blues & basics

the goings-on

2012-02-04T15:53:00.001-06:00

here is our monthly update (i can't seem to blog more than that these days). we are all doing great...craig is as busy as ever, the boys are loving school and are excited to start music lessons (sy guitar, soren piano) next week, and i have decided to relearn all the french i took in school with the ultimate goal being a big family trip to paris! here are some photos...

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what we've been up to...

2012-01-07T14:16:00.000-06:00

cleaning up christmas

nerf wars

chilly walks and lots of smiles

manly adventures with daddy

Christmas

2011-12-29T15:01:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, only made sweeter by our new little evy. We spent Christmas Eve with some good friends in the area and had a fantastic dinner. Here is a slide show of all the fun...

This digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Thanks to everyone who made this Christmas a great one.

nativity movie

2011-12-23T11:02:00.001-06:00

here is the nativity movie that the primary in our ward put together. sy is a shepherd (he has a blue shirt on), soren is an angel (back row with a halo above his head) and little evy is the baby jesus. you see her a lot but the cutest is at the end in the group photo he is sitting up in the cradle. you have to look closely to see her in the bottom middle of the picture. enjoy!

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-19T15:17:00.000-06:00

Much love to all of our family and friends. We are so thankful for all of you.

Love,

Anne, Craig, Sy, Soren & Evelyn

Evelyn...

2011-12-16T08:11:00.000-06:00

this little beauty is 3 months old today. we are all so in love with her it's scary. she is such a sweet baby and the really fantastic thing is that she sleeps all night long (8pm-7:30am) and has been for the last 2 weeks now. as soon as i lay her down she rolls onto her tummy and puts her little self to sleep. she really is amazing. these days she is into drooling and sticking out her tongue. she is a serious spitter-upper and soaks her clothes about 5 times a day. she really hates being in her car seat and screams the entire time we are in the pick up line after school...until the second soren gets in the car and then she stops. she is a great cuddler and loves to rest her head on my shoulder. she loves to smile and coo and we have heard her first little giggles. she is such a sweetheart and i feel so lucky to be her mommy.

catching up...

2011-12-03T14:12:00.000-06:00

we made a trip to the bronx zoo. this is a great time of year to go if you don't mind the chill. the fall colors were amazing and there were hardly any people there. they had a station set up to make smores so here are the boys roasting away...

evy and a monkey

we were able to bless evy a couple sundays ago and craig's parents were able to come for the big event.

some love from pop...

we were able to take lynne and steve to see the rockettes christmas show in the city and it was fantastic.

craig and the kids at radio city music hall...

miss thang at her first dancing show...

and waiting to be seated for lunch at carmine's with daddy...

lynne, steve and craig in times square...

on the train on the way home. we were tired...

evy on her blessing day...

next was thanksgiving at the thompsons' home in rhode island. we had our second annual turkey shoot on thanksgiving morning. here is craig getting dressed up for the party...

sy is ready and willing to shoot at the dad...

and soren, too...

evy with aunt kelly (who was 7 days away from giving birth)...

evy bundled up to watch daddy be tortured...

boys at the thankful turkey...

evy having her thanksgiving dinner...

and hanging out with pop and a missionary...

sometimes...

2011-11-04T07:53:00.000-05:00

i have a blowout and then i get sent to time out on mommy's bed.

halloween

2011-11-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

here are the little people in their costumes...

soren was a cute little bat

sy was a vampire

and little evy was a cute little jack-o-lantern with leg warmers and ruffles on her behind

nice brother...

vampire brother!!

baby's first bath...

2011-10-08T19:47:00.000-05:00

just a couple photos of evy's first bath. she loved it! i blurred out her girly parts...modesty is important, right?

we are loving this baby girl. she gets chubbier and more beautiful every day.

back tracking...

2011-09-23T18:29:00.000-05:00

as i was posting the last post i realized that i never posted our first batch of hospital photos. you know, the ones that show her being born and stuff. kind of important. so here is a long string of photos.

craig all dressed up and ready for the big event

fresh out of the oven

getting her inventory taken in the nursery

the boys seeing her for the first time

with aunt sarah

we were so lucky that uncle kurt and aunt sarah came from rhode island to meet little miss. they gave the boys these cute t-shirts and sarah stocked our kitchen with homemade lasagne, mac and cheese, chex mix and cookies. they spoiled us big time.

we were also amazingly lucky to have grandma lynne staying with us for the weekend. she took great care of the boys and made it easy for craig to be at the hospital with me.

cuddles from the brothers

coming home

2011-09-21T14:28:00.001-05:00

here are the last of the hospital photos. it is hard to believe that we are home now and little evelyn is just a part of our lives now. she is such a sweet baby and the boys' faces just light up when she comes in the room.

the boys' favorite part of their visits...sitting in my bed watching movies

daddy and daughter

taking sister out for a walk around the maternity unit

she loves her hands up by her face

this is our gourmet dinner we had in my hospital room the night before i went home. we had salmon, filet mignon, shrimp cocktail, caprese salad, fresh fruit, sparkling cider and the most amazing chocolate dessert.

all dressed up and ready to go home...with a really red face

first nap at home...

this is what we do now...hang out watching TV at home while holding our baby sister

Introducing the star of the show.....

2011-09-18T19:04:00.003-05:00

...Evelyn! Anne is still in the hospital but we thought we would post a little of the cuteness for you all to enjoy.

back to school dinner...and new couches!

2011-09-14T16:12:00.000-05:00

we had our back to school dinner a few nights ago. unfortunately, we had to do it on a night when craig couldn't be home. our theme for this year is "love one another". the theme is a little more family based than school based this year because we are going to need a whole lot of love and patience this year with this new baby coming on the scene.

for dinner we had grilled steak, potatoes au gratin and tomato and cucumber salad...

with strawberries and whip cream for dessert...

and without further ado, here are some photos of the living room with the just delivered couch and love seat...

we are still waiting for 2 toss pillows for the love seat that had back ordered fabric but i am really happy with them.

new house part 2

2011-09-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

here are a few more photos...

this is the guest room which will be seeing a lot of guests when this baby arrives. it is missing a headboard that i ordered in july...it is being delivered next thursday. backorder is lame.

this is the baby's room!

this room was originally an office so there is no closet. i found this awesome armoire to use to hang cute girly stuff in. and, yes, that is a tutu and fairy wings hanging on the wall. duh!

i found this table at an antique store in town and was (am) obsessed with it.

and now for a color palette change...we have the boys' room.

both upstairs bedrooms have these awesome built in shelves. the boys spent hours decorating their parts of the shelves...and i let them go to town!

they are also very proud of their newly acquired bed making skills...

this is their awesome bathroom...with a little basket of pink towels thrown in...

that is it for now. i am only missing the sewing room which is still a disaster and the living room because i am still waiting for my couches.

first day of school...otherwise known as hallelujah

2011-09-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

the boys had a great day today. it was more like an orientation than an actual day of school but they were able to meet their teachers and learn a little bit about how everything works. here they are having some brotherly reading time together before breakfast...

we had a yummy raspberry coffee cake and fresh fruit for breakfast...

and craig was able to do his father's blessings for the new school year.

soren is in 1st grade this year and his teacher's name is mrs. welsh. he was a bit nervous but as soon as we got into his classroom he opened right up.

he is excited to have his own desk this year and for all the cool animals (snake, turtles and rabbit) that are in his classroom.

sy is a big 3rd grader this year which means he is at a different building this year. our school district has one school for grades K-2 and another school a few blocks away for grades 3-5. having one in each school is a little crazy but we will figure it out. sy's teacher is mrs. losito and sy was about as excited as possible for today.

he is excited to have his own locker and really excited to break open all his new school supplies.

new house part one

2011-09-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

i took some time today to snap a few photos of the new house. just the downstairs for now. upstairs will follow soon after i finish up a few things in the baby's room. there are no pictures of the living room yet because i am still waiting on my new couches (we have been without couches for 2 months now but they should be coming any day now).

this is looking into the first entryway (we have 2) from the storm door

this is looking into the 2nd entryway from the 1st entryway

main entry

this is our sun room/play room/computer room

dining area

the kitchen

the master bedroom

that's it for now. coming up will be the guest room, baby's room, boys' room, living room and the sewing room.

we are alive...

