Anderson Adventures

Monday, October 7, 2013

Texas State Fair

I went to my first state fair! How appropriate that it would be in Texas since "everything is bigger in Texas" and I hope that the state fair is as well. I've never been to any other, so an expert would have to tell me just how awesome it was, but I had a great time! I'll have to get my friend Lindsey's expert opinion since this is her 15th state fair (why didn't I ask her when I was there with her?). I've never seen so much fried food in my life!! Imagine any type of food on earth and I'm sure they had it fried. Lindsey had a fried turkey dinner and although I was extremely skeptical, it was amazingly good.

Claire was super excited to be like Bob the Builder and get to ride in a digger!

Too bad we didn't get Jared's face here.

This was ADORABLE! The kids put apron's on and went on a tour through the farm. Everything was fake, but they got a basket to put their goods in. Feed a chicken-get an egg. Feed the sheep-get wool. You get the picture. At the end of it, they traded their goods for a dollar and then got to purchase a treat. My kids got chip faced and loved every second of it.

For some reason I thought I took pictures past this point, but I guess I got lazy. We saw lots of animals and the kids loved feeding the goats. We actually got to see a brand new, minutes old, baby goat....and then got to see the mom eat the placenta. Sick. We left before I lost my cookies. We had a blast!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Austenland

I love to read! I love to write (well...on my blog). Let's be honest, I do not get enough time to do either of these things half as much as I would like. I can thank my best buddy for getting me on this reading kick, and I'm sure my children would like to ask her where their mother went.

First, who doesn't love Pride and Prejudice (if you're a woman)? Ok, there may be some of you that cringe and heave when you read about mushy love, but I eat it up as fast as I eat ice cream I'm trying to hide from my children. I'm pretty sure that I have wanted to fall and love and marry Mr. Darcy on more than one occasion in my life. Oh, how glorious would it be to live back then and fall in love with such poetry and chivalry?

Or...

How boring would it be? Seriously, lets take a step back. Yes, you get to wear fun dresses, attend balls, and worry about men all day and night. But you also get to bask in the non-airconditioned heat of every day, embroider and stitch 'til your hearts content (which wouldn't take my heart long), walk, talk, and wait for night to fall. Then comes the oh so romantic custom that you can't kiss until you're married. Oh bah. In the movies it's just a nice dramatization of sexual tension. If you took pre-married me and placed it into non-kissing while dating, I'm pretty sure I would have become the town floozy. For goodness sakes, my first kiss with Brian was not a peck. I adopted my roommate and long time friends favorite excuse, "It just happend". End of story, it did just happen.

Anyway, I'm so over Darcy. Brian has is fair share of mushy love lines and I laugh at him every time they're said. Secretly I eat them up, but I never know how to respond other than laughter. How's that for a dream romantic? Thanks for Austenland in clearing up the wonder that used to be Jane Austin's world. It was a boring world told in a miraculous way.

Second, The Book Thief. Stole my heart and made death my best friend forever. There's real life told from a different perspective, and the perspective was beautiful.

P.S. Don't worry, I'm sure the second I pick up Pride and Prejudice again, I'll be team Darcy again. Blast that man!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Playgroup at the Fire Station

Every Tuesday we go to playgroup and have a blast. Today was a tour of the fire station and we had a blast! The firemen were so nice to the kids and were so cute with them. Each kid got a sticker when they got there and say down to watch the fireman get in his gear.

Claire thought the fireman was sooooo funny when he put his mask on. She kept covering her ears as if something loud was coming and then giggling to herself.

Jared, of course, just wanted to keep me busy and run around.

I promise he was happy.

This fireman was so cute with Jared. He kept watching him and catching him when he ran away. Here he said, "Look at that big tire, buddy." And Jared ran away...

Each child got to sit in the back seat of the fire engine and my kids couldn't enough.

Claire helping Jared with his new fireman hat.

They also brought out a second engine and lifted the ladder all the way up for us. 103 feet in the air. It was pretty awesome!

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?"