State Fair

Joel is volunteering for the State Fair Foundation in the new Miracle of Birth building. I took this picture of a three-hour-old lamb there today.

Magical Daze!

We're back from our week storming the Magic Kingdom! It's good to get home and rest!

Minneapolis civic leader W. Harry Davis dead at 83

A close friend of our family, and to the many people he touched over the years, Harry Davis passed away today at age 83.

Minneapolis civic leader W. Harry Davis dead at 83

Read his autobiography at amazon to learn about this truly amazing man's life. We'll miss you Harry - but we'll see you again some day in heaven!

25 weeks

25 weeks pregnant, 15 weeks more to go. My nurse called and said I have slight anemia. So, I'll be eating big steaks and hamburgers in the future....

We found a daycare. It's called A Child's View. Hope it will be okay.
I have to go to a conference in Denver for work next week. I wish I didn't have to travel in pregnancy.
Matt is painting the nursery yellow...

Janelle

A Betsy-Tacy Picnic

Dale (from work) and I drove down to Mankato today to see the Betsy-Tacy-Tib sights as we are both big fans of the Maud Hart Lovelace books. A nice woman took our picture on the memorial bench; she lived next door and was used to doing such for pilgrims from around the world. For those of you not interested in girls' fiction, the other picture is of our new Toyota Matrix station wagon.

Our house - almost done!!

Our house - almost done!!, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

It is now less than 2 weeks until we move into our new house! a week from tomorrow we do our final walk-through, and then on the 31st we close and move in! Wish us luck!

Pictures from our trip

We just got back from California. We had a nice time visiting Janelle's family and attending our friend Kat's wedding. Here are some pictures!

Happy 24th Birthday, Norris!

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(And prayers and best wishes for your surgery, Mark! Yikes! Not the way I'd think of to prepare for it, but I'm impressed all the same!)

Anderbiking

To help me get ready for my upcoming hernia repair surgery on July 14, Stevie and I went on a 57 mile bike ride today to Excelsior and Carver Park near Victoria. My surgery will be outpatient friday morning and will be followed by a six week recovery period of limited physical activity. In addition to logging the miles we went for a refreshing swim in Lake Minnetonka at Excelsior. What a great day and what a great ride.

Koko and Mama, together again

Well, today I circumvented my two-month review by quitting instead. The boss agreed the work was slow and boring, so she wasn't totally surprised that I wasn't challenged. Because I was still a probationary employee, she said there was no reason for me to hang around two weeks, so I cleaned things up and walked out in an hour (only forgetting two pieces of art). I was quite a sight on the bus with all my photographs, boxes of treats, backpack, lunch bag, and little pink pillow. Fortunately, Deborah has been kind enough to find me some work to do back at IAC. I would feel sillier except for a headline yesterday about Jose Canseco asking the San Diego Surf Dawgs to trade him after one game in which he struck out three times!

Only 3-4 more weeks!

Kitchen panorama, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

Our cabinets and flooring were installed in the kitchen this week, and we're nearing completion and move-in at the new house! Only a few more weeks and we'll be moving in!

Ander-biking, then and now

My dad put these photos up on 'Wilton Drive,' but I thought that they would go well on the Anderblog! The first photo is from 1992, and the second is from a couple of weeks ago. Where are those helmets, Anderfamily? By the way, the house looks great, Peter! How exciting.

Our house's exterior is almost done!

Siding is all up!, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

Just a quick update on our house - the exterior of the house is almost done - (see photo) - and they're starting on the trim and flooring on the inside of the house. The countdown to our move-in is on!

Old Photos

I have some old photos of Grandma and Grandpa Anderson - as well as some other unknown relatives - posted on my flickr account. Ingrid was asking if i knew who some of the people in the photos were, and maybe where they were taken. If anyone (Paul?) can shed some light on these photos, that would be nice. Feel free to comment on the photo pages about who they may be - and where they were taken.

LINK HERE

Brothers

Brothers, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

we had a great time tonight!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, to all the Anderson Dads. Photo from 1982.

