personal blog
Eight
I guess when you turn eight you get to wear lipstick on your birthday and put on some fake tattoos. 🙂
It’s hard to believe she was once smaller than Kit! Happy Birthday Cora Jane!
Seven
Six
See all the Cora and Kit posts here and read her birth story here.
If you have landed on this page it means you are either a FB friend or a internet ninja! Since I did not get around to sending out Christmas cards, again, consider this your official Anderson Christmas card and update.
It’s been a year since we moved from Florida back to Maryland. We live about ten minutes from our old house and love being back. We’ve had a steady stream of visitors and are always excited to welcome friends and family for a visit, so if you are looking for an excuse to take a vacation to the D.C. area we’d love to have you!
Cora Jane is four going on fourteen and enjoys every minute of being the baby of the family. She learned to swim this summer and enjoys playing with her big sisters and cousins and bossing everyone around. She got her ears pierced this weekend and barely flinched. She’s smart, sassy, and very funny.
Faith turned seven this year and is our resident fashionista. She could care less about math, but she’ll spend all day in my closet trying on shoes and purses. She enjoys making clothes for her dolls and designing outfits on paper. She’s quite outgoing and has never met a stranger.
She had her tonsils out in August and the staff claimed she was the best patient they ever had. She recovered quickly and got right back to swimming and riding her bike before summer ended.
Peyton turned nine and is growing into a beautiful young lady. She’s taller than her older brother and is one of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet. She loves to sing, dance, cook, and read. If you can’t find her, she’s probably tucked away in a chair reading one of her favorite books, for the fifth time!
Peyton has also taken up writing stories, she has several she’s working on right now and is even collaborating on one with a friend from co-op.
Liam, our eleven year old, is our resident soccer star and chief outdoorsman. His Florida team went undefeated during his last season in Florida and his play on the middle school team helped them win the championship this season. When he isn’t playing soccer he loves to be outside playing sports or looking for new adventures.
Liam got a hamster for his birthday and does a great job of taking care of Freddy.
Asher entered the teenage world this year when he turned thirteen. He’s started playing goalie this year in soccer and didn’t allow a goal during the championship game. He took a photography class this semester and has impressed us all with his photos (his self portrait is below).
This year Asher finally wore me down and got a dog. Miles became an Anderson in May after a great life with his previous owner who did a wonderful job of training him. Miles is part lab, part rhodesian ridgeback, and eighty pounds of muscle. He loves Asher and sleeps right outside his door every night.
Tristan is seventeen and it’s hard to keep track of what he’s doing lately. He’s got friends all over the country (thank goodness for unlimited texting) and is always busy. He works part time at an auto repair shop and is a junior in high school. He’s taken up guitar, piano, violin, obstacle races, and about twenty other things.
He keeps us laughing with his sarcastic sense of humor and all his adventures. He’s driven himself to Tennessee and Florida this year and took a road trip out west with some friends. He’s a huge help around the house and has become our resident chocolate chip cookie maker.
Arden is nineteen and a sales lead at White House Black Market. She spent a year at Liberty University and then decided to take a break so she could figure out what she wanted to do with her life before she spent any more money on tuition. It’s great having her back at home although she’s working forty hours a week so she isn’t home a whole lot!
When she isn’t working you can usually find her hanging out with Shane (aka the boyfriend). We think he’s pretty cool and hope she keeps him around.
She’s still our drama queen and was able to see Wicked (again) and Les Miserables this year.
David spent the first part of 2013 living with our good friends, the Olsens, since our house sold before it was time for his new job in Maryland. He moved up here in February and got settled in his new job just long enough to get picked for a tour in Afghanistan.
He left for the sand in October and should return home next summer.
David has been bit by the fitness bug and lost about 30 pounds last year. He enjoys racing with Tristan and doing crazy workouts in our home gym. (Warning- if you visit he will ask you to join him!) When he isn’t working out you can find him “cleaning our pool” or at least that’s what he says he doing. I think he just likes to be outside in the summer working on his tan and a cold beer.
