First

You are my first.  The littlest to be born.  Who's entry in to the world reminds me of Rafiki in The Lion King.  Legs crossed in a yoga pose. You will turn 9 today (August 10).  Football and 4th grade are about to begin.

1 month old

• You are my freckled face boy.  Beautiful brown eyes, long eye lashes and an amazing smile.  

1st birthday

• You are my helper.  Most likely the first to put toys away, the first to be ready for bed, the first to complete your chores.   

2nd birthday

• You are my reader.  Stacks of book adorn your bed.  Magazines all over and the first to grab the sports page to see what transactions took place the day before.

3rd birthday

• Sports Nut! You could go a month and not wear the same jersey twice:)  You quiz Daddy and your friends with sports trivia usually stumping them.

4th birthday

• Music Music Music.  You enjoy Michael Jackson (Thriller, Beat It) and you can bust out the centipede.  You go through phases of other songs.  You have a silent interest in Justin Beiber (and we won't tell anyone just in case they pick on you) and you and Daddy went to see the movie:)  The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney is currently one of your favorites.  Throw in a little Johnny Cash and we are good.

5th birthday

• Listening to you and your brothers play nicely together with Star Wars, skate boards, books, art, basketball is fun.  As the 3 of you get older, you are going to be doing more and more together.  Jackson and Cooper look up to you.  When they see you doing something, they want to be just like you.  Continue to be a good leader for them and your friends.

6th birthday

• Your favorite word since you were 5 has been perseverance.   On the court, in the classroom, on the field, at home.  You keep working until you get it done.  

7th birthday

My job as your mommy is to help you become a great kid.  Great attitude, good manners, respectful, responsible, honest and caring.  Your job is to have fun, do great in school, be a great friend, try hard in sports and smile.

8th birthday

Happy Birthday JJ Bean.  Because of you I am a mommy.

Day at the Beach

Today we took a 12 hour trip to the Oregon coast.   The majority of our trips as a family (just the 5 of us) are driving to and from places.  Today was a day for the Anderson 5 to spend together having fun!

We started at the Newport Aquarium.

Coop and the jellyfish

JJ the shark about to take a BITE!

Then we headed south, checked out a couple campgrounds for a future trip, had lunch, and stopped at Devils Punchbowl, and ended at Haceta Beach.

Devils Punchbowl

The boys ran straight for the water...quickly found the sticks and rocks, and the waves quickly found them.

Boys working together to build a sand castle that the ocean soon leveled.

Happy toes!

The caves at the end of the beach at Haceta Beach are great for bears or daddy's acting like bears.

I am the bear!

The most important people to me.

Sometimes I have no idea what they are doing...it's all apart of the fun of being a mommy.

Sand writing.

We ended our adventure at Mo's in Florence.  A amazing meal with well behaved boys.  A stranger paid our bill (tip included).  Thank you Sir, whomever you are.  We will pay it forward, again and again. In kindness.

A memorable day that ended with 2 boys asleep in the car and sand covered toes.  A perfect day, that will be repeated soon.  I love you boys!

Family

Whew…what a whirlwind weekend.  Family. I love my family.  My mom and grandma mean the world to me.  (Dad your day is in June, I’ll talk about you then). 
Happy Mom’s Day to two amazing women.  My mom (Althea) and my grandma (Margaret).  Thank you Mom and Grandma.  I can only hope to be live up to the example you have both set.  I love you both!

This weekend was filled with Corey’s family.  This doesn’t happen very often as his parents live in Florida, brother in Hawaii and sister in California.  He recently became reacquainted with his extended family, cousins, aunts and uncles, more cousins.  It was fun to see him connect with family. There was a wedding for a cousin and a memorial service for his Grandma.  The boys were able to play with their cousin Ashlyn and Uncle Hobie.  Good times.

Candyland

Recently we talked about Disneyland and how tall the boys all needed to be.   40 inches for most rides.  Coops about 3 1/2 inches away.  We have a measuring stick in the hallway that we mark the boys height on.  This morning he asks when will he be tall enough to go to Candyland.

Rainforests and Happy Meals

Tonight JJ tells me we can't eat hamburgers from fast food restaurants anymore (we do infrequently).  I ask him why?  Wondering where this is going.  He starts to tell me about the rainforests and bamboo and the cows in Central America.  I am lost.  After all, I get my news from Twitter.  Corey lets him know we will remind him of his boycotting of happy meals, next time he wants one.

I took this as a learning opportunity for me.  Here is what I googled (I love google).

The United States imports roughly 200 million pounds of beef from Central America every year. Aside from the fuel used in transport, grazing land is needed for all of these animals. Where does all that land come from in a densely forested region? The answer: from clear-cutting forests and rainforest A Smithsonian study estimates that the necessity for more grazing land means that every minute of every day, a land area equivalent to seven football fields is destroyed in the Amazon basin(1).

For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately55 square feet of forest have been destroyed. And its not just the rainforest. In the United States, more than 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture (2). With increased per capita meat consumption, and an ever growing population, we can only expect to see more deforestation in the future.

We all need to do a better job with our food purchasing, recycling, reusing for one very simple reason.  Our children.  Thank you Mrs. Siporin, 3rd grade teacher Gilham Elementary.  You Rock!

Ahhhh Boys

I listen to mom podcasts and read mom blogs. Cheesy mom thing to do at 6:00 am when the house is still quiet.  Yesterday I was listening to a Manic Mommies podcast (on youth football).  They mentioned that moms of girls are the happiest, moms of 1 boys and one girl are pretty happy, moms of two boys start to lost a little of the happiness, and moms of more than 2 boys-well they have gone off the deep end.  I giggled when I heard that, probably because the last two books I have purchase have been "The Happiness Project" and "The Happiest Mom". Both I have started and neither have I finished.  I haven't even made it past Chapter 2.  Not because I don't want to be happier.  I am trying to make it through "No More Meltdowns" to help with the numerous meltdowns that occur in a house of 3 boys, that would make my happier.

After all the fighting, double knotting, driving to sports practices, filling up water bottles, wiping the toilet seats, turning socks the right way, dodging basketballs in the living room-when they get too loud in the house, I can say "If you have a penis, go outside and play."  And then I can breath and smile and everyone is happy!

Raider

Saturday morning we lost our beloved Raider.  She was our first baby.  13 in dog years and 104 in human years.  Raider had the perfect life and was the perfect dog.  The last couple years she has been hanging on.  She had cancer and it spread to her lymph nodes.  She stopped eating and drinking on Thursday, and we could see her slowly go. Corey took her to the vet, we could feel the hard mass in her throat, and we knew it was time.  Raider knew it was time.  

You will be missed Raider Dog.

camping at Beverly Beach

Barkley and Raider

Raider