War Beaver

Did you know that MIT's mascot is a beaver?  

Did you know that MIT has an athletic program?

Did you know that MIT fans cheer out the decimals of pi ("Cosine, secant, tangent, sine; 3.14159") at sporting events?

Did you know that MIT's football team is undefeated this season?

Well, if you didn't know any of that stuff you do now.  

Anyway, we are very proud of our Fighting Beavers (don't google that).  MIT is in the NCAA Division 3 championship.  They won their first game today.  

Pandemonium ensued.  

Pi was cheered out to the 17th place value.

Crazy engineers.

Pilgrim Party...

I sure love TK (transitional kindergarten).  It has been so awesome for Adell.  She is making friends and having so much fun.  I think TK is all the fun stuff kindergarten used to be when I was in kindergarten.  Seriously, the only thing I learned in kindergarten was how to tie my shoes.  Letters?  Nope.  Numbers?  Nope.  Colors?  Nope.  

No pressure, no learning, just fun.

So here is my little darling TKer and her Thanksgiving program.  She sang some songs, got her pilgrim hat knocked off her head a thousand times and ate some pumpkin pie.  

Perfection.  

Unbelievable

They won.

The last game in the play-offs (they lost the first game but were still in the tournament?!).

The game for 3rd place.

They won it.

Lost every game in the regular season.

Lost the first game in the play-offs.

WON the last game...the very. very. very. last. game!

And that deserves a medal.

For reals.

Curse you day-light savings!

Before day light savings, Colter was done with naps.  I couldn't get him to go down for a nap but he went to bed every night at 8:30 and slept until 8:30 in the morning.  I could get the kids ready and off to school with out a two-year-old running around causing trouble.  With Lorien homeschooling I could leave her starting her work and Colter still in bed while I did the morning drop-off.

Now, now!  Well now thanks to day light savings my baby's sleep patterns are a mess.  He wakes up at 6:00 am.  He wont take a nap when I try to put him down but he falls asleep on the floor around 4:00 pm.  Then he is away until 10!  

I want that hour back.  I want an official apology from someone official!  I want my 12 hour sleeper back.  

Stinkin' day light savings.

I am moving to Arizona.

A teenager and an 11 year old...

Let me see.  Where to begin?  Well, thirteen whole years ago...I became a mother.  Really, by this point 13 years ago I had been a mother for almost a full day.  You see, the day before (around 3:00 am on November 7th) I woke up with a contraction.  I was so excited!  After a full week of living the life of an over-due pregnant lady labor was finally starting.  I tried not to wake Will up but failed miserably.  He was on pins and needles anticipating my every move so when I got out of bed he was wide awake.  We tip-toed out into our kitchen for a bowl of cereal.  My mother-in-law, Judy, and sister-in-law, Emily, had been out from Montana for a week and were leaving in a day or two.  They were sleeping in the shared kitchen-living room space of our little condo.  Will and I didn't want to wake them.  We ate some breakfast and tried to lay back down.  By 5:00 am we couldn't contain our excitement.  I had been having real contractions every 30 minutes or so, this was the real deal!  Little did I know it would be a long day before we would get to meet this little baby.  

We spent the day counting contractions and waiting for things to progress.  Looking back on it now I see that it was a pretty regular labor...just long.  Some time late in the evening (I think around 9:00 pm) we decided to go to the hospital.  My sister, Jennifer, and my Mother had left their homes in Maine and New Hampshire and made their way to the hospital in Boston.  Once I got checked in (and got an epidural) I got to see my mother.  She was kind of a wreck.  It is hard for her to watch her children do hard things.  She cannot help and she really wants to.  My mom and Judy took turns being the second visitor in the labor room.  By chance, Judy was in the room when it was time to push.  It didn't take long as far as pushing was concerned and at 1:26 am on November 8th our little  baby was born.  

We did not find out the gender of baby #1 until the moment she was born.  Will said something like "It's out, it's a girl!  Oh it's a girl!"  I remember being stunned as this wriggly, beautiful baby was placed up on my chest.  Amazing.  She was so beautiful and so perfect.  I called her princess.  