Bikes n' Ukes

My parents visited me in Bloomington last night on their way to Minnesota to see all the family and do some bike-riding. They brought their ukeleles of course! Thanks for coming, and happy Father's Day tomorrow, Dad!

House is coming along!

Well our new house is coming along, it is right on track to be finished by July 31st. This week they're finishing up the drywalling of the interior, and then starting work on the house's siding. Next comes trim and cabinets. We can't wait!

Greetings from Hennepin County

My new job is boring but the view from the 8th floor of the Health Services Building is good (that's the Metrodome, not more clouds).

18 weeks

Hi, Family,
I'm 18 weeks today. I have an ultrasound next week, June 22. Please pray for us that the baby is alive and healthy. :)

Janelle

MrKlingon ON STAGE

Monday night I took part in an event "Live to the Hard Drive" which had a group of podcasters from the PodcastMN.com group doing their shows at the Acadia Cafe - here I am doing my Klingon thing:




















And, you can hear (or read) what I did here.

rollin with the homies

so, in response to stevie's pondering what st. paulites home from college do here's my answer:

1) hanging out with friends at perkins (aka perk-perk).
2) eye appointments.
3) going to the dollar theatre.
4) taking care of koko all day, which just so everyone knows isn't that fun.
5) practicing guitar.
6) talking to friends from olaf online.
7) watching movies (if you haven't seen Goodbye Lenin, which odds are you haven't, go rent it right now).
8) playing sims 2 university.
9) counting down the days until i leave to study russian (9 days).

well, that's all i can think of. it's not that exciting of a life.
in the words of stephen r. anderson (no relation):
peazy.

Memorial Day

Paul asked me to share these great pictures of Mom and Dad that he'd scanned - Thanks, Paul!

St. Paul Fun!

For some Memorial Day fun, Liv and I launched a rocket!
(well, I thought it was fun, anyway.)

I have been home from school for the last couple of weeks now. yesterday I biked and went swimming in lake harriet with my friends john, devin and anthony. we grilled up some brats in devin's back yard and I found an inner tube in his neighbor's garbage. then today I floated down the minnehaha creek with john, micah, will and moe. since it was 97 degrees here in minneapolis, it felt great to be in the water. it is great to be home. I wonder what the people in st paul do for fun

love,
stevie

Happy Birthday - and our new house

Happy birthday Mae and Ingrid!

As you all know, we're in the middle of building a new house, and moving out of our townhouse. We're officially moving out next weekend, we'll be moving in with Maria's parents until our new house is done. Our house should be done by July 31st. We'll be having an open house probably sometime in August, so keep that in mind!

Here is a look at our new house, and where it is in the construction process.

Happy Birthday Mae and Ingrid!!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TWO!

End of an era

Today was my last day at IAC. I have worked there on and off part-time for 13 years. It paid to quit--I got a party and some nice gifts! I'll be playing in The Music Man all weekend and then will start work with Hennepin County on Monday. Joel will have to adjust to having another person around in the morning.
If I get up, that is...

Only Thirty Years!?! Seems like yesterday!

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30 YEARS AGO ...

Happy Birthday to the oldest of my three sons, whom I had when I was practically in my teens! Anybody believe that? I don't remember too much anymore... just how good the french toast tasted at breakfast, since I hadn't eaten for so long. Oh yes, I remember how happy and excited we were. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETER!

Surgery

Just a quick note from the hospital waiting room computer.. Maria's mom is out of surgery, and things went about as well as can be expected. They removed the tumor from her breast, as well as some tissue from around the tumor. They also took some lymph nodes, which from preliminary tests don't look to be cancerous. She's in the recovery room right now, and she'll be going home later tonight after being checked out.

So all in all - it looks to be good news so far. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues her recovery.

