The Mother's Day Plant: Update

My adorable little Mother's Day plant has unfortunately turned into a daily reminder that I am a failure at taking care of living things:

I hope they give us chocolate next year. I have never failed at chocolate.

Look Who's Here!!!

In keeping with this summer's theme of reuniting with long-lost friends, we reunited with some more long-lost friends this weekend! YAAAAAY!!! Our beloved Hansons recently moved to the area so that Eric can pursue his DMA in vocal arts at USC (he's a wicked awesome opera singer). So, we got together with them and our favorite Nutters for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

I cannot even begin to describe the hijinks that we used to get into with these guys when we all lived together at Wymount (oh, the wild days of our married youth!). We used to get together to play games and have potlucks and see movies all the time. We were crazy and awesome and... well, mostly crazy. It was fantastic. (Bernards, we missed you guys!!)

So on Friday night, after screeching and hugging and causing a little bit of an uproar in the Lego Store, we all moved to the fountain area so the kids could play for a little while. I had to snap a picture of this girly cuteness (Heidi, Malia, Autumn, & Esther):

The Hansons have four girls, and the Nutters have two girls, so of the seven children, Weston was the only boy. He didn't exactly know how to hang out with the older girls, so he awkwardly meandered around for a little while (haha): But then, encouraged by Daddy, he eventually joined the girls in their fountain fun:

Isn't Autumn so pretty? I can't believe she's almost 8 years old!! She was just a toddler when we first met her:

I had to include this picture of Abby and Tiffany, gabbing next to the strollers. It kind of captures two of the highlights of life at this age: motherhood and girlfriends (don't you think?):

Then it was time for a slew of cutie patootie family pictures. First the Nutters:

Then the Hansons:

And finally the Andersons:

Then we tried to take a "girls picture," and because we are so cute, we struck an appropriately cute pose:

Unfortunately we lost our balance and completely tumbled to the ground (while Tiffany panicked and freaked out because she was certain she was going to fall into the fountain):

We laughed about it for a pretty long time:

(See?):

We eventually decided to go for one more picture (one that involved standing on both feet):

The menfolk decided to play it cool in their picture:

And then we were off to the restaurant! We scored a sweet table, which was right next to a big aquarium. While we were waiting for our food, Tiffany (being slightly demented, but in a good way) decided to introduce Cecily to lemons. Cecily was totally game:

And then the effects hit:

Hahahahaha!!! I like the picture below, too, because she's like, "Okay, WHAT just HAPPENED??"

By the end of the evening, the fountain ended up prevailing in some mystic way because I ended up getting soaked after all. (I kind of forgot how easily little infants sitting on my lap can grab a full glass of water and tip it over):

But YAAAAY!!! We had so much fun. It was great to see everyone again. Until next time, Nutsons!!!

L.A. County Fair 2009

Team Anderson went to the L.A. County Fair on Labor Day. Whee! And now for a short excerpt from the popular book, Blogging About Your Visit To The Fair:

Preferred: A nice, brief, contained summary of the experience. (Example: my friend Laura's recent trip to the Utah State Fair.)
Discouraged: An absurdly long, extreme-photo-overload account of every infinitesimal, irrelevant detail. (Example: scroll down.)

So, I've been so pumped for the L.A. County Fair, ever since we missed going last year. I was most looking forward to the weird fair food. Tim, for his part, was most looking forward to... well... nothing. I kind of dragged him along. But don't worry, once he found out how swelteringly HOT it was, and how insanely CROWDED it was, he started to get really excited.

Fortunately, we went on Labor Day when admission was just $1.00 before one o'clock. (It's regularly $12 on weekdays and $17 on weekends - yikes!!)

Unfortunately, everyone else in the entire county had apparently also learned of this delicious little secret, and had also decided to come. So, we waited on the highway:
And we waited at the parking lot entrance... (no picture available). And we waited in the parking lot... (no picture available). And we walked and walked and walked to the front entrance... (no picture - too hot and angry). And we waited in the ticket line (yay, a picture!):

And finally, we got in!!!

