FUNNY STORY!

Andersen is such a silly kid! He definitely got the carefree, silly personality out of the two kids so far. With his silly side, he also has a very strong independent particular side too. This picture, plus the story I will share after this, is just a small glimpse of a day with Andersen.

 Currently Andersen is potty training and will only have accidents if he is not commando under his pants, shorts, pjs... whatever he is wearing. While we were at Old Navy yesterday Jackson needed to use the bathroom less than 10 minutes of getting there since he didn't go before we left the house. Andersen on the other hand had just gone potty before we left the house plus we were trying out underwear for the day since he has done so well commando for a couple weeks. While we were standing outside the door for Jacks, Andersen just starts going potty right in his pants. Instantly Andersen's pants were soaked all the way to his socks and shoes including a huge puddle on the floor! I stripped him down and had to go find a pair of pants to buy since I had nothing to cover up is bare bum. So this picture is of Andersen with his new pants on. If you look closely you see he HAD to have them on backwards. It was a battle over that and having socks and shoes on to leave the house, so I picked my battle and let him do it himself... even if his pants and shoes were on backwards. I tried to change it and he had a melt down, so yes we left the house like this!

Now to the funny story: 

(Warning: We are not a racist family whatsoever. You have to take this story with a grain of salt and understand this is coming from a 2 year old perspective)

Yesterday I was in the shower and Andersen kept running in and saying "the monkey is coming!" and "where did the monkey go?" I was clueless but figured it wasn't a big deal since we don't have monkeys anywhere close to our house. Well this conversation about the "monkey" lasted the entire time I was getting us all ready to leave. We were on our way out of the neighborhood when Andersen yelled "there's the monkey!" To my surprise he was pointing at the landscapers mowing the lawn and doing yard work in our common areas of our neighborhood!! Yes they are brown skinned and from a 2 year old's view I am sure they looked like monkeys to him... but man I felt bad, so the rest of the day we kept talking about how this "monkey" was actually a worker guy just mowing the lawn and doing his job just like any other guy he just has dark skin. I guess Utah isn't the most diverse area to teach your children these things, but man it was a HILARIOUS teaching moment for me yesterday!

Look who is wearing GLASSES!

I can't believe my little boy got his first pair of glasses today! I am totally skipping ahead of a dozen posts but I didn't want to forget some of the fun things Jackson said as he viewed a new world today. I think he looks so handsome and grown up with his new specks!

It all started with Jackson's 5 year old doctor check up. We were at Dr. Boud's office doing what we thought was just your typical check up, but along with his Kindergarten shots he had a quick eye exam. It wasn't anything really thorough but he still clearly FAILED it! The doctor recommended we schedule an eye exam just to make sure he just didn't understand what we were trying to do. 

Just a week later we were at his official eye exam. They started with the typical eye scans, a few tests from the assistant and some dilation drops, followed by the eye exam by the doctor. The first question Dr. Broadhead asked was "what brought you in today?" I responded with his family doctor thought his vision was 20/200 so they recommended we get it checked. Sure enough, Jackson was already showing 20/200 just from the nurses quick tests.

Dr. Broadhead already knew we were going to need some glasses so after he did a few doctor things, he added 2 more intense dilation drops to each eye. This was to get a better scan of his eye so the doc could get a more accurate prescription just by looking at his eye.

While we were passing the 20 minute wait for the dilation drops to be in full effect we went to check out frames. After trying on probably every pair, we kept going back to these ones and I think Jacks did a pretty good job picking out his own glasses. Once his eyes were dilated more, the doc had Jacks look through a few different lenses to fine tune the prescription he got from his new eye scan. Only 2 hours later were we finally done! Poor Jacks didn't understand why we couldn't take the glasses with us right then. I had to explain that they needed to send the frames he just picked out and add the prescription lens to them so he could actual see with his new glasses. They told us the wait time is usually a week so Jacks started the 7 sleeps count down! He was really patient but you could tell he was super excited for them.

