July 4th 2012

My fourth of July pie was a tri-berry pie...strawberry, blueberry and raspberry. First time I tried this recipe and probably the best pie I've ever had in my life! I WILL make this one again.

We celebrate the 4th with the Anderson's every year. It's an Anderarty holiday, but now that Alena is married to Bruce [Dorman] we have changed our name officially to Anderartyman



I was having a hard time getting a good picture of all 4 kids...I guess I never did

 ...but we sure had fun trying

Father's Day 2012

I love this picture of Q and the kids. I took this after church...it's a tradition that all the dads get a bottle of Dad's Root Beer on Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to the best daddy and husband in the world so grateful for you, Q.

Mother's Day 2012

What a special Mother's Day. My cup runneth over. I seriously feel so blessed and so complete with these four gifts from God. 

We had Q's family over for brunch to celebrate his Mom too. I made this amazing cake that had been featured on the cover of Martha Stewart Living magazine. I will totally make it again. Whipped cream and strawberries were pretty straightforward but the cake was so special...and it turned out so pretty.

Toothless Brizee

 ...when they go from baby to big

She lost her first tooth on March 29th
The toothfairy brought her a Barbie
(the toothfairy never brought me a Barbie? what's up with that?)

A New Old Kitchen

I had been wanting to do this since before we moved in! Then this spring I could take it no longer and I just started taking off doors and painting like crazy. I spent about two weeks and then Quenton helped me finish the project the day before Easter we worked for 12 hours straight...and then I even stayed up to decorate my cookies for Easter Sunday. Needless to say, I slept zilch that night...and it was worth it.

OLD: This is what it looked like before:

say it with me... WAY. TOO. OAK. !!!!!????!!!!

NEW:

 I did a faux finish on the island to accent the light cabinets and make them look a little more modern and a LOT less "1989" (note: still waiting for the stove and dishwasher to die so we can update those too)

I've always loved open shelves for displaying my "pretties" so we left the doors off of a bunch of the cabinets and then put wainscoting on the back wall to give them a more finished look.

Grandpa and Grandma Time

Baby's First Easter

We went to the 8:00 am service at our church and then hit the road for Wisconsin...and got there in time to have lunch and hunt for Easter eggs with my side of the family

 with Grandpa Bob

 with Great Grandma Bertha



Jude 10 months

I can hardly believe our baby is 10 months old already. He is just as precious as ever. He gave me kisses for the first time the day after he turned 10 months. You know the ones, sloppy and wet with his mouth wide open. I thought I must be the luckiest mommy in the world. Jude has eight teeth now. He has started eating more interesting foods like waffles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or grilled cheese. He has yet to spit out something we give him. It's crazy to me that he loves ev.er.y.thing even green vegetables. He still doesn't mind eating his pureed foods and baby oatmeal. This is also crazy to me but I'm fine with it because it's so nutritious.He adores yogurt, and we buy it by the box at Sam's Club! I weaned Jude from nursing just before he turned 9 months. It broke my heart...I still miss it. Our grocery bill has skyrocketed since. I'm hoping it levels off a bit once he starts on cow's milk but we still have a couple months until then. He started crawling early in March. He still hasn't rolled from his back to his tummy EVER. He mostly just pulls himself up to his knees never to standing. He is just way too content and it seems to make him a little behind on these sort of things because he's just completely happy to sit there and play. He will sit in a cart at Target for literally hours while I shop. He is a total angel baby. His hair is getting a little longer...it's still blonde. His eyes are the bluest blue I've ever seen. He is super fair. He's down to two naps a day now. It seems like he might be transitioning out of his morning nap but he's not quite there yet. He LOVES his
 "ba ba" [bottle] he takes it very seriously and he has to hold it himself. It's so cute. I take so much pleasure in holding him while he has his bottle I suppose it's the closest thing to nursing that I have left.  I will be a disaster when he goes to college...I can just already feel it...I've already cried thinking about it. [I know, I know]

I try to snap a picture of the 4 kids together at least once-a-month