And so it began.  Motherhood.  

Now, fast forward two years.  I am pregnant again but not expecting a baby to be born.  This little guy isn't due until the end of November.  I've been having contractions every couple of days and I even sent Will to get his brother to stay with Lorien one day when I thought we were going to have this baby.  Nope.  So, on the day of Lorien's second birthday we threw her a little party.  Friends came over, presents were opened and cake consumed.  After her party I took a nap.  When I woke up...ta-da the contractions were back and coming along quickly.

Somehow, a couple of family friends stopped by late to give Lorien her birthday present.  We said something like "Thanks for the play-dough she loves it.  Now can you stay with Lorien while we go to the hospital?"  Good thing they said yes.  

So at this exact hour 11 years ago I was at the hospital waiting to birth baby #2.  I couldn't believe he decided to come on Lorien's birthday!  I thought maybe I could wait a few more hours and he could be born on November 9th but Wyatt had other plans.  He waited until nearly the last moments of November 8th...but he wanted the 8th.  At 11:44 pm Wyatt James was born.  

And now, here we are.  I am a mother 5 times over and these two darlings are my oldest children.  They get my worst mothering.  I make most of my mistakes with them.  Somehow they are still thriving.  Somehow they still love me and each other (most of the time).  They are good friends.  They rely and confide in each other.  I am so glad they will have each other (and their other siblings) forever.  

Happy birthday my loves!  

Soccer sorrows...

This has been one rough soccer season at the Anderson house.  Most of the boys Wyatt's age have moved up into competitive leagues.  Wyatt is a solid player but not a competitive one so he has stayed in the recreational league.  He loves it and we love watching him play.  But this season there were only four teams in his league and they were all pretty evenly matched.  Wyatt's team hasn't won a game yet...they have been playing since August.  It is getting depressing.  Most games are very close with the other team scoring one extra goal in final minutes of play.  This is also the first year the boys have played on a full sized field.  It is exhausting and Wyatt is getting discouraged.  

Now, we are in the last weekend of games...and Wyatt's team has made the play-offs...by loosing every game in a four team league.  

Go team!

Sleepy children...

A little while ago we got some new furniture from IKEA.  In one afternoon (after finally assembling all that gloriously-flat-packed furniture) our house was over run by large, empty boxes.  The kids asked if they could make the boxes into forts...we couldn't say no to forts!  After setting the kids up with couch cushions (we had four couches at that moment), bedding and boxes, Will and I left for a little movie date--letting the kids sleep in their forts.  Half way through our night out Will got this text from his brother:

Obviously exhausted, Adell had managed to bring the iPad into her fort and facetimed her Uncle David.  Dave said, she said, she thought Dave had tried to call her first...so she called him back.  

No more "sleeping in forts" for our children.

This is Halloween!

Ah Halloween, you sure know how to pack a lot of fun into a holiday that is only supposed to last one night.  Any excuse to wear a costume I guess.

Our Halloween festivities started a week early with the school Mother-Son Monster Mash.  Wyatt and I went together (naturally).  Wyatt's costume was so cool this year (we bought it...by the way) he was a "headless boy".  He got loads of compliments, perfectly creepy.

I was a random 70's chick.  I was going to be a fortune teller but couldn't find my Mu-mu.  

After eating and visiting with some friends Wyatt and I had an epic dance off.  We mimicked each other's dance moves.  I think Wyatt won when he did a break-dance-butt spin.  I tried to copy him but he did a better job.  It was a fun night.

The following night was the ward Trunk-or-treat.  I am kind of burnt out on the Trunk-or-treat.  I feel like those parties are for years when Halloween is on a Sunday and LDS parents don't want to send their kids out on the Sabbath.  Or, if you live in a neighborhood where trick-or-treating is not safe or accepted.  For whatever reason, our ward has a Trunk-or-treat every. single. year.  and the kids get so much candy.  So, this year we talked our kids into staying home to watch a movie instead.  

