Thank You Easter Bunny! Bok! Bok!

I love Easter. It seems to be the only important holiday that Hallmark Cards haven't ruined. I don't know why, but it seems to me that the plastic incarnation of the worldly celebration and the true meaning have remained seperated. The world celebrates springtime and renewal and coconut-covered cake shaped like a bunny head (which I made and thougoughly enjoyed eating this year). Some, on the other hand can meditate on thoughts like; "Where thy victory, o grave?" and "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" Knowing the importance of the holiday doesn't stop us from enjoying the lighter, plastic side. It was a wonderful celebration for our family this year. As always, We miss Paul when he's away over a holiday. The kids had such a great time finding eggs at Grandma's house. My cousin Carly and the boys' Tia Judi hid them all over in the front yard. They were so cute, hunting around trees and shrubs... once we got Liam away from the ham, of course!

Toddler Thugs

This is the most expensive bad photo I've ever owned! It was December 17 and we had just come from Jacob's preschool Christmas program in which he was a tiger. He had eyeliner whiskers on his face that he didn't want to wash off and he wouldn't stop growling at people. Liam is usually terrified of anyone he's not related to, so I really wasn't sure how he was going to handle the whole 'Santa's lap' thing! To top it off, I didn't know that they would take multiple photos until you got one you liked. I just took the first one they snapped and this is what we got! They look like little hood rats! So, this is it! Our first trip to see Santa. I learned another important lesson this year; When you, in fact, take the kids to ask Santa for whatever they might want for Christmas, you have to buy them at least one thing they asked Santa for, or the whole charade will be ruined! I have always bought things throughout the year as I found stuff on clearance or what have you, and not bothered to really ask what they want. I guess I just figured they should be grateful to get anything and not complain ( I know, I know, things you swore you'd never say!) But now they are old enough to have specific things they want. So, on top of all the stuff I already had for them, my mom memtioned that I had better get what they asked Santa for! I had to go back to the stinkin' toy store the week before Christmas and wrestle with all those crazy people who apparently FORGOT that Christmas is on December 25, and are doing all their shopping in that week. Well, I've learned my lesson! Next year Paul will be dressing up as Santa the last week of August!

Babies at Christmas

Not that there is ever a bad time to have babies, but there is something especially joyous about babies at Christmas. Since I was unable to blog during this entire holiday season past, I am going to attempt to catch up! We do take photos of the other boys, but these are a few of my favorites.

Holy Viruses, Batman!

If anyone was paying very close attention, they may nave noticed a brief pause, or gap, if you will, in my 'blogging'. I would have to accredit this to the fact that at least one person in my house has been sick since the last week in NOVEMBER!!! The computer even got something, twice! And as I'm sure most mothers out there would agree, when your babies are sick the last thing on your mind is getting the computer fixed. Anyway, we each took turns with several lovely illnesses, but I think we are all completely recovered now. Let the blogging begin! (Until I need another excuse for getting so far behind!)

my man, the oil guru

A lot of you might not know what Paul does at work, so here are some 'photies' he has sent me in the last few months. Growing up in Colorado, I never thought much about subsea drilling operations. Well, now I could tell you more than you ever want to know! Anyway, this is the helicopter Paul rides out to the rig...





and this is the rig. In a recent interview I conducted with Paul, he described his job as designing, refurbishing, and installing subsea equipment up to 6,000 feet deep.(what he actually said was, "I'm a subsea guru".) He has worked 11 years on 5 continents in I-don't-know-how-many-different jobs. His last job was in 'block 15' Kizomba, Angola, on the west coast of Africa. When completed it will be the world's largest subsea development with 190 Christmas Trees on the ocean floor (you'll need to google that, I don't understand that whole ordeal)! I asked how much oil they got every day, and he said if I were to publish that, he would lose his job and we would be sued, so I guess you'll need to google that too! Right now he's in Texas working on the most advanced semi-submersible (google) rig. The coolest, or most famous, place he's worked was at the Harlan & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, where the Titanic was built. He says it's a lot of hard work and the days are really long. He called me once before going to bed and he had been awake for about 36 hours. The rigs can be very dangerous for everybody out there. There are huge moving parts that weigh several tons each, not to mention the possibilities of malaria or freezing cold water in the ocean below, depending on what part of the world you're in. I know it's a lot of hard work, but when he's gone for four weeks at a time and I'm here with three kids and all this work to do, there's only one image in my mind.

Who ate all the Halloween candy?

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I have found some redeeming value since the kids were born. I heard someone say once that, 'if most of the world can ignore the true meaning of Christmas and still enjoy the holiday, maybe we can do the same thing for Halloween!' Besides, there is something great about wearing crazy costumes with your whole family and eating absurd amounts of candy for one night! Calories don't count on October 31st, right?!? Anywho, we had a fun one this year! Jacob wanted to be a SWAT team guy... the only requirements he had for his costume this year were a gun and a helmet. Liam and Daddy started a game a couple of months ago calling each other 'Little Dragon and Big Dragon' and we managed to find a dragon costume at a discount shoppe. Ewan and I were the princess and the pea, and I must say that we looked pretty cool. I do think that my big brother and his youngest boy won the contest hands down! Byrne was an organ grinder and his one-year-old son Samuel was the monkey! They looked awesome! Byrne even got Sam to make a noise like a monkey a couple of times. That was a great costume. We went trick-or-treating to our Uncle's house and at one of my mom's neighbors who we've known a long time. I guess we always manage to get so much candy at church, I don't bother with the door-to-door. Speaking of which, This last photo needs the story to go along with it! These are the boys' trick-or-treat bags. Now, I don't actually know how much was in them to begin with. We had pretty much been together all night, in all the same places, doing all the same games and things so, I would assume that their bags should have been filled to about the same level. A couple different times throughout the night, people came to tell me that Liam was hiding somewhere eating candy, and since I never buy it at home, I let it go every now and then. I must admit that I did not keep track of his rate of consumption! When I looked at Jacob's basket and then saw Liam's I had to ask;"Liam, what happened to all of your candy?" His reply was simply; "I ate one..."

Happy Birthday, Liam!

William Seth Anderson was born in Houston, TX on October 24, 2004. He is the funniest little guy you've ever seen, and we had fun celebrating his 3rd birthday. Uncle Tim, Auntie Cristina and Emma invited us to the park for lunch the on his birthday! Auntie Cristina surprised us with chocolate cupcakes that were soooo good! We had fun there for a couple hours and then we went bowling and out to dinner with Grammy and Grampy! I don't know what got into this kid, but he wanted to have a bowling party, so we did of course!

The kids had such a great time bowling and Ewan slept through the whole thing. He'll be getting in on the fun soon enough though! Liam's party wasn't until the Saturday after his birthday, and it was really great. I have so much fun planning the kids parties! I think sometimes I enjoy it more than they do! I like to make all of their invitations and decorations, but with this new little guy, I knew it wasn't going to happen. So, we just ordered all the stuff. I still made the cake, though! I cannot relegate that responsibility to anyone else, it's too much fun for me! With Ewan only five weeks old we didn't go over board on the party. We just ordered pizzas and had a salad, but everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves!