Life in the Mommy lane

Baby Lars and such

2011-11-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

What a ride that last week has been! It all started a few weeks ago when my blood pressure began to creep up. Because of my experience with Anders we began to monitor it and it got up to worrisome levels. I was checked into the hospital a couple of times both on weekends just for monitoring and the second time my doctor had me stay overnight just to rest and try to get it down. I began taking a blood pressure medication and it sort of helped but then it started going back up again.
So last Saturday while I was getting ready for the day I had a moment where I saw stars. My blood pressure was 165 over 100. I called my Doc and we agreed that it was time to have this baby! She told me to get child care lined up for Anders and come into the hospital that afternoon for a C-section. I originally had expressed my desire to have a normal birth with no surgery and she was very supportive of that. But in the end it was becoming dangerous to keep carrying the baby with those BP levels.
I called my parents and they started the hour drive to our hospital and I packed whatever was left over to pack and off we headed! Anders was super excited about meeting his little brother AND about having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There was lots of fun things to look forward to.
Once we got to the hospital the wheels started turning fast and the surgery was scheduled for 6:00. It was a surreal feeling knowing that this was the baby's Birthday and that I was facing another C-section. I was feeling pretty shivery inside.
My parents came and visited for a little while and then took Anders with them. Then we just sat around waiting.

One of the fun things about the day was that November 5th is a holiday in England called "Guy Fawkes Day". It's one that we Americans really know nothing about but I had heard about it a day or two before and then a friend from Scotland made mention of it on Facebook that morning. When we got to the hospital my nurse was English and I mentioned it to her and she was so surprised that I would even know about the holiday. I'm sure that our little guy will know about "Guy Fawkes Day" too. =0)

I gave birth to David Lars Jensen at 6:47 pm on Saturday November 5. I got to watch most of the surgery in the reflection in the light over my head. I made up my mind while I watched that I'm pretty much done with this whole 'birthing' thing. It was fun to see the doctor hold Lars up over the sheet to say hello. He was screaming and healthy even at 5 pounds 15 ounces. Chris and I both happily noticed that he had reddish hair since we were hoping for another red head.
Our doctor is an amazing women who is doing what God put her on earth for. She was so supportive and kind and she did a fantastic job with the c-section. She also brought a camera for Chris to take video and pictures just in case he forgot his. Sure enough his iPhone was in his pocket underneath his scrubs so we needed to use hers. He got some great footage of Lars being born and he loves showing it to anyone who wants to see. Just ask him and he'll whip out his phone to show you!

I stayed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon. Thursday was his first doctors appointment and when the pediatrician got the labs back that afternoon he called the house to say that we needed to admit Lars into the NICU to get treated for Jaundice. Unfortunately we were gone all afternoon and didn't get the worried messages until 7 in the evening when we got home. What a yucky surprise! Our neighbor Eva came over and got Anders to spend the night with them and off we headed to the hospital. I was already exhausted and had over done it that day so I was in tears at the thought of having to leave our little guy in the hospital. It was a long night and since then it's been a bit crazy. Lars is doing great. His jaundice is gone and he's eating and pooping like a champ. I've been having to pump my milk to take to the hospital and trying to breast feed him when I am there. We're hoping to bring him home tomorrow.

One more little complication has been that even though I have had Lars my blood pressure hasn't gone down yet. So I've needed to get extra rest which is really hard to do. I've had a bit of a constant headache and my energy is not back to normal. I'm really struggling with discouragement and it's been emotionally taxing to not have our new baby at our side. Anders has been extra whiny and grumpy and he misses his new brother. We've all been little on edge to say the least. Yesterday my friend Rachel came and visited with her three kids. She took all the kids out to the new Chick-Fil-A for some fun playtime. She also tidied up our little house and folded a basket of laundry. Chris and I got to go and visit Lars and have some dinner out. What a blessing that was!

We're looking forward to tomorrow and the possibility of bringing our little guy home again. I'm also looking forward to feeling better and not being afraid that I'm going to have a stroke if I just do normal mom stuff. We have lots to look forward to from here on out.

Our sweet little Lars

Chris all ready for the birth!

Every mama needs a horribly unflattering "after the fact" photo. Lars looks pretty cute though. This picture was taken moments after I was rolled into recovery and I was so shaky and out of it!

Week Two, So Far So Good

2011-09-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

We are well into our second week of school and Anders is still happy about it all. There is so much to do during the day and he is soaking up every bit of it. So far his favorites are P.E. (he loves his teacher Mr. D) and music class. Every day he comes home with stories about things he has learned and little interesting tid bits about class mates and friends. Today I told Mr. D how much Anders loves P.E. and he laughed and said that Anders has a great attitude and gets really involved in all the activities. Anders always makes sure to run up and give high fives to various guy teachers when he sees them.
I have seen some major improvement in his behavior and in his interest in learning as well as his attention span. I am really impressed so far!

This Friday is Grandparents day and my parents are going to make the trek out to have breakfast at the school and then visit his classroom. It should be fun to let them get a little glimpse of his school day and for him to show off his Grandparents. =)

10 years ago

2011-09-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

10 years ago today I woke up to my alarm clock radio announcing that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. I never set my alarm to radio. It was normally set to beeping and I was surprised to hear the talking when I woke up. Then I ran out to turn on the t.v. and my roommates came and joined me as we watched the horrible moments unfold.
It was a surreal day. I went to work at the salon in Whittier and the roads were so empty. People were walking by looking dazed. I went outside and a man in a wheel chair stopped and we talked about what had happened. Everyone was bonded on that day by this horrible event. I remember that I wanted to be at work to connect with other people but it was such a strange and somber day. Everything changed that day. Our country was changed. Our feelings of safety were gone and we realized that we could be harmed.
We were blessed to see the good in humanity as they rushed to help, search and comfort. The best and the worst was shown on that day.
I along with everyone else that experienced that day won't forget.

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

We're riding high on the first of school energy! We deposited our little Kindergartener to school at 8:45 this morning. School usually starts at 9 but today they had a special assembly and they had a fun surprise for the kids. Tommy the Clown! They gathered everyone around and in came a big truck blasting rap/dance music and out jumped three wild looking hip hop clowns! Anders didn't want anything to do with the clowns and decided to sulk far away from the festivities. After we ignored him for a bit he calmed down and sort of got interested in the "dance off" that was going on. That was after he declared that he "hated school!". =0/

I explained that school wasn't normally like this and that it was just a special show to celebrate the first day. At 9:45 everyone lined up to go to class and he was much happier about that. Apparently he is a kid who likes to know what's expected of him.

I came back to the school around 3:30 to turn in some paper work and spy on the goings on. They were doing P.E. out in the 102 degree weather and Anders was having a blast! Running laps, kicking soccer balls and mastering the hoola hoops.

When I finally got to pick him up at 4:00 he was happy and sweaty and said that he LOVED school! He did make mention that he had some trouble during lunch when he called an older girl "noodle head" and that his teacher was kind of strict with him. He did follow that up with saying that she was the best teacher ever.

We stopped for an ice cream cone on the way home and now he is sitting on the couch playing on the iPhone.

So excited to be at school with his friend Giovanni.

First few minutes of school learning about what to expect in Kindergarten.

All ready to leave in the morning!

Resting after school with 'green bear' on his shoulder watching him play angry birds.

All lined up and ready for the day to start.

Anxious parents hovering around the wee kindergarteners...

I think that he'll have some adjusting to the everyday schedule but overall I have a feeling that it's going to be a good year.

The last of Summer

2011-08-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to beat the heat and head down to the Malibu Pier for some cooler temps and a little water play. Anders ended up going in the ocean and playing with some new friends for about two hours. It was a great last summer hurrah.

This morning our neighbors daughter Riley came over and played with Anders. Usually Anders plays with her older brother Mason but he is in school now. Riley and Anders got along really well and played all morning long. So much fun!

When Mason got home from school Anders got to show him his new robot that he got last night at the Robot store in downtown Glendale. It is quite the hit! Anders even wants it to sleep on the chair next to his bed. =0)

Next Wednesday Kindergarten starts and I'm really looking forward to the new schedule! Not too excited about all the driving but I can't wait to have the days more open for nesting and getting ready for baby #2. On Sunday we attend a BBQ put on by the school and Anders got to visit with his teacher Mrs. Dexter. She is really sweet and engaging and Anders is really going to like being in her class.
Next time I write it will be to report on the first day!

A little fill in...

2011-08-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted lately because 1. I've lost the little card that goes in my camera so I can't take real pictures and 2. We've been busy!
We just got home last night from a mostly fun and somewhat relaxing trip out to La Quinta near Palm springs and on our trip I kept thinking 'oh how I wish we had our camera right now!' Anders learned how to really swim around the pool as long as there was someone to catch him or he had a wall or stair to swim to. He swam underwater, touched the bottom with his hand and dove down all by himself. I was so proud!! Luckily I was able to get a little video on Chris iPhone which I'll post here or on Facebook

On the other hand he was a terror all day Friday due to the fact that all he had to eat for breakfast (and lunch) was McDonalds pancakes with that horrible syrup. In the early evening we finally went for a real meal at an amazing Thai place and he kept rolling around, making weird noises, complaining and basically driving us crazy! Luckily we were the only people in the restaurant for most of the meal so it was a little less awkward when I grabbed him by the arm and marched him to the bathroom for a little"conversation". After that lovely dinner we hit up a local Trader Joe's and the next morning we had a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs, apple chicken sausage and fruit. It's all about real food and plenty of protein for our 5 year old!

The day before we had an incident in a local Panera where I accidentally bumped him on the head with my elbow and he got so mad that he went around behind me and BIT ME ON THE BOTTOM! I was trying to order and I screamed and then promptly turned around and spanked him in front of probably 15 people who were in line behind us. Ugggg. I was just waiting to get reported or something horrible like that. So needless to say we are in a correcting phase of parenting right now and so that did kind of color our vacation and make it just a little bit more stressful than I like vacations to be.

On the pregnancy front I'm feeling pretty good and am now 26 weeks along. This baby moves around a lot more than Anders did and it's been fun to feel him tap dance on my bladder. I'm starting to get a little swelling in my feet and hands but it seems to be way less dramatic than last time and I'm hopeful that I won't have pre-eclampsia this time around. My doctor is amazing and so thorough and says that this pregnancy looks extremely healthy. I'm scheduled for another ultrasound in a couple of weeks and it should be fun to see the little guy again. Anders has thought of a few names including, fuffy, rubber band and little so 'n so. We're leaning towards more traditional names but haven't decided on any yet.

Anders starts school on the 7th of September and I'm feeling apprehensive about the long school day but excited about this new phase in life. Before the baby comes I'm going to have a lot of time to nest and fuss around with the house while he's at school. I'm trying to find places for all of the fun hand-me-down baby stuff that we are starting to accumulate and I'm stressing a little about trying to fit it into our little space!

I can't wait to find my camera card so I can post some pictures! Hopefully we'll have that solved before the first day of Kindergarten and if we don't you'll know that I'll be kicking myself!

Life Lessons

2011-07-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Don't leave your favorite rain boots outside or else they MIGHT become the home of a bunch of black widow spiders.....

This week Anders learned this lesson and as a mama I'm happy to say that no one put their unsuspecting bare tootsies into said boots before we found the spiders. I have been officially creeped out by this and am so thankful no one got bitten! To try and remedy this problem I filled the boots with water to try and flush the spiders out. I think most are out but I'm assuming there are still eggs. These boots are going to the trash bin.

Saturday fun day

2011-07-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we took advantage of the lovely weather in Ventura and spent the day at the harbor. Back home in the San Fernando Valley it was a scorcher so you can imagine how much we enjoyed getting out of that! We rented one of those electric boats and zipped around the harbor trying to avoid the big boats. Our main goal was to NOT crash our boat and to try and keep Anders from falling overboard.

Bubble gum ice cream and daddy. Doesn't get any better than that!

A very cool custom made car parked in the parking lot. We had to get a picture!

Beautiful 4th of July

2011-07-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

Our friends son Gus has his Birthday on the 4th of July so for the last 3 years we have enjoyed celebrating with them in one way or another. This year we were invited over to their new house for a lunch celebration this year. They decided to stretch out the day and had picked up chicken and tri-tip steaks to grill in the evening for those who wanted to make a whole day out of it. What a day it was! There were so many kids and so many different ages that I hardly had to supervise Anders the whole time and all the parents were able to just relax and chat all day.
At one point in the afternoon I noticed that Anders was getting overwhelmed from all the activity and had snuck away to do something "lonely" (play quietly with toy soldiers). I told him that after cake and presents he was going to have a little nap time in one of the bedrooms. He came up to me shortly after cake and practically begged to have his quiet time! I took him in a bedroom and read him some books and had him lay down and try to close his eyes. I rested too! =0)
After that nice interlude we continued to party until late into the evening and Anders had fun the entire time. There were no meltdowns just pure fantastic fun. Here are some pictures of the day

One happy boy!

All the kids took turns beating up a Transformers Pinata.

The Birthday boy Gus turning 4 on the 4th!

Some of the kids admiring baby Mae, Gus's little baby sister.

Chris and I really enjoyed ourselves.

Little girls love babies!

Little boys love weapons! This was a marshmallow shooter that was a big hit with Anders.

This is where I found Anders during the height of the party chaos. He needed some "lonely" time he told Chris.

Kids world!

Chris chatting with our friend John Walquist.

The kids got glow sticks while we waited to see if we could catch any fireworks from the back yard.

Looking a little crazed....

We had a raucous dance party after fireworks and the kids (and adults) danced the night away.

Unexpected school plans

2011-05-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been filled with many things. For some reason it's felt very full partly because we've been battling various illnesses such as stomach flu and now colds and of course my almost constant morning sickness and weird food aversions. Chris has been working very hard and recently received some nice accolades at work which were very welcome! He is really good at what he does and I'm always happy when he gets rewarded for it.

Another thing that has been taking up our lives is the decision of where to put Anders for Kindergarten. We originally were going to enroll him in the public school down the street. It would be convenient, free and close. all good things. His pre-school teacher has been pretty straight forward with us that she doesn't think that he is ready for Kindergarten and so the upside to our local school was that they had a transitional class to get kids more prepared for the rigors of Kindergarten. Apparently Kindergarten isn't what it used to be and much more is expected of kids academically nowadays.

We weren't so sure that we really wanted to hold him back a whole year but want him to excel in school and have the best possible experience.
While thinking through this process we remembered that there was a school down the street from our old apartment that seemed pretty interesting. I used to walk by there and the enjoyed talking to the security guard out in front. He had mentioned that we should come and have a tour some time.
Chris reminded me of this school and encouraged me to make an appointment for a tour. Even it it was out of our financial range (which we knew it would be) it would still be fun to see what it was like inside. One interesting thing about this school is that it was founded by Actor Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and originated from their homeschool group. Because of this it has a very homey small school vibe and seemed to be an interesting prospect.

I called up the school and found out that it was definitely out of reach financially but still "would I like to come take a tour?" Why not?
So off we went for the tour. Once there I got to see the class rooms and lovely outdoor eating area and hear all about the learning styles and class sizes. Generally between 4-10 kids per class. They serve a cold breakfast and a snack and the day starts at 9 and ends at 4.
The head of school encouraged us to continue with the application process and fill out financial aid info and just see what happens. It couldn't hurt could it?

Anders got to come and spend a whole day with the pre-K class to see how he fit in with that group. Of course he loved it and they loved him and it was a splendid day.

Along the way I have been specifically praying about a couple of things and those prayers were answered quickly. This helped me in my decision process as well.

To make a long story short we had a family meeting with the head of school, the school counselor and the Kindergarten teacher and it went really well. Everything went smoothly and we found out that it would be possible to send him there. After a week for me and Chris to discuss it we decided that it would be a great fit for Anders. He would be in level 2 which is the equivalent of Kindergarten but there would be more space for him to grow up and master the skills that he needs without specifically holding him back a whole year.
The long day will enable me to spend some quality time with the new baby knowing that Anders is having a fun and enriching experience. I'm sure that the schedule will take some getting used to but we'll take it one day at a time.

We are pretty excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to what next year has to bring!

Fun weekend and Canadian Shannon visits

2011-05-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

What a fun and busy weekend we had! It started on Friday when Anders and I drove down to my Mom and Dads house. Chris came after work (late) to meet us there and spend the weekend together. On Saturday I worked until around 2 and then met Chris and Anders at the local Chick-Fillet for lunch. That evening my folks watched Anders so we could get a date night which we spent enjoying gourmet food and fun company with friends Simon and Kristy. Sunday we went to my parents church and then all went to Penn park in Whittier to continue the yearly Mother's Day tradition of Subway sandwiches and family time. My friend Shannon came into town for a conference and came down to spend a couple of nights with us. I haven't seen her in over 7 years! She and I went to Bible school together in Sask. Canada.

Monday I took Shannon to Leo Carillo State beach and Malibu and we enjoyed lounging around despite the cold wind. Anders had fun looking for rocks and kicking sand on us.

On Tuesday I drove her back to deep Orange County to the airport and then stopped at an ultrasound place that a friend had told me about. It was fun to get to see our little stranger kicking around with little arms and legs stretching all over the place. I've been so busy that it was special to take some time and connect with this little one.

Yesterday was Anders half day pre-school and today he spend all day (9-4) at a possible school possibility. I'll write about that one later.

So needless to say I'm all tuckered out. I'm keeping Anders home from school tomorrow to catch up on rest and play and hopefully I'll be able to put my feet up too!

Puppy love, crazy outfit and Summer prep

2011-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Anders loves our neighbor dog Charlie and is generally very sweet with him. Charlie is very patient especially if Anders is eating lunch....

This picture cracks me up! The other day Anders found some overly small winter pants, neighbor friend Kate's Red sparkly had and a sweet looking basket and was all decked out to ride the purple flower bike around the yard. I HAD TO GET A PICTURE! Of course I told him how cool he looked but as you can tell by the look on his face he's a little miffed that I wanted a picture. =0)

It's been HOT this last week and we took the 30 minute trek to a fun splashy fountain area in Thousand Oaks. I'm hoping to work on getting some color even before Summer truly arrives.

Little One

2011-04-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and announced on Facebook that we are expecting #2 this coming November! It was a hard secret to keep and I didn't quite make it to 12 weeks before announcing but I did make it to 9 weeks which was hard enough.
So far everything is going well besides feeling nauseous. We got to see our little bean a couple of weeks ago and the best part was seeing the very strong heartbeat! That made me very happy.
So, life marches on and we are so excited to meet this sweet little one.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

The day started with a very successful easter egg hunt in our backyard.

Our neighbors in the front house were so sweet and let Anders hunt with them. They even made him a little treat basket!

Add caption

Sweet sisters, Phoebe, Clara, Ella and Kate

Kate and Anders have fun playing together.

10 year old clara is great with Anders too. They have a game where he is "car boy" and she is evil "ice girl".

Sweet 5 year old Ella

We love this family!

After church we had yet another egg hunt, we drove out to La Habra for Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Abby was fantastic with Anders and kept him entertained. He's the only grandkid in the area so it's fun to have someone willing to play with him!

Another successful egg hunt!

The cousins who are still allowed to hunt for eggs. Once they have kids... no more egg hunts!

All tuckered out after finding all his loot. He found his second wind pretty quickly....

A little of everything

2011-04-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Lately Anders has been having trouble sleeping because of "bad dreams" or overactive imagination as I like to call it. So the remedy has been for him to sleep with his light saber and lately he's been sleeping with some light sticks that Grandma J. sent in his Easter box.

Last week I took some great pictures of Anders to big jumps onto the couch.

Recently we went to a local restaurant to celebrate a friends birthday and then afterwards had fun walking around the pleasant outside play area.

This past Monday we spent some time with my friend Denise and her son Gus and their baby Mae. Gus and Anders always take a while to warm up to each other but they always end up having fun together.

Today my Mother-in-law sent me this lovely Spring bouquet in celebration of Easter. It's so nice having fresh flowers around the house!

Happy Easter!!

Around the house today

2011-04-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

We had fun making cookies this afternoon. Anders loved rolling the dough out and putting the sprinkles on.

My sister Erin sent Me, my Mom and other sister Heidi these adorable little birds and the nest. They are just too Springy and cute!

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away?

Naptime

2011-04-04T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the morning at the park with friend. It was 76 and sunny outside and Anders played like crazy. This nap is probably much needed but it also means that I'll have an active boy on my hands at 9:00 tonight!

Last Day Of March=Beach Trip!

2011-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was in the 90's and it felt just like the middle of summer. So, we skipped pre-school and headed to the beach! Enjoy the pictures!

At one point Anders swallowed some salt water and it make him "spit up" a little. When I asked him what happened he said that he had gotten "sea sick".

I'm looking forward to more of these days in the months ahead!

March

2011-03-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

I've missed writing on my blog and it has been bugging me that I don't just sit down and do it!

Life has been busy and good. Anders is getting so big and we have noticed some nice changes in his almost 5 behavior. He still has a HUGE imagination and loves guns, battles, sling shots and all things battle and boy. He is getting more empathetic with a little help from me and Chris although we are still working on that character trait! When we moved to this back house in October he went through a rough patch with all of the changes. We had to really crack down on being a friend, kindness, (not hitting, throwing things or harming anyone). I really struggled with guilt and wondered how in the world to tame this little savage! It turns out that with consistency and time these things work themselves out.
Life has gotten into a nice cadence and we are truly enjoying the atmosphere of our life. We love living so close to our friends and their nice daughters. Anders is learning all kinds of things about friendships and life here. The backyard is a fantastic place for adventures and fun and I love watching the kids play while I'm doing dishes.

Chris is doing well too and is enjoying his work. He has been able to take advantage of the train which is a nice stress free commuting option. The L.A. freeways can take their toll!
We have been going to church down the street from us where some friends of ours have been involved for a long time. They had been inviting us to come and when we found out how close it was we couldn't refuse. We miss Malibu Presbyterian but the drive was just getting too much to do so often. Anders still goes to school there a couple of times a week and I am involved with MOPS as well. Next year we will be staying closer to home and I'm looking forward to less driving.

As a side note, this month Chris and I celebrated 5 years of Marriage by spending the night up in Solvang. We came to the conclusion that Solvang is a "drive through" kind of a place. We were immensely grateful to my parents who took Anders for the night to give us a little break.

Here are a few pictures that I've been snapping lately.

Super Boy!

This is a still shot from a video I took of our neighbor Kate and Anders playing in our house.

Cowboy

Anders and his friend Stella at pre-school. They'll miss each other next year.

Letting Anders play in the bubble water to kill time. This window is my view of the back yard.

We've had some rainy days lately. This is my view from the couch

Entertrainment Junction

2010-12-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

We returned home on Monday night from a 6 day trip to Cincinnati to be a part of my Mother in law's wedding.
It was an activity packed trip beginning with a visit to the Entertrainment Junction which apparently holds the record for the largest model train display in the world. It was such a cool museum that we could have all used another couple of hours to take it all in. There was a North Pole section devoted to Santa, Mrs. Clause, a lively skit of the Christmas Carol and a large display of Christmas trains. It was quite incredible! Here are some pictures of the museum.

Totally in love with Entertrainment Junction!

The displays were so detailed and interesting! I couldn't help taking pictures of the actual model villages and scenes.

There was a whole playground area that was a great way to get the wiggles out!

Such a fun Christmas model.

Mrs. Clause baking cookies for the children...

Anders LOVED Santa! He asked for an orange race car with the #4 on it...

Grandma J.

Pictures of the new place

2010-11-27T14:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I took some pictures of our new digs. We really do feel at home now and we're enjoying the new atmosphere that this new space provides.

Our bed is sort of in the living room but now we have long curtains separating the two rooms. The t.v. and entertainment center are finding new homes and we'll have two more comfy chairs in that spot.

2010-11-25T08:39:00.001-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We're thankful for a good job, health, a great living situation, and most of all for salvation.

Have a blessed and fun Thanksgiving.

A little catch up perhaps?

2010-10-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I have posted. We moved the weekend before last and there is no internet, computer or television which is both good and bad. It's good when Chris is home but bad when Anders is in bed and I am home alone. Let's just say that I've been getting plenty of sleep. Today the cable guy is coming and we'll at least have Wifi so I can catch up a little on my iPhone. We haven't been missing the unhealthy amounts of t.v. watching and since we have a little dvd player/t.v. Anders can watch dvds every once in a while. All of my books, cds and dvds are packed away in storage so I'll be hitting up the library today for a few movies and books. I do have a Kindle but because of a lack of Wifi I haven't been able to download any books while at home. But I will as soon as I can!

I haven't begun to feel settled in the new place yet. The storage is really limited and I just feel like I'm bumping into something wherever I turn. Since the house was unoccupied for almost a year with the windows open, I'm fighting a small war against little buggies that think it's their house too. I've sprayed bug spray around the perimeter as well as around baseboards and windows and it looks like I may win yet! On the upside, it is VERY quiet and peaceful at night and since we don't have curtains or shades up yet we fall asleep to moonlight and mysterious tree shadows every night. Very relaxing. Our friends who live in the front house are so gracious and we're really glad to get to live so near them. The girls have been very sweet to Anders and so far we've only had one "inccident" where Anders wasn't so kind and I had to have a "coming to Jesus meeting" with him. We like having the dogs to play with and the big chocolate lab Charley comes to visit sometimes and "vacuum" my kitchen floor.
I'll post picures as soon as things are in order and we have a computer to post from. Today I'm visiting the computer center at our old apartment while Anders is in pre-school.

Changes

2010-08-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's finally hot again here in SoCal. We have had the most amazingly comfortable summer (sorry rest of the country) but as of this week it's been ranging from 98-102. Thank goodness for air con, indoor play and t.v....

I haven't been posting much here lately mostly because Facebook has taken over most of my social networking time. It's become hard for me to write anything significant over 3 sentences long. O.k. so part of that is just me or summer melting my brain, or white sugar, white flour and corn syrup, or motherhood, or too much t.v. or not enough reading or engaging in meaningful conversation on a regular basis... The list could go on.

So, the past few weeks Chris and I have been looking in earnest at different living arrangements. It's weird that we would because we LOVE it here. We have a life here. The beach is 10 minutes away and did I mention that we love it here? BUT, Chris is driving so much everyday and we know that our sweet affordable housing deal will expire in a year and rent keeps going up. We've just been feeling... restless. So, when I was at a friends house cutting her 4 girls hair, she mentioned that they had a back house that they needed to rent out. I had a look at it and went home and excitedly told Chris about it. All of a sudden there was this option, a very reasonably priced option out there. Financially we could really use the break. We need to save and take care of some other obligations without feeling strapped all of the time.

As we considered this option we looked around the area where Chris works. There were some really sweet places built in the 40's and 50's with tons of space but they were a bit more pricey. Tempting but we realized that we would be even more stressed financially by making the move and by paying more. We would also have to take Anders out of the great pre-school that he's in because of the distance.

Soooo.... On October 1st (Lord will'n and the creek don't rise) we'll be moving into the small one bedroom back house with a gigantic yard with 4 very sweet little girls and three dogs for Anders to play with. It will be an adventure although I'm a little apprehensive about losing some of the luxuries that we have had here. But, I'm ready for it. I'm sure that it will be character building and in the long run we'll have fond memories for this place in our lives.
I've already started sorting through the mass of baby clothes that we don't need and hauled them to the Goodwill. Next will be packing up books, cds, clothes and kitchen ware that we don't immediately need. Most of these will go into storage while we live in this house.

I'll update as we get closer to the first and hopefully I won't have gone packing crazy by then!

Kidspace Museum and critters

2010-08-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we went the kidspace Museum in Pasadena. There were so many fun ways to burn off extra kid energy! Riding tricycles around a track, playing in the cool stream, climbing the indoor structures or the outside climb wall, learning about spiders and insects, digging for dino bones and more.... So much fun!

I had to add this picture of two kind of cute little frogs that found cool comfort on our patio this week. I posted this on Facebook but thought I'd repost it to balance out all of the picture of Anders....

Trying to stay cool....

2010-07-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

It is officially hot here. We've had such a pleasant summer up until now so it's kind of a shock to the system! We went from cloudy foggy mornings with highs of 80 to 104 and HUMID. This change was overnight. So needless to say we're trying to find the balance of staying out of the heat and not going completely stir crazy in our small apartment. There's been lots of Wii playing, Max and Ruby cartoons, reading, visiting the library the water park and Barnes and Noble. One thing that I find really lovely about living out here is that there are so many fun kid activities. There are parks with water fountains, our apartment pool, indoor play places and of course the beach. So although it is pretty miserable right now we are making the very most of it.

Fourth of July

2010-07-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July was spent at a birthday party in the morning and then at a nice grassy spot in Thousand Oaks in the afternoon. Our friends Nikki and Peter celebrated with us and we really had a relaxing time enjoying the evening.

Nikki and I got to hang out and people watch while Chris, Peter and Anders went to the Apple store. We looked pretty happy!

Chris and Peter being goofy before the fireworks started.

This picture was taken before the fireworks. You know how I can tell? Anders looks relaxed and happy as opposed to freaking out and screaming.

This picture was taken earlier in the day at our friends son Gus' 3rd birthday party. It was held at a place called Underwood Farms and was quite the fun party. The kids got to feed the animals go on all the rides including pony rides. (Anders was in heaven!).

