Candy Hearts

This afternoon I was cooking dinner, Owen was playing at the island and Jeff was walking around the house.  He heard a strange sound coming from the pantry and didn't think anything of it because the light wasn't on and he thought Chase was playing in the dining room.  The noise continued and it sounded a bit like crunching.  He opened the door and there was Chase-looking up at him with a "uh oh, I'm caught" look on his face AND a mouth FULL of candy hearts!  That little stinker was in the pantry, in the dark, stuffing his little mouth full of candy.  That's my boy! :)

-14

This is what my thermometer said on the way to work today.  -14 degrees with NO windchill.  Seriously, why do we live in MN?

Chase clung to me as I ran him into daycare and kept saying "burrrr".

Owen buried his face in my shoulder and tucked his hands between him and I. 

It's too cold here.

Stories and Snippets

This is going to be a totally random post. I am feeling most random lately.  Everything in my brain is jumbled. And I'm in a very funny mood and think these pictures are just hilarious!  I couldn't help but post them. I may have posted them in the past, but like I said, my brain is jumbled.  Chase and Owen are wearing new GAP undies from Heidi. I think the GAP sweater tucked into the GAP undies is worthy of a GAP ad.  What do you think?

Chase. 

Owen and a car-imagine that.

The boys learned a new word last night.  It's "door".

We have an obsession in our house-cars from the movie "Cars". They go to bed with us, they go in the bath, they go in the car, sometimes they go to the mall.  They don't go to daycare any more though.  The boys were to possessive and didn't want to share.  Not only are the boys obsessed, but I would say I am too.  I look for new cars that we don't have every chance I get. I even ordered some off eBay using Jeff's account!  ha ha.

Owen says, "Nana Papa," and then pouts and acts so sad.  He misses them.

The boys like to talk to Nana and Papa on the phone. They think Nana and Papa can see them.  They get their cars and show them to the phone and say, "Nana, Papa, this car."  Then Nana and Papa so nicely pretend they can see the car and comments are made on how cool the car is. 

The boys love to march around the house playing pots and pans or banging whatever they can.

Jeff had a Mama Bear moment a few weeks ago at the mall.  We were playing in the play land area.  There were tons of kids and big kids were terrorizing the little ones.  Jeff was picking up one of the boys when these two big girls went running by and brushed Owen.  Jeff gave the girls a piece of his mind.  It was pretty funny.  Later we found out the mom of these girls was sitting right next to me and heard the whole thing. 

Jeff got me an iPad-I'm super excited.  I love to read manuals and figure things out.  Did you know the iPad doesn't come with a manual?  What?!  It's supposed to be so easy to use that you don't need one. Yeah right.

Did you know I'm a terrible speller?  I mean terrible!

Have a great day!

Gymnastics Videos

This video is of Chase and Owen preparing and ultimately doing the vault gymnastic task.  I love how Jeff is holding on to Chase like you would a dog who is ready to run.  Chase was so ready and couldn't wait to go, can you tell?

 

Owen shows off his skills

This video shows what truly went on at gymnastics.

The Body of Christ

In the initial days that followed my Dad's diagnosis of cancer, I experienced the Body of Christ working in my life like never before.  I'm overwhelmed with the generosity of those who have heard about my Dad and knew I was sick and how they came together to provide prayer, meals, phone calls and much needed words of encouragement for me.  I'm quite in shock actually.  So many meals were given to us and I just cried over the fact the food was there, it was hot and my family was provided for when I did not have it in me to even think about food.  The hands of God were working.

The Body of Christ, what is it?  To me, it's people taking their God given gifts, what they are able to give and giving it in the name of Jesus, as Jesus would have done.  Some people are the feet, others his hands, some his heart, each working in unison to make the entire "body" function.  Hands do not work on their own, they need the entire body to help them work.

I've seen this first hand and marvel at it. I'm truly not even able to put into words the feelings I have and how I've been cared for by so many true and generous friends.  I don't normally blog about my personal life situations but lately have felt the need to. 

Thank you to all of you!  The Body of Christ is true and it is alive!  Praise God.

