Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

This year has been a great one for our little family!  So many fun happenings!

So, we'll just get right into our year in review!

As a family we did some fun things including visiting Papa Brent and Grandma Mimi (and cousins!!!) in Nauvoo and Keokuk, during our Spring Break!!  On that trip we also got to visit the Omaha Zoo and drive through a CRAZY midwestern storm!  We also visiting with Papa Todd and Gramma Joy in Tempe on our Fall Break...and went to the  

Marc has been teaching 5th grade this and last year, and has loved it!  It was especially fun to be Ellie's teacher last school year!  His window cleaning business was VERY busy this summer, and he got a fantastic farmer's tan!  Our garden didn't do as well this year, because we just didn't get the rain we needed in this area...always tough in a farming community!  Marc and Sarah got to be in a community theatre production of Daddy's Girl, where Marc played "Shirtless Bob," a diner customer who literally leaves his shirt and shoes at the diner so he can get service!  

Sarah has been VERY busy with her business, and even started her own website this year! (Although she did take a nice big break during the summer, so that she could spend more time focusing on the kiddos!) She got to play the part of Maudie, the portrait of the diner owner's dead wife (Yeah. Really.), in Daddy's Girl, and also the part of Grace/Mom in the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!, this year!  it was fun to be able to participate in plays with her family!

Ellie, age 11, is in the 6th grade this year and loves it!  She loved meeting her (2nd) cousin Zannah...and they have been writing a book together via email!  In May she celebrated her 11th birthday with an awesome Harry Potter bash!  She's really been enjoying acting this year and has played both Hamlet and Horatio in Wasatch Academy's Youth Shakespeare production of Hamlet.  She also participated once again in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! as a cast member, but had to play the part of Ollie at the last minute when Ben got sick!  Her favorite role this year was the part of Ariel in her school's production of The Tempest.  And lastly she played a martian in her the grade play!

Ben, age 9, is in the 4th grade this year!  He loved playing soccer this year on the city league!  He still loves scouts and has made some great friends!  Ben is a very imaginative builder, and love to make up his own Lego creations.  He got to play the part of Ollie Herdman in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! (With the exception of the two performances Ellie had to cover for him - because he got sick!)  He has found a new interest in reading and especially has loved reading the first couple of Harry Potter books...he even went as Harry for Halloween!

Lilly, age 6, started full-time school this year with 1st grade.  She is a very good little artist, and is very meticulous in her coloring and art projects.  She got to be a "Baby Angel" in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! and delivered lines perfectly.  Lilly, is also such a good helper with her little sisters and for her Mom.  Her dry sense of humor always keeps us in stitches!

Maddie, age 4, is in Pre-School this year - and LOVES it!  She is quite the social butterfly!  Maddie loves all things pink, sparkly, princessy, magical, beautiful, and PINK!  She loves to dress-up and sing and dance.  Her wry comments keep us laughing!  She stole the show as the littlest "Baby Angel" in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! this year, prompting many to ask when she will be playing the part of Gladys Herdman!

Amelia, 18 months (aka Mimi), is still the sweetest baby EVER!  Her singing and dancing, and cute little smile, always melts our hearts....although she has definitely developed a stubborn streak!  She loves dollies, animals, her blanket, and cuddling.  She is such a joy in our lives!

We hope you have a beautiful Holiday season!  We are so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives and have truly felt His blessings in our lives this year!  We are so happy to be able to celebrate this beautiful time of the year, and to remember our Savior and all He has done for our sakes!

Many blessing upon all of you!

Love,

The Anderkids

Marc, Sarah, Ellie, Ben, Lilly, Maddie, and Mimi

Christmas Newsletter 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

We've had another eventful year, here at the Anderson home!  We'll just dive right in shall we?

Marc, started the year teaching 6th grade part-time at Fountain Green Elementary.  After a very wet Spring, his window cleaning business didn't pick up quite like we had hoped...but on the upside he was able to grow a fantastic garden - which we actually got to harvest!!  :)  He was offered a full-time teaching position at Mount Pleasant Elementary for this school year, teaching 5th grade!  He's really enjoying it...and it's great to have him in the same school as the kids!  (And we have to admit that it's also really nice to be getting a regular paycheck again!)

Sarah's big news this year was the addition of little Amelia!  In addition to that, her online business has grown a TON!  She now has a THRIVING business blog and Etsy shop...where she nows sells patterns for her crocheted accessories and hats!  She loves that she has been able to earn money for the family, but stay at home with her beautiful children...truly a blessing!

Ellie, age 10, is in the 5th grade this year and has been enjoying having Marc for her writing, Social Studies and Science teacher.  In November she, Ben and Marc (as well as Lilly, Sarah, and Amelia) were in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" in Fairview!  She played Gladys Herdmann with true style!  She definitely has the acting bug...but still wants to be an author/illustrator when she grows up!

