Dress of the Week, Thanksgiving, and Goodbye Miki

Dress of the Week

Tegan and "Fluffy" her unicorn from Grandma and Granpa Anderson.

Tegan loves playing with her tea party set. Gordon was playing with her and got her to actually smile while I was taking her picture.

Mmmm... Thanksgiving. I was dreaming about this meal for days and it totally exceeded expectations. I don't normally dream about food, maybe it is because I am pregnant. Hmmm... Anyway, it was delicious. Sorry everyone that wasn't there.

On our way inside to Miki's Farewell. Tegan sees the dog. She loves animals and got very excited.

Miki from church is going away on a two year mission. His farewell was tonight. Such a good kid. He babysat for us on several occasions and is pretty much like family.

Unfortunately for Miki, he was sleepy and fell asleep at his own farewell. So this happened to him. Lol.

A cute picture of Gordon with the dragon. A moment when Tegan allowed him to play with it. She loves puppets and anything she loves, she becomes slightly possessive.

Crazy Nice Weather, X-Country Run, and General Conference

So the weather lately has been super crazy nice out. The leaves are falling, it is October and we haven't had to wear jackets lately! Yes, it is awesome. So we have been able to spend time in the evenings bike riding

and playing at the park

and Gordon finally learned to ride his new bike with NO TRAINING WHEELS!!! Hurray for Gordon!

Jamin had his big x-country race this week. He did awesome. He ran the whole way. In case you can't tell, he is the crazy one wearing pants. I brought him shorts, but he said he was comfy the way he was.

Neil watching the race. =) All the leaves are changing.

This is Jamin coming up to the finish line. You actually can't really see him. The kid that you see stopped to walk up this hill and was looking around. Jamin was running past him. =)

Here is back at the starting line. All the fourth grade boys.

Dress of the Week

A pretty flower in the not so pretty garden. Everything needs to be pulled out and the ground tilled, but it has been so nice out that the tomatoes are finally turning red and new sprouts of broccoli are coming out. So I am leaving it for now.

This weekend was General Conference. I love conference. It is so happy. 8 hours of talks from the Prophet, Apostles, and General Authorities. All inspiring and uplifting. We stayed home and watched them all from our computer. I got to keep my hubby at home the whole time. =) We had crepes for breakfast on Sunday and had the family over in the evening. I made these mini cheesecakes for dessert(thanks Kristina). Jamin was very excited.

Highlights of conference:

I always enjoy Elder Dieter Uchdorf's talks. He makes you feel how important you are and he has an awesome accent. =) He said, "God knows that some of the greatest souls who have ever lived are those who will never appear in the chronicles of history. They are the blessed, humble souls who emulate the Savior’s example and spend the days of their lives doing good."

I also enjoyed Elder Neil Andersen's talk. The kids get really excited when he talks since he has the same name as our little Neil. But his talk made me feel really happy inside about our choice to expand our family and the joys and blessings of being a mother. I appreciated his sensitivity to those who are not able to or have difficuty having children. He said, "I testify of the great blessing of children and of the happiness they will bring us in this life and in the eternities."

I love loved the Children's choir. It was so sweet to watch. They did such a great job. My kids totally wanted to be there.

There seemed to be lots of talks on reading and studying the scriptures. So that's something perhaps I need to work more on.

Overall, great conference. Made me feel happy and energized to try and be a better person.

After dinner, we read scriptures and Breanne was letting Tegan push her face which made Tegan laugh hysterically. It was a little disruptive, but it was so cute I had to take a picture.

Aren't those super cute pajamas? Thank you cousin Elisabeth. =)

Good night hugs. Time to get ready for bed, so the adults can play some Settlers of Catan.

Tegan's turn.

Hair cut, Terry Fox Run, Mess and a Dress

About to give Neebs a haircut. Saves a ton of time, money and suffering doing it myself. Thank you to my awesome SIL, Kristina, who showed me how a couple years ago.

It was a nice day outside and I love walking by the river, so I decided to join Jamin and Gordon for their Terry Fox Run from school after Neil's haircut. Jamin was excited to see us, but he was racing so he sped past us, but he could take it easy and walk with us on the way back.

Such a good big brother. He introduced everyone to his little brother.

Neil wanted to race still.

I didn't walk with Gordon, but I did catch up with him for a minute at his resting/drink station.

Mess of the Week

The gate slows her down, but doesn't stop her. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the little culprit. I took her straight to the bathtub.