Monday was a Family Home Evening at the corn maze.  We couldn't go until it was dark (wanting to have our Daddy there and all) so it was a little less fun.  We couldn't see where we were going anyway and we were all tired.  Next year, we will try to go during the day.  It was fun to make our way to the bridge and see how huge the maze was.  We had a pretty nice time.

And then the fabulous school-Halloween-party-and-parade day came.  This year the kid's teachers had a workshop day on Halloween so the schools were closed Friday.  Thursday was parade/party day.  Colter and I made it over to Adell's school for here parade.  I didn't get a good picture of her in the parade...too many kids.  But she was adorable and loved going to school in her costume.

Wyatt is in advanced band this year (it just means he is in the 5th grade) and the advanced band plays with the High School band during the parade.  It was super cool to see my little guy up there with the High School band, playing his heart out.  I know they practiced a few of the songs but not all of them.  He did a great job.  

Clare walked the parade with her little buddy.

Colter was not interested in dressing up.  I made him an orange jacket to wear and a bulldozer so he could be a bulldozer driver for Halloween.  He wore the box bulldozer once and was not interested again.  At least it covered his nakedness for a couple of seconds.

Friday it rained.  Yes, rain!  In a year of horrible drought we got rain the one day the kids were planning on being out all night.  Oh well!  We drove over to Will's work for his company party.  The kids got some candy there and participated in a costume contest.  Spoiler alert: Wyatt won.  

Will has been a "First Class Male" every year for the last five years...before that he didn't dress up at all.  I was a "Mail Order Bride" this year.  So that worked out pretty well.

By the time the work party was over the rain had let up so we headed back home for some neighborhood trick-or-treating.  We were not out very long.  Everyone was tired and the kids got plenty of candy without going far.  

And where was Lorien in all of this?  Well she and her homeschool friends decided to dress up as social media apps.  They planned and made their costumes weeks ago.  She went to a church dance Thursday night and partied with all her app friends.  Friday afternoon she headed over to meet the girls to get ready together and went out trick-or-treating without her family.  I never saw her in her costume and so the best picture I have is this one...taken from one of her friend's instagram feeds.  She had a great time and got way too much candy.  

Happy Halloween!  Until next year...

Las Vegas...Mormon style.

A couple of months ago Will told me he would have to go to Las Vegas for work in October.  Not one to let my husband run off to Sin City with out a fun-loving-companion I asked if I could tag a long?  

He agreed.

So on Monday morning (at 4:00 am!) we left our children in the care of Will's sister, Emily, and headed off to Vegas.  We were pretty tired but also excited for a few days of husband-and-wife time.  We hadn't been away without the children for a long time...I cannot really remember the last time we went away-away.  We also hadn't been to Las Vegas since Wyatt was a brand new baby...and we didn't do a whole lot of sight seeing then.  

Vegas did not let us down.  The city has changed a lot in the 11 years since we were last here.  The strip is packed with high-end shopping malls and new hotels.  We stayed in the Cosmopolitan, which is probably the fanciest (in an odd way) place I've ever been.  You know all the hotels in Vegas kind of go with their selected theme: Caesar's Palace is all ancient Rome-y, The Paris is...Parisian etc.  The Cosmopolitan was...I don't know.  It was a homage to old Vegas, indulgence and quirkiness...there was a pair of binoculars in our room...for peeking out our windows and into the windows of the other hotels...weird.  All of the decor was deep velvet and sparkling crystal.  It was different.  

Will did spend most of his time at a Solar Conference (the whole reason we were in Vegas in the first place).  I was left to relax and wander around the Strip by myself.  It was nice.  

One night Will did plan an awesome date night for us.  We had dinner up at the restaurant in the Stratosphere it is 107 stories high with a spinning restaurant at the top.  We ate a fabulous dinner while we watched all of Vegas turn below us.  After dinner we went to a comedy show.  It is a little tricky to find evening entertainment in Las Vegas if you aren't interested in seeing 1/2 naked people.  The comedy show was pretty great.  

