Addie & Eliot & Brownies

The other day we were making brownies and I remembered to take a video of Addie and Eliot interacting. This is something you remember all the time when your first and second kid are sharing brownie batter, but my experience has shown me that it is not something that you always remember with your third and fourth. So here is the video for memory sake:

Float Trip 2013

After 8 years out of the country and 12 years out of Missouri, we have re-instituted the Annual Family Float Trip. This year we were thankful to have my sister and her family (minus her daughter and husband) with us as well as the Tuckwells who were visiting from England.

We have decided to make a family rule that you must be 5 to take part in the float trip so Addie and Eliot stayed back with Grandmother. Addie thought that was great fun - to get special alone time (I guess Eliot doesn't count since he doesn't compete as much with her as her older brothers)!  Theo was very happy with the rule since he had turned 5 the day before!

As always, the float trip proved to be a great time. Many of the boys on the trip said it was their favorite part of the holiday (counting the time the Tuckwells were with us). We only had a few mishaps and no canoe went over this year which unfortunately is noteworthy. I think Ruth was really skeptical about the whole trip, but I think she even kind of enjoyed it (at least when we were back safely in our cars!).

Here are some pictures to record this fun day:

Fishing Trip with The Vorises

One of the fun parts about this summer, and probably more accurately, living in a place for a year, is that we were able to start to building deeper friendships.One such friendship started with Theo.

Early in our time at The Crossing, Theo came home from church talking about a kid named Nolan (and Andrew but more about him later). In a church the size of The Crossing it is often hard to place who goes with whom. So I was on the hunt to figure out who Nolan's mom was.

Early in January after moving to Columbia I joined Jazzercise for a month. One morning I was there and this lady/girl came up to me and introduced herself as Melody and told me she went to The Crossing. We had a nice visit and enjoyed sweating next to each other. I then came home and changed and headed to do a couple of errands. When I arrived at Target, Melody was there. I finished up my errands and went across the street to Hobby Lobby and you guessed it - Melody was there too!  She was stalking me (ha ha) - although if you ask her - she would tell you I was stalking her. She joked with me that she was heading to Hy-Vee next if I wanted to follow her there too. I didn't I went home, but I quickly came to like this Melody girl and came to find out that Melody was Nolan's mom. So my hunt was successful - I found her, or she found me!

Since meeting them as a family, we have grown fond of them. We have had a lot of fun times already (and have hopefully many planned in the future) with the pinnacle being them hosting us to a fishing trip out at their pond. We headed out there to their place late one afternoon and fished, and bbq'd, roasted marshmallows and enjoyed good friends. For a minute it even felt like we had never left. [And if it isn't obvious from these pictures, Addie LOVED fishing]

Addie and Her Clothes

Addie loves to get herself dressed in the morning. I had been warned about this from other mothers with little girls, and I have definitely found it to be true. She is nothing like the boys with getting dressed. It is the highlight of her morning and can take a long time. For now I am choosing to enjoy it. I am sure we will have enough battles later on this subject.

Parenting is all about picking your battles, right? You may want to wait to see the video before responding in agreement....

Just a bit of speculation...

Yesterday while in the car (notice a theme here), Jack was asking me lots of questions regarding how baseball players get their jerseys retired. He asked me whether Jackie Robinson had his jersey retired. I said Yes. He asked about George Brett. I said Yes. He then asked me whether Mike Trout would be good enough to get his jersey retired. I have no idea who this person is. So I deferred and told Jack that he would have to ask Dad that question.

Without missing a beat, Jack said, ‘Yeah, but Dad doesn’t like to speculate.’

Too funny. How many times have I heard Charles end ‘what if’ conversations with the boys by telling them that he doesn’t like speculation. Well they were listening!  Their mother on the other hand loves speculation! One of the big differences between Mom and Dad! J

Lazy Tooth Fairy

So a few weeks back we were out the dentist and Jack had a really wobbly tooth. The dentist said that it would be really helpful if that tooth came on out as the other tooth was really competing for space. Jack agreed and told the dentist that she could 'help' the tooth out. So a few minutes later Jack had one tooth less in his mouth and was the proud owner of a little blue tooth carrying case.

Well, that night the tooth fairy forgot. The next night, after a few reminders, the tooth fairy forgot again. And so on for a few weeks. Jack wasn't really that upset about it as he knows that it is just 'mom and dad' giving him a dollar. (Editor Note: I think after he swallowed the pound coin after receiving it for his first lost tooth that everything from here on out will be anti-climatic with teeth-loosing for Jack, God-willing!).

