So, next month is Anders two year old birthday and we are getting geared up for a full on Thomas the Train birthday party. The two year birthday is coming at the just the perfect time for the two year old behaviour to start. I have to say that we have a VERY good boy. He is sweet and contemplative, loves babies, "buppies" and his teddy bears, listens really well to instructions and follows them with gusto. He loves to run and get me a diaper and bring it to me and then lay down on the floor to be changed. This is a very useful and welcome step in his growth. Yesterday he made it clear that he wanted to sit on the couch and watch a movie while I got ready for the day instead of sitting in his high chair like I normally would have him do. When I told him that I needed to get a shower he ran over to the couch, climbed up on it and said "stay" with a very firm nod of the head. So that's what he did! It was WONDERFUL. When we are out driving he looks for every truck or bus and hollers it out "TUCK" or "BUTH" along with an occasional "BIG BIG" thrown in. I love it.
Along with these new developments there are a few not so fun ones. Because he can't really talk yet there are a lot of winey sounding grunts and noises along with a lot of shrill screaming. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of making dinner or doing dishes he comes up behind me and hugs my legs and then NIPS me. I feel like I'm in the movie "Jaws". It's a little creepy. He now knows that he can run away from me when I ask him to come to me, the word "NO" is an answer to most anything. He is really getting more independent which is very good and he's trying to do more climbing and balancing. Tonight we were over at my Grandmas house and he had given me a good nip and so he was in time out on one of the kitchen chairs. He tried to stand up and fell face first onto the hard kitchen floor. So not only was he in trouble for biting but he was hurt and surprised as well. Luckily he recuperates pretty fast!
So, I welcome a new year with new accomplishments. I welcome a child that can talk and communicate with me, and most of all I look forward to the day that I won't flinch every time he comes up to give me a kiss hoping that it doesn't turn into a bite!

Quick update on my last blog. We didn't see anyone famous but we saw a lot of paparazzi wandering around looking for famous people to harass! Later in the evening I was looking at an entertainment site and I saw Kelsey Gramer (s)? on camera in the parking lot where we were parked earlier in the day. Although we go to Malibu every week it is rare to see someone famous. I'm sure I wouldn't recognize anyone if I bumped into them in Starbucks.

On another note the weather today is MUCH cooler and I have all of the windows open to let the cool air in. At the moment I am looking out the window at the sky and it looks like we may get some drizzle at some point! It would be nice if we had some spring-like days before summer truly sets in!

Chris and I just got in the door from a pleasant night out at Downtown Disney. We are both soooo tired and the weather has been freaky hot which is part of the reason for the fatigue. Yesterday was at least 95 if not 100 degrees and today was more of the same. It feels like the middle of July. So weird for the middle of May! If this weather holds out it's going to be a long long summer here in La Habra. For now we are running our air conditioning at 11:04 in the evening and I'm hoping that Anders isn't to hot in his stuffy room with the window open and the fan running.
Tomorrow will be spent in Malibu which will be cooler and prettier. We are going to meet some good friends for lunch down near our church and hopefully spot some stars while we're at it! If I see anyone famous I'm sure I'll have to write about it!

Finding the moon in the afternoon.....

We had a very relaxing afternoon at the park today. It's a tradition with my parents to spend most of Mother's Day at Penn park and escape the craziness of the restaurants and other public places.
Chris and I weren't so smart this morning and decided to go out to brunch before the park. Luckily Chris found a replacement sound tech for the church job and we were able to lounge about a little. Then we called the place that we wanted to have brunch and they were booked up of course. So we made the short trek to Polly's pies, a place where I have lots of good childhood memories. The wait was about 45 min. Breakfast was... "Grill scraping and eggs" according to Chris. There were a few pieces of unknown crispy, fatty somethings swimming around in it and Chris says that he was still nauseous thinking about it. Mine was pretty good although I did send back my waffles once do to them being burned and cold, something I normally would never do.
My mom assured me that this is why they NEVER go out on Mother's day. So next year we'll actually take my mom's recommendation and hunker down and enjoy breakfast at home.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day.

Yesterday Anders was sitting on my lap while I checked my e-mail, uploaded photos and talked on the phone. My camera was on the desk and he wanted to play with it so I thought I'd take a picture. Chris noticed that I was wearing my apron and mentioned that I looked a bit frazzled. I was a little. We had a busy fun day yesterday and before the picture was taken I was trying to get ONE thing done for the day. That ended up being the kitchen which had begun to look like a playroom/science experiment/office/farmers market/.... you get the picture. It was in need of a good scouring.
After getting the kitchen cleaned, we went out to buy Anders some new shoes in Uptown Whittier. There is an adorable children's store called "The Wishing Well" that has every cool and fun toy imaginable and some pretty cute clothes and shoes. Anders feet are really wide and he had started to complain about the tennis shoes that he wears everyday. They were a little big length wise but too narrow. The other pair of shoes that he owns have so many holes in them he might as well be wearing socks. So, I broke down and bought a fairly expensive pair of sandals made by "See Kai Run". They are super cute and seem wide enough.
After that we went to my parents house for dinner and a visit. When I told Anders we were going to Grandma and Grandpas house he said "bolf"? and then put his finger in his mouth to try to make a popping noise like my dad does to amuse him. Of course we had a great visit and the golf club was swung many times and there was a lot of "mouth popping".

