Parentals

Now is the time for the great March blogging catch up. A lot of life happened in March and I feel like my extreme exhaustion is still in full force. I even took a few pregnancy tests because only pregnancy causes tiredness like this. Nope. Not pregnant. 

A lot of life equals a lot of fun. And....it will be much more fun to tell the story with pictures, of course. 

This may have been the first time ever that I got a good shot of all three children. I think I posted it before, but it's too good not to post again.

My parents arrived March 4th, I think. It SNOWED! What the?!?!?! I was telling my parents for weeks to be prepared for shorts and darn Texas went ahead and splattered snow on us. It was the longest drive to the airport I've ever experienced only because it took me an hour to get into the arrival terminal. I had to reverse on one bridge because of a stuck bus, leave the second entrance because of a slippery hill that cars couldn't get up, and finally circled the airport to go over the overhead bridge. Texans can't drive in the snow. It's ridiculous. We finally got them here though. 

And we made a snowman. I didn't have a carrot, so my mom got a cutie peel. I think it looks like Gonzo. My mom's resourcefulness and imagination never cease to amaze me. 

Jared even ate snow off of the car. Gross.  

Claire could spend her entire awake existance drawing, coloring, painting, and doing worksheets. Naturally my mom painted the best water color known to the Anderson household.  

Jared sat on Grandpa and Grandma's shoulders and would steer them with their heads. He had a blast doing this.

My poor dad got wore out. There was always someone jumping on him. 

I took pictures with my parents and my kids and promptly threw away the hideous background I used. Next time I'll do better, Promise.  

Silly faces! 

The kids doing Jared's B-day puzzle. 

Hailey really likes when grandparents come to visit. More people to hold her. 

Presents for everyone! 

Hailey loves her new car!

Jared sleeps with these every night. He has a different bumblebee now because that one broke so quickly. We took it back for a better bumblebee and heatwave. 

Birthday kids. Since I already posted on Jared's b-day, I'll skip that part.

If you ever come to Dallas/Fort Worth, I think the Fort Worth Water Gardens are so cool! They are in the heart of downtown, and it's free. It's not very big, but it's a fun stroll. I think this "fountain" is the absolute coolest.

Jared was very scared so he wanted to go back up. I made him go all the way down. It does make you a little off balance watching your feet step onto something stable while the water moves below it. 

That boy! GAH! He's so cute!!!

Girl shot!  

The spray fountain turned out to be an awesome backdrop for these pictures. It looks white, but it's actually spraying water. :)

See. Spraying water.

This is prettier in the summer. 

My parents both ended up getting sick. Of course. They always get sick or at least someone does. We didn't get to do much because of that, but we all had such a great time with them while they were here. It goes by way too fast! Give me one more week of Hailey sleeping through the night and I'll be ready for them to come back. She does not sleep well until she's in her own room. 

Miss those parents of mine! 

Jared Turns Three

How does time really go this quickly? Makes me a little bit crazy. I feel like when your child turns two it's an understandable thing. They've put you through two years of crazy. So much so that when two comes, I dunno, it just feels right. Three though. Three is getting old. This is such a fun time to be a mom and I'm loving every second of these crazy days.

Jared, as a crazy three year old is ALL BOY! This kid.
He loves:

• squirting water at people
• loves jumping and climbing all over us
• being outside
• ice cream, popsicles, candy, sugar, jelly beans, sugar, ice cream, candy....oh...am I repeating myself? Maybe it's because that's how Jared asks for "food". Over and over
• Still loves his pillow although the obsession is easing off a bit. We don't have to take it to the grocery store anymore, but he still carries it all over the house. 
• Still into cars, but more specifically now anything Transformers. His favorite is bumblebee, which has also affected his decision for a favorite color. We have to get him yellow everything these days. Yellow bowl, plate, spoon, cup. Yellow jellybeans. It's not all bad though because I've finally gotten him to eat corn. "Look, bumblebee food! YUM!" Works.
• He also loves spiderman. Finding spiders in the yard is more fun this way. 
• running! He has so much energy. One day last week I made him ride his pedal and push car to the bus stop. It's nearly a mile away. He made it a little over halfway there and luckily he was a little more worn out by the time we got home. 
• He doesn't really eat very well....unless it's sugar. I don't know what it is with kids and eating garbage, but it is VERY hard to get this kid to eat good food. I don't even buy that much crappy food anymore. I've tried the whole, "don't give him anything unless he eats good food," but he'll just stop eating. He went a few days without food once because I gave him that choice. By the end I was so desperate to give him calories that we probably had pizza. 
• He is also a very sweet boy. He loves to give me hugs and kisses and will always give them.
• He is very polite. Always says thank you. 
• He is my best helper. Claire refuses to help me clean up a room and Jared will always lend a hand. I love this! He's always eager to help me in some way. 
• He loves his TV time. We have a strict 2 hour per day rule in our house. Now that it's warming up again I'll be happy to cut that time down even more. He'd watch all day if he could. 
• I've been trying to have a little preschool time with him these days and it's been fun. His attention span is pretty normal, so we don't get a lot done, but he's starting to recognize his numbers and we're working on his pronunciation so that I can actually understand what he's saying. Yellow= Yaow. Blue= Bew. Claire=Cware. you know, that L sound. L, N, and F. He's getting there. He said FOX the other day and I nearly cried. :) Oh parenting.
• If you call him any nickname he will correct you. "I'm Jared Boy." Oh...are you a girl? "No! Jared BOY!"
• Has the most gorgeous blue eyes the world has ever seen! 
• Potty trained at 2.5. This. Is. Amazing. And he's good at it!

