Shark Attack

Some co-workers at Joel & Rhonda's school gave Anders this shark hat. He just loves it and looks hilarious in it. What a cute guy! And what a great buy at the dollar store!

A Slide and Some Staples

It's official: Anders is a climber.

Currently he climbs up and over anything he can. The sofa, chairs, the seats in the van.

And now the rails of his crib and the sides of his pack n play.

I'd say he's an expert.

Normally I'd be proud of his accomplishments. But I'm sure you can think of a few ramifications of said behavior.

I have been scearching Craig's List every day for the last few weeks--like 2 and 3 times a day--to find a slide or outdoor play equipment or something for this child to play on! But every time I emailed the equipment had already sold. Someone out there was a faster emailer than me!

I finally found a good deal on this slide set and I am so excited to finally have something for him to do that's "safe" (we'll see how long it takes him to figure out he can jump off of the top).

Tonight he was outside playing with Joel while I made dinner.






As a side note, those of you who are a bit perceptive may have noticed something odd about our dog.

Yes, she is wearing a cone on her head.


And a few more "yes statements" about this incident:

Yes, she did run around the neighborhood (taking herself for a jog as we call it) last Tuesday night while Joel and Anders were playing in the front yard and I was desperately trying to get some stuff done at work.

Yes, she came back to the driveway with blood spewing out her hind leg.

Yes, she required an emergency visit to the vet (which then met a fair amount of blood all over the backseat of the van).

Yes, I had to leave work early.

Yes, we were terribly stressed.

Yes, Joel had band practice for church that night, which he had to miss.

Yes, it cost a lot of money, although a lot less than what others have said their vet bills for similar injuries cost.

Yes, she has 5 staples in her ankle.

Yes, the cone is WAY more annoying than you can ever imagine. Can you imagine being Anders (or any of the other small children to visit my house in the last week) and being face to face with a dog with that thing on her head?!

And yes, this did make me (and Joel for a little while) want to give her away even more so than before.

Today the vet said we could come back any time between May 29 and June 1 to have the staples removed.

Yes, we will be there as early as possible on Saturday morning. Despite the fact that it's our anniversary.

A Little Boys' Room

It is officially spring in Colorado and has been since Friday. How do I know? Not by looking at the calendar, but by looking at my little man's legs. Friday was the first day of "shorts weather" here and by Friday night at 7:00pm, they were skinned up, banged up and bruised.

Just like mine when I was his age. I have the scars to prove it. But, he doesn't seem to mind one bit. And I guess as long as his injuries don't involve stitches or broken bones, I'm ok with that.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working very hard on getting Anders' room painted. It was a very nice color yellow previously, but it just didn't fit for this All-American rough & tumble boy.

I am so grateful for my friend, Monique's, help. In one afternoon (while 2 little boys slept!) we got all of the tan and light blue painted. Then, over the last week I worked on the navy blue stripe and all the touch ups. I love how it turned out!

Here are the curtains that have been a work in progress. My mom & I made the top part back in December and then Monique helped me work on the bottom part (that closes) a few weeks ago.

Below are some things I've found that fit his "sports" theme. And the letters that Monique and I worked on...she made letters with a car theme for her son and I did sports for Anders. 


Do you notice a theme here? I really need all the help I can get! And I would MUCH rather work on crafting projects with a friend rather than alone!

Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day here in Colorado--the weather was beautiful! I spent all of this morning at church helping with the Children's Choir--they did such a great job! Then came home to enjoy lunch with Joel, Rhonda (Joel's mom) and Anders.

We had some time to take pictures and Joel got some really good ones of Anders. He discovered this hat--purchased by my mom a while back--in his old room and decided it was his new favorite thing. The only time he hasn't worn it in the past 3 days is to church and bed!

What a cutie--I sure am blessed!

We then went off to Joel's softball games--his team won both games today! Enjoyed some Macaroni Grill before watching the finale of Amazing Race. What a great day. 

Hope you had a great day, too!

Anders LOVES puzzles. Shapes, letters, cars, animals, whatever...he loves to put the pieces together. His new trick, however, is trying to piece things together that don't necessarily go together. The other morning while enjoying waffles, it was putting his fork in his straw. Although his face doesn't show it (his mouth is crammed full of syrup-y waffles), he was quite pleased with himself.

As of today, he hasn't remembered this trick.

I won't be reminding him.

Somewhere in Between

I've recently become very fond of a saying our pastor quoted in a sermon a while ago...

You're never as good as people say you are. 

And you're never as bad as they say either.

You are probably somewhere in between. 

This comes in handy when a fellow teacher or co-worker is feeling really down in the dumps about what parents and others are saying about them. Our pastor was also saying it about himself in his role of leading our congregation. (And we all know that parents & church members can be very opinionated) Often we only hear criticism from those who whine the loudest and we only hear praise from those who gush over us unrealistically.

It's more important to keep a level head.

The reality is, you--in your job, volunteering, as a parent, etc...--are most likely doing better than you think but there's always room for improvement.

At least that's what I keep telling myself.