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.

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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!!