Starting our own Thanksgiving Family Traditions!

Happy Thanksgiving even though it is after Christmas now! I figured I'd better post this before the ringing in of the New Year! This was our first Thanksgiving that we hosted in our new home. We planned on having dinner at 2:00 that is on Anderson time which ended up to be about 6:00 p.m.. I have learned through out the years(I think) to take a chill pill when we don't eat or get to places on time. I come from a family where everything had to be precise, The Anderson's have been good for my growth, they all go with the flow and well I see it makes life a lot easier! We had the Turkey done by 2:00p.m. but all the fixings were still cooking. Since I am not used to cooking with an electric stove I didn't factor in the extra time! Come to find out that leaving the turkey in the oven bag outside of the oven not only left the turkey hot but gave it 4 more hours to soak up all the juices. This was for sure the best turkey dinner yet and all of us kids were proud, we did it all ourselves without Mom there. We did use the Anderson Mom's cook book(A cook book my Mother law Victory made for us one Christmas with all of Grandmother Anderson's recipe's) that cook book has saved me one to many times and it possibly was the best Christmas present ever!



We were all happy when Mark (my bro-in law) came home the day before Thanksgiving for a Dr. app. The appointment was canceled unfortunately but Marks boss let him enjoy Thanksgiving with us before he had to return to the rigs the next day! Sometimes the misfortune events turn into fortunate ones!


My funny face needs some work!


Partners in crime my sis-law and I.

These two are more alike then they know and note to self to charge the beefy camera I kept having blurry issues!


Yes we are a video game bunch.. Thanksgiving is an exception because they only get 3 hours on Saturday!


Truly and Keynan crack me up!! they are so cute when they are together and some times so dang funny. There is defiantly adversity there while they play they go from laughing to crying in seconds!

Let the melt downs begin!

Kung-Fu/Ninja Birthday Party!!!!

I get asked all the time how do you tell the boys apart? There is never the question of are they fraternal twins because they look exactly alike. I see them as two different boys though that look completely different. I do have friends with twins and I honestly can not tell them apart so I understand some of the frustration of not being able to tell who is who! Another question I get asked a lot is if our boys have the same interests and unmistakeably they do(which might make it even harder to tell the differences)! I can say that Kung-fu or anything related to Martial Arts is on the top scale and has been since they were toddlers. We decided to throw a Kung-fu Birthday Party and to my surprise I enjoyed every minute of the preparation! Previous years I have dreaded and stressed and that makes throwing a party no fun. I think I lowered the amount of stress by planning months ahead. I also had Zach here and he kicked into high gear helping mode. He has always been here to help I have just finally learned to ask(go figure I thought all these years he could read my mind,lol)!

It just so happens that all the cousins like Ninja's too!! Here is the Ninja crew before cake and after the pinata!














Zach made these great headbands for the kids and I had to sport mine for the day! Thayne is my love bug I hope he stays this sweet and affectionate as he gets older!


Each year we buy a pinata online and each year the pinata's have been like steel to get open. One year even the guys couldn't bust the the pinata open. This years pinata went within minutes but I got a good shot of it on our table before it got destroyed! Note to self that the products online made in Mexico might not be as durable as those made in China! I was also proud of my Chinese paper lanterns they made for a good affect for the party!




Our Gi Cakes that Zach and I designed. I have to give Zach most of the credit. I baked the cakes and found the designs and he put them together for me!





We had a blast and I'm already starting to conjure up what next years theme will be! I really can't kid myself the kids always come up with their own theme,lol!

Thayne and Ayden turn 7!!!

I thought it was a great idea to start taking pictures of the boys on their actual Birthday. On the evening of their Birthday I took them outside to take their pictures. In the pictures they look like they liked having their picture taken. I guess they did once it was all said and done. I interrupted their playing time with their new bb guns to gel up their hair and to make sure they had socks on with their shoes. I was pretty rushed to get the pictures because they wanted to continue to play. I did get some great shots and I plan on each year from here on out to get a picture on their actual birthday! My boys are so use to me with a camera they don't even flinch when it is around. I don't even have to pose them.lol We had a good time and I even got some cute shots of Keynan and a great shot of all 3 boys!