Tucker's Big, Fat Mouth

We don't say the word fat. Well, Chris, Heidi, and Tatum don't say the word fat, Tucker, however does...and often and many other hilarious, naughty things. His favorite though is fat, and not just saying it, calling someone fat. We've had numerous discussions about it but they aren't sinking in. He's too honest and so LOUD about it. I'm waiting to get beat up by the recipient of Tucker's honesty. Here's last week:

We're in the grocery store checking out. Tucker says, LOUDLY, "Mom her booty is bigger and bigger and bigger!" I couldn't pay and walk out of there fast enough. While we're walking to the car we have "the talk" AGAIN! After the grocery store is Costco. We're in the bathroom, an enclosed, echoing area, when a lady walks out of her stall. "Mom her belly is huge!" Oh my, not 10 minutes before we had "the talk". "Tucker! We don't call people fat!" "But Mom," he innocently says, "I didn't call her fat." How can I argue with that?

We're at Target, leaving when we walk by a cute, smaller girl. Tuck pipes up, "Her booty's not big." And it wasn't. "Tucker, we don't talk about people's booties," I gripe back. "Can we talk about their bellies?"he asks. Seriously???

Yesterday he says to me, "Mom, your garments are just a liiiiiiiiiitle bit too small, huh?" I should have smacked him, Heaven knows I wanted to.

We were in Utah and Tatum and Tuck slept in the same bed. They were in bed for the evening when I heard Tatum sobbing. Tucker called her fatness and her feelings were hurt.

Other naughty things: Chris was laying on the ground and Tucker walked by and kicked his head. Chris got upset with him and Tucker says back, "Your head was in my way, move your head." I guess it was Chris's fault for having his head in the way.

Tuck was mad at Chris and he yelled, "You're being impossible!"

Actually Tucker, YOU are impossible, not quite sure what to do with you.

Tatum Starts Kindergarten

Tatum started Kindergarten on Monday, July 27th. She picked: her outfit, which I ironed, shoes, hair do which her Nonnie drove all the way over to french braid, breakfast of eggs and bacon, necklace and bracelet and she was ready to conquer her first day! She's so darn cute! She was really excited and did great, no crying. Me either. She was excited that her new best friend, Tyler, wore the exact same outfit, they wear uniforms.

I thought it'd be fun for Tucker and I to eat lunch with her on her first day. When she walked into the lunch room she hesitated and I asked her if she'd like to sit with us or her class. She chose her class. I'm glad she's confident enough to eat with them, especially on her first day. Half way through she changed her mind and sat with us. I'm glad. I missed her.

At the end of the school day she was SO tired. She said she was tired of learning, tired of listening, and tired of holding still. I think she was also tired from the blistering temperature of 116. She had a great first day and was thrilled homework doesn't start until next week.

Today was a different story. She was hysterical for 45 minutes before Chris finally dragged her out the door. She tried 3 different outfits, put her knee highs on 2 different times, tried 2 pairs of shoes on-twice, didn't want her hair done and then freaked out when I wasn't doing it, didn't want a bow and was then mad she didn't have a bow...seriously. Nothing made her happy, no choice was good enough. I expected a melt down sometime this week. Hopefully tomorrow and every day after we can all say good bye with a kiss and a smile!

Pioneer Day

For Pioneer Day our ward had a little celebration. We couldn't not dress up! Tater wearing her pioneer skirt and apron and Tuck sporing his pioneer get up.

There was the classic stick pull game. Chris beat both missionaries.

And wasn't too tired to beat Josh. He's my hero.

The kids brought their bikes to decorate for the parade. Tatum did not get off her bike until she marched in the parade, they were SO excited about it! I like how she is modestly sitting on her bike in a skirt.

Christmas in July

It was such a pleasure planning, making, worrying about, organizing, instructing, and loving this project. I certainly could not have done it on my own, so many people helped and I am SO grateful for their generosity. If I do say so myself the packages turned out darling and had more in them than I anticipated. I had enough to make 40 packages when I originally planned on 25. Once again I am overwhelmed with people's generous hearts and caring excitement. Chris and I delivered our bundles on Saturday, July 25th. While it wasn't near enough it was the best we could give. We'd love to send these families on a cruise or to a spa but how impractical is that! We made these bundles with sincere love, complete understanding, and knowing that everything will work out, even if it's saying goodbye. It was healing to give back and hopefully this is the first of many more projects. Our holiday at a glance.