Gymnastics

We started the boys in gymnastics on January 3rd.  It was something I had been wanting to do with them to get some energy out and encourage social skill development, such as taking turns and waiting in line.  The first session just happened to be the night of a snow storm here (what night hasn't been a snow storm?).  Instead of getting to go home and eat before gymnastics we had to go right there because we sat in traffic so long.  The boys were wild!  I know, those of you who know my children know they are not typically wild children-right?!  So this was a new and uncharted territory for me.  Not only was it new, Jeff wasn't there as we had planned. The night before our kitchen sink had become clogged and we had to call a plumber. He was waiting for the plumber to come and couldn't make it to gymnastics.

We had to skip one session because I was sick, so we only went to 4 sessions. The boys had a blast!  Each Monday night there was snow, making it tricky to get to gymnastics on time.  By the 4th session the boys were starting to feel more comfortable in the warm up circle and were starting to partcipate.  They still ran all over the place while they were supposed to be waiting to do each aparatus.  Boy Jeff and I got good workouts chasing them around.  Owen was the most crazy.  We saw their different personalities really come out!

Chase warms up by making a table.  Owen wouldn't do it more than one time and I missed the first one.

Owen stands on the feet and waits his turn to run down the mat to the vault.  I think this is the first time in gymnastics that I saw him wait his turn.

As you can tell Owen doesn't wait long before taking off.  They were not ready for him so he bolted.  He's so funny!

Here comes Chase racing back from jumping off the vault.  I'm pretty sure his feet are not touching the ground he is running so fast.

This is what Chase and Owen did while the others were waiting their turn in line.  What can I say, my boys have energy.

Chase jumps on the trampoline and loves it!

Mommy and Chase wait for the balance beam.  Actually I'm trying to keep Chase in my arms while he tries to escape.

Chase wants to run off where Owen is.

Chase walks across the balance beam.  He's very good at this.

He's concentrating very hard.

Chase finishes a somersault.

Owen swings on the bar and loves it!

 This was part of an obstacle course.  The boys went through it before we could stop them and then hid inside the red octagon. They loved gymnastics!  Owen watches Chase come through before he takes off to run the course again.

Owen was so independent. He didn't want others to tell him where to go or what to do. If you could get him on an aparatus he was more cautious than Chase and required you to really help him. It's not that he couldn't do the task, he was just nervous about falling off or whatever. If he didn't want to do what was asked, he just ran and ran and ran. He was very difficult to catch!

Chase participated more in the tasks. He really enjoyed each aparatus and seems to be more of a people pleaser in that he would listen to directions and nod his head in understanding and then do what was asked, even if he really wanted to be off running with his brother. He was able to be redirected to the tasks and really wanted to show off his moves. He was less cautious than Owen and flung his body all around, not really worrying about how he could hurt himself. He was quite good, actually.

Denied

I got my first denial when I asked Chase for a hug and a kiss at bed time.  He was truly mad at me and knew the way to show me was to refuse a hug and a kiss.  I may not have gotten them but he sure got smothered with kisses, which made him laugh.  He didn't want to go to bed and was protesting.

On a very unrelated note . . . both boys have their 2 year old molars now.  Chase's last top molar is about half in. They've been working on those for about 6 months now.

What We've Been Up To

January has been long, cold and snowy, but we've had fun! 

I used to put Chase and Owen in this chair each month to take a picture of how they've they grown.  Jeff and I found them sitting here one night and thought a picture was in order.

 

I catch Owen in the pantry nosing around and yawning.

 

Cousin Sophie had a birthday party and we had a lot of fun.  Chase smiles.

 

Owen gives  a shy smile.

 

Owen eats a sucker.

 

Look at my sucker mama!

 

Chase, Sophie and Owen

 

All the kids are looking!  It's a miracle!

 

Chase and Owen give the birthday girl a kiss.

 

We painted with our new brushes from Nana and Papa Anderson-Owen shows off his hands

 

Chase works on his masterpiece.

 

Owen makes a hand print.

 

The view from above-lots of paint, hand prints and fun!

