A Big Ol' Bunch of Photos

No, I'm not at El Pollo Loco today, getting my free chicken and free swine flu (haha, j/k). Instead, I am being a good daughter and blogging. Over the past several days, my mom has become more and more "antsy" (frantic, desperate, raving-lunatic-mad) for some new photos of her grandson. Thus, behold the new bounty of photos. (Mom, if I were you, I'd ration. I'm much more lackadaisical about blogging these days.)

Here's the Timster at his slick internship fair (a really long time ago, heh heh):

Here's our wee one, all gussied up for Easter Sunday:
It was actually really difficult to get the above picture of him, as you can see:

It was hot last week. Like, sweltering-103-degrees-I-don't-even-want-to-go-outside hot. It was like it was raining or something. Fortunately for me, my pal Sachia lives in a swanky apartment building with a pool, and extra fortunately for me, she's super wonderful and invites all the girls over to swim. So, I donned my bathing suit, and in all my glowing-pasty-white glory, ventured to the sunny swim gathering.

Here are Laura and Charlie:

Rebecca and Max:

And a bunch of other awesome girls (Natalie, Lauren, Jen, Natasha, and Sachia, plus offspring):

(Editor's Note: I will never, EVER take a picture of anyone in her bathing suit without her express permission. Please don't be afraid of me and my camera at pool day. I promise that I got a verbal "okay" from everyone here to post these pics.) :-)

Moving right along... here is Weston's swim get-up (can ya tell that I'm paranoid about the sun?), along with the pink ball that he was obsessed with at the pool:

He was in rare form that day. He kept trying to run into the pool, and when I would grab his arm to stop him, he'd screech and cry and collapse. YAY! (Not):

Weston and Ethan have the same swim shorts! Yeah Target! They're precious:

It was a good time with the girls (except for Mr. Grouchy Grouch-Pants Weston):

On Thursday on my way back from visiting a friend at the hospital, I passed a scene that we Southern Californians see all too often: a film shoot. These are all over the place around here, which to me (a suburban East Coast girl) is very exciting. Most of the time, they're just filming commercials, but it's still cool. At this set for a Nike commercial, I asked the security guard if I could snap a quick photo, and he said yes. Here's a giant green screen:

And on the other side of the parking lot were a bunch of "star trailers" and supply trucks:

Anyway, on Saturday, Tim indulged my love of country fairs by letting us visit a country fair:

It took all of 20 minutes to walk up and down the craft tables, check out the corroded carnival rides, and scan the food stands. Haha! (Why do my ideas for family outings always suck?) Still, Tim let us prolong our visit by getting a frozen yogurt cone and sharing it, while Weston wandered around and made weird faces for the camera:

After the less-than-stellar country fair experience, we headed for a nearby shopping center and, on a whim, pulled into a used bookstore. I really liked the lighting, so I took some pictures of our Literary Little. Unfortunately for me, our camera is the Worst Camera Ever in the Great Expanse of All Time and Space, so they didn't turn out very well. Here's with the flash:

And here's without the flash:

Even when he's blurry, I still think he's cute:

Tuesday with Not Tim

Hey everybody! It's Jean, a.k.a. Not Tim. Tim is super busy today with his final projects, so he (sadly) does not have time for his weekly post. SO! I wanted to still post something, and since I can't think of anything creative or funny to write, I thought I would publish some Anderson Family FAQs. Be prepared to be updated!!

When are Tim’s classes over?

This is his last week of classes. After Saturday, he’ll be finished with the term. Woo!

Is he graduating?

Not yet. He’ll graduate in December, after one more term.

He wants to intern this summer, right? Does he have an internship?

We have some leads, but nothing is confirmed yet. We’ll definitely keep you posted. DEFINITELY. I think we ALL want to find out as soon as possible. (Oh the stress.)

What exactly is Tim studying?

He’s studying Entertainment Design. Entertainment/concept designers generally work in the fields of film or video games (and even theme parks), working with directors, art directors, and/or production designers to come up with the designs of characters, costumes, vehicles, props, and environments. For instance, when Peter Jackson wanted an idea for what Gondor might look like in Lord of the Rings, he hired concept designers to draw their vision of it. That’s what Tim will do – take the various concepts within stories or ideas and come up with designs for them.