2011-08-30T16:13:00.001-05:00

obviously haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately but that doesn't mean that there's been nothing going on. we went on a trip to montana, moved into a new house and survived a hurricane...oh, and i am 2 1/2 weeks away from giving birth to a little girl! i finally finished a slide show of our montana trip so i am posting that now. i will try to catch up on the rest soon. enjoy!

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

sy's 2nd grade concert

2011-07-07T03:53:00.000-05:00

this happened 2 weeks ago but better late than never, right? sy had his 2nd grade concert during the last week of school and it was pretty rockin'. here are a few photos...

here he is entering the auditorium. notice the sweat. they had school until the end of june with no AC in the building so he looked like this everday when i picked him up from school...this was at 10am.

his turn at the mic

cursing the sky during a song about rain

some buddies from his class

here they are singing their school's theme song "daniel warren". sy is on the right end on the floor...

baptism and flag day...

2011-06-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

we have had an eventful couple of weeks and we are exhausted! the main event was sy's baptism this last weekend (in our church we believe in baptizing children when they are 8). sy was so excited and i think he enjoyed having a lot of attention from friends and family for a day. craig was able to baptize him and we had craig's mom and dad, as well as an uncle and cousins that were able to make it. grandma and pop both gave great talks during the program and sy's cousins sang a beautiful version of "i am a child of God". here are a few photos from the day...

we are really proud of sy and his decision to be baptized.

the next event was soren's flag day celebration and concert. when i told soren that daddy was going to be able to come to his concert his face lit up like a christmas tree. first thing in the morning we took soren to his classroom where he and his kindergarten class had a special surprise for us. they all stood together and sang "you'll be in my heart" (from disney's tarzan) with special hand motions. needless to say...i bawled my eyes out...uncontrollably...as he sang. it was really sweet.

then we moved into the auditorium for the flag day concert with all the kindergarten classes. they sang a bunch of patriotic songs and even busted out the kazoos. soren had a special part to say into the microphone and he was quite proud of that.
here you can see him in the front row, second from right...

here he is at the mic...

the big man is 8...

2011-05-31T19:21:00.000-05:00

sy had a great birthday this holiday weekend. he invited a few school friends and neighborhood kids to see kung fu panda 2 and then we came back to our house to have cake and ice cream and trade pokemon cards. here are a few pics of the birthday boy and his party...

2011-04-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

if you want to know how excited i am to be having a girl, all you need to do is watch this video because kristen wiig's excitement level about sums it up. just focus on her and imagine that every time she opens her mouth she is saying, "i'm having a girl!"

my apologies for the commercial at the beginning...and you can stop watching when there are 2 minutes left. it gets a little crazy after that.

2011-04-25T08:52:00.000-05:00

so...this little peanut is a girl! can you believe it? i am still in a bit of denial but am confident that the more girly stuff i buy, the more it will sink in. that's logical, right? we are all so excited to bring a sister to the family.

view from my window...

2011-04-15T17:52:00.000-05:00

it was beautiful today so i sent the boys outside to play. their first attempt at sword fighting brought them both back inside extremely angry at each other so after they had cooled off a bit they gave it another try...with a blanket, journals, and activity books this time. i was so happy to peer out the window and see them sitting together peacefully (along with the neighbor's dog). when it comes to these two getting along, i guess the pen really is mightier than the sword...

2011-04-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

last saturday was the first day of baseball season for us and we had such a fun day. both boys are playing for the first time ever...soren is doing t-ball and sy is doing coach pitch. we were both so proud of the boys for trying their hardest and paying attention to their coaches. here are a few photos...

i will start with soren. he amazed me. in any other sport he has tried, he was the kid who was totally ignoring his coach and twirling circles in the middle of the field but something clicked with t-ball. the biggest surprise was that this kid was actually running to the bases...this kid doesn't run for anything.

here he is talking with one of the coaches

up to bat

waiting on first

and running!

ready in the outfield

sy was just awesome at his game. he has had a couple practices but this was his first time really seeing how it all works. the league he is in is really low key so he can learn without a bunch of people yelling at him. and despite only swinging a bat once (about 2 years ago) he is turning out to be quite the slugger.

here he is running it out after a good hit

with daddy the third base coach

hanging out in right field

i am just so happy they paid attention...maybe it's because i told them that if you don't pay attention in baseball, you will get hit in the face with a really hard ball and lose all your teeth.

2011-03-28T13:03:00.001-05:00

there is a lot of building going on around our house. while i am busy building a baby, sy and craig have been busy building sy's pine wood derby car for the cub scouts' big annual race. thank goodness craig has had enough time off to help sy because if it was left up to me, he would have been sending a plain block of wood down the track. sy designed the car and craig cut it out for him...

next came the paint job and attaching weights and wheels...

the big event was on friday night and we all had so much fun. craig was able to come home early and it was a great night. soren had a ball and i had so much fun cheering for sy's car. he didn't win the derby but his car was fast enough that he won quite a few races. out of about 45 cars he definitely had one of the top 10 fastest cars. the best part of the evening was sy's attitude. he did a great job of cheering for all the other cars and didn't get too upset when his car lost...or too crazy when his car won. here is the table full of all the cars ready for the race. sy's car is the red and black one, fourth from the right in the bottom row...

this is sy's car at the beginning of his first race. his car is on the far right...

sy and soren both had a great time...

at the end of the evening, all the boys received a patch for their uniforms and a hot wheels car...

and then we all went out for ice cream.

the last of the building going on right now involves both boys and their daddy as they are building their first robot together. it is a lego mindstorms robot that they can build and program themselves (with some help from the dad). last night after family home evening they did their first programming and here is a little video of their work. take note that soren decided to narrate the entire video...

here's to the second trimester...

2011-03-16T21:46:00.002-05:00

today is the first day of my second trimester...so why did i just throw up in my sink?? i have never thrown up when pregnant before but i have been extra nauseated with this pregnancy. i don't know what happened. i started feeling nauseous, but then came the tell-tale signs that i was actually going to throw up...the dizziness and cold sweat, and sure enough, it happened. and it happened while sy was sitting at the counter right behind me. it went something like this...

sy: mom, will you play space police with me?

me: WRETCH INTO THE SINK

sy: mom, i really want you to play robber and space cop with me.

me: WRETCH #2 INTO THE SINK

sy: please, mom?

me: WRETCH #3 INTO THE SINK, MOAN, WHIMPER

sy: what does "UHHHNGH" mean?

me: sy...i'm not answering you. i'm throwing up.

the sweet boy flew to my side after that, poured me a glass of water...and then yelled to his brother, "hey, soren...mom just threw up in the sink!"

last week, craig and i took the boys out for dinner in the city to tell them the big news and they were so excited. soren is excited to be a big brother and sy has made it very clear that he would like a sister.
soren has taken numerous polls in his kindergarten class about what gender his classmates think the baby will be and today he came home with a lovely picture he drew of me having the baby...i am on a table with a slice across my tummy (he knows that my babies are "cut out of my tummy"). awesome. and here it is for your enjoyment...

it says, "i am going to have a baby at september twenty-eighth." i am due september 21 but i think soren would prefer i have the baby on his birthday.

thanks, omi!

