How is it July already?

I for one am shocked it is July and guess what?? I haven't blogged in a looooooooooong time again!! What is wrong with me? Besides being busy with 4 kids, a busy real estate business, leading a small group from our home, home schooling the kids and, and, and... So, wow, I guess the blog is a low priority and doesn't need anything from me!! (If the blog starts bickering with its siblings or calling for help in the bathroom, I will be very concerned...) :)

Here's some pictures of the cuties that we did for Eric for Father's Day!!

These boots were made for walking...

Just a fun time outside in our boots!

Samuel's 7th Birthday

We celebrated Sam's 7th birthday at IHOP with lots of family and friends! What a fun day!
We also continued the Christmas Eve morning tradition, so he gets to celebrate on his actual birthday!! Fun times!

He's making a list, checking it twice...

As many of you know, my Dad has been a Professional Santa for the past 4 years now! It's fun to have the kids visit him and get pictures whenever there's an opportunity!

Wordless Wednesday.

Ok, just a few words...

Cousins Maddie and Abby came over to play for a few hours the other day.

No more words, I promise.

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to the weekly blog carnival, hosted by MckMama, at My Charming Kids! I hope you'll join along!!

1. I did not almost lose my cool with the boys last week because they were fighting over a play shovel in the backyard. I did not threaten to break it in half if they came in and told me that "so-and-so took the shovel and I want it back" again. I am a very level-headed, calm parent and I do not make threats like this to my kids.

2. I did not weed our front garden beds for the FIRST TIME in my life last week! Turns out that, growing up, my Dad always did the yardwork and I never learned how! In talking to my Mom, she confirmed this by saying that she doesn't think she's ever weeded either...

3. I did not officially begin our home school curriculum last week and LOVE it! I do not love the direction and support it provides us! I also do not think we waited just a tad bit too long to begin Sam on the kindergarten curriculum, because he's reading the lesson to me!

4. We are not starting P90x today, in an attempt to get in shape and lose weight! I did not fall asleep watching the introductory DVD on Saturday night. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign!

5. Yesterday, I did not, while changing Grace's diaper on the back deck, somehow lose my grip on her wiggly, roly poly body and watch as her head solidly connected with the deck. KONK! She did not cry immediately and I did not feel terrible, especially when a little bump formed on her forehead.

6. I did not get mad at Eric and the boys, when as a joke, Samuel and Elijah showed me their bottoms at bedtime, instead of giving me my goodnight kisses.

Wordless Wednesday

Question: What's funner than sprinklers??

Answer: Pretty much nothing!

Tacoma Rainiers!

So, we decided to purchase 4 seats to a package of Tacoma Rainiers baseball games this year! It seemed like a fun, fairly inexpensive, memorable thing we could do with the boys. We weren't up for attending all 84 games (who is, really?) but decided to go with a package that gives us 8 games and 7 of those include FIREWORKS!!

Awhile back there was a "ticket holder event," that we went to and it was so fun! It was freezing that day, but we bundled up and made the best of it! There was face-painting, free hot dogs, free drinks, balloon animals, a bounce house, an opportunity to scope out your seats and meet some players, more free stuff and best of all, Rhubarb the friendly mascot!!

Here's some of the highlights of our fun day at the ballpark!


**Finding our seats and checking out the view!**

**A fun baseball mural!**

**Elijah takes his turn!**

**LoVe how perfect this one of Eric turned out!**

**Who loves Rhubarb?? WE DO!!!**

**Elijah asked me later if Rhubard was a real moose or just one wearing a costume? I said he wasn't real, it was just a costume. Elijah said, "I think he's real, because fake animals talk on the cartoons, but real animals don't, and Rhubarb didn't talk at all."**

**Balloon animal/swords. How cool are they?**

**Even Eric got face painted!!**

**Pretty cool, huh?**

**Suprise, suprise... Sam wanted NOTHING to do with the paint gun on his face, so we settled on his hand getting painted!!**

**Elijah went with the Mariners "S" on his face!**

Goodbye Grandma Dimond.

Some of you may know that my Mom's Mom, Naydene Dimond, passed away April 4th at 81 years old. Here's a few pics of her just 5 weeks prior at a little birthday celebration my Mom threw for her.

Here's what was written in her obituary about her life:

Naydene passed away April 4, 2009, at age 81. She was born in Puyallup on Feb. 29, 1928, to Henry and Dorothy Veenhuizen, Jr. and lived most of her life in Tacoma and Puyallup. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred Dimond, Jr. and is survived by her eight children-Nancy (Dale) Scott, Cindy (Verne) Keyes, Richard Dimond, Janis (Toxie) Case, Jean (Harry) Tuttle, Jeff (Colleen) Dimond, Becky (Pete) Owen and Chris (Jeri) Dimond, 14 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren. Also survived by her brother Richard (Rose) Veenhuizen, sisters Joyce Beck and Joann (Lyle) Bishop, brother-in-law Robert Dimond, nieces and nephews. Naydene loved flowers and gardening, and took great pride in having raised her eight children. Viewing will be held on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 12:00pm with Services at 1:00pm in the Chambers Creek Chapel in New Tacoma Cemetery. 9212 Chambers Creek Rd. W., University Place, WA 98467. In lieu of flowers please make donations to the American Heart Association.

