sanders family old blog: January 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

just the two of us...

so last night we enjoyed a nonstop parade of deliciously seasoned grilled meats, served right to our table by a troop of roaming gaucho-clad carvers from large sword-like skewers, accompanied by traditional brazilian side dishes and an extravagant 40 item salad area fit for a king! (i'm too tired to come up with anything on my own, so i just copied that from the website)

this is part 2 to the birthday celebration, and of course the birthday boy chose brazilian food. out of all the brazilian restaurants in dallas, we decided that we like texas de brazil the best . it's not even the most expensive, but the meat selection is seriously amazing! if you haven't been, you gotta try it.

awesome salad bar, and look at me...i can almost rest my plate on my protruding belly! (ok, not quite, but oh my gosh- look how big i'm getting!)

gotta love being out with my man:)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

the big 3-3!

the kids were so excited to wake up this morning, and give freddy his superman t-shirt and the cards they made him for his birthday...

they were even more excited because they were keeping a little secret.
last night we drove out to his work and waited around the corner until we saw his car leave the parking lot...

then we went in with balloons and streamers, and decorated his office (we're so sneaky)

no birthday's complete without a custom made birthday candy gram!
of course he had no idea we had been there, and when he got to work this morning everybody was telling him "happy birthday" as he walked in. he thought it was strange that everybody knew about his birthday, until he walked into his office.

his co-worker took this picture of him sporting the new "rap grill" we got him (fake gold teeth with a diamond on the front tooth...smooth)

pics of the birthday boy...

you can't get any cuter than this!

highschool

knocking on doors at the cemetery in brazil

mexico city

vatican city

corona del mar beach, california

eating pizza with van, texas

on our honeymoon at the beach in brazil...

with unlimited coconut water! (his fave)

besides him being an amazing husband...i got me one sexy guy:)

so for his birthday, i like to write him goofy little songs that go to the tune of songs that we both like. last year i did one that goes with the theme song to the 90's sitcom "the fresh prince of bel-air" (it was pretty dang awesome)
this year i even surpassed the coolness of the last one, and picked a song by LL Cool J "around the way girl" except i changed the title to "around forever guy" (just kidding about it being cool, i know i'm a geek, but he loves this stuff!)
anyways, here it is...
(keep in mind it's better if you know the original song)

"around forever guy"
i want a guy with everything but hair
black nike tube socks
at least two pair
a ping golf bag and a laid back attitude...
i got myself one pretty awesome dude
he can dunk a basketball, and chug down ovaltine
i love it when my man gives me a fat diamond ring
moonwalks like the "king of pop" while sucking on a cough drop
get him playing video games, it's hard to make him ever stop
he likes to dance to the rap jams
he's tough as beef jerky or his mean old grams
milky white complexion,
loves brazilian buffet...
let's hear it for the guy who'll see me old and gray
chorus:
i need an "around forever" guy (around forever guy)
he's the one for me (he's the only one for me)
i love an "around forever" guy (you got me shook up shook down shook out on your lovin')

i'm so glad i get to spend my life with this guy who will be around forever.
i'm seriously the luckiest girl in the world.

i love you fredgie

Friday, January 16, 2009

i love me some flashback pics

is it just me, or does everybody love looking at pictures of their kids when they were little?

i could spend hours and hours looking at how stinkin' cute they used to be.

these pictures i pulled right out of jasmine's scrapbook. remember the "scrapbooking" days? shopping for the perfect paper, cutting it with scalloped scissors, backing your pictures with 3 different pieces of colored paper that matched the designs or flowers in the cute paper you picked out, arranging and re-arranging the pictures so they look perfect, adding the cutest embellishments- ribbon, stickers, brads, eyelets, flowers...where one page could take you hours (obviously i didn't work that hard on these).

but now all you have to do is go to scrapblog.com...upload your photos, click, click and you're done...(amateurs)

such a happy girl!

this hair-do would not fly with van now..."crazy hair" is just not acceptable!
(who told him he could have an opinion?)

look at that sassy little thang! at least she hasn't lost her sassiness (dang)

this is one of my faves...sweet kids.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

13 weeks!

we were pretty excited about our first doctor's appointment yesterday. we heard the heartbeat and got to see its cute little alien head. it was moving its arms and legs all around, being very active.
it's funny that it hasn't seemed real until now, because i can't feel anything in there. but seeing it move all around was pretty cool. fredgie was in awe, and later admitted he was a little emotional about seeing it.
creating life is an amazing thing. we are so grateful to have this blessing in our life.

we were kinda having the feeling that we were having twins, and i thought that might be a strong possibility since my belly started poking out way early...turns out i have no excuse, there's only one nugget in there. look at that belly though! sheesh...already out there at 13 weeks!

