November Round-up

A few notes about November:

We got a new washer and dryer! We've been using some Mom and Dad gave us, which have been wonderful. They are 19 years old now though, and energy and water saving for washers and dryers has come a long way since then. It's an early Christmas present for Kevin and I!

I lost my voice for 6 days. Ugh! That is a really long time to not be able to talk to my kids or anyone else!

We are cleaning out baby equipment and clothing. We sold a lot of it and gave some away to the homeless shelter. It is a little sad to think we'll never use those items again, but I do like seeing extra room on the basement shelves!

I got a smart phone! I've been holding out for quite a while, thinking of that big of a monthly phone bill made me sick to my stomach. But they don't really make decent non-smart phones anymore and I was tired of have terrible reception at home. I love it! It will take me a while to get it all figured out, but Kevin was great to get it all set up for me.

And a few extra pictures from November:

Tea Party! 

Crazy long-haired Luke!

We get a basket from Bountiful Baskets each week. I love all the yummy fruits and veggies for cheap, and the kids LOVE emptying the cooler and identifying the produce. 

And one from the archives... a friend posted this picture on facebook. I've thought about this Thanksgiving 15 years ago every Thanksgiving since. I was at the Jerusalem study abroad fall semester 1997, and Thanksgiving fell the day before we left from our two week stay at a kibbutz at the Sea of Galilee. The people running the place were so excited to give us our American holiday they cooked turkeys and put sparklers in them (Thanksgiving and Fourth of July combined!). Unfortunately, cooking turkeys must not be a regular task for them because they were a little underdone. On the bus ride home the next morning there were many impromptu bus stops on the side of the road, some changes of clothing, and a lot of sick tummies. I was lucky and wasn't affected, but I bet at least half of our group was. Happy salmonella day! 

Grandparent Letter

Dear Grandpa and Grandma,

How are you doing? I hope all is going well there!

We have been having fun in the holiday season. The kids had a wonderful time celebrating Halloween. Cora was a witch, Violet was a black cat, Luke was a fireman, and Evelyn was a (reluctant) caterpillar. The kids enjoyed their school parties and loved going trick-or-treating at Kevin’s work and around our neighborhood too. Cora lasted the longest out on Halloween night—about 2 hours! Violet and Luke came home after 45 minutes to hand out candy. It was a fun night!

Cora and Violet were in the Primary Program this year and did a great job singing and saying their parts. We have over 150 children in our ward Primary, with new ones moving in every week! So it was quite the production. They loved it! And so did the rest of us.

Cora and Violet also took a special overnight trip with Kevin to St. George to see Aladdin at Tuacahn. It is an amazing outdoor theatre, and they said the musical was really great! They also had fun swimming in the hotel pool and watching movies. Luke and Evelyn were too little to go, so I stayed home with them and we did some fun activities too.

Luke recently moved from his crib to a ‘big boy’ bed. He is doing well, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to keep him napping with this new arrangement. Evelyn moved to the crib in the nursery and is doing really well with going to bed without being rocked. She actually has been sleeping much longer and often, so that has been nice. We’re in the process of getting the nursery all girly again!

We all had a great time playing in the snow we got a few weeks ago. We had about 8 inches, and the kids stayed out most of the day for two days playing!

As for teeth news… Evelyn has two new ones! Her bottom front teeth came in. And at about the same time, Violet’s two bottom front teeth came out! She was so excited to have the tooth fairy come. They are all getting so big! Violet is reading her preschool books really well now. Cora is continuing to increase the difficulty in her reading books, and does well on her spelling tests. Luke loves to color. Evelyn is starting to pivot when she lays on her tummy and even does a little army crawling! They are all getting so big! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving we started putting up our Christmas decorations. The kids were so excited, they had been asking to get them out for quite a while! 

We had lots of turns wearing the Mary costume... even Evelyn. Our littlest Mary...

and our biggest Mary, Cora. 

After decorating the tree

And with Christmas pajamas! 

 

Kevin went out of town for a week at the end of November, so we tried to plan some fun things to keep us busy while he was gone. We met up with Amber, Jaxon, and Dylan at the Festival of Trees. 

The trees were beautiful, the gingerbread houses we o-so-cool, and the girls specially loved watching the dance performances at the end.

We also meet up with Kissie and Pata to listen to a Christmas Concert in the JSMB. I love the bell concerts! They are my favorite and I try to go to at least one each year. 

I also got all the advent books lined up and the advent activity calendar made.... first time working ahead of the curve! Feels nice. 