2011-03-10T21:03:00.000-06:00

during the boys' winter break from school we were lucky enough to visit omi in palm springs, CA. craig was able to be with us for 3 whole days (which in investment banker time is equivalent to 7) and we all had so much fun. the boys and i were there for a whole week and it felt like two. it was beautiful and sunny and just what we all needed. our first day there, my mom sent craig and me out on a much needed date while she watched the boys for us. here are a few photos of the trip.

party report

2011-02-14T20:55:00.000-06:00

last night we had some of craig's family over for dinner. we hosted his cousins, hans and karl (they're twins), their mom, diana, and craig's brother kurt and his wife, sarah. that's a lot of commas. we ate lynne's famous curry and for dessert we dug into my heart cake. sy and soren had a ton of fun and always love seeing uncle kurt and aunt sarah. soren decided to try on every halloween costume our family has ever owned and that provided some great entertainment. the evening was wonderful...but craig was very close to missing it all. at about 1pm everything at work exploded and he got dressed to go to the train. he told me to apologize to everyone and we were both broken hearted because craig had planned this night weeks ago and was really looking forward to it. right before he left for the train, his VP told him to do as much as he could from home. i think craig was able to really enjoy the evening. he went into work at about 9:30pm and got home at 7:30 this morning, slept until 9am, and then went back into work. but i think he would say it was worth it to spend time with his family. here are some photos of the evening...

here is the cake on the outside...

and here it is on the inside. if i had rounded out the top when i was carving it would have been a perfect heart. now i know what to do next time, if there is a next time. it was quite a project. we decided it looked like a pair of lips inside and that still worked for valentine's day so i was happy.

here is soren in all his costume glory...notice the size of his piece of cake.

soren brought out "shark attack" and the grown ups got really into it...

does my poor husband look tired??

when i cut the cake, i cut out a really huge piece so we could get a good look at the inside. soren asked if he could have that piece and we said, "why not?"

at some point he was offered money if he could finish it but he really got nowhere with it.

2011-02-12T17:07:00.000-06:00

i am attempting this for tomorrow's dessert...

wish me luck!

click here if you feel daring.

big old update...

2011-02-10T20:28:00.000-06:00

life is crazy at the new york andersons' house. craig has only had one full day off since new year's day (saturdays and sundays included) and too many of those days have ended at 6am the next day. he comes home and sleeps for 2-3 hours and then goes back to work. he found out his blood pressure is high which is a little scary. this week he has been traveling to boston and chicago on this...

that's the G IV private jet where he is waited on hand and foot and given lobster tails and shrimp and cheese plates. seriously. mr. fancy pants (i may have called him mr. fancy ass pants but that's not appropriate) is pretty pleased with the situation. he is still loving his job but will agree that he needs a break.

sy has been working hard on growing out his hair, losing teeth...and being a total earnie...

he is doing great in school, loves playing with his DS and watching spongebob. one thing that is new for sy is that he has gone on a few auditions in NYC. he has done really well considering he has never acted before...but if you have ever spent even 5 minutes with him you know why we chose to see if he liked it. his first audition was for a pilot of a new tv show on FOX called "Locke & Key". it is a supernatural drama based on a popular comic book and he made it to the first round of call backs but not any further. he loved every minute of preparing for it and he has another audition on tuesday for another new FOX pilot called "Touch" about an autistic boy. he is also doing basketball, tennis and swimming lessons.

soren is involved in, and obsessed with, all the same things as his older brother. he just received his first kindergarten report card and it blew me away. i expected him to be all over the place in his learning but he proved me wrong in every way. we are so proud of him. a new development for soren is that he has had a couple episodes of long lasting rapid heart rates that have scared us a little so today he had an appointment with a cardiologist and we just need to monitor him a bit. here he is hooked up to a heart rate monitor...

as for me, i am still here trying to keep up with everyone and stealing kisses from craig when i can. i am still nannying 3 days a week. i love little graham and really love having the extra money to play with. i am also serving in the stake relief society presidency (my church's women's organization) as the secretary and that has been keeping me busy. the boys and i will be flying out to palm springs to play with omi in the sun for a week during their winter break in about 10 days and i am really looking forward to it. craig thinks he may even be able to join us for a couple days...hopefully he can tolerate the absence of lobster tails cheese plates.

another storm...

2011-01-27T09:13:00.002-06:00

i called craig at 10:45pm last night and told him he should take a cab home from the train station (he usually walks) because the snow was falling horizontally and it looked awful outside. his adventurous side took over and he decided to walk anyway. this is what he looked like when he got home...

this is the view of our "sidewalk"...

here's a few other photos of the snow. we were only predicted to get 5"-9" but we got more than a foot.

school is canceled and the trains are not running so i guess it's time to play!

still on a home movie kick...

2011-01-24T06:46:00.000-06:00

this one is hilarious of both of the boys and reminds me of a time when soren actually had some meat on his bones.

may i take 2 1/2 minutes of your time...

2011-01-17T23:56:00.000-06:00

over the christmas break i spent a lot of time watching our family videos from the last 7 years. i have watched this little gem over and over and over with many tears and much laughter...tears because i can't believe how fast time goes by and because of how sad it is that i hardly remember sy like this and laughter because it is so cute i can hardly stand it. so, if you have 2 1/2 minutes to watch some adorableness, please do. it gets cuter and cuter as it goes on (so don't lose focus) and i find myself just hanging on his every little word. the way he says, "mommy" and "that's right!" at the end, along with his smile and silly faces, just melt me.

when i am bored...

2011-01-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

sometimes i grab the black marker on the coffee table and tell the boys to come see mommy...

washable markers are the best invention ever.

2011-01-08T18:29:00.002-06:00

we had a great christmas! thanks to all for the fun gifts and well wishes. for your enjoyment there is a slide show and a video or two...

Personalize a photo slideshow

soren was very excited about the pillow pet...

both boys were excited about "super smash brother's brawl".
thanks, lisi's!

i was thoroughly spoiled with this (thanks, mom)...

and some great gift cards to anthropologie and to a spa (thanks to the lisi's and lynne) and along with other fun gifts, kurt and sarah royally spoiled us with a huge box full of homemade treats like chex mix, peppermint hot chocolate, sweet and salty almonds and marshmallows. we were also able to spend christmas eve with sarah's family on long island and we had such a great time.

happy new year!

to tide you over...

2010-12-31T12:01:00.000-06:00

until i get the christmas and blizzard photos ready...

here is sy in all his beat up glory. he hit his face on the coffee table (how it happened is still a mystery) and the combination of the black eye and missing teeth is too awesome.

2010-12-22T20:00:00.000-06:00

all sy wants for christmas...

you get the idea.

today...

2010-12-18T22:42:00.000-06:00

we had an amazing afternoon in the city. we went to the radio city music hall christmas spectacular featuring the rockettes and it was so fantastic. craig spent a few christmases in this area as a child and every year his uncle would take the whole family into the city to see the rockettes christmas show. he loved it so much that we decided to make it one of our holiday traditions. it was fun to get dressed up and the boys' christmas sweaters got here just in time. radio city music hall was so grand and beautiful. they even had a santa set up to take photos with so we took full advantage. santa told us to leave him some cookies and he made a special request for some eggnog spiked with a little somethin', somethin' and i told him we would deliver so now i need to make a trip to the liquor store. good thing there are about 5 of them within walking distance.

here we are waiting outside before the show..

here are the boys with santa...

and here is the whole gang...

merry christmas!

for mom and susan...

