Time to Catch Up

A lot has been happening in the Anderson household.... but it has been difficult to blog since we are staying with friends and have limited access to all of our things. I promise I will get better when we move into the new house. (which should be in January) We have a framed house with windows and a roof... things are moving along.

I don't have my cable to upload pictures. We have had several big events that I would love to update you on but I will just leave you with this video and catch you up on the kids later. Avery is almost 14 months and running everywhere. Parker is 3 1/2 and loving school! I have pics of Avery's birthday party for another day. I will leave you with this....

Video we made for Avery's first birthday party

Moving on up!

Sorry we haven't been updating the blog much lately. Things have been a bit busy around here. We got a contract on our house about 10 days ago and they want us out by Friday...whew! It has been a whirlwind around here! We are building in Frisco and should be moved into our new home around Christmas or early January. (we hope) So...the blog will probably be on a hiatus for a while. All non-essential things are being put into storage and we are moving in with our good friends Angie and Eugene. By the time I write again, Avery will have turned one year old. Crazy how fast she has grown. Seems to have flown by even faster than Parker's first year. Jared also got a big promotion at work, just in time for the big move. I am so proud of him! We are truly blessed and grateful for the wonderfully crazy life we are living.

No vacation here!

Avery is giving me a round of applause for finally sitting down to update the blog. So get ready, it's long! No vacations in our house this summer. Staycation! We have decided to put our house on the market and build our dream home. Cross your fingers with us for it to sell! I guess that's why it's a month between posts. I spend all my free time working and cleaning... and chasing two little ones! So, here is my attempt to catch you up on our summer.

My grandmother passed away, the week after Mother's Day and will be dearly missed. Parker keeps saying he wants to "go to Heaven to see Mimi and Jesus." I told him he's not allowed to go until long after I am gone, but so sweet! Here she is meeting him for the first time.

Parker misses school but has started swim lessons. He was such a little fish. He loved going every day. Mommy got a bit tired by day 8!

Parker is so grown up that we have added some chores to his list. He is responsible for mowing the yard and watering the flowers. :)

We had a wonderful visit with out nieces, Hannah and Micaela. Micaela was not in this picture though.

Avery is crawling... EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING! She wants to do everything that big brother is doing and eat everything that big brother is eating. She is certainly going to be our mischievous child!

That grin cracks me up! She had just finished putting half the food in her mouth and half on my wood floors.

She loves to play hide and seek with Parker. This is her "you found me" face!

She is pulling to standing in her bed. She is almost able to do it on furniture too. Love those butts!

Here she is crawling. Hard to get the fast action shot, but she is quick!

Father's Day came and went without a huge celebration. My dad is in Bali on a mission trip. Jared's dad is in Florida. So, I made Jared breakfast, gave him presents and took him to the movies for a date. Even though we didn't do a lot that day... let me just tell you how much I love this man. Jared is the best dad! He wants to be home with his kids as much as possible, he loves to read bedtime stories, he melts for his daughter's grins, and he sets a good example of the kind of man I want Parker to be and the kind of man I want Avery to marry! We love our daddy!

Mother's Day 2009

This Mother's Day was doubly special as we had Avery's baby dedication the same day.  Parker and Jared gave me a wonderful basket filled with my favorite things before we headed to church for the baby dedication (notice my new necklace). Parker enjoyed saying "Happy Mother's Day" to anyone that looked like a mother.  

Avery seemed to enjoy being in the spotlight. She was full of smile for Pastor Kim Hall, the wonderful man that married us.  Parker loved that Avery's picture was on the jumbo-tron.  He REALLY wanted the microphone and loved that he was making people laugh.  I know we promised to raise Avery in a Christian home, but other than that, I can't recall what was being said because Parker was being such a ham.

He obviously did not get the memo that today was about Avery and Mommy.

Avery did look like a little princess.  And before you ask... this dress was from Sam's Club, that's right.  The $16.00 find of the century.  She looked just beautiful.

Birthday Party at the Zoo

Parker had a blast at his third birthday party at the Dallas Zoo.  He played with cute girls, got to ride in a wagon, got to pet a snake and so much more!  We are way behind on postings so here's few pics of the day.  I promise to try to get caught up soon!

He's growing up so fast.  So far I am thinking the three's are going to be much more tumultuous than the two's. We have had much more defiance and  testing of boundaries lately.  He is funnier than ever but with that sense of humor comes some not so funny opinions as well.  We are taking it one day at a time :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Parker!

Parker-

Your Dad and I marvel at the fact that you have been with us for three whole years.  The time has flown by amazingly fast.  It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital.  We love you so much and are so proud of the little man you are becoming.

We hope you enjoyed your third birthday as you celebrated at school with your friends.  I have never heard you talk so fast!  When I picked you up today, you told me that you were the Birthday Boy, that you got to pet the animals in the petting zoo, that you colored with chalk, that you played with Nana, that you got a Spider Man toy, and most importantly.... that this was "the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!"  (and that was all in one breath)  

I can't wait to see you at your real birthday party this weekend.  

