Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Grandma is here!!!

Thanksgiving is over and the hustle and bustle of Christmas has begun, but not too much at our house. I like to savor this season. It always sneaks up as if we should be so unprepared, scurrying around like little squirrels gathering nuts for the winter...and yet it always comes at the same time every year. Dare I admit to taking part in the Black Friday madness with my amazing hubby....but we had a blast! (despite his getting the nasty flu the following day) Trying to get all our Christmas shopping done for both sides of the family in one day is no easy feat, but we nearly succeeded! All I can say is, praise the Lord for online shopping and free shipping! :) Yep, the holiday season is fully upon us and I tend to make the most of it with all my boys. I'm already looking forward to 2 full weeks where we can just...be.

Earlier I mentioned how it's inevitable that tears are formed (and shed) during this season and this year they have been pleasantly subsided as my mom is here for an entire week!!! (we picked her up at the airport the day after our Black Friday excursion) We've done a lot already in the hours she's been at our house and the boys are just soaking up their time with Grandma! More fun and exciting memories being made even as we reminisce about the ones we remember from previous visits. 

on a little walk with Grandma!

AAA

CJA

Mason reading books with Grandma!!
 The last time my mom was here for a visit, we made Christmas cookies....the boys insisted we do that again (including the eldest boy......) :)

 Mason loves his Grandma and daily brings her books to read, specifically Thomas the Train books. She's ever so willing to oblige.
 Having her here has been a tremendous blessing, one I do not take for granted. Rich conversations. Laughter. Watching our favorite movies (ones we watched together while I was growing up). Baking. Cooking. Playing trains and cars with her grandsons. Cherished memories. ;) She will get to celebrate Carson's 5th birthday with us as well later this week so yes, be on the lookout for yet another birthday posting!! I can't believe CJ will be 5!!!!!! I think I'll enjoy one more cup of coffee with my mama before we dive into getting ready for those festivities.....

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Tree of Thanks

Instead of trying to write a daily Thanksgiving thought, only to be defeated by not following through for one reason or another, I thought I'd let our "Anderson Family Thanksgiving Tree" do the telling of our daily thanks. Every evening at dinner, or sometimes at breakfast depending on the outlook of our day, the boys would pick a leaf to write what it was they were thankful for on that particular day. I love that God/Jesus is at the very top of our tree! That was a unanimous vote from day one! 


We also knew a birthday was fast approaching as the words "cake" and "balloon" were written by two particular brothers. :) There has been an array of thanks for people, for things, for those everyday items that we often take for granted. It has been a little sneak peek into their minds as they mull over those things they are thankful for and has provided great conversation pieces and hysterical laughter. Our tree is nearly complete and I dread the thought of taking it down merely for the sake of "forgetting" to be more thankful and less ungrateful as we continue on into the holiday season and into this next year. Thanksgiving should be a year long thing, not just a 30-day recount of "thankful thoughtfulness." I might need to come up with some sort of thankful project mid-July....ideas anyone?? 




 As we look forward to feasting ourselves into a belly ache on Thursday, watching the Macy's Day parade and a barrage of football, may you be truly blessed and filled with an overwhelming joy and gratefulness that can only come from above. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Mason is 2!!!

My handsome little baby boy is just no longer that....a baby. Oh, he is still most definitely handsome, even at the rip old age of 2!! Yes, today, my mini-man turns 2! We celebrated with an Anderson family birthday party a few days ago but the celebration will continue...the consumption of more birthday cake, random "Happy Birthdays" exclaimed all day along with the smothering of kisses on Mason's cheeks, little hands exploring the new (mostly train) toys, and silent prayers offered up all day for the blessing he has been to our family already. Here is just a small sample into the world of Mason and who he is....

Mason is my little dancer boy and loves music....

 He's my little eater...even if it means opening the fridge and pulling out a sandwich before lunch time...
 He's my dishwasher loader...
 ...laundry helper...
 ...my busy little guy....
 ...he's the baby brother...
 ...the puzzler putter-together...
 ...train lover...
...loves helicopters...
 ...is my little book worm...
 ...climber...
 ..and loves daddy dearly!! Seriously--every morning when Mason gets up and every afternoon when daddy comes home, hugging daddy is the first priority.
And here are some fun photos from the little birthday party we had for our mini-man!
Mason's train cake!

party time!

gifts!

showing his new Thomas book to Nanny

money from MN Grandma!

cake time!