Surgery Tomorrow

Just a reminder to everyone to pray for Maria's mom tomorrow as she'll be undergoing surgery for her breast cancer. We'll be sure to give an update as soon as we know more.

well I am still here in chicago. I have a week and a couple days left. I am not sure about Liv but this first year of college has flown by, especially this second semester. Christmas break seems more like a couple of weeks ago than the four months that it has been. the year is definitely winding down now as I enter finals season. I have a final paper due tomorrow and next week I have a 15 page philosophy paper due, as well as final exams in my african american history class, christian ethics, and intermediate algebra. the only thing I am worried about is the 15 page paper, but boy am I worried.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Teresa and Beckie!

Happy Birthday Teresa!! It's your day!

Olaf

It's almost time for class, so I don't have much time to write this, but I thought I'd just post some pretty Olaf pics.
Liv

chicago is becoming more and more beautiful everyday. there are finally leaves on most of the trees. I have been riding my bike on various errands to walgreens, target, and several thrift stores in the area. my tan is slowly improving and my once stagnant legs have life flowing through them again. I still havent been to the lake, the water is probably still a little chilly. soon

Easter Artwork

In her "Russian Literature in translation" class, Liv read this story, "Fatal Eggs," which almost seemed like it came from the news. It was an SF-ish story lampooning Soviet Bureaucracy and described a disease that killed poultry (Bird Flu?), as well as a mysterious ray that could boost egg growth. For our family Easter Egg dyeing, Liv did an egg that illustrated points in the story - today it was my breakfast - but I wanted to preserve the artwork!

Prayers for Maria's Mom

Just a quick note to ask all of you to pray for Maria's mother. We found out today that Maria's mom has breast cancer, and she'll be needing to have surgery very soon to have some of the cancer removed. We don't know a whole lot yet, but she'll be meeting with doctors and surgeons on Monday - so please keep her in your prayers, and in your thoughts.

Victim of dog abuse?

Koko has a huge swelling on the side of his face. We were afraid it was cancer, but the vet seemed to think that it was a sialocele (salivary gland cyst from breakage of the duct). Joel reminded me that I had accidentally kicked Koko in the head a couple days ago, so this is probably the cause. The cytologist thought it was a hyperplastic lymph node and didn't see evidence of the salivary gland involvement. We have a surgical consult next week. He's a sad baby.

well I haven't biked yet since it officially became spring, but I did go on a few rides on a few milder winter days. I have a huge presentation in my christian ethics class tomorrow about genetic engineering or cloning or something. so of course I am trying to find as many ways as possible to procrastinate. it has been very sunny here in chicago recently, but still kind of chilly. I have tentative plans to play tennis with this guy here at north park. I am excited. it has been too long since I have played tennis outside. I have a lot of school work right now this week. I am busy but it isn't too bad. I am gonna go try and get some work done.

Last one in?

I know Mark, John, and Lynda have been riding their bikes to work all winter (although that isn't as hard in Georgia as in Minnesota), and Joel has been riding for more than a week, but I finally made the plunge today. I encountered no problems until I got to the parking lot and couldn't remember the lock combination and had to call Joel on my cell phone. Ah, senility!

Grandpa's funeral

Cousins and significant others, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

Grandpa had a wonderful and very meaningful funeral on Saturday. Here are a few pictures from the day.

PICTURES HERE

Rest in Peace - Dewayne Holmes

Just a quick note to let you know that our Grandpa DeWayne Holmes passed away this afternoon at 1:10pm. He passed while deep in sleep, and the attending nurse said that he slept his way into heaven. Your prayers for the family at this time are appreciated. We'll miss you Mor-far.

Some of my rememberances of Grandpa Wayne are here

Happy Birthday Mom and Maria!

IMG_0010
Originally uploaded by onebigswede.

We all had a wonderful brunch on Saturday, thanks for having us over Mom and Dad, and Happy Birthday to both of the birthday girls!

Happy Birthdaze!

Happy Birthday Maria and Nancy!!

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Spring beauty sighted

You all may be getting a lot of snow, but it's spring here! Happy first day of spring.

Ingrid's Update: Ok, I spoke too soon...this happened last night...

Snow Day!

Both Teresa and I worked from home today, thanks to the bountiful snowfall we got last night.

