Aylee Moves to Advanced Orchestra

Today was Aylee's first day of Advanced Orchestra at the elementary school.  Last week her orchestra teacher called Amber and asked if it would be OK for Aylee to move up from the beginner orchestra to the advanced orchestra.  She is the only one in the beginner orchestra to be moved up.

Aylee started orchestra just this fall.  She chose to play the violin.  She has really come a long way and she includes practice of the instrument in her daily chore routine.  Looks like it is paying off.  We're excited for her.

Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day. We started off with a breakfast of heart pancakes, eggs and sausage. Then we headed off to the park to do some sledding. We took Chloe down with us a couple of times and then just sent her down on her own. She loved going solo and once we all got to the end she would just say "again" or "more". That girl has no fear!

We came back home and had some lunch and then went to Artic Circle for a .99 cent sundae. Chloe and I took a nice long nap while Dave worked on some projects and then that evening, Nae came to hang out with Chloe while Dave and I met up with some friends for a fun game night.

Chloe and Nae had a pizza party and made some delicious cup cakes for us when we returned home. They seemed to have quite a bit of fun also! It was an enjoyable day.

New Paint!

Ashlee came and visited (and I say that loosely - she ended up working most of the time she was down here) in Provo from Feb 3 through the 8th. While she was here, Amber and Ashlee were busy repainting our kitchen and living room. Painting was just the half of it...they also did a considerable amount of redecorating!

I tried to capture the room in a panoramic view, but the lighting was making the pictures go off on the color. You may need to click on the picture itself to see it larger.

It really changes the way the house looks. It is always fun to turn things around a bit!

Amber's Birthday

Thursday was Amber's birthday. We had a great, laid back day of fun. Amber and I went to lunch at TGIFridays. They had a two for one coupon on SlickDeals that week, so it seemed like a good place to go. Our waitress was very slow and took her time doing things like getting us our bill - namely 20 minutes after we asked for it. Other than that, we had a fun time.

That evening we then went to dinner (yes, again - twice in the same day) to Macaroni Grill. We took the kids with us there and we all enjoyed ourselves.

We knew we were going to be eating a ton that day due to two restaurant visits, so Amber didn't want a cake of any kind. Instead, Amber and I helped Aliece make mini cupcakes the day before. (Aliece had gotten a "Fairy" cookbook from the library earlier in the week). Then, on Amber's birthday, Johnathan was bored, so Amber had him help her frost and decorate her birthday cupcakes. I know it makes me sound like a louse - but I was at work, and Amber thought it would be fun - I swear!

So, at bedtime, we sang the final birthday song and we each had one of the mini-fairy-cupcakes. Hmmm....fairies taste pretty good, actually :-).

Wild Andersen Girls

If you can't see this video here, you can click on the following link:
http://ht4.org/softie213

The other day, Aliece got Amber to spontaneously do a little spunky dance while simultaneously tossing red valentines streamers and pink flower petals in the air.

Wow! This is my household!

High Chair Graduate

Just in the past week or so, Jace decided that he had had enough of the baby high chair business. He started to refuse to sit in his high chair in lieu of sitting at the table with everyone else.

We have met on a compromise--we have attached our travel high chair to one of our table chairs and now we scoot him up to the table with the rest of us at meal time. He has been somewhat appeased.

Jace is at that stage where he doesn't want to be considered a baby. He is starting to notice that he is "unjustly" prevented from participating on many of the same activities as his older siblings and it drives him nuts!

Too Cold to Play in the Snow?

The other day, Aliece wanted to build a snowman, but either she didn't want to get too cold being outside, or we wouldn't let her go outside. Anyway, she decided to bring the snow indoors. She piled a bunch of snow on this cookie sheet and spent time working on her snow creation.

January Daddy Date with Aliece & Alayna

In January, I took Aliece and Alayna on their Daddy Date. We thought we would take the camera along with us to have some fun with it.

We started the date at McDonald's, of course. Then we went to the Animal Science Museum at BYU. The kids had a great time looking at all of the animals and watching a live demonstration on Reptiles!

We made a little movie about the date and you can see it below:



If you can't see the video here, go to the following URL:
http://ht4.org/quasi814

Washing the Floors

If you cannot see the movie above, you can click on the following url:
http://ht4.org/acorn425

The other day, Aliece wanted to be paid to wash the kitchen floor. I taught her how to do it and she set to work. It looked like so much fun, Jace decided that he wanted in on the action. It was really fun to watch the two of them work together.

Budding Artist

Jace has become a regular artist. About a month ago he really got into coloring. He scribbles all over his paper, the table, white doors, and big walls. We have so many markings all over the house now, it is incredible. We have a hard time policing his pencil use. Any time he finds a writing instrument, it is instantly in his hands and running all over the nearest flag surface!

Don't you wish you could sleep anywhere?

 

The other day Alayna was complaining about being tired. I can't remember if she was heading to bed and just decided to call it quits on the stairs, or if she was playing on the stairs and decided that now was as good a time as any. Either way, I could never get up from that position and walk straight again!

Pay It Forward

PaY it FoRwArd

Here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me.

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What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well-before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going.

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Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!"I'll be waiting for your comments with baited breath to see who the lucky winners are....

Singing Time!

Oops. . .didn't mean to post that last one already :)

Chloe is our singer. She loves to sing and sings throughout the day. It's fun to hear her make up songs and play on her keyboard. The other day I shot this little clip I thought was cute and wanted to share. She doesn't always get all the words and sometimes it's funny to see what she comes up with instead.

Some evenings we'll get out our little hymn books or the Children's song book and she loves it. She'll sing songs with us for as long as we'll sing.

Singing Time!

Chloe is 2!

Wow! I can't believe my baby is 2! It's been a week and a half since her birthday but I thought I would write a bit about her special day. For breakfast, she had oatmeal with a candle in it. She thought that was pretty neat. We had to keep lighting it and letting her blow it out over and over. I figured it was her birthday so I'd be patient.

We woke up to about 6 inches of new wet snow, perfect for building a snowman! The weather was really quite warm also and it was so fun to be outside without freezing our appendages off. I shoveled the drive way and the car off and man was that a work out! Chloe kept saying . . . Frosty the Snowman mom! So, then we decided to build a snowman. We spent a couple hours playing in the snow and it was so fun!

For lunch, we met Nae at McDonald's and let Chloe play on the toys why we visited.

When Dave got home, we packed up, picked up Nae and headed to Arbon for Chloe's party. We had pizza for dinner and then opened presents. She was so excited with everything she got. It was a chore to encourage her to keep opening her gifts. We still have one from Christmas that we ended up saving for her birthday and then a couple more from her birthday. I figured we might as well take our time and when she gets bored someday with all her new activities, then we'll open a present. After presents, we had cake and ice cream. Check out that awesome lady bug cake! That's my first cake and it was a lot of fun. Chloe was really excited about it also. We sure had a fun day!