Spring Break 2009

We finally had a break in the weather where we could get out of the house!!!! I forgot how much being outside helped the boys be calmer in the house. We are definitely park people. I have been taking the kids to the park since we lived in Texas and before Christopher could walk. I love living right next to one!!! And I love the fact that the weather is finally starting to warm up. I love the smells and the fresh air and being able to open up the windows!!! And I love being able to open up the back door and telling the kids to take it outside and run, run, run!!! Soon we will be planting a garden and taking lots of walks and playing soccer!

We were at the park today (along with everyone else!) and I took some fun pictures. If you want to see all of them, well most of them, check out my facebook albums. But here are a few of my favorites!

Kyle's Baptism

Caden and Katy ready for the baptism, as cute as ever.

We had a wonderful weekend this weekend. Kyle turned 8 on the 2nd and was baptized at our stake baptism yesterday. It was a fun day with family around. Kyle's grandpa bear flew in just for him. His papa baptized him and his grandpa bear confirmed him. It was nice to have all of our family there. Kyle had a special day!!!! Thanks to all who helped his day be special.

Kyle and his papa

Kyle and his grandpa bear

Kyle's 8

We have had lots going on these last few weeks. Kyle turned 8 on the 2nd of February. He had a great birthday. We celebrated with nana and papa and grandpa Hawkley on Sunday night. Then on his birthday we celebrated with Jake's family. Grandma took him out for icecream and some shopping as she does every year. They love that tradition. He got lots of presents and had a great week. He also got to start scouts on Wednesday and he gets baptized on the 28th. Grandpa Bear is coming in for that weekend to confirm him. We are looking forward to that special weekend.

On a harder note, the divorce is final now. The judge got the paperwork signed pretty quickly, faster than we had anticipated. Jake is in Kentucky working with the Guard for 10 days and when he gets back will have his own home. I start a new job this next week and have been very blessed to have things fall into place at the right times. With the economy the way it is right now, I am so grateful for a job. This job just fell into my lap and is exactly what I needed right now. I hope that it goes well and I can work towards the things that will benefit me and my children. Thanks everyone for their support and well wishes. This time for us has been tough, but I have felt the strength that I need and peace to know that things are going to work out well.

Just a note

Life has been crazy these last few weeks. Once Christmas was over with I was able to start working on getting my nursing license reinstated. I had to do 80 hours in a job setting under the supervision of an RN. I finished that a week ago. I was able to work at the VAMC and really liked it there. Now I have to get my resume out and start looking for a job. Even with the nursing shortage, jobs are slim picking, especially when you want to work a night shift. I hated working the evening shift from 3-11:30pm. I missed my kids sooooooo much. I missed talking to them after they got out of school. I missed snuggling with them before putting them to bed. I just plain missed them. But I have to remember that things will work out how I need them to and Heavenly Father will bless me. My kids are resilient. I think it will be harder on me to go back to work than it will for them to have me gone more. I wish I had that strength.

Christopher was supposed to start basketball last week. I was so excited for him to have this opportunity to get out there and have that social experience. Well the very week before he was supposed to start, he fell on the ice at school and broke his arm. It took me 3 days to take him to the doctor. I wanted to make sure it was really broken and not just bruised before I paid all that money to get him seen. Of course our insurance had changed and we had a gap. Of course...... But he broke both his radius and his ulna. They put him in a splint and told us to come back in a week. When we came back, they said it was healing but thought a different splint with more support would be better. So now we are on splint number 2. Luckily we have not needed a cast. We are at least grateful for that. As long as it is healing in the splint we won't need a cast. He is bummed that he doesn't get to do basketball. But that is life. Ever changing and never boring.

At home things are tense. Jake is still living here in Katy's room. The divorce is almost final. We are just waiting on the judge to sign the papers. It will be nice to be able to move on with life..... Whatever life may bring......

Here is a picture of Katy with a few of her favorite things. Her binky, her blanky and her baby.

Merry Christmas!

I know it has been a while since I blogged last, and I want to thank everyone for their love and support. It is good to know what great friends we have in this life.