Having some lunch after the bath. Tegan does this a lot lately. I think it is hilarious. She always needs help getting out of this position. Silly girl.

Dress of the Week

Going into church...

Uh oh, they escaped to the garden. Neil likes to find snacks in there.

It looked like Tegan was helping herself to some tomatoes and dirt.

Time for a bath!

Life and a Dress of the Week

Now that the hospital visits are over and school is in full swing, things have gone back to routine. Not too much out of the ordinary exciting stuff at our house. When the kids are home, everyone is busy getting homework, home reading, and practicing music done. It is a crazy swirl getting them out the door for school. Getting the kids a good breakfast, making the lunches, making sure they are dressed appropriately for the weather and making sure they are ready for that spelling test. Then again when they come home from school. Finishing up dinner while helping them with the things they need.

I have a new system for rewarding them for getting their stuff done. They can earn minutes to play approved games on the computer or ipad. First all homework must be done and a certain amount of piano practice. Then for every minute they play the piano they earn a minute on the computer and if they do extra work or anything else I think they need to do or work on(homework doesn't count for time, it just needs to be done), they can earn more time. Gordon has a math book that he likes to work on to earn extra time. And time does not normally transfer days. Jamin has the most stuff to do. He has way more homework and needs to practice piano at least 30 minutes a day. So he doesn't always finish all his stuff in time to play on the computer and sometimes he gives up his time to play with a friend or something outside, but overall it seems to really be helping to encourage them to do their work efficiently. I check all their work to make sure they have done a good job before giving them the ok to make sure they don't just rush through without doing a good job. It is especially helpful for Neil. He just started MYC(Music for Young Children) and sometimes it can be a little bit of a challenge to get him to practice, but it is nice to have an incentive for him. He loves playing his little learning games on the computer.

When the kids are at school, our home is fairly quiet and calm. Every once in a while someone needs help and drops off a kid or two which I love. Gives the little ones a friend to play with and makes things more interesting. Shopping is easier. I swung by the store on the way to pick up Neil from Preschool this morning and got all my shopping done in about 20 minutes. It was fantastic. Tegan was helping me put my stuff up by the cash register. It was so cute. I'm trying to run almost every day. My body is happier when I do. In case anyone doesn't know, I'm expecting baby number five! I'm due April 20th, so I am about 10 weeks. I feel pretty good. I can't complain too much. I won't have an ultrasound till about 20 weeks, but hopefully I can find out what I am having then.

We are outgrowing our home, so we are full swing working on designs for a new one. We have our land and building will start early next year. As soon as it is warm enough to pour concrete, but before the thaw and road restrictions are put in place. It is pretty exciting working out drawings and deciding with our builder exactly what we want and need in a home.

The kids start tennis, swimming, and skating this weekend. Jamin and Gordon will be taking tennis lessons. It will be Jamin's third year and Gordon's first. Neil will be taking a learn to skate class. I think everyone who lives here should know how to skate. At least so we can skate on the river as a family once a year. =) Then the three of them will be doing swimming lessons. And they can do it all at one place! So it won't completely consume our lives.

Anyway, life is happy. I love my little family, and I am excited for our new addition.

Dress of the Week

Luckily the resolution on the ipad pictures aren't great, so you can't see how crazy messy Tegan's clothes were after potluck at church.

Hello Tegan's curls. Her hair keeps getting longer and is still super curly. I love it. =)

Tegan's Birthday and Some Other Stuff

Hanging out at the Children's hospital...

These pictures are a little old. We spent a whole lot of time at the hospital the last few weeks getting Tegan's bandages changed, but Monday was our last appointment. Hurray!! All of her bandages are off now and everything is healing well. She might have one little scar on her leg, but other than that she should be fine. I just need to be sure to use lots of sunscreen on her for a while.

Dress of the Week

Miss Tegan escaped to the garden. She needed a bath after this which was her first time since her accident. It was quite the process, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tinkertown for Tegan's birthday!!

Can you tell all of my meticulous planning that went into this cake? I know, it is lame.

On the train!

Neil loved driving the red car.

On the roller coaster.

The big slide. Tegan went down with me and giggled going down. =)

Opening presents

Tegan loves her Grandma. She will often go to her over me. I think it is cute.

Random... Neil loves banana peppers.

How did he get that on? heehehe

First Day of School!!! I love these guys. They have really been enjoying school, and I have had only good reports so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good year. They all have great teachers.