Lately

Today while driving with the kids Aubrey said to me, "Mommy, today I prayed that God would give me a sister baby!" That melts my heart and I pray that no matter what gender the baby is she will be excited to have a little baby to help hold.

Bryant is becoming more and more expressive, using all sorts of facial gestures to communicate what he wants. Today after one of his grunts I asked him if he wanted some milk. He looked at me, furrowed his brow, and said, "No..." while shaking his head and looking around. If he wants to get your attention on something he hits your arm, thinking he is patting it, and points furiously to whatever it is that caught his eye.

Aubrey & Bryant packed up some decorative suitcases today and they were carting them all through the "airport" (house) in order to catch their airplane. I would hear Bryant ask a question that sounded very much like, "Doo?" and Aubrey would say, "No, I think it's this direction. Hurry, Bubs, they're saying, 'all aboard!'" And off they would go. Buddies for life, these two.

Tomorrow will mark the first day of the month that baby Who will join our ranks. I'm really looking forward to holding you, sweet baby, and looking at your face (which I have a feeling looks a bit like your sister & brother). Many nights I sit in your room, rock in the chair we will spend a lot of time in together and dream about who you may be. You are my sweet mystery and I am excited to get to know you later this month.

I love being mommy to these kids. Thank you, Lord, for these treasures.

The Christmas Tree

We had a fun Thanksgiving with most of the Petersen side of the family (we missed you, Drew, Annie & Noah!). I love the family gathering aspect of Thanksgiving and then I love taking down all the fall decorations and getting the house ready for Christmas. This Christmas, especially, since we recently found out we will be meeting our little boy or girl on or around the 18th of December.

So today, to finish off the Christmas decorating, we went to pick out our tree. Bryant and Daddy, on the hunt to find the perfect tree.

Aubrey and Mommy, lagging behind a bit but still having fun.

The tree is found! Man, I love these three.

Bryant got to hang an ornament before bed with Daddy's help.

Aubrey hung lots of ornaments and then finished off the night with putting the star on the tree.

We hope and pray that you can take the time to really enjoy this Christmas season.

The Angels Rejoice

I'm not usually one for writing two posts in a day but something happened tonight that I want to document.

Aubrey & I were driving to Awana tonight and we were reviewing her verses for the week. We were talking about how Jesus is God's Son and Aubrey said, "But, Mommy, Jesus is living in my heart!" I told her that Jesus doesn't just live there; that we have to ask Him and we have to ask Him to be our Savior, and then He will live in our hearts. I said, "Would you like to do that?" She said, "Well, yes!"

I talked to her about what it means when we ask Jesus into our hearts and asked again if she wanted to do that. She said, "Yes, I really want Jesus to live in my heart and clean my heart...so that I can wear skirts." (okay, so this is a 3 1/2 year old's perspective on life. She has had her privelege of wearing skirts and dresses taken away because of disobedience to Daddy & Mommy and this is very important to her. She prays often that Jesus would clean our hearts so we can wear skirts.)

I said, "Well, if you want to do that, you can pray and ask Jesus and He will come and live in your heart." And she did. She said a simple prayer of just that, that Jesus would come and live in her heart and clean her heart. I know she is young and there is still much for her to understand but we are rejoicing with the angels tonight that our sweet Aubrey chose to give Jesus her heart.

Aubrey, we pray this is the beginning of a faithful, constantly growing walk with your Lord and Savior. We do rejoice. We love you.

Samplings From The Bazaar

It was another fun experience at the bazaar this year. I so enjoy seeing all the people coming through and I am so impressed at the creativity of all the vendors! If you weren't able to come (for those who are local) you missed out. :)

My cousin and I have stock left so I thought I would put it up here for anyone who is interested in some cute Christmas presents or everyday presents for the little ones in their life!


Okay, so I am really thinking we should bring back the charm of the old-fashioned. These muffs are the perfect start. Aubrey loves hers. It is high quality faux-fur with a nice, fuzzy warm lining for the winter days coming (they're here already at the coast!) or for a fun dress up item. $10.


What looks here like a pile of fabric are actually my cousin Sarah's finely crafted nursing covers. If you know someone, or are someone, who will be having a baby soon, consider this very practical gift. $20.