2010-12-14T21:42:00.000-06:00

domo arigato...

2010-12-07T06:48:00.000-06:00

we have two mr. robotos around here. with a little help from daddy, the boys have been having some fun with cardboard. each one of these pictures makes me laugh for different reasons...

even robots like to read...

thanksgiving in rhode island

2010-11-30T20:14:00.000-06:00

this year we were once again lucky enough to spend thanksgiving with craig's sister, kelly, and her lovely family. craig's parents and brother, kurt, with new wife, sarah, were there as well. we were especially lucky that craig's work load was light and he was able to be with us in rhode island almost the whole weekend. we started thanksgiving morning with a good, old fashioned turkey shoot. the dads dressed up in decorated cardboard boxes and ran around trying to dodge paint balls being shot at them by their wife and children (and in craig's case...his mom). needless to say, it was hilariously awesome. especially since the paint balls pierce right through the cardboard boxes. after the turkey shoot the dad's took the cousins for a walk on the beach and then we enjoyed an amazing dinner and amazing dessert.

craig found time to squeeze in a high point trip and i found time to take a bath and a nap. fantastic.

the best part of visiting kelly's family is that her children are so incredibly respectful and well-behaved that it actually rubs off on my kids (sy, anyway) and it usually lasts at least a couple days after we get home. enjoy the photos!

Another picture slideshow by Smilebox

2010-11-11T23:26:00.000-06:00

we just got home from our day in nyc and we had a really great time. we were able to meet craig for both lunch and dinner and the central park zoo was really laid back and fun. one thing that really added to our enjoyment was the stroller i brought for soren. don't judge, people. i know he's 5 and perfectly capable of walking a pretty good distance...the problem is that HE doesn't know that. if that child has to walk more than 10 steps at a time, you can bet your right arm he will be rolling on the floor and begging to be carried. it's not pretty. i brought the stroller because i just wanted to be relaxed and have fun and it really helped in that area. it also made it so much easier to keep track of both of them, especially since we walked all the way from central park to bryant park which is about 22 blocks. it was such a beautiful day and sy walked the whole way like a trouper. some highlights of our day were...

eating 2 meals with daddy

watching as nyc gets decked out for the holidays

watching 2 zoo keepers chase a big, fat bunny who had escaped from its habitat at the children's area of the zoo

eating ice cream and dancing in central park while listening to a jazz band play

the empire state building glowing red, white and blue for veteran's day and the few moments when a perfect crescent moon was right next to it

and bryant park is so fun right now. there is a huge ice skating rink set up in the center and all around the perimeter there are tons of little holiday shops set up.

here is the slide show of our adventure today...and the music is cool so make sure your speakers are on.

enjoy!

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2010-11-11T09:05:00.000-06:00

last week we were able to go into the city to see a preview screening of the new dreamworks movie "megamind". we had a great time because the boys were really well behaved. we took the train in and then my plan was to take a taxi to the theater in times square because it was a bit of a walk from grand central and it was raining. it's usually really easy to catch a cab outside grand central but when it's raining...everyone wants a cab. we waited in the cab line for about 5 min. before i decided we better just walk and the boys did great. craig was able to meet us at the theater and we enjoyed free popcorn and drinks and a free 3-D imax movie. here are some photos...

the boys at the train station in mamaroneck

entertaining themselves on the train

going up the escalator to the theater

outside the theater with daddy

the boys are off of school today so we are going to the city to have lunch with craig and then we are oing to the central park zoo. i will post pictures soon.

attention...

2010-11-09T16:43:00.000-06:00

we have a cubscout!

sy is so excited to be a cubscout. it is so tailored to his personality...lots of making goals and checking things off. he isn't old enough to join our church pack yet but we came across an awesome one in our community and he is having so much fun so far.

halloween...

2010-11-08T10:46:00.000-06:00

we had a chilly and beautiful halloween here in NY. the fall leaves are pretty amazing. the boys' school had their annual halloween parade and sing-a-long. here are a couple pics from that event...

here is soren next to his music teacher who is all decked out as the cat in the hat...

is it wrong that i totally have a little crush on my own kid in this picture? what a little stud...

we didn't carve our pumpkins until halloween morning...

on halloween evening we were invited to our neighbor's home for pizza and salad and then we all went trick-or-treating together. here is a pic of our boys with the hulk (our neighbor's son)...

and here is sy getting worked over by the hulk...

we had a great time walking the neighborhood and talking with our friends. soren tired out about halfway through and rode on craig's shoulders but sy was pretty much running from door to door from start to finish.

who's your nanny?

2010-11-06T19:08:00.000-05:00

the answer is...me!

during our two years in provo i discovered how much i love taking care of babies. i had the opportunity to care for a number of children while we were there and now that we are here in NY, i am up to my old tricks. i found an awesome family that was in need of a nanny for their baby boy and i feel so lucky that they chose me. here is a photo of the yumminess i get to take care of 3 days a week...

his name is graham and he is quite possibly the best baby in the world. he is happy and easy to put down for naps. he totally entertains himself, plays with his toys like a maniac and he loves my boys as much as they love him. plus, graham is an awesome name to create nicknames for. my favorites are grahamey-lambey and graham-a-lam-a-ding-dong. the boys came up with grahama (like grandma) and think they are so funny.

thanks for being such a good boy, graham...i'll see you on tuesday!

in the car today...

2010-11-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

i was driving craig to the train (because it's pouring) before dropping the boys off at school. sy has a spelling test tomorrow so i started quizzing him. it went a little something like this...

me: sy, how do you spell "crayon"?

sy: "c-r-a-y-o-n"

me: how do you spell "mailbox"?

sy: "m-a-i-l-b-o-x'

me: what are some of your other words this week?

sy: "t-r-a-y"...tray, and "t-r-a-i-n"...train. and this one, "i-n-y-o-u-r-f-a-c-e"...IN YOUR FACE!

craig and i just about died laughing and sy was pretty proud of himself. it was maybe the funniest thing he's ever done.

more photos and updates coming soon...

a preview...

2010-10-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

thanks to buycostumes.com we found these awesome costumes on clearance...

2010-10-02T15:34:00.002-05:00

a big thank you to all my family and friends for making my 35th birthday a great one!

if the video isn't working...go here

he went to bed 4...

2010-09-28T22:16:00.000-05:00

and woke up 5.

this spunky punk is 5 today. our celebration for him has been a bit disjointed. he chose to spend his birthday with his family verses having friends over so we chose to go to a movie on saturday so craig could be a part of our celebration. we did it up right with popcorn and candy and had a great time.

we went to "legend of the guardians" because the main owl's name is soren

the second half of the party took place this morning when we had cake and ice cream for breakfast (again, so craig could be with us). the boys were quite excited to stray from the usual frozen waffles and cereal routine. we sang "happy birthday" and opened presents and then each of us took a turn telling soren why we are happy that he is a part of our family. some of the answers were as follows...

craig---because he likes to go on adventures
sy---because he is nice to me and sometimes cleans up our whole room all by himself
mom---because he likes to cuddle with me

making a wish...

blowing out the candle...

he found the hidden cupcake full of starburst candy...

opening gifts...

awesome remote control car from the lisi's

cool lego set from omi

we brought treats to his kindergarten class and i could tell he felt really special today.

we tend to refer to soren as our "grumpy child" which for the most part is totally accurate. he usually goes through the entire spectrum of emotions everyday. but i will say that this little guy has really surprised me over the last few months. i spent about 6 months in complete agony over whether or not to let him start kindergarten this year. the cut off is later here so even though he was only 4 when school started...he was old enough to go. every week i made a different decision. i was mostly worried because he is so small for his age and i thought that another year of preschool could be good for him. we even had him registered for a year of preschool with the entire year's tuition already paid (thanks, mom). but i never felt settled, no matter what my decision was. it wasn't until i actually looked at soren and realized where he is in his development that i was certain he was ready for kindergarten. he comes home from school so happy and excited and my wish for him this year is that he gains confidence in how smart he is all on his own (without smarty pants older brother around).

happy birthday, soren...we love you!

new videos...