We were hungry right away, so we scored an early lunch at one of the food booths (which was smart, since by noon the lines were REALLY long):

Then we wandered. We passed the requisite Giant Horse attraction (which, if you look closely, is next to the Giant Steer and Smallest Horse attractions):

We watched a mini-monster truck rally:

And Weston discovered a cool "safari" area...

...while I discovered that THIS is what the back of my hair looks like:

Don't fret, you guys, the day was not lost for Tim. He came upon a Star Wars-themed car, complete with R2D2 in the back:

I had to take a picture of the giant hot tub tent. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I'm in the market for a hot tub, I head to the nearest county fair:

Then we wandered into the farm animal area. There was a big clump of sleeping (or perhaps dead) pigs:

But as it turned out, a little more action was goin' down at the sheep area. This mama sheep had just given birth a few minutes earlier to this newborn lamb (and you can still see the afterbirth... haha, gross):

Weston had loads of fun running around a mini hay maze:

Farm fresh fun!!

And he also had SO MUCH FUN at this pretend supermarket:

He pushed that little cart up and down every aisle, taking great care to pick out his items and place them into the cart:

(Although he had a little trouble with the giant packs of paper towels):

And now for the best part -- THE CRAZY FAIR FOOD!!! We saw signs for all different kinds of bizarre delicacies. (I use the term "delicacies" loosely.) For instance, chocolate-covered bacon:

Chocolate-covered cotton candy:

Krispy Kreme chicken sandwiches:

And fried White Castle burgers:

We also saw this kid with a "Texas donut." It was about the size of a plate:

Because we split the sausage sandwich, we still had some room for dessert, but we couldn't make up our minds. So, we tried two things. First, a massive whoopie pie (also about the size of a small plate):

(Don't worry, we didn't finish that baby.) And second, fried s'mores (yes, fried s'mores!):

This is what it looked like on the inside:

(Do you have diabetes yet? Because I can keep going!! Haha!)

Anyway, it was a great time!! (It was alright - just really crowded and hot and overpriced.) Weston had SO much fun!! (We tried to counteract the sweaty, tired tantrums with lots of snacks.) And guess what - Tim ended up LOVING it!! (Yeah... he hated it. But fortunately, he endured for my sake. I love that guy.) YAY!!!!!

(Abbie, I totally stole the mini-writing from you. Thanks.)

Until next time, L.A. County Fair!

More Bragging? (sigh)

What’s the best way to brag on a blog? Should I try to be really humble, mentioning a success of mine for “informative purposes” while acting like it’s no big deal? Or should I just go for it, shamelessly proclaiming my own awesomeness and superiority?

While you’re considering that question, you may want to go ahead and start rolling your eyes and shaking your heads in disapproval.

Because I am feeling shameless. AND AWESOME.

Remember how I wrote last time about my amazing score on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride at Disneyland? And how I said that it was the best score that I would probably ever get in my life?

Well, destiny be damned. Because I TOTALLY beat it. And not only that, but when I got off the ride, I learned that I was ranked #1 (out of the people who had played up to that point in the day, which was mid-afternoon, not morning, mind you).

So, GALACTIC HERO NUMBER ONE!!!!!!!!!!! (Imagine like a million more exclamation points.) Here’s the proof of my exploit:

See the giant #1 over my score? Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure that you saw it.

I love this picture, by the way. Look at me. Look at those crazy eyes. There is an intensity there that is seldom seen by other living souls. You can almost feel the passion and the concentration. When that picture was taken (in the last room, where you battle Zurg), I knew that I was this close to total victory, and you can totally see it in those crazy, fiery eyes. Hahaha!

(Alright, alright. So “ZachD” has still scored over 3 million points. BIG DEAL. Maybe he should just pipe down and stop bragging.)

Nursery

He may as well be going off to college.

My baby is no longer a baby. He turned 18 months old at the end of August, so this past Sunday, he attended nursery for the first time all by himself.

Nursery is the Sunday School class at our church that is designed for the littlest kids, aged 18 months to 3 years. It includes playtime, snack time, storytime, singing, praying, learning, and coloring. It is fabulous.

