I had to put up this picture of Anders in the tubby. We went on a big walk tonight with our destination being Wal-Mart. It's pretty close but we always drive everywhere and I realized that it could be a very pleasant walk. While at the store we saw a can of "Thomas the Train" bubble bath. He really likes "choo choo's" so I decided that it would make bath time even more fun. The bubbles were fabulous but the berry scent wasn't so hot in my opinion. Anders was VERY impressed by the bubbles and had fun washing his own hair.

The table picture is exciting for me because if you have been over to our apartment you would know that we have been living for a long time with metal folding chairs and a hand-me-down table that used to be Aunt boo boo's. We finally upgraded and I am SO HAPPY. We still have one chair to assemble but I am very happy with the results.



And of course I had to include a picture of laundry day. For some reason I like to document this kind of thing. Don't ask me why.

Today was so productive thanks to my mom who lovingly and willingly took Anders for the day. It's amazing what can be accomplished without a little one clinging to my leg. I tackled six loads of laundry, decluttered our bedroom and Anders room, shopped at Trader Joe's, worked on this blog, vacuumed the floors.... and had a nice visit with mom at the end of the day. Now a chicken is roasting in the oven and there is still a small pile of clothes on the couch that need to be folded. It feels so good to get back on track after the Holidays! For some reason Christmas gets me all out of wack. The house gets extra cluttered, laundry get put on hold and new gifts get piled into corners until they find a new home. Of course surrounding that chaos is a lot of fun and joy so I suppose it's worth the extra work.
Today as I was walking back and forth to the laundry room I started thinking about one of the ways I make the task enjoyable. I live in a nice quiet apartment community. It's gated and it really feels like a safe little village. Most of the apartments have little elements of care put into them like a wreath on the door, some flowers around the outside or other reminders that these are people's homes. I imagine that I'm somewhere in Europe and this place is my town. I have to walk to do my laundry but it's ok because life is so slow and enjoyable and it's just part of the daily rhythm. For some reason this makes the chore of doing laundry seem pleasant instead of an intrusive, tiring, time sapper.

Here are a few more pictures of Christmas. I had to include some from the Seelye family gathering. I also hadn't put up any pictures of Erin Jim and Garrett so here they are!

We really had a good time over at the Stevens house. It was fun to share the event with a family that just came to the States from Rwanda. The father has been here for awhile studying at Talbot and his family, wife and three teenagers just arrived before Christmas. They were a welcome addition to the group.

Sorry about the delay in posting. I am using Chris' laptop now and our photos are on Picasa. It's a totally different way of posting pictures and much more cumbersome. I think that I have it down now.
Christmas was so much fun this year. Having an 18 month old makes Christmas so enjoyable and it was especially fun to see him come out on Christmas morning and see all of his new toys and a TENT! That one was a big hit.
We had Chris' mom stay with us and that was actually really great. It was a more relaxed way for her to visit and we were able to spend some quality time with her. Anders got really good at giving kisses and he seemed to really enjoy all of the attention.
It's been fun to read all of the blogs detailing your Christmas'. So here is to a blessed New Year and a great 2008!

Here are a few of just us. As you can see Anders is getting alot more active and getting a nice picture is more work these days. =0) He really had a fun Christmas and got lots of attention from all of the family.

Here is Heather at Christmas eve at the Stevens. And the bottom picture is Chris and his mom before she left to go back home the day after Christmas. We really had a good time all together.

Here is a fun picture of Anders playing with his new loud truck. It's still scary to him when it moves but he does love it!

I'm trying to figure out our new picture system on the laptop that we switched over to. Pictures will be coming soon. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!d

I realize that I've been lazy about updating my blog so here is the latest. We have been renovating our apartment. Chris' mom is coming to stay with us for Christmas and since we only have two bedrooms and one of them is the baby/office/paper mess room. So yesterday and tonight was a flurry of activity trying to turn it into just a baby/guest room. It required lots of shredding and rearranging. We bought an Aero bed and it's blown up and ready to be slept on. Now the living room is in chaos and I'm too tired to even worry about it.
So, some time between tonight and tomorrow the house needs to get pulled together.
I'm planning on having a baking day on Friday with Eloise and at some point I need to go Christmas shopping.
I'll put some pictures up after the Holidays and by then everything will have been pulled together and we will have made some nice memories.

Merry Christmas!

We left for Oxnard on Friday around noon after a relaxed lunch at Chick' fillet. We chose to take the PCH scenic route which ended up being about the same time wise as the freeway but prettier!

Anders got to relax and sleep most of the way!




Friday night we went out for a special dinner at the "Side Car Restaurant"











While we were in Oxnard we ate a wonderful free breakfast at our hotel, did laundry, went on a harbor cruise,ate luch at Andrea's sea food, visited the local children's museum..... all in one day!


On Sunday morning we got up early and checked out of the hotel by 6:30 in the morning to make it to church by 7:30! Anders was a trooper and napped on the way.

