End of School Year

Yay! I had my last day with the kids on Tuesday and just have to go say goodbye to them on Thursday and clean up our room on Friday. It sure doesn't seem like summer but boy am I excited! The weather here has been unusually cool, so hopefully it will warm up this weekend.

Last weekend we went to visit my family in Missouri. I'll have to post a few pictures of Anderson from that weekend but will have to wait since I used my mom's camera. The weather was very humid and warm. We actually passed through Joplin, MO, on our way back to the airport on Sunday before the devastating tornado. It's just horrible and it seems like they keep getting severe weather. I grew up in tornado alley and just don't remember having so many tornadoes in the spring.

Anderson's told me he's really excited for the summer. We plan on keeping very busy since he's a very active little guy. We are doing a play group one day a week, library activities one day, and kindermusik. I've also been thinking about doing a swim class or something. We'll see about that. I'm hoping he will start sleeping in too.

Here's a few pics from about a week ago.

Fun at the park.

Hi Mommy!

Look, a caterpillar. This was right before he proceeded

to step on it. It lived though.

Uh Oh.

This and That

It seems like we've been really busy but I guess it's a lot of little things compounded to make it seem like we've had no time. Last weekend we went to have dinner with our friends Melanie, Matt, and Madison. We had a great time. We were just about to leave their house when Anderson took a nose dive on the concrete. Poor guy! I sure wish we could put him in a bubble for the next 20 years.

Mother's Day was fantastic! The weather was just gorgeous so we went on a bike ride to the park. Anderson and James got me a gift certificate to a photography workshop. I'm so excited to use it soon! James bought me a really nice camera a few years ago and I will finally learn how to use it. I feel so lucky to have such a great husband and son.

This weekend is going to be spent working on the house. We ordered new vanities, mirrors, and James is getting tile tonight. He will tile the floor this weekend and then in a few weeks he is going to tile the shower and around the bathtub. I can't wait for a new bathroom!

That's about it for us. We enjoyed two days of rain here in Denver and got our month's total of rain. Everyone here loves when it rains because it hardly ever does. Now we can enjoy a sunny, mild weekend.

Anderson's first ice cream cone. He had a lick

but then didn't really care about it.

Anderson and Madison before his fall.

Ready to go!

Loving his gifts from our recycling collector.

Fun, fun, fun!

Love this smile!

Playing with Molly.

Tug of War

Funny Little Guy

At 19 months, Anderson is such a ham! James and I are having so much fun teaching him new things each day. His little mind is a sponge and seems to soak up everything. It really is amazing to watch his little mind work and learn new things. Lately he's learned how to hoot like an owl, moo like a cow, flap his hands like a duck, and do motions to several songs that we sing all the time. He also has a really good memory. If there's something he wants and we tell him to wait until after whatever, he totally remembers and will remind us. He's such a funny little guy and we've really noticed that he's starting to do big boy things. Today we went to have lunch with James and he held our hands and walked all the way to the restaurant. Babies sure do grow up so much! He is getting more independent but is still a mommy's boy. Hopefully that never changes!

Party at the Aquarium.

Fish!

Big boy cup.

Anderson loves his cars.

Vroom..vroom..vroom

I can help mom!

I'm a good helper.

Such a boy!

Look mom ( he did this all by himself)

Banana phone

Happy Easter

It's been a low key weekend, which has been really nice for a change. We went and had dinner with our new friends from church, who happen to live only 2 minutes away. On Sunday we went to church and had a relaxing afternoon. We usually have sunny weather but it's been kind of gloomy this weekend. It's nice once in awhile because it gives us an excuse to stay inside and relax.
Anderson enjoyed his Easter basket and is now obsessed with his new book, Go, Dog, Go. He has always loved books but seems to love them even more lately. As a teacher, I couldn't be happier about that! There are a few that I would LOVE to hide for a few days though!

What's in my basket?

Yay, an egg.

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

The plastic eggs are for eating.

Somebody got dressed up for church but didn't
want to leave the house.

Fun

I really enjoyed my Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (along with the weekend of course) with Anderson. On Wednesday we went to the library for center/story/song time. He had a great time and ran all over the place. On Thursday we went to Kindermusik and lunch with daddy. Then on Friday we went to Monkey Business with some friends. I have to say that I love working part time. I feel so fortunate to get to spend time with my sweet boy and time with my kids at school.

This weekend we took Anderson to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. After showing him what to do, he understood the concept of finding the eggs and putting them in his basket. On Sat. night we had a good friends Kathleen, Bill, and Annie, over for dinner. It's great having them in our neighborhood. Annie is over a year older than Anderson but they played really well together. She held his hand and ran him all over the house. It was so cute!

That's about it for us. Have a great week!

Snuggle time.

What's that?

Silly.

Ready, set, GO!

I want the egg!

Sweet!

More eggs.

Come on Anderson! Let's go!

Exhausted!

Spring

We love the spring! This past weekend we enjoyed a few of our favorite things:

Hiking on a beautiful morning in Boulder.

Anderson LOVED riding in the backpack!

Yardwork (not always one of our favorite things

but we accomplished a lot)

Playing outside

Grilling. Yum!

Playroom

Life has been super busy lately and time has gotten away from us. James had been working crazy hours to get a submittal in but this week he's been on a normal schedule. Yay! We're really excited about him taking off this Friday to go do something fun!

We recently converted our study to a playroom. We painted and put all of Anderson's toys in it. He absolutely loves the room and so does his mommy! All of his toys used to be in our living room and I felt like I had to clean up when we left the house or when he took a nap. Now I just leave the room alone until the end of the day. It really was a wasted room before but now we all love it. This small project motivated us to do some more home improvements. We have done a lot of work on our yard and then my stepdad is coming at the end of May to help us update our bathrooms. Our master bedroom is currently covered in carpet so it will be nice to have tile.

That's about it for us. I can't believe it's April already!

Anderson even loved the room before the toys!

Tackling his new elephant.

The best toys!

I love that smile.

Reading a book by himself.

This is where a football belongs.

The Rest of Our Trip

We had a great time the next few days in California after Disney. We stayed in the L.A. area and went to the beaches. We enjoyed the beaches but didn't enjoy driving in L.A. Anywhere we went it seemed to take at least an hour (even to go 15 miles). The freeways were always stop and go and there were so many people anywhere. It made us appreciate CO so much more! We met a lady on the plane on our way home who said she has just learned not to leave her house during certain times of the day. Yuck!
Anderson really enjoyed the beaches, walking on the piers, and people watching. It was great people watching!

He LOVED the sand!

The water was cold!

Beautiful Laguna Beach.

Like I said, he LOVED the sand!

Of course we found a playground on the beach.

Yummy!

Anderson loves riding on daddy's shoulders.

Beautiful.

One of the many piers.

Anderson saw the Merry Go Round and had to

ride it.

Fire hydrants are fun.

Beautiful Redondo beach.