Siri's First Snow

I wasn't sure if Siri would get the chance to experience snow this winter.  And then, when it did finally snow, we almost missed it.  We had a late night and did not get a chance to play in the snow when it first fell.  No problem right, there's always tomorrow.  Well, tomorrow turned out to be 60 degrees and our snow quickly melted.  Luckily, we have a shaded spot in the backyard that hung onto the snow long enough for us to have some fun.

The boys had a blast making snowballs and "snow cones".  Siri wasn't quite sure what to think of this white stuff her brothers were eating.

Then the snow ball fight started....

Our Little Gymnast

Turning 60

On February 11th, my Dad turned 60.  As part of his birthday present (thanks to a fabulous idea on Pinterest) we decided to give Dad 60 memories for 60 years.  A big THANK YOU to everyone who sent memories.  I was nervous about getting 60 memories together, but we somehow managed 62, so I gave him an extra envelope of "some to grow on".

We ordered Dad a "Times of Your Life" book from the New York Times store.  It has a copy of the front page of the New York Times from the year Dad was born till 2011.  A special thanks to Steven from FedEx for bringing the package to my house after a mix up with the delivery!

Dad was very surprised.  Almost all of our family was able to make it to the party.  Here is a picture of Dad with his brothers and sisters (minus Ted who had to work).

As even a bigger surprise (to even the surprise party planner) my brother Kobi and his family drove in from Wisconsin just for the special day!

Happy birthday Dad!  We love you!

My Little Princess

What is it about little girls, they are just drawn to all things girlie.  Siri has definitely got her girlie girl tendencies.  She loves painting her nails.  If she finds some lipstick, watch out, because she is putting it on.  And she loves being a princess. So when my sister-in-law Sarah asked if we wanted to go to Disney Princess Live, we jumped at the chance.

When we got there, it became painfully obvious I am used to being a mommy to boys.  I had dressed my sweetie as Snow White, yet told her for the past week she was Cinderella.  Woops.  Guess I need to get my princesses straight.

The girls enjoyed the show, but they also really enjoyed dancing during intermission.

We had a blast and Siri still wants to wear her "Cinderella" dress all of the time. Oh, how I do love my little princess!

Sawasdee cap

They said in our adoption classes it was important to keep some Thai traditions. Jacks takes it to a new level as we practice our traditional Thai Wai greeting of Sawasdee Cap. 

Love how Siri even busts out a "Stop Jack!"
  :)

Dale turns 5....

This has been a fun few weeks for the Anderson family.  Since Dale's birthday and Siri's birthday fall so close together (and both in the middle of the week) we celebrated Dale's 5th birthday a little early.  We had our family party at P3: Paint, Party, Play pottery studio.  The kids had fun painting their pieces and I can't wait to see the finished products.


The birthday boy got to make a plate with his handprint in the middle.

 

All of the guests got to put a thumb print on the plate.




The boys painted wolf man mugs and the girls painted ice-cream cone jewelry boxes.





We sang a little karaoke, ate cake and ice cream, and had fun watching Dale open his presents.

This is the first party we have had outside of the house, and it was nice.  The kids had fun, and we left the mess there.  This is also the first time I ordered a cake instead of making one.  It tasted great, and no-one got ill from too much food coloring.  All in all a great day for a very special little boy.

Thank you to all of our family that helped to make Dale's birthday so wonderful!

On a side note, basketball season has began.  This year we are playing at The Courts, and we are probably the youngest, smallest team in our division.  But the boys have worked hard, and we have actually made a couple of basket this year, unlike last season which ended without a successful basket (and this includes practice).  Dale has even managed to make a couple of baskets during practice, which is huge for him.  Last year he couldn't even hit the rim with the ball. 

 

The Sharks may not score the most points, but they work hard and have fun....

 

...and they have the best cheering section!



A good blogger I do not make....

So, over three months with no update. Turns out blogging isn't really my thing. I have these great posts envisioned in my head, but they never seem to go much further than that. So, instead of a thought provoking post, here is a quick photo update of some of the highlights of our last few months.



September, 25th - Jack turned four. For Jack's birthday we had a racecar party. The weather was great and we had lots of fun with our wonderful family. Jack lovesto tell everyone "I am four, just like Dale". Dale always pipes up, "But I've been four longer."

Jack blowing out the candles on his car cake.

Off to the races in our cardboard box race cars.

On your mark, get set, go....

Siri and Stella enjoying their cars.



September also brought the start of soccer season.  Turning four has really helped Jack's soccer game and he has really enjoyed playing this year.

Jack with his soccer buddy Tyler.

We also had our fist overnight family camping trip.  It was a lot of fun and everyone did great, even Siri.



Great playground by the campsite.

Can't go camping without smores.

First pumpkin carving of the year.  Siri made an Elmo pumkin of course.

Siri discovers a love of hot chocolate.

Yum.  Good stuff.







Fishing was fun, even though we didn't catch anything (unless you count Dale catching himself).



This weekend we had our traditional Anderson Fall outing. 

The Anderson Clan

David 's parents put pumkins in the field then the kids get to go on a hayride and pick their favorite pumpkin.





Jack found a good one.

Siri picked hers.

Siri's pumpkin may have outweighed her.

The finished product (Siri, Dale, Stella, Jack and Matthew).

Jack's not so sure about Uncle Mike?!?





Car Seat Dancing to "Move Like Jagger"

Siri loves to dance, followed closely by Jack (Dale thinks we might all be a little off our rockers). 

At first I thought Jack was doing the robot, but on second look, I think he was doing some Kung Fu as inspired by the recently watched Kung Fu Panda II.  And I promise Jack has shorts on.  I guess he hiked them up to get his grove on.  :)

Display Your He{ART}: Handmade for Hope

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A Few Pictures From La Valle, WI

While on vacation...

Dale made Siri her first Smore.  It was a hit!



We ate at the MooseJaw Pizza Company, which not only has good pizza, but gives you a cool Moose Hat.

And we spent two days at the fabulous Kalahari Indoor water park.

The boys got fun airbrushed tattoos and surfer necklaces.

 Against my wishes, Dale did the water wave surfing thing.  He actually did really well.  Here are some quick videos of Dale and David surfing.

~ Danyel Anderson