Mass Update

My, my, my...it's been a LONG time since I updated the blog!!! So, in true Danielle fashion, this update will be a catch-all of what's been happening since August. The other day Cole and I were talking about how the blog has been terribly neglected and how that stinks because this IS our family journal. I commented that the blogging (not to mention a perfectly tidy house with drawers FULL of clean laundry) fell off the radar when I started working (part-time) again. Cole said, "Well, you could quit your job. It's up to you." Cole knows I won't quit, but I think a little bitty part of him sort of misses the life we had when I was at home an additional 20 hours a week. It was definitely more organized around here. {Sarah, if you are reading this don't worry. I'm NOT quitting!!!} I'm just going to have to make an appointment with Blogger once a week to do updates regularly. For now...here's what's going on in the life of the Andersons.

This guy turned 6! Yep. That happened. And within the last week he has gotten his first wiggly tooth...and then a second...and what might be a third! I asked him what we would do when he lost all these teeth and he said, "I think I'll have to eat baby food."

We ate supper at Olive Garden for Ian's birthday. He can't get enough of those buttery breadsticks.

This dude continues to live life in costume. Why wear clothes when you can wear a costume, right? And his character development and improv skills are unreal. He comes up with COMPLEX character back stories on the spot and NEVER breaks character. When he gets into a new character at home he always asks, "Mrs. Anderson, where's your bathroom?" He is so. much. fun.

Big Bro got glasses! He has done so well with them. He clearly needed them because they are ALWAYS on his face. You never need to remind him. Over Thanksgiving the kids were playing in the basement and my sister announced that kids with glasses MUST take them off before playing rough. Ian said, "Uh, Aunt Jess, I can't take mine off or I can't see right." I think he opted out of playing rough.

Railroad Days 2014. We showed up at 9:00 a.m. and stayed until 5:30 p.m. We even weathered a pretty heavy downpour. These boys and their trains.

The cold weather is here. Vests, fleece, gloves, hats, boots, parkas, scarves...they all make me realize how much I hate winter in the Midwest. It's miserable...and it's not even cold yet!!!

Matching be damned...this one wears what he "feels" in his heart. And yes, that is sometimes two different boots to school. Whatever. His feet were warm and dry.

We carved gourds this year instead of pumpkins. Ian's held up REALLY well...not sure where his specs are in this picture. Hmmmm.... Eli's, however, dehydrated pretty quickly and looked totally bizarre. Eli got pretty upset about "Pumpky's" demise and started acting really oddly. After days of being super weird about the pumpkin he yelled out, "I don't like Pumpky anymore! He looks like some weird gorilla!!!" This was true. The eyes were bulging out and it was pretty freaky looking. I, too, was relieved when consent was given to lay Pumpky to rest in the compost.

There has been a great deal of scrap lumber ramp construction going on. These boys are quite the ramp builders and can stay occupied for HOURS building and rebuilding their tracks.

Sweetest boys a mom could ask for!

We had a front row seat for some serious road repaving that I didn't think was EVER going to end. It finally did, but good lord...I hope it doesn't happen again for a very long time. I was having fantasies of driving the Nissan at full speed right through the road barrier blocking our intersection. I'm glad that never ended up happening.

No story here. I just think Ian is ADORABLE in this picture, and it brings the total number of pictures of me with at least one of the boys up to about 12 which is fine by me considering how much I loathe having my picture taken. (Ian, when I'm old and gray, please reference this picture to remember that your mom was once young.)

Let's talk about this guy for a minute! Ran his first marathon on November 1st in Indianapolis. It was FREEZING...quite literally. Temperature at the start time was 27. That's one of his running partners, Jenn. We couldn't find his other partner, Ben, that morning for a group picture, but Ben's wife has some mad photoshop skills so maybe we can get a group picture someday.

His official chip time was 3:44:01. He was awesome! I'm super proud of him, Jenn, and Ben. They were all amazing.