Anderson Family Christmas Letter 2005

Our family is celebrating its fifth Christmas together. Most have been here in Illinois, with Garrett's family. However, this year we'll have our first Christmas with just us. We are enjoying ourselves here in Centralia, Illinois, and looking forward to a wonderful holiday. Here's the year in review for each of us.

Garrett – I took a job, in April, at Centralia City Hall, as the Planning Director. I work with about a dozen different committees, with themes like Zoning, Parks, Historic Preservation, and Tourism. My various meetings and projects really keep me busy. I’m also taking masters degree classes, and trying to stay involved with my two church callings (membership clerk, and ward mission leader). I also likes singing in the church choir and with a local barbershop chorus.

Jeanie is quite busy at home with our boys. She’s a wonderful Mommy, and the boys love her so much. In her spare time, she tries to keep up her business of advertising for-sale-by-owner homes on the Internet (fsbolocal.com). She is also the Young Women’s President, and is active in a community playgroup at a local Christian church. Recently, she joined a community orchestra, so she can keep playing her trombone.

Solomon is three years old, need we say more. He’s challenging, but also adorable. We have to remind him that we are the parents, and he’s the little boy. He likes to give big hugs, especially to his little brother (that usually turns out more like wrestling). He likes Star Wars a lot, and is always talking about it. He also likes reading books and playing dress-up (especially as a Jedi). He’s likes going to his playgroups and his tumbling class.

Baby Jerry is as cute as can be. He’s very mobile, and loves going up the many stairs at our house. He calls each of us by name - Da Da, Ma Ma, and Ba Ba (Boomer). He’s starting to realize that he is part of a bigger world. He knows that he can get a reaction out of us, both for being cute, and for being mischievous. His favorite thing recently is turning off power strips. He is mesmerized by the little red light. That really frustrates Solomon when he’s watching a movie, or us when we’re working on the computer.


We hope you have a Merry Christmas and we thank you for taking the time to read our Christmas message. Please feel free to come and visit us whenever you are near, or can make the trip. As we come to another Christmas Day, we rejoice in the birth of our Savior and all the rich blessings he has granted us.

With Love,

Garrett, Jeanie, Solomon and Jeremiah

3 years of motherhood

My little boy turns three years old tomorrow. Wow! It has been a busy three years since Boomer came to join our family. He has brought so much happiness into our lives. He is worth every bit of misery I experienced during my pregnancy with him.

It is fun to see him as a big brother now. He loves to make Baby Jerry laugh, and sometimes he enjoys making him cry too. We are still working on that situation. Boomer often asks when Jerry will get bigger so he can play with him more. Yet, now that Jerry is mobile he is showing more interest in Boomer's toys. Boomer wants to play with his little brother, but doesn't want little brother to play with his toys.

The other day Boomer's star wars' toys were being threatened by little brother. He kept having to take them away from the baby so we were trying to teach him about sharing by explaining how fun it will be for them to play together with the toys. Boomer's comment of the night was,

"When my brother gets bigger, he won't play with my Star Wars guys anymore." Sorry to break it to you Boomer, but I'm afraid it will be just the opposite. The time has come for our young Padowan to learn to share. In the words of Yoda,
"Learn to share, he must!"

Happy birthday Boomer!

Star Wars

I am having to accept the fact that rather than raising a little boy, I am raising a future Jedi knight. Boomer is obsessed with anything related to Star Wars, thanks to his dad's constant guidance. I think my husband considers Boomer his young Padowan. It was all fun and cute for the first few weeks, but now it is getting old. Any suggestions on how to convince Boomer there are other things worth pursuing? He needs help becoming a more well rounded little man. His belly is well rounded, we just need to encourage more varied interests to match his tummy. It is pretty funny how he walks around quoting the movies and acting out his favorite parts. I get my hand cut off with a light saber multiple times each day. If you have not seen this website yet, check out www.storewars.net, it is a very funny spoof on Star Wars that Boomer loves to watch over and over again. Bye for now, I'm off to the galaxy of slumber land.