Birthday pictures

2010-06-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

Anders 4 year old Birthday was quite a success. On his actual b-day we went to Carney's (a train car restaurant) for lunch. Then we hopped on the red line subway and took it down to Hollywood to see Toy Story 3 in 3-D at the El Capitan Theater! After the movie there was a carnival with rides, shows and fun music. What an amazing day it turned out to be!

The next day was the party and we had about 9 kids over to our apartment for an old fashioned birthday party. The theme was water and trains. The kids all seemed to have a blast and Anders was totally thrilled with the "fishing" game we played. My dad hid behind a blanket and each child got to "go fishing" over the blanket. They would "catch" little prizes to take home. It was a hit! So many pictures were taken but here are just a few.

Carney's Restaurant

I'm 3...no 4!!

A little apprehensive about the subway trip

The El Capitan Theater in Hollywood

The Ferris wheel and getting to meet Buzz Light Year and Woody!

The train cake that I made

Fun water play at the party

Play Dates and Exclamations

2010-06-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

This past week we had a couple of fun play dates and although I didn't get much variety in my pictures I did get at least one with each friend. On my birthday we met my friend Kristy and her daughter Violet and son James who is slightly younger than Anders, in Arcadia at a fun indoor playground. The boys really get along well and it was fun to have some quality friend time.

The top picture was taken with some friends from Anders school. The two boys were in his Sea Stars class and they get along pretty well. The girls are the sisters of the boy in the yellow hat. This family lives in a very large and grand house up Mulholland drive which is not too far away from our apartment. The boys had a ton of fun throwing dust at each other and riding bikes all around the hardwood floors in the house.

On a side note I have to share Anders exclamatory words as of late. More for my memory down the rode. Anders is very exclamatory. He loves getting a rise out of me and he loves saying things that sound "on the edge". A few of my favorites are, "OH PANIC!", "SHUCK IT OFF!" (We think this one comes from us telling him to "shake it off" after a tumble.), "BAM-IT!", "YOU NUDY" (not sure where this one comes from because we have never used the word "nude" in our house), "BOSSY BOILER!" and "STINKY STEAMY!" (Thank you Thomas the Train....)

I've been trying to curtail some of the more negative phrases although Chris and I have to really work at not laughing....

Hanging out with our German/Swedish friends

James and Anders enjoying lunch at Cheesecake Factory on my B-Day

Birthday's and other busyness

2010-06-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

The last week has been filled with busyness including a surprise Birthday party (for me), major house de-cluttering in preparation for Anders Birthday party this coming Saturday, friends and parents visiting and Fathers Day.

Last Wednesday I had plans to go out for coffee with a friend. She was supposed to show up around 6:30 with some left overs for dinner. I was quite excited about not having to think up dinner! At 6:30 the door bell rang and I opened it to see another good friend and neighbor, Nikki standing there! She informed me that she would be babysitting for me. Hmmm. I was confused. Then the coffee friend, Jennifer showed up but with no dinner in hand and all dressed up..... another hmmm.
The story was that Chris couldn't get home in time from work to relieve me so he called Nikki to watch Anders. Jennifer said that she thought it would be more fun to have a "girls night out" and told me to go get gussied up.
While this is all going on Anders is crying/screaming because minutes before Nikki arrived he had slammed into the bathroom counter and had a nice little gash next to his eye. I had been cleaning all afternoon and so I looked really frazzled. Messy ponytail, maternity culottes and stained t-shirt (the picture of domestic bliss). Mind you, I thought I'd have a few minutes to clean up before a nice quiet dinner and casual coffee out with a friend....

Luckily Anders thinks that Nikki is pretty fun and started to cheer up. I ran and did a quick mini make-over and was able to pull it together enough to get out the door and not scare anyone. Jennifer had forgotten a coupon at her house so we made our way over there to pick it up. Since I had never been over there she insisted that I come up with her to see her place. I left my purse in the car and ran up with her. As we walked in the door I realized what all of the confusion was about. Six good friends all jumped out to surprise me for my Birthday! Chris and Jennifer really pulled it off without me guessing anything. I was completely surprised and really glad that I had put on deodorant and face powder!
My parents came out on Saturday to cap off the festivities and our friends Nikki and Peter joined us for dinner and late night game playing.

Birthday #34 ranks up there with some of my favorite Birthday's so far.

Tomorrow my Mother-in-law flies in from Cincinnati and this week will be filled with party planning and fun.

Last day of preschool!

2010-06-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today we officially start summer. Anders commemorated the event with a preschool ice cream party and face painting. I have to admit that I am more than a little sad that the year is over but excited for all of the fun that comes with summer. We have lots of activities planned including vacation Bible school, family reunions and lots of pool fun!
When I got to school today Anders had his face painted like a pirate. A little after I arrived he accidentally got bumped and fell down. He roared at the poor little girl who bumped him and then proceeded to have a major meltdown. A lot of the paint came off of his face but I was able to get an "end of the year, next to the cubby" picture despite the scowl.

I thought it would be fun to put the beginning of the year picture next to this one to see how much he's grown. It helps that he was wearing the same shirt both days!

Just the facts Ma'am.

2010-06-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a list.

1. Anders and I had lower intestinal bug last week. (it lasted a WHOLE week)
2. Now Chris feels lousy.
3. This is the last full week of pre-school.
4. I'm sad about that.
5. I'm looking forward to a family gathering in Flagstaff at the end of July.
6. I hope Flagstaff in July will won't be sweltering.
7. Chris' 20th, yes 20th high school reunion is in August.
8. I hope we can scrape enough mulah together to make it to Cincinnati in August.
9. I'm looking at a never ending pile of laundry.
10. I'm reading a great book called "Parenting with love and logic".
11. It's helping.
12. I need to color my hair.
13. You probably don't care.
14. This list is getting random.

O.k. that will do.

Strawberry Festivities

2010-05-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to say that we didn't get even one little picture of the beautiful strawberries at the Oxnard Strawberry Festival.... But I did get pictures of us on the shuttle that took us there....
....Of Anders looking apprehensive.....
.....Of Chris looking weird.....
.....Of firemen outfits and
carnival rides.....

That will have to do.

The end.

A little greenery

2010-05-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got down to business and started my much anticipated garden. We get very little sunlight and so I'm a bit worried about how the plants will do but I didn't want that to stop me from trying! I picked up lemon thyme, green onion, green beans, mint, and strawberries. I had been given two artichoke plants so I added those as well. While walking around the nursery I saw a beautiful iceberg rose plant and picked that up too. It was so much fun getting my hands in the dirt and getting the plants situated. I'm really hoping that they do well and I'll update as the summer goes on.

My favorite part of the experience was talking to two of the workers at the garden center. One of them was a lovely middle eastern man who had a way with words and who loves flowers. He went into great detail about how to transplant the roses and how they are "like a pregnant woman, very delicate." When I transferred them to the pot I felt like I was delivering a baby, thanks to his description.

Luckily the sun is shining on my new "babies" right now and hopefully it will be enough each day to help them thrive. I'd love to have a strawberry or two and pick my own green onions!

Library

2010-05-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

I love our library. At first I didn't like it. The decor is beautiful craftsman style but so big and grand that it felt a impersonal. I missed my home town library with all of it's book variety, hominess and cheerful, helpful librarians. I still miss it, but I appreciate the beauty of our new book haunt.

I realize that this is Anders experience and these are the memories that he will have. This is where he'll learn to love books like I do and I'm glad that his experience will include lovely architecture, rose gardens and olive trees in the courtyard. It's a good place to fall in love with reading.

Fun anniversary getaway

2010-05-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Chris and I celebrated our four year anniversary by spending two nights at on of our favorite places, The El Morocco Inn in Desert Hot Springs! What a special place to relax and unwind! the pool and spa are mineral water fed and as warm as a cozy blanket. Every morning an amazing breakfast is laid out, french press coffee included. (Yummy!)

In the late afternoon there is a happy hour with traditional rose water hand washing ceremony, "Morocco-tini's" and lively conversation usually led by Bruce the inns owner.

When we arrived on Friday afternoon we realized that we had left all of our luggage back at my parents house in my car! We had about 10 minutes of despair before we decided to enjoy ourselves despite this set back. We made a trip to K-Mart and picked up swim wear. Chris picked up an 8$ shirt and a multi pack of undergarments and we were set! Luckily I had remembered our back pack with sunscreen and other toiletries.

We stayed in our swim suits the majority of the time and I had my one outfit washed once. It all worked out perfectly.

Anders had fun having his own vacation with Grandma and Grandpa and even got to go to the REAL golf course to putt some balls. Grandpa even bought him his own real metal putter! Good memories were made all around.

2010-05-04T11:57:00.001-07:00

I just read a great post on http://thatmom.com about how Christians should and can approach artistic endeavors as well as career. Watch the video if this is of interest to you. It's worth it!

Mama gets new glasses

2010-04-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you not on Facebook with me here's a picture of my new glasses. Not sure how much I'll be wearing them since contacts really are way better. (I had forgotten what glasses felt like!)

Next come the knock knock jokes

2010-04-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that this could be so hilarious?.....

"Guess what?" "What?" "Chicken butt!"

"Guess who?" "Who?" "Chicken poo!"

"Guess when?" "When?" Chicken hen!"

"Guess how?" "How?" "Chicken cow!"

"Guess why?" "Why?" "Chicken thigh!"

"Guess where?" "Where?" "Chicken hair!"

Three/almost 4 year olds are easily amused.

Perfect Los Angeles weather

2010-03-10T17:46:00.001-08:00

It was such a cold windy day today which makes the weather PERFECT! Not a bit of haze or smog and big grey and white clouds against perfectly blue sky. This is the kind of day that makes me think that I could never leave California! We went out to a park at the beach that is usually really nice but it was so cold and windy that we could only stay for an hour or so. The temperature dropped continuously and by the time we left we were running to the car to get out of the wind.