Well, Theo lost his FIRST tooth this week! From the perspective of the tooth fairy this was note-worthy - much more exciting than the ninth lost tooth as was the case with Jack!  Theo was really pumped about the tooth fairy came. And I am happy to report that the tooth fairy visited not only Theo but Jack too!  We all agreed that we had a very efficient tooth fairy (or lazy!) and he or she just wanted to make it worth their time before making the visit!

It was priceless to hear the boys in the morning. You could hear Theo's little voice saying, 'Jack, I got one. I got a dollar! Jack, did you?' And then a few seconds later, Jack answering yes.

The boys have their eyes set on getting a catcher's mask from the local sporting goods store. We looked at it when we were in there recently and it cost $50. They have already factored in that they are only $48 short now. At this rate they are going to need Addie and Eliot to join the tooth-losing party.

Although it is worth noting that they have already started bargaining with Mom and Dad asking them to chip in 50% if they got to $25. They are serious about this: Jack has even signed up to complete a survey at the University that will earn him $15 for the hour of his time!  So fun!

My Little Dominator

Recently, Theo has been really intent on praying specifically for what things we will be doing the next day. So tonight during family prayer time, he asked what tomorrow held. We told him it would be a normal school day, as opposed to days where he goes to Heritage Enrichment or our 'Fridays with The Fretwells'.

Well today was Theo's first day doing a true Mathematics textbook. His lesson contained two pages with a number listed and then he was instructed to circle the same amount of random item x as the listed number. He really  enjoyed it and in fairness he did quite well on it. So when it was his time during the prayer without missing a beat, he prayed 'Dear God, Please help me keep dominating my math. Amen'

This kid has never lacked self-confidence!  :)

Alexander Chicken

One of the kids' latest games is to run around the house, well to be more accurate, run away from Eliot when he runs in the room.

Remember, Eliot is 18 months old so 'run' is a relative word.

So it goes, Eliot runs towards them and they all yell 'oh, no! It is Alexander the Chicken!'

Alexander the Chicken, presumably from Alexander the Great which we just learned about.

Of course, them yelling and running makes Eliot all the more excited, so he runs after them very happily.

Well, tonight after dinner, they started to play this game.

Jack then very seriously told me, 'Mom, Eliot knows his name is Alexander the Chicken. I know because I called him that earlier today and he turned his head.'

I then turned to Eliot and said, 'Eliot, are you called Alexander the Chicken?'

And Eliot did what he does best, shake his head no. This kid is one head shaker.

So much for that nickname sticking!

Wrestling Update

You will be happy to know that Theo was feeling much better this morning. He did have a brief run-in with a bit of apple at breakfast that caused his lip to start bleeding again, but other than that he has plowed through the day without incident.

In fact, wrestling resumed this evening. Evidently, according to Theo, our bedroom was 'Detroit' and 'Detroit has a very rough stadium where lots of blood occurs'. He even informed me that their wrestling match was called off last night after his injury and would resume again tonight; but because Detroit has such a dangerous stadium, they had rescheduled the wrestling match back to Kansas City (which is their room).

Honestly, I couldn't make this stuff up! But it sure does keep me entertained!

The Danger of Wrestling Part 2

Mr. Foot Down here. Little did we know the prophetic nature of the last blog post. Right before bedtime tonight, Jack and Theo were in the bedrooms playing, and Mrs. Thumb Up and I were in the kitchen cleaning up.

Suddenly we hear Jack's tell-tale scream when something has gone wrong, and Theo starting to wail. We both ran to the scene and found Theo bleeding profusely from the mouth. Mrs. Thumb Up is masterful in these situations, and we were able to clean the mouth, identify the gash on the lip, and begin to calm everything (and everyone) down. Theo sat in Mrs. Thumb Up's lap for our family Bible time and some extra reading after that and then went to bed as normal.

So how did it happen? Jack told us that they had been wrestling in our bedroom and Theo had fallen and hit his face on the frame of the bed and cut himself. Theo was adamant that he had hit his head on the bed, and so it was okay, but he hit his lip on the metal frame, and that's why he was hurt. So it turns out that wrestling really is hard on your body.