Ben, age 8, is in the third grade this year.  In March he got baptized...on his birthday!  He loves being able to go to Cub Scouts every Monday!  He is a very attentive big brother to little Amelia, and is a great helper!  One of Ben's favorite things that happened this year was dressing up as Aang the Avatar for Halloween!  You can see some pics of his costume, HERE.

Lilly, age 5, started Kindergarten this year and LOVEs school!  She is loving learning to read and write.  Lilly is quite an artist and fills our house with all sorts of beautiful pieces of art!  She was very excited to be a "Baby Angel" in the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" with Ellie, Ben, and Daddy!

Maddie, age 3, is just as busy as ever...and always keeps us on our toes!  She loves to dance and dress-up...and pretty much everything girly!  Maddie loves to play with her brother and sisters.  She is quite a drama queen and keeps us laughing with her songs and stories!

Amelia Ruth was born on June 9th via C-Section.  She weighed 8lbs 6 oz and was 18.5" long!  She is the BEST BABY EVER!!!  Really.  She is so sweet and happy all the time.  Everyone loves her!  We feel so blessed to have her here in our lives!

We hope you have all had a wonderful Holiday Season!  We feel so very blessed this year and we truly know that the Lord is looking out for us!  We are grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and Redeemer at this time...and wish for you the blessings that have been poured out on us!

With love,

~ Marc, Sarah, Ellie, Ben, Lilly, Maddie, and Amelia

Christmas Newsletter 2010

Well another year has flown by, and here we are again to share a little about how it went for us!

This year we went on our first -real- family vacation! We participated in the Give a Day, Get a Day promo, that Disney offered this year and went to Disneyland!! We all had so much fun visiting the beach, Disneyland, and Disney's California Adventure! Then we spent Easter with the cousins from Boulder City! The kids can't wait until we get to go again!

This summer we got to see lots of cousins on our various travels, and had a really fun reunion with Marc's family, in an old refurbished church! It was great to see the kids get to know each other better and have fun at 'Grandma's Store' and give surprise gifts to their secret pals! We also went to Lake Powell for the first time (with the youth in our ward), and enjoyed all that Lake Powell had to offer, including sunburns, a windstorm, sand castles, fishing, boat rides, and cliff jumping!

This year we had some big changes! We moved (again) At the end of July to a beautiful Victorian house in our ward boundaries. We hadn't anticipated the move, but when the opportunity arrived we knew it was the right thing to do! We are renting from some wonderful previous ward members who have been wonderful about letting us put up fence (to contain Maddie), and planning a garden for next year!

Starting with Marc! For about half of the year Marc devoted his time to his window cleaning business, and did pretty well in our new area of Mount Pleasant! He continued to work with the Priest age boys in our ward, and things seemed pretty well settled. Then in June, he had the opportunity to apply for a teaching job in the school district! Not wanting to put all his eggs in one basket, he continued to work at window cleaning. Then in July he had an interview, and teaching demonstration, and another interview! And guess what?! He got the job! He's been teaching 1/2 time at Fountain Green Elementary (which is about 20 minutes away), in the sixth grade class (yes, there is only one class!), and he's really been enjoying it! Around the same time he was called to be the Scoutmaster in our Ward, and is, as always, a great influence on the boys in the ward!

Sarah was busy this year with her online craft business! She's been crocheting and crafting her guts out! She is member of the Ephraim Co-Op Mercantile Association, and was put in charge of heading up their facebook fan page! As a member of the Co-Op she had the opportunity to participate in the Scandinavian Festival, with a craft booth, where she sold over 30 crocheted Viking Helmets, with horns and all! She was also asked to be a part of the PTA board this year and ended up designing T-shirts for the school! Her biggest news happened earlier this fall when we found out we're expecting Anderkid #5!! She was so grateful to have her Mom here for a couple of months to help take care of her and the rest of family while she's been dealing the early effects of pregnancy!

Ellie, age 9, made lots of great friends at school, and has been able to participate in some fun school activities, too! Last year she scored 100% on her Language Arts State Core test!!! Awesome!! As always she continues to be a voracious reader, and impresses her teachers with her extensive vocabulary! This year she's been writing her first 'real' chapter book entitled, Fire Dragon, and hopes to be able to someday publish it! She's also in the school choir and has been invited to sing in several local wards, and stakes, for sacrament meetings. Although she has a beautiful voice, she is always very humble and gracious about be asked to sing!

Ben, age 7, is all boy! His loves include building things, climbing things, throwing things, and joking around! It's pretty hard to get a picture of Ben without his tongue hanging out of his mouth! He LOVES to ride his bike, and jumps at every chance to ride it! He is a great big brother to Maddie especially, who always calls him her "Benny Boy!" This year he has managed to stay away from the emergency room, except for a bad ear infection he received following swimming lessons this summer, for which Mom is really grateful!! He excited to be turning eight this next year, when he will be baptized and get be in scouts!