I included a couple of pictures of our drive to get to Anders school. It's about a ten to fifteen minute drive but it feels like 5 minutes because I'm always enjoying the scenery.

4 Years

2010-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Today it's been 4 years since Chris and I said "I do". We thought that it was the best wedding that we had been to. =0)

Happy Anniversary to us!!

The nicest moments

2010-03-02T19:58:00.001-08:00

I love being a mom especially when......

I get to put my child to sleep by tickling his tummy with one of those pens with a big flower on the end.

I get a big hug and an "I love you with all of my veins!"

I get to smell freshly washed little boy hair.

I get to hug my sweaty little boy and smell his musky little boy hair!

Daddy takes over and I can hear them in the other room wrestling.

I overhear another parent say what a nice boy I have.

Today was Dino Parade day!

2010-02-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

A little video of Anders Dino Parade day at pre-school.

Finally posting something!

2010-02-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

It has been WAY too long since I posted but in my defense it has been a completely crazy month which included different sicknesses every weekend, doctors appointments due to a very early miscarriage (more about that later), play dates, pre-school, running around with our new (to us) car and many other important and non-important events.

Another factor has been that Anders has decided that sleep is not as important as WE think it is and gets up at random times during the night as well as really early in the morning. I'm the one who gets to deal with this and so I am extremely tired all of the time lately. At this moment I am yawning uncontrollably and wondering how early I can get away with putting him to bed. By the way, a three and a half year old does NOT do well on not enough sleep either!

We've also been having a lot fun with our little car that we received almost two weeks ago! Today we went to the L.A. Zoo. It is such a relief to have wheels to get around. It couldn't have come at a better or more needed time.

Speaking of reasons we've needed the car, I went to the doctor last week because my body was not working properly. I thought something was wrong but needed a second opinion. Low and behold I had had a miscarriage. Luckily it was very early on. So early that I didn't even suspect that I was pregnant! This experience was a blessing in disguise because I found a really great fertility doctor who is really proactive about helping us make this pregnancy thing happen! We'll be ready to think about it again in a few months and between now and then I'll be working on getting as healthy as I can and making sure that I have good health insurance that covers everything that could possibly happen.

I'll update when there is anything to update.

Here area few pictures of our trip to the zoo and one of our new wheels.

A few pictures

2010-02-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

The past week and a half in pictures

- Grandpa J and Aunt Mary visiting (until Wednesday)

- We visited Live Steamers and Travel Town museum

- I finally gave Anders a haircut

- We visited the museum of science in L.A. and saw a 3D IMAX movie

- I got gussied up and went out to sushi with Chris

- The house got messy and cleaned up and then messy again

S.A.D

2010-01-21T23:27:00.000-08:00

So we've had a week of stormy, rainy weather and I'm already feeling (pre-mature) comradery with those in the North Pole.... A few things have contributed to this. Buckets of rain and cold wind, a toddler who is more S.A.D. and cranky than I am, and no car to escape in = a recipe for the blues!

(I apologize to my family in all (cold) parts of the country who are scoffing at my low tolerance for gray skies.)

The major high point in my week was getting the news that my sister and my brother in law want to gift their 2003 Hyundai to us!!! We are just trying to find out the logistics of getting the car here and I'm telling you, this news couldn't have come at a better time. It's going to massively improve our situation!

So, when the sun comes out and I feel like smiling again, probably in a day or so, I'll snap some pretty pictures of the clean, sparkly, smog free world and post them.

(Also, thank you to John and Carol who visited from Ohio and got me and Anders out for a bit today. That was a major boost.)

Sick Day

2010-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was spent on the couch in the most cuddly fashion. Anders had the flu and although Chris and I were up most of the night doing laundry and holding a bowl for him, it was one of the sweetest days I've spent with him. Normally Anders is independent, active and will every once in a while run over, give me a hug and tell me he loves me. But yesterday he wanted to be held, rocked and at one point fell asleep with his feet in my face. And as you know I love those little feet! By the end of the day he was playing the Wii and eating popsicles. Today he's fine and we're just praying that that's the last flu we'll see this year!!

Good memories

2010-01-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is a photo taken probably in 1989 when my cousins were home on furlough from the Philippines. As I remember it was a REALLY fun summer and we were so excited to have them back! For those of you who don't know me in person I'm the 2nd from the left. Yes, the girl who looks like a boy....

Well, it's 2010....

2010-01-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well this seems to be my Christmas/New Years letter although I may try to make some kind of hard copy to send out to all of the lovely people who sent us one this year. We'll see how it goes.

For the New Year we celebrated by staying in, enjoying a glass of wine and trying to sleep in. Although that didn't really happen because Anders has now realized that he can get up and come in to our room to get us up. I decided that we need to have some cap on this habit or else he'll start coming in earlier and earlier. It turned out to be a VERY loud and disruptive stance that was taken and so I just couldn't go back to sleep and neither could Chris. So we got up and enjoyed the Rose Parade.

After a leisurely morning we made a big trek up to Mt. Wilson to see some snow. Apparently most of it was melted but we did find a few dirty patches to play in. Anders was in heaven and I got some good pictures of the day. We had a late lunch at a little bar/restaurant called Newcombs Ranch that was decent although it was obvious that there was no competition and because of this turned out to be fairly nominal. Maybe we just hit it on a down day...

Anyways here are the pictures from our outing.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season as well!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T22:05:00.000-08:00

We spent time with family......
We opened presents......
And we baked cookies for Santa....

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too!

The little tree

2009-12-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

We finally put our tree up last night. After a long and enjoyable afternoon at IKEA where we were able to drop Anders off in the kid play area, we stopped by our local tree lot and found this cute little tree. (sorry about the blurry tree photo).

This year it was especially fun to hang the ornaments. Anders really got into the process and thought it was the best thing ever.

Tonight Chris' mom flies in from Cincinnati and I am really looking forward to a fun, relaxing holiday week.

Winter fun in L.A.

2009-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

In order from the first pictures down...

We took public transportation today to visit Chris at work. In L.A. public transit is tedious to say the least. Anders was a real trooper! The third picture down was taken on Ventura Blvd during part of our journey.

The other day Anders and his little neighbor friend had fun being Spiderman. How hard is it to get a clear picture of Spiderman? Very hard!

Making marshmallow "snowmen" was a fun activity one day although Anders couldn't shovel them into his mouth fast enough!

Whittier Christmas Parade and other stuff

2009-12-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! I'm sitting here enjoying some good Christmas music on Pandora rejoicing that the almost cold that I felt was coming on last night never turned into a real cold. (Thank you Zicam mouth spray...)

On Friday we Anders and I had to vacate the apartment to have a crack in our bathtub fixed. Chris rented a car so that we could have a car to drive out to my folks house while he did his normal work day. Anders and I ended up spending the night in Whittier and got to go to the 56th annual Whittier Christmas parade! Anders had a bit of a cold/cough but seemed to be on the mend so I bundled us up and braved the rain to get into the festivities. I have to say that there were a few parade entries that made it well worth our while including Critters for Christ, Isis belly dancing troop, some wierd Kung Fu group and of course many other eclectic hometown groups all who were deadly serious about this parade business! It was good to be back in Whittier.

I was also able to get a good nap in that afternoon before the long drive back home. On the way home Anders proved that he has picked up my knack for back seat driving. The whole way home he commented about how I should drive, entreated me not to hit any cars and told me that I needed my fog lights on.... The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

It's always good to get back into a normal schedule after a busy weekend and I'm looking forward to getting ready for Christmas, taking the trolley to the library and making play dates this week.

On another note I am very excited and proud of Chris for landing a new job! We found out on Thursday that he'll be starting around the new year and although it will be a bit longer of a drive the pay is better and there are some good opportunities for growth. He'll still be doing Audio Engineering but will be working much more with music instead of voice over. It really seems to be just the right fit for him and he is looking forward to the transition.

The pictures at the top are taken from a Facebook fan group of the Whittier Christmas Parade. My friend Kristy organized a fabulous group of fans to wear matching tees and cheer for the parade. Local parades need to have some #1 fans!

Ps. Quick add on here.... I got a ticket the other day. The first one in over 10 years. When the Police Officer was done citing me Anders let out a big sigh and said, "I love Policemen!!".

Thanks a lot kid!

Christmas gift ideas

2009-12-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

I am looking at the Laser Level that I bought from Avon for Chris. Yes Avon carries laser levels.... I have to admit that I'm pretty excited to have found this particular item since we can't find the one that Chris' dad got for him a couple of years ago. It just up and disappeared. This one isn't as swanky as the first one but it will do the job. This was one of those gifts that was under 10 bucks but will be just right.

And no I'm not worried that Chris will find out because he doesn't read this blog! So don't any of you tell him!

If you are looking for some good gifts either for a guy or a gal go to my Avon site and see if you find anything worth while!

http://youravon.com/gretchenjensen

Persistency

2009-12-03T23:23:00.001-08:00

Have I ever mentioned that my kid is VERY persistent? He will ask and ask again and not let a subject go until he is satisfied. Chris and I figure that it will be a good trait when he's the CEO of some big company someday.....

Tonight while driving home from picking up Chris at work Anders got on a "persistent jag". He wouldn't stop talking about some little thing and he was getting pretty demanding. I was starting to lose my cool very quickly so Chris looked back and said, "Anders, you need to stop talking about (whatever it was) now because mama is getting frustrated." (I love my dear husband who steps in sometimes when he knows I need it).

Anders replied, "But MAMA, PEOPLE NEED TO TALK SOMETIMES!!"

I think I'm raising a persistent extrovert.

Life moves on

2009-12-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I realized that all of a sudden Anders is a "big kid".

He doesn't wear diapers at all anymore.

He doesn't need a high chair at restaurants (we enforced that for a LONG time).

He's talking all about everything and tries to get us to laugh. And he has lots of opinions about all sorts of things!

I can leave him alone for a minute or so while I take out the trash. Sometimes he even tells me that he wants to stay home alone instead of coming with me on errands. Of course that won't happen anytime soon!