See below posts for descriptions.

(I'm having trouble posting pictures so I'll do a couple of posts without writing just pictures)



Today we had a fun visit with Kristy and James Caver. We all went to the Santa Ana Science Museum where they have a big dinosaur exhibit. The play yard was a huge hit although Anders loved the weather and other exhibits in the main area as well. He especially liked one with a bunch of balls that would fall from the top onto various tracks and slide down. He and James seemed to hit it off better than they have before mostly because they are a little older now and can actually play together!



Of course I had fun visiting with Kristy as usual. I'm hoping to get a Disneyland pass sometime soon so that Anders and I can have another fairly inexpensive activity to do during the week. Most of my friends have passes including Kristy so we'd have plenty of company.
He is free until three so we are going to try and take advantage of that this year!

On Saturday I came out to the kitchen where Chris was feeding Anders breakfast. Both Chris and I were struck with how crazy his hair looked that day. I will be cutting it soon so I thought these pictures would be good for documentation purposes.

I have been observing something lately that is interesting and it's really telling about the media. While listening to KFI or pretty much any news radio or TV, I here the term "immigrant" used to describe illegal immigrants. Now I believe that immigration is an extremely important part of American society. Pretty much every person walking around the U.S. (besides native Americans) has a background that involved some kind of immigration. From the Pilgrims on the Mayflower to the Swedes, Irish, Africans, Norwegians, Italians and so many other nationalities who have made America their home. This country is made up of every type of person most of whom immigrated at some point.

The problem is that all of a sudden law doesn't matter. The thing that makes an American be an American, primarily the process of becoming a U.S. citizen is given no priority or authority. The disturbing thing is that the only people given this slip of the law are coming from Mexico. My friend Annie who is from Scotland recently (in the last couple of years) married an American. She went through all of the correct channels and waited for work visas and paperwork that took forever. The process was hard but she respected the process and has since been rewarded with citizenship work visas and such. Now she can be proud of the being an American and taking the right steps and following the laws of her new country.

As Americans we welcome with open arms the foreigner. Those who can't make it in their own country. Those who are persecuted, hungry and needy. But is there going to be any enforcement of the law? Do those needy people even care about the country that so freely welcomes them?

We need to call it "ILLEGAL immigration" not "immigration. After all that's what it is right? The United States of America needs to recognize illegal immigration for what it is and hold everyone to the same standard. It's not fair to those who take the time to respect the laws of the country they want to be a part of and spend the time needed to become a citizen. I feel crazy for even having to analyze this, I mean it seems so fundamental! But it seems like things that should be so obvious aren't anymore.

I would love to hear the correct term used but I'm afraid that would force the issue! (Oh, and it might make some people feel uncomfortable...)

A few things we have been up to lately......

- Immunizations for Anders today. (poor baby)
- Looking for somewhat affordable housing closer to Chris' work ie in the Valley, Calabasas, Agoura, Burbank etc....
- Starting to plan a possible family vacation to Seattle and the surrounding areas for this summer
- Enjoying our trips to Malibu every Sunday for Church (it's been getting better over the last couple of months.)
- Trying to be just a little healthier...
- Cleaning out closets and making trips to the Goodwill
- Taking a "water babies" swim class with Kristy Caver and James. The last class was yesterday.
- Thinking about more babies and wondering when the right time is to have one....
- Planning a two year old party for Anders which is coming up in June.

Yesterday Anders had fun playing with Aubrey in their little wading pool. It's fun to see the personality of the kids as they interact. Anders is pretty cautious and careful with his movements. He is pretty methodical with what he does. Aubrey on the other hand is quite a tom boy and charges ahead not seeming to mind when she falls down or bumps into something. Anders came running over to me with his hand held out and was squealing with annoyance. I thought that he must have a little bug on his hand or something but it turned out to just be a little piece of grass that had stuck to his hand. he doesn't like getting dirty and I have to keep telling him that it's o.k. to have a little dirt on his hands. Aubrey would stomp through mud then sit down to play in it if her mom would let her! Kelly and I were laughing about how different they are and how it is quite obvious even at this age!

A day of chopping veggies and playing around the house.

Anders was pretty patient while I worked.