Nevertheless, I am still in shock. Nursery, I have realized, is basically the first big step on my son’s path to complete independence and adulthood. How did this happen? When did he get so old?? Why is it that one day, he’s attached to me at the hip, crying and breastfeeding and crying and pooping, and then the next day, he’s getting whisked off to nursery like an actual child-person?

Not that I’m complaining. Now that he’s attending nursery, I’m actually able to get something out of church again, besides a great view of the wall of the mother’s lounge (during the infant months) and of the carpeting in the hallways (during the toddler months). What I’ll be able to get now is something like increased knowledge and spiritual enrichment, which have been very elusive over the past 18 months (not that hallway-roaming isn’t super spiritually intense).

So, on Sunday, with tangible glee, I dropped him off in the nursery room, and instead of staying to “help him make the adjustment” like I have been doing over the past few weeks, I just chatted briefly with Summer, the nursery leader (“Do you remember his peanut allergy?”, “Do you think someone can help him drink out of his little cup?”), and then turned around and left. I was nervous and probably slightly annoying, but as I left I felt invigorated and SO ready for normal church. I went off to Sunday School, yet I fully expected Summer to appear in the doorway minutes later with my bawling, tear-streaked, red-eyed child. However, she NEVER came. Weston stayed in nursery the ENTIRE time. I was surprised and delighted.

Ironically, I was even more surprised that my eagerness to drop him off at the beginning of nursery was matched by my anticipation to see him again at the end. Tim and I arrived at almost the same time from our respective classes, and there was Weston, looking very normal (and very much like a little boy), smiling as he was swept up into Tim’s arms and as I praised the picture that he “colored” (a.k.a. scribbled in two tiny spots). I could not stop hugging him and rubbing his back. I actually missed him, in a much more profound way than I feel when, say, I go to the grocery store by myself. That was a big surprise. We’ve been apart for that amount of time many times before, but not in such a symbolic way. Even though my head was in Sunday School and Relief Society for those two hours, my heart was in nursery.

Anyway, I grilled Summer before we left, asking if Weston had acted up or gotten fussy or hit anyone or had any trouble with his snack or anything, ANYTHING. She said he was basically fine the whole time. Even though she said that, though, I couldn’t help daydreaming about how great it would be to have a secret surveillance videocamera installed in the nursery room so that I could actually see how he behaved when I wasn’t around and he had to get by on his own like a big boy. I think the fact I even considered that indicates that even though he’s capable of being away from me, I still have trouble being away from him, especially when there are lots of other kids and there is a lot going on around him (in other words, when he actually has to act like the big boy that he’s becoming, without my constant reassurance and supervision).

But, I know he’s in great hands in there. Now it’s my turn to let him go. Just think how humiliated he would be if I had to be lead to the nursery room by the Sunday School teacher because I was bawling my eyes out about missing my baby. Hopefully it won’t come to that. But I still can’t believe that I have a nursery-age child. In the meantime, while I’m trying to figure out how that happened, I’ll be opening my scriptures to Isaiah, raising my hand, and participating in a great discussion.

**************************************************

P.S. Weston had his 18-month appointment on Tuesday, and here are his stats:

Length: 35 inches (97%)
Weight: 26 lbs 14 oz (50-75%)
Head: 50 cm (75-90%)

P.P.S. If you’re a hardcore Disneyland fan like us, then you may realize that Weston is now tall enough to ride the Matterhorn. Hahahaha! That would put some hair on his chest!!

What's Round on the Ends and High in the Middle?

OHIO!!!

That's a song. My mom taught it to me. She's from Ohio, so she knows all the "state-triotic" songs. (I totally just made up the word "state-triotic." Yay.)

Well, what a vacation we had! It was extra wonderful, because in addition to our regular cast of fabulous characters, there were also a few special guest stars. Here's a brief* recap of the trip.

*Far from brief.

The morning after Tim and Weston and I flew to PA, my mom and I left on a 12-hour roadtrip to Cincinnati to visit my uncle and cousins, while Tim kept Weston and stayed with his family in PA. I was SO EXCITED to see my awesome cousins again!!! I sure love those girls. Even though they're younger than me, and even though we only saw each other twice a year when we were kids, I still feel like we grew up together.

