A New Post

Well, I'd almost given up on blogging.  I've had a post in the wings since October.  I dabbled with it a little in November, and then in December.  In January I finished it and tried to upload pictures.  Then after I uploaded pictures, Blogger refused to save it (rude, rude, RUDE blogger)!

In February I was still too offended to touch it and March just sort of ended before I realized it.  But its April now, I'm on spring break.  I've had the whole day without any sort of schedule (minus sending my kids off to school because their spring break didn't line up with mine).  I've cleaned out my fridge, done 4 loads of laundry and edited a few pictures.  No more excuses.  I'm going to blog!

But where exactly do I start? Should it be with the 4 birthday's I missed? The two seasons of soccer?  the holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day or Easter? Should I write about my job? Jackson's brand new "he's in remission" news? Abby's first, and second lost tooth? How about her dance recital?  Or the boy's piano recitals? Or our trips to Washington and Utah for Carter and Dexter's baptisms? Seriously?  I don't know where to start, it's all so overwhelming.  It seems wrong not to post pictures.  I could start there...

Right around William's 3rd birthday, he fell asleep on the same fuzzy white blanket I had used to take his newborn pictures.  He just happened to be shirtless.  I seized the opportunity.

Before...

After.

He's my baby and he always will be.  There will be no others behind him.  It breaks my heart that he's getting bigger, and bigger.  But he's also getting better and better (and naughtier).  I do love this sweet boy.

How about Abby's dance recital?  She gets to dance with her cousin Brynn and bestie, Lily.  Both Uncle Cory and Uncle Brandon came out to see them and of course, Mimi and Papa too.

And just because I already had these collages done.  I'll throw in Christmas too.

William (who only replies to William, Will, or his favorite, Will the Thrill.  DO NOT call him Bill or Billy...you've been warned).

Our princessa.

Carson.

Preston (who now wants to go by Stone.  It's not my favorite).

There.  I posted.  It's a step in the right direction, yes?

Get In, Sit Down, Buckle Up, And Hold On

Prepare yourself. I'm about to unleash some serious visual stimulation. I decided the only way I was going to catch up with all the blogging was to just do one massive marathon post. You'll all be happy to know that I've pinpointed my biggest issue with my blogging ineptitude. I take to many pictures. I admit it. I am a snap-a-holic. I'm wondering if there is some sort of support group. The only reason there aren't more pictures of our Washington trip is because my battery died and I left my charger in California. Thus, I only had 650 pictures to sort through instead of 1000. So, in no particular order (save chronologically), here is December contained in 22 collages.

ABBY TURNS 5!!! How did I miss this one? She had a great day with our traditional breakfast in bed, presents and a low, LOW key family/friend party.

Princess on her birthday morning.

Opening presents at her party.

All her peeps.

A few days later, our 5 year old princess was the star (to us) in her dance recital. She was the cutest one there and the only thing missing from her big night was her daddy. He was in D.C. It's a shame too, because she seems to have his coordination instead of mine :-/!

Our pretty girl with Miss Lisa.

Warming up and with her bestie Lily.

"I'm the Happiest Christmas Tree"

Abby wasn't the only one strutting her stuff. The big boys had their piano recital the same week Abby did. Which, again, meant Daddy missed the action. But luckily for me and the kids, Mimi and Papa were there to step in for BOTH recitals! Thank you thank you for suffering... ahem... enjoying those nights along with me.

Both boys performing. Carson had only had 3 lessons before the recital. Miss Judy gave him the option of participating and I was shocked and thrilled that he wanted to. Big, massive, enormous step for him!

Candid shots of that night (Way to block Mimi, Papa...rude)!

Christmas Eve we had Mimi, Papa and Uncle Brandon over for soup and presents. Mimi and I vetoed the idea of NOT making her famous clam chowder (the boys are seriously mistaken in their disdain for all things seafood). I did make a mean cheese potato chowder to make up for it.

William on Christmas morning! On the eve of Christmas Eve (got that?), I counted all the presents to make sure all was fair and balanced. It was, Abby and the big boys each had 10 gifts. But William had 2. I'm still not sure how that happened, but I will always be a Target fan after rushing there to make up the difference and spending less than $40. However, the cheap price tag might have come with the fact that a 2 year old isn't picky, hence the $1.50 echo microphone!

Carson got his wish of being a firearm owner. I was super nervous about Santa's decision, but after the guns broke 4 days later, my nerves were eased. Also, he loves to close his eyes as he opens his presents. He wants the surprise to last that much longer. Love it.

Abby is all that you want a little girl to be. Barbies and jewelry and shoes and snow globes (both of which, William broke...grrrrr). She is so fun to watch!

Preston was also armed this year. He's getting harder to buy for. Less toys more...???? I don't know! 10 year olds are hard! But he's such a sweetie I could have given him a Ken doll and he's be fine with it.

CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON! These are in a kind of random order, but we did have so much fun with all the crazy Andersen's. There are a lot of us (31) but you'd never know from the state of Mom, Becky and Courtney's houses...wait...no. You'd definitely know. We stayed at the Noftle Inn and it never disappoints. There's always a continental breakfast and plenty of people to keep the kids occupied.

A highlight? Why the extended family get together at Matt and Court's. I just love my Uncle and Aunts. But my cousins are the bomb. Plus we got to spend a little time with Granny Great. I think she must love sitting back and watching all of us laugh and chat and get super competitive playing Family Feud (my team won). Not to brag, but she must be so proud!

Ensign Ranch was fabulous, except there was no snow. I take issue with this. I love in Southern California and when I drive 22 hours to Washington I expect it to be blanketed with a fresh layer of Christmas snow. Is it so much to ask? I mean really!

Group shots: Girl cousins (easy to photograph), natural siblings (holding our baby brother), all the cousins (19), sisters, and boy cousins (seriously not easy to photograph...where's the Ritalin?)!

More candids...Matt and I are hot.



Slushy snow on our last night. Abby loved it, William....not so much.

And what is a family get together without a dance party? The little girls shook their stuff, then a bunch of thugs showed up. It was weird. And because we're a competitive family, the mommy's had to show their daughters that we still had it. Bring on the pyramid!

More candids.

A buddy collage (Avery and Zoe), (Brax, Pres, Tys, and Wes), (Bro-in-laws + Jax), (Sam, Ky, Rerra, and Syd), (Carson, Dex and Coug), (Adalynn and Abby), (the sisters), (Aftyn and Will).

I'm now officially caught up on blogging...BOOM!

Hi. How Ya Doin'?

Ummm, I have a million, trillion things to blog about. Piano recital, dance recitals, Trevor's trip to D.C., Christmas, vacation to Washington and on and on and on. I also did 3 photo shoots. But I don't feel like getting all the pictures together. For some reason, when I switched to RAW on my camera, I have gotten super lazy with pictures. Plus, I end up taking way, WAY too many pictures and the thought of sifting through them is just too overwhelming. It's like, which grain of sand is the sparkliest? I need to slow down my trigger finger when I'm behind the lens! For instance, I have over 600 images from Washington. Really?!

Instead, I'll share two images. One from Carson's baptism photoshoot. I love this. I'm going to make a poster and hang it in his room. It fits him. He is prone to the grumps and we talk a lot about having good attitudes and whatnot. I found the quote on pinterest (my new humongous waste of time).







The next one is my favorite from the last newborn session I did. She was so tiny. I'm so baby hungry (by the way, I'll be starving in that department for the rest of time...until I'm a grandma. BOO Trevor!).

Christmas Eve Eve, Eve, and Day

Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a long drive...

The eve of Christmas Eve (is that such a thing? Should I make it a holiday?) The kids and I drove (well, I drove, the kids sat in the back of the mini-van watching Mater's Tall Tales) up to Newhall to visit Matt and Courtney and the girls. I was spectacular to visit them (once Matt stopped being bratty-right Courtney?) and I just love the way Abby and Adalynn can just step right back in where they left off. Even if it's been 5 months since they've seen each other. Two minutes after we got there I peeked around the corner at them and found them brushing each other's hair. I also took a couple of pictures of the Schienle brood. We kept it short and sweet. After loading our car with Christmas presents and 3 bags of hand-me-down clothes (I so scored) we started the one hour trip home. Two hours later we actually got there. It wasn't too bad. I took the long way to avoid traffic and was able to keep the van going in a forward motion the whole way. As long as I am moving, it doesn't feel that terrible. Plus, the kids slept. It's like two hours of peaceful bliss and the ability to listen to talk radio without having to mentally block out all the noise behind me. But I digress (as I always do).




Christmas Eve was the longest day of Preston and Carson's life. I can vividly remember that as a little girl. It...crawled...by...ex...cru...ci...at...ing...ly...slow. Luckily, we went to Mimi and Papa's to help speed it up a bit. That was after they opened their token Christmas Eve gift, JAMMIES! Every time baby. It's going to get old in a couple of years, I'm sure. Carson kept asking me if he could open his awesomest present first. I said no, you have to open the lame one. Hey, I didn't lie.

There I go digressing again. So we went to Mimi's for soups and games (and even baby Jillian came). The Miles' have a tradition that everyone brings a $5 gift and we sit in a big circle while Papa reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Every time he reads the word "the" we pass the gift to the left. After "The end", we open whatever gift is in front of us. I made out with $5...in pennies. Cory thinks he's pretty funny. At any rate, it's fun and a tradition, and I love traditions.