What are his plans after graduation?

Get a job! He’s leaning towards video games, so hopefully he’ll be able to work in that field. We have no idea where we will end up, and we’re flexible, although we’d both like to get back to the East Coast someday.

Are you (Jean) working right now?

No... not really. Although I technically still “work” for Peterson Economics as an independent contractor, business has been very slow lately due to the real estate market downturn, and thus there’s little for me to do.

If you’re not working, then what do you do all day?

I used to wonder this of stay-at-home moms, too, before I had a baby. But now I get it. TOTALLY GET IT. There is a lot to do as a mom, and it would take a long time to explain. Try clicking HERE or HERE instead. Granted, my life is very slow, peaceful, and manageable right now, given that I have a student husband who’s able to be home off and on throughout the day, and that I have only one child, who happens to be sleeping 12 hours per night and taking two naps per day, and who happens to be in that golden 12-18 month stage where his adorableness is not yet being soured by temper tantrums. I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can while I can.

If Tim’s a student and you’re not working, then how do you have any money?

Loans, baby. LOANS.

What did you and Tim do today?

Tim worked on his final project for his Architecture class (designs for a Star Wars-themed restaurant), while I took Weston to his dermatologist appointment, and then went to the Autry Museum’s free day. While there, I happened to run into Weston’s long-lost Chinese twin, Wonton:

Later we headed to our friends’ house for a farewell potluck dinner in honor of an awesome family of soon-to-be Pasadena expatriates. (Sniffle sniffle. Natalie rocks my socks!!) Then, just like the past few nights, I read The Host for three hours straight. (Okay, I haven’t actually done that yet, but I’m itching to get back to the book, and I know I won’t be able to stop reading even when midnight rolls around!)

If Tim likes Star Wars so much, why doesn’t he own Episodes I and II?

Because he doesn’t want to sully his Star Wars collection with, and I quote, “their awesomelessness.”

Is Tim actually Weston’s father? He doesn't look anything like him.

Yes. I think. I’m pretty sure. We’re saying yes.

What wrong with Weston’s lip?

“It’s a birthmark.”

(Don’t feel bad if you ever asked us this! I love you all; you know that. I would totally ask, too. Fortunately, because of Weston’s situation, I’m able to identify hemangiomas now, so I don’t feel the urge to inquire of other people. There’s nothing wrong; it’s just there.)

Did you have any Shining Motherhood Moments in the past week?

Why yes, actually I did. I took Weston to the mall last week to play in the children’s play area. Whenever he’s there, he’s most interested in climbing on these fake, roof-less cars that are attached to the floor, so he did that most of the time, climbing into the little car, turning the steering wheel, looking at the other kids running around, climbing out, and then doing it all over again.

At one point when we were there last week, he was standing in the little car, just looking around. From where I was sitting on the bench, I could only see him from belly-up because my view was partially blocked by the rear end of the car. After several minutes, a lady sitting closer to him eventually called over to me very nicely, “Can you see your son?”

I smiled and replied, “Oh, yes, I can see him." (I figured she was concerned because of the groups of kids who were running in front of me every now and then.)

She said, “Okay, well his pants fell down, and I can’t stop looking at him.”

I hopped over towards the little car so that I could see him better, and sure enough, his (slightly too large) brown corduroy pants were completely around his ankles, and above that were his pale chubby legs and his diaper. In completely full view. Weston had been standing there the whole time, not because he was looking around, but because he was standing on the bottoms of his pants and couldn’t move. I quickly collected him and pulled his pants back up.

HAHAHA! Funniest. Thing. Ever. How long do you think the other parents at the play area were wondering when I was going to notice that my child was stuck in his pants that had completely fallen down?? Haha! Several of them kept looking and smiling my way after I fixed Weston up and let him go play again, when I was bright red and hysterically laughing.

My Shining Motherhood Moment of the Week. :-)

Easter Eggstravaganza! (Yeah, I Said It)

Once a month, the couples with young kids in our ward organize a potluck dinner at a park, where the kids can run around and play while the grown-ups can eat and socialize. (Or, in our case, Tim can try to keep Weston entertained on the playground, following him around and swinging him and holding his hand to help him walk on uncertain terrain, while Jean can sit at a picnic table and chat with her girlfriends. Yay Tim!) On Monday, we decided to include a little Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in addition to the potluck. Check it out:

First, a few of the moms got their kids together for a photo, and then other kids joined in (slightly chaotically, of course):

Once the kids were positioned, one sort of tumbled over and started rolling (see far left), and another sort of got accidentally bonked with a basket and was not too thrilled (see fifth from left):
Finally, the kids were upright and moderately content, and one was even sporting a lovely basket-hat (see far right), so all the parents snapped pictures very quickly. I would just like to point out the very cute, bright spring attire that all the kids are wearing, except for Weston, who is wearing his black rock star shirt (awww yeeeaaah):

And then they were off! A few of the moms had scattered eggs around a grassy area of the park, and once the kids were released from their photo shoot, all hell broke loose (observe the insanity):

A couple knife fights and some tear gas later, Weston tracked down his first egg - a shiny blue gem:

Ooooh, and then it was Lucky Green!!

I looked to see the last couple of riot policemen bidding us a Happy Easter and then heading off to the SWAT truck:

"Hey Weston, look, the police are gone now. Go beat up this little kid to get his eggs." Yep, that's how we roll in SoCal.

Success!

It was a good time. Except for the kid whose eggs those used to be.

Movie Quotes Challenge Winner Revealed!!!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Movie Quotes Challenge!! Woohoo! I am impressed with everyone's effort, especially taking into account the extreme randomness of the movies that I (and Tim) enjoy.

And now... the GRAND PRIZE WINNER is...

CHRIS!!!!!!!

File photo

Great job, Topher! You had 6 correct answers, which puts you in first place. Therefore, you are lucky enough to win the super-special Grand Prize Email Surprise (which is coming to an Inbox near you very soon). Get excited. Get SO EXCITED.

A heartfelt but more blase "Congratulations!" goes out to Eric and Dave, who both had 5 correct answers. Nice! (How funny is it that the three front-runners are all guys, even though probably 2% of this blog's readership is male?? Is it more of a "guy" characteristic to be highly knowledgeable of obscure, pointless movie quotes?? In my life experience, that answer is yes. Interestingly, my love of movie/TV quoting is, in fact, one of the few things that I have in common with many guys. I know I'm not alone in this! There are many girls out there who can hold their own with the hilarious and very engaging exercise of Movie Quoting.)

And I'm going to go ahead and award extra kudos to Chris and Dave for utilizing their creative genius to come up with answers for the quotes that they absolutely did not know. Our favorites were:

Dave: (#6) "It's a Zen thing, like how many babies fit in a Chewbacca."
Chris: (#10) "Baby s*** mouth!"
Dave: (#10) "Baby shut yo' mouth... i'm talking about shaft... then we can diggit mouth!"

Well done, gentlemen. And now, here are the correct answers! See how your guesses stacked up!

#1: (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) "It comes in pints?? I'm getting one!"

#2: (Aliens) "They mostly come out at night... mostly."

#3: (A Christmas Story) "It... it was... soap poisoning!"

#4: (The Little Mermaid) "Now the snarfblatt dates back to prehysterical times when humans used to sit around and stare at each other all day. Got very boring."

#5: (Forrest Gump) "But you ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan."

#6: (Waiting for Guffman) "It's a Zen thing, like how many babies fit in a tire."

#7: (Napoleon Dynamite) "Do the chickens have large talons?"

#8: (Toy Story) "Don't you get it? You see the hat?! I am Mrs. Nesbitt!"

#9: (UHF) "Today we are going to learn how to make plutonium from common household items."

#10: (When Harry Met Sally...) "Baby fish mouth!!"

#11: (Fern Gully) "I have but one claw, but beware!"

Thanks for playing!

