Texas Andersons

You’ve heard it- Being a mom is the hardest job ever. Being a stay-at-home mom is even tougher.

Any idea what you should be paid for all the duties you perform as a stay-at-home mom? According to the latest research, we should be earning $138,000 a year. I don’t know about you, but we sure could use that! Here’s a link to an article about all the different roles we perform and the hours we work a week. Pretty cool.

And here’s a link to a video. It’s a funny tribute to moms by the group Go Fish. I was first introduced to the group by MOPS, and then was re-exposed to the great song when Ben received the cd from Mary for Christmas. Enjoy!

What a fabulous holiday! To get to spend time with cherished family and friends, to eat a glorious amount of wonderful food, to give of ourselves and receive. How blessed we are!

We spent Monday in San Antonio with friends Marli, Robert, Mandy, and Mary. We saw The Polar Express at the IMAX and then headed to lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. The kids had such a great time!

On Christmas Eve we all drove down to Orange Grove to spend the day with my family. Ben got to drive Granny Dorothy and Papa Marvin’s golf cart all day; we visited with family; we ate the best down-home cooking! After opening presents and rolling out the door, we finally got back home at midnight (just in time to tuck ourselves in to wait for Santa).

Christmas morning was filled with squeals of surprise and laughter as we all went through our stockings and opened gifts. Then we headed to Nathan’s grandparents’ house for another get-together of food and family.

Today we went to Uncle Andy and Aunt Ann’s for breakfast, got to spend the day finally relaxing, and then had my parents over for dinner and another gift exchange.

For Ben’s friends, we were so thrilled to make and hand out candies, frames, and ornaments. For family, we had a blast making and giving peppermint bark, hot chocolate mixes, pickles, soup mixes, cookie mixes, and steak rubs. Yum!

And we received the best gifts- toys, books, cd’s. We even got a couple of Home Depot gift cards (maybe we can finally get new wood floors!) Thanks everyone for the wonderful presents. And thank you Santa for the telescope!

Another fun week! We…

Kept Shutter-Happy’s doors open so people could get in for last-minute Christmas sessions, print consults, and print pick-ups,

Attended Ben’s class’ Christmas party and gift exchange,

Did our last-minute Christmas shopping,

Went to another Dream Dinners session to make some more yummy meals,

And spent the entire weekend mixing, canning, wrapping, and packaging everyone’s Christmas presents. Who knew trying to save money by making everyone’s gifts would cost so much and take so much of your time?!

I’ve been saying it for years now- “Six months is my favorite age!” But I could never recall why exactly I decided that. Was it because I have my fondest memories of Ben at that age? Or is it just that I love every 6-month-old that comes in and the photo opportunity that age presents? Was never sure…

But Evan turned six months last week and voila! He’s sleeping through the night again. He’s eating rice cereal like a mad man. So now there’s fewer bottles to give. He’s actually cut his bottle intake by half! He’s sitting. This has now freed him up to play in a whole new way and gives me an opportunity to walk away if there’s a chore beckoning or phone ringing. And his personality is shining. He’s such a cute little guy! Look at that doll! –> Don’t you just want to squeeze those cheeks?!

Side note from doctor’s appointment today- 24 pounds, 12 ounces; 29 inches long. This is why we call him “Chunk.”

I LIKE MY COMPUTER. I PLAY LOTS OF GAMES. MY FAVORITE IS COMMANDER KEEN.

THANK YOU FOR MY NEW LAPTOP, PAPA LARRY.

Another glorious week! We…

Attended our MOPS Christmas meeting,

Made gingerbread houses with Madison and then had a great playdate,

Attended Rackspace’s Christmas event for the kids,

Were surprised with snow!

Baked and delivered dozens of cookies to our neighbors,

Walked around the Christmas Market Days to find our family Christmas present (a gorgeous new wooden swing to replace our current broken one),

And enjoyed a great afternoon of running around and doing gymnastics and “cheese slams!” at Mary’s birthday party with Mary, Robert, Lillian, and Madison.

The Christmas events included…

Getting Nathan dressed up as Santa for portraits with the boys,

Sending the boys off to Granmom and Papa’s to spent the night while Nathan and I went to Rackspace’s Christmas party and then out to the movies,

Enjoying the annual Boerne Christmas parade,

Creating and painting a new snowman for the front yard display (there’s now an “Evan” snowman!),

And painting, gluing, tying, and wrapping Ben’s friends’ Christmas gifts.

Such a fun week!

HEY SANTA,

I HOPE YOU HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH OF KIDS DOING GOOD. HERE’S ALL THE THINGS I WANT, SANTA. HERE WE GO!

-A TELESCOPE
-A TRAIN FROM BASS PRO
-#66 NASCAR
-#2 NASCAR
-A CANOE AND A PADDLE
-A SKATEBOARD AND RAMP AND SHIN PADS AND ELBOW PADS
-AN ORNAMENT

HAVE A SAFE TRIP.

BEN

Dear Santa,

I’ve been good all year. Could you please bring me…

Peace on earth. For the sake of our nation and our world, grant us days without violence, without robberies, without disasters. Give the news media uplifting stories for our nightly news.

If you can’t bring us peace, new wood floors would be a dream! Did you see the recent story on The Today Show about what is living in our carpets and what our vacuums are spreading throughout our house?! For the health and safety of our children (and for the beauty of our home), could you help us with new flooring?

Hope you’re having a great holiday season!

Love,
Amy

PS- Speaking for Evan- he could use some diapers, formula, and baby food; he would love any toy that lights up and makes noise.