Motivational Evening

I always look forward to General Conference, because somehow when I listen to the words of our church leaders, I feel like everything is okay. Even though the world is in turmoil, and life can be extremely hectic, for the time being... all is well. Women's conference last Saturday evening was a wonderful preview of the outpouring of the Spirit that I experience every general conference. For those of you not yet clued in on what I'm talking about, the LDS church general conference takes place next weekend, Oct. 1 & 2nd and will be broadcast on www.lds.org.
Last Saturday we had the Women's session of the conference. The topic for the evening was, "Becoming an instrument in the hands of God." I went away from the evening more confident and motivated as a mother, wife, friend, sister and YW president. It is always nice to be reminded of the importance of the roles we carry out in our daily lives. One point made by Elder Faust has really stuck with me these past couple of days. "You may have the ability to touch a life for good that no one else can." I know if I strive to be worthy of the guidance of the Spirit, I will be guided to those who need me. Just as in the past, so many others have been placed in my path to help me. "God does notice us, and he watches over us, but it is often through another person that he meets our needs." I am thankful to be counted worthy as one my Savior can count on to help bless the lives of others.

Boston Trip

Hello to any of you who may be reading this,

We returned last Sunday from a 10 day vacation to Boston, MA where my parents (Bev and Jerry) are serving as missionaries for the LDS church. It was such a fun trip! We took the Amtrak train, which was much more comfortable for our boys than driving would have been, plus it was less expensive than gas would have been! After 30 hours of travel, we arrived at the Boston South Station where we were greeted by a grandma that was all smiles. She helped us out to the street where grandpa was waiting with a borrowed van necessary to transport us and all our stuff. It takes a lot of stuff to travel with two little boys for 10 days!

Our baby boy finally got to meet his grandpa Jerry who he was named after. Grandpa was quite taken with little Jerry, and we got some cute pictures of them bonding. This was the most interaction I've ever seen of my dad with a baby, it was cute.
Our trip was amazing, we saw lots of historic and beautiful places in the Northeast. But, I don't have time right now to write all about it. You can visit www.grandmasusie.com to see more pictures of our trip. I will write more later. Bye for now!

Balloon Fest

We had a houseful this past weekend for the Centralia Balloon Fest. It was great to see the true colors of this little city. For a city of 12,000 to pull off a big festival like the Balloonfest was really amazing. On Sunday morning I walked out my front door, and looked up to see 8 hot air balloons flying overhead. What a sight!
http://www.cityofcentralia.org. Check out the city website to see pictures.
(Garrett is the city webmaster) You can also see pictures on www.grandmasusie.com. Enjoy! Please comment if you've read this. I'm curious to see if anyone reads my blog

Boomer and Bullfrog

Boomer loves picnics

"We can have a picnic Mommy, that would be good", says Boomer as he sits down on the couch to eat his bedtime snack. He went on to say, "You sit right here mommy and have a picnic with me." We have enjoyed many picnics this summer. When we eat anywhere besides at the table, Boomer considers it a picnic. He helps us remember to cherish every moment, because from his perspective, life is a picnic. Though we experience ups and downs just like everyone else, we feel tremendously blessed with the way life is unfolding for our little family. I guess this blog goes along with the old saying of, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". After all, lemonade is the beverage of choice on a picnic.

sweet reminders

This morning, Boomer has been entertaining himself with toys and games, with the Teletubbies in the background- periodically catching his attention. He just came over to me at the computer and said, "Mommy, you forgot to play with me, mommy. You forgot to play with me." He had a sweet hopeful look on his face. Time to go play with my boys, and say goodbye for now to the computer. By the way, I think the teletubbies are really weird, but he likes them.

Quote of the Day

Anderson Afterthoughts
"If all the kids leave and the old people die, then there'll be nothing left."
Garrett, on Centralia - July 10, 2005

another funny Boomer story

Yesterday we were riding in the car, and I asked the boys what radio station they wanted to listed to, with the question mostly aimed at my husband. Boomer piped up with the following answer, " I want to listen to the train station mommy!" He's a funny kid, and he doesn't even know why he makes us laugh so much.

attentive toys

Boomer and the BK Star Wars Crew  

This is a picture of Boomer with his Star Wars "pupils". He loves to line them all up and teach them things. He was having church with them in this picture and teaching them a lesson.