These are the cutest little travel blanket/pillow sets. Aubrey loves hers. The blanket is like a large lap blanket for her and we take it in the car on trips, on the plane, and it stays on her bed for reading books in her room. $15 for a personal, fun gift for a little one.


My cousin also made these super cute crayon rolls. Perfect for storing in your purse for those times when the kids can't sit still. Very cute prints. $10.

I have lots of aprons left as well. I am working on taking pictures of all of them and I will put them up on my Thumbprints & Sprinkles blog.

If you are interested in anything, don't hesitate to let me know on here or email me with your information. I have a paypal account set up so that makes it very easy to pay and if you order soon I can get it to you by Christmas time! :)

I promise this blog will not become a sales ad. I just wanted to put this cute stuff up here in case you are still trying to figure out Christmas presents for the special kids in your life.

Our Boy

Some fun things going on in Bryant's world:

He officially sings. He'll raise his chin high in the air and go, "Doooooo!" while shaking his head for dramatic effect.

He is so proud of himself when he says something that makes sense to someone else. We all cheer and celebrate when he manages to actually say an intelligible word.

When I ask him where Mommy's baby is, he no longer points to himself. He pats my belly.

We love him.

Bryant found Sissy's swim goggles today and decided to try them on. And then inspect the vacuum cleaner.

The boy and his dog.

Happy Fall

We just got home from a vacation to North Carolina and Florida. Whew! We had a great time and are happy to be home.

Our first stop: North Carolina to visit Nate, Megan, Grace, Ella & Molly. The kids played hard there! A highlight was going to the State Fair but the kids stayed very busy playing no matter where we were.


Grace, Ella and Aubrey formed a quick bond. Aubrey was in heaven playing with her girl cousins. So many girly things to do! Lots of make believe.

All the Anderson cousins to date. Yep, you counted right. 4 girls, 1 boy. On the Anderson side we might need another boy to balance things out a bit. :)

After our trip to NC, the kids and I boarded a plane for Orlando where we met up with my brothers, their wives, kids, Mom & Dad Petersen, and Papa Will and Grandma Carol, Annie's parents. This was our official celebration of Blake's return home from Iraq.

Aubrey and I stood in line to meet the princesses. The people who worked at Disneyworld said they rotate the princesses in and out and there is no way to know who is in the room at a certain time. When we got there, it was all the princesses that Aubrey cares about. Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle.

Sleeping Beauty immediately said, "Your dress is beautiful! I bet it twirls wonderfully!" Umm...how did she know that Aubrey is a big-time twirler?

Cinderella complimented Aubrey's silver shoes, explaining that she was wearing silver shoes, too, because the Fairy Godmother had to make her another pair once she lost her glass slipper. She even lifted up her beautiful gown to show Aubrey her fancy shoes. She was Aubrey's favorite.

Belle talked to Aubrey about her yellow dress back home. Aubrey felt that she had made three new friends in these princesses.

Then we stumbled upon meeting Mickey and Minnie and Aubrey was completely enamored with Minnie's dress, shoes, and how she posed for pictures. Take note of Aubrey wanting to be like Minnie.

I will be downloading more photos soon of the three boys but this is one of the only ones I have of Bryant on my camera. He loved any ride he could go on. Dumbo, the Carousel, Peter Pan...I am pretty sure that in a couple of years he will be wanting to go on the biggest and fastest rides at any theme park.

It was so fun to spend time with Drew, Annie & Noah. We had fun at the pool a couple of days and I particulary liked watching this kid pick up and throw any balls he could find as many times as he could.


Aubrey will also tell you that Cinderella's "naughty stepsisters" learned how to be kind from Cinderella because they stopped her when she was walking in this dress to tell her how beautiful her dress was. She kind of likes the wicked stepsisters now. :)

She also loved the rides at Disneyworld and Papa was a sport in taking her on this particular roller coaster over and over and over.

To finish off our trip we trick-or-treated in downtown Gresham with the grandparents and Aunt Shana & Uncle Dan. Aubrey as a very happy Bumble Bee. Bryant was a not-so-happy monster.

Jack stopped by before trick-or-treating to show off his shark costume. I don't normally like sharks but I'm pretty crazy about this one.

Can you tell that Bryant is done? Done with traveling, done with pictures, done with everything. He did not change his expression the entire evening.