tree next year I'm going to first coat the branches in glue...

NOVEMBER

I've told the girls about our "fun" raking, jumping in and bagging leaves when I was little. Eden decided she wanted to have this experience too. However, we don't have a many trees, or a lawn except for a grassy strip behind our apartment, or a rake. So, one day I was out with the girls and Eden found a branch from small tree that looked like a rudimentary rake.

The girls and I spent 45 min. raking a pile from a meager spattering of leaves on the ground into a pile this big:

But we had a BLAST!!!!

And just for good measure

Avery clinging to Halloween and the concept of dressing up to get copious amounts of candy

So here is another example of reverse order in the time line. Let me sum up. My wonderful, wonderful mother came out to help me after Weston was born. My dad flew out a few days later for Halloween and Weston's Baby Blessing.

My parents took the girls to the zoo

My dad came with Trick or Treating with us. I think he had the most fun! My mom stayed home with Weston. Eden was a witch (but she assured us she was a good witch), Britta was a black cat, and Avery, well, Avery said she wanted to be a fairy, but she refused to wear wings, a wand, or a crown.