He is also very into the concept of good guys and bads guys. As we pass people in the store, he will ask me, "is he a good guy or a bad guy?" I'm trying to teach him that most of the world are good guys, but sometimes you just have to get past the rough exterior to find the good guy within. Someday he will understand what I mean.

I am glad he likes Star Wars so much, since it teaches valuable lessons of good v. evil. Somehow I just don't think Sponge Bob has the same substance to it! Good thing Boomer is not a big fan of his.

Time is speeding up

I figure we must be getting more settled down here in Centralia since time is speeding up. It has been over two weeks since I have posted anything on my blog, yet it hardly seems like it. We are getting to know more people, and getting more involved in community and church so life is gradually getting more busy.

We had a very fun Memorial Day weekend, with two families visiting us in Centralia. It is always nice to spend time with old friends. On Saturday, two weeks ago today, Garrett had a very eventful day. It was the grand opening of the city "Skate Park" that he has worked so hard to make happen. There were many happy people there, especially the teen skater dudes. I was proud of my husband for his accomplishments. After the grand opening ceremony, we headed to St. Louis to go to the zoo. We had 7 kids in our group all ages 5 and under. The zoo is a magical place for children, and for grown ups too. It was interesting to watch people of all walks of life enjoying the animals together.

Sad, but true.

After posting that last picture on my blog, I showed it to my husband and said, "I hope you don't mind me posting a picture of you without your clothes on the internet." (of course, he was wearing swim trunks!) His comment was, "Well, I know I won't be the first to have that happen to me." Sad, but true.

By way of explanation of the picture, that is Boomer with his daddy in our swimming pool. It came with the house. After much hard work and many chemicals it is clean and ready for lots of summer fun. This picture was Boomer's first swim of the season. He liked it as long as his dad was holding him. Boomer loves that daddy man!

Anderson Afterthoughts

"Its okay Mommy, you didn't mean to do that" - This was Boomer's consolation to me when I accidentally spilled a bowl of cereal all over myself the other day. He is such a sweet little boy. We are working with him on the concept of good choices and bad choices. He is doing quite well at recognizing the difference between the two. Recently, we have been trying to help him understand the distinction between 'by accident and on purpose'. So, when he makes an honest mistake I often will say to him, "That's okay Boomer, you didn't mean to do that." I love it when he uses my own words to comfort me in my own mistakes. I'm glad he is such a loving and forgiving boy. Since he is our first child, he will have to put up with a lot of mistakes from his parents. As long as we learn from our mistakes, then I know we are on the right track as parents. Having a two year old is really a lot of fun. He keeps us on our toes and he makes us laugh a lot!

The Gift of Motherhood

It was wonderful to be sung to today by the primary children at church. They sang "I Often Go Walking", one of my favorites. The last line of the song says, "Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you." As they finished the song, I looked down at the beautiful corsage pinned to my dress, and nestled my nose into it to take in the scents of fresh flowers. Thanks to my sweet husband for the gifts... the gift of flowers, and the gift of motherhood.

And now for a note regarding my own mother; Whenever I am with her, I try to jot down as many 'Bevisms' as I can to help me always remember how wonderful she is. Here's an example of a Bevism, "Birds are such amazing little creatures." She said this as we walked to the car in a fast food parking lot in Provo several years ago. She had stopped to look at a little tree in an island planter right in the middle of the lot. It was swarming with active little birds. That's a good example of the comments my mom makes on a regular basis that reflects her view of the world. She is so filled with gratitude for the blessings of nature, relationships and the gospel. She always reminds me to find joy in life.

The words of the song are true, "Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you". Flowers add beauty to the world, as does my mom.

gotta love Bev!

