On The Horizon

So things are continuing to change around here.

The Zinn Family home (aka: dad's house- not sure why we called it dad's house... the rest of us lived there for over 20 years.) finally sold. It was a total cluster, but I'm over it. This wraps up the final thing to complete for his estate. His taxes are done. Bills are settled. Time to move on...literally!

Yep, I think we are moving. I think I will say I think until someone gives us a contract we have to accept. It seems less real this way. I am so sad to leave this house. It has been a dream home. Really. We have loved everything about it. We just need bigger. We even contacted a builder about adding on, but it is so costly.

We are in no huge hurry to move, but we do hope our home goes quickly. You definitely get better value that way. We would like to have more space. We have been doing the number crunching (and the space crunching) lately, and guess what, a new home in our price range will only cost us $23 more a month on our mortgage. Um, no brainer, right?!?

So our spare time has been spent decluttering, and cleaning, and a little packing away in hopes that on the horizon we will be movin'!

Like a Bandaid

So this house has been like a bandaid covering a wound. What I realized this week when the bandaid was tugged on (the new contract on the house) that the wound isn't fully healed.

We put the house on the market back in July, and NO ONE has looked at it. We've dropped the price, griped about it not being shown, dropped the price again, griped, dropped, you get it. I AM A TRUE BELIEVER IN GOD'S TIMING THOUGH, and knew that he was in control of the timing of the sale. As Christmas approached, I realized that we were probably being protected from what I am experiencing right now...

It hurts.

I am sad to know that the only house I have ever known (other than the one I own now) is about to be gone. Suddenly the memories are flooding my every waking moment. It makes me miss everything a thousand times more. I want to do homework on the playroom stairs again, unload Thursday evening groceries into the pantry. I want to lay in bed with mom on Monday morning hoping for five more minutes of weekend together. I want dad to come pour ice water on my hand to wake me up when I am being a pain, or play baby dolls upstairs with Erin again. I want to swing in the backyard, or mow, or weed the garden. I want to bake cookies and fill the dining room table with them for Christmas. I want to see the sunlight fill the front room on Saturday morning.

It's time to pull the bandaid off. I hope it goes fast. Letting a wound get some air helps heal also.

Now Hiring For the Spring!

The Anderson Lawn Crew is hiring for Spring 2011.

** You will need to be available to be trained on new equipment ; ) **

Please send your applications to: http://www.wedontreallyliketosharethese,sonorealneedtoapply.net/
Thanks!

New Business

I don't have enough to do. Really. Each day between 11pm and 7am there is this empty space of time, of nothingness, so I decided to fill it. That's when I dreamed up this (really, I dreamed this up about 3am, one morning)!

So enjoy my new little business Dulu Designs! You can read all about how it got started here!

Oh, and check the sale page, I am running something special this week!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Dear Carter,

Happy Birthday to you!

This weekend we spent Carter's 3rd Birthday at the Andover Fire Department with some of his good friends.

We got a chance to tour the trucks, roll and unroll the hoses, and enjoy some fire safety tips. A fireman came out in full gear to meet the kids, and Sparky the fire dog made an appearance also!

Everyone took home a fire shirt and hat for their party favor.

A good time was had by all!

I think this will be one that Chief Carter will remember for a long time!

Holiday Cards

It's here. The hustle, the bustle, the sleepless nights trying to bake, wrap, clean, impress, and address...

YOUR CHRISTMAS CARDS!

For many years I went and purchased our cards at any random store, but since the kids were little, I started ordering cards from Shutterfly. I like how they make things so personal. I am able to put pics of the kiddos on there, or a family pic, and boom, done. They have such fun designs that tailor to my needs (less traditional, bright, funky!!!), and I always receive them quickly.

Here are some of my favorites for this year:

Or this one:

I also really LOVE this:

Shutterfly is offering bloggers an amazing gift of FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS this year! Go here to find out more about it!

So which one will you find in your mailbox this year? I'm not telling...

What to say?

I'm not really sure what to say or where to begin... our family has been up to SOOO much lately. It seems we are constantly in motion. It's no excuse, but it does make it hard to sit down an write about it. Here's a quick rundown:

Cole is such a busy guy, but mostly my clothes horse. He is constantly worried about his outfit, and he creates a TON of laundry for me each week. Recently we went to our first football game with him, and he picked this adorable hat. He wore it through the entire game even though it was about 85 degrees that day! Cole is playing soccer for the Blue Monsters, and although "BE AGGRESSIVE" was something I never thought I would scream at my 4 year old, our fault still seems to be that he just won't get in there and take the ball. (I will not even mention scoring goals for the other team... not Cole!) He is doing great in preschool, and has been learning to write his letters. So far we have E, F, D, P, and B done. He melts my heart each day when he runs up to me and says, "Mom, kiss." He is growing so fast, and continues to amaze me each day.

Does anyone recognize this boy, and would you tell me where I left baby Carter? This boy is so cool. He is quickly becoming a huge help to his family. Yesterday I took him grocery shopping, and he wanted to push a little cart. Against my better judgement, I said yes, and he did great! He only put the things in his cart that I chose, and at the end, he unloaded his cart on to the belt. It really felt good to see him being so responsible. He has recently mentioned that Cole is going to school on the school bus, and "I go on the party bus." which worries me a bit : ), but this free spirit is one cool dude. My other favorite thing (that I have to post or will someday forget) is the lack of the letter "Y" in his vocabulary. I will someday miss the moment when "les" is yes, or "Backlard" is the backyard. Until then I smile each time that sound is missing.

