Riley's Science Fair and Birthday

 Riley had to do a science fair project for school.  I didn't want to do the usual volcano so I was racking my brain to come up with a project.  One night while eating dinner it came to me.  Riley is always asking me to cool down his dinner for him and we do it a lot of different ways.  Sometimes I blow and stir.  Sometimes we put it in the freezer and sometimes I just dish it out first and let it sit. So, we decided to test which method worked the best.  We used a thermometer and timed it.  We made hot chocolate and found that stirring and blowing cooled it down the fastest.  We made a line graph and a bar graph of our findings.  They didn't give any awards but I think if the had, Riley would have gotten one.

 

 

  It was a good project.  I think I will like having a kid in school to do fun projects with.


Riley decided he wanted to have a Ninjago (lego ninjas) birthday party.  I made these cupcakes for Riley's class the day of his birthday.









The girl in the pink is Riley's friend Angie.  He has a little crush on her.  She is a cutie.

 Riley has been dying to eat at a Chinese Restaurant so we decided to go for his birthday. 

I made headbands for all the kids and Reid and Riley couldn't wait to put them on.

 Here is the kid sushi for the party inspired by Pinterest.

 The goodie bags were these little take out containers filled with candy.

 We did a ninja training course.  Here are the kids lining up for the races.

It was a successful party.  A lot of kids came and Riley had a great time.  I can't believe my baby is six.  I love him so much and he is becoming such a great kid.  We love him so much and are so lucky to have him.

Leftovers

I always struggle with leftovers, especially ham. I can only take so many sandwiches. I started looking at the website ourbestbites.com because of my friend Staci. Everything I have ever made from this site is so delicious and practical. Here is a recipe for creamy corn chowder and it was seriously so delicious I wish I would have made more. If you ever need cooking ideas, try here too.

Happy cooking!

Longest post ever!

This was Maggie's first time in her little crib. She is sleeping in it now and loves it.
Riley loves holding Maggie and she loves him.
These are the flowers my sister Mary sent me for my birthday. They are the first flowers I have ever had delivered to me. Look at those orange roses!! Thanks Mary!
This is my little angel on Easter Sunday. Isn't she so pretty?!?!?
This was Mags on Valentines Day. Her little smirk is so cute!

She is such a smiley baby.
Riley lost his first tooth on Valentines Day and his second on St. Patricks Day.

My adorable kids on Easter.


As an update, we are doing well. Chris is loving school so much and we are enjoying some days of nice weather, even though we had snow today!! Reid is giving me a run for my money and Maggie is seriously the light of my life. I love her so much and have to say that I think Chris might love her more. She has him wrapped around her tiny fingers. Riley is almost 6 and is a great kid. He is so smart and talented.

Thanks for checking back. I will try to update more.

I'm kind of back!

My problem has been that Chris always has the computer with him at school and by the time he gets home I don't want to make a post. All the funny things and annoying things that have happened during the day want to, or have been long forgotten. So, with out further ado...

Maggie Rose Andersen has arrived!!!!!






Our sweet girl arrived on December 6th at 12:30 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz and is 18.5 inches long. She is so small and adorable. We all love our little baby!!

Off the face of the Earth

Clothing

As soon as I found out I was having a girl I started allowing myself to look at girl clothes. I felt very overwhelmed at first. I think I was just in the wrong stores. I went to Toys R Us today and they had all of their baby clothes on sale. I found a few things for next summer that I couldn't pass on because the price was so good. I feel like I have a feel of what I want my little girl in. I can't wait for winter things to start coming out. I want to buy her a little girly sleeper. So fun!!! I will post a pic of all of my buys.

It's a....

GIRL!!! I can't believe it! Our little baby is precious and I can't wait to meet my little daughter. I was just thinking this morning before the ultrasound how fun it would be to have a daughter to teach to cook and get pedicures with. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I am glad we are having a girl.

Anniversary

Seven years ago I married Chris Andersen in the Detroit Michigan Temple. I don't think I knew what I was in for that day. We have had good times and bad times. He makes me laugh and cry and is my best friend. We have two amazing boys and I feel really lucky to have three men in my life that adore me. Chris is a great husband and I feel really lucky. Happy Anniversary Honey. I love you!

New Baby!!!

I can't believe that I have not said that I am pregnant yet! Well, I am! I am about 20 weeks now. I felt pretty awful for a while. It is nice to feel human again. We find out if we are having a boy or a girl on Tuesday. What are your guesses? I can't wait to find out.

Mud Day

Today at Riley's preschool was Mud Day. The kids all wore their bathing suits and they had hoses going on the play ground. The kids just played and got muddy. I wasn't there but when I went to pick him up one of the mom's told me that Riley and her daughter Uma were King and Queen of Mud Day. I asked Riley about it and he said that he and Uma got the dirtiest and therefore were made King and Queen. If I get pictures I will post them. I love my kid. He is the best!

