it's the most busiest time or the year!

So it's been a month since we blogged and there is no excuse :) Just 3 kids and life and that isn't an excuse just our new normal. We've been to FL for Thanksgiving, Chris (quite possibly the best husband on the planet) took care of the big 2 kids for a week by himself so I could spend some time with my gran. We came home, finished and performed a church Christmas program, had 2 performances for our music lesson kids, packed and shipped most all of our Christmas stuff, and are now repacking and cleaning to head back to FL for Gran's 75th b-day celebration and Christmas!

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we've done. Although, there should be way more pics taken lately, there just haven't been - again no excuses it's just my new reality.

I love this pic - taken at my mom's house. It captures where her grandkids are at this stage of life so well.

Cadence - the really good poser for most all pictures who does anything to make yellow GiGi happy - even if the smile is fake

Caleb Shaun - one of the happiest kids on the planet

Creed - screaming again because he was woken up to be dressed in sweater pants for a picture

Jane - not really sure of what to make of the Andersen3 :)

Our 3 miracle children - I can't tell you how much gratitude wells up in me when I see the family that God has put together so perfectly for us.

We didn't have a big Christmas tree this year because Chris saw no need to put one up since we were literally here 2-3 weeks of the Christmas season. So, instead we did a little tree for each of our kids. Maybe one day I'll actually get a picture of each kid with their tree but for now, this what I had. Cadence and I decorating all 3 because the boys don't care anything about it :)

Our Creed Samuel - who basically looks more like my sister Elizabeth and Chris' sister Lisa with his coloring than he does Chris and I. We'll wait a summer and see if he darkens up!

The first snow of the season. It's snowed 2 days so far this year and I've been surprised by both of them! This day we were loading the car up to head to the church and set up for the Christmas play and all of a sudden, I took a load to the car and there was snow! I went to get Cadence (who isn't from FL and therefore not impressed by snow). She did suit up and come out for a minute and her outfit was so funny to me that I did get a picture of it. Yes those are pj's, a scarf, and her cowboy boots

I met Christa at the mall this past week to get pics of the kids with Santa at Bass Pro Shop. He wasn't there because we went in the afternoon and Santa doesn't clock in til 5. But the kids had fun regardless. We colored and played with the games set up around the Santa area. We are so grateful to the Callaways so close that we can meet up at the mall to color together.

where have we been and what have we been doing?

Last Weekend we went to the Wake Forest/Raleigh area to hang out with my sister, Emily, and the Palahnuks. We didn't get any pictures at Emily's - where we had a yard sale in the freezing cold :) - but we did take some at KayKay's house. Everyone loved being at KayKay's. Cadence especially because Amanda and Brandy straightened her hair! It was so fun to watch her be even more prissy than normal as she tossed around her straight hair.

With both McKayla and Creed there (they're a month apart) Cadence had an extra baby to hold! I'm so glad she loves babies and is such a great big sister.

Caleb Shaun fought Jane for the barbie car and sometimes won :) He also ate Barbie pieces and tried to climb the stairs. I think he likes going to KayKay's as much as the rest of us!

What has Creed been up to? Smiling, finding his thumb, and keeping us up much later at night than we want to be up. But he's so stinkin cute that we forgive him quickly for the late nights :)

We're trying to nap Caleb Shaun in his big boy bed to get him ready for the big switch-over. It's not going well. First of all, he can finally roll over off of his back so anytime that he is on his back and wants to get up, he just rolls over and does it. This is fine in his crib but scarier on a regular bed! I heard him play the other day thru an entire piano lesson that he was supposed to be napping thru so when my student left, I went in to check on him and this is what I found. Caleb Shaun standing up - so proud of himself - holding onto the rail (that thankfully is held to the bed really well) with his diaper around his feet! He hates to wear a diaper and takes it off every chance he gets. So, I just went and got the camera and then tried again to put him to bed

With the weather being cooler, we've been using the big bath tub lots more as a way to get warm. The kids are really enjoying bathing together in it so, of course, I'll take the obligatory bath tub pictures to be used for embarrassment purposes long-term.

So, that's pretty much us lately! Life keeps going and we're adjusting more and more to 3 Andersen children.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Here is a video I took the other night of Cadence in the shower. The entire shower was between 15 and 20 minutes long and she sang the entire time! You only get to hear about 2 minutes of it but you'll get the idea :) Click HERE to watch.