We had a great Christmas this year. Very simple and spoiled by the grandparents. Money was very tight for us this year and we have survived with a lot of support. The boys woke up at 6:45 and I held them off by taking a shower to give time for Caden and Katy and dad to wake up. It was really hard to make them wait. In our house, Santa still comes and they loved their gifts.

We had gone to our ward Christmas party and I had told the boys beforehand that if they misbehaved we would not stay for the whole thing. It is hard when it is just me and the 4 kids. (Jake was at home and yes he is still living with us.) We made it through the dinner and then had to leave. They were very upset that they did not get to see Santa. I guess he made a special appearance there. The next week we were invited to go to my parents' ward's Christmas breakfast. Santa was coming and I thought we would try it again. This time with a little help and back up from nana and papa. They did better and were so anxious that they were the first in line to see him. As you can see in the pictures, Christopher is getting a bit big for this. And the picture of Katy with the binky was her face after we tried to introduce her to Santa and she refused.

This season has been busy with family visiting and parties to go to and shows to do and see. It has made the time fly by very quickly. But this is my favorite time of year when I remember how blessed I am and how grateful I am for everything and everyone in my life. It is a very humbling time for me. I am especially grateful for everyone who has expressed concern for me and my family right now. This time is not easy, but I know that soon peace will be in my home and my life. The divorce is not final yet, but we should have the stipulation signed by both of us this next week and then it is a waiting game for the judge to sign it. I think I will relax slightly when Jake has signed the stipulation and it can't be changed without him getting a lawyer. Then I will know we will be on the path to finalize everything. I am sorry that this has had to happen. I am seeing the effects it has had on the kids. But it just isn't meant to work out, not when both are not willing to put in 100%. Again everyone, thanks for the love and support. I look forward to a new year where we can move forward and have positive experiences.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!

(if anyone can help me with how to make a slide show on a post I would appreciate the help, until then sorry about all the pictures.)

Hard Decision

This is a hard post to write..... After a great deal of praying, pondering and talking, Jake and I have decided it is best for us not to be married anymore. There were so many mistakes made in our marriage and there is no one person to blame. I would love to blame everything on Jake and make myself feel better, but that would not be the truth. We both feel that we work well as friends, but were not cut out to be husband and wife.
Our kids are taking this rather well. They are sad, but it amazes me how resilient they are. They are my number one concern. I feel at peace and empowered to take on the challenges that lie ahead. I am getting my nursing license reinstated and look forward to being busier (NOT). I have a lot of support and things are looking up. I am ready to be happy again and standing on my own two feet.

Pretty in Pink Princess (playing in dirt)

Ok, I have said in another post that my little princess hates wearing dresses. Well, here are some more pictures to show you that she comes from a house full of boys. Here she is, so cute in her pink, playing in the dirt and having a fabulous time.

Just some fun pictures!

Kyle had his first basketball game this weekend. He has played only once before and did a great job at the game. His coaches this year are fantastic. We have had awful experiences with Yball coaches. But this year I am pleasantly surprised, they are great!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!! This was a fun picture after trick or treating on Friday. The kids had fun. Katy was originally a princess but she hates wearing dresses. Go figure in a house full of boys. She screamed even when she saw it. So my sister-in-law let me borrow the doctor costume. Much better except she wouldn't touch the hat. Caden was a knight, but by the time trick or treating was done, he had taken half of the costume off.

All it took was confidence!!!!

Katy finally started walking. She is just shy of 16 months and has been walking holding on to things for months. Last night she started trying it without holding on. She got a kick out of it and loved how happy we were about it. I got a video today of her walking. She only makes it a few steps, but she finally has the confidence to set out on her own.

Pumpkin Patch

One of the things my kids like to do every year that we are in Boise is to take nana and papa to the pumpkin path at Linder Farms. They hate waiting for it to come. The boys especially love the Halloween season and Christopher loves making pumpkin pie from what we picked. I hate to tell him that it usually comes out of a can!!!

This was Katy's first year to go. She loved the fact that we would let her get down and dirty. That's my girl!

