HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What a fun day we have had and it isn't over yet. This morning I tried to get Alex to put on his Bob the Builder costume and he refused to wear the tool belt and freaked out about the overalls. So, I made an executive decision to go buy a new costume. We were lucky and found this costume....


His favorite "James". He was so excited. I hope it isn't too unhealthy for me to be feeding into his "Thomas" obsession, but he is happy so that is all that matters....right! He has had it on all day and loved running around in it at Sarah's School Parade.


Sarah looked so cute as a Monarch Butterfly. She is such a pretty girl and was cute taking Alex around in the parade. I watched her give him a little hug when her class was sitting in the hallway after the parade. She loves him so much. It is nice they have each other.






Hope you all have a happy Halloween. WE LOVE YOU!!

26 Weeks Pregnant...

This pregnancy has gone by so fast. It is hard for me to still believe that it is real. We struggled for so long to get Alex and even a little wait with Sarah, that it seems too easy. This pregnancy itself has been harder than the others. I am still very "gaggy" (is that a word?). I have thrown up more than I can count with this pregnancy, but in the end I will take that over having to go through the shots and infertility treatments.

I have been trying to explain to Alex that there is a baby in my tummy, but he has no concept of this. He does love babies or anything that is small and he will call it a baby. We have a crab apple tree in our front yard, and Alex calls the little apples "babies". It is very cute.

Sarah on the other hand is very aware of what is happening. She loves to feel my tummy and see if the baby is moving. She also likes talking to the baby and telling her how she will take care of her when she come. It melts my heart. She is such a good big sister.

Just a little update tonight....More tomorrow on Halloween and pictures!!!

"Finding Joy in the Journey" -Pres. Monson

Once your child learns to work the camera you will find some very interesting pictures on it. We probably have 50 pictures of Barbies in different outfits. Some we delete and others we just put on our hard drive. When I was getting ready to update my blog today I found this crazy picture that made me laugh. Sometimes pictures are so posed that you don't always see the day to day behavior of your kids. This one was definitely an Alex moment taken by his sister.



This week has been a normal week. I am now 25 weeks pregnant and "officially" in the third trimester. I am very excited to have this little baby come. This morning I was putting laundry away and went and sat for a minute in the nursery. I remember doing the same thing before Alex was born and wondering what he would look like, what his personality would be like, and how Sarah would interact with him. Now I find myself wondering the same things about this new little baby.

I read over President Monson's conference talk yesterday and really liked this quote.

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly"



There have been many times in my life that I have not wanted to grow up. I remember holding my little sister in the hammock in our yard and wanting time to stand still. It is the same everyday with my kids. They always make me laugh or my heart ache for them to not grow up. I know they have to and I am sure I will have fun times with them as they get older (I will also get to go to the gym again) :) I do wish however that time could slow down just a little bit.

Fall Vacation

Sarah had a few days off of school this week so we decided to take a drive up north and look at leaves. We had a fun day going to my favorite new restaurant "Qcumbers" in Minneapolis and then we drove to a fun miniature train museum. The kids loved looking at all of the model trains and watching them go through the tunnels.






Then we drove north another hour and went to a state park to see the leaves. We had researched online the "peak" time to go. The drive up was beautiful the leaves around the twin cities were gorgeous and then going north it was very pretty. But, when we got close to where we had decided to stop we noticed that there were only a few yellow leaves on the trees. They must of had a wind storm and all of the leaves were blown off.



We still went for a hike and enjoyed walking in all of the leaves!


We were all tired on the drive home. We finished off the trip with a stop at A&W for hamburgers and root beer. Then drove home in silence with the kids sleeping in the back. It was a perfect day!

Sunday Walk

Today we went for a nice long walk and enjoyed all the fall leaves and changes of the season. We saw little snakes and lots of birds migrating south. Sarah and Alex played with sticks and rocks. We have a beautiful little pond that we walked to and then made a loop and came home.

I love going for long walks here. We have really nice neighborhood that is surrounded by a nature preserve with walking paths that turn into cross country ski paths. I usually go almost every other day on a long walk with Alex or with our whole family in the evening.

I am already getting anxious to go cross country skiing again this year. Last year we had so much fun that I am hoping I can get a couple months in before that baby comes. My mom is coming in January just a few days before my due date, and I am going to keep this baby in until I get to go with my mom at least once...maybe twice. :)

Poor James

For Alex's 2nd Birthday his cousin Hunter gave him a Thomas the Tank Engine "James" with a little coal car. Well this quickly became Alex's favorite engine and he would carry it with him wherever he went. About 2 weeks ago we started noticing that James wasn't around. Only his coal car. Alex would insist on sleeping with the little coal car and began calling it "James". Alex would come and get our hand and try to get us to look for him his little lost engine, but no one has been able to find him. It is so cute and sad.

We have looked everywhere! I even cleaned out the couch looking. :( Not Pleasant. We can't find him anywhere. I did find the remote control in the process of looking. So that was good. I have a sad feeling that he might be outside in a bush or up a rain spout. I need to do a thorough search in the yard. We don't have many warm days left so we better look soon. Poor James could be left outside during a very cold winter.

The good thing that has come from this is that I am getting a lot more organized. Dave and I have cleaned and looked in places that normally we would just pass up.

I have seen the same engine at the store and thought many times about just giving up and making a little boy happy and buying him a new one. He really is too little to learn a lesson from this. We'll see. He might be lost somewhere just waiting for another little boy to love him...

23 Weeks, Ready and Waiting!

I am a very impatient person when it comes to fun events. I used to make a list of what I would pack for family vacations at least a month in advance. I didn't want to forget anything.

When it comes to my babies I am the same way. I have had the nursery set up since my 20th week. I had it planned in my mind long before that. :) So for those of you that are curious here is the nursery as it is now. I still need to buy essentials and look through what clothes I have, but it is looking pretty cute.

We are all excited for this new little baby to come. I am feeling her kick more and more. We have all been suggesting names for her, but haven't come to a consensus yet. We will let everyone know when we decide on a name. Some of the interesting suggestions have been: Minna Sota Sanderson (Dave), Lizzy Sanderson (Sarah), baby (Alex).

Brrrrrr. I am starting to feel that all too familiar change in the weather. Am I really ready for another Minnesota winter? Absolutely! I really love the winters here...pull out the feather blankets, stock up on hot coco, and sign up for unlimited Netflix. The only month's that are hard are February and March. Once you hit April you start going for long walks again.

The leaves are beautiful this time of year. We are hoping to go next week and take a trip up north to see the change in color. I will post pictures as soon as I get them.