Happy birthday Mason!

me and my little bubba :)


 
















 I am so very thankful that God has blessed our family with this little guy, that I get to be his mama--his smile and laugh are infectious, his formation of words are unique all his own (who else says hacacacaca for helicopter?! and sticks out their tongue when saying ball to make it sound like "blah")  and even though I don't wish these days away any faster than they are already going by, I can't wait to see all that God has planned for him.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON ROGER!!!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Brotherly Love

Before I write too much, let me give a disclaimer that even though these pictures show an array of smiling faces, rosy cheeks, and a whole lot of arms-around-each-other lovin', I specifically chose to capture those types of moments this week. The Anderson house is anything but a bed of roses at all hours of the day. Within the brotherly love is also a fair share of brotherly teasing and adversity. I humbly admit to having a little bit of what I call a "mommy-break-down" the other night. You know the kind I'm talking about, right? Where you feel overwhelmed, overtired, and it's one of those 2 steps forward 10 steps backward days? A toddler's hands in everything they shouldn't be, boys arguing over who gets the blue McQueen (even though we have about 10 other McQueens), somebody not playing fair, "he" got the bigger cookie, had you just left the mess it would be cleaner now than had you picked it up prior and they decided to remake that mess....need I go on? But despite all the shortcomings and the lack of my "calm, cool, and collected" dealings at times with whatever issue was at hand, the boys still found ways to make laughter echo through the house, turn chaos into creativity, pull out a random "I love you mom", and once again make me ever so grateful to be their mom. 
AAA and MRA

CJ helping Mason

I love my boys!!!

they were "fighting" about 30 seconds before I snapped this picture

my sillies! AA and CJ
As I sit typing away on the keyboard, watching them out my window as they run through the fallen leaves all the while laughing hysterically, attempting to catch the ones that are actually falling from the trees, I can't help but smile. Those are my boys. And as crazy as our house is at times, as chaotic as our little world can be some days, and as overwhelmed and seemingly "out of breath" as I may feel sometimes as a mom, I am blessed.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Home

This time of year never fails to muster up all types of feelings of reflectiveness, thankfulness, gratefulness, joyfulness and even a touch of "home-sickness". Such was the case this past weekend as I thought about all the deer hunters filing into my mom's house back in Minnesota for opening weekend--blaze orange everywhere and the aroma of some serious good-cookin' overwhelming the senses as one steps through the front door. Memories flooded my mind. With the holidays lingering right around the corner the tears are lingering as well...not sure I've made it through a Thanksgiving or a Christmas without at least one rolling down my cheek. But, in the midst of that home-sickness there is a whole lot of thankfulness!! Just last night as I listened to my boys wrestling with their daddy, I became even more grateful for my four boys and the home Andy and I have been building for our three sons inside these four walls.
                             (notice the progression of shirts on.....then off they came!)

                            (the boys LOVE wrestle time with daddy)


So for fun, I'll pose the question--What is home to you?? You often hear phrases like "home is where the heart is" among many others--home to some is a certain smell, a particular look, quite simply a place. As I think about this whole over-arching concept of "home", I am reminded that no matter how many houses the five of us may occupy, that wherever God may takes us as we continue on in our journey of living a life of faith, each one will bring us one step closer to our eternal HOME with Him!! Yes, the tears will more than likely still fall--(ok, who am I kidding, they will fall this holiday season)--yet they will be greatly accompanied with smiles and joy and laughter. I'm already excited about the traditions we've started in this home and can't wait to carry them out once again. I'm anticipating the new ones we will implement. The Christmas lists are being formulated. The baking has begun. The weather is turning. The memories keep multiplying. I guess you could say, that while on this earth, when I'm with all my boys, I'm home. Complete. A unit. Whole. 
                                                     (the list making has begun!)
CJ and Mason

I "found" Mason in our bed....goof ball! :)
 This sits on my kitchen window sill and it appears in my line of vision a few times a day. It's been a daily reminder for me to offer up a little prayer of thanks right there on the spot. Today, it just happened to be for my home.

Give 'em Tools

Ever since Andy and I signed that purchase agreement making us the owners of our very first home on Brookview Drive in Burnsville, Minnesota...