Summer fun

I love having the summer's off from work. The fun filled possibilities are endless. It's funny too because it really doesn't take much to entertain a 21 month old. Jackson seems to enjoy doing just about anything.
Last night was 'Anderson Family Fun Night', haha, we try to get out at least one night a week to do something fun together as a family. We chose to eat at Mojo Burger and go to the park. Excitement all around...

Jackson has become a pro at the slide and he even impressed me when he chose to climb up some big kid contraption to get to the slide as opposed to just using the conventional method which would have been the stairs in this case. Check out his skills...

Just to run off a little steam Jack and his Dad went and ran the bases, we are envisioning our little baseball player in the making.

Jack loved the chicken nuggets, but mostly he just loves ketchup and will dip everything in it. When he doesn't find anything satisfactory to dip into the ketchup, he just picks it up and starts sucking it out of the cup. It's totally gross but so entertaining to watch.

He's also really in to the Little Einstein videos. That's what he watches while he does his breathing treatments everyday. He's so funny because now he is actually starting to interact with the videos and answer questions they ask and do the hand gestures they teach. This is a little clip of his choreography skills...I am just highlighting all sorts of skills!?

On Tuesday of this past week we decided a trip to visit Grandma and Auntie was in order. I drove Jackson and Logan up to Sacramento and we stayed over night so the boys could get in a little cousin time.

Just arrived, the fun times are about to unfurl.

Reacquainting Logan and Leila.

He's just so cute and smiley all the time.

Can't you just tell they're getting into mischief already?

Aunt Nina is so cool, she makes the boys nuggets and let's them eat lunch on the back porch while watching a DVD. Check out Dylan's fancy toy, Jackson definitely doesn't have anything like that at home.

Logan will hang out in Leila's rainforest bouncer forever! He loves checking out the cool toys and jumping around.

They have a pool in their complex that is pretty incredible if I do say so myself. It was yet another venue for Jackson to display his fearlessness. Before we even got the arm floaties on him, he was already running head first into the pool. He loves stairs and wanted to go up and down the steps that led in and out of the water. Once he got the floaties on he started swimming all over the place. He figured out very quickly how to hold his head up and with a little steering help from him mom, he took off. It was pretty cool.

Aunt Nina is attempting to wrangle the wild animals!

Keeping his head up.

My futile attempt at some swimming lessons.

A quick picture before he wiggled out of my arms and took off.

The stairs...here he is running them without arm floaties. I had to supervise very carefully. He only went under twice and I got him out quickly. He didn't seem too phased by it though because he just kept on going.

Aunt Nina can get Logan to smile real big. Check out her sun-kissed glow. She's a total Betty!

We also went for a nice long walk to the park with Grandma. The boys did great holding her hands when we crossed the streets.

Priceless...

Logan loves to be carried in the Baby Bjorn. He just drools and checks out his surroundings. That translates to pure bliss!

Stopping off at the park along the way. Jack loves those slides and Grandma had the patience to help him up onto the equipment at least a half-dozen times.

Lol! After walking just over a mile in semi-warm conditions, the boys ran out of gas. We had to take Leila out of her stroller and push the boys the rest of the way home in it. It was less than 5 minutes, so they did really great. After a quick bath they slept straight through the night!

Gotta love those family visits!

It's officially summer

It has been so hot around here lately and seeing as we decided to move into a house that does not have central AC, I have been coming up with creative things to do when I absolutely cannot handle being in the house any longer. Although the recorded temperature outside was just barely over 100 this past weekend, it was at least a few degrees hotter than that inside...yuck! So here goes with our backyard fun...

We made an incredibly wise $10 purchase from Wal-Mart. This giraffe pool had already become my most favorite summer toy!

Do you think Jackson likes it? Check out that smile!

And of course here he is chasing the dog, sopping wet, running in and out of the house. Poor Charlie, he just can't catch a break with Jackson around.

The other morning I was spending quality time with Logan helping him perfect his grin.

Best buddies! Jackson knows I love it when he gives his brother kisses, so every time I reach for the camera he plants one on Logan's head.

Another one...

Jackson's even learning to share his cars with Logan. Sometimes he even tries sharing his food, although this hasn't been super successful.

Logan loves to hang out on the back patio in his exersaucer.

Jackson loves the hose and hates wearing pants, what can you do?!.

Between all the water activities and plenty of drives in the car, we are managing to keep sane. By the way, this week is supposed to be mild again on the weather front, thank goodness!

Hope you are finding ways to keep yourselves cool this summer.