Lilly, age 4, is as sweet and dry-humored as ever! She constantly keeps us in stitches with her dry delivery of quips, and her funny expressions! She's had fun this year going to 'preschool' with mommy, and is so excited to go to real school next year! She loves to dress up and you'll almost never see her without some sort of accessory or costume on! She and Maddie are great playmates, and love to pretend like they are a mother and daughter...the funniest part is that when Lilly is the mother she talks with a british accent and always calls Maddie 'Dahling!' Mom loves being home with her little 'dahlings!'

Maddie, age 2, is, well, Maddie! She is so full of energy...she just never stops going! She has become quite a talker, and will carry on involved conversations with anyone who will give her the time of day! She is into everything...STILL! Mom hoped she would out-grow this phase, but she just keeps going! You can't leave her alone for ANY amount of time, or your sure to find something being destroyed! But even though she's VERY busy, she's still a sweet loving little girl! She loves to snuggle...and still sucks her thumb (I know...we'll have to break that habit at some point!)...One her funniest quirks is that when she's sucking her thumb she loves to play with earlobes - either her own or anyone who is sitting nearby! One of her biggest compliments to others is: "Oh! I love yowah eahs!"

Well, that's about all for us this year! We hope everyone has had a happy year, too, and can't wait to see what the future will bring! We love you and we love our Savior who has blessed us so much this year! Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Newsletter 2009

Dear friends and Family!

This has certainly been an eventful year for our family, and we feel truly blessed by the events that have transpired. Here are some of the highlights:

In January we decided that it was high time that we got ourselves out of debt, and moved ‘closer’ to the rest of the family, so we put our home in Magna up for sale. We knew we wouldn’t be ready to sell the house right away, and wanted the kids to be able to finish out the school year, so we raised the price, and hardly anyone came to look! In May, after lowering the price a little, we got an offer and started on the long road to closing. After several negotiations we finalized the sale and moved to Mount Pleasant, Utah, at the beginning of July. Although it was hard to leave our friends, neighbors, school, and Ward, (and we miss them all terribly!) we have settled into our new environment nicely.

MARC has been as busy as ever with his Anderson Window Cleaning business and Pre-Paid Legal. This year he also commuted to Sanpete County to do Census work for three months in anticipation of moving to Mount Pleasant. He spent the rest of the summer commuting back to Salt Lake to do windows for existing customers, but has been able to get a lot more local work as the months have passed. He had been serving in our Magna Ward as the Young Men’s President and was released shortly before our move. He has now been called to be (dum-dum-dum…) the Venturing Leader/Priest Quorum Advisor in our new Ward…it’s a bit of a stretch for him… but seriously, he’s once again enjoying himself, and only has THREE the Young Men he is directly responsible for (and is once again gone every Wednesday night). In preparation for selling our house he refinished the hardwood floor, and is now a pro, in case anyone was wondering. Marc has big plans for becoming a rancher of some sort now that we’re down in Mount Pleasant!

SARAH spent the first part of the year cleaning and packing…and mostly did that for the rest of the year – just kidding! She was released from being the Relief Society Enrichment Counselor when we moved, and is now enjoying a much lower-key calling as a teacher in the Primary. This summer after the big move, she started selling her crafty creations online, and has had a lot of fun stamping, crocheting, sewing, and hot-gluing all sorts of creations! Visit her online Etsy Shop, ~sarahndipities~. She has also been working on illustrations for a few books. She loves the quiet atmosphere of Mount Pleasant, and is glad to be closer to Grandma S. again! She is grateful to have such a wonderful and patient family this year, and is looking forward to a new year!

ELLIE turned eight this year and was baptized on June 6th (just a day before Sarah’s *gasp* 30th birthday…what mom could ask for a better birthday present than that?)! She is now in the third grade, and keeps the teachers on their toes (as usual) with her “amazing vocabulary” and “unbelievable knowledge of…everything.” (Direct teacher quotes. She loves to read…all the time! She read the first three Harry Potter books (Mom and Dad wouldn't let her read any more yet…they’re so mean!), and all seven of the Chronicles of Narnia Books in the first month that we lived in Mount Pleasant! She has since re-read all the Narnia books (twice!), the Frog Princess, The Jungle Book, The Sisters’ Grimm Fairy-Tale Detectives, Ramona Quimby age 8, Dragon Rider, The Adventures of Hashbrown Winters, several Cody Smith books, The Witches, Spirit Walker, The Tale of Despereaux, and has been working on her own book, entitled the Serpent’s Sea.

