Happy 4th of July!

The 4th is a big deal here in Urbandale. It's THE holiday. Obviously, the fourth should be a big to deal to all of us since it's that day that our forefathers declared independence from England.

Urbandale has a carnival, parade and fireworks and we live just a few blocks from it all. What I find most interesting is the insanity surrounding the parade. In order to have a spot near our house, I have to go set out a blanket the NIGHT BEFORE. Then, as if that isn't bad enough, I was out walking at 5:30 and people were already sitting waiting for the parade. It's not for 4 1/2 hours people! It's Urbandale. No one is going to steal your chairs. Then, at the parade, things can get kind of heated as late comers stand in front of those who are already seated. Geez. I find that very rude. If they aren't standing right in from of you, they may step in front of your children to grab and goodies tossed their way. My goodness. I can go buy you a bag of candy if it means taht much to ya! It was over 100 degrees that day. The parade was fun but hot and it is a long parade. Like 90 minutes to 2 hours long. It really is a bit much. We planted ourselves in an area with lots of space behind us and when the kids got tired or hot we took a break and they played in the shade.

We planned a neighborhood block party that evening. I was really anxious about it being really pregnant and it being really hot. It was fabulous though. Everyone brought their own meat and a side to share. The kids thought playing in the street was the bestest thing in the world. I was surprised at how accommodating Urbandale was about getting a street closed. They were thrilled. They really promote neighborhood get togethers to help people keep neighborhoods safe. A police officer stopped by and enjoyed a burger with us. I think we will try to continue to have a party that night.

After the block party, we headed up to fire works. Dawson was really scared at first but then loved them. It was their first fireworks show. The kids interest only lasted a short time. 

Thirty-One and tons of fun!

So after 9 years of being away from "home" on my birthday, I finally celebrated one with my family. I remember being a small child and having the grandpas and grandmas over for a birthday celebration. I also got a huge jar of pickles and my Nana always made a lemon cake with lemon frosting and those little crunchy decorative candies on top. I always got so excited to open presents and be the center of attention. It's funny how much birthdays change. At 31, pregnant with my third child, I honestly get more excited for my children's birthdays than my own. Nonetheless, being with my family was absolutely wonderful.

We spent the day in Lakefield at my sister's house. Lilah was feeling so good and it brought us much joy to see her and Ollie play together all day long. The day began with Bella's first swim meet of the season. Which, she did fabulously well. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy. I being the unprepared mother that I am, did not bring coats for my children. Lucky for me, my kids are not picky and Ollie never objected to the purple coat that said, "genuine girl." Haha. Poor kid but at least he was warm.


Lakefield likes to have their summer celebration on my birthday. Such a honor;-) We were able to see a car show and a parade. Very fun. We spent the evening outside enjoying the best burgers and sides. Just sitting around with such wonderful people was a huge blessing. The older I get, the more I appreciate my family. I am so thankful we have moved closer and can spend time with them.

Summertime and the living is easy

I don't know why but I always have song lyrics in mind when I name posts so forgive that! I really love summer. It is definitely my absolute favorite time of year even if I am pregnant every other year. Yesterday, I was outside in the sandbox with Ollie thinking about how nice it is to be comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. I have bundling up and still freezing my heiney off during the winter. It is unpleasant indeed.

Another thing I love about summer is the reckless abandon that comes to our schedule. I get so tired of "on this day we have this and that on that..." and so on and so forth. I like just doing what we feel like. Some mornings that means we play around here before going to the pool. Some mornings we have an impromptu playdate. Some mornings we walk to the park. Most evenings my kids are up later than usual and most mornings they sleep in. It's relaxed. It's fun. It's about living in the moment and just being kids.

I'm a huge fan of Popsicles and ice cream, of grilling out and fruit salad. And those things are abundant in the summer. I love summer rain storms and splashing in mud puddles. I love the park, the pool, the zoo. I love walks and visiting with the neighbors. I love the shrieks you here outside late at night from children still out playing.




So there you have it. A peek into my brain and why I love summer. Being a stay at home mom is marvelous especially in the summer!

