New Year's Resolution

Does anyone still check my blog? I don't blame you if you say no. It has been a while since I updated! With the New Year starting tomorrow a bunch of people in Facebook land have been asking who is making resolutions and what they are. Mine is sort of general, but if I follow thru will actually encompass quite a bit. I want to be more disciplined in the coming year: you know, setting my alarm and actually getting up, saying, "I'm going to do _____ today" and do it, oh and ACTUALLY updating my blog! Sometimes I feel there aren't enough hours in the day, but maybe, just maybe if I say I'm going to try to live a disciplined life I will find a bit more time to do the things that I want/need to do!
Must go drink some caffeine if I have any HOPE of staying awake for the New York New Year I told the boys we could celebrate together!
Happy New Year!

Are We Turning into THAT Family?

We always said we wouldn't sign our kids up for this, that, and the other: every season a different sport, swim lessons, piano lessons, art lessons, blah blah blah..., especially since the boys are only 5 and 7, and I refuse to pay good money for an activity until they are able to really understand what they're doing and retain the information.
That being said...
The first week of school Jack brought home a brochure from Bellevue Park and Rec, and after looking thru it, we decided to sign Jack up for indoor soccer lessons. It's once a week, for 45 minutes, on Tuesdays while Thornley is still in school. I think it will be good for him, especially when the rain starts! He seems excited - he is the sports lover, so hopefully this will be a good experience for him. I do refuse to become soccer mom, who has to refinance our house to pay for year around soccer teams, but for now, it should be something special and fun for him.
Thornley has no interest in sports of any kind, so we decided to sign him up for piano lessons. He went for his introductory lesson yesterday and really liked it. He has early release on Weds, so Adam was able to get him a lesson right after school, and will take him; which is perfect because I don't have early release on Wed, and otherwise he and Jack just hang out with me and teach my class important stuff like how to arm fart.
Hopefully, we won't turn into that family that has a list a mile long of all the things they "have" to do on any given day because of all the activities their kids are signed up for! First of all because we can't afford it, and second of all because I've been convicted more and more lately that they're only kids once so they need lots of time to just be a kid and use their imaginations and PLAY!

Christian-ese

Give me a moment while I hop up on my soapbox - yes, it's a nice view from up here, testing - one, two, is this thing on...

You know, kind of like Chinese, but it's the language Christians speak.

I went to a VERY conservative high school (Eagle Pride, baby, Eagle Pride), so I am fluent in Christian-ese; you had to be, or you couldn't get your diploma; really, you could smoke and drink as long as you were off campus, but if you knew the lingo you were golden. Which may be why I'm having these issues as of late. You know I am addicted to facebook, LOVE IT, and have reconnected with many friends from high school, which leads me to this post.

I logged on to check out what all of my "friends" were up to, and I read this status update, "Praise God for He is faithful to those who love Him..." this person is referring to a mutual friend whose baby is sick, apparently he (the baby) is responding to treatment and doing better. But my question is this, isn't God faithful to ALL of us, it is US who are lacking in faith? And what about the gal who played basketball on the team I coached (low those many years ago), who also has a child in the hospital that will most likely die - does she NOT love God, and is He not being faithful to her?

Maybe the solution is I shouldn't spend so much attention to facebook, but still, I wonder, how do we communicate our faith and relationship with God without being all holier than thou and totally offending and alienating those who don't share our beliefs. If this is annoying to me, imagine how those who have a different view/opinion of God would feel about comments like this.

Stepping off the soapbox now. Thank you, I'm here all week...

Lunch Date

Day #3, and we're still liking school! What a difference a fun teacher and a best buddy in the same class makes. Or maybe, just maybe, Thornley is growing up...
Yesterday was Tuesday (obviously), and I had told Thornley I would have lunch with him. I told him this, not because he was an emotional stressed out wreck, yelling and screaming all the way into class, like last year, but because he asked, "Mommy, will you come have lunch with me?". It was a bit of a pain logistically speaking, as Jack gets done with school at 11:45, and Thornley's lunch isn't until 12:15, but I figure, there will come a day when he doesn't want me anywhere NEAR the cafeteria, so I'll take him up on the offer while he's still excited to see me and maybe, just maybe, on a good day, even admits to liking me.
Jack is liking Kindergarten, is thrilled to be learning Spanish, and ecstatic that he had homework tonight.
I realize we're just three days in, and still in the "honeymoon" phase (although, last year three days in was pure hell, so, so much for that theory), so I refuse to tell myself we're going to have a good year. Although, I tell the boys all the time it's going to be a great year!
Walkathon coming up - let me know if you want to sponsor my people!

