Monday, March 23, 2009

First Weekend of Spring

Springtime has come to San Diego and that could only mean one thing....
we were doing some of our favorite things this weekend!
The first thing spring brought was the start of another soccer season for Jack.
Back on the soccer fields of Miramar and this season playing for
The Stingers!!!
Saturday morning (in the cold, cloudy morning hours) Jack was back on the field first playing a little offense for his team and then
back in his favorite position.....
GOALIE!!!
Sadly, we lost our first game, but our goalie did a great job in the second half and kept the score low!!
After the game, we came home, had some lunch and headed out to enjoy the sun!!
And where did we go?
Any guesses?
Yes, that is right -- we went to one of our favorite places in San Diego!
SEA WORLD!!!!

Every time we go it is different, we meet new people and see new things.
Like this time we met these guys.......
The boys were very excited about their meet and greet with Elmo and Big Bird!!

But of course no trip would be complete without a visit to see this guy........
We hope you enjoyed your first weekend of spring as much as we did!
Until next time............
love from San Diego

Friday, March 20, 2009

Report Card Time

Excuse me for a minute while I brag about my oldest son!!!

Kevin and I went to have our Parent/Teacher Conference yesterday with Mrs. Barker! Before we left to go to school we asked Jack "what is Mrs. Barker going to say about you?" Jack responded with "She will say that I'm awesome!" Well, she didn't use the word awesome, but she did say some very nice things about our Jack. Jack is doing great in school, he got a wonderful report card and we couldn't be prouder!

Here is what Mrs. Barker wrote in the comments section of his report card:
"Jack is an important and respected member of our classroom. He has wonderful knowledge and insight into most subjects we encounter/study in class. Jacks reading and comprehension as well as his math skills are advanced. Jack takes great pride in his work and always puts effort in to make assignments look nice. Jack is a an absolute joy."

Good job buddy! Daddy and I are so proud of you!!! Keep up the good work!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Jack Is Back in the Box!!

It is that time of the year again and Jack is back on the soccer field playing his favorite position -- GOALIE!!!
Spring Soccer Season started with practice this week and our first game will be on Saturday.
So, the Anderson family will be back on the soccer fields Saturday mornings at Miramar cheering on our Jack and his team The Stingers!!
I'm so excited, I can't wait!!
I love soccer season!!!
Until next time............
love from San Diego

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

For Our Aunt Steph

Happy Birthday from San Diego!!!
We hope you have a wonderful, super special, cake filled birthday!!!
We love you!!!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

What A Difference A Day Makes!!

Yesterday my baby was sick! He was running a fever, didn't want to eat or play, just wanted to be held and looked liked this........He spent the majority of the day doing this...........



But oh what a difference a day makes!!!
His fever broke last night and he slept through the night and today,
he is totally himself!!!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sunday Fun in the Sun

Finally this weekend we got sand for our sandbox and oh my gosh, the boys loved it. Jack and I went to Target to get some sand toys and then the boys spent all day Sunday in the yard playing. The sandbox kept them both busy for hours. The toys we got are awesome -- we got frogs and lizards to bury in the sand, shovels, buckets, trucks to run in the sand, sieves, and rakes. This was my view all day when I walked out my back door!!! You can tell they are having a great time!!!
If they weren't in the sandbox they were playing in the green grass of our backyard. Kevin was working in the garage this weekend and found our Thomas tent! The boys had a great time in the "fort" and played so great together! They were exploring the "big blue" and had a great time fighting the pirates!
They had such a great time this weekend playing in the backyard!!!
When we moved to California I remember telling Kevin that this was all I wanted!
An outdoor space that the boys could play in and we could enjoy watching them!!
And that is exactly what I got and I love it!!!

My view out my kitchen window last night while I was making dinner!!!
Perfect!!!!
The Sunday afternoon I always wanted!!!

Until next time...........
love from San Diego

Sunday, March 15, 2009

$6.00 on a Friday Night!!!

What is there to do for $6.00 on a Friday night in San Diego?
You can go see these guys.......
Rascal Flatts!!!
Yes, that is right -- Friday night we went and saw Rascal Flatts!
Oh my gosh -- they were AWESOME!!!
Kevin got tickets from work -- so we loaded up and headed out to see them in concert!!
We even took the boys...........
They had a great time at their first country concert!
Both of their little faces lit up when they heard what we call at our house
"The Cars Song!"
It was a great night, filled with awesome music and time with my boys!!
For more of our pictures -- you know the drill visit us here.
Until next time............
love from San Diego

Friday, March 13, 2009

Dinner at Our House!!