2010-09-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

a couple nights ago i took an evening shower and walked into my bedroom to find sy and soren in their old karate outfits (soren's top was upside down and backwards) having a kung fu fest on my bed. sy kicked soren so hard in the gut that he was coughing to get his air back. the second video is of them sharing their self-given karate names..."soren of death" and "sy of the beam". don't ask.

becoming greener...

2010-09-20T08:20:00.000-05:00

as i was contemplating the amount of plastic bags i would now be using with two kids needing lunches everyday...my stomach started to hurt a little.

here's the math...

2 kids x 3-ish bags/day x 5 days a week = about 30 bags just for one week. that is kinda gross.

so i decided to purchase these cool lunch boxes i saw featured on the today show a few weeks ago. they are from a company called goodbyn and are really similar to the bento boxes that are popular now. they come in cool colors with 2 pages of really fun, quirky stickers to decorate with. i used the stickers to put their names on first and then let them go wild. here is what they came up with...

as you can see, instead of using the stickers to make funny faces they chose to just randomly place eyeballs, mustaches and whatever else all over the place. alas, true artistes cannot be expected to conform, no?

here is what the inside looks like (there is also a water bottle that goes inside). each compartment seals off separately so you don't need to use any bags. and the whole thing is dishwasher safe, even with the stickers on.

we have been happy with them so far. the boys were so excited to decorate them and i even managed to put a little message on the back...

2010-09-16T17:46:00.000-05:00

sy's first day of basketball was on wednesday and he had a great time. he won't have any actual games...just working on his skills. it was his first time ever doing basketball and he seemed pretty comfortable on the court. here are some photos. some of them were taken through the glass in the waiting area and are really foggy.

this is a photo of soren actually behaving while we waited for sy to be done

this statue is outside the rye ymca (thanks, grandma lynne)

2010-09-14T12:53:00.000-05:00

soren had his first soccer practice and game on saturday morning at the harbor. we signed up late without knowing if any one we knew was going to be playing but luckily (understatement) we ended up on the team with all of our church friends. craig, sy and i had fun cheering soren on and chatting with our friends.

the hooded wonder...

we choose #9 because it was craig's soccer number

going after the ball...

sy getting some good daddy cuddles...

the boys started tennis lessons last night and sy has basketball on wednesday so we are off and running. i love the school year!

back to school feast 2010

2010-09-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

i totally stole this idea from the amazing stephanie nielson whose blog i have been following for a few years now. i love how she makes a big to do about each new school year and decided to start my own back to school feast tradition this year.

here are the boys with their back to school medallions...

i picked the theme "be respectful" and made a sign that will hang in our home for the school year and serve as a reminder of our focus for the year.

we set the table with some of our fanciest wares and stayed dressed up after church for our party. the menu included a salad, homemade hoffer family noodles and lemonade. for dessert we had apple oatmeal bars soaked in sweet cream.

the famous and highly coveted hoffer noodles

during dinner we talked about what it means to be respectful and all the different people in our lives that we need to be respectful to...like moms and dads, adults, our siblings, our teachers and friends, and heavenly father.

we toasted our lemonade glasses to a new year and i think the boys felt special and ready for their first full week of school.

...and, yes, there may have been a few pieces of glitter in the noodles.

2010-09-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

i know what i want for my birthday.

CAKE...is that too much to ask???

oh, but wait.  

not the kind of cake you are thinking of.

i want this kind of cake...

or maybe this one...

perhaps this one??

i am so in love with these cake paintings by paul ferney.  they are whimsical and dreamy and so me it's scary.    

2010-09-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

it's official...

we are new yorkers!

yesterday, today and tomorrow

2010-09-09T12:51:00.000-05:00

yesterday...

was the first day of school. it is an exciting year for us because both boys will be in elementary school. the age cut-off here for kindergarten is december 30th so soren is old enough to go and after many months of analyzing whether or not he was ready for it all, we decided that he will do great...he will just be the smallest one in his class for a couple years. sy is in 2nd grade and always loves school so no worries there. they will be at daniel warren elementary school which is a k-2 only school. here are some photos of the big day...

classic doorstep photo

in front of the school

sy with his teacher, ms. cortese

soren with his teacher, ms. d'alesandro

soren at the end of the line heading to his classroom

today...

we have had the weirdest first week of school ever. on tuesday they went for one hour to meet their teachers, wednesday they had a regular day of school and now we have today and friday off for rosh hashanah which is a jewish holiday you can read more about here. so now i am suffering from a serious buzz kill from school starting and then, oh, wait...my kids are home all day again. so---as i was trying to figure out what to do with these hooligans for a 4 day weekend i decided to take them apple picking this morning. we drove about 30 miles to stuarts farm and spent a couple hours picking apples, eating fresh, homemade donuts and drinking fresh apple cider.

oh, and i may have purchased this...

plan "A" was to go home and put my apron on and make my own pie from all the apples we picked but then i found this amazingness in a box, fresh out of the oven in the farm's bakery. they had lots of pies for sale with fillings such as apple (duh), blueberry, and pumpkin but this one is called the "fruit of the farm" pie and is loaded with apples, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, blackberries and raspberries. are you kidding me??? and i just ate some for lunch, thank you very much. it was beyond.

tomorrow...

i will be poking myself in the eyeball with one of these

while i try to make it through the day.

so...vermont is amazingly beautiful.

2010-09-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

and i know that because on sunday we decided to take a little trip there for the holiday weekend. it was about a 5 hour drive (which translates to about 1 hour in anderson time) and we had a great time. vermont is so fresh, so incredibly clean and the leaves are already starting to turn to amazing colors. we stayed at a hotel near burlington on sunday night where we went to church street for dinner and ben & jerry's ice cream and then did some hotel swimming before bedtime. monday morning craig woke up bright and early to hike vermont's high point while the boys did some more swimming. then we were off to um, let's see...the ben & jerry's ice cream factory for a tour and lots of ice cream. we also stopped at the birthplace of joseph smith, you know, 'cause we're mormons and all, and our final stop was to rutland, vt where craig spent his last 3 years of high school. dinner in rutland was stellar. we dined at the ponderosa all-you-can-eat buffet which totally blew sy's mind...the idea that you can go back for more...as many times as you want...holy crap!

enjoy the show!

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last saturday...

