photo-a-day #16: swing

we had a little fun at the park with the boys' uncle mike and auntie jessie, who are visiting from hawaii. wyatt especially loves the swing. he must love the liberating feeling of air through his mullet.

photo-a-day #15: cool dude

wyatt is getting some cool dude training from his big brothers. 

first item on the training plan: 

wear your stunna shades. even at night.

occupy mommy's phone

it's an understatement to say that liam loves to play on my phone. and i love for him to play on it because he learns lots of words and phrases from all the great apps. but, seriously. someone get this kid his own phone, stat. he's taken over mine and mommy is having a really hard time sharing! if i try to make my own phone even slightly efficient for my own use, maybe add a shortcut to my home screen, he promptly deletes it and replaces it with his shortcut ABCs for Toddlers. 

le sigh.

what's more amusing than liam's obsession with my phone are the places he chooses to plop down and play. 

like on the kitchen floor in front of the oven.

or maybe in the laundry basket. a little odd, but he sure looks comfy.

at least he gives me an excuse for why i couldn't put the laundry away.

on the ottoman, which he pushed to the very middle of the living room.

anywhere but on the sofa. sitting in front of it is perfectly acceptable, though.

this "occupy mommy's phone" movement is getting a little old, buddy!

photo-a-day #12: little drummer boy

this is how you'll find wyatt while i cook dinner each night.

drumming on tupperware with wooden spoons.

embrace the camera - jan 12

the bigs and i checked the weather online this morning and then couldn't resist some morning sillies in front of the camera.

isaiah and mikey are into exposing the whites of their eyes. 

but they aren't skilled enough to do it without using their hands...yet.

i love how liam is getting silly with his brothers in these pictures.

on another note, he is transitioning to full-day preschool today - 9a-2pm! 

wishing my sweet boy an extra great day.

embracing the camera with the anderson crew!

photo-a-day #11: slow-dancing

wyatt isn't walking yet, but he truly thinks he can. he loves being "walked" around the house by anyone willing. here is is slow-dancing in the kitchen with isaiah.

yes, i'm aware he needs a haircut. his hair already so closely resembles a mullet, shawn and i have decided to go all the way with it. like, full-on, billy ray cyrus, achy breaky heart mullet. yessir. wait for it.

spring break in paris

no, that's not a title to a sappy, first-date movie.

apparently, my mother-in-law loves me to pieces because she is taking me on a paris trip in april for spring break {which also happens to fall around my birthday}. unless, of course, she's planning to take me then leave me there. but, even if that were the case, i'd still be eternally grateful because i imagine paris would be one of the most pleasurable places to be abandoned. as long as i double-check the final destination on my plane ticket before we leave, i think i'll be safe regardless of the outcome.

she's been planning this trip for some time now, and i don't think it has really sunk in that i'm going. until now. it's finally 2012 and the trip is less than three months away and i'm starting to get all giddy. i went to the library today and borrowed some paris guide books...i'm excited for some quiet time later today so i can start flipping through these.

i'm bursting at my seams with anticipation!

now, i need to start a training plan for the mister, who is taking time off from work to be home with all four kids for the entire week.

some of the key points in his training plan:

• how to use the washer/dryer
• how to use a vacuum
• how to read a calendar and follow a schedule
• how to operate the hot/cold knobs on the kids' shower/bathtub
• show him where the broom and dustpan are kept

i'll keep you all posted on how that goes! :)

monday shtuff

hello, monday!

it's always great to wake up on a monday morning. 

i usually wake up startled because i look at the clock and it reads 7:34 {as was the scenario this morning}. we are usually out the door by 7:45, so it's pretty safe to say that 7:34 is late. i jump out of bed thinking it's going to be world war three to get these kids out of bed, fed and dressed. to my surprise, i find isaiah and mikey sitting on the sofa watching a pokemon show, completely dresssed {jackets, shoes, backpacks, lunch bags and all} and ready for school.

{theme to twilight zone playing in the background}

me: umm...you guys are dressed.

isaiah: yep.

me: did you brush?

isaiah: yep.

mikey: wanna see my teeth? {shoots me a big grin.}

me: did you eat breakfast?

isaiah: yeah. i had a blueberry waffle and mikey had cocoa puffs. 

me: umm...uh...umm..ok. {thinking up my speech that i'll recite when i'm awarded my mother of the year trophy} thanks, isaiah.

isaiah: don't worry, mom. you still have time. it's only 7:35.

my seven-year-old son is a better mother than i. 

this said seven-year-old also came home from school on friday and made a batch of his favorite peanut butter cup cookies to share with his brothers. again - a better mother than i.

while my son is taking care of my children, i busy myself with lots of fun crafting. this weekend, i made a bunch of reusable cloth baby wipes. i use cloth diapers for liam and wyatt, but never went all the way with cloth wipes, as well, though i always wanted to make some. i was motivated by my sister-in-law {and BIL}, who is expecting in march. her shower is this weeekend and i was super pleased to find on her gift registry that she is also planning to cloth diaper, and all the way down to the wipes. awesome in my book.

any-shways, when i saw that one of the things on her registry was washable flannel wipes...it was so on. i made a ton of them using the boys' receiving blankets and it costs me $free.99. my favorite price. also so comforting to know that the receiving blankets i've grown so attached to, since i've used them for all four of my boys, will now be wiping to bum of my sister-in-law's babe. anything for our island princess - or maybe anything for the sake of not having to spend any money. i'll stick with the first reason - it sounds better.

