May 28, 2009

It's Summer Time

I kept telling myself and Jeff that as soon as we got fast Internet that I would blog and keep it touch with every one so much better than when we had dial-up. Well I can’t blame having a slow Internet connection for my laziness any more.

We are getting close to Scott’s birthday. Time has gone by so fast and it seemed to go double fast forward after Iris was born.

Scott I call my cautious child. He won’t go anywhere near a street with out holding my hand and if I forget to hold his hand he screams at me until I remember. He is also very cautious on the playground, it took him until the age of two to go down the slide by himself and about the same age to cross the sagging bridge on the little playground. Iris is not cautious, I don’t know if it is her age or her personality, only time will tell. Since she walked early (11 month) her first slide experience was not with my help but by herself walking down the slide. Luckily I caught her before it became a real accident. A few minutes later, to my surprise, she had climbed up the steps again and was going to walk down the slide again. A short time later she learned not to walk down the slide but to go on her belly face first. She has finally learned to sit on her bottom and go down the slide, but every once in awhile she goes head first just to mix it up. She does the same thing with steps, she walks down them and falls, and even though I tell her and show her to sit on her bottom and go down them she continues to just step off them and fall. Oh and Iris would love to walk in the middle of street if we let her.



Scott loves to force his cautious nature onto Iris. If Scott sees Iris come near a step that he knows she should go down or any other dangerous situation (going outside while the lawn mower is mowing the grass is included as dangerous), he starts to scream “NO IRIS” and runs over and grabs her usually around the head or neck and ultimately pushes her down and she always ends up crying. I am still trying to figure out if I praise him for trying to protect his sister or send him to time out for pushing her over.



A good friend from college came to visit me this last week. She was in my ward and lived across the hall from me when I was in the first floor of the dorms. She came for about five days and we were busy the whole time. We went to see the sites in Nauvoo for the weekend and also to run a race in Quincy, IL. I had so much fun having her visit.



Scott has started do imaginative play a lot. He sits at the dinner table while I am cooking dinner and grabs a couple of utensils and pretends. I always try to listen but not let him notice that I am listening. He is also become a thinker. Lately I have caught him sitting still, usually wrapped up in his blanket, thinking. When I find him like this I usually smile and ask him what he is thinking about. So far he has responded with trains, the Mississippi, and “I want mommy to be a princess”. “Trains” is the usual reply and the “I want mommy to be a princess” has only happened once, after he told me that I “dressed up” by tying his favorite blanket around my waste and we danced.

In the morning Jeff usually stays just to wake the kids and eat part of breakfast with them before he takes off for work. Yesterday he helped Scott get breakfast and I helped Iris. I asked Iris to say Mama, and instead she said Dada. I asked her a couple more times and she would say Dada instead of Mama, so then I asked her to say Mommy and she replied by saying Daddy. What a little stinker!




It is summer time. The pool has official opened. We went on Monday in between rain clouds and we all got in and swam in the cold pool water. Scott is now a swimmer, of course with three different floatation devices holding him up. Iris loved the water. I was sure she would be scared of the pool just like Scott was at that age, but she didn’t even let out a cry when we put her in the cold water.


February 27, 2009

This is a current post






This picture was taken in the morning just after Iris woke up. She had an eye infection so her one eye was sealed shut with gunk. This didn't bother her at all and I thought it was funny to see her so excited but only able to open one eye. She is all better now.





Iris is walking. At the beginning of the week she could take two steps and then fall and with every day she takes one more. I can’t get over how adorable she is, and she has Jeff wrapped around her finger. He is a sucker for his little girl.

Iris’s first word was “HI”, which she will say to you over the phone and her next word was “Dada”. Jeff was about to leave for work the other morning, but I convinced him to come with me and wake up the kids. Iris was already standing up in her crib looking at the door when we came in. I went in first, so she saw me first and then once I was through the door Dad stepped in behind me to go and pick her up. She got very excited and said “Dada”. That made Jeff’s day, he loved it. One of Scott’s first words was “Dada” too. I have to agree with them, he is a pretty awesome Dada.

It has started to warm up a little and we have enjoyed every second of it. There is a little park not far from our house that I will run to with the stroller and let the kids play, even Iris is starting to enjoy the playground, she is fearless about going down the slide. Scott loves to pretend he is a scary dinosaur and chase Iris and me around the playground.

