Free Range Family

We have had such a crazy weekend! Well technically a crazy Sunday lol, Saturday I worked and Alan had his first soccer scrimage. So not too crazy lol... But Sunday was our big family fun day together! I just loved every second of it! :) Special thanks to my mom for inviting us along for the fun! The kids had an absolute blast! We started out our fun at Chuck E. Cheese. We had pizza for lunch their with my mom and brother. Then we played some games and went on some rides together. Alan and Anna didn't want to eat with all the exciting commotion going around us, but by some miracle I got them to eat some salad and a slice each. Then we were off playing! Alan went with me first, so he could play some big kid games. But Anna only let him play alone with me for so long lol, she got jealous fast. Silly girl! Alan playing the rubber ducky game Anna had to do everything Alan did, play every game that he did lol. Alan was such a good sport and let her follow him around. He is serious...

Our Christmas was a blessed one this year. There are so many things to be thankful for, so many people who have supported and helped us. Thank you all! To the YMCA ladies that donated a ton of gifts to my family: bless you. To the WTE mamas who also sent our kids gifts, sometimes even from across the country: bless you too. To the friends and family who gave us presents, gave us money, helped us out with food, sent us a Christmas card, helped us find a place to stay for Christmas morning: bless you all so much. I can't even begin to put into words how endlessly grateful we are for all of you, you are just amazing people. You are who made our Christmas special this year. Not the gifts, the money or the food, but YOU. I don't know what our Christmas would have been like if we didn't have our loved ones. We are so lucky to have them! We spent our Christmas Eve with my family at my parent's house and with the in-law's at the Village Inn, as per tradition. Uncle Camer...

Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and/or a great first day of Hanukkah? We did, that's for sure! Oh, our families are all so good to us, they love us no matter what. I get so sentimental around the holidays (or maybe I am all the time lol) and I remember all my fond memories with my family members. We are so lucky to have such a great group of people who love my children and surround us with security, happiness, hope and love. They help us with so much and we are endlessly grateful for them! Love you guys! We started out our Thanksgiving morning with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the tv. We had toasted bagels with strawberry cream cheese and cereal for breakfast. Alan and Anna both enjoyed watching the parade. Alan really liked the Power Rangers, Finn and Jake, the Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles and Spongebob. He was also quite excited to see Santa at the end. Anna enjoyed watching all the marching band performances with the dance teams, the Mad Hatter dance gro...

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Gobble, gobble says Alan's little turkey! For Thanksgiving this year, we plan on going over to Grandma Amber's house for a Thanksgiving lunch. We hope to also stop by Great Aunt Marnie's house to see Great Grandma Marcia and cousin James! Then we will be headed up to Great Aunt Carolyn's again for Thanksgiving dinner. It should be a beautiful, amazing day of love, family and thanksgiving! I hope everyone is also prepared to have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be thankful for! I know that we as a family sure do! I am so very thankful for my awesome family! We are truly the Fab Four, always together no matter the weather! I love my husband so much! He has been working his butt off at work and recently got a promotion! Great job Lon, we are so proud of you! Both of my children are so wonderful too. I am so thankful to have such loving, smart, silly children! Alan is such a little smartie, he is always asking qu...

I apologize about not posting yesterday like I had originally planned to, I was so looking forward to sharing with everyone our wonderful Family Sunday at the pumpkin patch. But something quite traumatic happened Monday night and though I still am not fully sure if I am ready to share this, I need to for my daughter and my family. It happened how it happened and though I am not happy with the way it all went, there is nothing more I can do about what happened that night. I have made peace with that night and all of its scary events, and I hope that you can too. Please no hurtful comments, they will be removed immediately! Please realize that we are all still recovering from this, I will not tolerate hate towards anyone, including the dog.  It was no one's fault, just an unfortunate event for everyone involved, especially sweet Miss Anna. Disclaimer: This post is quite graphic and traumatic. I do not want to leave any details out, everyone should know exactly what happened. If yo...

I want to give a big shoutout to my brother-in-law and my future sister-in-law! They are getting married at four at the same courthouse that Lon and I were married at. I am so happy for them! Congratulations Uncle Tyler and Aunt Sam, we love you guys so much! We wish that we could go to the ceremony, but we cannot get the time off of work to attend. However, we will all get together soon and go out to celebrate! And they are waiting until Christmas time to have their reception, so that all of the Andersen and Jacobson family will be able to attend! Huzzah guys! We love youuuuuuuuu! We wish you both nothing but love, happiness, and financial success! Baby Benton is also two months old today! My word, I cannot believe it has already been two months! I swear just yesterday Aunt Natalie was still pregnant with him! He is getting so big too, loves sitting in his Bumbo chair because it makes him feel like a big boy (it amazes how much he is like his oldest cousin). And loves hanging out wi...

Today is Uncle Tyler's 27th birthday! Uncle Tyler always has this little joke he tells the kids and his family. He says, "I always tell everyone on April Fools Day that tomorrow is my birthday but no one ever believes me and I don't get it!" This always gets the kids to yell at him, "Because its April Fools! They think you are fooling them!" :) Makes me laugh everytime lol. Tyler's mother has a slightly different story, about how she refused to have a baby on April Fool's Day and did everything she could to wait to have him. She was successful and had him the next day. It doesn't matter when he came, we are VERY glad he is here today! Uncle Tyler is a busy man with work so we have yet to make plans with him to celebrate. Lon and I would like to take Aunt Sam and him out for dinner and drinks. Hopefully soon! :) Happy birthday Uncle Tyler! We love you so very much!

Today is a busy one for us. I have a ton of errands to do before Alan's make up gymnastics class. Then we have a birthday party for one of Alan and Anna's friends. We are so excited he is one!!!! :D Last week was quite scary for my family. March 8th, Lon was involved in a car accident and then had a tooth pulled later that afternoon. The rest of that weekend, he was quite ill. Feverish, not able to eat anything, delirious and in a decent amount of pain. He was on some pain killers but they only seemed to make his stomach hurt. By Monday, I was worried about him. He had lost a decent amount of weight, and the fevers had not subsided without lots of medication. Tuesday passed and Wednesday, I decided that he needed to go in somewhere. My car was not working, so Lon's brother and his fiance took him to the Walk In Clinic for me. Lon was immeadiately sent to the Emergency Room. His fever was in the 100s and he could barely walk at that point. Sam told me she couldn't bel...

My mind is just COMPLETELY BLOWN  when it comes to thinking about Anna already being six months old. I mean, this is her half birthday, she only has six more months  until her first birthday!! How is this possible? I kept track of the weeks, months, how did this milestone sneak up on me????? I admit that I am freaking out, a little bit, but really? I mean, c'mon! She is supposed to be my baby girl, my newborn! This month, Anna Ariel: *Weighs 15 pounds and 10 ounces and is 26 inches long! *Has light blue eyes with dark edges around the rim and red ish auburn hair that just keeps growing and growing. It is past her shoulder blades in some places! Just like Uncle Tyler lol! *Can sit up supported by a pillow or her Boppy pillow. She is so close to sitting up on her own! *Will roll back onto her knees, as if preparing to crawl! She can always do some army crawling, although I am not sure if she realizes it yet lol! *Is eating all of her baby cereals and all of her ve...