Wrestling and Resting

On the way home today Jack was asking me a lot about American Football. He had overheard Charles and I commenting on how it was so hard on one's body. He asked if I thought it was okay for him to play it in the yard with his friends.

I quickly clarified and told him that I thought that was absolutely fine. It is just the intense hitting as you get to higher levels that can be so hard on you. He seemed satisfied with that answer.

He then followed it up with the question of what other sports were hard on your body?

I thought for a second and said, 'well I guess wrestling is kind of hard on your body.'

Fast Forward a Few Nights  

I was in our bedroom folding clothes when I heard noise that I just wanted to ignore, but my motherly instincts told me I should go check to make sure someone was not about to get hurt.

I walked into Jack and Theo's room to find them both as calm as possible lying on their bunk beds.

I asked them what they were doing and they said that they were resting. I looked a little confused, and Jack followed up with, 'Well, we were wrestling for a little bit, and we so worn out now. I mean seriously. We only wrestled for about one minute Mom, but our whole body aches now. It really does. We are so sore.'

Too funny!

Acceptable: Bottom Crack????

I hesitate about whether to post this story, but it is too good to forget so here it goes:

Today Theo was walking around the table very purposefully looking for his pencil and saying 'where is my pencil? where is my pencil?' We all kind of ignored him because it just felt a bit dramatic. Then all of a sudden he pulls his pencil up from under the table and said, 'oh, here it is. It was right in my butt crack.'

Jack and I were so startled and surprised by Theo's 'joke' (with no discretion) that we laughed. I then quickly pulled it together and told Theo that that joke was inappropriate and unacceptable, and I didn't want to hear it again.

Theo got really serious and said, 'OK. I understand, but would it be more acceptable if I said bottom crack?'

Seriously. HE. IS. FIVE. YEARS. OLD.

Setting A Good Example

Recently Eliot and Addie have begun sharing a room. Every night as I tuck them in I tell Addie to 'set a good example for Eliot' meaning go straight to sleep. He has had a tendency to want to babble and stand up and look at her. When she sets a good example, he stops this after 1 minute and goes to sleep. Hence the reason for my advice!

Almost every night Addie says okay and does what I instruct. Last night when I told her to 'set a good example for Eliot' she responded, 'OK, and you set a good example for Daddy'. LOL! So that night as I kissed Charles good night I rolled over and set a good example by going straight to sleep!.

Pep Talk by JWC Anderson

Today Jack's journal entry assignment was to write a pep talk to be given to the St. Louis Cardinals before their game tonight. I told Jack to act as though he was Mike Matheny. What would he tell the Cardinals? Well here it is:

Based on the Cardinals performance tonight - it seems this 'pep' talk worked!  A coach in the making?????

Ways Not to Treat A Brother

Eliot is in a little phase right now where he throws a toy. It is usually little people or something like this, but obviously we are trying to teach him not to. Today Theo told me that Eliot had thrown two little people at him while they were playing back in Eliot's room. I asked Theo if he had told Eliot 'No No'?

Theo very seriously told me, 'No I told him that was no way to treat his brother.'

Out of the mouths of babes. It is hilarious to hear the same thing you say come out of the mouth of little ones!

God's Gifts

Today while in the car, we were discussing how you get to be good at something. We were trying to find the right balance in working hard and having gifts from God. As I was explaining the two concepts (or trying!) Theo piped up and said, ‘Mom I know what gift God has given me.’

Oh really Theo. What gift do you think that is? What gift has God given you?

He has given me the gift to make really great Lego creations. J

Too true. Oh, I love 5 year olds!

Addie The High Schooler

Today while driving to church Theo was looking at some new apartment complexes and commented that he didn't think he would want to live in those apartments when he was in high school. I told him that those apartments were actually meant more for college students. I then told him that you lived at home still in high school. He genuinely seemed grateful for the correction.

Addie then piped up and set 'yes when I grow up I want to be live at home and be a high schooler.' She then continued and said, 'next time you hold that sign up I want to say high schooler not police woman.'  In fairness, a few weeks back when we held up the kids 'beginning of school, I want to be' signs, Addie was a little confused as to what she wanted to be when she grew up. Jack quickly said baseball player. Theo quickly said robot maker. And then Addie finally stumbled upon 'police woman' largely driven, I believe, by a book we had just checked out from the library. So now she has finally decided: when Addie grows up she wants to be a high schooler.  I will remind her of this when she is a high schooler!  Hopefully, she will accomplish this aspiration - probably more realistic than  a baseball player or a robot maker!