I love dinner time at our house for so many reason but the biggest reason would be for the time together talking about our day, school, work and whatever else is on our minds.

Well, the other night Nick had a lot on his mind and oh my gosh did he share it with us. I absolutely love his little voice and facial expressions. He makes me laugh and smile all the time!!!

Hope you have great dinners at your house too!!!


Until next time..........love from San Diego

Thursday, March 12, 2009

When It Gets Quiet At Our House..........

I wonder what my boys are up to!
And it always warms my heart to find them doing this.......
Jack sitting in his room reading one of his new books from Pops!
And since my little one wants to be just like his big brother...
I found my Nicky sitting in his chair doing the same thing!!
And, I just have to brag for a moment! Jack came home from school the other day with this award from his teacher! He is doing such a good job in school and we are just so proud of him!!

Good Job Jack!!!

Until next time........
love from San Diego

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ugly Plants

When we moved into our house last fall
I HATED these little green plants!!!
These plants line our walk way from the driveway all the way to our front door. Oh my gosh, I thought they were SO UGLY and called them "ugly plants" when talking to Kevin about them!! Now, you need to know that they always didn't look as good as they do in the picture above. Kevin has put a lot of work into them, you know like watering them, cutting them back and cutting away the dead brown growth that was all around them. I can remember asking Kevin to pull those ugly things out of the ground and into the trash. But, he said "NO!" and now I have to admit that I'm glad he didn't!!!
A few weeks ago, I started to notice these little things growing from the "ugly plants" that looked to be blooms. I thought there is no way -- this ugly plant is going to bloom?
Well, yes it has bloomed and oh my gosh it is
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I just love these pretty burnt orange and yellow flowers that have appeared!
So now every time I walk outside our front door I smile!!
Because there is the sight of these beautiful "ugly plants!"
Until next time...........
love from San Diego

Monday, March 9, 2009

Let's Go Fly a Kite...and Play at the Beach!

Living here in San Diego and having such beautiful weather (most of the time) we love to spend our weekends outside doing something fun and spending lots of time together as a family. So, this weekend we decided that since its March and prime kite flying season that we would get some kites and head to the beach for some fun!

We went up to Camp Pendleton to the beach on base and met Uncle Nick there for some fun in the sun, surf and sand!!!

So, let's go fly a kite..........


Kevin helped Nick get his kite into the air and then in normal independent Nick fashion he said "I do it myself!"



Jack got the hang of flying his kite with very little help and loved it!!!

After some time flying our kites it was time to get our buckets and head down to the water to look for shells. The boys love to walk along the beach, getting their feet wet and searching for shells.


It's also fun to chase the sea gulls!!!

There is no better way to spend a Sunday then walking on the beach with my favorite boys!!!


To see more pictures for our kite flying and shell finding Sunday check out our pictures at
www.dropshots.com/theandersonfamily


Until next time..........love from San Diego

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Few, The Proud, The MARINES!!!

Today we went here:MCRD San Diego -- where Marines are made!



And we sat with these guys: Recruits!!


To watch the performance of these wonderful musicians:
The Commandant's Own!!
The Drum and Bugle Corps!



And to see the precision of these Marines:
The Silent Drill Platoon!


We watched in awe while they did things like this.



We stood and watched as our National Colors were marched on by,
the Color Guard of the Marine Corps!


With the exception of the Iwo Jima Memorial and Marine Barracks 8&I I can't imagine a better location to see these wonderful Marines!!!
Semper Fidelis!!!


If you would like to see more of our pictures from our morning at MCRD watching the Silent Drill Platoon and Commandant's Own -- check it out here at: www.dropshots.com/theandersonfamily

Until next time...............
love from San Diego

Friday, March 6, 2009

February Where Did You Go?

I know that February is a short month (if only by 2 or 3 days) but oh my gosh where did it go? February flew by here in Southern California and I can't believe I didn't post one thing that happened in our lives. Gosh, I know the three of you that read this blog must be missing all the stories, pictures and funny things about the Anderson boys. :) Well, your long wait is over! Here is a recap of our February.........................