Christmas in July started a bit early, on Wednesday these cute 8-11 year olds went down to the hospital to show the staff what they had worked on and to see and understand what really goes on in the unit. These girlies made: all the blankets, donated all the stuffed animals and headbands for the girls, and made 10 sets of thank you cards. Thanks girls and thank you Eve for organizing these activities! And thank you to Nicole and Ashley for accommodating and speaking to these girls. And THANK YOU Heidi for sharing your experience, I know it wasn't easy but it was PERFECT!

39 stuffed animals

Aren't these so cute? They were just as soft as they were adorable! Not too big, the perfect size for a perfect, little body!

Each baby girlie will look precious in these headbands! There were 26 total.

I ended up with 36 sets of thank you cards. Each set had 5 cards, that's 180 cards! They were all SO creative and I know they took hours to make. I was not blessed with creativeness and so I really appreciate those cute girls, and my amazing friends: Karen, Chris, Kristin, Lindsey, and Renae!!

My super cute friends, Jen and Natalie made 25 of these darling packaged, super cute cd's. Those are Jersey's shoes she got for Christmas and never got to wear. The songs they selected for this cd aren't coincidence. These songs played a major role in those 6 weeks we had with our girl. I feel like they were inspired to chose the songs they did.






These cute tags adorned the outside of each bag. Not only are they SO cute but they briefly share Jersey's story and darling face. Thank you Shanen and Mom for helping me with these, they were perfect!

It wouldn't be Christmas if there wasn't something yummy to eat. My fabulous mother-in-law, Eve, made 40 soft, delicious sugar cookies, enough for each family to have 2. Thank you !

Each basket also got an eye mask. My mom and I spent an entire day, and I mean a good 12 hours sewing these adorable, pain in the rear cuties. We ended up with 32. Thanks mom, I know it was a very looooooooooong day!

That's my cute sister who's modeling. She and my mom helped package up all these fun things.



I ended up with 85 beanies, 85! That's a ton! Thank you Chris's sister, Carissa's friend,Kristin, Jamie, Mandy, and Jesse! They came in many different sizes from teeny to large.


That's my friend Jamie, she's responsible for at least 25 hats, sorry girl, I forgot to count! I appreciate you learning for me and then spending a zillion hours crocheting them! Your flowers are better than mine by the way.

I have the sweetest, most generous, concerned friend, Mandy, she has a heart baby too. She's sent us fun packages in the mail, things for my blondies and even a precious bracelet for me. She writes me often and is always up to date on my blog. When she read about my project she wasted no time and made 14 darling sets of bows for the girlies. I've never met her, she lives in South Carolina but I hope someday to meet her and darling little Evie. Thanks girl, they were perfect!

Because it's MY project I felt it appropriate to include something about Christ so each package had a small picture in it. It was a good missionary opportunity.

Natalie, my sister, and I assembling the packages. My mom was in charge of organizing everything in the bag and then Natalie and I tied the ribbon and tag to finish it.

Girl package. Boy package.

25 assembled packages.

Happy Christmas in July everyone!

Tatum's Dinner Prayer

Each evening when we sit down for dinner we take turns blessing dinner. Tatum ALWAYS goes on and on about both the sick and angel heart babies, here's last night's prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankly for our day, we're thankly for mommy and daddy. We're thankly for Jersey, help her to get better. Please bless Eden and Jake and Gracie. Help them to get healthy, please bless that they will be friends. Please bless that they will be okay. Please bless all the sick heart babies, Ethan, Owen, Libbi, and Lindsay, help them to get better. Please bless their families that they will be okay. Please bless the sick heart babies that they will get better. We're thankly for the food and bless the food. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

It really is so sweet. In the middle of her prayer she'll quietly sit and think of every baby she can so not to forget anybody. It's quite the list and quite impossible for a little 5 year old to remember everybody. She has such a sweet little heart!

Christmas in July

There have been SO many generous friends who have gone above and beyond to help me with my Christmas in July project. Thank you! thank you! It's coming up so quickly! On July 23rd I'll be assemblying baskets and then delivering them on the 25th. If you have been one of the wonderful people that has made items to donate-could you contact me and I would be happy to pick them up? Thank you to all who have helped, I feel inadequate in expressing my gratitude. It has been a true pleasure working on this and I hope, if nothing else, a smile might be brought to the lips of an aching parent, if only for a moment. If you need to feel free to e-mail me at: heidi.anderson@cox.net.