He still puts up with all my crazy ideas, projects, and traveling which is saying something because I seem to have an unlimited amount of all of them.
Toni, I’m not going to write about myself in the third person, so excuse the grammatical change! I’m still homeschooling the kids but thankfully my job as chief taxi driver has been passed down to my two oldest who can drive. I’m hoping they can take over as chief of laundry too- but I’m not holding my breath!
I’m still working, traveling, speaking, hosting parties, and starting new house projects on a weekly basis so if you want to follow along I usually share most of my adventures on Facebook or Instagram.
As we reflect back on 2013 we realize how much we have to be thankful for, especially our friends and family near and far. Our door is always open and we love visitors so pay us a visit us in 2014!
I’ve always thought of the first day of deployment as the hardest.
Until the next hardest day.
The days leading up to the first day are like a bandaid being slowly pulled off your skin.
I’ve always been a rip the bandaid off sort or person, so the last several days have been hard. That slow, constant pain of knowing what is to come, but not being able to change it.
I actually looked forward to this day because it meant the pain of leaving would be over.
I kept saying, things will be better once you leave. It’s the impending knowledge of what’s to come, the tears, the children that cannot be comforted, that I was dreading.
And it happened just like I knew it would. Tears, kids snuggled in bed with me, questions I cannot answer, promises I cannot make.
I tell them we’ll be stronger because of this, we’ll be closer, we’ll do this together because we’re in this together.
And we will.
My husband has been deployed to the Middle East for 274 days. These are my real thoughts expressing my heart during his absence. I appreciate your prayers and kind words as we cope, adapt, and carry on without him until August 2014. To read from the beginning, click here.
My 30 Days of Disney are up! I had a great time sharing my Disney tips with readers and loved reading about all your favorite Disney restaurants, attractions, and memories.
My final Disney tip is simple ~ Have Fun! Going to Disney can be a magical experience for the whole family, but it can also be a stressful one. Many times I have seen parents yelling at their exhausted children to hurry up, quit crying, or be happier. I understand their frustration, Disney vacations cost a good chunk of change and they want to get their money’s worth.
Relax, enjoy yourself, and don’t stress about riding every ride, meeting every character, and watching every show. If your kids are tired go back to the room and take a break. Most Florida hotels have nice pools, use them to cool off and break up your day. Add an extra day on to your vacation to give you a day of down time, where you don’t have to visit a park. It is okay to show up late and leave early, you will have great memories whether you spend five hours or 5 days at the parks.
So repeat after me:
I am going to Disney to have fun.
I am going to Disney to have fun.
I am going to Disney to have fun.
Have a great time at Disney and tell Mickey I said hello!
The magic doesn’t end today. I have started a Disney thread in my forum so stop by and share your knowledge with other Disney fans. Plus if you join in the discussion this week, or any other discussion in the forum you are entered to win a $25 Target gift card from The Blog Frog.
Time to answer some of the questions I have received during this series.
From Mary Beth: I’d love to go and take our girls in the fall, but don’t know if they are really old enough… the oldest will be 4 in March and the three little ones won’t be 3 until August. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I think they are definitely old enough to enjoy Disney this fall. You can also take advantage of the Armed Forces Salute and save yourself a ton of money. If I were going with 4 children under 5, I might consider asking another adult to join you. That way you have another adult to ride with a child on many of the rides.
From Lori– Question…do you have a suggestion for sunscreen? I KNOW we’ll need it!
I would chose a high spf sunscreen that is waterproof. There are a few rides that you will get wet on in the park, plus if you go in the summer you will probably end up pretty sweaty by the end of the day. You could also consider putting your kids in swim shirts, since those keep their protection even if they get wet. My kids often wear their Skinz to Sea World so they can play in the water without worrying about a sunburn.
From Liz and Kellie- how do you nap at Disney?? Do you go back to your hotel or just pick a quiet spot in the grass???