Thank you everyone for your kind words, prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated by my entire family!

Things Kids Say

I posted this on Facebook, but thought I'd post it here too, just so I can keep it around forever! Or for a long time at least.

Things Kids Say.... Copy this note, ask your kid the questions and write them down exactly how they respond.

Samuel 6
Elijah 4
Luke 3

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Sam – to be quiet downstairs so we don’t wake up grace
Elijah – you love me
Luke – do you want cereal?

2. What makes mom happy?
Sam – if I obey
Elijah – when I do my job, not someone else’s job
Luke – my dog

3. What makes mom sad?
Sam – when I’m gone for 1 week or 10 weeks
Elijah – if I do the wrong thing
Luke – nothing makes you sad

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Sam – when you pull on my toe (huh?)
Elijah – go on the floor and cry (what?)
Luke – goes like this, ha ha ha ha (probably the closest to the truth…)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Sam – a little girl
Elijah – you ate peanut butter crackers and you looked like cousin Maddie
Luke – I don’t know what you were like as a little girl? A bottom? (I’m just writing the facts here folks.)

6. How old is your mom?
Sam - 28
Elijah - 7
Luke – 3 (umm, that’s your age actually)

7. How tall is your mom?
Sam – as tall as 2 kids
Elijah –as tall as Gavin
Luke – big

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Sam – printing pictures out
Elijah – eat
Luke – hold baby Grace

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Sam – run errands
Elijah – work in the office
Luke - nothing

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Sam – driving the car
Elijah – for being my Mom
Luke – going potty (thanks Luke)

11. What is your mom really good at?
Sam – doing real estate
Elijah – writing stuff on your computer
Luke – going potty (well, I try…)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Sam – helping Daddy do the yard work
Elijah – lifting heavy things
Luke – being like Spiderman

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Sam – real estate
Elijah- pack boxes
Luke – change diapers

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Sam – spicy candies
Elijah – Diet Coke
Luke – popcorn

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Sam – when you go to work and I get to play
Elijah – for you to be my partner
Luke – I don’t know.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Sam – Thomas the Train
Elijah – Bugs Bunny
Luke – Lightening McQueen

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Sam – make cookies
Elijah – eat
Luke – go potty (one way street though!)

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Sam – we both have 2 brown eyes
Elijah – we both have Anderson in our last name
Luke – (you guessed it.) go potty

19. How are you and your mom different?
Sam – we have different hair
Elijah – you have long hair and I have short hair
Luke – mom is a girl

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Sam – because you tell me all the time
Elijah – because you tell me you love me
Luke – I love you

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Sam – snuggling with him
Elijah – that he loves you
Luke – oh my gosh.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Sam – to your Mom’s house
Elijah – to the pumpkin patch
Luke – in the car

Wordless Wednesday.

Even though I am a not a woman of many words, I do have a few words to add to this post...

I was laughing hysterically when I looked out the window and noticed the boys were dumping snow over their heads on the most recent snowday! Brrr! That's why I try to avoid the snow and stay inside with my hot coffee and slippers!

Eric and I think it's funny how everytime it's snowed recently (like an average of once a week since November or something,) the boys are increasingly more thrilled about it and we're in complete contrast, less thrilled about it snowing AGAIN!! Oh well, I suppose spring has to come soon, right? Right?!

P.S. Do you like the bandaid on Sam's face?? Ha!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, we're all wearing green today! Grace has frogs on her shirt, you may not be able to see them though! Hope your St. Patty's Day is/was great and that you get to enjoy some corned beef and cabbage! (If that's your thing!) We enjoyed it twice, thank you very much! We had some over at my parents on Saturday night and then again at Eric's mom's house on Monday! So, what are we eating tonight, the actual St. Patty's day? Meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes, of course. Not that you really care about our dinner menu though! Bye for now!!

4 Little Sweeties!

I only had to take 72 pictures to capture this one. And, wouldn't you know it, it was one of the first 4 that I took! :) Plus, I could NOT get Grace to smile! (Maybe because she can't see my normal "smile helpers" ...)

Happy Birthday Abby!

My niece Abby just turned 1 on Sunday and we went to a nice party at Paul and Leah's to celebrate! There was a great lunch for us all and cake and gifts, of course! Here's some of the highlights...