Anderson Adventures

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Vacation

We went to Ohio for Christmas this year and it was wonderful. Claire was a champ on the planes, she only cried when we were flying out of Salt Lake. Poor girl is all stuffy and I'm sure her ears didn't pop as easily as she'd like. She slept or played on all of the other flights. She was just way too nice to us and it was wonderful since we had to stay FOREVER in Chicago when we were flying out. The only thing that's nice about the Chicago O'Hare airport is that they have revolving plastic seat covers on the toilets. That's it.

We got to play with Claire's cousins all week and I'd have to say that I have the cutest niece and nephews! I wish I got to chase them around a little more and really play with them, but something happened when I became a mom. I'm either lazy, tired, or both. Running around in a circle just doesn't sound that wonderful to me sometimes. Maybe next time. We played some games and I slaughtered everyone in ticket to ride. I think I won by 60 points or something . :) We ate the most wonderful ice cream cake from the Dairy Queen. Oh, so yummy! I love it when ice cream cake isn't ruined by cake. I ate WAY too many cookies and I'm all sweeted out. We went shopping with all of our christmas money and I think I got some steals. Their Banana Republic outlet is oh so wonderful. A dress for $25, pants for $9, a $130 sweater for $50. Wahoo! :) I heart banana. Brian gave me money to buy tickets to Les Miserables!!!! The off broadway show will be here in June, so we'll buy tickets as soon as they're on sale! I'm so excited! I've always wanted to see Les Miserables!

Claire, as you can imagine, ran up and ripped open every gift on Christmas morning. Lie. She only made it through an hour of presents before she had to take a nap. I enjoyed her gifts though. She got lots of books. I love reading to her. Brian and I definitely got spoiled by his parents! We got lots of stuff! Cd's, movies, books, clothes, a new and bigger fish tank for Brian, jewelry, and Diane made me such a beautiful cross-stitch of the Salt Lake Temple. It's' beautiful and so much work! We really had a wonderful time.

Claire is now rolling over and over and over. Just now I turned around to see her playing on her play mat, but instead she had rolled all the way into the kitchen. I'm sure she'll be crawling around before I know it. She's much better at sitting up, although she still falls over sideways. She has also graduated to sleeping in her crib! I don't know why it took me so long. Guess I have denial issues about her growing up. I'm sure she likes all the space and she looks adorable in there. It's nice to have my room back though.

Another improvement is that we're still on Ohio time, meaning that Claire goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes up at 6:30. This way we have a couple hours of me and Brian time and then we go to bed at 10:30. I love it. It's a way better schedule, I think. Hopefully it lasts. I'd like it to last for a long time.

Well, here are some pictures. They are as out of order as my blogging was in this post, but they're still pictures.

All the boys got remote control cars. (Sorry about the horrible glare, Brik.)

Cute Simon loves playing the piano with Grandpa

Iris sure likes her cousin, Baby Claire

I love these pictures. She would watch the train go around and around. Brian bought a train set when we got home. :)

She loves the colors in this book.

Iris claimed these puppets as her own although they were meant for all three kids. She calls them her babies and sticks them on her hands and feet. Word is that she now sleeps with them. She's so cute!

'nuff said. SOOOO CUTE!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

On To Christmas....Finally!!!

The past 4 days have been CRAZY!!! Crazy frenzy of a day to get the house, baby, and us ready for a couple of vacations. Friday we had to go to two wedding receptions and then a family party the next day. Tons of washing, cleaning, and packing to do just to get ready. Then....with all of the stupid traffic, it took us an hour and a half to get from Provo to Draper. Misery. All with a screaming little girl. Poor thing.

Now, Monday, doing it all over again, but this time was getting for a week long vacation in Ohio. Sweet goodness, I can't wait to get away and relax a little. Hopefully it will feel a little more like Christmas when I'm not running around doing a million things.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Utlilty Rage

If you have ever been to my apartment, you'll know that it is C-O-L-D! If you know me as a person, then you'll know that I like my surroundings a little bit on the cooler side, but even my apartment is cold for me. Anyway, if we turn our thermostat to 75, it's probably really like 68 degrees. CHILLY! It's also hard with a baby because she's always cold in our house and I can't get her poor little legs warm. On top of it being cold, our winter GAS bill is between $110.00 and $160.00. RIDICULOUS!!! My mother doesn't even pay that much for their house, and we live in an apartment.