First Day Hurray!

I won't brag or boast, because who knows what tomorrow brings, but so far so good on the school front! I am exhausted, and so are the boys, but they enjoyed their first day of school, which makes life so much easier on the home front. Thornley must really like his teacher, he actually did his homework before I asked, AND read in Spanish!
Jack was so cute, grown up and serious (so NOT Jack) waiting for his class to start. He said school was a bit boring (sound familiar Andrea?), all they did was practice lining up and sitting correctly at circle time - all important aspects of school I told him. Perhaps tomorrow they will learn some Spanish and get homework (something else he was upset about, so I made up homework for him).
Thornley is GIDDY about school, his best friend is in his class which right there makes for a good school year. He tried to complain, but in the end admitted that his teacher is fun and funny and he likes her.
What a difference a year (and a lot of prayer) makes! Hoping for continued success and a fun year!

Hola Kindergarten

Tonight Jack had his "meet the teacher" for kindergarten, he was SOOOOOOO excited. Even Thornley wanted to go along to see his room and show him the ropes of actually GOING to school at Puesta, not just hanging out in the library and lunch room, although, Thornley asked me if we could go in the office and ask who HIS teacher was going to be - a bit of anxiety going on as he won't find out until tomorrow or Friday. Heaven forbid we find out too much in advance lest all us angry parents storm the office demanding our children switch classes - seriously people, help the anxiety ridden youth out!

But I digress...I like Jack's teacher, I think she'll be a great fit for him - sweet, friendly, but no-nonsense get down to business type. I'm trying to be fair since I ADORED Sra Bier; I'll give this one a fair fighting chance and assume the best. jack went in, introduced himself, found his seat and sat thru her "presentation" where she explained what goes on during a "typical" day at kindergarten. She talked a lot about picking up and dropping off and the bus schedule, perhaps this is why, when at the end when she asked for questions Jack raised his hand and asked, "If our parents forget what time school starts, well, what do we do about that?". Dear, sweet, Jack, I love you, but believe me, I'd never FORGET to take you to school! I was proud of him though for raising his hand and asking a question.

He's excited, and so is Thornley, although he'd never admit it. This is the day I've been waiting for - both my boys in school every day, and yet, it makes me sad at the same time. They're getting so big...sigh...

With this ring, I...

...become a ring bearer.



The boys did such an amazing job on Saturday! They looked so handsome in their outfits, they didn't complain once about being hot (until after the ceremony and then Jack couldn't get his tie off fast enough), walked down the aisle no problem, passed the rings off to the appropriate people, and even - get this - SMILED for the pictures, yes ALL of them. I guess going to all those wedding with me paid off, because they were like professional ring bearers. I think I may hire them out; if I meet with a bride and she doesn't have a ring bearer, I may offer my boys - for a small fee.



Thornley wanted nothing to do with watching the K-I-double S!

We interrupt your _______________

I have a few guilty pleasures, and those of you who know me know one is reality tv, and one is my love of People/Us/whatever kind of magazines Erin brings me. I must also admit, I have read both of Tori Spellings books. Love them, she is hilarious! I finished reading both of them while we were in Maui, and perhaps she has inspired me to write a book of my own to my children. Some things I would tell them...

It shouldn't surprise you that when the two of you play tag team wake mommy up in the middle of the night, so I sleep for two hours am awake for two hours and then sleep two more hours before you wake me up for the day, I am not going to be in a good mood. I know you don't have a clock in your room, and you've asked for one, but especially in the summer, if the sun isn't up yet, you shouldn't be either. Just saying...

The bathroom door is shut for a reason, and when I say I'll be done in a minute, I'll try to hold true to that promise. You banging on the door and yelling my name is not going to make things move along any quicker.

Along with the last one; when the shower is running, chances are that means I am in it, and am not able to log on to the computer for you or turn on your favorite tv show.