Today, about noon, is when we got the phone call that his glasses were in! Of course we drove right over to pick them up. When I told him his glasses were in and we were going to pick them up, he got even more excited and the first thing he said was "I love you Mom!" Jackson's first comments once he got to try them on were... "It's not foggy anymore!" (Talk about a mommy moment) I felt so bad that my child has seen nothing but fussy vision for the past 5 years. Granted he didn't know any different until this past week, but it breaks my heart knowing how much he has missed. Had Dr. Boud not done that test who knows when we would have found out he needed glasses because Jacks showed no signs of needing them. He is smarter than your average cookie plus he can hit a baseball like its nothing! Not even signs of squinting. Luckily Jackson can see such a drastic change in wearing glasses that he LOVES his glasses. I don't see it being a problem of us telling him to put on his glasses. He just does it. It has been fun to watch him all day take care of them and take them in and out of his case so carefully. He even asked me to wash them already since they educated us on the best way to do so. It also has been fun to watch him soak in a whole new world that he has never seen before. He is noticing so many details around him and he has been a lot slower going places because he is taking in all the "new" around him. We were driving out of the neighborhood just tonight and he said "we have mountains!" I honestly can't imagine what he must be thinking with such a life changing thing. I just hope the excitement continues because it is going to be a lifetime (until lasik like his Dad) of vision coverage and constantly getting new glasses unless he magically grows out of his 20/200 with a mixed astigmatism prescription.

Andersen Update

I have been wanting to do one of these posts forever but it just takes so long! With having a weekend off for Conference I figured I could find the time because I really want to remember all these funny things Andersen is doing lately. He is at such a funny age and is full of laughs for our entire family.

The last update I gave about Andersen was him trying to potty train. He was doing great for a couple weeks and then gave up... and so did mom! As you can tell from the pictures below he loves his diapers! He would always ask for them so I figured he just wasn't ready. This box of diapers he is playing with is hopefully the last box of diapers I will buy for him.

He has shown signs again of being interested in potty training lately so we decided to try something different this time. He really wants a Woody toy so thanks to the fun idea of my neighbor I bought some fuzzy balls and mason jar last night and just 24 hours later this is how many "fuzzies" he has gotten for going potty in the toilet. I just hope this time it sticks and that I have the energy to follow through.

 The following are just some funny pictures and stories from Andersen.
To just anyone this looks like the most random picture of his blanket and link toys, but to him he was so proud of himself and HAD to have me take a picture of it. Got to love his creative mind!

One of the many things I love about Andersen is all his silly faces. He can pull the funniest faces without even trying. This face is one I got while I was on the phone in his room.

Andersen is the best napper around! If he is tired he will go to sleep no matter where he is at. He still likes his afternoon quiet time so it is very common to find him in my bed after lunch crashed in the cutest positions.

This picture has two of his favorites... hats and being naked! The cowboy hat is a new favorite but usually he has his BYU hat whenever we leave the house. The no clothes thing is a regular. From the moment he wakes up to the moment we need to leave it is very common that he only has a diaper on. If its not a diaper its his PJS. I think we go through 2 to 3 pairs a day because he doesn't like to wear the ones he slept in even if we are just hanging out in the morning and he has to be in new ones for quiet time. Silly boy!

 This is just another cute sleeping picture I captured today during Conference. For being 2 he did really well for hanging out with the family while we listened to the speakers. He made it 3 out 4 sessions before he couldn't take it anymore and climbed up on the couch and crashed on my shoulder.

 

Man we love this little guy! I can't believe he is 2 1/2 years old already. Some of his funny and favorite sayings lately are "what we doin' in the morning?" He says this a dozen times a day especially as we are tucking him in bed. He also says everything twice when asking for something... for example I want "toast, toast", "juice, juice" "my pants, pants" "punch, punch" so of course that has become the norm when asking him if he would like these items. His drinks have become "juice, juice" and we tell him to go get his "pants, pants" on for the day! Another regular saying out of his mouth if he ever hears the name Parker... "Parky my best friend!" Our neighbor Parker really is his best friend. They used to fight like crazy for awhile but now they seem to have buried those feelings and become good friends which makes it easy because one of Jackson's best friends is Parker's older brother Landon.