i cut the receiving blankets into 8x8 squares. i was able to get nine squares from one blanket.

see that sparkly new rotary cutter? i can't believe i went so long without one. i'm in love...and can only hope that my rotary cutter feels the same way about me. 

then i sewed the edges using the zigzag stich on my machine. 

this took some time. there were a lot of wipes. but since crafting, including sewing, is my therapy, it was no biggie. and i also realized my sewing machine could double as a head massager - i would rest my forehead on the front of the machine when my neck would start to cramp up, and the vibration would give my noggin a nice massage. awesome.

and, voila! stacks and stacks of washable flannel wipes. 

you'd be shocked how much those things cost if you buy them. search on amazon. but make sure you sit down for it, because it's a shocker. 

i also started making some t-shirt flowers to use for headbands and hair clips for my nieces. i really love the method i found on pinterest. i was intimidated with it as first because it uses a sewing machine, but it's really so simple and the flowers come out just how i like them - full and fluffy, but non-uniform. 

i made those flowers using one of isaiah's favorite t-shirts that had a hole in it. i hung onto the t-shirt because i loved its light blue color and knew that i'd be able to make use of it somehow. these flowers were perfect.

i had already chopped off the bottom of the shirt and part of the sleeves when isaiah saw me working with it. he swiped it from the table and, next thing i knew, he was wearing his favorite shirt again. who cares if it was a half top and one sleeve was chopped up? it was his favorite - poor guy. i consoled him by telling him that his baby girl cousins would be wearing his favorite t-shirt on their heads as flowers. and he bought it. 

lastly, i leave you with this colorful sight that sits on upon our kitchen counter.

we had just gone grocery shopping and the colors of the citrus was too pretty to not capture. 

ahh, simple joys. 

they are everywhere every day.

it's been a while, but linking up today with carissa at lowercase letters!

photo-a-day 5: chubby knuckles

i really love chubby baby knuckles. 

the ones that are so chubby that it looks like there are no knuckles. 

i love watching wyatt's little hands explore the world around him. he grabs for everything in sight and his curiosity is immeasurable. i can't wait to see what the future has in store for those hands. i'm sure they are destined to build great things.

liam's first day

liam had his first day of preschool on tuesday and this new adventure had our entire family excited yet anxious for our sweet boy. it was definitely an exciting day. i did take some photos, but they don't do justice to the excitement. did i mention it was exciting? (hahah it's getting late....and my vocabulary shrinks as the night progresses.)

liam eats breakfast.

liam fiddles with his backpack strap.

liam and mommy trying to pose in front of what looks like the gate to a juvenile detention facility.

daddy trying to get all creative with the camera angle. fail.

liam finally showing a little bit of excitement. 

walking to his classroom.

he walked into the classroom, found a puzzle, got completely involved and forgot that i was even there.

so, we turn to leave and i'm slightly disappointed that it wasn't as dramatic as i expected it to be.

oh, but wait. 

liam notices me and shawn leaving, so he starts to cry. 

let the drama commence. 

i proceeded to cry as soon as i heard him cry.

 lord, have mercy. 

i turn toward the door to make a break for it and walk right into the door jamb.

thank goodness my face was there to take the hit. 

at the same moment, i let out (or in?) an embarrassingly loud snort amid my crying. 

i finally rush out the door, successful this time, but red-faced and defeated nonetheless.

doesn't that sound exciting?

oh, it was. believe me.

later that morning, when the redness in my face finally began to fade, liam's program assistant calls me and says, "liam's totally fine. but i was calling to see how YOU were doing." 

i'm immediately red-faced, once again. fantastic.

 it did make me happy, though, when his p.a. sent me this photo of my sweet boy. 

smiling. pretending. having fun.

i'm one super proud mama.

thankful

ever feel so blessed and thankful that your heart feels like it's going to explode?

i do. right now. 

and it's because of these happy, smiling faces that light up my days.

photo-a-day 4: mmm...waffles

wyatt is always his happiest when he's eating something.

just like his mama.

photo-a-day 3: button nose

photo-a-day 2: stripes and a comb-over

and you probably shouldn't be playing with whatever that is you're playing with, wyatt.

where is your mother?

photo-a-day 1: birthday boy

there's a blog i absolutely love that is written by mariah, a wonderful mommy with three of the most handsome boys that you'd ever see. she writes of all the joyful noises in her home...which are pretty similar to the joyful noises is my own home. that's why i love to read her blog...so i can breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that i'm not the only one. 


anyway, long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, she did a photo-a-day series on her sweet, sweet baby boy, harrison. i loved the concept and i knew i wanted to do this as well, i just couldn't find the right time to start. now that liam has started preschool, i can foresee myself and wyatt sitting around and staring at each other for hours on end. then it clicked - it couldn't be a better time to start a photo-a-day series on my own sweet baby boy, don't you think?

wyatt is the baby of our bunch and he just turned ONE last week! i'm excited to snap a picture of him each day and share it with you all, my faithful readers. get ready for cuteness overload for the entire month of january. the posts probably will not always have text, so don't be alarmed. i promise, i won't be writing a novel in three hours each morning. i have better things to do...like catch up on the real housewives of new york.