So, after spending some quality time with everyone, one of the first things that I did was hop in the car with my cousin Tricia to see my cousin Sarah's riding lesson. Here is Tricia with beautiful Whimsy (Sarah's horse):

And here is Sarah with her "Squirt":
We walked out to the field:

And took lots of pictures:

Then Sarah's trainer got underway with the tough stuff. Sarah regularly participates in competitions, such as dressage and hunter-jumper (her specialty). When she originally bought Whimsy, he didn't jump AT ALL. Now he's a total champ:

Woohoo!!! Sarah is AMAZING. She said that she falls off sometimes, but it's hard to believe after watching that great lesson. The two of them moved together seamlessly, as if they were attached. That, I imagine, is the mark of a skilled rider.

After the lesson, Whimsy enjoyed a much-deserved cool hose-down:

Although that day started out really well, my mom and I caught some sort of bug and spent the rest of the afternoon throwing up (and looking extremely attractive doing so). Fortunately, it came and went quickly, and I was able to keep my plans to meet up the next day in Indianapolis with one of my favorite people ever, Liz. YAAAAAAAY!!!! I met Liz back in Wymount, and it's been THREE YEARS since I've seen her, which is WAY too long, since no one should have to go even two weeks without seeing Liz. Needless to say, we were very excited to get together. (I must say, I love seeing long-lost BFFs again!!)

Naturally, because I am Jean and she is Liz, we met at a cupcake shop called The Flying Cupcake Bakery, one of Indy's finest. (After trying their famous red velvet, this cupcake conoisseuse determined that the Midwest can certainly hold its own with Southern California when it comes to cupcake scrumptiousness.)

Here is the Flying Cupcake Bakery's red velvet, which we both ordered:

And here is Liz, mirroring what I just did (hahaha... what can I say, we're bloggers!):

Liz will certainly kill me for posting this picture... but I just can't resist:

Anywho, after our initial gabfest/cupcake devouring/embarrassing photo-taking, we decided to explore downtown Indianapolis. We parked and then wandered over to this awesome, giant, monument thingie:

And of course took pictures of it:

Then we wandered around a whole bunch more, eventually discovered a seeeeecret mall!, explored H&M, and then took some more pictures (how cute are we):

We lunched at Au Bon Pain (soup in a bread bowl yuuuummmm), and took more pictures:

We wandered some more (becoming very acquainted with downtown "Indy"), and the longer we hung out, the goofier our pictures became (here, Liz is being extremely fringey):

I decided to be fringey too, and here I am attempting to open a (very cool-looking) locked door:

Hahaha! So, I had SUCH a great time with Liz. I still can't believe I actually saw her, because I've been wanting to get together with her again for so long. We got to hang out for four and a half hours, WITHOUT children, and we didn't stop chatting the entire time (I mean, three years is a long time to fit into 4.5 hours!). Liz is so, SO easy to talk to, and SO funny (especially when in the company of birds), and I love that we have so much in common, too. Two of the most obvious things that we have in common? (1) We are both very weird (it's why we're friends), and (2) we are both minimally vain (it's why we both left our get-together with a new collection of very embarrassing photos). LIZ!!! I miss you again. Come out here and visit me. And then kindly move in next door and be my neighbor forever. Thanks. :-)

Anyway, back in Cincinnati, I managed to persuade my mom to get Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Yum. (Sure, we enjoyed other favorites like Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, and Panera, but it was of my Chick-Fil-A meal that I ultimately took a picture, hahaha):

I got another picture of my adorable cousin Tricia (who recently graduated in Social Work and is the total bomb diggity):

The next day, my Uncle Joe (who declared that his photo should NOT appear on the blog, heh heh heh) and I spent some quality time together at Meijer, which is this huge, Midwestern, Super Walmart-type store:

I adore my Uncle Joe, and he's one of my favorite people to chat with, EAT with, and scan for sales with (hence the trip to Meijer... we're definitely both bargain-hunters!!). But eventually, it was time to say goodbye, so my mom and I packed up the Cramermobile and vacated the Red Roof Inn (our regular Cincinnati home-away-from-home). I love Cincinnati. I miss Cincinnati. I want to go back to Cincinnati. (Tricia and Sarah, you still owe me a trip to Trader's World.) :-)

FYI, on the drive back to PA, we passed Big Mama Green. When my brother and I were kids, we drove out to Ohio often, and we referred to this bridge as Big Mama Blue. One time, we discovered that Big Mama Blue had been painted white. So it became Big Mama White. And this time, we discovered that Big Mama White had been painted green. Therefore, say hello to Big Mama Green:

Meanwhile, back in PA...