Fall Foto Fun (cause you really only want to see the pictures)

OK, so for Halloween, we were a little late in getting going with the festivities but we got them all in so it still counts right? The day before Halloween we finally bought a pumpkin! and Cadence wanted to paint it instead of cut it (which was fine with us) so here she is painting her punkin :)

We made our traditional pumpkin cookies - which taste fabulous as always! Cadence was much more into getting the decorations right on the faces this year. She was also quality control to make sure that the cookies were the shape of pumpkins going onto the cookie sheet :)

See what a great decorated face that is?!

I've decided that for little kids (like Caleb Shaun and Creed) that Halloween is much more about the parents picking out a costume that they like and torturing their child by making them wear it. So, this year Chris and I went right along with what is expected and dressed the kids not only in costumes but themed costumes that went together! They were our Super Heroes!

Shaun looks like he's somewhat enjoying the pictures but don't be deceived he hated most every minute of it.

Super Baby and Super Girl

2 Supers and an upset Spider Man - he really didn't like the hat/mask

Chris got in on the action too with a new super hero t-shirt. When we left Target with the shirt Cadence observed that I didn't get a super hero outfit to wear to match everyone else. Daddy quickly informed her that I was going as "mommy" because mommies are super heroes in regular clothes :)

We Trick-or-treated in Cherry Grove, a friend's subdivision. Really we just wanted to hang out at the fire pit and play guitars but kids don't really lend themselves to that so we took the kids out to get candy. Caleb Shaun enjoyed the stroller ride much more than the candy and Creed mostly enjoyed the nap. Isn't he the cutest super baby ever?

Cadence is officially at the age where she gets Halloween. She thought it was fantastic to walk up to strangers and get told how cute she was and leave with candy. Halloween is great for a little girls ego! and not so great for a mommy trying to lose baby weight - but oh well. We've put the candy up to be rationed over the next however many months it takes to get rid of it and are already working on next year's costumes ............

School Days for Shae

This week as a Halloween Alternative at Cadence's school, they had farm day. They have studied farm animals all month this month and so it all culminated with "Farm Day" Being from Wauchula, you would think that we had something suitable for a farm day in our closets but we didn't. So, my first adventure out with all 3 kids by myself took place to find a farm outfit. It was a success because we did end up with an outfit, however, 3 kids alone in a store is a little difficult! I'm sure I'll get better at it but for now, everyone in Value Village got to see Cadence get in trouble and hear Caleb Shaun shriek all thru the store :) So, we put together an outfit and thankfully it didn't even cost $10 from the boots to the hat and everything in between, it was all purchased specifically for farm day. Cadence says that farmers have straps (overalls) so she wasn't really a farmer but a cowgirl instead. Either way, she had an outfit and was happy with it!

These pictures are of her photoshoot while she tried on her outfit the night before she wore it to school :)

Here is a video of Cadence saying the Pledge of Allegiance. She learned it at school too :)

things that happened this week

We're definitely starting to fall into a routine of me (ashleigh) with all 3 kids on my own - during the days. So, since I seem to be getting my feet under me again, I'm noticing some of the fun things that the kids do again and trying to document accordingly. :) So, here are some of the things that went on over the week.

Caleb Shaun can not only stand up to play the piano, this week he wanted to sit on the bench too. So, here he is playing the piano. He sat on the bench and played for at least 15 minutes. Which was really fun to watch.

Mr Creed is getting much better at holding his head up. Here he is enjoying some tummy time. I think he would enjoy it more if his brother and sister would leave him alone :)

Caleb Shaun is learning how to be a sweet boy. He's getting much better at it. He gives Creed kisses and will lay his head on him whenever we say to be "so sweet" I love his personality coming thru! Usually this moment of sweetness is followed by him hitting Creed multiple times on the back or head but we're working on it - at least he shows signs of sweetness at all.

We started eating out of our fall garden this week! My Daddy planted it when Creed was born so it's been fun to keep up with the progress of the plants by knowing how old Creed is. So, we now know that from seed to the table, mustard greens take 7 weeks :) They were super good and we're really looking forward to eating more stuff from the garden!


Here's my hand with a mustard green leaf to show some perspective. They are really big!

Caleb Shaun learned to roll over this past week! Actually the 21st if we're being specific. So, because he rolls over now we're having a hard time with him sleeping. He wakes up and immediately rolls over to sit or stand up. We hear him on the monitor yelling "MaMa" and shaking the crib. It's kind of exciting and we're pretty glad about it when it's not the middle of the night. :) So, one day I came in during nap time and saw Caleb Shaun sleeping like this. He had obviously gotten so tired sitting up that he just laid his head down on the bumper pad and went to sleep.