The "little" potty chair now needs a new home.

In general I can trust him to stay by me and play safely.

I was so taken aback when I started listing these things off in my head! It's amazing how much easier life is when a toddler starts being a big kid. It makes me want to cuddle him more knowing that he'd be less likely to let me snuggle him up as the years march on!

Time for peppermint lattes!

2009-11-29T16:09:00.000-08:00

The time has come to start playing Christmas music, get the tree up and begin Christmas shopping (if you haven't already). It's time to get your peppermint ice cream, peppermint and gingerbread lattes at Starbucks and enjoy basking in the glow of twinkle lights.

Most importantly it's time to remember a little baby that was born so many years ago who changed the course of the world.

Let the festivities begin!!

Thanksgiving Morning

2009-11-26T13:14:00.001-08:00

We visited Bobby's Coffee Shop which is our new favorite place for breakfast out. Then on the way home we stopped at a scenic spot to take a few pictures. This afternoon we head on over to my folks house for a big gathering of family and non-family for some bird, bread and berries.

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving!

I have a rock collector

2009-11-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

This and That

2009-11-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

Oh, it has been way too long since I just wrote something and didn't post pictures of Anders. It's not the lazy way out since this blog really is just my version of Creative Memories.... (which I have no patience for).

Lately we have all had colds. Chris had a cold for about a day, Anders had one for a few days and I've had one the whole time. I'm still congested. BAH HUMBUG!

Anders is now insisting he sleep without a diaper and I'm sure it's about time! I was the hold out since I didn't want to have to change sheets in the middle of the night. So far we haven't had any accidents. WHOO HOO!

I have to say that I am a BIG promoter of waiting until your kid can SPEAK before really getting serious with potty training. It has worked well for us and it is so nice for Anders to be able to decide that he's ready for the next step and to tell us that. I love it.

Because I haven't been feeling that great this week I keep stepping on toys, sitting on clean laundry and hopping over bits of who knows what that have accumulated around the house. I'm just starting to notice and feel like I should maybe vacuum, put the laundry away and enforce the "no toys in the living room for any longer than half a day" rule. I've got to refer back to FlyLady for some inspiration. I CAN DO IT!

Other than that, life is good. I'm getting geared up for the holiday's and parent's in law visits which are much anticipated. This year I'm trying to get rid of as much clutter as possible because it always seems that around Christmas when presents come the house just explodes and this year I just want a minimalist kind of Christmas. Homey but minimal. Is that possible? I CAN DO IT!

Anyways, I think that's it for now.

Play Date's And Fairy Tale Parade's

2009-11-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

Play Date's.......

And Prince/Princess parade's......

This week at Anders pre-school it was "fairy tale week". They heard the story of the three little pigs, Cinderella and more. The girls definitely seemed to enjoy the parade more than the boys.

Keeping busy

2009-11-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering how all of my dry goods were getting rearranged.....

A little old fashioned fun, Costco style.

2009-11-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Getting Anders to "clean up" was the fun part. I just made up a rap about cleaning up and putting everything on the table (Boom chicka chicka, putt'n the rolls on the t-t-t-table!) and it got done lickity split!

Kids say/do the darnedest things....

2009-11-02T22:59:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I came into the living room/dining room and found Anders opening and closing the lid of the kitchen trash can and taking big whiffs from it. I was horrified because it was a very full can and who knows what was in there! I asked him why he was smelling the trash and he said in a dopey dreamy voice "It smells like donuts". REALLY??....

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Yesterday Chris, Anders and I were enjoying a nice Sunday breakfast at the table. Chris is bouncing his leg (a habit he has that can be a bit distracting). Since Anders is getting more opinionated and sometimes ornery I thought this might be a funny conversation to look back on.

Anders - "Daddy, stop stomping your leg!"

Chris - "I can't, it's broken"

Anders - "Well, take it off and get a new one! That one's really OLD!"

Future Boy Scout

2009-11-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took advantage of our local park.... what I mean by park is the massive beautiful State Park that is within 5 minutes drive for us. We went for a hike and made it to the visitors station where there were animal pelts, snake skins, taxidermy local animals including a lynx a coyote and a mountain lion! Everything was hands on. What a fun place to bring Anders to learn about nature! The docent asked Anders to help her raise the American and California flag. He was quite pleased with himself and it really topped off our vacation like experience.

Chris' iPhone came in handy since we didn't bring our regular camera. Although all of the pictures have this etherial glow/need to clean the lens look.

Why it's important to NOT ignore your child and talk on the phone for copious lengths of time.

2009-10-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I let Anders play in the shower. While he did that I chatted with my sister Heidi on the phone. We had a great conversation. We talked about everything. We laughed and talked and laughed and talked.....

At some point I figured that I should go check on Anders showering process so I walked into the bathroom and stepped in about a 1/2 inch of water. Then I smelled poop. Hmmmm that was a good time to get off the phone....

Thank goodness for towels to mop up the flood and bleach to deal with the tub that my son thought could double as a toilet. Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbena multi-purpose solution came in handy too!

Cleaning Inspiration

2009-10-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

On a more cheerful note.... if you need something to inspire a cleaning frenzy around your house I recommend Mrs Meyers multi-purpose cleaning soap. It can be diluted for floors, counter tops, windows, sinks and anything else that needs freshening up. The scents are amazing and I personally am loving the Lemon Verbena scent. Yummy.

Nighttime plot lines

2009-10-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

The scene opens up with me and my accomplice struggling to hold on to Brad Pitt in waist high murky water. I have a straight edge razor and I commit a horrible murder. Brad has on red converse tennis shoes that are hard to hide even though the water is muddy. After trying to hide him we jump out and onto a shuttle bus that is waiting for us. There is a life size dummy that I have to somehow hide from the police until we can get somewhere safe! I manage to cover the dummy with jackets and my purse. We somehow manage to escape being caught.

Cut to sometime later and my remorse is slowly eating away at my soul. I don't know how I can live life with this horrendous murder on my hands. So far no one has discovered who committed the crime and I have the choice not to reveal my wicked deeds.... But I can't! I must cleanse my conscience! Even if it means rotting in a lonely jail cell for who knows how many years. I understand the repercussions of my choice but I must confess or I'll go crazy. I think that my sentence might not be so long because I'm confessing.

Next scene. Me, sweeping the hallways in the prison. It's stark and drab. Harsh light shines through the bar covered window up near the ceiling.

I step outside myself and ask the narrator "how long was she in there?"

"She never got out" he says bleakly.

I woke up feeling so sad for that old women sweeping the hallway.

Aren't dreams just great?

***after reading this It sounds a lot worse and more depressing than it felt at the time. Dreams are funny that way.

Spidey....

2009-10-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

We have a little super hero in our midst lately. A while back he heard about superman and it became a favorite hobby of his to demand that he "save" me while I cried "save me superman, save me!" Then he would jump into my arms and I would thank him profusely and give him lots of kisses. I don't know if I'm fostering some savior complex but it's pretty amusing and it does pass the time....

A couple of months ago we found a book about Spider Man. From then on all he wanted to do was practice "Spidey moves". He even knows that Spider Mans real name is Peter Parker. Grandma J. bought the costume and whenever that mask is on he poses non-stop. Flexing, rolling around on the floor in slow motion and practicing "parkour" are a few favorite activities while in the Spidey costume.

The elusive Mr. Fish

2009-10-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our newest addition. So far his name is just Beta Fish but with your help maybe we can find a name! Here are the options that we've come up with but can't decide on.

Gil

Beta Max

Finny

So far the most interesting thing to do with him is to put a mirror next to his bowl and watch him go into fighting mode. His neck puffs out and he becomes the fierce gladiator fish.

A fish is fun but someday we'll try getting one of these again..... Someday.

A stage perhaps?

2009-10-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

We are trying to work on thankfulness and having a good attitude with Anders... Any ideas fellow parents?

Lately he has been loudly protesting (mild description) pretty much anything that I do or suggest. From going potty to singing a song.... Of course it's not all of the time but at least 3 times a day there is a some major dramatic meltdown over seemingly silly things. Every once in a while the meltdown involves flopping onto the floor which can, and mostly does, produce some sort of head bumping or other painful experience. This doesn't help.

I'm having a hard time trying to be all joy and light which I'm sure is fueling the tension.

On a side note we watched Pinocchio the night before last and hearing the beautiful good fairy tell Pinocchio "You won't be a real boy until you learn to be brave, truthful and unselfish" made a big impact. When I brought up that quote the next day he got really serious, his eyes got big and he nodded. It was way too cute.

Slow Food

2009-10-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this link because it is such an interesting topic. The blog name is The Slow Food Experiment and the author Veronica Mitchell is documenting a life without any kind of "fast" food. So everything is made from scratch including things like catchup, bread etc... In a society where food can be found on every corner (most of it not healthy) and obesity is a major problem, it's a great subject to discuss. I hope you enjoy her blog and hopefully can get as much inspiration as I am from it.

Another Silent Movie

2009-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight Anders really needed to be in the kitchen with me while I baked bread. After trying play dough and coloring I filled the sink up with soapy water and it didn't let me down! Here's a little clip from my goofy camera that doesn't record sound.

Ouchy

2009-09-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

While uploading these pictures my heart melted. Little fingers and toes are just too much.....

Yesterday we had the first pre-school casualty. Little fingers caught in some vice on the playground. I couldn't quite get the whole story except that there was a big boy, they were playing truck on the ramp, and something went CRASH!

I have to give him points for positivity

2009-09-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

After asking Anders to pick up toys - "No, I'm o.k."

When asked if he would like some milk at Grandma's house - "Yeah, alright! They have chocolate milk? O.k!"

When he was told that we weren't going to Travel Town train museum - "Well, Maybeee, we'll see!" (said in a pleasant sing song voice)

After I told him that we would only be reading one book before bed - "O.k, how 'bout two? Just three...."