If you have little ones and the park is open late (until 10 or 11pm) I would recommend going back to the room, or perhaps sending one parent back with the nappers and the other parent staying with the bigger kids. You can catch a quick nap on a bench, or (and I know I will get an email about this) take a nap while watching a show in an air-conditioned auditorium. I use to nap in the Hall of Presidents…
From Annette- Just curious if the active/retired service member has to be “present” to use the tickets at Disney?
No, they do have to purchase the tickets, but you do not need to be with them to actually get into the park. You must be with the service member during the ticket purchase.
From Tammy- Do you know if the Armed Forces salute tickets have to be used in consecutive days?
No, they just have to be used before December 23rd for the Orlando parks. I believe the deadline for California was extended until September.
Readers’ favorite Disney websites: Allears.net, Mousesavers.com and Tourguidemike.com
I have decided to end my 30 Days of Disney series with the posts I wrote several months ago when we were visiting the parks. I wrote a post per park, so tonight it is all about The Magic Kingdom.
There is something special about the Magic Kingdom, from the minute you walk under the railroad and on to Main Street a feeling of happiness comes over you. From the ice cream vendor to the monorail driver to Sleeping Beauty, each cast member goes out of their way to make your day magical.
Day 3 started early as we left the house at 7:45 am for the Magic Kingdom. We purchased our Armed Forces Salute tickets and were pleasantly surprised when they sold us all six tickets for $99 each. The promotion allows for five $99 tickets, but they sold us the sixth one for $99 too.
We arrived in the park a few minutes after nine. My first Disney tip is to get there early. The earlier you arrive, the less crowded the park. We were able to ride Snow White, Pooh, Teacups, and the Tomorrowland Speedway before 10 am.
We then headed to Toontown to visit the Princesses. If you want to see the fairies, get there right when it opens at 10 am before it opens. By the time we got there at 10:15 the line was already 60 minutes long. My girls were not interested in the fairies so we waited about 5 minutes to visit Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella.
Second Disney tip: Get a Fast Pass! This saved us so much time. We ended up getting fast passes for Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain (which is now under renovation), Thunder Mountain, and Peter Pan. The longest we waited with the fast pass was about 10 minutes, but the people without the fast past were waiting an hour.
Third Disney tip: Eat a huge breakfast before you get to the park and pack snacks and water. I am not sure what Disney’s food policy is, but we took some granola bars and cheerios for snacks in our backpack and when they checked it they didn’t say anything. Eating a large breakfast allows you to delay lunch. Lunchtime and parade times are the best time to go on rides.
We ate lunch at a place called the Harbor House. It is between Fantasyland and Liberty Square. It is one of the few places you can eat a semi-healthy lunch at the park. It is also less crowded than a lot of the more well known places and has ample seating. The kids had macaroni and cheese, apple slices and grapes. I had a tuna salad on wheat and it was as good as Panera. The total cost for our family of 8 was $50. Now I realize that is not cheap, but the kids ate fruit, drank milk (not soda) and everyone was full. We ate lunch late enough so that we didn’t have to eat dinner at the park, so I thought we got a good deal. On the park map is restaurant is listed as serving fish baskets and soups, but there is more to choose from on the menu. It is worth checking out.
About 7:30 pm we were all pretty tired so we decided to skip the fireworks (we can see them from my in-laws backyard anyway) and crowds and leave before the park closed at 8pm. This was a great idea for our family because we made it from Tomorrowland to our car in about 25 minutes.
We have Epcot and Animal Kingdom coming up next. We have only been to Animal Kingdom twice so I am excited to check it out.
Teacups
The Step Sisters and Mother
One of the step sisters went to go visit our son, who did not want to have his picture taken with her.
Tomorrowland Speedway- where you don’t need a license to drive.
Warming up to Cinderella
A family favorite- Buzz!
You are never too old for Mr. Lightyear….