2010-09-04T11:55:00.000-05:00

before school starts and before craig gets really busy. we started off the morning with a walk to the park and some tennis. then we went to our favorite donut and bagel shops for breakfast. i went on a little bike ride and the boys played some board games and uno. craig is happy to be watching college football today and i am going to get started planning one of these for my family. sy got his boogie on so i recorded it for the world to see. it is a little long but there are some great close ups at the end. enjoy!

arthur ashe kids' day

2010-08-28T19:26:00.003-05:00

we had such an awesome day today! i am an avid tennis fan and the u.s. open begins on monday. it is played in flushing meadows in queens (about a 30 min drive) and while it doesn't look like i will be able to attend this year (because of pesky things like kids)...i am planning on going for sure in the future because it would pretty much be my every dream come true.

but today was the annual arthur ashe kids' day at the tennis center and all morning, from 9:30-1pm, there were tons of FREE activities for kids including tennis clinics and training sessions, jugglers, balloon animals, face painting and really random things like people in dora the explorer, boots and diego costumes just walking around for photo ops. and we could sit and watch the pros' practice sessions. the boys had a great time playing a bit of tennis and craig was able to spend the morning with us before heading into the city to prepare for his HUGE test tomorrow morning (and by huge i mean "if he doesn't pass this test he loses his job offer and we are sent packing back to who knows where so he can work at mcdonalds or maybe the corner bagel shop". that kind of huge. he gets 3 tries to pass it...but still). more on that later.

the second half of the day i needed to buy tickets for and i figured i was there so we might as well hang around. plus it was my only chance to actually see the pros that i love to watch. the only glitch was that in order to see them i had to sit through a kids' concert that included the jonas brothers, demi lovato, david archuleta, allstar weekend and a couple others i hadn't heard of. now, this is probably every teenage girl's dream but it was a bit painful for me (and the boys which is why i let them play their ds's during the entire thing). the payoff came when i was able to finally see the pros in action. here is a VERY long slide show of the day (turn up your volume if you want to jam)...

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evening at the park

2010-08-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

the weather here has been amazing...nice and cool in the mornings and evenings and around 80 (sometimes 70's) during the day. the boys and i spent a nice evening...although a bit drizzly...at one of the nearby parks.

here is sy doing what he does best...chatting it up with random adults. he talked to this lady for a good 15 minutes.

can you find them???

playing tag...

soccer camp

2010-08-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

the boys have been having a great time at soccer camp this week. it has been a bit chilly and soggy but they haven't even noticed.

here is the group with coach malcom...

the camp is right at the harbor...

here they are playing "heroes and villians" trying not to get hit by a soccer ball as they run across the field...

2010-08-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

we all love it when daddy makes sunday morning pancakes. today he is experimenting with kung fu panda pancakes (sorry for the open mouth shot from soren)...

HAPPY SUNDAY!

2010-08-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

we are on night #2 of living room slumber party...

sweet dreams.

thank you feldman family...

2010-08-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

for giving me something to blog about other than tennis camp. jenn feldman invited my kids and me over for a "late night" (a sleep over alternative) last night and we had so much fun. we started the evening roasting hot dogs in their fire pit, followed that with s'mores, and followed that with popcorn and sponge bob. there was also some raspberry picking in their garden, jumping on the trampoline, glow stick wearing, and lots of mommy chatting. we were there until 9:30pm and live so close we could walk home. the boys had so much fun and were so excited to tell craig all about it this morning during breakfast. here are some photos...

save your money, silly bandz people...

2010-08-02T11:50:00.001-05:00

everyday, when my boys go to tennis camp, they come home with more and more silly bandz (which is fine by me...'cause they're fun, and, you know, silly). so i thought i would be a "fun mom" and buy them some of their own. i was excited to find some thomas the tank engine silly bandz (see 2 posts ago for why that would be exciting). i pulled them out this morning to surprise them and they are really cool and it's fun to look at the different shapes (trains, cranky the crane, harold the helicopter). there is just one issue...they are huge! way too big for tiny little wrists and 3 of the 5 designs are even WAY too big for ME. i guess in order to make really involved shapes they need to use more rubber, but they are too big. i tried doubling them over but then they are a little too tight---even for soren. they really wanted to wear them so i let them go off to camp with their doubled over, too tight silly bandz. i am just hoping that the teenage tennis coaches are with it enough to notice if soren's hand is turning purple or spontaneously severs (happens all the time)...'cause i've already paid for the whole week of tennis camp.

can you handle more tennis camp??

2010-07-30T15:53:00.000-05:00

today started out with more relay races so the boys can work on developing their cat-like reflexes...

when i walked in to pick them up i caught soren in the middle of a staring contest with one of the coaches...

then my camera flash distracted him and he lost...

they have had so much fun this last week and are excited to go at it again next week. when they got home today they were able to play their DS's which was a special treat since they had been hidden away as a result of too much whining. so back to their natural habitat it is...

hello, old friends

2010-07-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

as we were packing up our provo home, craig and i decided to pack away all the thomas the train die cast trains and tracks and stations (we have a ton of it) because the boys weren't playing with it very often and we were going to be short on space. when we moved into our new apartment we put the box of trains in the attic. well...for the last 4 days sy has been begging us to get them down so i finally gave in yesterday morning and the boys (especially sy) have been happy to have some familiar faces around. i have even made some space for the tub of trains in my closet...if that's not love, i don't know what is.

in the spirit of reminiscing, i pulled some old photos of sy's love affair with thomas (i skipped photos of the thomas birthday cake, the multiple "day out with thomas" events, the halloween when he dressed up as thomas, and many, many more).

it all started when he was barely 3...

thomas and friends went everywhere, including camping...

sy was always awesome at creating tracks all by himself. exhibits "A" & "B"...

he may have still been in diapers...but he built tracks like a man.

day 3 of tennis camp

2010-07-28T10:49:00.000-05:00

this morning they started off with some relay races and then some fun drills.

here they are walking into camp with their huge backpacks

running drills

tennis anyone???

2010-07-27T10:33:00.000-05:00

yesterday was the boys' first day of a 2 week tennis camp. the camp is right down the street and they are there mon.-fri. from 10am-4pm. i knew sy would love it but i wasn't sure how soren would handle an all day event like this. when i picked them up yesterday, soren was in major big boy mode...showing me around the tennis complex and introducing me to his coaches. they are doing the "smart start" program where they use smaller nets and larger balls to teach the kids and they do some really fun games and drills. they also get to take breaks to play at the park, swim at the little nearby beach, eat lunch and play board games. here are some pics...

on our way to camp

it was hard to get both boys in a photo because of the angle i was standing but you can see sy behind soren.

and he's off...

2010-07-26T08:15:00.000-05:00

this morning we sent craig off for his first day of work in manhattan. his normal work schedule will be something like leaving the house around 7:30 or 8am and on a "good" day he will be home around 9pm (with a few midnight or later nights mixed in). he also will be working most saturdays and a few sundays. awesome, i know.

this morning we started our new routine which involves us all getting up in the morning so we have time to eat a family breakfast together (we will be doing this instead of family dinners) and take care of any other things we do as a family like reading scriptures and family prayer. so this morning that meant a 5:30am wake up call for craig and me (6am for the boys). we enjoyed some whole wheat banana pancakes and sent craig off to the train.

we are really excited to finally be starting this new chapter of our lives...wish us luck!

here is the investment banker getting ready this morning

a sleepy soren being silly with his blanket

sending daddy off

central park

2010-07-24T21:56:00.000-05:00

tonight we spent the evening in central park having a picnic with some fellow byu mba friends that are either working or interning in the city this summer. the boys had some fun playing tag, red light, green light and playing with balloons. we were there until about 9:15 and got home in time to pluck their sleeping bodies out of the car and put them in their beds.

watching a balloon float away...

soren after accidentally letting his balloon go...

my favorite artist...