My Baby

My Riley turned 5 today. I feel like it was yesterday when he was born. I remember waiting for him to come. I just wanted my baby! Little did I know I was getting the best boy in the world. Riley was the best baby and has become a boy I can really be proud of. He is and always has been my gentle giant. He is always the biggest kid, but always the kindest. Many women have told me that they hope their daughters date a guy like Riley when they are older. He is smart and funny and very talented. I love my boy and wouldn't trade him for the world. He is my little angel and I hope he knows how precious he is and always be to me. I look forward to seeing what kind of man he becomes. Happy Birthday baby!

Parenting Study

I got an interesting flyer from Riley's school. I guess U of M is holding a study about how parents and their children talk to each other. If I participated in the study I would bring home a recorder and have to have it on for three full days. They said that if you thought you wanted to participate and then chose to not, you could delete the recordings. No questions asked.
I have been struggling with Riley lately because he has been yelling at me a lot and is not being very obedient so I get frustrated and being yelling because it seems like that is the only way to get him moving. I think I might participate. I would be curious to see if someone had input on how to help Riley. I don't know if he yells because I yell, or vice versa. I feel like it is the age old question of which came first: the chicken or the egg. Would you participate?

A Royal Wedding

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love all things girlie and beautiful. A fairytale wedding is no exception. I am not a die hard. I didn't wake up too early, but I did make a hat and attended a royal wedding party at the home of a friend and ate cucumber sandwiches and scones and soaked up every beautiful detail. I loved her dress. Someone mentioned that she looked a lot like Grace Kelly. What do you think?

I loved all of the pomp and circumstance that accompanies a royal wedding. I hope they make it. I hope they have a happy ending to such a beautiful beginning. What did you all think?

Peace

I am sitting here in my quiet house. Reid is napping and Riley is at school. I am chowing on some Easter candy that I am supposed to bring to Riley's school and looking out at a snowy world. UGH!!! Yes! I said snow! I am over the crappyness of the weather here in Michigan. Anyways... It is nice to have peace and quiet every once in a while. I wish Chris was here to enjoy it with me.

New Toy

I usually buy toys for the boys but I found one for me. It is a microplane. I LOVE IT!! I cooked an Asian dish that called for ginger. I usually hate mincing ginger but this little beauty made it super easy. I can't wait to make and orange roll recipe that my friend has and make something with lemon zest. If you don't have one, get one. They are awesome.

My Little Patient

Yesterday was the big day for Reid. We got a call for the time of his surgery on Monday. They told us that he could eat no later than 6am and no fluids after 10am and his surgery would be at 1pm. I was worried about him not being able to have food and milk but of course he did awesome. They called us back really quick and we had to change him into a little gown. It tied in the back and his little diaper was hanging out of the back and he was walking around like that with his little socks on. Everyone was talking about how cute he was. I wish I took my camera so you all could have seen how cute he looked. He did so good. The doctors usually give little kids medicine to make them not freak out when the doctors take them away but we thought Reid would do good. He didn't even fuss when they walked him away. He is the best baby ever. The procedure lasted about 30 minutes and the doctor came out to tell us when he was done. We were called back when he was awake in recovery and he was drinking a juice bottle. He cried on and off while were were in recovery but when we got in the car he fell right asleep and slept for two hours. His ears are a little bloody but he is acting well.

I love my baby so much. I love that he has such a sweet disposition and everyone loves him. Thanks for you thoughts and prayers.

Reid's Ears

Reid has had chronic ear infections for a while now. I think his doctor said that he has had 5 since May. We finally got a referral for an ENT doctor for tubes to be put in. We saw the doctor today and he had an opening on Tuesday the 11th. It makes me sad that my baby has to get a little surgery, even though I know it isn't a big deal at all. I hope it helps my little guy. Keep us in your prayers.

The New House

I have been feeling down lately and didn't want to post for a while. I realized though that I still haven't posted about the house. A few Sunday's ago we had a big snow storm. Church was canceled so Riley and I decided to make some snowmen. They are kind of camouflaged because of the leaves. Can you tell we didn't rake this fall. Oh well. There are four of them if you can't tell.
Here is the house. See Chris and Reid in the big window? I love that window. The boys love to look out of it. It is small but just right for us. I hope we get visitors soon.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Reid

Today Reid took his first steps. I can't believe my baby is one already. Here are pictures from his birthday. Because we were in the midst of moving my mom bought Reid a little cake. We cut him a little piece and he took a little piece and then face planted into it. He is the best little guy. I love him so much and feel so lucky to have him in our family. I wish you all could see him all the time. He is the best. He makes my heart ache because he is so wonderful. He is so smiley!!

Moving

We have been in our place for a while now but I haven't had a chance to post any pictures of moving day. We had 5 people lined up to help but only two guys and one of their wives came. We got it all done though. Those two guys were angels. Here is the three guys, our friend Jordan, Chris and our friend Jackson carrying our super heavy mattress.We got the 17 foot truck and thought we would have room to spare.... boy were we wrong. I didn't know we had so much stuff!



This is a view from our front window. Riley took the picture. That is why it is a little blurry. We have the fattest squirrels by our house. The people across the street feed them. They are always running around with corn cobs. This one was on our mail box pole. So funny.

I will post some pictures of the actual house when I get a chance. We are so happy to have room.