Colorado Weekend

This past weekend we were in Colorado because I was in one of my bestfriends' wedding. It was a very quick trip and a lot of travelling with two babies in tow. Jackson did surprisingly well on the airplane both on the way there and back so we were very relieved. In fact, he slept the ENTIRE flight home. Lucky for Brett who was in charge of Jackson on the plane. I on the other hand was holding my darling sweet Logan who came down with some sort of cold on the flight out there, had an awful time sleeping in the hotel, and who would only sleep while I was standing up bouncing him for the entire plane trip back. I felt so bad for him because he was so congested and had an awful cough. The flight attendants were very gracious however and they let me stand at the back of the plane for most of the flight. Now that we are home both of the boys are catching up on some much needed r&r.
We had a great time visiting Colorado though. It is beautiful, the weather was gorgeous (except for some minor showers on Saturday which cleared up just before the outdoor wedding). We visited Boulder and south Denver. Since we were only there for 2 days and nap time was essential, we didn't stray too far from the hotel we were staying at near Park Meadows.
Vanessa looked absolutely stunning and of course the ceremony was heartfelt. I got to see a lot of friends from high school/college that I haven't seen in a very long time and Brett did an incredible job taking care of the boys while I had wedding stuff to attend to.
The rehearsal dinner was on Friday night and that of course is when Jackson discovered that there are no fences dividing the backyards. So Brett had a wonderful time chasing our unruly child from one backyard to another for much of he night.
Jackson loved the shuttle bus that took us from our terminal to the car rental place. He kept repeating 'bus'...or at least that's what we thought he was saying.
After arriving we drove straight to Boulder for lunch. This is our view from the car. It's my favorite part of the drive because you come to the top of the hill and can see all of the Boulder valley. It really is an incredible view.

He looks so cute on the run with his stylish jeans and button-up!
A quick photo-op before the rehearsing began. Don't you just love Logan's chubby cheeks?
There were 13 bridesmaids in the wedding! Ness has a lot of friends...


Getting all spruced up for the wedding. Look, mom paid good money to match her hair to Jackson's. :)

I had to get to the wedding much earlier than Brett and since the boys fell asleep in the car on the way over, he decided to just go for a drive. This is what he saw just hanging out in someone's front yard. He was stunned and I must say I was a bit impressed myself (there were three of these). Only happens in Colorado.



Hanging out with my little man while everyone else got ready.

My best friend Tuyet and me.

The beautiful bride Vanessa and her super cute son Charlie. He is exctly 3 months to the day older than Logan.


The happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Rider!

The bridal party, I told you there were 13 bridesmaids!
Me, Sarah, Erica, and Andrea

The Boston girls. After graduating college from CU all four of us moved into a house together in Boston. Good times...

Tuyet and her husband Josh. By the way, we owe Josh BIG time. He helped chase after Jackson throughout the wedding ceremony and afterwards too. We LOVE him!

Jackson loved the grapes, he kept going back for more and would stuff as many as he could fit into his mouth.

Saving my favorite picture for last...The Anderson Family!

Logan's big week

So Logan has experienced a few exciting firsts this past week. We took him in for his 4 month check-up on Monday and it turns out he is deceptively small. His chunky little legs and chubby cheeks don't actually pack as much weight as I originally thought! He weighed in at 15lbs. 9.6oz (53rd percentile); his height is 2' 0.75" (31st percentile); and his head circumference is 16.73" (46th percentile). I thought for sure he would be tipping the scales way into the 70 somethings. Ah well, he's a cute one nonetheless!

We were given the go ahead to introduce solids and his pediatrician recommended that we introduce one new food each week beginning with vegetables. We started last week with single grain rice cereal and of course I have it captured on video for your viewing pleasure. This week he gets peas! I know he's excited...

He is still such a mild mannered baby. He eats well and sleeps even better. He has truly been an exceptional blessing in this household!
Stay tuned for updats on our recent trip to Colorado and Brett's fabulous Father's Day!

Finally...

Where does the time go? So the past two weeks have been a whirlwind but I figure it is about time I did a little catching up on my blog. We are all moved in to our new place and I am loving it. I will take some pictures once it's actually set up in a semi-normal fashion. So far I have all the boxes unpacked but things are still being shifted around. Now that I have the entire summer off, I plan to take my time getting it just right.
By the way, did I mention that I am done with another school year? Hallelujah! This was an especially challenging school year and the past two months have been absolutely exhausting. Brett and I have barely seen each other since we were doing babysitting juggling. He is definitely tired too and glad to be going back to his regular 7-4 work shift. It's really tricky balancing work shifts. I'm really grateful that we were able to make it work though because I know that our boys benefited from having their parents watching them. I was also lucky to have some supportive friends on my school staff that were able to cover things for me from time to time so that I was able to get home and nurse Logan everyday on my lunch break. One of my coworkers who lives nearby has even offered her support for the summer should I need it... maybe to catch up on a little sleep?! Nevertheless, I am glad to be done. Since moving in just over a week ago, Jackson has spent approximately 1 day inside the house and the other six playing in the dirt outside. It's perfect. I love sitting out on our back patio and watching him run around and explore random corners of the yard. He always ends the day covered in dirt and it is a pleasant reminder of why we decided to move into a house in the first place. I have come to realize that there really is no price that can be placed on seeing the joy in your child's eyes, or the dirt beneath his fingernails! So now that my summer has begun I have a few things up my sleeve in terms of family entertainment...Monterey Bay Aquarium, lots of park trips, and let's not forget that we will be in Colorado by the end of the week since I will be in my girlfriend Vanessa's wedding. Fun and relaxing times await!

