The little things

I know I need to blog more. I forget to write down the little things. I feel I can only blog when something happens. So here are some things I’ve missed in the last month…

Swine flu at my house, pretty sure everyone had it- Lilli was actually tested for it (positive of course) ( My anxiety and panic attacks cropped up again as a result of worrying about all this but that is another story!)

Emma made the HIGH honor roll at school! (She was excited!)

We got to meet Mark Walton (A Disney Animator and the voice of Rhino in the movie bolt!) He is a friend of a friend and came to Lars class to talk to his 3D animation class about…animation ;~) Oscar was so excited the night before we met him that he could hardly sleep. lol

I had a Jewelry party at my house, even though I really don’t wear jewelry (my dear friends were mercilessly making fun of me for this!) But to help an old friend I will do many things.

Thought about, and then discarded, the idea of taking a vacation to Cali for Thanksgiving and ditching out on the big family thing. BUT since ALL my siblings will actually be in town for Thanksgiving we decided to stay here in the cold.

Having the desire to move again (It is just a part of who I am, I long for a new adventure every couple years!) I’d love to move somewhere totally new. One of my favorite things to do it go online to www.findyourspot.com and look at different places to live in the US. Check it out, it is a fun website. Beyond the US we would love to live in Denmark for a few years to give the kids that experience, get to their roots, get to know family that is there, and learn the language. It is a dream, but hopefully we’ll at least get to visit someday. (If we quit spending all the money we don’t have on Disneyland/world! haha)

I’ve gone on several fun GNO’s with my gal pals! Love those ladies! Looking forward to another girls night away sometime in the future! (A couple of days away from the family, giving the daddies quality bonding time with the kids!!!, and doing nothing but shopping, talking, and eating with some of my best friends!) Until then a night at the movies, or bakery, is awesome too!

We sold 2 of our cars and got a new, to us, Chevy Tahoe! LOVE IT! And it will pull the tent trailer so much better than our Trooper did!

I have been enjoying the cool fall weather, crunchy leaves on the ground, and plenty of hot chocolate! I also have enjoyed baking pumpkin treats galore as well as gingersnaps to go with the hot chocolate! LOVE FALL!

Lars and I celebrated our 13th anniversary!! Sounds so long, but has gone by so fast!

I said I would blog about my love of fall sometime but I think I’ll need a whole post just for that! :-D

So those are the little things that have been happening in our lives! Lots of adventures, lots of drama, lots of fun!

Lucky 13

Well, we did it! Lars and I have survived 13 years together! Whew...what a trek ;-P
Really, they have been wonderful years. We have had 4 amazing kids together, many fun times, and some hard times. BUT we have stuck together through it all, and it really hasn't been that hard to do because Lars is wonderful to me. He loves me, listens to me (mostly ;P), and is my friend and companion through it all.
It is strange to think I have been married for 13 years, it sounds so long, but it has gone so fast. I used to hear about people celebrating their 15th anniversary and thinking "WOW, that is such a long time!" And now here I am a mere 2 years from 15.
It is interesting to think back on it all now, and I have been doing a lot of that since my neice just became engaged to be married. She is almost 19 and I remember being that age, getting ready to marry and being so happy to be where I was. I know I was young, but I don't regret my decision one bit. We have learned together, laughed together, and cried together. (Well I've done most of the crying but Lars has done the important part...the listening and the hugging.) Sappy, yes, but so true and so important.
I remember people telling me I was too young, I had a whole life ahead of me. You know what, I couldn't, and still can't, imagine that life not having Lars in it. We have had many adventures together, including the 4 kids, and I still have a whole life ahead of me, it just happens to include him. :D And I wouldn't have it any other way. He gets, as in understands, me and I can't imagine anything being more important. He lets me ramble, worry, and even rant. He knows me and understands how to help me, how to laugh with me, (and even when to ignore me lol) and he loves me.
I'm sure this doesn't mean a lot to anyone other than me but I had to commemorate the occasion by writing this down. Who says 13 is unlucky? We made it through 13 and I'm sure this 14th year will be just as wonderful, full of adventure, hard times, and fun times. But no matter what the year, and years to come, throw at us I am a lucky girl because I know without a doubt that he will still love me and will be by my side. And he will still get me...and to me that means a lot.

Disneyworld pictures

Disney World in a nutshell

Friends and Family...














Character meetings...

Other adventures...

Friendships and saying goodbye...