2010-07-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

cassandra barney was featured on mormon.org in their "i'm a mormon" segment. i have a few of her pieces and am a little bit obsessed with her (in a totally non-creepy way). occasionally she asks for people to send her personal stories for her to use as inspiration. a few months ago i wrote in to her and she painted a small exvoto for me. i will post about that another time. here is a link to her short video...

p.s. i own the "be where your feet are" painting that is shown in the video.

http://www.mormon.org/me/18TC-eng

new apartment photos

2010-07-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

here you go, mom...enjoy!

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pretty awesome...

2010-07-17T10:22:00.001-05:00

i found this on design mom today and was totally amazed. i think the screening room is my favorite...it's at the end of the video.

for kristi...

2010-07-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

i only have my cell phone to take photos with right now so this is the best i can do. i used construction paper, buttons, satin ribbon, crocheted trim, lace trim and coffee filters.

better late than never...

2010-07-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

some last minute holiday decorations

happy 4th!

sy's 7th birthday...and a little bit of kurt's wedding

2010-06-28T17:40:00.000-05:00

i realized that i never posted pics from sy's birthday parties so here is an extremely long slide show that covers both events...with a little bit of kurt and sarah's wedding thrown in at the end.

right before we left utah sy had a party with his friends at his karate school. they all had a great time but the best part was that bobby lawrence karate provided everything...the entertainment, the cake, the plates, cups and drinks...even the party favors.

the next event took place in atlanta at craig's sister's home. her daughter, kate, is one year older and she and sy have the same birthday. this is the 2nd time they have been able to celebrate together. the first time they looked like this...

i don't remember sy being drunk on his 3rd birthday, but it was a luau so who knows.

the last few photos are of the day of the rehearsal dinner for craig's brother kurt's wedding. they were married on long island and i can't even begin to describe how amazingly fun the entire weekend was. the wedding site was the home of the bride's aunt polly and her property includes a beautiful home, carriage house, swimming pool, a pond you can canoe on and a soccer field sized grassy area. sarah, the bride, did a wonderful job creating a beautiful wedding and celebration...she even made almost all the food for the reception by herself (and it was fantastic). plus, soren was the ring bearer and was adorable. my camera died shortly after we got there so i only have a few photos of the day before the wedding. if i can get my hands on some wedding pics i will post them.

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video...taking the plunge and sinking the ship

rhode island trip

2010-06-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

we spent the beginning of this week in rhode island with craig's sister, kelly, and her family. we are so lucky to have them only 2 hours away from us. craig spent most of his childhood in rhode island so it was fun to see his old stomping grounds. i have been to RI a few times, and i have to say there really is something magical about it. plus the cousins get along great and kelly treated us like royalty with delicious food (including crepes with strawberries) and daily naps. here is a slide show and a couple videos. enjoy!

video #1...nerd alert at the beach

video #2...working hard, or hardly working?

before craig became the one in need of elizabeth's medical attention, it was soren's turn. i came down into the basement to see what they were up to and i nearly wet my pants when i found soren bandaged up in scarves, covered in a blanket with a "lollipop" on his chest and a robin hood hat on. the best part was that he was not moving a muscle the entire time.

video #3...most thorough doctor ever

father's day

2010-06-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

when i asked craig what he wanted for father's day he replied with this little doozie..."i would like a traditional english breakfast."

wow. but before you start to imagine the snob meter jumping off the charts, you need to know that craig was actually born in england and his mom used to make this certain english breakfast for her family. so i emailed craig's mom for help and this was her response...

OK...but cleaning up from it is as bad as a Thanksgiving Dinner!

Baked Beans (can you believe it?)

Broiled tomato (halve the tomato, put it on its round side, salt, pepper, a bit of shredded cheese on flat side...place under the broiler and heat)

Ham slice (or bacon if he prefers, but the Brits use a "bacon" that is more like a ham slice)

Potatoes (can't remember their name, but this is how you make them).

Thin sliced fresh potatoes (never canned!) The thinner the slices the quicker they cook!

Thin sliced onions

If you make bacon, use the grease, if not then butter on a fairly low heat.

Cook the potatoes with the onions on a low heat so the butter doesn't burn...it takes quite awhile to get them cooked. Bacon grease can be done at a higher heat.

White toast (buttered, cut in half diagonally -- seriously! -- and put together butter-sides touching)

Of course, eggs. Now this is definitely up for discussion, but in MY book there is never an egg served with the British breakfast in any other form than "over easy/over medium" or "sunnyside up".

Here's the final touch (but I never actually did it for my kids!) Apples in medium slices, cooked with butter until semi-soft. Cinnamon sugar on top just before serving warm!

SEND ME A PICTURE! ('cause I'll probably NEVER make it again myself. I'm old and lazy now)!

Have fun!

so for lynne's sake, here are some photos of craig's traditional english breakfast for father's day...

i will say that the potatoes and onions were delicious and the broiled tomato was my favorite. i decided to do the apples and they were so good...it's possible that when no one was looking i ate mine with a scoop of ice cream. no one wants to see that.

thanks to lynne for her help. craig was one happy daddy.

happy father's day...

2010-06-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

to this guy

you have accomplished so much over the last couple years and we are so proud of you. thanks for taking such good care of us.

love,
anne and the boys

one of my new favorite things...

2010-06-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

is this cabinet that my provo neighbor gave me for free, people. maybe it was fate...or maybe she just wanted the crazy lady peeking in her garage while circling our cul-de-sac over and over on her bike to go away (me). whatever the reason...she needed to get it off her hands and i knew the minute i saw it that it was meant for me.
for the last 2 years it has been in our garage in provo but i always knew that one day it would have a place and be beautiful. it became my project for the day today and after a good scrub down and installation of new glass shelves, i filled it up and i'm in love. here are a few more photos...

p.s. we are almost completely done moving in and i will post photos of our apartment soon.

just one awesome thing...

2010-06-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

about where we live...

our neighbors. dominic and natalie live right next door and are also the owners of the home we are renting. we have spent a lot of time with dominic...he is a master carpenter and redid our entire apartment before we moved in. we love his personality and he takes great care of us. his wife, natalie, is very sweet and one thing we have in common is our love of hydrangeas (which dominic has bushes and bushes of growing outside our house). natalie just had a birthday on saturday and i brought her a plate of cookies to share with her family that was in town to celebrate.

this morning our doorbell rang and and i opened the door to find these...

and a note from natalie thanking me for the cookies.

craig and the boys and i went into manhattan for the afternoon. we spent most of our time in bryant park. here is soren by the carousel

and here i am with kelly cutrone

if you don't know who she is that's ok. when i found out we were moving to new york i made it a goal of mine to meet her. today she just happened to be doing a book signing in bryant park so i hopped in line. i told her she needed a mormon housewife working for her---that it would really round out her office. then we talked about mormons for a few minutes. it was awesome.

a few things...

2010-06-09T16:27:00.000-05:00

1. we are alive and in new york unpacking our life.

2. do any of you remember this...

well, it's for sale because we couldn't get it up the stairs to our apartment. i only cried a little. if any of you want to come out here and pick it up...it's yours.

3. last, but not least...has anyone seen our silverware??

2010-05-22T10:45:00.001-05:00

this is what happens when parents are too busy packing to pay attention to their children...

stop it right now...

2010-05-17T23:42:00.003-05:00

home tour...