Oh, and daddy is a very capable man, so if he's home you can ask him to help you as well. Just in case that didn't cross your mind.

Yes, I love my kids and we're having a great summer. They have been troopers and have done/gone pretty much whatever/where ever might be on my agenda for the day. I love spending time with them, but really, is it asking too much to take a shower and go to the bathroom without interruption (I totally was going to say, "take a shower and a $&*#, because that would have gone so well together, but decided against - kind of)?

OK, that's all the complaining for now. Must go to bed because even though my 8th grade Science teacher told me you can never "catch-up" on missed sleep, it doesn't make me any less tired from my whopping 4 hours of sleep last night. The temperature has dropped a degree inside the house, so we're now at a frigid 87 degrees, brrrrrs! Anyone want to donate to the Anderson Screen Door fund, so we can keep our kitchen sliding glass door open at night to cool the house off, just let me know!

Feeling hot, hot, hot!!!

Yes, it has been a while hasn't it. Where have I been? Ummmm...I don't know, busy? on facebook? watching my reality tv shows? blogging for e(x)tol (www.nccextol.com - what would life be without a shameless plug or two). Who knows but it's super hot this week, and except for the basement, the kitchen in front of the fan is about the coolest place in the house. I don't actually mind the heat, and will miss it a few months from now when it's cold and rainy.
Do I even have anyone that checks my blog anymore? Who knows, perhaps if I update it more than once a year I'd get a few more readers. Anyway, I digress...
We have been busy, but then again, who hasn't! Wrapped up school, all three of us (me teaching, Jack preschool, Thornley 1st grade),


wrapped up church (July marked 7 years at Newport which means and eight week "sabbatical" for Adam - and I gave him the long awaited Vespa of his dreams),



Thornley earned enough points in the "Eager Beaver Bible Club" to get a new Bible (God bless the Ritzmanns!),



headed to Maui for two weeks thanks to some amazing and generous friends



and are back home readjusted to the time change and maybe, just maybe have caught up on the laundry/cleaning.

What's coming up? The boys are in a wedding this weekend; our babysitter Kaitlyn is getting married and has asked the boys to be ringbearers, should be cute if Thornley doesn't tackle Jack, or take off with the rings, then it's off to Bend for our usual week in Sunriver, and Adam and I have a little "getaway" planned before returning to church/work at the end of August.

So, I will try to be better about blogging, and hopefully I will remember to post pictures from the wedding this weekend!

Slim Pickings

I love Thornley! He is so awesome (which I sometimes forget when it's temper tantrum time). One of the things I love about him (which also drives me crazy from time to time) is his questions. He would make my grandpa proud with all his questions; grandpa LOVED an inquiring mind! Tonight he started off all his questions with. "I wonder...", here are some of the things he was wondering about tonight:
1. I wonder what it's like to die, you know, like what does it feel like
2. I wonder what heaven is like
3. I wonder what God looks like
4. I wonder what it's like to be married
The last statement lead to this conversation...
"Mommy, do you have to be a Christian to get married, because isn't marriage optional?"
"Yes, marriage is optional, but the important thing is that if you're a Christian, God wants you to marry someone else who is a Christian so you believe in the same thing."
"Well, then I don't have too many girls to choose from, the only girls I know who are Christians are Lauren, Gigi and Emily Nightingale."

You can take the girl out of California...

but you can't take California out of the girl. My students used to say things like that to me, "Miss Anderson, you can take the girl out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl". Man, I hated that expression! But I thought it fitting to tell our latest story...
A few weeks ago, maybe 3 to be exact, could be 4, who knows (I'm suffering from brain freeze, literally); our heater started acting up. Like, running for a short time then turning off, or just making a ticking noise like the pilot was trying to light but just wasn't catching, so I called the repair guy. We usually get our furnace serviced every year, since it's probably the original furnace (ok, not totally true, but I think it's about 20 years old), but this year we hadn't so I was sure that would do the trick. The soonest the guy could come was a Friday afternoon so Adam worked from home that day so he could be there to open the door. The guy comes and gets the furnace working, but tells Adam that it will be about $500 to get it working properly or a couple thousand to replace it all together (his recommendation). I told Adam, since it's running now just let it be and we'll save some money and get a new one in the fall. The next day the furnace totally died. We invested in a few space heaters because I refuse to pay all that money IN MARCH to fix my heater. I mean, come on, it should start warming up anytime now, right?
I woke up to snow this morning.