Georgia

I spent Sunday-Thursday at the National Immunization Conference in Atlanta, commuting by MARTA to stay with John and Lynda. John posted a nice picture of us on the Wilton Drive blog, so I won't duplicate that, but will add this picture of me by Margaret Mitchell's grave.

Kirby Puckett - 1960-2006

some video memories of Kirby

To An Athlete Dying Young
by AE Housman

THE time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

click here for the rest of the poem.

RIP KIRBY

Pastor Bruehl

Joel's former boss and our former pastor at Our Redeemer was in town this week and Joel, Norris, and I ate lunch with him on Tuesday. For those of you who remember him from Norris's baptism or other events, here's a current picture.

Midwinter Concert

Hello, Anderson Family,

You are invited to attend our Midwinter Concert. I will be singing in choir, and Matt will be playing bass in a pickup band. I'm singing "Magnificat" by Stanford, "Stay With Us" by Hovland, and "The Complete History of Western Music" by ? Matt is playing music from Toy Story 2.

Who: Matt and Janelle
What: Midwinter Concert - choirs, bands, and handbells!
When: Feb. 26 at 4:00 P.M. sharp
Where: Fairmount Ave. United Methodist Church, 1523 Fairmount Ave., St. Paul, 55105
Why: Why not?
How much: Free!

Hope to see you there!
Janelle and Matt

Knitting frenzy

On Tuesday, I got a new knitting magazine and offered to make Norris a pirate sweater featured in it. I was also trying to get him to come to dinner tonight (Saturday) with friends of ours who he didn't know. He kiddingly said he'd come to the party if I had his sweater knit by then. Of course, I wanted to meet this challenge and so I started knitting Tuesday night and finished the sweater this noon (I also went to work, ate, slept, went shopping, etc., but did knit steadily enough that my hands got cramped). I sent him several email warnings along the way so he was prepared to keep his Saturday night open. We had a good party and a fun time was had by all. These are the pictures from the emails.

They got my letter!!


Yesterday's NYTimes (2/14) had an article, If Robots Ever Get Too Smart, He'll Know How to Stop Them, about a book by Dr. David Wilson. A roboticist, Wilson

"offers detailed — and hilariously deadpan — advice on evading hostile swarms of robot insects (don't try to fight — "loss of an individual robot is inconsequential to the swarm")"

BUT... I had to write a letter to the NYTimes because the ORIGINAL version of the article read "In Isaac Asimov's collection of stories, "I, Robot," robots rise up against humanity." Gaack! *ANYONE* who knows about Asimov's books knows that his stories NEVER have robots turn on people. The author of the article must have thought the movie "I Robot" was based on Asimov's books (it wasn't - the title and little else came from his stories.)

Anyway... it was interesting to note that later in the day, the lead sentence was changed to: In the movie "I, Robot," robots rise up against humanity.

They got my letter!

One more candle.....

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Happy Birthday, John!!!

Happy Birthday, Abraham & JOHN!!

I'm kind of partial to Mr. Lincoln myself... growing up in the Land of Lincoln as I did.
It was indeed a surprise to have somebody (Stevie) unlocking the door at 12:30 a.m.
And now he's already back in that afore mentioned Land of Lincoln.

If this works okay, this is the first time I have posted a picture on the blog. It was a beautiful full moon tonight... It can be seen in Atlanta where John is celebrating his birthday in a few minutes, or in New York City, Bloomington, Northfield, Chicago, St. Paul & Minneapolis. Have a great birthday, John.

Happy 197th Birthday, Father Abraham

I've just finished reading Gore Vidal's Lincoln to improve my mind. Very interesting (but very long). In celebration of the day, here is a picture of the Lincoln Memorial from my December visit to D.C.

I am in minneapolis. last night at about 12:30 I snuck into the house and surprised my parents. I had told them earlier in the week that I was coming home but then that ride fell through. when I found a different ride on thursday I didnt bother to tell them that I was coming home afterall. it was a lot of fun. it's good to be home

Sears Building Documentary

Speaking of the sears building, here's something i happened onto today - a documeentary about the sears building. Haven't watched yet, but thought you all might be interested.