Christmas morning was what it should be. Me, lying awake in bed, willing the kids to get up so we can see if Santa came or not. He did. And it was awesome. There were so many princesses and weird fushigi balls (I still don't get the fascination) that it took a while to get to the presents. Now, I am NOT complaining. But I hate...no, I dislike it when Trevor doesn't stick to our budget for each other and spends 3 times the amount on me as I do on him. I feel like a jerk. A cheap jerk. He got a few shirts. So did I. And I got a Sony Bloggie. I do love being spoiled. Feel free to click on the collages to make them bigger or scroll pass them altogether. I was trying to conserve space



Then the moment that I had been anticipating for a week, in both excitement and apprehension, we brought out the snake. As much as I hate that snake and am so creeped out that we share the same roof, I couldn't wait for their reaction. They were going to love me. They were going to run up and down the street declaring that there was a clear winner for mother of the year and I was it. They were going to shower me with kisses and looks of pure adoration and I was going to see, in their eyes, how lucky they really felt to have me as their mom.



Instead, they laughed and giggled and Carson (leave it to Carson) yells out, while pointing at me, "HAHA! MOM! I TOLD YOU WE COULD GET ONE!". And you are very welcome son.

Trevor had timed it so that we would be able to feed the thing that morning. Icing on the cake he called it. I called it my cue to clean up the living room until it was over. We have a few rules when it comes to Sniper (that's the things name). One, I will have nothing, NOTHING to do with it. I will not feed it, change it's water, wet it's moss or even defrost (especially not defrost) it's baby mouse entree. Two, they will not take it out of it's cage (that I insisted come with a padlock) unless Daddy is home and supervising. Three, the second they tease me with it, i.e. hold it close to me, put it on my shoulder...*shudder*...or anything along those lines, it will be sold and I will buy a pair of shoes with the profits and walk around saying "Look at my cute shoes that I bought with your dumb snake. Bet you wish you hadn't of teased me with it, huh?" Any bets on how long it takes them to break one of the rules?

Dinner was at Mimi and Papa's again and it didn't disappoint. I really love traditions when it involves Janet's Chicken Cordon Bleu. Freaking amazing. We exchanged gifts and watched "Despicable Me". And that was it. Christmas was over and the boys are depressed. "It just takes too long to get here" Preston whined. I can totally relate. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May all your wishes and dreams come true. Unless, your dreams are that your new pet snake breaks through the padlock on it's cage, then I hope your dreams (or mine in this case) don't come true.

Merry Christmas

Can't read it? Me neither. The back of the card was a bit of a disappointment. Ah, well. Here's what it read;

Holiday greetings from our family to yours!

Trevor and Brenda: Trevor is still working at the Minka Group and enjoying quality time with his family and his XBox. Brenda is relishing motherhood, especially her one on one time with William. She occasionally takes a break from the madness by photoshopping the millions of pictures she takes of her brood.

Preston (9): Is busy with scouting, 3rd grade, piano, baseball, and following in his father's video gaming shoes. He's become so grown up and has even babysat on occasion...for 15 minutes or so at a time. We're not completely insane yet.

Carson (7): Just turned 7 (this was supposed to eliminate his fear of mascots but failed). He is up to his eyeballs in all things Indiana Jones, and Lego's. He also tolerates 1st grade. His only wish for Christmas is for his mom to give up her fear of snakes so that he can have one of his own. Fat chance bud.

Abigail (4): Brags to her big brothers about the awesomeness of preschool, snacks and no homework. She loves Disneyland and has a new favorite princess each week. She's become quite the social butterfly and begs to play with her best friend, Lily, daily.

William (17 months): We call him our indoor tornado. He's into EVERYTHING! He loves his siblings, hitting things, most anything edible and gets away with almost everything because he's just that adorable. It's been a busy year learning to walk, talk and terrorize the dogs.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love from, Trevor, Brenda, Preston, Carson, Abby, and Will

My next post will contain pictures of the boy's new snake. I win mother of the year hands down.

Christmas Prep, Parties and Piano

We decorated a tree, went to Abby's first preschool Christmas party, the boys school "holiday parties" (which reminds me of my favorite T.V. quote this year, "'Happy Holidays' is what terrorists say. Merry Christmas from Avery and Jack". I love 30 Rock) and Preston had his first piano recital (and didn't miss a note...we were so proud) and earned his Wolf badge all in the same day. Here's the visual rundown.


~Decorating the tree. Will liked to get on the stool with Daddy (yes, Trevor needs a stool).~


~Abby singing Rudolph. A classic.~


~Our own personal Mozart. I love how he "hid" his nerves by pulling his foot in and out of his shoe where he thought no one could see.~


~Preston and I after he was deemed Wolf worthy...or whatever. All I know is I get a pin out of the deal.~

And as a bonus treat for your blogging eyes, check out Will's newest trick.