I recently got some photos that a friend took while I was taking care of the goats for another friend.

Isn’t it really cute how Cyprus is on my back and Daphne is holding my hand?

Isn’t that the best look on Daphne’s face.  I love this photo.

Daphne having a go at milking.

I think this is really cute.

Getting ready to head out.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a box addressed to the kids from some friends of Papa Bob.  When I opened the box I almost died of excitement.  They had sent Daphne a handmade sweater!  I thought it was super cute.  I even managed to get a photo of Papa and Daphne together while she was wearing the sweater.

While we were at Auntie’s house, Daphne got a real kick out of spending time on the computer with Eli. They have a Leap Frog learning system, that Daphne thought was cool. She couldn’t navigate around at all, but she thought it was cool to pound on. We have Baby Smash now to handle any computing desires.

I  caught this quick little video of Daphne playing with Rouge the other day.  I think that she is really starting to get the hang of being a big sister.  She made Rouge so happy.

Happy Holidays 2009!
We had a spectacular year here at the Anderson household. It was full of adventures and we will remember it for many years to come.
Daphne is growing up so quickly. She celebrated her 2nd birthday in March. It seems that this year transformed her from a baby into a little girl. She talks so well, and she surprises us at times with the things that she knows and can communicate about. The more Daphne grows the more interested she is in contributing to the things that we are doing. She can be found any given day doing any number of things like “typing” on her daddy’s computer, helping fold the laundry, vacuuming the floor or helping to chop vegetables for dinner.

Daphne is now old enough to have fun doing activities. After a long, cold winter, we greeted the spring by hunting for Easter Eggs. As the summer warmed up we got out into the fields to pick blueberries and strawberries. We also went to farmers markets to find tasty, fresh food and we spent time preserving and canning what we got. Daphne helped to put up many, many quarts of salsa for her daddy to eat through the cold and dark winter nights.
Perhaps the most notable thing about this past year was that we got to welcome another addition into our family. Cyprus Que Anderson was born June 30th, right on his due date. He made a very smooth waterbirth entrance into the world caught by his mom and dad. Chris had a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section) with a midwife, which she considers to be a great accomplishment.

Cyprus fit right into our family from the moment that he was born. He is a very easy-going baby that loves to snuggle with his mom. He doesn’t even mind being jostled around by his sister as she adjusts to having someone smaller than her in the house. Cyprus is calm and loving and is the apple of our eyes. We are so lucky to have a son.

We were blessed this year to celebrate many momentous events in the lives of our friends. We were happy to welcome Oliver, Rouge and Rusty into this world, and now Cyprus has three new friends to play with. Four close friends all had babies this year, and friendships are already spanning across two generations.
We also got to celebrate a marriage this year. Sam and Linnea invited us to be a part of their beautiful wedding. Not only are they long-time friends of ours, they are the godparents to our kids. Jared was a groomsman in the wedding and Daphne was the flower girl. Additionally, Chris did the photography for the wedding with Cyprus in the sling for good measure. We had a blast at the wedding and we wish the happy couple well for the future.

This year was a tough when we lost our family dog. For the past 5 years, Flaff has been by Jared’s side through thick and thin. Flaff stayed to keep Jared company even while Chris headed off to adventures in Europe. Flaff developed some health problems that made it clear that his time with us was over. We sent him on his way with our love and thanks for being a part of our lives.

And then a little ball of fire named Targy came through our door this year. Pug puppies are adorable, but they are also tiring. She has an endless amount of energy that wears out even Daphne.

After many years of hard work, Chris became a college graduate this year! She now has a Bachelor of Science in Social Science from Portland State University.
Any vestige of health problems Jared had in the past have disappeared long into our history. He now works and plays as much as he can. He can be found out playing pool with his buddies on a Thursday night, and he even got to go camping and rafting on the Deschutes again this year. When he wasn’t playing, Jared spent the year working hard. He started to promote his services to some local companies and he practically had to stop them from breaking our door in with requests for work. He finally hired some extra help to keep from having to work all night every night.

Chris has her hands full staying home with the kids. She is always scouting for fun and educational activities. When she finally gets everyone in bed she can be found spinning yarn on the wheel Jared got her last Christmas or knitting something for one of the kids. She is also working on some exciting photo projects that involve taking portraits every day for an entire year. The fruits of her photographic labor are posted on her blog for all to enjoy (www.OregonNaturalFoods.com).
We continued in our mini farm pursuits this year. Chris bred and sold a litter of Angora rabbits. She also raised some rabbits for meat for our family freezer. They sit alongside the chickens that were also grown in our own backyard. We still have 7 hens a laying and 4 rabbits. Chris is collecting up quite a stash of rabbit hair that Jared is hoping will be made into something warm for his feet.

We plan to spend Christmas this year exactly where we should be–sitting around a table full of food celebrating with friends and family.We hope that this dark season brings you light. Our favorite part of this time of year is getting a chance to find out how all of you fared through the past year.

Warmly,
Jared, Christine, Daphne and Cyprus

Daphne was being silly yesterday.  I grabbed a chopstick and acted like a fairy godmother while saying, ” I am now going to turn you into a pumpkin *ding*.”  Then I tapped her on the head.

She ran over to my desk, grabbed a paint brush and said, ” I am now going to turn me out of a pumpkin *ding*.” Then tapped herself on the head.