The weather (at times) has been wonderful and so the boys have been working in our yard a lot. Here is my little guy watering my plants after he finished cutting the grass! Nick got this lawn mower in Berlin and it is so cool -- the eyes squirt water. He loves it!!

The boys love to be in our backyard, playing, digging or "working on the grass". One evening I found the boys (all three of them!) on the side of the house "doing some repair work!" I just love this picture -- the boys playing so nicely and their faithful companion right there with them!
We have had lots of visits from the hummingbirds!! We have three feeders that we fill with about 5 cups of food a week. We all love to sit out in the back and watch these amazing little birds!

We also did a lot of dancing this month........Sugarland, Rodney Adkins and Dierks Bentley really get us moving!!!

We finally took Jack to Islands for dinner to celebrate his IB award. We all enjoyed our burgers and milkshakes. Jack even got an award from Islands ("The Golden Pineapple") for his hard work and success in school presented to him from the manager. It was a great night!

The boys love to read so there has been a lot of reading going on at our house. Jack loves to read just about anything but his favorite books are about dinosaurs. Nicks favorite books are ones about Thomas, Little Einsteins, and any book by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr!


Jack celebrated his 100th day of 1st grade this month. They had a party at school and made "100 Day Trail Mix". Jack was asked to bring in 2 bags of 100 M&M's. Here he is after he counted out his M&M's -- and he is so smart he figured it out that it would be easier to count to 100 if he counted by 2's and put them into piles of 10 and then count the piles of 10 by 10 to get to 100!!!

Here are the boys all bundled up to go to school on the 100th day. I just love this picture...you tell Nick looks up to his brother in more ways then one!

For Valentines Day we took the boys here!!! What a great day!

They loved the whole Disney experience and are looking forward to going back again this spring/summer. They loved the rides and were very excited to meet some of the residents of Disneyland!! Our first meet and greet was with Goofy!!!

But the most exciting was meeting MICKEY!!!
(at his house no less!)

At the end of the month look who came to visit!!! POPS!!! Oh my gosh the boys were so excited. Pops had to come to Southern California for work and was able to spend a week at our house. It was great to have him here. The boys loved showing Pops their house, playing in the backyard, and showing him how to play the Wii!! Jack took Pops to school to see his classroom and meet Mrs. Barker, and we even got to do some fun San Diego activities!!!

Playing in the backyard on a beautiful sunny, warm San Diego day!

We went to Balboa Park to ride the train -- the boys loved this!!! And they had great seats too -- front of the train!

We even got Pops down to the beach here in Pacific Beach! The boys had a great time looking for shells and even got wet (just look at Jack's pants)!!! It was a great day!

We took Pops to one of our favorite places -- SEA WORLD!!! We spent the day there which is always a good time for the boys. They love to watch the shows, visit the animals, and mostly feed the dolphins!!!

We even explored the tide pools this visit and it was a HUGE HIT with the boys!! Jack and Nick both loved reaching into the water and checking out all the little sea creatures. This will always be a stop for us when we go to Sea World.

Then sadly it was time for Pops to head home -- but first one more picture of Pops and his two favorite boys!!! We had a great visit and look forward to the next time Pops (and hopefully Grammy) comes to visit!

Our month ended with Jack having to do his first "major project" for school. He had to do a poster about how we celebrate his birthday and how birthdays are celebrated in another country. As you can guess, Jack picked Germany and he talked about one of his favorite games "Topfschlagen" that he played at birthday parties while we lived in Berlin. He did a great job with his poster -- and his oral presentation went great!! Mrs. Barker was very impressed that he could speak German!! We are so proud of him!

February may be a short month but we did a lot. However, for as much fun as we had here in California there were events back east that we missed and sad anniversary's marked. Grammy (my Mom) celebrated her birthday and oh how we wish we could have been there to wish her "Happy Birthday" in person. Also, this month marked the year anniversary of my Gram's passing. It was a hard day to see come, but it gives me some peace to know that she no longer is suffering. She was an AMAZING lady and the backbone of our family! I miss her so much but my heart fills with joy and love every time I think about her. I'm a lucky girl to have been able to have such a wonderful, special, funny, witty, loving, simply awesome GRAM!!!!
If you want to see more pictures from our February check out our other site: www.dropshots.com/theandersonfamily. We hope you all had a wonderful, short February too!
Until next time..........................
love from San Diego