Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas and here are some of our favorite moments.

Our Christmas tree. I loved sitting in this room after the kids went to bed and just looked at the tree with all it's beautiful lights.


The boys getting ready to eat our Christmas Eve feast.


Spencer did a great job decorating sugar cookies for Santa.

Lincoln did a better job eating Santa's cookies than decorating them.


The girls in our Christmas jammies.

Hayden sitting in her stash of Christmas presents. Santa brought her the Barbie house (not pictured) she has been asking for!


The kids got Joey this great bowl so he doesn't have to share his popcorn!


Christmas morning cuddles!


Santa brought the big boys some great riding toys!



Oh and this guy was there too! Jude had a great Christmas too. Isn't he cute?

Our little guy...

We have been so blessed to have Jude in our home. He is such a sweet baby! The poor kid is dealing with his first cold, but I suppose that is to be expected with three older siblings. I look at my children and see precious gifts from God. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when they are kicking and screaming but I'm trying my best to stay calm and to cherish this time in our lives.

Here is a quote I LOVE that helps me get through the tough days:

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know."

-Pres. Thomas S. Monson

Here are a few pictures of our Jude. (Disclaimer: I am NOT a photographer and I know many of you out there are, so just deal with my amateur shots!)

Happy Birthday, Hayden!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5! How did that happen?? We have been blessed to have this little girl in our home. She is such a sweet, wonderful big sister and daughter.

Introducing . . .

Jude Hendrik Anderson

Born on November 22, 2009
7 lbs. 1 oz. 19 1/2 inches long

We are pleased to announce that Jude has arrived! I was scheduled for a c-section on the 27th but my water broke on Saturday, Nov. 21. We went to the hospital and tried to stop the contractions for a few hours so my dinner could digest and I didn't throw-up all over the operating room. It was a long night and I didn't sleep a wink, as you can probably imagine. I didn't fully respond to the two spinal blocks they gave me so they ended up giving me an epidural and it finally went into effect after quite a bit of waiting on the operating table. Boy was I glad! We stayed in the hospital until Wednesday and were home in time to spend a quiet Thanksgiving with the kids.

Here is Hayden holding her new baby brother.

Spencer is so excited to be a big brother. As you can see, we don't have a picture of Lincoln holding the baby. He wasn't as infatuated with Jude as the other kids were.


Our little guy!

Our Star Performer

Hayden joined a singing/performing group a few months ago and she is loving it. It is a great group and I think Hayden is just adorable! Today, the group performed at the Orange County fairgrounds. Here are some shots of our star!



A funny side-note: A few nights ago, the group sang at a Jewish Retirement home and Joey was on duty for costume changes for Hayden because I was at Young Women in Excellence. He had all three kids with him and the twins were a huge hit. A nice grandma gave them $1 each just for being cute...maybe we should hang-out there more!

The Nursery is Done!

So we are on the final countdown and the nursery is finished! Our little guy will be delivered by c-section on November 27, if all goes according to plan! He has a wonderful room to come home to . . . if I do say so myself.

Here is a little nook above the closet filled with jungle animals.

The crib where, hopefully, he will be a great sleeper.

The changing table and rocker. I'm so excited to sit and rock just one baby. I always felt guilty with the twins and tried to be as fair as possible with them but it will be nice to spoil just one baby with loves.


Isn't the rug great? That is all thanks to Joey (he picked it out)!

This is How I Feel....

This is how I feel this week at 37 weeks pregnant....two weeks from Friday and the little guy will make his grand entrance:) I had my boys at 35 weeks and Hayden at 37 weeks so I'm going to try to be tough these last few weeks because I've never had to deal with the end of a pregnancy! Let's be honest though, I looked like it was "the end" of the pregnancy at about 28 weeks with the boys!

(This is a picture from BYU when I went on a date, not with Joey, and we sumo-wrestled)

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween. We started the evening festivities off with our ward's Trunk-or-Treat then finished the night with some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Lucy


Isn't Snoopy cute!?!
Here are our pumpkins. The kids and I painted ours and Joey decided to go with a slightly unorthodox design this year. He drew on the design but realized he was being a bit too ambitious and let me handle the carving.


Here is the skull pumpkin all lit up...SCARY!!!

Here are some of our crazy Halloween faces...courtesy of Spencer!

The Peanuts Gang: Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy!

Joey's law firm has an annual Halloween Party and the kids get to go from office to office trick-or-treating. They had a great time! They still have our ward Trunk or Treat and Halloween night to look forward to. My mom made Hayden's costume and did an amazing job! I put together Lincoln's costume...did you know finding toddler size white sweat pants and a white hooded sweatshirt is next to impossible?


The back-side of Link's costume is the cutest! His little tail wagged the whole night!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took the kids to the Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch. The kids had a great time! They rode horses, explored the Haunted House, conquered the hay maze, bounced in the Bounce House and picked out some great pumpkins (which we put back and have since replaced with much cheaper grocery-store pumpkins).

Lincoln riding his horse, Dolly!


Spencer and his horse, Corky!


Hayden was old enough to ride a trotting horse and she looked like a bobble-head riding Raindrop.

The kiddos!

My boys!

Our little family. (I strategically placed Lincoln in front of my pregnant belly, which by the way, someone I know asked me today if being this big was normal....ummmm, sure!?!)