Crossing our fingers

...hoping that summer is somewhere nearby.

What a beautiful weekend. We made lots of food for family get togethers and to help out some other mom's with dinner.

We played lots of baseball.

Planted our garden, finally!

And put up our tire swing.

I'm pretty sure this will be a summer to remember!

Lookin' for a good time?

Grab a loaf of bread and find some ducks and/or geese.

Lots of running to and fro makes the little ones finally go to bed at a decent time for the first time since daylight savings.

Adding in some hissing from the geese seems to make things ultra hilarious!

Cheap entertainment at its best!

I Always want to remember

some of the hilarious things that Anders is coming up with lately. And not just the funny ones but the sweet ones too.

"Somebody" who shall remain nameless let one rip in front of Anders the other day. Anders said "excuse you." Promptly went up and grabbed "somebody's" hand and said, "lay down, I change your bum."

Cam: Anders what is this? (marker all over the fridge and cupboards)
Anders: "I drawed it."
Cam: What did dad tell you about the markers?
Anders: "only on paper"
Cam: Is this paper?
Anders: "no"
Cam: Then why did you do it?
Anders (throwing his hands in the air): "but, I drawed it!"

Grandma Great was in the kitchen washing dishes. Anders came into the room and grabbed her hand and said, "duck stuck grandma". She walked into the living room and the tv was frozen with a picture of a duck on it.

Anders will often be playing with his toys, stop and say to himself: "hmmm, what do now?"

I walked into his room the other day and he was standing inbetween his time out chair and book shelf (a very narrow space). When I walked in he pointed his finger out the door and yelled, "NO, go in there." He was messing his diaper and wanted to do it in private.

Anders tells me "I love this song" when he hears his favorite songs in the car.

He ALWAYS wants me to kiss it better, and I'm pretty sure that he even fakes owies sometimes just so that I can kiss it better. And after I do, he either says "all better" or "thanks momma."

Whenever Anders lets one rip I say "did you step on a duck?" He usually tells me "uh-huh." The other day he let one rip in front of Cam and said "dad, I squashed a duck!"

Anders squoze a squirting toy full of water in the tub the other day and said, "look mama, I made a rainbow."

He's starting to have conversations with his toys and I wish that he wouldn't pay attention when I whip out the video camera but of course he stops. One of my favorite things is to watch him play when he doesn't think that I'm looking.

Anders always wants family hugs. And sits and says (during the hugs) I love it! I love my family! I love family hugs! It brings tears to my eyes every time!

He puts on his watch and comes up to me and says "momma, what time is it?" I told him it was 7:30. He turned around and started walking away, looked back, pointed at me and said, "momma, you so smart".

This is definitely one of the best times of my life!

Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas... We sure did!

Chelsy's wedding

What a beautiful day (and location) for a wedding!

My little sister was married on Saturday of this past weekend and it all turned out to be so gorgeous!

The view from the balcony at Birch Creek

He had just about had enough.

The three of us.

Sisters... doesn't she look beautiful?

These two are the best of friends! Anders absolutely loves his cousins! With Kenley he seems to feel a constant need to bear hug and tackle her to the floor. The whole time with a big smile on his face and giggling as he goes. He's such a boy!

I have been having a hard time with posting lately. I usually start atleast one post a week and NEVER finish them. I keep coming up with different things that I want to say and then try to figure which order to put things in, and then try to upload photos in the correct order and by the time I get through thinking about it an hour has passed, and I give up. Then I try to start again on another day and I find a "better" way to do it all and start the process over again. Give up again, and then the next time I try I realize it's been a week and everything's outdated and not worth posting.

But here's an update on Anders:

He talks all day long!! Most of the time Cam and I are the only ones who can understand the things that come out of his mouth. Most people will catch a word here and there but I think Cam and I have gotten pretty good at interpreting his language.
I'm planning on posting a video soon of what he sounds like as he goes about his day. It's really quite hilarious. Everyone comments on what a chatter box he is.

I'm so proud of my intelligent little man. He knows all of his letters, his numbers 1-9, his primary colors, and a few of his shapes. In fact that seems to be his favorite thing these days. All he wants to do is tell me what things are. Even in public he points out signs and reads off the letters to me. And he regularly asks me throughout the day, "What's that?" and usually within two to three times of me telling him (he asks me over and over again, almost like he's making sure that it's sinking in), he's got it down. I LOVE that he wants to learn constantly and I love that I get to teach him! He says "wow" to so many things and I can already envision him walking into the living room on Christmas morning and that word coming out of his mouth. I can't wait! I've never been so excited for Christmas in my life!

The main reason that I haven't kept up with my monthly posts of Anders is because everyday he does something, lots of things really, that are cute and funny and just plain AMAZING!! I have no idea which ones I should be writing down and it almost seems like I forget them immediately because I'm so busy being entertained by the next thing he's doing. I just love being his mom. It's the best job in the world!

Oscar!!

This is my friend Sarah's new baby boy Oscar! Isn't he beautiful? We sure love him!

I'm not one to toot my own horn... but I must admit that I'm pretty darn proud of these pictures. Thank you Sarah for letting me harrass your little boy for a while.

Not too bad

Remember back when I was pregnant and I did this post?

Although the hair and eyes aren't right, I'd say it's not too shabby.

What do you think?