In the last two days I have scared the bejeebers out of Anders at least twice. I have to admit that I am really afraid of bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jacket's, and pretty much any thing with wings and a stinger. It probably has to do with the fact that I've never been stung and have no idea what kind of pain to expect. Anyways, yesterday I had the door open while Anders played on the porch with water and I cleaned. I had just put Anders in time out for trying to hit me and he was a little emotional about that and I looked up and a HUGE wasp had drifted in from outside. At that same moment I was on the phone with my grandma who had just called. Of course I screamed and ran to grab a pillow off the couch. My reaction must have been pretty dramatic because Anders completely freaked out and was crying but not getting off his "time out chair". I hung up with grandma and watched and waited while that big old wasp cruised around the apartment. Anders was still crying and wondering what was wrong. Pretty soon after being misted with poison the wasp flew into the window, I slammed it and waited for it to expire. It did eventually.
Today slightly same scenario except no time out and no grandma on the phone. I was showing Anders how to water the flowers on the porch and all of a sudden a very loud buzzy bee hit my head. It was so close to my ear that it sounded especially loud. I spilled the water on the floor and me and Anders..... He ran inside with me as fast as possible. I'm not sure what was wrong with the bee. After it hit my head it landed on the ground and convulsed for a few minutes until I put it out of it's misery. I guess that my head wasn't very forgiving.

Besides getting run into by the bee today, I went to La Habra Ranch Market with my mom which was great. I have always wanted to go there with her to ask about various vegetables and get her opinion about the quality of what I want. After shopping and lunch I came home and chopped up all of the veggies and put them in bags ready for the next week. There is something so gratifying about chopping and preparing good food. It is so satisfying!
One other little side note. Anders has been kind of sentimental the last couple of days. Yesterday I was singing "away in a manger" to him and his lip got all quivery and he almost started crying! I figured that he must be a little tired or something so today I sang it to him again and the same thing happened! He really is our little tender heart.

Filling time until lunch.

Tonight Chris was able to come home for dinner so we let Anders stay up and eat with us. Usually Anders is in bed when Chris comes home so it was an especially novel evening for him. I really enjoyed cooking a nice dinner of Ahi steaks and spending some good family time together. This would be one of the advantages to moving closer to Chris' work. It was also nice to tag team bed time! =0)

The bottom picture was taken early one morning while Anders was watching Sesame Street. That is a favorite in the morning and I don't mind him watching it too often. He loves "melmo" and he LOVES it when I count. Sometimes when he isn't listening to me I start counting and he comes running! (I'm totally that mom who's like "OK! 1....2....3.....!" A little bit annoying but pretty effective.

The top picture is just another bit of evidence for later when Anders is complaining about having to go to another golf lesson. We'll just pull this picture out and remind him that he told us what his destiny was at 22 months. We are amused that he is so crazy about a sport that is so slow moving and precise. He will watch the golfers and then try the stance and movements. It's pretty funny.

Here is an interesting link regarding Oprah and her endorsement of Eckhart Tolle's book "A New Earth". Although it is a bit sensational and dramatic it is something important to evaluate. There have always been New Age authors and strange ideas that speak against Jesus but this book seems to be grabbing a hold of a whole group of people in my generation. Her book club is popular and she has always endorsed pretty good literature. I often go to the Oprah Book Club list for reading ideas. A friend of mine was reading "A New Earth" recently and I wondered what it was about. I saw one small segment of Oprah's show before I knew anything about the book and my first impression was that it wasn't something I would necessarily read so I watched something else at the time.

Anyways, Oprah is a huge influence on our society and her beliefs are making there way into the main stream everyday. The question I am asking myself is, are her ideas ones that I want in my head?, What in life matters in the end? Do I want to support the neutral or good things about Oprah's show if this is truly what she believe and is basically preaching to millions of people?

It really made me think about what I believe. I do believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father God except by BELIEVING in him. (at one point Oprah makes a statement about the not needing to believe).

So, I encourage anyone who reads this to watch the youtube clip and think about the ideas that come across our eyes and ears everyday.

One funny side note. When Chris lived in Cincinnati, he remembers one Christmas sermon at the church he was attending at the time. The pastor referred to the Holy Spirit as a "Specter" (said with a religious tone). This is kind of like that....

Miss Veta Lindsey passed away a few days ago and I wanted to share a little about her. She was one of those people who couldn't be compared to anyone else I've known. She was funny, she loved practical jokes and was always looking for a chance to pull one. She was extremely generous and had a heart for the helpless or hurting. She always had a gleem in her eye and a wry smile that showed that she was up on what was going on. Miss Lindsey prayed. She prayed for me and on occasion had inside knowledge from the Holy Spirit that she used to encourage me. I know she prayed for many other people as well. She loved Jesus.
Here is a link to a song that reminds me of Miss Lindsey and it brought a smile to my heart when I heard it. I hope you like it as well! (the link takes you to my MySpace address where the song is posted.)

Today I'm on a blogging spree. There has been so much going on and I feel compelled to blog it! Scroll down for all of the blogging fun! This one is just Easter. Chris took some pictures with his iPhone and I loved the ones he took.




Anders loves to talk with my dad about golf! That's what they were doing after church before this picture was taken.







The one with my mom and Aunt G. is great. Everyone had fun taking pictures on Sunday.