Happy Halloween

Our ward had our Fall Festival on Saturday before Halloween. We had a great time. This year we decorated the trunk with potions, since we had a scientist, and since dry ice is just so much fun. I only managed to snap 3 pictures the whole evening, but I had to let you see our potions. :)

What a holiday! I find myself fighting against all odds to make this holiday last only about one week. I did my best. We had a great time of it this year. We carved our pumpkins, made our favorite cookies (and promptly took them to share with friends the following day...can’t be too careful with these...or I’ll eat them all myself), went trunk AND trick-or-treating, won for best trunk at the ward trunk-or-treat (oh yes we DID), and didn’t spend one red cent on costumes (hooray!).
Owen dressed up as a scientist. This was his choice. He wants to be a scientist when he grows up and we have been working on experiments (moon mud, oil and water, tornado soda bottles...thanks aunt jamie!) and learning lots of fun stuff. I tried my work coat on him and he and I were both thrilled that it fit! And, nerd that I am, I kept my big goggles from college Chemistry class and he wore those too. At the ward party someone asked him if he were a mad scientist, to which he bellowed, “I’M NOT MAD!!! JUST A SCIENTIST.” He sounded a little mad. Our trunk was decorated with bubbling, steamy potions. It was fun.
Olivia borrowed a costume from her cousin, Rylee (actually 1st cousin once removed...that was for my mom). She thought she was Strawberry Shortcake and who am I to correct her? She looked cute and has been bouncing around the house for days in her costume. She is the most easy-going Anderson by far and if someone asked her if she was a fairy, she said yes, or if a princess, also ok by her. She is easy-going but does have an opinion too. Once while trick-or-treating the kind lady putting candy in her little bag was met with a stiff arm from Olivia and an, “I don’t like that kind.” I was a bit speechless. We obviously didn’t review our trick-or-treating etiquette.
Jonah was a frog. I nabbed this costume years ago after halloween and it finally fits someone at the right time. He looked awesome and was great! He even said trick-or-treat a few times! Not that anyone but Nate or I could decipher it well. He was happy wearing his costume, walked around the neighborhood (slowly) and only went to a few houses, but he had a great time and was fun to have along for the night. My other kids have not fared so well at this age, but he was great.
We went to my sister, Cheryl’s house for dinner and trick-or-treating. Cheryl is amazingly hospitable, as always, and made her rockstar southwest chicken soup. Another Happy Halloween. :)

Delicious Tradition

I tried my best to not make these this year, but...I won/lost that one (depending on how you look at it). I posted the recipe before. Yum. I have to share the love quickly because they are delicious! The kids and I made these. Making cookies with kids is fun and incredibly messy, but fun.

Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins! This year we bought smaller ones, which were much easier to carve. Hooray. I stopped by a little local produce stand to get them. I consider it a tender mercy that my kids kept calling it the pumpkin patch. So no driving hours to an actual pumpkin patch. Phew.
Owen wanted a traditional pumpkin face. Olivia wanted a princess. Jonah was napping, so he didn’t get to vote. The kids chose a robot face for him. I chose the BYU logo for our big pumpkin. We kept one extra to either 1) make into a pumpkin pie or 2) spoil in the fridge before we get around to making a pumpkin pie. Anyone ever made a pumpkin pie from scratch?

Kiddos

We had to make an “Owen’s Favorite Things” poster for kindergarten this week and Nate drew a cartoon of him. He started to cry when he saw his cartooned face because he “looked weird” so we snapped a quick pic and printed it out and glued it on top. :) I didn’t know he was so sensitive about his face. He picked out he pictures of all of his favorite things. It turned out pretty cute.

His favorite things right now are:
jumping on the trampoline
Christmas
StarWars
Bowling
Bouncy Balls
Playing at the park with Friends
Pretending to be a Waiter
Scaling the door frames
His Birthday
The Beach
Building Sand Castles
Playing Soccer
His Tomato Plant
Glow in the Dark Dance Parties (especially at Puzeys)
Making Cookies
Kindergarten
Building towers out of Blocks and Legos
Drawing/Painting
Collecting
Swimming
Jumping over waves at the Beach
The Aquarium
Pretending to be a Ninja
and many, many more...

