Happy Birthday Corrigan ~

Happy 2nd Birthday to our beautiful daughter Corrigan who continues to add sass, style and much craziness to our family.  She loves to play hard with her brothers, read books, wear hats and most importantly continues to help Bryce and I grow as parents.   We count our blessings for her everyday.

Helping me bake her cake



Loving her ladybug cake decorated by her daddy

Her birthday breakfast; homemade granola bars

Her birthday dinner; Tony's pizza (this girl LOVES her Tony's pizza!)

A Good Sport ~

Declan is such a good sport when it comes to his brothers and sister having fun with him!

First Food ~

Declan tried his first food this week ~ rice and oatmeal ~

and loved them both ~ his smiles say it all!

 

 

 

Happy Halloween ~

Another fun filled season of Halloween at the Anderson's.  Here are several snapshots of our month...

We made sugar cookies and had fun decorating them 

Odin  ~ Hawkeye Avenger

Quinn ~ Batman

Corrigan ~ little Miss Ladybug

Declan ~ our little skeleton

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch behind our house

and dad carving the pumpkins with the kids

I did It ~

My new journey ~ running.  After having 4 beautiful babies in 5 years I decided while pregnant with Declan that I was going to take up running after he was born.  So instead of shooting for a 5K or 10K race, I decided to go big.  Knowing I would need some type of competition to find my motivation I chose to run the Mankato Half Marathon.  My only goal was to cross the finish line...and I did it!  I'm looking forward to continuing running and entering my next race.  Here are some pictures of the crazy weekend. 

 The last 4 miles were by far the hardest. 

Seeing the finish line was a sight for sore eyes.

 My biggest fans! 

The kids participated in their own races on Saturday at the expo.

 My Mankato training buddy, Jenna.  At the beginning neither of us could run a mile and often questioned why we were doing this!  So happy we stuck it out.  We went from being two scared girls at the beginning to already planning our next half marathon.  The picture to the left is us celebrating the completion of our 12 weeks of training and on the right, the race is done!!

 My sister Teri helped me do several training runs and ran

with me the last mile of the race (when all I wanted to do was quit!).

4 months old ~

Our sweet baby boy Declan is 4 months old ~ time sure flies when you're having fun!  He weighs a whopping 14.4 pounds and is 24 1/4 inches long. He is wearing 6 month clothing already and is the first of our children to be wearing bigger sizes than his age. He continues to be a momma's boy (ok, I don't mind it a bit!) and receives constant hugs and kisses from his siblings. As you can see from a couple of the pictures, they are often placing items on him and using him as props when they play. The best thing about him right now are his constant smiles and his crazy hair!

Swim time ~

The boys and I took advantage of one of my perks as an adjunct at Mankato State today ~ free swimming!  It was fun and we got some much needed exercise.

Quinn was plugging his ears because the diving board was "too loud". 

Safety First ~

The kids and I took advantage of this beautiful day to check out firetrucks, ambulances, police cars and the Mayo One helicopter at one of our clinics in town. The kids loved seeing the chopper come in, land and take off again. 

Excitement ~

I've noticed more and more lately Quinn 'reading' books!  His interest in learning is starting to take place and it gets this momma excited. Tonight he counted each finger on one hand up to five and couldn't have been more proud of himself.  

Cousin Love ~

We finally got to meet the newest member of our family and she is so beautiful :-) Elin and Declan are going to have fun growing up together!

In honor of our Princess Warrior Jane ~

This morning we honored my cousins daughter, Jane Fiemeyer, in the first annual 5K to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer. I feel so blessed to have known this young lady and be witness to so many changed lives because of her. 

Growing and Growing ~

Miss Corrigan has not had a haircut yet. I'm just amazed at how long her hair has grown in 22 months.  I will be sad when the day comes when it needs to be cut.

Tiny Hands ~

Love my baby's touch ~

 



Bath Time ~

When I remember, our sweet baby boy actually gets a bath!

 



Declan's Visits to Mayo Clinic ~

Declan had another follow up visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester on August 23rd.  We've been seeing a pediatric dermatologist for his KTS (Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome).  At the present time, there seems to be nothing we need to be concerned with.  His port-wine stain (red birthmark) is still present but seems to have lightened since birth and the comparison measurement of both arms has not changed since birth either.  As far as the ultrasound goes of his tissue and blood vessels in his left arm, they do not see anything changing.  We will continue to do follow-up appointments every three months at Mayo for this first year and then periodically each year of his life. 

 



Feels So Good ~

If there is one thing that our kids enjoy more than getting a good adjustment from their dad, it's relaxing on the spinolator. (And as you can see, Declan is trying to figure out sucking on his thumb.  It's more of the whole hand right now!)

 



3 months old ~

Declan turned 3 months old last week. His smile and laugh are so contagious!  We are having some very meaningful heart to heart talks where his coos make my heart melt. He has a way of looking at me that makes me feel like I'm his everything,  *sigh*.  I am so spoiled because he is sleeping 10-12 hours a night now. We moved him into his room/Corrigan's room a week ago and she is so proud to be his bunk mate!  The boys are constantly giving him so much love; kisses and hugs galore!  

A Mother's Love ~

Reason number 8,593 why I love my kids so much ~

they make me smile everyday!

Irish Fair of MN ~

We went to the Irish Fair in St. Paul a couple of weekends ago. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.  Right now this is as close as I'll get to Ireland but I know I'll visit (take my honeymoon) there some day in the future and I can't wait!