Sweet Friends

Tonight three sweet little girls came to our house for some fun play time.  They made necklaces, colored some crafts, dressed up a half dozen times and watched a movie.  All 5 girls had a great time and one little boy behaved pretty well for someone who was a tad jealous. 

Parties, parties and still more parties

Oh, my goodness.  I am partied out.  For breakfast, lunch, and brunch this morning we had cupcakes, pancakes, cinnamon toast, cinnamon bread, pretzels, cheetos, gingerbread cookies, and sugar cookies.  Needless to say there was no real need for lunch today.  All of these treats were had at the dance parties.  Tomorrow we will have Choir and Awana parties and Annie will have her school class party.  Last week Ella had her Cubbies party and then there will be Sunday school parties next week.  CRAZY.  I am sure to forget to bring something.  Anyway here are a few cute pictures of them enjoying their festivities.

This shirt does not say BIG GUT even though it does cover one. :)

And to add to the fun of it all, we even have elves to hide at night.  The kids have had so much fun with them. 

We are still alive

Long time, no post.  Sorry for the lack of blogging.  To say we are a little busy would be the understatement of the year!  I was asked just this morning to do bullet points so here goes.

- Annie is moving right along in the 2nd grade.  She just had her special Christmas music at school where she had a speaking part about Handel.  Then they sang Handel's Messiah.  You've not lived until you've heard it from 2nd and 3rd graders.  She loves to draw and is contemplating playing an instrument sometime in the future but can't decide on which one.  She seem so grown up at times.  She talks like she is a teenager. 

- Ella is growing up so fast and her silliness keeps us in stitches.  The other day I told her that she was frustrating me and she told me that when I say bad words it makes her hair mess up.  She is such a character.  She is very in to baking and has been such a help to me lately with getting Christmas presents for teachers ready.  I can't believe she will be 5 next month.  She is so excited about starting Kindergarten.  I'm afraid that she thinks she will start right after she turns 5.  She is best buddies with Jack and loves to help him do things.

- Jack seems to be getting more onery by the minute.  He has such a personality and is such a boy.  He loves to throw food on the floor and only enjoys eating chicken nuggets, bananas, toast and cookies and if anyone is eating a whole one of any of those things he will promply throw the cut up one on the floor and pitch a fit for the big one.  FRUSTRATING!!!   He says thank you, football, me, mama, dada, ella, annie, uh-oh, bye bye, and pretty much anything you tell him to say.  And he says it in the sweetest voice. :)  He gives hugs and kisses that could melt your heart.

- We went to the beach and Disney World back in September and had a fantastic time.  For most of us it was our first sight of the ocean.  Wow!  Amazing!

- The Duttons are like extended family these days.  We eat with them at least twice a week and have the best time.  Our girls play so well together and when they kept the kids for us the other night Jack went to Stephanie without even looking back.  

- Christmas break cannot come fast enough. 

-There are way to many Christmas parties for kids these days. 

- The stomach flu is wretched awful.

I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful Christmas season.  I hope someone will read this.  My Christmas wish is for Mark to take over the blog.  He's funnier anyway. :) 

Swimming Lessons

The girls took swimming lessons at the YMCA last month.  They both did so great.  Annie really learned to swim and Ella got so much more comfortable in the water.  That is a picture of Annie swimming by herself in 12 feet of water.  Amazing!!  We may take winter lessons this coming year just to keep up their skills.  Annie got strep throat the last day so she missed the last class where they all went down the slide.

Life, Luxury and the pursuit of Happiness?

We found out several weeks ago that Ella has learned the Pledge of Allegiance....sort of.  Here it is:

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands

one nation, under God, indivisible

with luxury and justice for all.

Wow..she may just be a politician in the making.  

Another few Ella-isms that I don't want to forget:

If something is not girlish, it is BOYLISH.

Music is MUSGIT.

Animal is AMINAL.

When she is upset she says her feelings are coming down. 

We don't correct it because it is so cute and what makes Ella our funny girl.  She will soon enough be in kindergarten and it will all be gone so for now I'm going to listen to some musgit and take a nap.  

Fun Visit with Family

Mark's sister Lea Anne, her husband Dan and their sweet boys Kaden and Ty came for a visit several weeks ago.  We all had such a great time visiting, swimming, exploring Tellus Museum, visiting the World of Coca-cola and EATING!!!  

Over the week Jack developed a great affinity for cake and ice cream not to mention cheetos, Varsity fries and Key Lime Pie.  He is such a mess!  Here is Jack with his Uncle Dan bonding over some homemade vanilla ice cream.  Yum!

We celebrated Annie's 7th birthday with a fabulous Jill's cake out by the pool.

Aunt Lea Anne with Jack at Tellus museum.

Ella panning for jewels.

Kaden, Ty and Jack

We had so much fun with you guys and we miss you already.  Come back soon!

The Fourth

No, not the fourth Anderson!  Ha!  Not yet anyway.  The fourth of July was so fun hanging with the Duttons and their sweet girls.  We had a wonderful meal at their house and drove to Riverstone for the fireworks.  The girls played together so well.  Kayla even convinced Annie to hold a lightening bug in her hand several times.  Couldn't believe it!  That last picture is of them playing with them.  Jack did great and only fussed once.  We were far enough away that the fireworks weren't terribly loud.  What a great memory with special friends.  Thanks guys!  We love you.