Anyway, I guess that will do for now. He's such a wonderful boy and I'm so glad we have him to help us go a little crazy sometimes. Life wouldn't be the same without him. Happy Birthday, Jared Boy!

2012

2013

 2014

This year, we celebrated the big day a couple weeks early because my parents were in town. Here is Jared on his actual birthday! Barnes and Noble + free cupcakes = delish!

2015

Pictures from the party. 

Bumblebee cake

Hailey had a mini b-day too. We'll celebrate her's when Grandma Anderson is here next week. 

My March birthday kids 

He got a new bike that's just a tad big for him. He has a hard time steering and pedaling. He's getting better though and will be a pro soon. 

Spiderman bike! 

Dressed By Claire

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be dressed by your four-year-old? Well, I read THIS  article a couple weeks ago and decided that it sounded like fun. I make my kids wear the outfits I choose for them until a certain point in their lives, so it might be fun to switch things around and see how much I like my decisions made for me. I was very excited to get the ball rolling on this one. Would my daughter be just the best fashionista the world has ever known or would she choose the most outrageous things for me to wear? Would I be embarrassed? Would she like this experiment?  Would I? Well, lets see....

Day 1: Not too shabby, Claire Bear! The pants were 2 sizes too big, so they ended up SUPER baggy by the end of the day, but that's totally do-able. Lime green socks. Why these socks?  "Because they are green and have stripes just like your shirt." Well chosen, I say.

Then began the accessories. This proved to be the gaudy theme of the entire 5 days, but I started to get used to it. Love the pink necklace. "You look beautiful," she said. "But not your shoes. "Your shoes don't look beautiful, but that's ok." She chose the running shoes because they were the same color as my pants. I asked her if she wanted to choose different choose and she said no. They'll work.

I also let her choose my make-up for day one only. It began to be too much prep/time before school to choose clothes AND make-up, so we resorted to just clothes. I wanted to do the make-up to see how creative I could be with crazy choices. Maybe a post for another day? Her purple choices with the brightest pink gloss turned out to not be that bad.

I had Claire take this picture so you can't really see the bright pink necklace that doesn't match the outfit in any way. I think day one was an overall success.  

Day 2: Also not too bad. She chose my outfit and I thought, "Awesome. I wanted to wear this anyway." She insisted I needed to wear socks. Of course they were pink with stripes because they were her favorite. I was glad when she told me that I needed to wear boots for the day because of the rainy weather. The jewelry again was mismatching and bulky, but I don't think anyone would have ever noticed that my necklace was black and my earrings were brown. Day 2 made me feel like my clothing choices for her rubbed off in a good way.

Then there was Day 3. I pulled out all of my clothes to show her all of the choices. I wasn't sure if my closet was so boring and I needed to diversify a lot more or if she was choosing good outfits just because she knew what I wore on a regular basis, so I decided to show her ALL of her options. Guess what....I wasn't going to put this yellow dress as an option. It is 2 sizes too big for me and was in the back of my closet. She saw one glimpse of it and said, "I love that yellow dress. Wear that one!" Ok....well, it's sleeveless, so I need sleeves. Instead of a cute cardigan I got to wear a bulky jacket. Still, not the worst. We then moved on to jewelry. Again, very bulky. I've also discovered that this girl LOVES cocktail rings. I got to wear two this day. 

So, I thought we were done at the cocktail rings, obviously forgetting that I needed to wear shoes. She picked up my black heels and said, "Wear these, I love these.....and you need socks." I think I had a burst of laughter. I said, "Socks? With heels?" She informed me "that it's cold outside and that's why" I needed socks. Bright blue. "Because I like them." Right-o! 

Brian asked me, "Are you actually going to go out in public looking like this?" Yup! That's what I signed up for.

To be perfectly honest, I tried to hide my feet from the bus driver that day. The feet part was kind of embarrassing. I also had to run to a bajillion stores and got a "you've got to be kidding me" look from a girl at the Dollar Store. THE DOLLAR STORE! Baha! She took a glance at my feet and inched her way up to my face with a raised eyebrow. I just smiled and laughed. 

Honestly, I was glad that I got to change into my pajamas for the rest of the day starting at noon. Claire got sick, throwing up...and I wasn't gonna clean up barf in a dry clean only dress. I think the fashion gods sent food poisoning to Claire's stomach just for the socks.

 Day 4: Although this also was another stellar look by Claire. She chose another one of my favorite outfits with, again, mis-matching jewelry. Pink earrings, red necklace. And the heels. I love heels....for Sunday. I don't love heels for being a mommy every day.

Day 5: Both Brian and my mom said that this outfit worked. Brian informed me that "it actually looks good." My mom said, "Arctic Cat snowmobiles' logos are purple and yellow. You can wear that." Sorry guys. I am not aspiring to snowmobile logo color code nor did I think it looked good. It wasn't atrocious, but I felt like a rainbow. Pink earrings, silver necklace, purple shirt and yellow pants. I almost had all the colors. 

I tried to have Jared dress me for one of these days, but he ran out of the room uninterested. He liked choosing my make-up better, so maybe that will be his turn of dressing mommy. 

I was very happy to choose my outfit the following day. It was faster, easier, and hopefully matched a tiny bit better, but this was VERY fun. Claire was disappointed that it was over, but I now have a new appreciation for when she chooses her own outfits that don't quite match. She's happy in it because it's what she wants to wear. She's been asking me if her outfits are cute and I always tell her, "I love it if you love it." She beams every time and is very happy with her decisions....that have usually involved LOTS of polka dots or holes in the knee. 

Everyone should dress like a 4 year old for at least one day. 

Complete with socks.