Merry Christmas 2010

'Twas the night before Christmas
in the Anderson home
2010 comes to an end
and so many changes galore.

Some ups and some downs
a few lessons and glories,
we've been crazy busy
with our sweet family story.

Leah is 3, started preschool this year.
She loves jewelery and shoes, sparkles and pink,
anything princess and girly
she's a glamour girl with a smidgen of 'tude.

Chasing Dillan outside,
taking care of her dolls,
she's tough and cuddly
chewing gum all the day long.

Dillan is 5, a big Kindergarten boy
at the top of his class, he's the King of Sight Words.
He's made many new friends, loves learning and play;
school's been exciting each and every day.

He shines on the soccer turf,
scoring goal after goal,
he's quick and aggressive
not afraid to play tough
Fun to watch as he learns
how to hate how to lose.

Kim stays busy keeping the family on task:
Everyone clean, fed, healthy and happy
and of course well-behaved.
Keeping Primary organized when she's a second to spare,
there's never enough time to do it all!
Preparing for Baby #3 just after the new year
having faith he'll be healthy and all will be well.
It's been a long wait and test of faith with many prayers
& blessings along the way.

Chris remains at Best Buy learning patience and faith
hoping for a new career using his new MBA.
Applications and interviews, staying positive and sure
that there are good things ahead and all will be well.
Working with the missionaries and members to share,
he's seen many baptisms, serving faithfully and learned
that the Lord performs miracles through any servant he calls.

Two-thousand and ten was our year to learn hope
and have faith in our Father in Heaven.
We are so richly blessed
every day, every year
and we know that He loves us
and will always be there.

We are grateful for family & friends
with unconditional love
and shining examples of choosing the right.
From our family to yours:
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all
and to all a good night!

Christmas Program

The entire Kindergarten had their Christmas Program at school.
Dillan had practiced the songs a lot at home, and it showed. Two different moms told me how impressed they were with how well he sang. He must get that from Daddy!



Mrs Iverson said that he wanted to be in the highest back row spot whenever they practiced.
At least it made it easy to watch him.



After the program, everyone returned to their classrooms to put on their "Polar Express" box cars.
Dillan had a lot of fun decorating his box.
The instructions were very specific as to the size of the box and gave different suggestions as to how to decorate it. It was also stressed that the children needed to be involved as much as possible, not just the parents.
Dillan chose 3 different colors of wrapping paper, and wanted silver for the front of his car. We used aluminum foil. We found some red garland and battery-powered lights for cheap.
It took a lot of work, but he looked good!



They formed a huge long train and went all over the school, in and out of classrooms. Parents followed, taking pictures. Chris was a big help with some of the kids who couldn't hardly hold their boxes up or whose decorations were falling off. Those boxes needed to look good, but also last the long journey.

It was fun to see all the different boxes, each one so different. Of course, there were some that were obviously done by the parents without much help from the child.
After a little while, Leah decided to join the train, holding Dillan's hand. She loved it. She couldn't take her eyes off one of Dillan's classmates' boxes. It was pink, with a tower, flowers everywhere, and Rapunzel's picture in the window. Pretty good for a 5-year-old.



Mrs Iverson thought it was so cute that Leah joined in the group, like one of the kids.
At the end of the train ride, they returned to the Kindergarten playground where Santa was waiting. Somehow Leah missed out on grabbing a candy cane from Santa, so Dillan gave his to her, on his own, without a second thought. It was so sweet.



Kindergarten is so much fun at Christmas!!!

Christmas Cookies

We had fun decorating cookies with Grandma & Papa. Lots of cookies, lots of sprinkles, frosting, and lots and lots of sugar bugs.

Since Dillan visited the dentist last month, he's been a tad obsessed with the amount of sugar bugs he eats.

"Mom, are there sugar bugs in milk?"

"Mom, I just want water and ice because I don't want sugar bugs."

I'm proud of him for being contientious about what he's eating and wanting to take care of his teeth, and thankfully he's not 100% against sugar bugs, because he ate some of his decorated cookies. He's gotten a lot of compliments on his smile, to which Daddy takes all the credit.

Of course, Mommy has been eating A LOT of sugar bugs lately (blame the baby in the tummy) and Dillan is right there to remind me of all the sugar bugs I eat.

Lion's Pride!

Dillan was awarded "Pride of the Lions" for his class today. Chris, Leah and I were able to go to the assembly to see him honored in front of the school. His teacher told me Thursday, and reminded me to keep it a secret.

