Christmas Tree Hunting 2009

Okay so this year we decided to do the real deal Christmas Tree Hunting...
We drove out to a big farm in the country (which let's be serious only took us 20 minutes to get there since we live in a tiny city!). We bundled up since it was in the 30's grabbed our saw and rode the hay wagon ride out to the field where the trees were! It was great fun even with the crying kids& snotty noses!

The Hunters!!


We looked and looked (I was rather picky--as I should have been) until we found it! The perfect one!

The kids loved helping Steve saw it down!





The perfect spectator! This is the view of her from the sling!

Then we dragged it out to the lane so that it could be picked up and hauled back in to the main barns where they shook it, bundled it, and loaded it onto your car!

While we waited we saw frosty, ate hot chocolate & cookies in the Barn, and played on the playground!

They even had a tiny barn that "Santa" visited (he was a great Santa by the way!) and gave out suckers and little prizes! Gordon was not going for it...we walked in and right away he leans over to me and says "that is NOT the REAL Santa. I'm not talking to him"...and he didn't until we were leaving and "santa" called his name....Gordon gave in and agreed to help out the "real" Santa by putting out cookies and milk and some snacks for the reindeer!

Good work guys....now lets get it home...which is a whole other story!

* a note: as we were loading up the car I was looking around all the other families packing their "tiny" trees onto their cars and thought...they're all the same price why would you pick such a small one?

Maggie was so happy to be in the warm car!

Little did we know that our scale was so off....surrounded by larger trees and endless sky, our eyes were a little bigger than our living room! I wish I had gotten a picture of it before we started pruning it back...as you can see we cut a whole lot off--the trash can is SO packed! (PS it took us until Midnight to get it all pruned back and into the stand and positioned...so needless to say we won't be decorating it tonight!)

*the middle picture is taken more than half way up our stairs....and not even level with the top!

Oh and we didn't even think to take off our gloves to touch the tree...so it wasn't until we were home and were handling the beast bare handed when we found it has quills not needles...or maybe needles is the appropriate word for these! I had them draw blood on 2 occasions! (after this I grabbed the info sheet that the farm hands out when you get ready to go and hunt your tree, of course there where I didn't read all the descriptions there is one that has "prickly" needles! Oops!

The one advantage to the tree being so sharp is that we won't have to worry about the kids messing with it!

We'll post some pictures when we get it decorated...of course most of our lights weren't working today so we're going to get some Monday!

Maggie's 4 months old!

Her 4 month stats are:

Height 24.75"
Weight 14 lbs 6 oz

and again she is 100% PERFECT!

I quickly laid her down to run and help someone and came back to this!! PS don't mind the laundry!

I can't believe she's already getting so big!

What does Virgina have?

A Turkey, one crazy Uncle, two darling Aunties, and five favorite Anderson cousins!!
We decided after a crazy few weeks at work for Steve (6 am to Midnight 4-5 days a week!!) We needed to get out of town so we could see him! We are so lucky to have some family close enough to drive to (if you call 8 hours close)!! We spent a weekend of cooking, eating, shopping, eating, movie watching/going, swimming, eating, playing legos, doing odd jobs, eating, and spending some good quality time with family!

The cooks!

The snacker & the crazy uncle/ photographer

The spread & the table decor!

The table setters!

Me & Avery...I taught her how to do the orange rolls this year!

Gordon & Duce writing their thankful notes

The kids table...that got a bit rowdy!

Our table was mildly more in control!


And then the next day...in classic "Thanksgiving Family get-together" style...somebody got sick!

In this case we had 2 pukers....good thing the "bug" was short lived and didn't pass beyond our two!
Oscar kicked off the puking with Eleanor to follow closely behind (oh and by the way Steve was home alone with all the kids while Erika, Shanda & I were shopping!)
Steve really was the Champ that day, he fed, cleaned, attended to sickies and Entertained 8 children for 4+ hours while EVERYONE was awake!!!

The girlie cousins!

Where did all these kids come from?
Steve was a Champ and watched/ took all the 8 older kids on 3 separate occasions!

We were sad to go but had to be back for school and the dreaded end of year work schedules!
I guess we'll see Steve again at Christmas time!

Turkey Lurkey...

One of my favorite things about kids in school...no it's not having them gone though at times it is hard to beat...it is the fun holiday things! Anyone who knows me knows I love to do stuff especially holiday things, so having lots to do is right up my alley!