I decided to add this picture to my Blog in honor of my mother. She is in the lower right hand corner of the picture. This was taken in Branson on Labor Day, 2004. For those of you not familiar with the game, we were playing 'mormon bridge'. My mom had the highest trump card, but did not yet know it- however the rest of us did. She had just been joking about the probability of her getting the green 14, and then it turned out she had it. Her reaction when she finally looked at her card was hilarious. Bev is so much fun!

Simple Pleasures

Boomer amazes me every day with the things he says. He is so very expressive, and polite too. Today, we walked outside at about 8 a.m., we were headed to McDonalds to meet some friends for breakfast and playland fun. As soon as we walked out the front door, little two year old Boomer says, "It looks so beautiful outside today Mommy, I so excited!" Then he went on to do his little happy jig that he does so often. He's a little dancin' and singin' man. Music is a part of his soul. If he would have been familiar with the musical 'Oklahoma' I bet he would have busted out singing, "Oh what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day." I am thankful to live in a place where the seasons are so distinct, because it really helps me to appreciate the beauty of Spring more, since just a month ago all the plants were still barren looking and now everything is so green. Nature is miraculous, as are children. My boys really help me remember to find pleasure in the simple things.

Baby Blessing

Thanks to that Whacky Wheeler lady for posting these pictures for me. She probably knew that I would not get around to it for a while. We had a wonderful weekend. It was very nice to be able to host friends and family in our new home. Somehow it feels more like home now that the Normal gang has visited us here.

Baby Bullfrog was given a beautiful blessing by his father in the company of 8 other worthy priesthood brethren. The circle included all of those pictured below along with a few others from the Centralia ward. In case you were wondering, "the name by which he shall be known" is not really Bullfrog, but for the purposes of this Blog the nickname seems to work. It's late, so I'd better retire. I'll continue this another day. As a parting thought, I'll just say that the nine months of misery was worth it to get such an adorable little boy as this!

Bullfrog's Blessing

Anderson Afterthoughts

I've never really thought Boomer looked much like me, but in this picture I can actually see some resemblance. The boys don't look at all like each other, yet they are both as cute as can be.

Eventually I will get into using this blog for weekly news on our lives, but for now it will just be a forum for random thoughts that come into my mind from time to time. Also, it is a great way to share pictures without clogging up e-mail accounts.

Hey WhackyWheeler, How can I change my "about me" picture to this one? You could just go ahead and do it for me if you want since you know my password. We look forward to seeing you and your family this weekend. Bye for now!

Boomer, the country boy

This picture was taken last August when we lived in Salem. Our little country boy fits in quite well here. For those of you who aren't familiar with the geography out here, Centralia is only about twenty miles away from Salem. There is a real southern country feel to this town. I really quite like living among farmers and country folk. For the most part they are humble and kind people that are willing to reach out a hand of friendship to newcomers such as ourselves. Yesterday some friends from church babysat Boomer while we went to a fireside. When we pulled up to their house, there was a horse, three dogs, five cats and a rooster in their yard. It brought back memories of my days in North Carolina.
(The main reason I put this picture on here was to test out my ability to add pictures to our Blog. I will be thrilled if it works!)

I hope, I hope

Boomer has a new fascination with the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His favorite song in the movie is "Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, Its Off To Work We Go". He loves to sing it all around the house, but he has the words a little mixed up. Boomer's version of the song is, "I hope, I hope, its off to work I go!"

That is a similar song to the one his daddy was singing 7 weeks ago when he drove down to Centralia to start his new job. He was really hoping the job was a reality and not just a dream. Yes, the job was and is a reality, and it is going very well. We could not have dreamed up a better opportunity.

As the Director of Community Development, Garrett gets to make lots of important decisions. He has already made the front page of the paper twice. He is becoming a regular local celebrity! I'll try to get him to get onto this blog and write about some of the exciting things he does for his work.