this is van being the "baby model" for my new blanket that my very cute sister-in-law made me (my brother's wife). besides it being the cutest blanket ever, it's the only "baby" thing i have around the house, so i love it even more because it gets me more excited for this little one to get here! thanks again mary! (don't forget to tell michael how lucky he is:)

Monday, January 12, 2009

James Frederick Sanders in 2 years...

so my hubby thinks it's the funniest thing in the world, to take pictures of old guys with his camera phone (these 3 pictures are all different occasions). he thinks it's hilarious that they really wear black dress socks with shorts and orthopedic shoes...

or white tube socks up to their knees with black dress shoes...

or no socks at all...all the while, hiking up the pants.
he'll even chase 'em down in the grocery store to get a good shot. he followed these last two out to the parking lot (seriously, don't ask me why).
he always tells me that this is what he's going to look like in 2 years, and he frequently walks around the house with his basketball shorts up to his chest, hunched over and bull-legged, imitating what i have to look forward to (his imitation is so convincing, it's a little disturbing...sometimes i have to look away:)

so now van thinks it's funny to come out with his pants hiked up playing "grandpa van" and say "o.k, i'm ready to go to the store, let's go!"
(pretending like there's nothing unusual about how he's dressed)

welcome to the Sander's house where everyone is easily amused!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

bug poop.

van is a very particular child. it's getting alot better as he gets older, but he's very apprehensive about pretty much everything until he gets comfortable with it. once he gets over the initial fear of a new idea, he's great...but sometimes i have to get creative to persuade him into things.
little story...
when he was about 3 years old, he used to be scared to death of getting his ears cleaned out (really just the thought of it). i didn't even want to get in the canal, i just wanted to wipe out what my eyes could see right there in his ear. i even tried the drops that are supposed to let everything flow out, but i couldn't get him to quit moving his head. he would scream and cry like i was going to cut his arm off. i tried all sorts of angles, but nothing worked- so i just dropped it and thought of a plan.
a week or so went by and i went up to him and started looking in his ear, and i said "oh my gosh van, it looks like a bug pooped in your ear!"
now funny thing is, he also has a little o.c.d. when it comes to germs or things that are "dirty" so he wasn't too happy about the thought of a bug taking a little crap in his ear. he calmly said, "mom, you better clean that out right away!"
since then, i've had no trouble getting his ears cleaned out and he even comes to me and says, "mom will you clean this bug poop out of my ear?"

i feel kind of bad now because he doesn't have that fear anymore, and he's old enough to understand that we all need to keep our ears clean...but how do i tell him that i've been lying to him (for his own good of course) for 2 years? everytime we're cleaning out the " bug poop" he'll ask me "why do those bugs like to poop in my ears mom? when do you think they do it...maybe when i'm sleeping?"

so my dilemma today is bug poop.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Christmas 2008

since jasmine was going to be gone on the 25th visiting family,

we had Christmas a few days earlier at our house this year.
good thing Santa is very accommodating and
was happy to make a special trip out to our house a little early:)

Christmas Eve...

the kids got to open the presents they got for each other on Christmas eve.
van picked out some bubble gum lip gloss for jas, and jas got van a "pirate kit" with his own scary eye patch, earring, sword, and treasure box. he thought that was a pretty cool present.

then we put out the "reindeer food" for santa's hungry reindeer.
(here's the recipe if anyone wants it for next year)

magic reindeer food...
use a mixture of any of these: oatmeal, bird seed, rice krisipies, plus a little bit of glitter. Place the mixture in plastic bags, or burlap sacks and give with these instructions:

make a wish and close your eyes tight,
then sprinkle on your lawn at night.
as Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
this food will guide them to your home.

the sparkle of the glitter in the moonlight,
and the aroma of the oats will guide Santa
and his reindeer directly to your house!
(directions: sprinkle in yard by 9:00 on Christmas Eve)

exciting talk of how Santa will soon be coming down the chimney!
(after the fire dies down of course)

leaving milk and cookies for Santa

"while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads"

Christmas morning...

"Santa" leaves a few special presents unwrapped by the fireplace
for the kids to see right away..."wow, we got just what we wanted!"

my Christmas present is a new camera (that i'm still shopping around for).this camera takes terrible video, but it's all we had...

ok, let's...unwrap these presents!

thanks to the Christmas money from grandma toni,
the kids had an extra special Christmas this year!
(thanks Grandma:)

you better love those boots girl...i went to 5 different stores to find just the right ones!

and before you know it...it was over.
luckily we have 364 days to plan for next year!