Oh Fall, Where Are You?

2009-09-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Fall and it's 103.... I seriously can't wait for a little bit of rain or a cool puff of wind (not these horribly dry and hot bursts that keep knocking over my palm trees). I have so many memories of growing up in California and having such high hopes for Fall. The new school outfit with the knee socks and sweaters, the cute black tights and wool skirts that begged to be worn for the first day of school. Nope, not here. The sweater would be stuffed into a back pack and the tights would be regretted all day.

Soon it will be in the 80's then the 70's and then every once in a while it will rain and I'll dig out my favorite rainbow, not so flattering horizontal striped sweater with matching scarf and I'll be happy.

Pre-school has officially begun!

2009-09-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sending my child off to school is such a mixed bag of emotions. I'm relieved that he's doing something fun and getting worn out, I'm a little sad that he's not home with me and of course I'm worried that he's going to catch every sickness that comes along. There's the nostalgia of my own pre-school experience at Mulberry tree where I always ran for the squeakiest tricycle, tasted green olives for the first time and saw a grown-up fall in a sand box.... I know he'll have such a good time and it is great to have the quiet time at home to get things done, read or run errands.

I took my camera when I picked Anders up. He loved the experience and didn't want to leave.

1. The walkway entering the school and all of the projects done by the kids.

2. Lunch time with the "Sea Stars"

3. Getting reminded not to climb on the railings... (my personal favorite)

4. Riding the favorite "taxi/train" tricycle.

5. Playing with friends in the sand, and yes, that is the ocean in the background!

6. The obligatory washing of the hands after school.

7. The obligatory shower after school.... we really want to make the best effort at not getting every illness passed around. Maybe it's futile but I'm going to try!

8. Anders laughing uproariously at the flash on the camera. So easily amused...

How lucky are we??

2009-09-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

I feel so blessed to live 15 minutes from one of the most lovely beaches in the U.S. It is literally a quick drive over the Santa Monica mountains and we're in Malibu.

On Saturday we decided to check out the newly revamped Malibu pier and have dinner at the Ruby's diner at the end of the pier. What a lovely evening it was! Fall is finally in the air here and the weather was actually really cold at the beach. Luckily I brought an extra shirt for the little man but not for me or the big man. We were COLD!

Anders had fun with the 3D glasses that came with his kids meal. He was quite surprised by them and was kept busy the throughout dinner.

After a decent and not too expensive meal he had fun goofing around on the pier while we watched and doted on him. Have I mentioned that he really needs some sibling competition? That kid gets WAY too much attention. But how can we help it when he is just so much fun and pretty darn cute with no one to compete? Did I mention that the whole time we were on the pier he was a pirate? Lately he wants to pretend that everything is something different than it is. A grape is a cherry, the pier is a boat, the car is a train, his stuffed dogs are horses, grandparents, friends, airplanes etc.... and if we don't agree well watch out! It's a funny stage.

Blogger in the making

2009-09-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Anders found a keyboard that Chris had stashed away amongst other computer paraphernalia. He pulled it out to the couch propped up a pillow in front of it pulled up a stool and told me that he was "going to do some blogging now". It was all very official as he typed away.

Luckily I got some video of him blogging so as soon as I figure out how to upload movies from our home camera I'll post it.

Our Summer Vacation

2009-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

We stopped at Hadley's for lunch and date shakes on the way to our destination.

We dressed like dorky tourists.... oh wait I didn't, but Chris put this lovely ensemble together early in the morning when he left from Cincinnati so I really had no input on this one.... He happily posed though!

We swam, and swam and swam. So much so that Anders was begging to go to sleep at the end of the day!
We took nice long naps....
We enjoyed the White's movie collection and this fabulous reclining couch....
It really was one of the nicest vacations we've had in a long time and we were so blessed by the generosity of our friends who let us crash in their vacation home.

Palm to Pines Road

2009-09-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

While on our trip to La Quinta we decided to take a road that goes from Palm Springs up into the mountains of Idyllwild. It's only about a 45 minute drive but the weather variance is so dramatic it's a fun experience. Sometimes you can start out in Palm Springs with a temperature of 95 and drive up the mountain to snow! The day we went it was about 105 in Palm Springs and 88 in Idyllwild. It was a nice relief from the scorching heat!

The scenery was beautiful and we even got a few rain drops on our window despite the high temps.

On the way back down the mountain we stopped at Lake Hemet and got to look around the camp ground. There was an old school playground with good old fashioned metal toys to play on. Anders loved it although I felt like I should stand behind him while he climbed the huge metal slide...

Summer Fun

2009-08-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Saturday in Redondo Beach.

Chris has been gone since Friday visiting his family in Cincinnati. His Dad is retiring today and so he wanted to be there to support him and celebrate with everyone. Needless to say I have been trying to kill some time and have fun with Anders despite daddy being gone. We've managed but we will be happy to see him tomorrow!

On Friday when we dropped Chris off at the airport I took PCH back home. We stopped at the Malibu pier and got to watch the fishermen. While on the pier we wandered around to see what people were catching. There was a homeless man (looked homeless) fishing off one side. He was wearing a shirt that said "I used to be Schizophrenic but now we're both fine". I got a laugh out of that, quietly of course... We saw him catch a sting ray and then not throw it back. It was sad to see it flopping around on the wood. I almost asked him if we could throw it back and then I saw a very large knife lying on the ground it made me think twice about asking a homeless guy with an obvious mental disorder anything that might trigger the said mental disorder. So, we just left.

Saturday we spent the afternoon with my parents down in Redondo Beach where they were visiting my Dads Mom. It was fun for Anders to visit with "Great Gram" and also to spend some time at the beach. Of course Anders isn't much of a beach fan yet but he played in the sand the whole time and got a little wet on accident. I felt like he had a good experience overall. =0)

The weather has been really hot this last week which has made it difficult to do anything during the day. We've managed to stay cool in the A/C and just go out in the evenings or go from A/C car to A/C buildings. Today we went to the library and Taco Bell and we'll most likely stay in until it starts to cool a bit. The bees are also out in force right now. I had forgotten how prolific they are in August! They are just all over the pathway to our door and if we leave anything open they drift into the house. Luckily they will be gone in the Winter! I've managed to not freak Anders out too badly by acting as calm as possible although my natural instinct is to swat, scream and run... I guess it's good for me to act a little less crazy around bugs in general and having a little person watching helps.

More everyday life

2009-08-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

We decided to take our vacation next week instead of this week so now I'm trying to find some fun things to do with the our time. The weather has finally heated up and today is quite warm although there is still a breeze thank goodness. We also have central air which is getting a good workout lately. I've started to get spoiled having central air. Growing up in an old 1930's home that was not well insulated I was used to laying low on the hottest days. We would lie in front of a fan, drink cold drinks and play in the hose. Now I don't even want to go outside when it's too hot!

Anyways, I found a couple of pictures of Anders new "big boy bed". Not the greatest pictures but something at least. Chris went and picked it up at IKEA while we were in Texas and we just set it up last week. It is a BIG hit and we really haven't had too much trouble with Anders getting out of bed or not sleeping. I really think we did the right thing waiting until he was old enough to reason with before we got a real bed.

The other pictures that I'm posting are of a fun play date that we had with one of Anders friends. His mom was my table leader in MOPS and he and Anders get along really well. They had so much fun playing the "cotton ball game" that I had to take a couple of pictures. This is a little exercise that my friend Katrina was doing with her son and it is so easy and helps with fine motor skills. It's cheap too! =0) All you need is a bag of cotton balls, two bowls and a pair of tongs. The cotton balls can be transferred back and forth from bowl to bowl until the game gets old. For some reason it is the hottest thing to do right now!

Bee's, babysitting and blistering hot vacations.

2009-08-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Anders stepped on a bee and got stung. After the initial crying from the pain he was pretty calm about it. I told him all about how bees don't like to sting because they will die if they do. And how we give them space to work so that we don't scare them and make them sting us. When I told him this he said "The bee is going to heaven? God will take care of it." I agreed with him because I know that God does care even about the little bee that stung my boy. It's also nice to see a little empathy in my child.

On another note, Chris and I have been enjoying being a part of a babysitting co-op in our neighborhood. We get a two hour date every two weeks and about every ten weeks we get all of the kids at our house for the two hours. It's just enough time to have a nice meal out and chat without interruption. Our turn to babysit is coming in about 4 weeks and we are already planning out a game plan to help the time go by fast and for everyone to have fun. I highly recommend something like this for young families!

We are planning a little family getaway hopefully for next week. I've found that going somewhere blistering hot in the summer is usually cheaper than in the winter. So Palm Springs hear we come! It should be fun to lounge by the pool, rent movies and spend time together. I am really looking forward to it. I'll post some pictures when all of the fun is over.

The opposite of no where

2009-08-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

I already posted this on Facebook but it's worth sharing here even just for posterity's sake.

Yesterday Anders and I had just gotten back from a trip to the store on the trolley. I was sitting at the computer desk and Anders was playing around at my feet. All of a sudden he asks "Mom, where are we going?" I replied "ummm.... no where...." He apparently didn't like that answer and said "NO, we go YEAH-WHERE!"

Concert in the park with cousins

2009-08-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm liking this stage

2009-08-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

Being a mom definitely has it's ups and it's downs, but boy am I enjoying Anders this week! For some reason whenever his hair starts getting longer and curlier he seems to act sweeter too. (Maybe I have warmer feelings towards him when he looks like a cherub...). I think that coming home and getting to see how much he grew in the last two weeks of playing with, fighting with, and relating to his cousins is such a contrast. He has grown up a bit, his vocabulary is a little better and he has a new sense of his world and family now.

The day we got home he went for a walk with Chris to the park. Chris asked him if he wanted me to come with them and he said "no, just you daddy". (Heaven knows that he was sick to death of me at that point!) He was so excited to jump on his little red tricycle and pedal as fast and as hard as he could to the park. When we left for Texas, he was still a little tentative. I think that he realized that he really did know how to ride and couldn't wait to prove it to himself. Chris got a great workout following him!