We were feeling lucky to have Nina come for a visit. Logan and cousin Leila are already buddies, look they're even holding hands!


Jackson is really taking to his brother. He loves to give hugs and kisses...

Here's a video of Jackson just before we moved out of our old place. We were trying to get him to laugh and I thought it turned out pretty cute. Check out all the boxes!

Since getting settled in, Jackson likes to get in the pantry and take snacks outside. Fun times right? It's especially amusing when he dumps them in the grass and then decides to eat them periodically over the next few days...we have fruit loops, pretzels, and Doritos strewn throughout the yard. It's strange because he still eats them even when the get covered in dirt. I have tried my best to deter this odd behavior to no avail.

(Just a side note...I did not purchase the econo-bag of Doritos for my family, they were leftover from my end of the year class party so I brought them home for Jackson to try...big surprise he loves them!)

Even Logan appreciates the backyard. Here he is enjoying the fabulous weather in his Bumbo.

I set him in his bassinet the other day after we got back from a long walk. I gave him his little bear to hold and when I came back maybe 2 minutes later, he was already asleep. Obviously a tired little guy. I love sleeping baby pictures, he looks so peaceful.

He freed himself from the swaddle! I love the hands up sleeping pose. Isn't he getting big so fast?

Today we have his 4 month check-up. So I'll post his stats a little later on...poor guy has to get another round of vaccinations though. Wish us luck!

Good things

I love my kids. They are so fun and they bring me joy just looking at them. Everyday Jackson does something funny and now that he's getting taller he can get himself into more trouble. He officially reaches door handles now and thus opens closets that once used to be safe for storage. Yesterday I found him pacing through the house towing the outdoor broom along with him. I'm not sure he knew what it was for, but he just decided to hit things with it. He especially enjoys finding dead bugs and insists on bringing them all into the house to show me. Lovely.
Our exciting news is that we are officially moving in 1 week. We found a place to rent that's just a few blocks away but is an actual house with a legitimate backyard, so we are very excited. When we were signing the lease agreement yesterday we set Jackson loose in the backyard and he loved it. I will definitely post some pictures once we get all moved in and settled. Talk about crazy timing though. I am in the midst of trying to finish up the school year, am in charge of a parent appreciation dessert that is supposed to feed 150 parents, have one more field trip to take 20 kindergartners on, and Brett and I are still juggling work schedules for the next two weeks. You know what they say though, busy is better than bored!
Feeling loved...a good friend from church decided to make Jackson and Logan matching bibs with this super fun fabric! Thanks Chantelle, we love them...and seriously Logan uses his frequently because he is like a leaky faucet drooling all the time!

We hit up IKEA over the weekend to get a few things for our new place and Brett found a fun train set for Jackson. Now he carries his trains with him everywhere.


Testing out the tracks.

Check out Logan getting so big that he can hold his own head up.

He's such a cute little chunk!

I don't know what the deal is with Jackson and shoes, but he loves trying all of them on. He hasn't gotten the walk in heels down yet!

Demolishing my shoe organizer.

We broke him of the bottle about 7 weeks ago but I think he may still be hoping for its return...

Heat wave

So this past weekend it was sweltering hot up here in the bay area. I'm fairly certain that on Saturday we reached either VERY high 90's or low 100's. It was so gross feeling that hot. I guess we are pretty spoiled up here in the bay with our incredibly moderate, bright, and sunny year round weather. Nevertheless, sunny days always call for a little water action.

I re-introduced Jackson to the water park across the street from us. Surprisingly, he wasn't too big a fan. He started to get a little braver as the time wore on, but he never took too kindly to the water feature. The one time he did get near it, the water pressure happened to increase and the water squirted straight up, then came crashing down on his head. Rather than move, he just stood his ground and screamed his head off. It was actually really funny, but instead of looking like an awful mother by video taping it for my blog, I decided to rescue him. I think it was a combination of the strange squirting action and the really cold temperature of the water that threw him off. No problem, I was entertained by the other children who were completely unfazed by either of those issues. One child in particular who was only 3 months older than Jackson, but who apparently was comfortable in the water, cold temperature and all. So much so in fact, that he ran through butt naked. His mother stripped off his diaper once it got all soggy from the water and decided to let him loose! You'll have to observe his little streaker self as he passes through the background of my video.

After eating the delicious strawberries that a friend brought over for us, Jackson decided it was time to check out the water feature.

Cruising over in his new Spider man 'water' friendly sandals that his cousin Kyle sent him.

Once he was wet he decided it was time to go and headed straight for the open gate.

We also took the boys to the beach last weekend and this time Brett was in town so he came to. It was much better with Dad there. Here are a few shots I snapped while enjoying the shade of the wonderful rainbow beach umbrella I purchased at Target on the way down.
Walking down to check out the waves.


Testing out some of his new beach toys.

Logan's just hanging out with his pacifier and sun hat...so cute!