(And a message to the League of Grandparents: Do not fret! New pictures of your adorable, big-headed grandson will be forthcoming shortly.) :-)

All y'all who think dinosaurs are awesome say, "Yeah!"

It's (near) Tuesday again, and you all know what that means! So I won't bother telling you. As for my challenge last week, several people stepped up and did a great job with the Mr. T Haiku Challenge (henceforth known as MTHC'09). The following individuals receive the highest honor bestowed by Mr. T; namely, they are Somebody: Anne Marie, Liz, Chris, Jean, Peg, Jeremy, and Heather. If you do not see your name on the above list, you, sir or madame, are Somebody's fool, and have earned only Mr. T's pity. Please contact the nearest Somebody (refer to above list) to personally establish your relationship as his/her fool. Moving on...


I will abstain from a challenge this week, as Jean has issued one already, and I don't want our blog to gain a reputation as a place where you come only for literary abuse. Instead, I would like to discuss one of my perennially favorite topics: dinosaurs. Aren't dinosaurs awesome?


When I was a kid one of my favorite places in the world was the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. They had some great dinosaur skeletons on display, and a terrifyingly realistic animatronic dinosaur downstairs. Over the years, dinosaurs have continued to capture my interest and imagination. When I was at BYU, I often enjoyed going to their Earth Science museum to see the great skeletons there. Even here in LA, there are some great dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. I have a shelf full of dinosaur books and still remember a lot of dino facts from my early childhood (I was so proud of the fact that I could identify and pronounce "Parasaurolophus". Go ahead, try it... it's a doozy!).


Now, you're probably saying to yourself, "Wow, Tim really needs to grow up... My interest in dinosaurs has long been extinct." First of all, good play on words. Secondly, shut up. Thirdly... no that's it... just shut up.


Anyway, before I ramble any further, I'd like to focus my discussion into a list of why dinosaurs are awesome. I decided, considering the topic, to present it in an elementary school book report style. Feel free-- in fact, I invite you-- to add any items to this list in your comments. There may be something in it for you... (hint: there won't be).


Oh, and sorry about the "shut up" thing.

Movie Quotes Challenge!

Now that Tim's gotten into the habit of running challenges on his weekly spot, Tuesday with Tim, I decided to come up with a challenge of my own. A movie quotes challenge! Wheeeeeee!!!

You may recall that many months ago, I listed my top 11 favorite movies after I was tagged by a friend. It's an eclectic mix of movies, to be honest -- a mixture of comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc. These movies will be the basis for the movie quotes challenge. Here are the rules:

(1) In the comments section, write in the words that are missing from the 11 movie quotes. Each quote is missing just one word. Easy as pie. (Wait, pie's actually really hard. Let's make that, easy as a box of Oreos in the cupboard.)

(2) Try your very best to NOT look at other people's answers. In other words, come up with your answers BEFORE you click to comment. Honor system!

(3) No cheating by searching online!!!

(4) I will post the correct answers on Thursday the 9th, and congratulate the winner(s). To the winner(s), I will award a very special "Grand Prize" email surprise. It will rock your socks.

When you're all finished with the challenge, you can check back here to see how your score stacks up:

11 correct answers: WOW!!!!!!! You are the epitome of scrumtrillescence. Who are you, and how do you feel about being my bestest friend in the entire universe??

8-10 correct answers: You are truly awesome!!! Please tell me that we live close enough to hang out.

4-7 correct answers: Way to go!! You rock, AND you get me.

1-3 correct answers: Nice try, champ! You made an effort and I applaud you.

0 correct answers: Not into my movies, are ya? That's okay. I still love ya.

So good luck! And now... LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!

#1: (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) "It comes in _____?? I'm getting one!"

#2: (Aliens) "They mostly come out at night... _____."

#3: (A Christmas Story) "It... it was... _____ poisoning!"

#4: (The Little Mermaid) "Now the _____ dates back to prehysterical times when humans used to sit around and stare at each other all day. Got very boring."

#5: (Forrest Gump) "But you ain't got no _____, Lieutenant Dan."