4th of July

We went to Show Low, Az for the 4th of July. Anywhere was better than the blistering 110 degrees of Gilbert. We high tailed it outta there! It was a busy 2 days filled with swinging, swimming, caneoing, parading, eating, and whining.

It's safe to say the blondies rather enjoyed themselves. There was so many fun things done they both had a difficult time deciding which was their favorite.

There was also a lot of hanging out. I was lucky enough to get a few little beanies crocheted. Can't wait to see them on little heads!!



4 generations

Tatum was quite festive and super darling, as usual. Her hat was rad as was Tucker's that they wore for a combined total of 3 minutes. Aren't Tatum's piggies cute? She didn't think so and thought she'd cry about it.

The small town parade was just that, small but it didn't stop us from having a marvelous time.

Tucker knows the louder you scream and the more you wave your arms like a fool the more candy you get thrown at you. It worked, his arms were loaded as well as his mouth, both full of candy.

Can you do this, balance a sword on your boobs?

Tucker LOVES to canoe so him and Uncle Keil braved the lake, he enjoyed every second!

Braving the dark waters of the pond.

I love this little guy. For as rotten as he can be he sure can melt my heart!

Swinging has to be their favorite, I could spend hours pushing them and still, it wouldn't be enough!

For Jersey

It had been a really hard 2 weeks, perhaps the worst 2 yet. Chris and I had a fight, the largest yet. We hardly spoke those 2 weeks. We both took leaps backwards rather than forwards. Back to being very emotional. Time had once again stopped, everybody but me was living. There was no light, nothing to smile about, just heartache, desperation... more loneliness than I had ever imagined. Chris and I have handled our Jersey VERY differently, we do not agree, it is VERY straining. It has seemed loads harder for him than me. We were struggling like never before.

My friend Sandy came over for a visit, I love Sandy. She had a gift for Chris and I but it wasn't from her. She didn't know how crappy we had been feeling. She handed me a pink gift bag that had the most darling scrap booked picture book in it I had ever seen. It was full of delicious pinks, eye-blinding sparkles, and a zillion rhinestones. Everything about it said princess! I immediately fell in love and begged to know who had spent so many hours on this most sparkly creation. Then we sat down. We had a talk and while the scrapbook was a gift the real gift was what Sandy had in her hands. She explained: This person expects to be anonymous and hopes you will respect her wishes. She then handed me 3 pieces of paper. All of which I read with tears on my cheeks and a burning in my heart.

My new anonymous friend explained that we've never met but are in the same ward (church). For some time she had been prompted to design a special project for me. Then she goes on to say how privileged and honored she felt to be of service me. Through the entire project she said she felt the Lord's abundant love for me and my family, she was tenderly guided and it has been a very sweet experience for her. Then she said, "The Lord is mindful of you. He is sending a very special message to you through a complete stranger. Why now? I don't know. All I know is that I needed to get this done. The burning in my soul has been persistent." She continues to write that she is not the type to write poems, after much prayer and many drafts and being guided by the Spirit she wrote her poem. She said, "This part of the project (the poem) was very difficult for me. I do not know you, I have never met you, and yet I have been asked to write this very emotional, tender poem for you. I hope you receive the message that the Lord has angels watching over you.... Please know that these are not words from my lips but from the Lord's. This is his tender message for you." Sandy and my new anonymous friend chatted a bit about this and my friend said the poem isn't as much for me as it is for Chris. She didn't know why. I do.

For Jersey

Hair of gold

Eyes so blue

Tiny little body

With a heart pure and true

Fighting like a warrior

You heard the call

Return to your Heavenly Father

And proudly stand tall

Soft, sweet face

Blessed with eternal grace

Loving so gently

During a final embrace

Your purpose fulfilled

And perfection restored

Patiently you await

Your eternal reward

Now more diligently we will have to work

In righteous pursuit

Towards the worthiness

Required to be re-united with you

So with sorrow and love
We lay you to rest

Returning you to our Heavenly Father

With exalted request

Endure as we must

Many challenging tests

Following a promised plan for

Hope, love, everlasting life and happiness

This experience is a witness to me that we are NEVER left alone, even in our darkest hours. We needed this and Heavenly Father knew it. He loves us and our Jersey. I love how the poem speaks of her looks. I always wonder who she would look like, what that crazy hair would have turned out to be, would she be solid like Tucker or dainty and girlie like Tatum. I just knew she would be my green eyed baby but am thrilled she has Chris's baby blue eyes. I miss my girlie fiercely but am grateful for the small glimpses I get of her watching over and being aware of us.