A special visitor

Last summer about this same time of year, we had a visitor come and stay for a week. This year she came back and stayed 10 days! Who is this special guest? My niece Bella! Her school gets outs really early and the pool and things aren't open so to fill some time and have some fun, she comes to Des Moines to hang with us. I try to make it as fun and full as possible. It can be challenging because fun to an almost 12 year old is different than fun for a 1 and 3 year old. Nonetheless, we found much to do and I think everyone had a good time.

Her time here happened to over lap with our churches big outreach event called, "Mission to the City."  It's basically a mission trip to Des Moines. The church does free car washes and oil changes, people go out and talk to people about Jesus, work on the church building and other churches. It's a great outreach. This year the stay at home moms got in on the action! We packed gift bags for the NICU and PICU families, sang at the nursing home and invited people to church at the lake. There were a few other projects that we opted out of. Bella really had fun being involved in the outreach. I think my kids were mostly oblivious to the fact they were doing anything for anyone else.

Sunday was a really great day. We packed up after church and headed to meet my in-laws at lake Panorama. Ollie had spent the night on Saturday and we were going to hang out and then come home later. The kids swam and went boating. Bella got to tube for the first time in her life. So fun! She made a new friend Ella and actually got to stay over on Sunday night. Jim and Mel brought her back on Monday.

With all the craziness, we did absolutely nothing on Monday. Bob was gone with Mission to the City a lot and I was tired and the boys were cranky. I believe Bella and I did have a pedicure/movie party after the kids went to Bed. We might have had company for dinner too. Hmmm. I can't remember. Maybe it wasn't really nothing. Just less than usual.

Nursing home was Tuesday and on Wednesday, I took the kids to our pool. It is an easy walk up there. The plan was to let me kids swim an hour and then head home and let Bella stay. I have to say I was quite nervous. But there is one turn on the walk and I went over it and it over with her. At the pool, the kids had a blast. Ollie had on his life jacket and loved to swim around and jump in. Dawson jumped and splashed repeatedly. By the time we left, Bella had found some friends to hand out with. I have to admit the locker room was a bit frustrating with my two wild men but we survived. And Bella found her way home! yay!

We had church that evening. Bella loved it. I have to admit the music was really awesome. There were probably 400 people or so there and every one was singing out. It was pretty moving. She decided they need a church like that in Lakefield.

Thursday was our last full day before Bella headed home. I called a friend and asked if I could borrow her girls and we headed to the science center. Bella and Rebekah had a great time together and REbekah's younger sister, Naomi, hung out with me and the boys. I think Bella and Rebekah spent the whole time building towers out of legos. The Science Center was the one thing Bella really wanted to do and I'm glad we got it in.


 We had water wars, movie parties, shopping outings, starbucks and loads of fun. I hope that this becomes a tradition. We would love to have Bella every summer!

Caterpillars and Butterflies

We had our last preschool co-op for a while just a few weeks ago. Yes I know I am way behind. Anyway, we did caterpillars and butterflies. We did some activities together and I had the boys do a couple later on our own. Some activities were very specific to the butterfly like it's life cycle while others just used the caterpillar to teach patterns.

 I had the kids do three homemade worksheets. For one, they were given a cut out of a leaf with an egg, a caterpillar, a chrysalis and a butterfly. They had to complete the life cycle by gluing the pieces in order. On the second sheet, I used our dotters (like bingo dotters) to create caterpillars. I started a pattern and the kids used the dotters to finish them. Ollie needs some work on patterns! The last sheet had half of a butterfly with a capital letter on them. They had to match the lower case letter by gluing the other half of the butterfly on.

Our next activity was a snack. I cut colored peppers, cheese sticks and carrots up. The kids used them to create a butterfly. It was a fun and delicious snack!

Our final project came from this month's family fun magazine. We traced the kids hands onto thick white paper and had them cut them out. Then, the kids used watercolors to paint them. The result was a really cool butterfly! I can't get it to leave my picture landscape. durn program!

I had the boys do two projects at home. For the first, I had the boys put pom poms, glitter and tissue paper into a ziploc baggie. Inside we also put 2 Corinthians 5:17: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. We twisted a pipe cleaner around it to make antennas. They turned out so cute!

For our final project, I wanted ollie to work on patterns. I cut out different shaped circles and we made caterpillars with different patterns. Meanwhile, Dawson glued circles to the paper and we talked about their colors.