We may need to file for bankruptcy

OK, so not really, and I know it's not even funny to joke about those things, but I may need to get a second job (or 4th, depending on how you look at my employment) to pay for these lost teeth! Thornley's bottom tooth has been wiggly for a few days now and this morning it came out...


While Thornley was rinsing his mouth out, Jack announced that his tooth was loose, which he always does after Thornley looses a tooth and I say, "Oh, yes, look at that". But the thing is, today it really WAS loose; both of them, on the bottom. So this afternoon after much wiggling I yanked it out. My little Jackers - he's not even FIVE and has lost his first tooth. The one next to it is super wiggly too, and I'm sure if he'd let me in there again I could yank that one out too. Maybe tomorrow.



Hopefully this means both the boys will go to bed early so the tooth fairy can come!

Law Abiding Citizens

I was cleaning out the car today, something I usually do when I stop to get gas and have a big trash can at my disposal, and found this note Thornley had written. It was written with phonetic correctness, but I translated for those of you not hooked on phonics...

Law of the House:
1. No pushing
2. No helping Jack
3. No saying blah, blah, blah
4. Help me!
5. No making up names for dogs
6. No hitting me
7. No playing stupid games
8. No eating boogers

Better go post these to the front door.

I'd Like to thank BSD

I woke up early today to get some stuff done before heading to work, and found it snowed last night. I didn't think it looked like a lot of snow; we've certainly had more, and I think we've even had school when we've had this amount or more. So I really didn't think anything of it, was more intent on finding my craft and coloring sheets for the week. I check my email and there is a message from Thornley's school that BSD is an hour late start today. An hour late for BSD means no school for Jack and no work for me. I let the boys sleep in, and then we headed to church so I could get some work done and Thornley & Jack ran around the gym. So now my Tuesday work was done on Monday and I don't know what to do tomorrow, although I'm sure I'll come up with something!
I hate to admit it, because I will be hated by a few people, but I'm glad school was late, and I had an extra day off. I have been busy, busy lately so it was nice to have an extra day and get some stuff done around the house.
And more good news, we now have Direct TV, so I will be able to watch The Bachelor tonight!! I'm saving my big pile of laundry to fold while I tune in!!

Life in the Ghetto

I taught for many years in schools in "that part" of town; you know, the bad part. Never heard of Pittsburg, California, there could be a reason. We had many a lockdown, many teacher "all calls" (meaning rumor had it something was going to go down after school and all the teachers had to report to their morning/afternoon "duty" to prevent incidence (never quite got why all the teachers had to stand outside when they thought there was going to be a shooting, or knife incident). Even in Idaho, we had a lockdown at the elementary school when a guy across the street had a gun in a "hostage like situation", and there was a gang related shooting so the high school that I taught at was always locked. Wow - what's with these schools I've taught in?
So today, I'm pulling up to school to pick up Thornley and the road is blocked with cop cars. I'm thinking, was there an accident, what is going on? And I'm getting a bit nervous. A woman pulls up next to me and says their are in a lockdown and they are going to bus our kids to another school to be picked up. I called the school office and they said to just wait, they thought it would clear up soon, the police just had to do a little sweep threw the wooded area behind the school.
According to one of the ladies in the office, the community college had an emergency test today and it was so loud that all the schools in the area heard, "Get into the buildings and lock the doors", so they did. Then I guess one of the 5th graders, who had been out at recess, said they thought they saw someone with a gun in the woods. Police came to check it out, and deemed it clear, so while Cori, Mason, Jack and I are sitting in the parking lot we see a line of cops with big ole guns doing a perimeter sweep thru the playground. Haven't seen that much action since the SWAT team came to the neighbors house.
I thought Thornley would be FREAKED out, but he came running out of class telling me that they'd been in a lockdown, but it was boring because they had to lay on the ground with the lights turned off and no one could talk.
I'm glad the school took all precautions, and of course it's always better when there is a supposed gun on the OUTSIDE of the building as opposed to the inside (another plus for the "pod"-ness of the school).
Guess I should end my post and look into some homeschool curriculum!

And the Winner is...