It makes me frustrated to say the very least. So, I had Questar come and do a home energy audit to see if our furnace is even working properly. Much to my dismay (I wanted it replaced), the furnace is 80% efficient; however, it's what is called a "reverse-flow" furnace meaning that the vents are located at the top of the wall instead of the bottom, so it's sucking warm air in instead of cold air. Stupid. What else did they say? Our water heater needs to be replaced, our fireplace is "terrible" and "the worst you can have", our sliding glass door is "absolutely terrible" (which we already knew because we can feel the draft) and that there is really no way to improve our heat unless we put tons of money into it. We can put plastic over the window's and put insulation in the fireplace...that's it. Since our building is so old, the lame-o's in the 70's built things all wrong. they cemented the air ducts in the ground, so they are not only surrounded by the cold ground, they are not insulated, and if there is an air leak then, oops, too bad, you're out of luck unless you want to jackhammer the whole place and fix it. Oh, and there is no insulation in the walls because, once again, those genuis' loved to use cinderblock. I hate cinderblock. So, we're looking for a new place to live and trying to find a good deal. I mean, we have it pretty good here since we get a family discount so it might be cheaper than anything we can find, but I don't like paying $160 for an already cold house.

Anyway, this is me raging.

Out of the mouth of Claire

Claire was asking me about Hailey nursing. She was sad to find out that Hailey wasn't nursing anymore. She said, "Well, when I am a mommy can you give my babies milk?" Uh...nope. Can't do that. "Why mom?" Well, my milk will be gone (thank goodness) and you'll have to do it. "Oh, well, I want a big, big, BIG family. TWELVE babies! But I don't want the littlest baby to ever get big because I do NOT want one hundred babies." March 2015
Claire: Daddy, do you stink? Brian: Why do you say that? Claire: Because I can smell you. 6/18/14
Claire walked out of her room and this is what ensued: Daddy: "Claire, get back to bed." Claire: "But Daddy, my bed is being crazy!" (We try hard not to laugh). Daddy: "What?" Claire: "My bed is being crazy!!!" He went back, she tangled her blanket so her feet were getting cold. 5/15/2014
Claire asked her sunbeam teacher what "this" was, pointing to something on her chest. She thought she was talking about the pattern on her dress. Claire said, "No, no! These. They are for milk for babies." 5/2014
Eating corn on the cob for dinner, Claire turned to me and asked, "Mommy, are you going to eat some of this YUUUUMMMMYYY corn?" 5/2014
"Mommy, can you do this for me?" She hands me my eyelash curler and I proceed to curl her eyelashes. She bats her eyes in the mirror and says, "There. That's better." For the record...I have never done this, so she didn't learn it from me. 1/28/14
I was doing Claire's hair , combing through it. "Mommy, stop brushing my hair, you're making me crazy." 1/28/14
Claire has a VERY hard time going #2 in the toilet. She will hold it for days and days, so she ends up sitting on the toilet for hours sometimes. This week, she had been in there for a good two hours (and never went). Anyway, during that time she called me in several times, "MOMMY!!!! Come here!!!" And then would tell me nothing. So, after what seemed like the billionth, "MOMMY come here!" shouting, I went in to find her with the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper collected in a heap in her arms. I looked at her and gasped in frustration. I had just changed that roll! Brand new roll. Think of all that! She looked at me, giggled, and said, "Mommy...hehe....I sneezed...hehe." 1/28/14
We had our first ice storm here in Texas. I took Claire to Costco and let her walk on the ice. "Mom, I need to put on my ice skates". "Claire, do you have ice skates?" "No mom, I don't." Good point though sweetheart!
Claire always wakes me up telling me that the sun is awake. The other day, she came in, told me the sun was awake once more and then told me that she wanted some candy. I informed her that we didn't have any, but she said, "Mom, all we have to do is say Trick-or-treat!"
We went camping and I asked if Claire had fun. Claire: "I love camping, but Jared was naughty. We should leave him home".
Me: "Claire, why are you out of bed?" Claire: "Because of this..." She starts moving as if she'll pee her pants. Me: What? Claire: "Because I have the wiggles."
While at the mall bathroom, "MOMMY! YOU DID IT! YOU PEED!" For everyone to hear.
We're still trying to potty train Claire and have her poop in the potty! She says she does it, but can't seem to have it happen and will hold it for days (which is very frustrating). In an effort to get the ball rolling, I said, "Claire! Let's both push. 1...2...3...push!" At that point I did a fake push and she quickly exclaimed, "MOMMY! Don't poop in your pannies!" 7/12/13
Jared was crying and wandering around the house this morning. He popped his head in the bathroom where Claire and I were, and started to cry. Claire said, "Oh Jared, stop whining". 7/3/13
Brian and I were talking about the frustrating expenses of moving. At one point I said (about our debt), "It's all my fault." Claire came to the rescue and said, "NO! It's MY fault! My fault....and Jared's!"
This morning Claire woke up at 5 am screaming, "I WANT A COOKIE!!!!!" I went in, she repeated her sentiments. I promised her a cookie and she went back to sleep. When she got out of bed at 10:30, she jumped into my arms and said, "Where's my cookie?"