Gordon's Kindergarten Feast

Oscar's Pre-school Feast

They had the children decorate their places and write their names ("I only do the O & C" so he was helped with the rest)....That's Oscar's self portrait!
I LOVE HIS GUYS!!


Oscar loves Emily aka M & M!

Some wild Indians

Mind you it's 40 degrees out!
(the boys were out "planting" food/flowers...my silk flowers I just bought for a project!!)

Making Turkey Crafts

I am going to try my hand at....

...photography!
I have always loved it and I think I could actually do it...plus I think my kids are so cute and LOVE to have good pictures of them! So I guess I'll just do it my self!
I am going to enroll in a class to hone my skills and learn to master photo-shop.
My aim is to take great pictures not edit crappy pictures to look good--which is what SO many of the photographers I have found in these parts do!! So to start practicing I borrowed a friends nice camera for the weekend (note...I need a good camera

Anyway enjoy some of my first attempts!
Please keep in mind that these are straight fro the camera no edits...and it's my first try....
**I must say I am a little shy to actually put these up for some reason- it seems personal in a weird way...??

Day one trying to figure out bokea (it's the effect of have the subject clear and crisp with the background nice and blurry...) through messing with the aperture (a note almost all of these are close

(PS I shot these all in RAW but had to downsize them for posting here...so if you click them they may look a bit less clear...)

Day two a real try at portraits...of course my kids were the guinnea pigs and they all earned Dollar store prizes for being so good!

I upped my ISO for these ...I love the really light effect...maybe not quite so light next time but a version of this appeals to me!

Gordon was beginning to lose his patience with me!


All in all I am pretty excited for my first attempt...I think with just some minor tweaking on some of them in photo shop and they'd be perfect!
Now I just need to get my own camera and photoshop!!
I'll keep you posted with what comes from my newest hobby!

8 is Great!

To quote my husband in a darling email

"It has been a great eight years!
Eight years, four kids, three homes, two (real) jobs,
lots of memories, few arguments (but way to many),
innumerable blessings!"

In short I have a wonderful life with a wonderful man!!
Here's to the last 8 years!!

Really Truly a great 8 Years!!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

We had lots of Halloween fun this year! We enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather which is always appreciated!! Here are some of the fun things we did!! * a note...we did bargain costumes this year! We have so many dress ups because our kids LOVE to dress up so I just decided we were going to be what we had (although G did borrow his red night costume-thanks Maddens). It was so fun because they were able to be something different for each event...I am just sad that I didn't have my camera to record some of the more creative choices!!
Carving Pumpkins for FHE

Downtown Trick or Treat

Our cute little town does a big down town trick or treating for all the little kids on the Friday before Halloween...we went this year and loved it!

we have a train track that runs through part of the downtown strip...Oscar LOVES trains but does not love the NOISE!

School Parties & Ward Trunk or Treat (both of which I forgot cameras for! Oops)Can I just say, in reference to the school parties... holy moly some parents wonder why their kids are terrible...look at what they let them dress up as! I, an adult, thought that some of the costumes were scary...Oscar nearly climbed up my leg trying to get away from some of the kids in the school costume parade! Please people get some brains!!

The Big Night!

her costume was as cute if not cuter from behind...her little tail wagged just right! I love this costume!!

This is my favorite house...I love the big web and spiders....so cute....really I only like cute halloween decorations...some of the houses were too scary and Eleanor & Oscar wouldn't go up!

the cutest puma on the planet!!

The photographer...just to prove I did participate!

Don't you just love Halloween clothes?? I do...in fact I love all holiday clothes...


Steve and I did not dress up this year but if I had I was going to be a referee and Steve a banker since those are our main roles these days! Here's what the kids came up with...
Gordon:A red night, a blue power ranger, a military person, and himself
Oscar: a green dragon knight (see Gordon's last year photos), a white power ranger,& a dragon
Eleanor: a pinkie princess, a fairy princess, a dragon, & a skunk
Maggie: a baby & a puma

We hope your Halloween was Happy & Safe!

the red ninja

Uncle Matt Strikes again....

yes, this is Eleanor's coat and yes, that is a shirt for pants...very fancy

Let's be honest...

...who can resist a baby in a bedazzled sweatsuit??

Not me!!

October 23rd!

Just a little fun...