We didn't tell him we were going to be there, but he finally spotted us anyway. We wondered if he figured it out, but I don't think he did.



His name was read, he got a sticker and a magnet for mom and dad to hang proudly on the fridge. Then he lined up with the other honored students. After the assembly, Mrs Iverson invited us back to the classroom to see the rest of the presentation. He lead the class back and got to sit on a big stool in front of everyone.



Then Mrs Iverson led the class in a cheer and had everyone in the class say why they thought Dillan was the Lion's Pride. It was cute to hear some of their responses. "Because he doesn't scribble" "Because he doesn't throw wood chips at other kids." She then pulled out a certificate that had listed her reasons for selecting him. You were chosen as the Pride of the Lions because, you follow directions. You complete your work on time. And you are working hard to be a good writer. You are a good citizen in Room 3.



She then explained what he would get to do for the week. Be the line leader, take the attendance to the office everyday, sit on the big stool in front of the class during reading time, all kinds of fun stuff.



We're so proud of you Dillan!

Tenn.

The kids and I were fortunate to spend Thanksgiving break in Tennessee! It was exciting getting ready, the kids couldn't wait to go on an airplane and see their cousins Roxy, Dono, and JoJo.







We had so much fun playing and visiting and so many things to do together, the time went by way too fast. Tangled, ear piercings, swings, McDonalds, walks, pictures, dance battles, Black Friday shopping, dress up, sword fights, delicious Thanksgiving feast, lots of treats and playtime.







Someday we'll all live close together and the fun will never have to end!



We miss you guys and can't wait till next time!

Changing Seasons

And soccer's over.
We had a really fun season. No, it wasn't close in our own backyard, but we've concluded it was worth a little extra drive. We definitely lucked out with our coach. He was great. He had the perfect temperament to coach, and Dillan responded and respected him. Plus he had a lot to teach the players, things that I didn't think 5-year-olds were capable of learning!



They proved me wrong. Dillan did great with scoring goals, dribbling, and playing defense. We're a little sad to see the season over, but the coach asked if we'd play in the springtime as he'd like to coach again and wants Dillan on the team. So we'll just all be together again! Should be fun.

But we're getting ready for Christmas around here. Since we'll be gone to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, we decided to get everything ready before we left.



We've been decorating, making lists, making plans, and we're getting ready. It's a lot of fun to see how excited the kids are.



Dillan asked, "How old is Jesus going to be on His birthday?" I told him since Jesus doesn't live on the earth, he doesn't get older. That just disappointed him, since he's hoping to live to be infinity-his new favorite number. He wants to be the first in his class to count to infinity.

Speaking of, we had his parent/teacher conference this week. His teacher said he's in the top 5 in his class. Then she said he's at the top. She tested him on 2nd and 3rd trimester skills, and he's already mastered some. She asked my permission to start him on 1st grade site words, since he's finished the 35 for Kinder. He's just got to work on his penmanship and writing. And writing his last name, which is apparently long. We'll just keep working but we are so proud of our little smarty pants Cub!

Moments with Dillan

The Kindergarten classes brought home the Thanksgiving Turkey to disguise for Thanksgiving dinner and not get eaten.
Dillan and I brainstormed a few ideas. We were set on dressing up the turkey like Santa Claus. Of course, Mommy with extremely forgetful brain cells completely forgot about the project after a few days. It was Dillan who, the night before the due date, brought up the turkey project!
Oh NO!
Then he told me that he had talked with some friends at school about doing Santa and they wanted to do the same. So naturally that idea was dissed.
After more thinking, Dillan chose Batman. Great. Sunday night scrounging around for how to pull of a Batman turkey.
Thankfully I found some paper in just the right colors. And it worked.
Yes, I helped with the project. I wanted Dillan to be proud of it. It reminded me of years ago when my dad stayed up late helping me finish a project for school. No, I don't claim to have any kind of artistic talent, but I was fairly happy with the finished project.
I looked online after Dillan went to school and found some pictures of classes who did the same project. I saw Santa, more than once, and a lot of snowmen. Three cotton balls pasted over the turkey. Draw-in some eyes, a carrot nose and you're done. I'm still proud of ours.


Before


After

And another recent moment...

Dillan: Mom, when's the baby gonna get here?

Mom: Just a few more months.

Dillan: So am I gonna be 6 when the baby is born?

Mom: No, you will still be 5. It will be after Christmas.

Dillan: (pondering)...AFTER Christmas???

Mom: Yup.

Dillan: (huge mischievous grin) So the baby won't get any presents!!!

Oh to have the worries of a 5-year-old!