Our relaxing lunch at the Harbor House, overlooking Thunder Mountain.
Where’s Jack Sparrow when you need him?
Magic Carpets (this ride was a favorite!)
Winding down on the carousel.
Have I mentioned that we are moving in one week? I am trying not to stress out about this move, I mean it is only across the street, but as with every other move I hate to move junk. There are few things I dislike more than opening up a box of something I didn’t want to begin with. So for the next two weeks, minus the 3 days I will be at the homeschool convention, I will be cleaning out my house, room by room. The past few days I have been working on the garage. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the before pictures, which might have been a good thing, it was a wreck. Anyway, I did get pictures of the homeschool books that I sorted in the garage. I started with 2 Rubbermaid bins, and 3 cardboard boxes full of school stuff. I managed to get it down to just the 2 Rubbermaid bins. I threw away a ton of stuff, found some books to sell at the used curriculum sale, and found a few things to put in our Goodwill pile, which has now taken over 2/3 of the minivan.
Books that are leaving my house in one way or another.
The Leftovers
After working for almost two days straight on the garage, (yes, it is that messy) I decided to tackle the girls’ room for a change of pace.
Before ( I realize there is a boy in the girls’ room, he wanted to show off his new toothbrush.)
After
For more tackles stop by 5 Minutes for Mom.
Visit Crystal’s blog for more Making your Home a Haven Monday.
I didn’t think I would have a sew crafty this week because I spent most of my time in the garden. However, I have been wanting to make the toddler dress out of the man’s shirt for a few months now, so I started it last night. I was going to post a tutorial, but this one is so good, I didn’t bother.
I did modify the design a little, but this was easy cheesy, as my kids like to say. I think even a non sewer could make this dress. It didn’t take me an hour, and that included dropping the ironing board on my toe and limping around the house for a while. The biggest challenge in finishing the dress, was that my daughter loved it so much she kept wanting to wear it before it was finished. Here are a few pictures, once again, she was dancing in most of them so it was hard to get a good shot.
Shirt
Dress
I can’t wait to find some more shirts so I can do this again, and again, and again….
Total cost was $2 for the shirt at the thrift store, I can’t wait for yard sale season to start and I can purchase shirts for a quarter!
My machine is back and works like a dream. I am glad I made the decision to get it fixed, although I am still looking to upgrade sometime in the future.
I took the advice of many of you and decided to add a ribbon to the front of the dress to break up the fabric. I believe it did the trick because I just love the dress now!
Here is the before picture.
Here is the finished product, modeled today by my favorite two year old.
The ribbon makes all the difference. Thanks ladies for all the tips!
This week I made what was supposed to be a dress for my two year old. I have had this fabric since my 13 year old was 3. I had hoped to make her an Easter outfit years ago, but there was a small problem, I didn’t know how to sew. Anyway, I saved this fabric for 10 years and through 3 boys until I finally remembered it was under my bed last Friday. I pulled it out during the little girls’ nap time and made this dress. Since it was nap time, I didn’t get to measure my two year old so the dress ended up being pretty short and a little too big in the top.
Sorry for the side view, she did not want to face me, I think I made her nervous putting her on the counter.
But it fit my four year old great as a shirt! See, I knew there was benefit to having a bunch of kids.
I do have a bit of a dilemma that maybe all you crafters can help me with. I have a Singer sewing machine that is about 15 years old. I took it in to the repair shop because it was out of time, and when I got it back the tension was all messed up. I took it back again and it seemed like it was fixed, but now I am having tension problems again. It is either so tight you can’t pull the thread or so loose it won’t even sew.
I don’t want to take it back to the same place because I think they messed up the tension to begin with. Do I find another repair shop, do I get a new machine? If I get a new one, what should I be looking for? I don’t quilt (although I would like to learn), I sew clothes, pillows, and purses for the most part.
For those of you who spent the big bucks on a machine, do you think it was worth it? Any input is greatly appreciated.
