The Anderson Family Storybook: September 2014

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Woodlands (what I've been up to)

In my little bits of free time the last couple months, I have enjoyed chipping away on my most recent "project", a baby shower for one of my favorite people, little Mrs Maggie! I was one of 6 co-hosts, and since she was not finding out the gender, so we wanted to keep it natural and neutral. We decided on Woodland. Im a fan of the non-shower shower (isn't every woman?? maybe not), and so we did 8pm, cocktails (and Izze soda), no games, and open gift display-aaaaand we had a grand ole time :). I got to do my favorite part of party planing- decor! Here are some pics, enjoy!

My lions love a party ;). We didn't have any shower games, so this was kind of a fun non-game. HE got the majority vote, and so Maggie wore a mustache pin all night :)

Kaye did this beautiful branch centerpiece

Hope tree centerpiece~ everyone wrote down their hopes for baby.

Kelly did this gorgeous pinecone cheese ball

Carrot Cake- that's woodlandish right? The stumps were from a friend who cut up some tree limbs :)

Twiggy baked apples by Diana

Pinecones the girls and I collected on our walks. Those little mushrooms have a wire that I attached through the burlap and dotted down the runner- thought they were too cute not to find a use for. Also did little bud vases of ferns from a friends garden.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Fall update

The Anderson family is doing great! RUF at TCU is so much fun. We are entering our 4th year and are settled in our house, in the city, and on campus. We know the rhythms of the school year well, and we will be seeing our freshmen graduate this year, which is unbelievable! We love working with college students, and the campus is all abuzz about our new relationship series! Check out Ryan's podcasts here.

The girls are almost 2.5 years old, and we are at that point now where twins really are easier than having 2 singletons because we are not juggling 2 different stages & schedules, and also, they play together. They are so much fun! Evangeline loves to sing, twirl, wear her Elsa dress, climb, dig in the dirt, read, and do crafts. Audrey loves to paint, run, jump on the bed, take all the pillows off the couch, and talk about her feelings :). We started a little homeschool curriculum this fall called ABCJesuslovesme (free online) that we do a few times a week. The girls love it, and are learning a lot. We are working on potty training, letters, numbers, shapes, colors, manners, the creation story, and saying our name.
In terms of lasting TTTS effects, praise God, we do not see anything, aside from the obvious 10 pound weight difference. It is hard for me to believe, after all they went through, that the size difference is the worst of it. If it is, that is absolutely miraculous! And maybe it's not…but whatever comes down the road, we continue to believe that God is good to us and will meet us and our children. We are so grateful, regardless.

The girls obviously love Frozen, so we had a few toddler girlfriends over (Anna Zane we missed you!) for dinner, and to meet Queen Elsa! Lucky for us, Megan is one of our TCU RUF students, who doubles as Queen Elsa for local Frozen parties in her spare time :).