This place does not do anything in a small way.  The hotels are the size of cities, you cannot eat a small meal, all of the stores are high-end and full of expensive merchandising and all of the people are there to party.  Even on a Tuesday night people were parting like it was New Years.  And gawking is A-OK.  Hotel's have restaurants that face out on to the Strip for maximum "people watching" (and they advertise this point).  People were not shy about giving anyone a head-to-toe look over.  No one politely averted their eyes in any situation.  Pan-handlers on the street, Show girls posing for tips and fellow tourists got the same up-and-down gawk.  

It was a fun trip.  Will got some important work done, we got to hang out together every evening and I got to walk around kid-free (which was super awesome because I don't know what I would have done when the "we bring girls to you" truck drove by if my children were there...).  But after four days were were both ready to go home.  The over-indulgent attitude of Vegas had been played out.  We both wanted a regular sized meal and to see our kids.  Too bad our flight got delayed until almost 10:00 pm.  

Emily, and her husband agreed to stay with our kids and run the house while Will and I were away for the last four days.  Seriously, Emily deserves a medal for stepping in and taking care of five kids!  Emily and Kenny are expecting their first child in the spring and to go from "just-dreaming-about-what-it-will-be-like-to-have-one-child" to "five-children-and-managing-their-daily-schedules" is kind of a big jump.  Emily was a champ and the kids loved having her here.  When Will and I left on Monday Colter could say about 25 words...most of which were truck sounds we counted as words.  When we came back Thursday night Colter was speaking fluent French.  Kidding, but he was speaking in full sentences and parroting every phase he heard.  Emily ran the Anderson-home show perfectly: children were fed, homework was done, the house was clean, and every kid made it to their various activities.  She is awesome!  She sent me this picture of Colter one afternoon and I cried for 20 minutes.  

Perfect moments...

For a while (about eight months) I've been working through a bout of depression.  I've struggled off and on with anxiety and depression for most of my adult life.  This last round was more serious and I had a harder time pulling up out of it.  In February I ended up crying in my doctor's office, getting on anti-depressants and seeing a therapist.  

Things are much better now.  I think I have a better handle on my life and I've learned a lot.  One of my favorite lessons to put in to practice is to appreciate the moment I am in--right at that time.  You see those licence plate covers all the time "I'd rather be fishing" "I'd rather be shopping".  On a street near Adell's school (the street where I park most frequently) a car has a licence plate cover that says "I'd rather be here...now..."  I smile every time I see it.  Which is a nice little gift because I am usually late for pick-up or drop-off and feeling like I am going to murder someone.  So, thanks licence plate cover owner.  You've saved many lives.  

Anyway, today I had two perfect moments.  Moments where I was so happy to be in that moment right at that time.  Even though I had several other things that I should/could have been doing I was able to stop and love these moments:

Lorien is working on an art project on perspective.  She has made it into a much bigger project than it needs to be but she is have a great time.  Additionally, she is including Colter and Adell in her project and the three of them are loving life.  She is taking photographs to illustrate perspective.  She is organizing the little kids into a tableau far away from her--then using her hand, foot or face she pretends to be a Giant.  There is one patch of grass in the greenbelt behind our house that hasn't been destroyed by the drought.  All four of us are sitting in the soft grass, in the shade laughing at the pictures Lorien is taking.  The air is hot but not unpleasant.  I am trying to make a grass-reed whistle with my thumbs and a blade of grass.  So far, I've only managed one whistle.  It is a lot harder than it was when I was a kid.  

Anyway, it is all delightful and I am so thankful to be here now.

Colter has been improving his communication skills.  He was labeled "verbally delayed" at his two year check up.  He was a big fan of the point-and-grunt mode of communication.  The point-and-grunt got him every single thing he ever needed.  Over the last month or so he has built up an impressive store of words...many of them are words for construction vehicles.  Some times it is tricky to understand him.  I perfectly understand his word for "Dump Truck" but we've received our fair share of shocked looks when he shouts it in public.  

Today Adell was sitting in my room and Colter ran in with two small baby dolls shouting "Be-be-a-MACK!  Be-be-a-MACK!"  I didn't know what he was talking about?  Adell said, "He wants to play Baby-smack."  Now if you think that game sounds violent--you are right.  The game is played by climbing up on to my bed, throwing a baby doll up into the air and shouting "BABY-SMACK!" Then jumping off the bed to pick up the doll.  

