all RILED up!

Holy cow are we excited for Riley, who was selected this week to join our gym's USAG team next year and will begin practicing with them 7.5 hours a week starting in June. She has worked so hard all year and is turning out to be a killer little athlete. I am living vicariously through her as my closest thing to "athlete" is my cheerleading days. Oh, and of course, INSANITY!

Riley's new gym status comes with overwhelming responsibilities for us all, but she is so totally thrilled that we'd do almost anything to make it a reality for her. It will be a stretch for sure, but worth every bit of stretching. As the youngest member of the team, I have no doubt that there's lots of work ahead. I also have no doubt that Riley's up to the challenge.

Congratulations Riley Elizabeth Anderson, how very proud of you we are! Here's to all the good things to come!

Something about a boy...

In two weeks, my youngest child will be FOUR! This is nuts. It seems I've had a baby forever. Those baby days are disappearing in the rear view mirror as we speed ahead and other than his current problem with "girly whining", my little guy is all boy.

Today was a half day and the girls shut themselves in Riley's room for an American Girl play session. I heard Finn banging at the door and heard the girls spouting off excuses for not letting him in. They almost never exclude him, so I figured they needed some girl time and ushered Finn off to help me with "something".

A little while later, I heard him banging on the door again. Heard him crying. Heard him saying something about a bloody nose. He didn't have one, but he had a runny one, which he was trying to fix with a tissue.

I helped him clean up as he told me that Riley had informed him he had boogers and would not be allowed to play American Girl with them because he was gross. I assured him he was not gross and he disappeared.

A moment later I heard him at their door again. This time he was saying, "It's me again guys! Let me in - Mom cleaned me up!"

There's something about a boy. It's all so black and white, you know? "My boogers are gone, so now I will be accepted." There's no worrying about having boogers, what people think about your boogers, whether or not you're getting a cold or wondering if you look weird with your boogers. There are certainly no hurt feelings in relation to boogers.

Boogers = can't play, no boogers=can play. Oh, the simplicity!

I love my boy!

She Won!

Meet number two and another First Place trophy for our little gymnast. Riley did great and had her game face on as usual. (I wonder where this game face came from - must be Mike.) She's cool as a cucumber on the outside.

Looking forward to more fun at our Flippin' Fiesta meet next weekend! Congratulations RILEY and the whole amazing GIJO Level 3 Team!!

There's meaning in the those words...

Last night, Mike and I made spaghetti and meatballs and homemade garlic bread from Jamie Oliver's awesome Food Revolution cookbook. We wanted a nice, hearty family dinner to set Riley off right for her 2nd gymnastics meet this morning. We all loved it, which is really saying something about the recipe!

While we were eating, I asked Riley how she was feeling about the meet. She freely admitted being a little nervous. Mike and I dispensed our supportive parental advice and in the midst, Logan interrupted us.

"Riley," she said in all her honest sweetness, "Just so you know, the only thing wrong with fear.... is fear itself."

Riley was clueless (she was getting TMI from the three of us), but Mike and I couldn't help but chuckle. Logan might not have gotten Roosevelt's quote verbatim, but she certainly did get it right.

GOOD LUCK SWEET RILEY! We're all behind you!!

Limits Unimagined

Those of you who are friends on Facebook might know that I have embarked on this crazy-ridiculous exercise regime called Insanity. It is hard - harder than anything I've ever done in my life. In that list are things like carry, birth and raise children, so I'm guessing you get it.

www.beachbody.com/Insanity

At some point every day during this insane cardio workout, I am sure I am going to die. And yet, I don't. I survive and feel great (afterwards.) The difficulty level makes this a huge commitment - 60 days of about an hour of hard core, boot camp bananas cardio that leaves me screaming at the television and makes me want to cry every time. I'm following the eating plan as well; five small meals a day. I've never done this before and I really like it - I'm never hungry. On Saturdays and Sundays I give myself a break at dinner to enjoy a little extra. It's not on the Insanity plan, but it's on mine. You gotta enjoy your life!

So here's to getting healthier and living longer. Here's to pushing myself past limits unimagined. I'm not sure how insane my results will be, but I feel like a different person already. At nearly three weeks in, I think this new way of life may become a habit. (We'll see what I say when the intensity increases in week 5!)

Wish me luck!

Simple Surprises

Sometimes, some simple act of kindness, needs to be recognized for the something wonderful that it is. It might not seem like a big deal, but Logan's grandparents in North Carolina just did that kind of something wonderful just for her and I thought it was seriously blog worthy.


The class had an assignment of sending a "flat Stacy" out of town with hopes that she'd have some adventures and then return to tell the class about it. Mary and Alby took it to the extreme, taking Stacy on a road trip to Florida and the North Carolina coast. They stopped all over and took her picture, had adventures, collected souvenirs. Mary made a travel journal and folders for every state they traveled through, highlighted maps and gave all sorts of facts on each state.

As you might guess, not many kids in class had quite the same flat Stacy project to share with their classmates. Logan has been telling me about it for two weeks and just brought it home today. It is AMAZING - such a loving thing for them to do and a truly exceptional learning opportunity for Logan and her class. My favorite part is the pictures, which are so funny, they make me want to cry. Here are a couple...


Special thanks to Grandmom and Granddad!

Oh the Drama!

While organizing my newly painted office, I came across this piece of paper. I have no idea what it's from or how old it is. All I can tell you is that the darn drama is starting already. At EIGHT!!

From the mouths of babes

The following is an excerpt of a conversation between Finn and his classmate Brooke that I overheard while driving them to school today. Brooke's Dad has been putting together their new swing set and they're discussing what's left for him to do in order to finish it.

Finn: He still needs to put on the slide.

Brooke: And the driver thing and the telescope.

Finn: Oh yeah, and the roof. How will he get up there to put on the roof?

Brooke: My Daddy has a big ladder.

Finn: No, Brooke, my Daddy has a really big ladder.

Brooke: My Daddy's ladder is the biggest of all.

Finn: Brooke, my Daddy's ladder is the biggest in all the worlds.

Brooke pauses, then: Are you kidding me?

Finn: No, I'm serious.

I laughed all the way to school.

hello again

Where has the time gone? I miss this blog like crazy. I'm going to try to post a short Andersonism once daily - let's see how close I can get. It's more important than ever as the kids just realized I stopped putting photographs in albums in 2004. This blog may be the only record of our existence!

Today Finn took his place among the big boys shooting hoops at the full-size basketball hoop on the street. They all snickered and teased him and I held him on my shoulders a few times until he started sinking a few. A neighbor called me over and I left him to his own devices, all thirty-some inches of them. Before I knew it, there was raucous cheering coming from under the hoop and the neighbor boys were calling me over.

"Finn got it again Molly! He's so little and he keeps doing it!!" And he did, again and again - it was amazing!

I swear, Finn grew six inches before my eyes right then. He is more boy then ever - what a ride this is! And even though he's only in the 25th percentile in height (thanks to yours truly, I'm sure) maybe this little man will cruise us all the way to the NBA! You never know.....