Mini Impromptu Vacation

Bob had his one business trip a year last week. I was less than thrilled. It worked out that Ollie had been asking to go see his friend Rylie who lives in Leavenworth with some great friends of ours that we met in NC. Unfortunately, Rylie got hand, foot and mouth a day or two before we were to arrive. I was bummed and dreading the days. My parents both work full time and with Lilah having leukemia we couldn't go there either. So, at the last minute on Wednesday before Bob was to leave for Minneapolis, the boys and I decided to go. Bob was a bit apprehensive since he thought I'd be annoyed when we didn't get to see him. Luckily, I had realistic expectations going into the trip and so it was an amazing time!

We are so blessed! On Wednesday evening, we had dinner with a couple of old friends--Jamie (best friend from high school) and Holly (we lived together in England). Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture! IT was so nice to catch up. It's been almost a year since I last saw them at Holly's wedding.

Thursday was my designated "let's just hang out and see what happens" day. For those of you who know me, you know I often say, "Let's just throw it up in the air and see where it lands." It's like my motto. Schedules make me feel constricted. (I do, however, keep the boys on a good eating and sleeping schedule.) The only thing I needed to accomplish was to go to a store and get some supplies. To cut down on costs, we walked to a nearby Target and bought lunch stuff, snacks and a few necessities we forget. I also brought cereal and milk.

After Target we went to the pool. I brought Ollie's life jacket which was awesome! There is no way I could of had them both by myself in the pool. Their favorite activity was jumping in. Dawson would say, "Jump. Splasssshhh." When we got out, the boys walked back to the room and experienced the shower. This became the next best thing to the pool. I had to drag them out or coerce them with snacks and tv.

I'm not a big tv person. We don't watch much but while on vacation, I decided that I was going to let it go. If we were in the room and the boys asked, I turned it on. They pretty much got whatever they wanted the whole time. I am paying for that now but it was worth it!

Lunch was had, naps were taken and then we ventured out to find a park. We actually found 3 playground within about 10 minutes. The boys played and played before heading back to get supper at the hotel.


On Friday, we hit the Como Zoo. It is free! I love that. Ollie wanted to see two things: polar bears and wolves. Unfortunately, the wolves were hiding in the woods and those we couldn't see. He correctly identified the pygmy marmosets. Who knew? Dawson was thrilled to watch the "Moonkees and the mingos (monkeys and flamingos). On the way out, I told them each they could pick a toy. Ollie wanted an Andrewsarchus. Really kid? Where am I supposed to find that?! For those of you who don't know, an Andrewsarchus is a prehistoric carnivore with huge jaws. We didn't find one but he was satisfied with his crocodile and Dawson with his penguin. Luckily, they are young enough to steer towards a particular area so we kept the total under $10. After the zoo, we walked back to the car and ate lunch in the beautiful park. Then the boys played on the playground along with about a million other kids from some local schools. I was thankful for the bright shirts I had put o the boys!

Saturday was my favorite day. We were supposed to be meeting my parents with my niece Bella but unfortunately Bella got sick and they couldn't make it. Although the boys were thoroughly disappointed, we powered through. We had to check out of our hotel by 12 noon. We hit the pool one last time and then I packed us up and we headed to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It is fabulous! I absolutely love it. I was nervous because we couldn't pick Bob up until 5. I wasn't sure what to do about Dawson's nap. As luck would have it, he feel asleep on the way there and slept in the stroller for about an hour. They had so much fun. Ollie and Dawson starred in a music video, shopped at the grocery store and pet a rat. The rat really grossed me out but Dawson laugh and squealed and danced around he was so excited.

 Ollie made a friend while we were in Earth World. He and Johnny ran around and pretended to be every animal possible while Dawson splashed in river and played with a pretend salamander. They also both World Works. They pretended to work at a factory and sent blocks up the conveyor belt and stacked them on the truck. They also loved the water area. The worst part about the museum was leaving! It was too much fun.

It was such a great week. I love spending time with my boys and I hate the thought of them growing up. I don't want to miss a single moment.

Ollie's First Performance

Last Wednesday Ollie had his awards for Bible Buddies. Then sang a few songs and each got a certificate. In true Anderson (Mom's maiden name) fashion, I did not get him getting his award on video. My video camera ran out of space right as the teacher said Ol. That's right. Epic FAIL! Anyway, I do have him singing and of course he is the cutest one up there! Ha!