#6: (Waiting for Guffman) "It's a Zen thing, like how many babies fit in a _____."

#7: (Napoleon Dynamite) "Do the chickens have large _____?"

#8: (Toy Story) "Don't you get it? You see the hat?! I am Mrs. _____!"

#9: (UHF) "Today we are going to learn how to make _____ from common household items."

#10: (When Harry Met Sally...) "Baby _____ mouth!!"

#11: (Fern Gully) "I have but one _____, but beware!"

I'm Killing the American Mall

A little while ago, I came across THIS ARTICLE, entitled "Is the American mall dying?"

Based on the recent lagging of discretionary purchases caused by the market downturn, and the resultant declining sales at traditional mall "anchors" like Macy's and J.C. Penney, the author of the article insinuates that yes, yes the traditional American mall is dying. And I have discovered that I am apparently killing it.

I love the mall. I've always loved it - when I was a kid, my mom would take me to our local mall, and we'd walk around and shop a little and eat lunch in a restaurant (because those fancy "food courts" didn't exist yet). When I was a teenager, the mall was one of the few "fun places" that was available to us. If we didn't feel like hanging out at someone's house, then there were basically five options: (1) the mall; (2) the movies; (3) miniature golf; (4) bowling; and (5) whatever cheap restaurant sounded appealing (usually Friendly's or Denny's or a little diner). When a Borders store opened in our town, we were temporarily fascinated with it, too, but eventually realized that hanging out amidst books is kind of boring.

Before I had Weston, I went to the mall to shop and eat, usually as a date-type activity with Tim. Nowadays, I go to the mall as a play-type activity with Weston. Our local mall has a great children's play area, with big colorful animals and structures that kids can climb on, bang on, and run around. Weston LOVES it, especially in that he gets to watch the other kids and follow them around.

So, the mall isn't so much a shopping destination for me now, as an attraction to help pass those between-nap hours and keep Weston entertained. And I almost always do the same thing at the mall:

(1) Arrive and visit the play area, where Weston toddles around, climbs over the big cars, follows some bigger kids around, and inevitably escapes towards the adjacent Claire's.
(2) Collect my child and visit the pet store at the other end of the mall, where Weston giggles at the puppies and bangs on the glass.
(3) Walk back to the elevator, go up to the second floor, and visit Williams-Sonoma (where I will never buy anything, unless I have a gift card, which I do right now, which is great). Maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I'll get to enjoy a food sample there.
(4) Scan the window displays of Baby Central (Baby Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree, etc.) while on my way to See's Candies, where again, I try to score a free sample, but rarely actually buy anything.
(5) Go back down to the first floor, hang out at the play area a little longer, and then leave.

That's my mall itinerary. Sometimes I like to vary it by getting an Auntie Anne's pretzel (only if I have a coupon for a free one), or by sniffing the newest scents at Yankee Candle. But, visiting the mall is a pretty proscribed activity for me. I'm a routine kind of girl.

And this leads me back to the article - how the American mall is dying. Because right now the mall is an attraction for me (the stay-at-home mom looking for interesting activities for my toddler), and not a shopping destination, and because I usually go about once a week, there's really no motivation on my part to spend any money. I'm accustomed to the goods that I see all the time, and besides, a lot of them are overpriced, as compared to our discount big-box retailers. (I'm a devoted follower of the Target/Wal-Mart phenomenon, and FYI, I also visit Target about once a week, not as an attraction as in the case of the mall, but as my shopping destination.)

I feel a little guilty for taking advantage of the mall's amenities and then rarely spending money to support them. I am killing the American mall, and I know this. Macy's and J.C. Penney may be writhing in their death throes right now, but I ignore them, enjoying my free play area, even though I know that their demise would mean the disappearance of said beloved play area. Maybe I should spend money on an Auntie Anne's pretzel every now and then? Or actually venture into a store where I don't have a gift card? In the end, I think my tightfistedness will overcome my feelings of guilt and obligation to support my local mall. Sorry, American mall. I love ya, but I think we'll just play here for now, and then get that thing that I want at Target.