BEN has fully recovered from his playground accident last year, in which he received a grade four (out of five) laceration on his kidney, after falling off the school playground at recess. He had the stent removed from the kidney in January and had his six-month check up in July, where he was proclaimed fully healed! To see Ben now you would never know that he spent nearly a month on bed rest! He climbs, rides his bike, loves to help make dinner, and chop firewood (under supervision, of course!), and is, in general, a monkey. He has loved going to first grade and making new friends here in Mount Pleasant.

LILLY is our little ray of sunshine! She turned three this year and has had lots of fun at Pre-School playgroup once a week. Lilly loves to dress up and pretend. She loves to cuddle, dance, and sing. She is very sweet, but she also has an extreme stubborn streak (I don’t know where she gets that from…) Lilly’s favorite excuse is “Maddie made me do it!” Most of the time she is very happy. She is great at playing on her own, but can’t wait for the kids to get home from school each day!

MADDIE is twenty months old now, and is into EVERYTHING!!! If it’s not nailed down, glue shut, or higher than 6’ above the ground…she’s into it (and even then it’s not a guarantee!) She is so curious about the way things work and feel…and is very persistent – she will NOT stop until she gets it! Recently she (and Lilly) emptied an entire 24oz box of Rice Krispies all over the living room and bathroom…including in the tub! Most of the time, though, she is sweet snuggly and happy…and loves to be with her Daddy and siblings. She also loves to sing, go to Nursery, wear other people’s shoes, and is learning more and more intelligible words every day!



Well, that’s our year in review! It's been a great ride, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with the joy of our Savior, and a New Year full of happiness!

Love,
The Anderkids,
Marc, Sarah, Ellie, Ben, Lilly and Maddie

Christmas Newsletter 2008

We hope that this holiday season finds you all in good health or at least in good spirits! Here’s a little review of our past year:

Marc has had a good and busy this year building his Pre-Paid Legal and Anderson Window Cleaning businesses! He’s now the Young Men’s President, and loves working with the boys in our ward. Somehow, he still manages to find time to be a great Daddy and husband!

Sarah started her year off with the arrival of Madeline Grace (aka Maddie) in April. In addition she’s had her hands full with the other kids, being Marc’s secretary, the Book Fair Coordinator, and was released from her calling as Primary Chorister and is now the Enrichment Counselor in our ward! Whew!

Ellie turned seven this year, and is now in 2nd grade! She loves to read…especially anything about dinosaurs! She won a trophy in the “Refelections” contest for her Dinosaur Diorama! She still has quite a lot to say about the world, and is a good big sister.

Ben is five and loving Kindergarten! Recently, he took a tumble off of the playground at school and lacerated his kidney! He’s in for a long recovery, but is home from the hospital, and doing well. He’s a loving big brother…especially to his little “Maddie-Waddie.”

Lilly is almost three! She’s a happy – if very stubborn – little girl. She love to help…sometimes a little too much…especially with Maddie. She talks very clearly, and always has the funniest things to say!

Maddie is eight months old, and thinks she’s ready to walk! It’s amazing how fast the time goes by! She always has a huge grin on her face and is the most good-natured baby there ever was! We feel so blessed to have her in our family!

We wish you the very best Christmas season and hope that the light of Christ will be with you the through coming year as it has been for us!

Christmas Newsletter 2007

We hope that this holiday season finds you all in good health or at least in good spirits! This year has been an eventful one for us, so we thought we’d share a little breakdown our year in review:

Marc has been very busy this year building his Pre-Paid Legal and Anderson Window Cleaning businesses! He’s also still in the Young Men’s Presidency, and the Ward Choir director and Music Chair. Somehow, he still manages to find time to be a great Daddy and husband!

Sarah has been enjoying her busy schedule of chasing Ellie, Ben, and Lilly around, being Marc’s secretary, and being the Primary Chorister and on the Activities committee. Her biggest (and we do mean biggest) news this year is that we’re having baby number FOUR in the Spring! She’s feeling a little out-numbered…

Ellie turned six this year, and took 1st grade by storm…She loves to read…especially science books, and is constantly repeating interesting facts about the world around us. She still has a very vivid imagination, and keeps us on our toes with her antics!

Ben is four and has loved Pre-School this year. (And with Ellie in school, and Lilly still napping, it’s been fun to have more ‘one-on-one’ time with him!) He’s a great brother and (usually) loves playing with Lilly and ‘going on eggventures’ with Ellie.

Lilly is almost two! The time has flown by! She is still so sweet and cuddly… she loves to give ‘nuggles’ to everyone…but she definitely has a mind of her own! She’s curious about everything, and never wants to be left out of what the ‘kids’ are doing! She also loves singing and being tickled!

Well, that’s all for now! We wish you the very best Christmas season and hope that the light of Christ will be with you the through coming year as it has been for us!

Christmas Newsletter 2006

This newsletter is still missing! I'm hoping to have it uploaded soon!