Darn, she knows how to undo my spells.

She is back in the mood to say really, really cute things lately, which I enjoy greatly.

I was watching Opra one day, and she had a good tip on her show.  She said that rather than keep kids art around the house taped to every surface that it could be photographed and archived as a photograph.  Let me first disclaim that I don’t watch Opra at all, almost never (in fact we don’t even have TV anymore).  However, I love the idea.  I like that I can keep the work of art forever nicely archived in a spot that I can tag, label and search for it.  I can make scrapbooks later if I choose.

Anyway, I thought I would share some artwork with you.  I left Daphne at Julie’s house one day so that I could go out for a quiet dinner.  When I got back, I found out that they had done finger painting.  These are the ones that Daphne did.

Rebecca took me on a new adventure before the fall really set in.  We took the kids to a State Park near here called Champoeg.  It is really unusual because it is the place in Oregon where the paperwork was signed to set up Oregon as a state.  It is right along the river, and it is beautiful.  I had never been there, but I was excited for the adventure.

We managed somehow to stuff all three kids in our car.  I have been doing this for a while with an extra newborn seat in the back of the car.  I just took it out because it is too darn cramped back there.

It was still nice outside so we packed a lunch with us and had a nice little picnic in the park.  Daphne had a blast rolling around on the ground.

Cyprus was very mellow taking it all in.

I was trying to take a really nice portrait of the kids and I.  I think I managed to get something decent eh?

Mama hanging with the baby.

After out picnic we went for a nice little walk along the river.  We got to see the monument dedicated to the spot where the paperwork was signed.  I had a blast.  It is definitely a spot to return to in the future.

I know, I know, don’t start throwing tomatoes.  I have been a little absent lately.  Just as I was getting caught up on my blogging, I got a terrible case of Mastitis.  It was awful.  I was in bed with a 105 fever for a day.  Jared was also not feeling well, so we actually called his mom to come get Daphne.  She took Daphne for a nice little sleepover so that everyone could rest.

I haven’t really been the same since.  I’ve been really tired at night, and as soon as the sun goes down, I want to sleep.  This has left me with little blogging, and I’m sorry, I am working on a remedy for that.

However, as I was going about my boringly normal day today, I had an adventure I thought worth sharing.

Today is swimming day, and I invited Melissa.  She still doesn’t have a car, so I agreed to pick her up.  I pulled out to her house a little early so I sat in the car for a second a sent a text message to a friend.  When I finished that I made sure the car was in neutral so that I could leave it running and then I went up to knock on the door (they live on the second story).  As I knocked on the door I looked back at the car and something wasn’t right.  The car was slowly pulling backward out of the parking spot.  It was going slowly, but it was gaining speed.  I pulled into action as fast as possible.  I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and got to the car.  I threw open the door and pulled on the parking brake–just in time.  The car was just a few feet from hitting another parked car.

The whole situation seems like something out of a sitcom.  I never thought it would be a real life situation that could happen to me.  I guess I had better check to make sure I have the parking brake on the next time.  This is not the kind of mistake I usually make.

After that adventure I made it to the pool with the kids.  Daphne got her clothes off very fast.  After looking and digging through the swimming bag I realized that I didn’t have her swimsuit with me.  There was no way that I was not going to be able to go swimming since I had already paid, so I thought quickly.  I ended up putting Cyprus’ swim suit on Daphne and Cyprus went swimming in just a diaper.  It was really hilarious to see Daphne wearing a swimsuit meant for a newborn.

The moral of the story is that mamas are quick-thinking and resilient.  I’m glad that I am in the club.

I took some photos a while bad of a story time that I went to with the kids.  Story time has become a pillar of sanity in a week of unknowns.  If there is only one activity I am going to in the week, it will be story time.  Wednesdays are really exciting for Daphne.  She loves every part of story time.

The story time we go to is for kids up to age 3.  The 3 and up story time is on Tuesdays.  We will probably switch soon, but I will miss gong to story time with Nola.

Daphne listens intently and follows all of Nola’s directions.

Can you tell that they were trumpeting like elephants?

When at all possible, we get Melissa and Jack to come with us.  Jack is always interested in what is going on.  However, he approaches the entire story time with great trepidation.  It reminds me very much of Daphne’s attitude towards story time from when we started going a year ago.

Daphne loves listening to the stories.

You can’t see it really clearly, but this photo has a story.  Daphne wanted to put on her own socks the morning I took this photo.  Rather than put them on correctly, she got really frustrated with them and ended up rolling them up into balls and stuffing the socks inside her leg warmers.  Very creative.

Another funny wardrobe choice was the fact that she decided to stamp herself with her daddy’s company “for deposit only” stamps that he uses on the back of his checks.  It even has the account number on it.  Silly.

Of course, bubbles are always the best part of story time.

Jack even gets interested in trying to catch and annihilate bubbles.

She caught one.  She always catches bubbles and brings them to me so that I can pop them for her.  Here she is offering one to me.

Cyprus even managed to get some bubble action in his deep sleep.

On a nice day, we even get to go outside and play at the park outside the library.  Melissa got double swing duty.

The rain has started recently, so we won’t be playing outside too much in the near future.  The kids are fun to watch in the park.  We will enjoy our indoor activities for now.