And last but not least, here's Luke wishing you a very Merry Christmas, with his bubble beard. I can't wait for December! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started off Thanksgiving Day with a run! Shad, Jen, and Kissie ran the half marathon. Kevin ran the 5K. The kids all ran the kids race. And all I did was run around the house getting everyone ready since Kevin left before the rest of the family. It was cold and windy, but I think the kids had fun... well, most of them. Kevin did end up carrying Luke at the end. They did get a cool medal!

Then it was off to get back home to change and get ready for our special Thanksgiving dinner at Grand America, courtesy of Kissie and Pata. Best Thanksgiving tradition ever!! What a yummy, fancy meal! 

Violet, mid-sausage

 The kids all heaped their plates with food they love

 And got to color afterward

 Cora, Pata, and Violet

 Me, Evelyn, Luke, Cora 

 Bailee and Cora 

 The whole gang!

 Anderson Family, Thanksgiving 2012!

 

Afterward we headed over to Kissie and Pata's for pictionary, bingo, relaxing in front of Bubble Guppies, and card games. 

I thought this was so funny. Evelyn hasn't been interested in her own binkie for quite a while, but she sure wanted Layla's! She was studying it and then went in for the grab!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Luke's playschool had a Thanksgiving party. They got to make these super cute turkey snacks! (half a pear, toothpicks with fruit and marshmallows, chocolate chips pushed in for eyes). Luke loves being able to have these holiday celebrations like his sisters. 

The whole first grade had a Thanksgiving feast together. This is a picture of Cora's class taken after the feast. 

  (Violet's preschool had a Thanksgiving feast, but I have no pictures.)

Kevin snapped this picture while they were waiting for me to finish up an errand. Isn't it fabulous? 

Evelyn at 7 months

This little sweetie is 7 months old! 

She shrieks like a pterodactyl, loves to pull hair, and eats three meals a day of solid food.

The remote is her favorite toy.

She's a pretty steady sitter now and can push to sit. I think that's one of my favorite baby milestones! So much freedom to decide to change your view! 

Evelyn got tooth one and two on October 28th and 29th. Hooray! Look at those pearly whites!

Evelyn can do the army crawl, she likes being on her tummy. She wears her pj's most of the day, most every day. I believe in babies being comfy and warm! Plus, we don't go too many places. And then I never have to search for the shoes and socks she pulls off. 

Evelyn gets angry about getting in the car sometimes. She does a pretty strong arch-up to protest being buckled into her car seat. It can be quite the wrestling match! 

At her 6 month appointment, I told the doctor Evelyn was still sleeping in our room. She said it's time to get her out! I have been procrastinating that, I am just too lazy to climb stairs to feed her in the middle of the night. But Dr. Esham said it's time for her to sleep through the night too! I have been lax about this with all my kids, but Dr. Esham said it's much easier to do it now than when they are older. So, we did it, about a week ago. She only cried for 20 minutes the first time! And it only took a few days for her to be settled with it! And it is lovely to come out of the sleep-deprived fog! (And it really does deserve all those exclamation points!) It's a relief to not have to jump up and get her or fret about how much she is crying or spend hours rocking her to sleep. And I think it has been great for her too, she is not nearly as nervous around other people, I thinks she was sleep deprived too. 

She has the best baby giggles!

What a cutie! We love her so much!

Disney on Ice

Kissie and Pata invited Cora, Violet, Luke (and one parent-- lucky me!) to Disney on Ice! It was Luke's first time going to anything like that, and it had been a long time since the girls had gone-- they were thrilled! It was the '100 Years of Magic' show, so it had tons and tons of characters from lots of Disney shows. The kids loved seeing their favorite characters, all the dancing, skating, costumes, and music, and of course, the popcorn! I wasn't a great picture-taker that day, but we got a couple of snapshots. 

 

After that we relaxed a bit at the City Creek dino play area, and then got to see Santa. Evelyn and Layla were asleep, and Luke was pretty tired, but he was such a great Santa, and the picture turned out cute!

Afterward we got yummy icecream cones, thanks to Kissie and Pata.

Next we headed back to Kissie and Pata's house to relax and get ready to head to the Gateway. We caught a bit of the concert, got hot chocolate, and saw the tree lighting. It started raining and was pretty cold, and the kids were taking turns melting down, but I loved watching the light show. One of our neighbors actually did the programming for it.

It was a day filled with so many fun things. Many thanks to Kissie and Pata for inviting us!