Raising Andersons

I feel as though I should write something... anything, since it has been so long. I'm afraid blogspot will shut us down if there isn't some activity soon. Truth be known, there has been plenty of activity in our household lately which would explain why I haven't posted for 2 months.

Forgive me, I will post pictures later.

Everyone is doing fine. Christmas was a blast and a whirlwind. The girls were really into all of the festivities this year. Annie had a Christmas list 10 miles long that she wrote out on paper a half dozen times just to make sure no one forgot what she asked for. Ella wanted simply one thing, which she did not and will not ever receive...to "be Snow White". Now, we got close enough since Nana gave her a Snow White costume but if a shrivelled old lady wearing a cape carrying a shiny red apple appears at my door we have a problem.

Annie sang in the Christmas festival at church along with 300+ children which was entertaining to say the least. Night #2 was especially fun when a boy standing right behind her threw up and the boys around him stopped singing to stare at the newly made mess on the steps. Lovely. Our princess was none the wiser being ever so focused on finding where we were located instead of looking at the director.

Ella celebrated her 3rd birthday this past week. I can't believe she is 3. Again, she wanted one thing for her birthday and we failed her once more. She asked for a Madeline bracelet. I've never even seen a Madeline bracelet. Nana once again saved the day with the Madeline doll and we got her a Mad About Madeline book both of which she loved and forgot all about the bracelet. We had her party at Pump It Up, an indoor inflatable bouncy place complete with a Madeline cake. She had a blast with Annie, several of her friends and cousins.

We have redone our bedroom or maybe I should say we have done our bedroom. We painted, got a new comforter, lamps and a bookshelf. It looks so much better although we still have many pictures to hang. We painted the girls room and moved them in together into a full sized bed. It looks sweet but we are going to buy them a full sized quilt and shams to complete the look. They are enjoying it I think. The other morning I heard Annie doing "This little Piggy..." with Ella and they were both giggling. So sweet.

Annie is still doing well in school. We were doing a lesson on syllables the other day and counting how many everyone's name had. We finished our names and went to grandparents. Now I realize my grandmother has a very unusual name that is hard to pronounce if you are just reading in for the first time however, Annie, who has the memory of an elephant, has known her name since she was 2 years old. I asked her Nanny's name and she said, "Nanny". I said, "yes, but she has a real first name. Do you remember what that is?" She said, in all seriousness, "Crouton!". Nanny's name is Beauton and the beginning is pronounced like beautiful. Too, funny. Crouton and Beauton both have 2 syllables so I guess it didn't really matter in the first place.

I have felt Baby Anderson kicking for the first time this past week. Our 20 week ultrasound is on the 28th so please be in prayer for that day. We are very excited but also a little nervous since that is when they check for any abnormalities. I feel pretty well lately and have gotten some of my energy back which helps with the housework.

Nanny will be here in just 2 more days and we are looking forward to spending some good quality time with her. Pray for safe travel for her on the 20th.

I leave you with one final silly Ella story. We took her to a Chinese restaurant on her birthday and as we were sitting there eating she pipes up with, "Mom, are we in America?". I tried to quiet her as much as possible and answer her tacky question when she blurts our, "I don't like Japanese!" I do have an explanation for this. The girls love Japanese food but hate the fire display that the chef does at the beginning of the meal so they always say they don't like going when in reality they eat their food and ours too. I'm learning that Ella is very blunt and has impeccable timing. Great!!