You are a joy and a blessing from God.

I love you!

Mommy

Easter '09

Easter Sunday has always been a special day in my household.  We celebrate that our redeemer lives! Easter is doubly blessed for Jared and I as it was the day our sweet Parker Alan was born....granted the date always changes, but he was our Easter miracle in 2006.  He still brings us so much joy.

Last year he hunted the eggs, but didn't care very much about the contents.  This year, he knew the contents were candy...so he held on to each egg.  He didn't let one drop :)

We were blessed to have Avery Elizabeth to celebrate Easter with us this year.  She brings so much joy to our lives.  As you can see...she smiles from ear to ear when she sees us.  She smiles at strangers as well...just as long as they don't touch her.  She has been struggling with some major separation anxiety.  So much so, that this Sunday when we left her in the nursery at church, she cried hard enough to burst a small blood vessel in her eye!  Poor baby wants nothing to do with anyone other than her Mommy, Daddy or Uma.  Any suggestions on how to help her with this would be greatly appreciated.  It breaks our hearts that other people don't get to see this fun loving smile when we aren't around.

Parker was serious about his egg hunting and face painting at the church party this year.  He is becoming so fiercely independent.  I remember when he had separation anxiety and couldn't leave our side...now we have a hard time keeping him close enough to keep an eye on him!

Happy Easter everyone!  

Dallas Blooms 2009

Once upon a time in a land far away, a boy and a girl fell in love.

They stopped to smell the roses (or tulips) along their way.

They frolicked in waterfalls.

They loved a lot.

They laughed often.

They enjoyed the small things.

Especially those two small things.

And hopefully they taught their little ones to enjoy life and stop to smell the roses as well.

I LOVE my sweet family!

BIG weekend with BIG events

Some of you may have enjoyed spring break, vacations, and rest, but not this family.  We worked, played and were quite productive this week.  (we need a vacation soon though!)  I thought I would share with you our biggest accomplishments from the last week.

Avery learned to read...

She is so smart... she just devours her books!

Avery has progressed straight from baby foods to corn dogs.

As you can see she is quite proud of her accomplishments now that she sits completely by herself. It makes it much easier to reach over and steal food, toys, and wreak havoc on her brother.

And the biggest accomplishment of all... after two short weeks in pull ups....drumroll please..... Parker is now wearing big boy underwear!  He is going to HATE me for this post one day, but I can't resist.  I am so proud of my big boy and he is so proud of himself as you can see from his crazy antics below.  

The best part of this is, maybe I can quit buying ridiculous character clothing for him now that he has the power of "UnderRoos" to appease his need for cartoon character branding on his body.

The worst part is definitely dealing with the public bathrooms.  He wants to play with the nastiest things and it is so hard to make the pee-pee land in the potty while holding him precariously on the ledge of the seat.  

Parker's joy probably stems from the fact that I act as though we have just won the lottery every time he goes. (Maybe we did... we just got back $40 a month)  He has begun singing after every pee-pee and poo-poo "I did , I did it! Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No diapers anymore!"  I love that every major thing he does has a song attached to it. I can get this kid to do anything through singing.  I am not looking forward to the day that he realizes I am the worst singer on the planet.

I love the Zoolander pose and face he has going on in the last picture.  He is certainly Jared's son!

The Toddler's Creed

So I have noticed that I am obsessed with taking pictures of the kids.  It is as though Jared and I don't exist anymore.  I used to love having pictures of me and Jared together in different places and now we seem to have been banished to the spot behind the lens for eternity!  But how can I resist snapping away at my little cherub cheeked babies!  

I think Parker has gotten over wanting to return Avery to the hospital.  This week he wants to kiss and hug her constantly.  He is not a big fan of sharing his toys, but is otherwise very sweet these days.  

In this picture he is trying to steal her toy...of course he doesn't really want it, but darn it....Avery can't have fun with it.  It really cracks me up.  See the hilarious poem below that pretty much sums up life in our house these days!

 The "Toddler's Creed" appeared in the syndicated weekly newspaper article "Families Today" by T. Berry Brazelton. It is a nice reminder of the stresses we feel with normal behavior of toddlers. Enjoy.

If I want it, it's mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.
If I can take it away from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

Sometimes I feel the same way.  Those cheeks are mine! Those tiny toes are mine! Those belly laughs are all mine!  I just want to bottle them up at each stage in their life so I can open it and enjoy it later.  I guess this blog will be my bottle :)

Had to include a few pics from this weekend as well.  We went to see some family in Waxahachie this weekend and got some pics of my sweet girlfriend Angie with her newborn, Bailey Rae.  

And Uma ended up getting a picture taken too.  She is like the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot...it is very rare that she is captured on film!