2010-05-17T08:38:00.000-05:00

we signed a lease and are ready to get this show on the road! movers come one week from today and we arrive in mamaroneck on the 1st of june. for anyone interested, here is a video of our new home. it is the top floor of a multi-family home. we have a separate, private entrance and the owners of the home live right next door. the owner is a very skilled carpenter and has totally redone the interior of our apartment so we get to live in a brand new space. it is around 1300 sqaure feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and it is beautiful. we feel like we found a little diamond just for us. craig will have a 1/2 mile walk to the train station every morning and the boys' schools are really close as are some really nice parks. the neighborhood is beautiful. the only thing you don't see in the video is the laundry room...when craig first walks in the door you can see another white door in front of him. that door leads down to the laundry and a little bit of storage in the basement. enjoy!

enjoy

2010-05-06T14:56:00.001-05:00

only one of the reasons i love kristin wiig so much...

new brunch favorite...

2010-05-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

after church today i made this little lovely and it was delicious. i recommend you give it a try...for mother's day brunch perhaps?

i found the recipe in bon appetite magazine.

This cake is crusty outside and super-moist inside.

12 servings

by Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe, Santa Monica, CA

May 2010

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon honey
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup plain yogurt
3 cups fresh blueberries

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla, and honey in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl until creamy. With mixer running on medium speed, gradually add egg mixture; beat to blend. Beat in flour mixture just to blend. Add ricotta and yogurt; beat on low speed just to blend. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Scatter 1 1/2 cups blueberries over. Spoon remaining batter over in dollops, then spread to cover blueberries. Scatter remaining blueberries over. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over.
Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.

no way!

2010-04-30T10:38:00.000-05:00

i just received an email telling me that i just won a giveaway on designmom.com. i am so excited.

click here to see what i won!

hodge podge

2010-04-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

life has officially become insane here at the anderson home. we are graduating, celebrating, sailing (craig is anyway), sorting, packing, garage sale-ing and house hunting.

the list of things i am NOT doing includes, but is not limited to, making dinner, making beds, cleaning up my messes, blogging, commenting on other people's blogs, limiting the boys' computer game time and staying sane.

so, to catch up, here are a whole bunch of photos from easter at omi's house, a hike up "Y" mountain and graduation. if you make it to the end you will find a bonus photo of sy that i came across as i was cleaning out some boxes. it is worth the wait.

and here we have a 4 year old sy posing in his kindergarten class in austin. his hair is crazy and sweaty and his face is banged up because of this little incident but this photo just melts my heart...

you're welcome.

2010-04-13T16:27:00.000-05:00

happy last day of classes, craig!

getting close...

2010-04-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

we are down to 40 days, people. i will post easter pics soon.

finally...NYC

2010-03-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

so two weeks ago craig and i took the red eye to new york for our first round of house hunting. we had an awesome long weekend and are pretty sure we want to live in westchester county...about 12 miles outside manhattan. we spent our first day with a realtor in westchester and saw a lot of houses. almost all the houses we saw were built in the early 1900's which can be good and bad. the home we like the best had a landlord that lives in the basement so we are trying to figure out how much that bothers us. here are a couple photos and videos of the outside of the house.

here is a link to the listing of this home so you can see pics of the inside. when you get to the listing click on the picture and a slide show will pop up. the kitchen is not as bad as it looks in the photo...

click here to see the house

our second day was spent in manhattan. craig scheduled some meetings at bank of america so we rode the subway into the city and i dropped him off and went off on my own pretending like i knew what i was doing. the weather was horrible...rainy and windy but i had a great time. later that night we got tickets to the play "god of carnage" and then had a delicious italian dinner at carmine's.

here are in times square and at carmine's...

our third day was spent in westchester again and we also spent some time in new jersey checking out the summit area which was great. the weather was off the charts awful but we managed to make it back to our apartment despite the flooding and uprooted trees across the freeways. earlier that day we had lunch at a great spot called the rye bar and grill. here we are enjoying some amazing seafood chowder...

the morning of our last day was spent with the neilson family (good friends of ours that have lived in westchester for 7 years) having an awesome breakfast and getting tons of info on the area and what it is like to live there.
we are heading back out there may 15th and hopefully we will have a house by then!

right now...

2010-03-25T11:42:00.001-05:00

i am making this amazing pasta salad and i highly recommend you do the same. it really is fantastic. enjoy!

Warm Tortellini and Cherry Tomato Salad

Randy Mayor

Extravirgin olive oil and two kinds of vinegar make an easy, classic dressing for this pasta-and-vegetable salad. You can also try this with chicken or mushroom tortellini or cheese ravioli.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

2 (9-ounce) packages fresh cheese tortellini
1 1/2 cups (1 1/2-inch-long) slices fresh asparagus (about 1 pound)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups trimmed arugula
1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup (3 ounces) pregrated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add asparagus to pasta during last 2 minutes of cook time. Drain.
While pasta cooks, combine vinegars, oil, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add pasta mixture, arugula, and remaining ingredients; toss to coat.

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2005

follow up...

2010-03-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

you saw the beginning stages of this little beauty and here she is all dressed up with nowhere to go...but etsy.

canyonlands half-marathon...

2010-03-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

first off, let me say that i will post photos of our new york trip soon.

this last weekend, craig ran a half-marathon down in moab, ut. about 2 dozen mba students ran the race and we had a great weekend hanging out with everyone and their families. craig did awesome and we are so proud of him. he finished a little bit under the goal time he set form himself and has a nice tan and sore hips to show for it.

way to go, babe!

we spent sunday checking out arches national park on our way home...

how does an investment banker...

2010-03-10T09:26:00.001-06:00

clean up an overflowed toilet?? like this...

sunday morning soren came running up the stairs in a panic because he had flushed the potty and the water was running out and going onto the floor. i was curious because that kind of thing (the poop in the potty and then use enough toilet paper for 20 people and then clog the toilet thing) never happens to soren. soren assured us he had only gone #1 so as i ventured to the basement to investigate, i will admit that i was very prepared to accuse sy of "priming" the toilet (because "that sort of thing"...see previous parentheses...happens to sy quite often) and thus setting soren up for this catastrophe.

as it turns out, it really was soren's fault. as sy pointed out to us mid-clean up, "i put a note on the potty so no one would use it." and here it is...

right there in purple and white, "do not yoos this toylit". oh, soren...silly 4 year old that can't read.

blues & basics

the goings-on

what we've been up to...

Christmas

nativity movie

Merry Christmas...

Evelyn...

catching up...

sometimes...

halloween

baby's first bath...

back tracking...

coming home

Introducing the star of the show.....

back to school dinner...and new couches!

new house part 2

first day of school...otherwise known as hallelujah

new house part one

we are alive...

sy's 2nd grade concert

baptism and flag day...

the big man is 8...

view from my window...

here's to the second trimester...

thanks, omi!

party report

big old update...

another storm...

still on a home movie kick...

may i take 2 1/2 minutes of your time...

when i am bored...

to tide you over...

today...

for mom and susan...

domo arigato...

thanksgiving in rhode island

attention...

halloween...

who's your nanny?

in the car today...

a preview...

he went to bed 4...

new videos...

becoming greener...

back to school feast 2010

yesterday, today and tomorrow

so...vermont is amazingly beautiful.

last saturday...

arthur ashe kids' day

evening at the park

soccer camp

thank you feldman family...

save your money, silly bandz people...

can you handle more tennis camp??

hello, old friends

day 3 of tennis camp

tennis anyone???

and he's off...

central park

my favorite artist...

new apartment photos

pretty awesome...

for kristi...

better late than never...

sy's 7th birthday...and a little bit of kurt's wedding

rhode island trip

father's day

happy father's day...

one of my new favorite things...

just one awesome thing...

a few things...

stop it right now...

home tour...

enjoy

new brunch favorite...

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

Ingredients

Preparation

no way!

hodge podge