Daddy is always and forever the hardest worker in our family. He never complains, he just does what he needs to. Each morning his alarm goes off in the middle of the night, 5:30 is still the middle of the night, right : ), and daddy heads off to work at Terradyne. He puts in his hours each day, and usually on the weekend to make the grass green. Then daddy heads home to wrestle babies, workout, help with dinner, whatever is needed. He's a pro at being a dad. Brian has also been working hard on launching his business, and had a successful fall with 9 customers for aerification and seeding. I am so proud of him. When the day is done, and kids are snugged, he still finds time for me. I love him so.

As for me, well, you know. I write about me all of the time here if you haven't noticed.

So there you have some of it. This fall the Andersons have been to football games, soccer games, Chili feeds, pumpkin patches, and there is more to come. As Barney, yes, the BIG PURPLE DINOSAUR, likes to say, "You can call it fall if that's what you please, but I say I like autumn!

New Neighbors!

Guess who moved into the neighborhood today?

Congrats Chris, Erin, Felix, and Kaiser on your new house!

We are so excited that we can stand in our backyard and yell at you, or take a morning stroll over to your house to eat your breakfast, and I can't wait to borrow milk, or toilet paper, or bring over trash when ours is too full. I can't wait to use your washer when ours is broken. Man it will be nice to have someone close to help babysit the kiddos on a whim.... aren't YOU glad we're neighbors also :) ?

All kidding aside, we are blessed to have you so close after you have been so far for so long. We love you!

Hit the Trail

Mix that is! Today we worked on counting, measuring, and reading at our house. We made trail mix. Here's how it went down:

We had directions to follow.

We put in 1 scoop of craisins

Some snuck bites while mommy wasn't looking!

2 small bags of M&M's


3 scoops of goldfish



4 scoops of marshmallows

and 5 scoops of Cheerios

We all took a turn stirring up the mix.

And we enjoyed!

Big Boo!

Guess who INSTANTLY potty trained himself...

This Big Boo did!

He woke up bone-dry Friday morning. Thinking it was a fluke, I took him to the potty, where he went, then put him in a Pull-Up. Later that morning he had pooped in his Pull-Up (still working on that part), but HE WAS DRY! So I put him in underwear just to see what he would do, and he has been dry ever since! Amazing.

Carter is doing such a good job. I can take no credit in this other than giving him 2 jelly beans when he goes. Yesterday he got to go to Chuck E Cheese as his reward. He keeps saying "I stay dry, go Chuck E Cheese." Who can resist?

Congratulations Carter Boo!

Whatcha Been Up To?

Here is how we spent our Easter...

Thursday morning we had some of our good friends over for an Easter Egg Hunt.

Cole is the funniest Easter egg hunter. He could care less about how many eggs he had. He wanted to know what was in each of them He would find an egg, open it, unwrap the candy, and eat it. Notice all of the eggs are broken open.

Carter on the other hand found tons of eggs. He knew the point was to hunt now and celebrate later!

We ran in the Easter Sun Run on Saturday morning. Click on the link to read more about it. Then, after a Saturday afternoon nap, we headed over to a friends house for an Easter picnic, and egg dying. The boys had so much fun dying eggs. Carter went to town with his eggs. We enjoyed another egg hunt... this time with money in the eggs!

Sunday the easter bunny came, and left some fun surprises for the boys. He left Toy Story 1 and 2 to watch along with Toy Story t-shirts and Buzz Lightyear flip flops, but the favorite was all of the new pool toys he left. The bunny knew that the boys swim every Monday night at the Y, so he left them new goggles, dive sticks, pails, and splash balls to take... Thanks EB!


Sunday afternoon was spent at Aunt Lynda and Uncle Don's playing outdoors. We just couldn't get enough of the beautiful weather! The boys have never been so dirty, but it was worth it. After a hot bath, and a bowl of popcorn with a new movie, the beautiful day was over.

Christ has risen. He lives indeed! Happy Easter to each of you.

Climb Family Climb!

Here are some pics from one of our most recent adventures. We got to go rock climbing as a family for a friends birthday. (Well Brian and I didn't know we were going to climb, but the babies pooped out early leaving time for the grow ups.)

The boys looked so cute putting their belts on. It has been a dream in their short little baby lives to rock climb, but the Y usually asks that they be 4 to start climbing, so we have never had the chance.

Cole took the first shot at the wall. He's definitely a climber. He would just plant his foot and move up the wall. He got a few feet above my head before he was done.

I think he looks adorable just hanging there. I kind of think he just wanted to come down so he could swing from the ropes.

Carter is so trusting. He would have climbed without a harness at all. He's getting to be such a big boy that wants to do whatever everyone else is doing.

Brian is quite the climber. He's fast, and the wall gave him no trouble. He even tried a "harder" climb the second time. He's a natural.

After some coaxing, I decided to give it a shot, and I did it. I made it all the way to the top to honk the horn! One friend even said that she thought Brian and I should race because I was very fast (so she says)... maybe we will have to rock climb for our next date night!