Not Thornley, but the winner of this heat was in the "unlimited" category which means they are no longer in Cub Scouts, but wanted to build and race a car, so TECHNICALLY he won - a hard concept to explain to a 6 year old. His car did awesome (thanks Jim & Chris); he came in 2nd in his den, which has 12 boys, so that's pretty good, and he finished 13th overall out of 42 cars. For the boy who wasn't too into the whole Pinewood Derby thing, I now think he has the bug and is talking about what he wants his car to look like next year!

Meghan Anderson and her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Today was just one of those days. What I would like to be doing is tucking in my 4 year old and sitting on the couch watching mindless TV, while my husband takes the 6 year old to Cub Scouts. But alas, it is Pinewood Derby night and Thornley REALLY wants me to see his car race and Jack REALLY wants to see Thornley's car race.
It is the end of a long week. I'm having parent conferences this week, which just seems odd to me that in preschool you have conferences, but we do, so I am. My class has been talking about weather this week; snow in particular, so today we were making this really cute Snowman, Snowman book; very similar to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and a good review of shapes and colors. This morning I printed out all the pages of the book and when I got to work used the stencils to copy the shapes so they would be perfect. But, oops! Put them on the wrong page. Finally got the book put together the right way started the copying process and headed out to take Thornley to school. As we're crossing the street, the crossing guard says, "Good thing you have your coat on, there is a fire drill today". Of course, Thornley FREAKS OUT and wants me to stay with him all day. Wow, it is a good thing the fire drill was first thing, like 30 seconds after the bell rang so we were all still out in the hall listening to the fire alarm bouncing off cement walls. Finally back at work, one of the parents tells me at drop off time that his child threw up this morning, but they're sure he's ok, because after all it was only once and now he seems fine. The kid does have a cold; coughed, sneezed and generally was miserable all morning, but come to find out there was an afternoon playdate scheduled so apparently even when you're in preschool the show must go on! And how the conversation at snack time came around to the airplane crash last night, I have no idea, but I hope I don't get too many phone calls from disgruntled parents!
And the piece de resistance had to be when Jack walked into the kitchen while I was trying to get dinner on the table, with his shirt pulled up to his chin and says to me, "Look at my man boobs mom".
I could go on, but oh dear, it's almost time to go start the proverbial "engines" at the Pinewood derby.

Taking a Trip to the Impound Yard

It's Pinewood Derby time, which is a big thing in Cub Scout land. All a totally knew concept in the Anderson house, but you get a block of wood and out of it sculpt the car that will go the fastest. So Adam, Thornley, and our friends Jim & Chris have been diligently working on Thornley's car. He (Thornley) is very proud of it and looking forward to racing it tomorrow night. Last night was impound night for all the cars so after Adam's talk at youth group, he and Thornley headed off to the elementary school to have his car weighed and be assigned a number. I'll have to post an update and let you know how his car did. For now here are some pictures. Let's just hope his car is faster than fast, just like the "real" Lightning McQueen!

Deja Vu

Here is a picture of what is going on outside right now, meaning, tonight, Sunday, Jan 4th '09. Not to be confused with Dec 18 - 26th '08 when it snowed, and snowed and snowed and snowed - you get the picture...



Yep, snowing again. Adam assures me it is going to warm up overnight and when we wake up in the morning the snow will be gone and we can FINALLY get back to school. We shall see. If I've learned one thing from all of this, it's don't trust weather.com! (Oh, and I need chains for my car, and need to learn to drive in the snow).

Right after Christmas we enjoyed a visit from our friends, the Nightingales. I didn't take any pictures, I don't know why I always forget, so I have no pictures to show of their visit. We were all very excited to see them and have Matt lead worship at the 9:00 service - good stuff. It was fun seeing them and hanging out; we miss our friends the Nightingales!

Thornley got his first "official" haircut by someone other than Adam. He wanted a "Shark boy" cut and LOVES the spiked look! I think he looks so cute! Jack wanted a "big boy" haircut - shorter on the sides and longer in front - he's adorable as always. A few pictures of their new do's... (for some reason, I can't attach Jack's picture - check back later for the cuteness)


This post is disjointed and random; perhaps because I'm just feeling kind of blah. Anyway, just incase you missed it, I thought I'd let you all know - snowing again.