Random Summer Pics

Chris cleaned out the camera and we found some cute pics from the summer.

They really are best friends, which makes me really happy. I love when I find them playing nicely together.

Grant drew a picture of himself. I asked him to write his name on it and he told me that wasn't necessary because when people see it they'll know that its him. Right, I should have known better.

Grant turned 4 at the end of June and so we bought him this little bike. He loves feeling like a big kid and enjoys racing down our "steep" driveway.

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came out to visit for Grant's birthday and got him a lot of awesome Spiderman stuff. I have to bribe him to take off the Spiderman clothes and gloves so that I can wash them. He is really into superheros right now.

For Grant's birthday he requested a Spooky cake. I bet the grocery store bakery doesn't get many Halloween cake requests in June.

Our ward's primary had a really neat activity this summer. All the primary aged children were invited to come inside the Chicago Temple and have a mini tour in their Sunday best. Pretty cool experience for Grant!

Grant enjoying our bay window in the kitchen.

Maddie just being cute and silly.

Funny Grant-isms:

1.) Grant calls baby squirrels cubs.

2.) Grant told us over lunch one day that he thinks baby kangaroos stay inside their mama's pouches to stay away from "creditors". (We laughed because we know he meant to say predators)

3.) Grant got really close to his sunbeam teacher's face and cupped his face in his hands and told him "you have the cutest nose I have ever seen".

4.) Sometimes I pinch Grant's bum bum when he walks in front of me. Today he responded by saying "Mommy, if you do that again, I will turn into a super hero (puts his cape on) and I will save my bum bum".

5.) "Mom, I don't want to eat food anymore because I don't want to get cavities".

New House and New...

A lot happens around here in between posts! We bought a house and moved in around the end of June! Yes, that makes move #3 in 6 months. I am sooo done with moving. We love the space and the house is in a deep cul de sac, which is great for the kids to ride their bikes and trikes. Below is a pic of the house when we put the bid on it in March.

This is a pic I took a week or so ago- there is a huge glare, but I haven't had the energy to take anymore. Why? Oh because I'm expecting baby #3! I am 11 weeks along and we are extremely excited. It has been tricky feeling perpetually nauseous and moving into a new house, but I managed. I'm grateful that we'll welcome baby #3 into a nice big house rather than crammed into a small rental.

The kids love the space in the house (mostly because we don't have enough furniture to fill it- thank you to years of living in apartments :) And they love to get messy in the backyard.



And unpacking is fun for them. They love making mounds of paper to jump in.

We are very grateful for this house and looking forward to making it our own!

Nauvoo Family Reunion

My wonderful family is getting bigger and we live all over the country. So we got together for a family shin dig over Memorial Weekend in Nauvoo, IL. We had planned this trip months before we knew our family was moving to IL, so we got lucky with the shortest distance to travel. We loved the trip and can't wait until the next time when we can get together and see each other's crazy kids.

The oldest of the 10 cousins is sweet Aly who just turned 6.

Who knew rope making demos could be so entertaining?

Little girl cousins watching a candle making demo. So cute! And yes, the girls all wore pink John Deere shirts and the guys wore green John Deere shirts.

Grant and Aly as mini pioneers. They loved it!

Grant loved the children's play area!

A little healthy competition.

I met my newest little nephew - my sister Kristen's baby boy - Everett.

And I got to meet my brother Jeff's little boy - Kai!

Little Madelynn liked the costume long enough to take this picture.

Madelynn at 18 months

Madelynn is now a nursery kid. We are really happy when our kids reach the 18 month marker because then it means the end of roaming the halls for the last 2 hours of church. We are also really happy because Madelynn is LOVING nursery. She loves playing with her little friends and singing songs. So everyone is happy! Maddie had her 18 month check up and was a champ. She got two shots and didn't cry at all. I was really shocked because she can be quite sensitive to pain, but she did great! Her weight is in the 50th percentile at 23.5 lbs and her height is around the 70th percentile- I think around 33 inches.

Something I think is really funny about Maddie is that she loves her crib! She loves to sleep in her crib and loves to play in her crib. Sometimes she will ask to get into her crib just to play and will stay in there playing happily for about 20 minutes. She also loves books. Often we will realize she is missing in the house and look around and find her in a room just looking at different books.

She also loves her Grant. She likes to copy him (for better or worse) and likes to "mommy" him. Often she'll wag her finger at him and say "no, no, no". Grant does have to be careful because if she gets mad at him she will try to bite him. If he is fast enough to get away then she will try to bite the carpet or the closest door handle.

Maddie's favorite things are her pink blanket (aka snuggly buggly), baby dolls, sweeping the floor, pushing strollers, swinging, going down slides, having her hands traced, and snuggling with mama.


Maddie's favorite foods: ravioli, macaroni and cheese, oranges, and anything with sugar.


Maddie's favorite words: Mama, Dada, more, no, cheese, toes, teeth, night night, goose. (She is trying new words all the time and has about 30 + words that we can understand.)