Eliot The Umpire

Our kids have gotten really into baseball, lead by Jack's interest. They have even turned our kitchen, living room, dining room circle walkway into a baseball diamond. They aren't allowed to use a ball or run, but that doesn't keep them from swinging and announcing what they outcome of their hit was:

 'Jack Anderson up to plate, a swing, deep into left field, a double!'

Something kind of like that. This morning Jack, Theo, and Addie were playing away when Eliot scooted over. I then heard Theo said, 'oh Eliot you can play too. You can be the umpire!'  Too funny.

Brian Gets Married!

We had so many fun things and visitors over this Summer. In fact, we had so many that it was hard to blog and record all of the fun.  My goal is to get some of these happy memories recorded on this blog before they are distant memories.

The first one is 'Brian gets married!'

On July 28th my younger brother Brian got married to a wonderful girl named Hau. Hau is originally from Vietnam and has been in the US since she was around 18. She is now a paediatric dentist (we wished she lived closer to reap the benefits on that one!). We are thrilled that she is part of our family. Here are some fun pictures to record the day.


All my siblings and siblings-in law from the Abbott side - We are truly blessed:

Brian and Hau

After the Reception at Les Bourgeois:

Brian and Hau and all their nieces and nephews from the Abbott Side (okay honestly, it is 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,9 - only the top two aren't in sequential order!):

The couple at Memorial Union

Eliot with his 'Walker'

Some kids have a walker, others have a sister. 

First Day of Home-School: Pre-School, Kindergarten, 2nd Grade!

The boys started Wednesday morning enrichment a few weeks back, but we started home-school today. It is a totally different feel to have 2 schoolers (Theo isn't doing much, but he thinks of himself as a schooler and Addie is right there as well, trust me!). Here are first day pictures with 'what they want to be when they grow up' signs:

Addie - Pre-School - Police Woman

Theo - Kindergarten - Robot Maker

Jack - 2nd Grade - Baseball Player (and if there was any doubt, it is clear, he has fully integrated into America!)

Wednesday Mornings...A New Adventure

The boys have started going weekly to Wednesday morning school, as our family affectionately calls it. Charles and I decided that the boys would benefit from an enrichment morning with other students their age. Therefore, as of a couple of weeks ago, Jack and Theo have started in Heritage Academy's Enrichment Program. It is just a little four hour a week program designed for home-schoolers. They cover four subjects literature, music, physical education, and science. An added benefit is that they get to be in the same class since kindergarten through second grade are together. Initial signs are that they love it.

Here is a picture of them before they left on their first day:

Half way through the first day we got a call from the school - every parent's nightmare. They told us that Theo had been stung by a wasp, not once, but twice!  They said he was initially very upset but that he was now calm. They said he was showing no allergic reaction and they thought he would likely carry on as normal. However, they wanted to tell us so that we could chose whether to come check on him or not. We thought probably best to just get him at the normal time given that he was calm by the time we got the call.

When I picked Theo up I immediately said 'Theo show me where you got stung. I am so sorry that happened to you'. He quickly told me that it had already healed. He wasn't the slighted phased!  In fact, he is now known as the 'boy who got stung' by all his classmates! Sad as it was that he got stung on his first day away at school, I think overall it was a bonding moment for the class. A few days later we got a letter in the mail from his teacher consoling him and telling him how proud she was of how he rebounded after being stung twice. What a memory!

Magic House

We were able to do some really fun things with our visitors this past Summer. One of the things we were able to do with both the Tuckwells and the Passinghams was visit the Magic House. It was a massive hit with both families and our family really enjoyed it too. Charles had never been before and Erin, Jack, and Theo hadn't been in the last 4.5 years so needless to say we were all excited.

The Magic House is hard to explain, but it never ceases to amaze. It is a kids' dream. Some pictures and descriptions are included below.

One of our favorite areas was miniature land where the kids get to act like they are big people doing big people type things. Here are some pictures of Alicia, Addie, Jack and Theo pretending they are doctors in the nursery.

Another part of miniature land included a store where the kids get to shop and then check themselves out. Here is Addie working on buying a tin of tomatoes with the cash register and scanner.

Eliot also had a good time in miniature land. Here he is trying to climb through a tire on a car that Jack and Theo were busy repairing.

Happy Birthday Theo!