How to Keep a Dog Named Millie Away from Your Sucker

Millie is a dog. She wants my sucker. Here's what I do to prevent her from licking my sucker.

 

First you pull the sucker away and let the dog lick your lips.

 

Then you give her the stare-down while keeping the sucker safely in your mouth.

 

And last, you look that dog right in the eyes and you say, "No no Puppy!"

 

Once this happened Owen had to take pointers from Chase.

Egg Nog

Chase and Owen got to try egg nog at Christmas.  I think this could be an ad for Kemps!

 

Check out Owen's egg nog mustache!  He looks like he had the kind with liquor in it! :)

The Week from You Know Where

It's been the week from hell.  Excuse my language.  Let me give you a brief outline of what I'm talking about and I'm sure you'll agree.

Sunday:  Phone call from my mom saying my dad is in the hospital for back pain.
Monday:  I get sick with fever, chills, nausea
Tuesday:  I'm home from work sick and get "the call".  My Dad was diagnosed with cancer-Multiple Myeloma.  My world is turned upside down.
Thursday:  Owen gets sick in the night.  Vomiting and fever.
Friday:  We stay home from work and daycare to mend.

As you can see it's been a difficult week.  I wish I could say I've been the model Christian and have felt positive and trusted in the Lord the whole time.  I've tried to do this but I'm exhausted for many reasons.  What I do know is that God is good, He is just, He is holy, He is God.  In all the crap of life we can cling to the hope we have in Jesus and that this is not our home.  Eternity awaits and that's enough to get me to tomorrow.

 

 In the midst of the madness, I have two (actually 3) boys in my life who make me smile.  Here Owen smiles at Mama.

 

Owen displays his snowman

 

Love those eyes!

Chase

 

Chasey looks over his cup of hot chocolate

Christmas with the Andersons

We celebrated Christmas with my family over New Year's.

aunt Kate and Owen and Chase

 

Jeff and I in front of my parents' flocked tree-which they ended up with because it was one of the few trees remaining.

 

Lane, my sister Kate, Jeff and I

 

This picture was Jeff's idea

  We made the snowy trek to SD in bad weather that made the drive less than enjoyable.  It wasn't bad the entire way so at least we were not white knuckling it the entire way.  We got to spend some time with my sister, Kate and her husband Lane.

We opened gifts while the boys (Chase only) took a nap.  Owen actually opened most of the gifts for us and was so patient.  He kept walking up to a different adult holding a present for himself.  He would look at the adult with those sad puppy eyes and ask to open the gift.  We finally gave in and let him open one.  After Chase got up we let him and Owen open their gifts. They had a blast and got so many great things.  My mom cooked a great prime rib meal and we ate until we could eat no more. 

 

Dad and Mom

 

Owen helps Nana open a present

 

Owen helps Kate open a present

 Owen carried this present around with him and would ask everyone if he could open it.  He soooo wanted to open this gift.

 Jeff's new drill

 

Owen hangs an ornament on the tree.

 

Owen helps Daddy

 

Owen delivers a gift to Papa

 

Mommy helps Chase open a gift

Chase looks at his new DVD from Kate and Lane-Thomas!

What a pretty package.

New ornaments from Nana and Papa

Katie and my Mom put blush and lip gloss on Owen.  He thought he was pretty special.

Saturday we visited my Grandma Charlotte in Sioux City.  It was fun to visit her in her apartment, which was very warm and welcoming after the cold snowy drive.  We also saw my aunt/uncle/cousins.  The boys had fun playing with my cousin Bobby and even called him by name!  Sunday we ventured to church and Jeff and Lane sang in the choir with my Mom. I tried to keep the boys occupied during the service but we only made it about half way through.  The rest of the time was spent in the basement playing with the pool table.  (Yes, the church has a pool table-weird.).

 

Owen shows his car to Grandma Charlotte

 

Jeff, Owen, Chase and Bobby

 

Chase and Owen help Kate and Grandma get ready in the morning-actually they are taking over the bathroom by opening all the little make up containers.

 

My darling boys

 Our Family

 

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson with Chase and Owen