Every year that the boys get bigger we seem to bring home bigger pumpkins. Christopher carried his all the way back to the farm without any complaints. He even had 2 small ones in his pockets of his sweatshirt.

They will look forward to that tradition again next year now that we are in Boise to stay. It is nice to know that now they can count on things every year and look forward to them, instead of change.

Daddy and Daughter Working Together

It has been getting cold outside lately and winter is coming soon. We are new to having a gas fireplace and Jake was trying to get the pilot lit so we could have some extra warmth. Katy decided that she was going to help and see what she could do to see that daddy succeeded. It was so cute to see her down there copying him.

Here they are enjoying the finished work!!! Yea it is done!

Now she is trying to blow out the fire!!!! I guess we don't have to worry about the birthday candles anymore, she's a pro.

HELP!!!!

Ok, I have been looking at everyone's blogs this last week and I have decided that mine definitely needs help. Everyone else's are so cute!!!! Is there anyone out there willing to help an inept person update her blog? I don't even know where to begin!!!!

Loves to Eat!!!!!!

My little Katy sure does love to eat. She will eat almost anything. The first picture is of the fun she had devouring a warm chocolate chip cookie that we had made. She was in heaven.

The next picture we went through nana's garden and found that the carrots were ready. Katy nibbled and nibbled and loved chewing on the carrot. She has her 4 front teeth and just went after that carrot. Of course, the boys were full of, "What's up docs?" while they were eatting the carrots. Glad to see they will eat straight out of the garden. I hope next year when we have our garden they will be just as enthused.

Caden's new year

Caden is loving how this new year for him is starting. He is going to preschool 2 days out of the week this year. He loves how big he is getting. And mommy loves that he has something of his own to go to. It seems we are always taking him along when we go to something for his brothers. He is so good at just coming along and staying with mommy. But he got to the point where he would cry everytime I left for a short while. His first day he wasn't sure of he wanted to go. He said that he didn't want to go until he was 4. Took some coaxing, but now he loves it and says, "see ya, mom" when he gets out of the van.

Caden also had his 4th birthday yesterday. We celebrated with family on Sunday, and then celebrated Monday with Jake. He was very spoiled and loved. We love being in Boise where we can do things like this with family. He had a great birthday. It was exciting for him to realize that he actually was 4. We have been telling him for weeks that he was almost 4. Now he can actually say he is 4. Happy Birthday Caden!!!!!

What do you think?

Ok, I am curious to get feedback on this addition of our blog. So please feel free to express your opinion on how you feel or what you think. Maybe this will all help you to understand why Jake does not sit home and watch the kids alone, hardly ever. A week before school started I went shopping with my mother, it was nice to get out of the house for a change. When I got home I had a surprise waiting for me. Under the covers of my bed, 2 heads popped out and said surprise. Needless to say as you can see from the picture, they had mohawks. I didn't know whether to laugh at what they looked like, or be totally angry with Jake. I had just given them all haircuts to look nice for school. Needless to say it was a little bit of both. I told them that they could keep their hair until Saturday and then we would have to shave it because I would not let them have mohawks at church. Kyle didn't realize that in order to get rid of it we would have to shave him completely. He wasn't very happy about that. He didn't want his friends to laugh at him. Luckily his hair grows really fast and he could already use another hair cut.

Needless to say, if I ever leave the kids with Jake alone again, I will take the clippers with me.

Happy 4th!

We had a great 4th of July. We were able to go out and see some friends that Jake had worked with before we left for Kentucky. They live out in Marsing, Idaho and have a beautiful home there. Once we were there the boys and Katy were able to ride horses and had a great time feeding them. I am sure that the horses were so full after our kids got through with them. We had a marvelous time and had a great dinner. They roasted a pig and had everyone contribute to the spread. We had a great time.

Then we were able to get back in time to do fireworks with papa and Uncle Travis. They had gone way out to show the boys a good time. I wonder if it was for the boys or more for them. I know Uncle Trav enjoys them almost as much as the kids do. We had a great holiday and are very grateful for our country that we live in and the freedoms that we have. I hope that all of you enjoyed the holiday as well.