Internet Famine

We've had a three week internet famine during our crazy move to Centralia, and I have really missed it. Now that we are connected with our DSL, I will probably stay up all night catching up on e-mail, news, reality show updates, blogs, etc. Just wanted to write a quick blog to say that we are alive and well in our new home. It is wonderful to be together as a family again. For those of you who didn't know, Garrett moved to Centralia on February 28th to start his job, while I stayed behind to prepare for our move. Everything worked out with selling our condo and buying a new house in Centralia, though the timing didn't quite as well as we had hoped. We had to keep our stuff in the moving truck for a week while waiting for our loan to finalize. So, we lived with Kleinhenz (Garrett's boss) family for a week. They are very nice, and took us in with open arms- yet it was still a bit awkward. Luckily the crazy transition time is now a thing of the past, and we are enjoying settling down to some sense of normalcy, whatever that means!?! I have lots of news to share about our new life, but I will have to pace myself and just write a little each day. Bye for now!

The Best Lasagna I've Ever Had!

The other night, I invited the missionaries from our ward over for dinner. We have them over at least once a month, but this time it was a little different. The sisters came over an hour before the scheduled dinner time, and they made dinner for me! Sister C is from Italy, so she made authentic Italian lasagna. To be honest, I'm not usually that much of a lasagna fan, but this stuff was awesome! I decided to blog this so I could remember the secret ingredients. I guess if it is now out on the web, there is nothing secret about it, oh well!
She cooked the meat in olive oil along with carrot shreds, onion, Parmesan cheese and sliced ham. The meat she used was ground beef as well as Italian sweet sausage, good stuff! The lasagna noodles were square shaped, in a blue box. (I can't remember the brand) They didn't require cooking, just soaking in hot water, so it was very simple to use them. She made a white sauce with flour, milk, butter and mozzarella cheese, and then combined it all together with ready made Prego sauce. The top of the pan was loaded with more cheese. Since the meat and noodles were already cooked, the lasagna only had to bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese on top browned a bit. This stuff truly melted in my mouth, I woke up the next morning craving more...so, I ate the leftovers! I hope I can re-create the taste even without the help of my Italian missionary friend.

Milk or Juice

Boomer says a lot of funny stuff these days, this blog posting is about one of the funniest.
(rather than using my boys real names, I'll refer to them as 'boomer' and 'bullfrog'. If you know us, you will understand why. If you don't know us then it doesn't really matter, now does it?)

Our 2 year old son has had a lot to get used to these past few months. He is adjusting well to the role of big brother! He is really cute with his baby brother. Of course there has been a bit of jealousy, mostly when I can't do something with him, because I am nursing the baby... which seems to be quite often. Boomer is fascinated with the whole nursing thing, he likes to watch bullfrog eat. Whenever the baby cries, boomer will say, "Mommy, the baby is crying. What does he need?" Usually he will answer his own question and say, "He wants to eat with you." The he goes on to ask, "does he want milk or juice?" He points to mommy's breasts and says, "milk on this side and juice on that side". So, when I switch from one side to the other Boomer comments, "he's having some juice now?"

Anderson Afterthoughts

The explanation of our Blog title is simple. We tend to be a bit behind on things in our lives most of the time. The news we send out about our family is usually several weeks after the fact, if we send any news at all. We had decided before our last move to change our family newsletter name to not be time or place specific. Therefore, Anderson Afterthoughts seemed to be a fitting title. I am glad we found out about blogging, it seems to be a nice alternative to sending out massive e-mail messages. I think that everyone who loves to send around forwarded "feel good" or "just too funny" messages should just put them on a blog rather than clogging up my e-mail inbox with them. Anyhow, we're beginning a new chapter in our family, with a new baby, a new career, and a new blog!

blessings pouring down

"After the trial, cometh the blessings!" After a year filled with trials, we are feeling very happy as the Lord is now showering us with blessings. My husband started his new job today in Centralia, IL as the community development director for the city. It is the perfect "foot in the door" job for his career path toward city planning. I just hope sticking his foot in the door doesn't stub his toe. It is bound to be a challenging job with a sharp learning curve! But, he is enthusiastic and ready to face his new responsibilities with a smile. When the first paycheck comes, we'll be smiling even more! Thanks to all those who have been praying for us.