O.K., here is a load of Thanksgiving pictures. We had a very nice time at my parents house with lots of good food and family fun.



Anders was much loved as usual!



It wouldn't be a holiday without golf practice!

Here are a few pictures of Anders from the last couple of days. On Monday I took him to downtown Fullerton to see the trains come and go. He was appropriately impressed and I plan on taking him there again soon. I have been trying to get Anders to transition to a sippy " cup instead of a bottle and it is not going well. The bottle is a huge source of comfort and I'm embarrassed to admit that it's what helps him go to sleep.... bad mom. So, in the next month or so I will continue to talk about cups and give it to him first instead of the "ba ba".
The middle picture was from tonight and I was impressed with how old he is looking. Chris and I decided that he now looks like a kid and not a baby. Kind of sad but fun too.
Lately he has been very interested in babies and says "baby" quite clearly and sweetly. He loves looking at pictures of his new cousin Garrett on Erin's blog. We are looking forward to Christmas to get some cousin time in!
Tonight, he spent about 15-20 minutes perfecting the "spin and get dizzy" game. It was pretty funny to watch and I was slightly concerned that he would get sick but he seemed to just wear himself out which was fine with me.
Chris has been busy with work and so far we haven't seen the commercial his voice was used on, so we'll see.
We are looking forward to getting away for Thanksgiving. We'll spend the weekend in Oxnard and do some touristy things while we are there. It's our first family vacation just the three of us and we are really looking forward to it.

I figured it's about time to post again since Halloween is quite over now. I was asked by a couple of people how our trip to Cincinnati was since I hadn't posted about it yet. My camera was MIA when we went so Chris' mom graciously sent all of the pictures from the trip to me about a week ago. I have yet to upload and name them but when I do I'll put a couple up here. (the camera was found shortly after we came home in the couch cushions).
The trip was really fun despite traveling with an active toddler. He adjusted pretty well to the 3 hour time change and was a trooper with all of the driving and late meal times. We got to visit with Chris' grandpa one of the days and that was a special treat. He hadn't seen Anders in person so it was especially meaningful for all of us. He has been having some health problems and Chris and I have been talking about going out to visit for a while. Luckily he was feeling good enough to meet us half way between West Virginia where he lives, and Cincinnati. We met at a State park lodge which was really quite pretty and we took plenty of pictures (coming later). It was good to spend leisurely time with Chris' mom and go to her church on Sunday. We also got to spend a relaxing day at a really nice local park with Chris' dad and Aunt one of the days. Anders really took an interest in airplanes and the day we got home we were sitting on the floor of our apartment playing and an airplane went over. Anders eyes got really big and he pointed up with quite a bit of urgency. He seemed to really know what that sound was after all the traveling that we did.

On another note, if you happen to be home during the day next week and flip on the t.v. you may get to hear Chris' voice! He recorded a commercial for "Cash Call" a horrible lending company that advertises to the desperate and destitute (and charges accordingly!). I looked them up online and read some interesting reviews.
It will probably air mid day during the talk show circuit. I'm curious to hear it myself so we'll have our tube on until we hear it!

Here are some pics from our Halloween experience. Anders LOVED walking around and seeing all of the people. He didn't seem to bothered by the Scream masks or spooky looking pumpkins. The top picture is of James and Anders at Mommy and Me class yesterday. They got to try out their costumes before the big day.
The first house we stopped at tonight was Philip and Abby's house next door to my parents. Philip and Michael Posey and another friend were having fun passing out candy. After going to about 5 houses we came home and Anders played with his "loot" for a while and then lost interest. He doesn't know yet that those bright crunchy wrappers hold yummy treats!

Quick post to plug the latest updated "Life Behind The Picket Fence" blog. We're trying to put some new stories up so check it out.

I received a call from Chris' dad today and he was wondering whether we were affected by the fires or not. Sunday morning we got up as usual to make our hour long trek to Malibu for church. We were listening to "the Jesus Christ show" on KFI which we always enjoy on Sunday mornings. We made it all the way to almost past Santa Monica when the news reports started coming in about a pretty bad fire that was getting worse in Malibu. Malibu Presbyterian Church had burned to the ground and that is just up the hill from our building. So, we turned around and went to get breakfast at a local diner and then made our way back. We ended up going to Granada (the church where I grew up and where my parents go) for church.
Since Sunday the fires have increased although some containment is happening. The air here is pretty retched though and it is HOT. I will look forward to the end of this bad fire season. Hopefully there won't be more homes lost than there have been up till now.

I finally found my camera in the cushions of the couch so now I can finally post pictures from our trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had a blast with Laura Blackwell and her two girls, Abby and Megan. Abby is at the age where she can really enjoy all of the sights and although Anders and Megan had fun they will enjoy it even more in a year or so. Actually Anders had almost more fun climbing on the window frames. As you can see in the top picture other little boys had fun doing this also!