Two funny stories: I was getting ready for church the other day and was putting on black fish net type nylons and Andersen happened to walk in my closet while I only had my garments and tights on. His first comment was "Mommy, you look silly!" I laughed so hard. Another funny story when the two boys were drinking Nate's leftover drink out of the Cinemark mug. They don't do well when it comes to sharing those things so once Andersen finally got a turn he said "I'm going to drink it all!" Jackson was so upset because he couldn't grab it fast enough and it was one of those classic little brother just won the fight moments and Andersen knew it!

Andersen adds so much to our family and is definitely a Daddy's boy. He asks for Nate all day while Nate is at work. He gets hurt and he says "I want to call Daddy!" He even loves candy as much as Daddy. He is always asking for a treat  no matter the time of day. Although he loves his Daddy and Daddy has to tuck him in every night, but he still picks me for the sweet cuddle moments first thing in the morning (or middle of the night).

Even through all these cute things you can still be such a two year old and have spent your fair share in time out lately, but you are too cute to stay mad at for too long. You have the sweetest voice and faces that wins us over so fast! 

We love you little booger!

Sneaky Little {Irish} Elf

As you can tell I am a few weeks behind in catching up on all my pictures, but I didn't want to forget our St. Patrick's Day. This was our first year a Leprechaun visited our house and the boys thought it was the coolest thing ever! He must have quietly came in our back door, left his foot steps along the floor,

climbed up on the counter,

and left them a little pot of gold treats and a reminder to wear green.

Their faces were priceless in the morning! It was a mix of excitement and confusion all in one. Jacks instantly went for the candy while Andersen was fascinate with the foot prints.

We finished off the morning with some green pancakes.  These didn't go over as well as the candy did, but o'well it was still a fun little something for the kiddos to celebrate with.

Disney on Ice: {Buzz 3}

Nate and I haven't been a huge fan of Disney on Ice from the last time we went when Jacks was younger, but Nate suggested we try it again since it was themed Toy Story 3. And I am glad we did!! Both boys love Toy Story but Andersen especially loves it (but it is called Buzz 3 in his world). Before dinner we took the boys to eat at Crown Burger for the free event parking with dinner and then walked over to the show. It definitely isn't the cheapest family activity we could have done, but the smiles and reactions are what it is all about. The boys were constantly consumed with the entertainment and characters that us parents were happy because they were happy. Of course during half time they had to have a toy just like everyone else had so Jacks picked out a Buzz laser arm and he picked out a Buzz spinner toy for Andersen. I will be the first to admit this was one of the better children shows I have seen, but I think Ken and Barbie stole the show from Buzz and Woody. 

Check out all these SMILES!

Here are some of the kids favorite characters from the show. If only Mickey was out on the ice more because Andersen loved seeing him and would wave to him every time he would skate by us.

Not sure I am sold on HAVING to do Disney on Ice every year but this was a fun night out as a family.

More Indoor Soccer

Jackson just finished up another season of Indoor Soccer. Scott (Landon and Parker's Dad) was the coach just like the last outdoor season . The following are his buddies that were on the team from the left to the right, top to bottom. Cannon Ball, Marcus Wallis, Jacks, Jackson Mather, (don't remember the kid on the end), Parker Christensen, (another team mate I don't know), Tate Porath, (another random player on the team) and Landon Christensen. It's amazing to watch how him and his buddies just keep getting better with every season. This season it was obvious they were on the older end of their age group because they dominated every team they played. Their team had 5 games and Jackson scored at least one goal each game. 

First game: 3 goals

Second game: 5 goals!

Third game: 4 goals

Fourth game: 1 goal

Fifth game: 2 goals 

We were so proud of him! I love seeing his smile as he plays hard and gets the ball in the goal. Jackson used to be happy with one goal, but now it had to be multiple goals to feel accomplished. My favorite goal had to be the one he kicked from mid-court and rolled all the way in the goal. Besides Mommy and Daddy, Andersen and Nana were definitely his biggest fans watching the games even if Andersen decided to have nap time a couple times.

Good job Boys... another fun season of soccer!