I have found a sure fire way to help your kids eat healthy. Here's an example: I had some rice cakes in the cupboard for me, but my kids were dying to get their hands on them. I would ask them what they wanted for a snack and they would say, "Please mom can we have those rice cakes." And I would explain that they were my snack, but they could have, you know potato chips or cookies (really I did offer healthier snack). Finally I gave in and let them eat the rice cakes; they did pretend to love them, "Oh mom, thank you these are great!!" Needless to say they haven't asked for them again but for awhile there they were begging for the healthy snack. So if your kids won't eat their veggies, or fruits just tell them they can't have them because they are your snacks, but they are welcome to bag chips in the cupboard!

It kills me how fast they grow! Our sweet baby is growing so fast. She is quite the girl, and keeps us on our toes at all times. She is a climber like no other child I have ever had. The other day she climbed to the top of the piano; no, not the bench, the top of the piano. She, at the age of one has had more bumps, bruises, bloody noses, and bloody lips than any of my other babies. Although she gives us a run for our money we wouldn't have it any other way. Her siblings adore her and she adores them. We feel blessed to have her in our lives. She loves to play the piano. Whenever anybody else tries to play she hops right up there with them and plays along. Also notice the rats nest in the back of her head. She always has one no matter how many times I comb it.

Abi loves to dress her up in her clothes and then take pictures. The other day Maggie came down in Abi's basketball uniform; it was so cute. The great thing is that Maggie loves it!

It looks like we will have a plumber in out family!

Soooo long 2010 welcome 2011!!!!! We had a great News Year's Eve. We headed to St. George for the day. It was a spontaneous trip and we had a great time. That evening we headed to our friends the Smith's for a bit and then headed home to welcome the New Year in as a family.
The kids were trying so hard to stay awake. We had had a big day and they were tired, but they made it!

We welcomed the year in with a bang, literally! I remember when I was a kid my mom would always tell us to get the pot and pans to make some noise, I just wanted to pass on the tradition.

We ended with our traditional toast of cranberry juice. We are excited to see what the New Year has in store for our little family. We know that each day is a new adventure and knowing that we have each other to walk those adventure together with is a blessing.

Before the kids went to bed they set there shoes out to see if Mrs. Clause was going to stop by our house this year. Sure enough she found our house and left a little surprise.

Our Christmas Story! This is mine and Kev's 16th Christmas together. WOW, I know, it goes by so fast. While we have had so many Christmas's together this is our first Christmas to stay home. It was a new and great experience. I have to say it made me feel like a grown up (I know I should already feel that way as I do have four children.) We had fun mixing the traditions we grew up with into one big fun Anderson family Christmas. On Christmas Eve we made our traditional ginger bread houses. I love to watch how the houses change as the kids get older.

Maggie highly enjoyed this activity, check out her hands, they are full of M&M's.

The final product!

I had some great helpers with making the cookies for Santa.

Grandma and Grandpa brought Kev a Lobos Santa hat, Maggie wasn't sure what she thought about it.

One of Kev's favorite traditions growing up was setting out luminarios (S/P). So this year he and the boys headed out to fill them,

and then place them strategically.

One of my biggest fears of staying home for the holidays is being in charge of the cooking. I am not what you'd call a great cook or maybe I should say I'm not a real confident cook. Although I was worried about making the perfect dinner I have to say I had fun. I guess it was that grown up thing again. We were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa from New Mexico be with us as well as Uncle Verle, Aunt Rose, and Kenyon. Christmas is about family, as we feel so blessed to have so much family that love and support us.

Yep, we had an adult table and a kids table.

The lighting of the luminarios.

They looked so beautiful!

After dinner we had a little program, Abi and Mac played the Christmas songs they had learned. I tried to get Ben to sing a song from his program but he said he was "too shy."

Then while Kev read the Christmas story the kids acted out the parts. Isn't this a sweet sight, but wait where is the Angel?

Oh there she is playing with the dog.

Well playing with the dog until she realized that she needed to take care of baby Jesus.

I guess next year she will have to be Mary.

Visiting with Grandma

The kids could hardly wait to open their one Christmas Eve gift. This year we decided to let them open two. One from me and Kev, which of course was P.J.'s and the other from Grandma and Grandpa in Beaver.

Grandma and Grandpa in Beaver gave them all a really nice sleeping bag and we knew they would want to use them that night because they were all going to sleep in Maggie's room. Ben was so excited to have his own bag he pulled it out right there and jumped in!

Good times with Grandpa before heading up to bed.

Christmas Eve 2010 all decked out in new P.J.'s and ready to have visions of sugar plums.

Maggie and I tried to wait for Santa to come but we just couldn't make it.

Needless to say Santa did not disappoint! Abi had been wanting a power scooter for some time and can you believe that Santa pulled through! She was so excited it was fun to see.

Maggie could not believe that all this really was for her!

Ben received some nice things, like a bike, a small tent, but the one thing he was so thrilled about was this pillow pet thank heavens Santa brought him one.

Mac also received a bike and wouldn't you know as a surprise Santa left a stand up power scooter outside. Mac was so very excited.

It was all so wonderful but quite exhausting!

Kev playing Santa!

Time to bring the toys out. Kev needed to try it out first, you know to make sure it ran fine.

It was fun to watch Abi once she had the hang of it she took off up the street yelling YAAAHOOOOO!! Mind you it was 7 in the morning we just hoped the neighbors were just as excited about Christmas as we were.

Christmas day was full of love and joy. The spirit of Christmas filled our home. Yes, the kids received fun gifts and loved opening presents but the ever present true meaning of Christmas was in the air. The whole season was an uplifting experience. Sometimes we get caught up in all the wordly excitment of Christmas, but this year I tried to just let the small stuff go and enjoyed every moment of the season. Christmas morning Kev cooked up a big breakfast and that evening we relaxed with left overs and of course hot coco with cookies.

Later in the week we convinced Grandma to go for a ride on Abi's scooter. I think she wants one of her own now.

We were so grateful that Viv and Joe spent Christmas with us. We loved having you with us!