Spring Break in Oklahoma City

We had a great Spring Break weekend with Jon and Natalia's family in Oklahoma City... as you can see, with all the coats on, it didn't feel like spring... but being with family it certainly felt like vacation. We are pictured here in front of the Oklahoma City National Memorial... it is such a beautiful memorial. We also got a chance to go to the temple, see where Jon is going to school, play at a really fun science museum, and tour OU campus. It was a really fun little vacation... but best of all was getting to catch up with Uncle Jon and Aunt Natalia and to get to play with Jackson and Owen. I'll post a slideshow, to the right here, of a few pictures we took while there.

Jada Turns Three

Jada had her third birthday last month. I am always so slow blogging that there doesn't seem like much to say about it any more. She had a great day... I can't believe she's three and yet it seems like forever before she'll be in kindergarten.

Dara wins the K-4 Spelling Bee

Although I hate bragging on myself or my kids, I think I better post about Dara winning the K-4 spelling bee. She worked long and hard studying for this and had many sleepless nights worrying about it. She just wanted to get it over with so she could sleep well again. We went to the bee just excited that she got to participate and excited that she got a half day off of school and got to go out to lunch afterwards. What shock and awe we all experienced as she spelled the winning two words! I should have known she would do well with all the reading she does. We are so happy for her and pleased with what a good girl she is.

When she got back to school that afternoon, her teacher had bought cupcakes, with little bee rings on them, for the whole class to celebrate. Her classmates performed a rap for her, "Hey Dara you're so fine. You're so fine you blow our mind. Hey Dara!" And when she won, her spelling bee coach called the school and they made an announcement over the intercom at the school. Our kids have great schools, great teachers and great faculty and they are all so good to them... they make them feel so special.

Reese loses his first tooth... and second tooth!

Thursday morning, right as the kids were supposed to be heading out the door to catch the bus, Reese came running into the kitchen saying, almost singing, "Blood. There's blood here. Blood. Blood. Blood." He wasn't yelling or crying, probably because he was in such a shock and in a hurry. He had been in brushing his teeth and that had put the finishing touches on loosening his tooth.

I reached in and plucked his first tooth right out. We quickly tried to stop the bleeding so they could catch the bus, but it just wouldn't quit. I noticed the tooth right next to it was wiggley and it appeared it was bleeding too. It wasn't quite so cooperative, but with a little assistance from the needle-nose pliers this time, we got tooth #2 out too. With that, we gave him half of a popsicle to suck on and the bleeding stopped quick enough that he wanted to rush out to the bus.

Although it seemed like poor timing, as they were trying to leave to catch the bus, it was actually a huge blessing... this is our kid who jumped out of his chair and tried to hide his arm from the nurse trying to give him his latest vaccine... and then again when he got the flu shot. I think this could have been very tramatic had we had more time to fuss about pulling the first tooth out.

Reese has waited a long time to lose his first tooth; now he can say he lost his first two teeth :).

Ice Storm

Well, this time it really came....

The sleet started about 5 pm yesterday, then around 10 pm we got a couple of hours of rain, and since about 3 this morning it has been freezing rain. This is the craziest stuff... it looks and sounds like rain, but instantly freezes on everything. The icicles just keep getting longer and the branches on the trees just keep getting thicker and heavier.

I took a bunch of pictures at noon, and now, just a half hour later, I am hearing crackling all over outside. Limbs are starting to give way all over the place. Our power was only out for about 2 hours this morning, so we have been really lucky. It has gone out once more since then, but was restored within about ten minutes. Others in our ward have been out all morning, because many of them live outside of town and, as I'm sure is obvious to you, they will be out much longer... power crews have a lot of area out herer to reach everyone and they don't get as much "bang for the buck" working on the homes that are spaced here and there further out of town.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pictures for you to see. These are all pictures of trees in our neighborhood, and if you look closely you can see where they are about to snap. Those of you who get snow all the time probably think we are whimps... we are, but this ice is going to do a lot of damage to the trees and power lines before it's over. The freezing rain is supposed to come down until about 5 pm tonight, when we will get some snow until morning. We are prepared for anything (everyone tells us the power may still go out and remain out for days...we'll see...), the kids are just enjoying a day off of school (at least during the times when the power is on :)), and we are just hopeful that Brian will be able to make his drive home from Memphis safely and sooner than later.

I'll try to get the rest of the pictures in a slideshow...

Since he is the center of our world, right now, we will start with Ian's newest picture. Here he is at two months old. He is smiling and cooing a lot these days and has all of us wrapped around his little finger.

Jada is nearly three and full of strong will. She is sweet, but will not be pushed around.

Reese is six and loving first grade. He loves to draw and is full of energy and passion.

Dara is nine and in fourth grade. She loves reading & writing and is compassionate to everyone.

Clarke is eleven and in sixth grade. He is responsible and helpful and loves football and any other sport.

Ian's Blessing Day

Ian was blessed December 28, 2008.

We were blessed to be able to have Brian's parents here for the occasion. We could only snag Brian away from tithing settlement for a brief minute, so needless to say, this isn't the greatest picture, but we couldn't be picky and didn't have time for many re-takes.

Christmas 2008

This is our new Christmas Eve tradition. We wanted to do something special this year rather than just stay home all day waiting for Christmas to arrive. We heard Alice and Tommy Smith (from our ward) talk about their family tradition of having a FHE on Christmas Eve and how they wouldn't be able to be with their family this year. So, we decided to adopt them and have them over to start that tradition of our own. We had a nice dinner and then sang Christmas songs, told Christmas stories, reminisced about our favorite Christmas memories, and ended with having the kids reenact the nativity. I admit, I was a skeptic about only 5 kids doing a nativity, but it worked out really well. The kids had a ball and we all felt the spirit as we read from Luke 2 and watched them role play. It was a really special night. I don't suppose we will be able to have Grandpa and Grandma Anderson and the Smiths as part of that tradition every year, but they sure helped make our Christmas very special this year.

To Share or not to Share... That is the Question.

So...This is the amazing box of chocolates my Mom makes and sends to me every year. She brought them to me clear back before Thanksgiving, but I have been saving them until after the holidays were over... I keep them every year until I can really enjoy them and not have them wasted at a time when we are all overloaded with sweets.


Well, they have been calling to me and yesterday I could resist no longer... can you tell one is missing in this box? ...I know my mom will spot it right away and probably my sisters will too (not that they have ever tried a similar trick)... I'm hoping that Brian and the kids won't notice that I had one already.


I ate one of my very favorites... toffee... but now I am having a moral dilemna... should I bring them out and share them or just slowly eat them all by myself, hoping they will never remember we got them. The problem is that they are all my favorites and with three people to share them with they will go way too quickly.


Brian is really good at pacing himself and doesn't have the sweet tooth I have... he's also pretty busy and preocupied that I probably have a fairly good chance at him forgetting that we got them and that he never ate them.


The kids heard that we got these and wanted some right away... I teased them that they were only for me and that they could have all the other junk candy around at Christmas... it's been long enough that I could probably get away with never telling them either.


...the problem is that if I decide to share half way through the box, they will know I'd had some without them, and if I never share, someday it will all come out. So... I guess I'll share because the price to pay when they all find out I didn't share any of Grandma's chocolates would probably not be worth eating them in secret. ...although, for the record, the box was given to me and it would technically be totally within my rights to keep them to myself :)