This last picture was taken by Kyle. I actually think he did a great job. He had fun with the camera and I had to delete quite a few of our friends hay.

Jake's Great Find

We have moved into this great house that we absolutely love. The people before us did not take care of the yard and it looked horrible. I had mentioned to Jake that we should find some river rock that would match the rock on our house. One day that Jake went out to the desert with the boys shooting, he came back and surprised me with almost a truck full of rock. I was so excited!!!!!! So here are the before and after pictures of something that we were able to do for free, which for us is important right now.

My Baby's 1!!!!!

It has been way too long since we have updated our blog. We have moved into a house and are still waiting for our stuff. But we finally have internet and a monitor to plug our dying laptop into. So much has happened since I last updated. Katy is now one, actually 13 months by now. Christopher is now 9 and will not stop growing. We have had to replace all shoes on his feet as they have grown so much in the last few months. We now have to shop in the men's section of shoes. I was not prepared for that one.

I can't believe that my baby has turned one so fast. On June 28th we had a good time with family and friends celebrating her day. She has changed so much in the last few months, finally crawling and pulling herself up onto things. I think it will help her to start walking when we finally have our stuff and she has something to cruise on. I think we are now entering my favorite stage of learning and growing so much in this next year. I love toddlers. My babies are always good until they reach 3. We shall see how Katy does. Our last Sunday in church was the first time I looked forward to nursery. She is way to mobile now and loves to make noises so we are unable to not be noticed and have to wander the halls. Hopefully the next few months go better than last week.

Success

Well I guess Caden has decided it is time to be a big boy. Last week after running out of diapers and really not being able to afford any more that we were going to potty train Caden. He is 3 1/2 and we felt it was time. We had accidents for 2 days, then he figured it out and we haven't had an accident since. I was so surprised how well he did after our last attempt to potty train. But I am so proud of him. He is such a big boy. And it goes to show that he actually is related to me as I was always one who would wait until I was sure I could do it and made up my mind to do it, then I could do anything. Caden seems to have to have his mind made up that he can do it too. We even went to Utah last weekend for Memorial day. I worried that we would be stopping all along the road for bathroom breaks. But it seems I worry too much.

We had a great weekend in Utah. We got to see a lot of family. It was Jake's grandpa's birthday and we had a big party. Grandma and Aunt Mary worked hard and the weekend was a huge success. It was so fun to see Jake's family again, some we haven't seen in a few years. The boys are still talking about swimming in their jeans at Aunt Mary's (we didn't take their swim suits).

On our way home we got to see some old friends from Iceland, Sean and Jen Thomas. Kyle was so excited to see their old friend Daxton. Everytime I even mention Utah it has brought up his name and the desire to go and see him. The boys had fun playing and we had a good time visiting with the Thomas's. I have to say we miss the military and our friends.

Jake has started working a few other jobs besides the landscaping. We are in desperate need of an income and Jake is stepping up and working even harder. This business has taken a long time to get moving and I fear that it will still take longer.

The boys are ready for the summer break and ready to swim at grandma's. Katy, I fear, might have allergies to dogs. Our friends that we are staying with have 2 inside dogs and Katy has been so stuffy. She has had 2 ear infections since we have been here, which is not common for her. It is either the dogs, or it is Idaho. If she didn't have allergies to Kentucky, I am not sure she would have allergies here. Hopefully we can get her cleared up soon.

Life is always interesting in the Anderson household. I am ready for it to slow down and get boring. We love everyone and love to hear from you.

Yearly competition

Well each year at Jake's mom's pool, there is an annual competition. The competition consists of whoever is the first in the pool after it is opened. However, the water is still freezing cold!!! So, Jake and the boys set out to get the prize for being the first in the pool for the year. Little did they know that they were not the first since Corinne, their cousin had already been in earlier that week. The water was 50 degrees that day and the boys were troopers for trying it. I don't know if we will get them in next year, but we shall see.
Sorry the video is sideways, I haven't figured out how to rotate the video.