Scott has also been really into blenders lately. Yes, blenders. His favorite meal is Danish Hot Cakes (aka crepes with butter and sugar), which Jeff makes. To mix all the ingredients well Jeff puts it in the blender. The blender also makes a loud sound that Scott used to be afraid of but has conquered his fear of and loves. Scott can turn almost anything in the house into a “blender” (the upside down stool is one of his favorites). Things that are put into the “blender” consequently become “Danish Hot Cakes” (blankie Danish Hot Cakes is the favorite). In the picture above you can see that even Pooh Bear has not escaped the “blender” and was for the moment a “Pooh Bear Danish Hot Cake”. He had me try some, it was very tasty. ☺

My Dad just sent me a book of photographs of Nevada. I love it. It makes me very homesick. I love the mountains and wide-open spaces, to truly be able to see for miles in any direction, for a person that loves the city that must be a scary thought but for me it feels reassuring. I especially love the Nevada sunsets. I can remember playing outside when the sun would set and just stare at it. I even tried one time to draw it with chalk on the driveway. I remember I had to use almost every color of chalk I had to get the colors just right.

What I should have posted two weeks ago

I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago, but got busy and forgot.

I have had three exciting new things happen in the last couple of weeks. They are in no order of importance, all three are important.

I received my diploma in the mail this last weekend. This makes it official. I applied for graduation and never heard anything back, not even some kind of confirmation or congratulation email from the college. I was worried that I might need a few more credits, but I don’t and I am done! HURRAY!

I also received new glasses in the mail the same day I got my diploma. My glasses broke two weeks ago and I ordered some new rimless ones. I ordered my glass online; they are a lot cheaper that way. I ordered them through goggles4u.com for $60 with shipping. Glasses, because of my strong prescription, would cost at the minimum $400 if I were to go to a regular eyeglass shop. I think I like the pair I got. I would like to order one more pair so I could switch between the two. I highly recommend goggles4u.com they did an excellent job and they have the best prices.

Last but not least, I got some new hair. Yes, new hair, not a new hair-do, but new hair. Jeff likes it and I think it is fun. I wore it to the Valentines dance and to Church the next day. I got a lot of compliments on it. I think I might invest in a couple of different styles.

I think that it is important to post picture of all three of these events, but I don’t have any pictures of them. As soon as I get them I will post them.

January 04, 2009

January 02, 2009

Christmas

For Christmas we were with Jeff’s family. Brian and Stacy were also there and we got a call from Jeff’s brother who is on a mission on Christmas Day. Scott and Iris had lots of fun playing with the train and running around the house. I love having so much help with the kids, it makes it hard to come home and be alone with them when Jeff is at work or church.

Brian dressed up like Santa this year and Scott loved it. We haven’t really ever told him about Santa, but he has figured it out somehow. I am pretty sure he doesn’t understands it, other than Santa wears red and has a white beard and looks oddly like Uncle Brian! Scott was a little upset when Santa left on Christmas Eve and didn’t let him open the rest of the presents under the tree. We did open them the next morning and Scott loved it and Iris loved eating the ribbon.

I was able to talk to my family a lot even though I wasn’t with them. We got wonderfully fun gifts for Scott, Iris, and for us. I will post pictures of them.

Scott got a singing “O little Town of Bethlehem” book for Christmas a couple of years ago from Great Grandpa Anderson. The book plays the song and has a story to read, at the end of the book the words to the first verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” are printed. I have often thought about the phrase “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”. With these words the Lord helped me to appreciate why we celebrate his birth. I went to the temple with my good friend the day before we left for Ohio. As I was waiting for my friend I put a few names on the prayer roll and then stood back next to the wall, still in view of the notepad that is used for the prayer roll. Almost everyone that past by stopped at the prayer roll and put a few names on it. As I was in the temple session the phrase “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” kept repeating through my head. I began to think of the many hopes and fears I have for me, for my family, and for my friends, some of whom I had written on the prayer roll. I thought of how I saw many others stop and write on the pray roll those they had hopes and fears for. Jesus came into the world to atone and take upon himself all my hopes and fears, for surely I would nothing without him, but not only for my hopes and fears but all the hopes and fears of all that live, have lived and will yet live on the earth. Jesus was born into this earth as the prophets have testified and lived a perfect life and then gave his life as the great and last sacrifice; he did this because he loves mankind because he desires to take upon him the hopes and fears of all people if they will only accept him.

I will post pictures soon.

About Me

We are currently in St. Louis, Missouri, while my husband works on a Ph.D. in Chemistry. I am a stay-at-home mother of two very wonderful children, Scott and Iris.