Attempting a Christmas Card Photo

I will not go into the details about HOW we were able to get ALL 5 kids to smile in this photo!

Cousin Park Day

We sure stayed busy this Thanksgiving break.

We took a half day of school on Wednesday and enjoyed some time with our cousins at the park. It was a nice start to our fun filled Thanksgiving weekend.

Little buddies Kurt and Ben David stop for a quick pic!

The whole crew

Annascott keeps up with the rest of them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a tradition to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. This year Annascott was the only one to ride in the jogger. Everyone else stayed behind. After that, we went home and relaxed a bit before our big turkey dinner at Grampy and Grammy's house.

The food was so yummy! Grammy is a wonderful cook!

Evan helps out with the Turkey. Boy it looks delicious!

Thank you Lord for our many blessings!

Christmas Tree Traditions

It has become a family tradition to take a trip to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree.

This time, my sister and her family joined us! It was so windy and FREEZING at the top of the mountain.

Poor James and Annascott. They were miserable. The older kids however, were caught up in

the excitement of picking out the perfect tree.

Thank goodness we finally found one!

What a pretty mountain view!

Now for the family shot...we're all here!

Poor Annascott...she was just screaming from the cold wind.

My sweet little Adah!

Who is not so little anymore...

Christmas Tree Traditions Continued...

My sister and her family.

We do hope they decide to come back again with us next year.

"Ok Ben David, now on 3 let's try to pick up this tree!

One...two...three...

Uncle Ben, trying to keep James happy and distracted from the bitter cold wind!

It worked!

Finally, after the trees were picked out everyone went inside the barn to enjoy a yummy warm cup of hot chocolate!

When we got home our daddy made his famous homemade chocolate chip waffles and delicious eggs for a breakfast dinner! He then set the tree up and we all watched and waited while he plugged in the lights! Beautiful! Another perfect tree!

Pre-Game Festivities

Before we started decorating the tree we decided the kids needed to first burn off a little energy. So...we kicked off the evening festivities with a little pre-game action!

Thanks to a little hip hop music and some crazy kids...we had quite a show!

Annascott showed some sassy moves!

Drew demonstrated the "Jump Around!"

Adah showed us her gymnastic moves and then broke out in some break dancing!

We even had a special guest!

Brittian decided to surprise us all with a special silly costume!

Kurt was quite the dancer! He was a little modest when the camera came out.

Thank goodness we got the wiggles out!

Less ornament causalities!

Let the decorating begin!

The kids get so excited about decorating the tree. They love pull out their ornament treasures. From the Noah's ark collectible ornaments to the homemade Frosty the Snowman, they all bring back such special memories. It never fails...each year we somehow can't find one child's ornament box.

This year it was Brittian's.

However, he was a good sport and after much searching-we finally found it!

Of course after all the decorating we had to end the night with our traditional snack of sparkling grape juice and sugar cookies.

You know you have a big family when...

More recently I've realized why most people consider 5 kids to be a "large family."

I guess you know you have a big family when...

1) You have to say to your kids, "guys we are getting stuck here... we can't all try to fit through the doorway at the same time. Single file please."

2) When you say..."Are we all here?" Then you do a quick head count.

3) When people stop inviting you over for play dates. Except those who also have 4 or more kids.

4) When you are issued 2 insurance cards because all your family's names won't fit on one card.

5) When you reuse the same family name for your kids because you ran out of new ones.

6) When you only go to kid's night restaurants where ALL your kids can eat free.

7) When you multiply the cost of a gift by 5 before you consider buying it.

8) When they can't fit all your bags of groceries into one cart and load up in two.

9) When you do at least one load of laundry a day.

10) When you only allow one cup per child per day... and also use paper plates for most meals.

11) When people tell you your 5 kids should just dress up as a basketball team for Halloween. Or they say..."Are you guys going for a half dozen?"

12) When people say, "Are those ALL your kids?"

13) When you go to a restaurant and can't find a table big enough for your family, and everyone stares at you while you pull two together.

These are my thoughts for now...I'm sure there will be more to come...

Eat your veggies!

Ok, so the other day Brittian and I decided to play a joke on Drew. When Brittian passed out the dinner plates we put an exceptionally large piece of cauliflower on Drew's plate. We kept waiting for Drew to say "Hey, why is my piece so big!" We all made a big deal about everyone needing to eat ALL their vegetables. Drew, was so obedient...and kept working on his large piece of cauliflower never noticing a thing!

It was all we could do to not laugh! We thought for sure...he would then catch on. But, nope! He just laughed along with us! Sorry for the "seefood."

He just never figured it out! Oh well! At least he ate his veggies!

My sweet girls

It's hard to believe how fast my girls are growing up these days.

Adah amazes me each day with maturity and responsibility. I really don't know what I would do without her if I sent her to school. People often ask me how do I raise 5 kids and home school. Well, the answer is with the Lord help...and... Adah! :) She is my right hand around the house! Her spiritual gift is being a servant. She walks in that gift with such beauty and grace. Another gift the Lord has given her is creativity. She is always designing new things each day. I find these days I often seek her opinion regarding my outfit or about some home design decision.

My little Annascott is no longer a baby! She has a very interesting personality. I like to say Adah is my "sweet potato" and Annascott is "sweet n spicy!" When I see them together I am always to thankful to the Lord for providing a sister for Adah. What a blessing they both are and the perfect Head and Toe to the Anderson crew.

Since we have moved into our new house we have let the girls share a room. I was not sure how that would work...considering there is a 7 1/2 year age gap. However, I knew if it was ever going to happen...now would be my best chance. So far...things have worked wonderfully. I consider each day as one more memory they will have to share as sisters. It has become a tradition that Annascott waits until Adah comes to bed and then whimpers until Adah picks her up and brings her to bed with her. Adah tucks her in and then starts her bedtime reading while Annascott falls asleep by her side. Last night I was able to capture a sweet picture of this for them to remember before they quickly grow up!

Emmrich Beach Vacation

It has become a tradition to go to the beach with my parents and my sister's family every September. It is the best time to go! The weather is perfect and we get the beach to ourselves. It's another wonderful benefit of homeschooling! The next several posts are just a few snapshots of the memories that were made!

UP! UP! and AWAY!!

Daddy and Uncle Ben gave the older kids quite a lift out in the ocean.