Tim got to spend a week with Weston, his folks (Gangy and Grandalf), and his siblings (at least the ones who haven't abandoned the homestead for supposedly important things like "college" and "mission" and what not). I made him promise to take lots of pictures in my absence, since (I admit it) I suffered from serious Weston Withdrawal while in Ohio.

Here's Weston on the little play structure in the backyard (which he LOVED):

He and his cousin Killian had many a good time:

Killian is such a freaking cutie:

They even got into high-fiving each other (AHHH so cute!!):

There is also a trampoline at Gangy's house. Weston didn't really get it when he and I visited in June, but this time, he was in love with it:

To be fair, much of the fun that he and Killian enjoyed at Gangy's house was due to Tim's brothers Jeremy and Brett, who are probably the best babysitters in the world because (A) they're energetic and willing, and (B) they're family, so they're free (yay). :-)

One of the very special guest stars of our vacation was Finn, our new nephew (and Killian's new little brother). Look at that precious little squishy face!!! I think Gangy likes him:

In keeping with Lansdale tradition, Tim took Weston to Merrymead multiple times with my dad (Grandpa). Weston LOVES running around and looking at all the animals:

I was so glad to see that Weston became really comfortable with Grandpa during his visit. I love these pictures:

Look at the joy in this precious little face:

And after several days of Lansdale fun for Tim and Weston, I arrived back in town for one final day!!! First on the agenda: meet new nephew! (Check.)

Next on the agenda? See my favorite Lauri!!! Lauri and I have been close our entire lives, so she is definitely one of my PA staples. Fortunately, she still lives close enough to Lansdale that I can usually see her when I come home (YAY!!). She, being totally awesome, drove down to see little ol' me, and we ate hoagies together and then we took pictures. Here's the normal, sweet picture:

And here's the freakish, what-is-wrong-with-them picture:

Lauri also snapped a few of Weston. Yay! She is SO amazingly talented; seriously, Lalee Photography is the way to go if you ever need professional portraits:

Last on the agenda (after doing all my other required PA things like getting Merrymead ice cream, buying Tastykakes, seeing my family again, etc.), was spending quality time with Gangy, Grandalf, and the whole Anderson/Carlin crew. We went to Outback in honor of my brother-in-law Jay's birthday, and (crikey) we had a shrimp-on-the-barbie good time!!

Here's Weston, sporting a brand new, really bad bump on his head (which - sorry Weston - fortunately occurred after the mini photo session with Lauri):

Los hermanos Jerebrett:

Our lovely Gangy:

The birthday guy and his rib feast:

My most favorite sister-in-law Dana and me (the nice picture):

Aaaaand.... the scary picture (I love that you are all such troopers with my picture requests):

Killian tried fruit punch (a.k.a. toddler cocaine) for the second time in his life (following a very successful first try):

And little Finn slept the entire time!!!

By the end of our dinner, Weston had made his way over to Killian's side of the table, and they were both staring at the various Aussie decor on the walls:

They also got really cute and cuddly with each other. (I am posting this picture in full awareness that both Killian and Weston will absolutely kill me when they are teenagers.)

And they got really silly with Uncle Jem:

All in all, we had such a great PA/OH trip. I, for one, have decided that it is actually NOT that fun to fly cross-country with a toddler. But, at least I only have to do it one more time. The key for us is constant stimulation: snacks, books, toys, stand-up-and-look-around, and repeat. Even with that winning line-up, though, Weston gets pretty exhausted. Here he is upon our arrival back in California:

What a little dear. Thanks for a great time, folks! We miss you all!!!