Building at a Crossroads

so I am here at northpark. it is a lot of fun. I like it here. for classes it is good because a small school is good for class sizes but for social acticvities it isnt the greatest. chicago is a lot of fun though cause we get to meet diffferent people and it is cool. I have a lot of homework though so I have to go. peACE. amen

Happy Birthday, Matt!

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back from florida!

Hey everyone - we're back from our trip to Florida! The above picture is from Ft. Myers Beach where we stayed for 5 days. There sure were beautiful sunsets there! You can see some of our pictures here. We'll write more later!

The Chicago Lofts

Saturday Nancy and I paid a visit to that great monolith to American mercantilism the venerable Sears building on Lake Street. Good old Sears put food on the table ,clothes on our backs and a roof over our head in our growing up years. Most of us obtained employment there at one time or another( my tenure only lasted two weeks one summer in high school. Joel did you ever work there?). After being vacant for several years and under construction for a couple this grand old edifice has been remodeled and reopened. Allina Health Care is a major tenant. Retail stores and restaurants will soon open on the first two floors where Sears Retail used to be. There will be a Hennepin County Service Center where we can by license tabs , driver's licenses, etc. Floors 3-8 are rental units. Floors 9 and above are condos. Nancy and I checked out two" Chicago Loft" model units on the 10th floor. One bedrooms start at around $230,000 and two bedrooms get into the upper $300,000's. Four "Penthouses " in the tower go for around $900,000. Very attractive apartments ( especially if you like concrete floors, original gigantic concrete support pillars and exposed brick walls) with great views of the twin cities. The sales person gave us a gigantic folder measuring 24" by 18" with information and a list of all the condo's and their prices. Several of them have already been sold so you better get busy if you have any interest.

Happy Birthday Wolfgang!

250 years young!

         

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Vacation!

Maria and I are going to be flying down to Florida on Tuesday morning for our first real vacation in almost two years. We're flying down with her parents, and staying at 2 different condos that her parents have rented for the week. (see picture below of our condo in Fort Myers. )



We'll be in Florida for 9 days, 5 in Fort Myers at the above condo, and then 4 days in New Smyrna Beach at another condo on the beach. We're really excited, and I'm sure we'll be putting up a bunch of pictures here when we get back! See you all soon!

Nuclear plant on the Mississippi

The "nuclearly warmed lake" is actually the Mississippi River. Information about the Monticello nuclear plant can be found HERE, and a map can be seen HERE. The swans that are shown are just downriver from the area shown in the map.



Who knows, maybe we'll see a species of SUPER SWANS spring out of the region with super trumpeting powers.. :)

...that can't be good for the birds to swim in a nuclearly warmed lake...

Swan City

Last Sunday Maria and I drove out to Monticello, MN to see the 900+ trumpeter swans that winter there. Apparently the water there doesn't freeze in the winter, because of a nearby nuclear plant. This makes the spot ideal for the birds to stay there during the cold months. We had a good time watching the birds, taking pictures and listening to their constant trumpeting. See more pictures here

well thanks to everyone who came to my birthday party today. we were few, but we had a lot of fun eating pizza and cake, and playing beyond balderdash. today a couple of you asked me what classes I was going to be taking this next semester, and I answered honestly saying that I didnt really know. I am up so late right now because I have been busy registering for classes(and working on the puzzle of course). so here is the update: I am currently registered for Philosophy of Art, Christian Ethics and African American History from 1865. that is 12 credits right there, and I am planning on registering for some math class to fill out the rest of my schedule. last semester I took Dialogue I(north park's required freshman english class), intro to the bible, intro to the computer, physics of light and studies in literature. I "earned" a 3.55 gpa, and while I dont necessarily think that that is too bad, I am hoping to do a little better next semester. north park really isn the most rigorous school in the country, it's actually a lot like high school. well thats all for now from this 19 year old anderson. amen

Happy Birthday, Stevie!

  
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(I looked for an ascii-art picture that reminded me of Stevie...

Well, except for the hair... )