Fun.

Adell and Colter played for a few minutes and then Adell started coughing.  Since this summer when ever she starts to cough hard she can get overwhelmed and start gagging...sometimes the gags become the barfs.  Anyway, Colter (without any prompting from me) ran into the other room and came running back with a rubbermaid bucket.  He gave the bucket to the gagging Adell and said "Spit-up-buh-ket".  He knew what was going on and he knew how to help.  It was adorable.  Adell did not end up barfing but all the appropriate precautions were in place.

This particular moment was so precious because it makes me so grateful I had one more kid.  Adell and Colter have become sweet little friends...siblings really.  They play and fight together just like the big kids do.  This moment was a sweet one.  

So we are homeschoolers?

This was a message Lorien sent to a couple of her "homeschool girls" on her first day of homeschool.  

So yes, we are homeschooling Lorien this year...is homeschool one word or two?  We might be in a lot of trouble.  

And here is the long (and boring) story.  I have always had a soft spot for homeschooling.  I loved the idea but knew I couldn't handle it.  I needed my children to go away for a few hours every day.  That is just the selfish kind of parent I am.  Will has always been pretty against homeschooling.  He values the social education and the sports offered through public school.  Now, out here in the East Bay we have a good family friend who homeschools all of her children.  Her oldest child is a senior in high school and she started homeschooling when he was in the 3rd grade.  Her youngest child is one of Lorien's dearest friends.  Ever since these two girls became friends Lorien has pestered to homeschool.  She wants to wear pajamas everyday.  She thinks it will be easier.  She wants to count walking around the block as PE.  

So after some careful consideration we decided to give it a try this year.  Our reasons went a little something like this: 

Will decided it would be cool.

The end.

Really, once he was on board I just let all the positive things I've ever thought about homeschool take over.  I loved the idea of having one less kid to do the run-around for.  I loved the idea of spending time with her when she was at her most pleasant (mornings).  I loved the idea of designing a curriculum around her interests and her intelligence  I loved the idea of all of the emotional support I would get from my long-time homeschool friends.  There was a lot to love.

One of the things that was hard for Lorien about last year was the transition to common core.  I am not against common core, by the way.  I think it is a good idea that will accomplish good things...once they get all the kinks ironed out.  Last year, academically speaking, was an experimental year.  Our school district wasn't sure how teaching would change as they adopted common core standards.  So, subjects like math were kind of dumbed down.  Lorien was kind of bored and the lesson she learned was that she could skip doing a bunch of busy work (get zeros) and still get an A in the class.  That was not the kind of educational student we wanted Lorien to be...eventually it wouldn't work and she would be failing classes.  So, when she went back to school this year (for two weeks) and I went to the middle school parents night I heard a lot of the same language:  "We aren't sure how this is going to work with the move to common core."  I worried those educational lessons from last year would be cemented in this year.  

Will was also worried.  So, he came up with the brilliant idea of homeschool.  We fasted and prayed about it (including Lorien in the discussion and fasting) and we all felt like it would be a good choice.  One of our goals is to have Lorien complete 7th and 8th grade this year and start as a high school freshman next fall.  This is ambitions but if it doesn't work out she can still do 8th grade...no harm done...I hope.

The last, and biggest reason for our push to homeschool for a year and move her up a grade is a social reason.  She has a lot of friends from church in the grade ahead of her.  Because of her November birthday she could have started school a year earlier.  She could be in the 8th grade this year.  We liked the idea of her having a lot of supportive friends in high school.  

So...

So...

So...

I'll let you know how it turns out.  Right now, we are all pretty happy with the decision.  Homeschool is going well.  Lorien looks great in pajamas.  

For the love of trucks

This dude discovered construction trucks over the summer.  He is totally obsessed.  When ever we are out...he's always one to shout "TRUCK!!!".  It is cute, until he wont stop shouting because we are stopped next to a pick-up truck at a red light.  Those are some long, loud stops.  