Theo is 5. Normally, you read something, like 'gosh time has flown by' or 'I can hardly believe it'! But with Theo, I can believe it. In fact, Charles commented that I have been introducing him as 5 for a few months now. It is true. Once Eliot turned one, it was so much easier - and pleasing to the ear - to say that my kids were 7, 5, 3, and 1 over 7, 4, 3, and 1. I like the ring of 7, 5, 3, 1. It sounds so organized - whichI am clearly not since Theo turned 5 on July 30th and I am just now getting this up! But nonetheless, I love the sound of it.

In fact, there is more evidence that I am not super organized. I planned a party for Theo at nearby little wading pool that was scheduled to start at 5 and go to 7. I called the day before to ensure we could pay for the guests upon arrival. It was then that I was informed that the pool closed at 5 on the scheduled party day. I greeted Charles at the door when he returned home and told him 'we have a big problem'. I then told him of the pool closing time to which he correctly said, 'no, THAT is not a big problem. A big problem would be finding out tomorrow with all the kids in their bathing suits ready to swim.' He was right. He is good for me. I need him to correct my melodrama...often.

So with a bit of shifting (thankfully only two boys outside the family were invited) and very gracious party-goers we moved the party to 3-5. We had a great time with our new 5 year old. Here are some pictures to record it:

A Great Day and Brothers

We had a great day today. My sister-in-law and family were scheduled to visit us today. We love spending time with Aunt Natalie and her crew. They moved to Pennsylvania just after we arrived in the US which was taunting, but it has not changed our love for them or eagerness to see them. My kids were waiting at the door from the minute we got up today. When Aunt Natalie comes she brings five kids with her (otherwise known as her kids). Josiah, Esther, Miriam, Ezra and Silas are stair steps with my kids which means whether you look up or down there is a playmate. It is a blast.

Well, unexpectedly the day got even better. Natalie and I were sitting out in the backyard when we turned and saw a kid running around the side of the house very excitedly. Natalie made the comment that our neighbor-kid looked a lot like Joshua (who is our shared nephew - my sister's kid). I turned around to see the kid and screamed because it actually was Joshua. My sister had decided to drive in from St. Louis to surprise us and join in on the cousin time. She left her older two kids at home, but we thoroughly enjoyed the surprise (I love surprises) and the additional people.

My sister had the good idea of having Jack and Josiah come back to St. Louis with her for the evening - kind of a big boy sleepover amongst the older cousins. Jack was really keen to go for the night. Theo was not so keen. After some initial crying and claiming that life is not fair, he was pacified by a Lego playing with Mom and a Lego magazine.

Later that evening at dinner we were going around the table doing our highs and lows. Theo was very quick with his. He said his high was The Abbotts coming over and his low was Jack leaving.

It then dawned on me that Theo has slept in the same room as Jack since he was two years old and they have not missed a night together since they started sharing a room (except for the hospital stay when Jack swallowed the coin and Theo had the nasty asthma attack!). It was very natural for Theo to be missing Jack. He has asked me multiple times when Jack will be back tomorrow and has also said in a slightly melodramatic way 'Jack is the only person I like to play with.'

Thankfully not having Jack did not keep Theo up too long this evening:

The empty top bunk:

I love the fact that my boys love each other. I want to remember memories like this because I am not naive enough to think it will always feel this way. My prayer is that my kids will be deep friends their whole lives and am happy that my sister and sister-in-law make it so easy for me to model this to my kids.

Trip to the Governor's Mansion

We had a great day today touring the governor's mansion in Jefferson City. We went with a few friends and enjoyed a tour, a picnic, and a stop by Central Dairy. What is there not to love????

Before going to the mansion I read through the touring policy and prepped my kids with a few rules. One of the things I was sure to point out was that there wasn't a bathroom in the governor's mansion so we needed to make sure we went before we left home.

On the way there I asked each of my older boys to think of a question that they might want to ask the tour guide.  Jack quickly came up with the question of which governor has had the most kids - stemming of course from what it would be like to be a kid living in the mansion. A very reasonable question. Theo quickly came up with his question as well. He quickly piped in telling me that he was going to ask the tour guide 'where does the governor go to the bathroom?'.

It seems I forgot to mention that the governor's mansion had no public bathroom. In Theo's four year old mind he was thinking being governor doesn't sound like that good of a job if you have to across the street to go to the bathroom!  LOL.