What We've Done While Brian is Gone

Brian is in the great state of PA for a career fair. He has been gone since Saturday and we miss him terribly. I've realized that I get plenty bored with just myself around 4:00 since I don't have the anticipation of seeing him at six when he gets off work.

Some things I've realized are:

• My house definitely stays cleaner when he's not home. There are no socks in the living room. No pants. No dirty laundry at all. He has a horrible habit of taking everything off in the living room and leaving it. 
• My dishes get done! Why? Because I know that I'm going to HAVE to do it anyway since there is no one there to clean it up. Sigh....I should just come to terms with this one and do it every day anyway.
• Although I like my floor sock free and my sink empty, I'd rather have the disaster around and have Brian home with me.
• I work a lot harder at parental patience when I know I won't have help by the end of the day. 
• I sleep better when he's home. 
• I still go to bed late. I thought I'd go to bed so early all week. Not so! No siree! I've taken advantage of all this time I have to choose exactly what I want to do. I've read books, cleaned, scrapbooked, blogged, journaled. I feel pretty awesome.

So, for family night, the kids and I got frozen yogurt and played at the park. I definitely was the greatest  beneficiary from the ice cream and Claire from the park. Poor Jared. Wait, he was held the whole time, so that means it was his dream night.  Here are some pictures.

Haha! Look at Jared's face! My kids sure know how to scowl. Claire is also that dirty every. Single. Day. It even turns the bathwater a murky brown.

Hair flapping in the wind (fan). 

His hair maybe long, but he's still a stud! This shows how long it was on top right before his.....

HAIRCUT!!!! 

Yes, I finally did it. I know most of you (except my mom) are thinking, "It's about time! His hair looked so weird!" but guess what!? I have a hard time parting with the first hair...meaning the hair before the first cut. I don't know why, but I just do. It means they're growing up faster than I'm ready for and it breaks my heart a little knowing that so much time has passed. On the other hand, doesn't he look like such a handsome little guy! :) 

Now....we'll see if Brian notices the difference!

Camping Trip #2

We Anderson's LOVE to camp! We went again this weekend and had even more fun! Here are a few pictures from our lovely day away!

Kylie came to play with Claire while I was getting ready to go. These two pictures make me laugh. It's like they're both trying to be monsters.

We went with our friends, the Twitchels, and Claire had way too much fun playing with Abby. They threw rocks, played in the dirt, got DIRTY!!!, ran around in the tents, discovered leaves, played with flashlights, and had a wonderful time together. They were completely worn out by the time the drive home came around.

Who loves camping? Jared does! And....he's the cutest little boy in the world! Look at those smiles! (Proof that mom was on this vacation are Jared's happy faces).

"Abby".

Discovering the art of pulling leaves.

We really had so much fun with our good friends! Camping with friends makes for really fun camping! We definitely plan to go again if they're up for it! :) That is, if they can take the no-sleeping-Abby-wanting-crackers. Next time we'll get pictures of everyone!

Can't wait to go this weekend again! :)

Chocolate? No Thanks!

I'm happy to report that after 4 months and 3 weeks of having no chocolate, I decided to have a shake today. This shake didn't happen because of an intense and non-ignorable chocolate craving. No. It came because Claire isn't feeling herself...again. Anyway, I decided that I had enough and I dragged the kids through the ghetto drive through at Arctic Circle.  Hopefully this shake would make me feel a little less annoyed that the poor girl's immune system is still not up and running.

"Mint shake with Oreo and Reeses, please. " (I know what you're all thinking. Yes, I put peanut butter with mint. It's good. Don't knock it 'til you try it.)

Heaven was served through my car window and I went on my way.

1/4 cup down into my stomache and I seriously thought my insides were going to be my outsides. What was this vile mess that I was putting down my body. It's "heaven", remember? Oh yeah! So I continue to eat.

I am now sitting at home exactly 30 minutes after the creaminess was consumed and I feel like I may have five Easters worth of indigestion.

Maybe...just maybe...after 5 months of zero chocolate I detest it.

2 Years Old!!

You better believe that the little misses is TWO YEARS OLD! Can ya believe it? Neither can I! It's amazing what a little lady she's turning out to be. She makes us laugh all the time and those big green eyes can get away with murder. 

Opening her "choo choo". Thank goodness for Legos!

Grandpa and Jared

My first Dora cake. 

Trying to blow out the candle. She thought it was funny.

I seriously can't believe we have a 2 year old. It goes too fast sometimes. I love how much she's learning and how much she imitates other people. She's become quite the social butterfly and doesn't care if we're around or not when it comes to playing with friends. She is quite the tornado, which is why I can't keep my house clean; however, I'm trying to live by the wise words of those who've gone before me. Those words of, "If I had a do over, I would worry less about my house and play with my kids more." So, I try...until we start living in a disaster zone and I can't take it anymore. I'll take her any way I can...messy or not!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!