Today when I took him to the park near our house he really enjoyed playing with the older kids that were there for day camp. He stuck by me for a little bit and then ran off to mix it up. What a relief it was to just watch from the shade! I loved seeing him relate to other kids and not want to hang out with me the whole time. I guess that it's his age. He is three and just starting to (barely) want to share. He is noticing others playing and really wants to join in.

At one point today the kids were taking turns sitting on the back of his tricycle as he "taxied" them around. Then he wised up and let someone else have his bike to do the taxiing and ran off to play airplane with two other boys. When I came to collect him I asked the boys where they were flying to. One said "space!" the other said "Mongolia, that's where Gangues Kahn lives!" Anders thought that Texas was the destination.

I'm looking forward to this new "big boy" stage. Babies are cute and all but getting to see your little person grow up can't be beat!

A few coming home emotions

2009-08-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

A few of things I felt when I got home on Sunday -

- Sadness about not being closer to my sisters.

- Relief that I got to sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen and enjoy my little apartment.

- Major love for my hubby who I ended up missing more than I thought I would.

- A little smugness/warmth that Chris missed me as much as he did and that he decided that bachelor life wasn't all that it is cut out to be.

- Happiness for Anders who really missed his toys, his bed and his daddy (they wrestled for an hour the first night we were home!)

Time with Erin

2009-08-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from my stay with Erin and Garrett. As you can see Garrett is ADORABLE! One of the funny things he did while we were there was close his eyes in a coy way whenever we would get in the car. I did catch him with his eyes open for the second picture though. We thought maybe he was overwhelmed or feeling shy or something. Whatever it was it was cute. =0)

Erin and Jim are in the middle of a big move from Texas to Colorado for Jim's work and she has to stay in Texas until the house sells while Jim has had to start his new job and hold down the new rental in Colorado. The week we were there she had a lot of things to get done before taking a trip out to see the house they are going to be living in and visiting with my parents who came out to Colorado to vacation. I loved getting a picture of Erin and her to do list!

One of the last nights we spent with E and G we went to their favorite hamburger place called Kincaid's. The meat is super fresh and it's the closest thing to In-N-Out I've had. It's a fun family place with lots to look at and a nice noise level (which helps with toddlers!).

Anders had fun pretending to be a train and "coupling" up with Garrett's high chair.

It was such a joy to be able to spend such quality time with Erin and to get to know Garrett better. I can't wait to see their #2 boy when he is born in October!

A few more random photos

2009-08-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos that I couldn't leave out.

On Saturday we got to attend Abby's last soccer game of the season. It was so much fun to see her in action. Anders liked it until the parents starting screaming and yelling and the noise level got really bad. So he chose to stand outside most of the game. I had to watch through a little window in the door. It was a bummer!

Heidi and Williams friends the Petersen's hung out with us a few times and their twin daughters Emily and Becca thought that Anders was great. They followed him around, played with him and mothered him. It was so fun to see him being so loved on!

When we came out of the house on Friday to go to the Stockyards, we realized that William had the car-seat in his car! There was no way to get it so we just strapped Anders into the back seat next to Madeline. It was fun to see him looking so grown up reading his book with everyone else.

Lastly, I had to put in one picture of Anders enjoying the great city run water park. That place was amazing! I wish we had something like that close to our house!

I've kind of gone backwards in chronicling my trip. I started with my stay at Heidi and Williams and my next post will go back to my first week staying with Erin and Garrett.

More Stockyard Pictures

2009-08-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

One of the major highlights was watching the big vintage train pull into the stockyard area. It is extremely loud and overwhelming especially for those who love trains and think about them, read about them, watch them on t.v. but have little experience seeing them in person..... (poor Anders). I'm surprised that I even took a picture of my petrified son when I should have had him wrapped up in my arms! But I did so now the full experience is recorded.

We also visited a fabulous candy store with every kind of candy you could want. Anders chose a huge orange lolly pop and then changed his mind and went for a smaller one. I didn't stop him!

I love the statue of the man taking down the steer. I've admired it both times I have come to the stockyards. It's so dramatic!

Fun in the Garage

2009-08-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

At Heidi's house we had fun hanging out in the garage. The boys loved climbing on Will's motorcycle. And as you can see Abby had fun bouncing on a big red ball when she wasn't immersed in Harry Potter.

I also had to include another picture of the cutest Basset Hounds in North Texas! Dolce and Roosevelt Graymander. Such noble beasts!

Cabela's Aquarium

2009-08-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Way too much fun!

2009-08-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to recount all of the fun experiences Anders and I had while in Texas. I'll try to with pictures!

Visiting with the sisters was the best thing I've done in a long time. I spent the first week with Erin and baby Garrett. We enjoyed relaxing, swimming and watching the boys play cars. One of the nights we all got together and had a summer dinner together which was wonderful! Garrett is getting so big and it was fun to spend such quality time with them.

Then I spent the longer part of the next week with Heidi, William and the kids. The quality time I spent with them can't be measured. The only glitch was that both my hubby and Erin's hubby were absent because of work. They were both so missed!

Among the many fun events we celebrated Abigail's 11th birthday at the local water park.

We got to know the Heidi's family dog Dolce. She was a real love! Another fun thing was getting to meet their new dog Roosevelt who they brought home today. He's a little more wild then Dolce but still so gentle and loving.

Visiting the stockyards in Fort worth was so much fun even though I've been there once before. It's the typical tourist thing to do while in Dallas and it is quite entertaining.

It was fun to weather a few summer storms as well. Last night Anders and Sam ran around in the rain until they were drenched. It was a great way to get their wiggles out and stay cool in the humid Texas heat.

There are a lot more pictures and a couple of fun videos to come.

Texas

2009-07-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this from Denton Texas where I am happily enjoying Heidi and Williams hospitality. Anders and I spent the last 4 nights with Erin and Garret while Jim is out of town getting them all set up in Colorado. It was so much fun to visit with Erin and to see how big baby Garret has gotten since I saw him last. He and Anders got along pretty well although A is bigger, more aggressive and very exclamatory. G wasn't quite sure what to make of him at first but they got used to each other fairly quickly.
I'll post some pictures of our trip soon! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how much of a wimp I am! The weather is so muggy and the bugs totally creep me out! I am really a California girl who is not used to humidity and wildlife.... wimpy really wimpy.

2009-07-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

This week has been really busy and as of Sunday I'll be in Texas for two weeks to visit my sisters. I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with both of them although I will miss my hubby since he can't come with me on this trip! Luckily we get to go on a date tonight and we'll enjoy having some time to relax together. We're hoping that by some fluke he can get a last minute ticket and come out for a few days the second week we're there. We'll see. Anders is talking a lot about the airplane trip and told me this morning on the way home from pre-school that he had tickets in his pocket and wanted to go today.

Speaking of Anders, he has been pretty funny lately. He has a such an active imagination and loves pretending. He likes to pretend to buy things like ice cream and toys. Pretending ice cream is a big one and one time I asked him if he had strawberry and he said, "um..... no not today. just chocolate today."

The other day we spent the afternoon at the pool and he called me Captain Hook the whole time along with a hearty ARGGGG and an eye twitch every time he said it.... nice.

It's going to be fun to get him together with Garrett and see how they interact. Anders is also really looking forward to seeing "Uncle Willum" and his cousins although I think that he's going to all over their Basset hound Dolce!

I'll take a few good pictures of the trip and hopefully update while I'm in Texas.

First day of Pre-school!

2009-07-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

I guess we're not really an early morning family.....

We have been blessed to be able to put Anders into pre-school this year! It's something I've been thinking about but didn't think was possible due to finances and having only one car. Things have worked out and now Anders will be attending this great pre-school at the local Presbyterian church two days a week this Fall! He's going this week as well to get used to it but then we'll be out of town for two weeks to visit my sisters in Texas. (Yeah!)

I couldn't ask for a better environment for Anders to be in. The teachers are kind and responsible, the facility is clean and interesting and they have a bunny named "Sugar Foot" who Anders care very much about.

One funny thing about putting him into school is the introduction to "cliques". When we went to check out the school he was playing on the climbing equipment and a little girl ran up to him and said "are you a surfer?" (Apparently there is high value on one being a surfer or ones daddy being a surfer in Malibu.) Of course Anders had no idea what she was talking about but he looked pleased that a little girl was talking to him....

Today when I picked him up I spied on him for a few minutes to see how he was doing. It looked like he was having fun and seemed to fit in just fine despite not being a "surfer".

What we did this week

2009-07-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

Played in the new mulch.
Went to Jett and Liberty's house and swam, played in the little pool, had a picnic and enjoyed the trolly car.

Also got a new bike thanks to Grandma J. and since have bumped into a parked car, skinned a knee and had a few massive meltdowns... but can't get enough of it!

We can't forget getting to go to a friends house to be babysat, celebrating Gus's birthday and the 4th of July on the same day, and getting to stay up until 10:30 to watch the Polar Express movie for the first time!

What we did today

2009-07-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

We took the shuttle bus to the movie theater to see the FREE family film festival "The pirates who don't do anything". (Veggie Tales) but two little boys had a hard time sitting and they wanted to play outside instead.

Airplanes and dirty germy shopping cart cars were way more interesting.

Then we went to the library and picked out a train book.

Then we waited for the shuttle while reading.

Then climbed on the shuttle while reading.

Then read while riding the shuttle. I guess it is a great book.

Sorry about the lack of birthday pictures. They are all on my moms camera and we'll get them soon. When I do you know that they'll be posted!

Back to the bob

2009-07-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today in a fit of hot and frustrated desperation I cut my own hair. I haven't attempted doing this since before I went to cosmetology school but I was desperate! I've always had a dream of having long hair but when I have to wear it in a ponytail or bun constantly it's just not the best look. So, back to the chin length bob. Easy and cool the best kind of hair.