Well Hello 2014.

   Every time I get on here it tells me Blogger has a new look. Seriously. How am I supposed to keep up? So here I go for round three. I'm so far behind but forget it. I'm starting fresh & now. Yes I said now.
   A few changes since the last time I posted...Well, most importantly our family grew and we added sweet baby Nate. Now 9 months old. Don't worry, his life isn't completely undocumented. I may have a journal problem. Or maybe it's a love of cute books. Either way, I keep several journals and I write the most important information in my personal journal. I have a journal for each of my kids, a journal that Mike & I keep together and a journal for the funny things my kids say. Can't forget about my planner. Yep, I prefer to write everything. Maybe thats because I forget everything, but I say it's because I want to remember everything. Mike laughs at me and reminds me that my phone can do all that and more. Not for me, handwriting trumps electronics any day of the week. Plus I'm super terrible at writing here because I haven't quite figured out the private blog thing. It kinda seems like a hassle but at the same time I don't want my dirty laundry hanging out for all the world to see. Who knows who reads this stuff. (Probably no one) but it's the thought of it I guess. And lets be real, I never share many details anyway. I've had my share of life changing experiences but I don't publish them. Not here anyway. You can ask about them and I'm glad to share though.
  Enough of that random rambling. I'm trying to keep it short and sweet to encourage myself to write more.
   We're here in Missouri and while it's great, it's no Florida. Currently 32* and there isn't a beach in sight. It's a whole lot harder to get out and explore, but we're the Andersen's and that's what we love to do so here we are attempting the exploration of Missouri.
   We went ice fishing last weekend & enjoyed just hanging together. Mike drilled the holes, we dropped the lines and sat. The kids pretended to be penguins and played their little hearts out on the ice. I was super nervous for them to go too far at first. It was a 45* day. The sun was shining, the ice melting and we were making deep footprints in the ice. Of course I set boundaries & of course they walked right past them. I heard no cracking of the ice so I gave in and let them do whatever they wanted. I'm a good mom like that. Needless to say, 3 hours on the ice and not a single fish. Not even a nibble. It makes no difference to me because I hardly catch anything when the fish are jumping out of the water at me. It was an adventure for sure. The kids loved it. Mike, he loved it so much he went out later that night and stayed past midnight. That's huge cause he can't even stay awake past 8 O'clock at home. As I took the kids' boots off, their socks were soaking wet which totally took me back to my younger days. (And did anyone else ever layer like 3+ pair of socks hoping it would make it better?) You've got cheap equipment so you're freezing but you're having so much fun you just keep playing. They had one of those days. I didn't hear a complaint out of them once. So I'd say that makes for a perfect day.