Quick Catch up post

So much to say and never enough time to post it! So the kids are back in school and already halfway through the first term! Had parent teacher conferences. It usually goes about how I expect it. Emma's teachers "Emma is doing wonderful, always turns in her work, and is a pleasure to have in class! She is sweet and very bright." Oscar's teachers "Oscar is energetic and so funny. And what a GREAT artist! He is so much fun to have in class. BUT...he has a little trouble turning in work and spends too much of his class time drawing." ;) He actually had to take make-up work on our Disney World trip. Poor guy, but that is how it goes.
And the teachers are spot on with my kids. They are both so wonderful and SO different. They have their strengths and weaknesses. Emma's humanities teacher this year is the same one Oscar had last year. The first thing she said when I ran into her a couple weeks after school started was "Crystal! How are you? WOW...Oscar and Emma are such different kids, aren't they?!" We laughed about it, but the wonderful thing was that she is able to tell me what she loves about both of them and not how one is better than the other. I LOVE teachers like that.

As for Henry, I am homeschooling him for now. We are having such fun with it! Lilli is loving having someone home besides me and loves to "have school" with us. He is doing great and is working hard. He just needed a little extra one on one work and has some things he is working through. He is such a great kid! I love homeschooling him and will be sad when he is ready to go back to school.

My grandpa had heart surgery in August and I spent the week before the kids went back to school up at the hospital with him. My wonderful aunt came into town for the first few days and it was so nice to have her there. After he was released from the hospital he came to stay with us for a bit until he was allowed to do things on his own. He is home now, driving, and just feeling great! We are so grateful and can't believe how quickly he has healed. We had expected at least 4 months of long, slow recovery. BUT that isn't Gramps style. He hates to sit around so he just decided to get better ;)
So all in all, I've had plenty to keep me busy, along with every day life! :D

THEN came Disney World!!!! Have I mentioned that I LOVE all things Disney? Well, I do! :) We had a great time, saw our wonderful friends, and made some amazing memories (not all of them good I assure you! lol) There was the look on the children's faces when they meet that first character, the pride in my 12 year old as he and our friends son got to venture off on their own in the parks, the heat and humidity, the guy harassing my husband and kids because he swears my niece sneezed on his food. Lars getting security to haul the guy off, Lilli and Tony (the 4 year old of our friends) forming the cutest little friendship, and for us old folks (HAHA) the sore feet and backs ;) (PICTURES TO COME SOON!)

Other things that have happened, Oscar turned 12! That is just huge to me. He is more than halfway to adulthood. It goes way too fast. He is still into art, loves to be with friends and is our ever fun-loving guy!


Emma, turned 11. She is growing up too fast as well. She decided to cut her hair and get her ears peirced for her birthday. She is such a cute, sassy little dresser. I love it! (though don't tell her, cause she already likes to shop too much!)



I think that is about it for the last couple months, not much has happened ;) Same ol', same ol' here at the Andersen household! Adventure after adventure, we are having fun.

DISNEYWORLD!

We are off to Disney world in a couple hours. I am up early making sure all is ready, but I must admit that it is mostly because I'm so excited I can't sleep :D
I just told Lilli a couple days ago that we were going to Mickey's house; she was excited about that. Then I told her we were going to ride on a plane to Mickey's house. She started to clap her hands in excitement and then stopped and looked at me with her adorable face and said "But we don't have a plane, Mom!" She just makes me laugh sometimes, well a lot actually! I told her that there are planes that you get to pay money to ride on and she resumed her excitement and ran off to tell everyone else. The other kids are excited as well but I still don't think anyone is as excited as me! I'm not really looking forward to the plane ride. It will be us and our 4 kids PLUS Lars' brother and his family. They have 5 kids. So 4 adults and 9 kids on one airplane- the other passengers are going to hate us. Well not my kids of course, they are angels...always. 0:-) They will have all their electronics so that will help, and I will have a good book and my music. Good times.
Some good friends will be meeting us in Florida as well. They live in Georgia and we don't get to see them all that often. It will be a grand reunion and party. Living it up at the All Star Music Resort in Disney world. I'm sure it is rockin'!
I'm hoping that when we return it will feel more like fall here. Where is all that good weather? It is still too hot! I love fall, about as much as I love spring, but for completely different reasons, of course, but that is another story.
For now, I am off to Disney world! Catch ya when I get back (with enough pictures to bore everyone for hours!)

Photo shoot

Last month we had our pictures taken by a friend who is trying to make a break in the photography industry. I just thought I would post a few of the pictures he emailed me. I'll have to post more when he gets us the CD.

We had a good time, it is has been awhile since we had a family photo taken. As always, the kids are by far cuter than the adults! ;)

Sad bunny update

We had a sad event at the Andersen home today. Our newest bunny, Licorice, passed away today. We aren't positive what happened but we heard a rabbit screaming (and yes the really do scream!) and ran to see what was wrong. My first thought was that Lilli had gotten into the cage and was "loving" the bunnies too much; instead we found a bunny that was very hurt or scared and within a moment he was gone. We aren't sure what happened originally, but I am almost sure that he died from a heart attack, the number 1 killer of rabbits. They just can't handle massive scares.
We are all so sad, he was so sweet and friendly. It is always hard to lose a pet, but it is a harsh reality of having animals, especially when we have so many. We will miss him but are happy we could make the last few weeks of his life happy.