He has had quite the list of things he wants to be when he grows up. In the past few months it has transitioned from Helicopter Pilot, to Ninja Wizard, to now a scientist (because he loves to invent things and thinks it would be cool to make potions).  He is a fun-loving, energetic happy boy and we love having him in our family.


Olivia is my sweet girl sandwiched between two loud and energetic boys. You literally have to part the Red Sea (Owen and Jonah) to hear her sometimes. She is much more quiet than the boys and loves imaginative play. She can make playthings out of anything. We don’t allow toys at the dinner table, but that’s not a problem for this girl because her spoon and fork are best friends having a party. She loves to play with her little baby and puts on her pink easter hat, sunglasses and her little princess heels and pushes her baby around in the stroller. She loves to read and I have yet to see what her book limit is. We always reach my limit first and I think it was about 20. She loves to: jump on the trampoline and play with Owen, play with her petshops, paint with watercolors, chat with Miss Beth, go to Cheryl’s, go to the library (for the stories, she does NOT like the songs...), play at the park, play princess, watch shows, wear pink, wear her boots, and snuggle. We love our Livie girl she add such a soft, sweet happiness to our family.

Little big man is growing up so fast. We went in for his 15 month check up recently and he is growing like a weed. He talks a TON. His words right now are: dad, mom, hi, Owen, Olivia, book, ball, up/down, on/off, please, more, uh-oh, uh-uh (no), crash, car, Jesus, all done, ouch, hot/cold, moo, ruf-ruf (dog), meow, wow, yes, choo-choo, hand, hat, kiss, diaper, bye-bye, wow!, cool!, all gone, belly button, buckle, whoa!, bonk, stuck, treat, boom!, diaper, pumpkin, cheese, shoes and probably a few more we haven’t been able to decipher yet. He is energetic and fun. He loves to smile and will say cheese for the camera. He loves to read books. His favorite book is moo ba la la la :) He loves to play outside, dance, be toted around my his mom, go for walks, do anything the big kids are doing, & play catch, to name a few. He is just a little joy to have around and we love him.

Park Afternoon

We took the kids to the park to play the other night after dinner. It was a lot of fun. We are having wonderful fall weather. It has been brisk, but not cold. This is my favorite time of year. Jonah would not let go of that little football. He is just SURE he is as big as the older two and can do anything they can. He gets a little peeved when he can’t keep up. Owen loves the swings, he loves underdogs, and is no longer afraid of heights. He is now quite the little climber. Olivia is still more tame in her outdoor endeavors. She likes very mellow pushes on the swings, but she loves the slides.

Fall

The kids and I took a walk around the neighborhood. The leaves were so pretty we decided to make crowns out of all the leaves we could find. Tree climbing is big around here these days. I snapped a few pics at the park the other day too.
I love how easy it is to play outside this time of year. No bugs, no suffocating humidity, no crazy heat. We are trying to get as much outside playtime in as we can. :)

Nate's 34th Birthday

The big 3.4. We planned a fun day for him. We had breakfast cake that morning (his favorite) with eggs, and gave him his presents. I let the kids pick out gift for him. Owen (and Jonah) picked out lego sets (since that is Owen’s favorite thing to do with daddy), and Olivia picked out a book called “I am Small” (since that is Olivia’s favorite thing to do with daddy). That night we took him to dinner and made him some brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. It was fun to celebrate Nate’s day. We sure love him around here.

Unicorn

Owen drew this picture for Olivia. It’s a unicorn. :)

Saturday

This little missy is reluctant to take pictures, so I usually get her when she is distracted when I can. Today she smiled for me. Yay.
Today we worked out in the yard, then went to Art Camp at Uncle Maddios (where the kids had their faces painted) with our neighbor, Miss Beth. After lunch we came home, did a little side walk chalk art (Owen drew the Solar System) and painting and then watched the afternoon session of General Conference, while Owen practiced his mad door jam climbing skills.
It was a nice day.