It is fun to see him go all ga-ga when trucks are around.  Our landlord is having the retaining wall replaced this week.  There is a mountain of dirt in our drive way and construction guys working around our house.  Colter loves to hang out in the back yard and watch them work.  When they are done for the day I let him go out and trash their sand pile.  I am sure they love working at our house...

Wyatt was not interested in cars and trucks when he was Colter's age...Wyatt still isn't interested in them.  Wyatt only wanted to build things.  Legos, gears, train tracks, blocks, kin'ex, tinker toys, he loved any and every building toy.  He would build big tracks in the middle of the floor but never drove trains on them.  He was a builder.  I love discovering the differences in my children.  You'd think they would all be the same?

Catch up...

I am sitting in a hospital waiting room...why, you ask?  Because this handsome devil is having shoulder surgery as I type.

Sigh, he makes hospital gowns look sexy.  Anyway, back in June he tore a tendon in his shoulder while wrestling with his brother.  (No, he has not out-grown that yet.)  He thought keeping the arm in a sling and taking it easy would let the tear heal on its own.  In August he found out he was wrong...his particular kind of injury could only be fixed by surgery.  Bummer.  So today is the day!  I get to hang out at the hospital, he gets shoulder surgery and our kids get to spend the last day of the first week of school without their parents.  It has been that kind of week.

I missed the hustle and excitement of the very first day of school.  I missed Adell going off to transitional kindergarten (basically her first day of real school ever).  I missed Clare's heading off to 3rd grade, Wyatt starting the first day of the year where he gets to rule the school (5th grade) and Lorien starting her second year of middle school (7th grade).  I missed it all...because this other handsome devil had the pukes.

I was sad about missing all of those special moments but thankfully Will stepped in and did the morning runaround on Monday (and Tuesday and Wednesday...) so I could clean up puke.  It wasn't all bad.  Will took all of the "first day" photos and I got some quality snuggle time with the King of the Five Second Snuggle.  

And now that I am down to just one child at home (for a few measly hours) maybe I can get caught up on the long neglected blog.  I'll fill you in on our summer adventures.

Spoiler alert: we had an awesome summer.

Last adventure

School starts on Monday.  I am OK with it.  Sure I'll miss our summer lazyness but these kids need some structure in their life.  Really, I need a break.  They are a bunch of terrorist and I am a hostage.  I just want to eat one meal a day in peace.  I'll still have Colter all day so it's not like I am going to get a real break.  

Anyway, we decided to go to Rock n' Jump for our last hurrah.  The kids love this place, we've been twice and no one has broken a leg.  

Totally awesome.

Lorien decided to spend the last day of summer vacation with her friends so she missed all of our family fun.  Lame!

Montana

Oh Montana, how we love thee.  Let us count the ways...

Really, we do love going up to Montana and this was the third summer in a row we were able to make the trip up.  This trip, however, was rough.  Despite my early delight for the trip (our whole family flew this year) it was an expensive trip.  We tried to pack light, resulting in me buying a bunch of stuff that we should have packed once we were in Montana.  It would have been cheaper to check more bags.  We also bought a tent and a few other things that we left at the lake for the next time we go.  So there's that...

The weather was perfect, the water sports were super fun and the views were stunning.  Most importantly, we had a great time seeing Will's side of the family.  However, this trip ended up being one of the hardest trips away from home I can remember.  Colter and Adell came down with a really heavy cough.  Both of them would cough until they threw up.  So...the nights were very, very, very long.  As soon and Will and I drifted off after cleaning up the barf of one child, the next child would start coughing.  We would leap out of bed grabbing towels (if there were any left over from the last round) or blankets to catch the puke.  Pajamas were changed, sleeping bags swapped out and expletives whispered.  We'd flop back onto the air-mattress only to jump up minutes later for the next bout of coughing.  It was kind of miserable.  We made several trips to the laundry mat.  Will and I were so exhausted by the end of the week we were seeing double.

Then there was the little "leaving Clare at the top of a mountain" incident.  I don't think I can blog about that one just yet.

Needless to say, home was a very sweet place when we got back from our trip.  Good thing we have a whole year recover before our next trip to the Big Sky state.