Highlights, Lowlights, and Pictures Galore

Finally getting around to an update. So much to report! To make a rather long post more bearable, we have inserted a few fun pictures of Dean from the week, hope you like them. 

(Painting tray and body with Goolash)

Lowlights:

We are still in the process of looking for an internship for James; after receiving word that he will not be able to do one with the company he has been in contact with for the past 3 months. This means we will need to find another one on very short notice, and are hoping that it still means James can graduate in July, after all. (All prayers are appreciated on our behalf concerning this important matter!) 

(Daddy and "Fry-Nose")

We were pulled over by the police once, received a parking ticket for accidently leaving the permit in the glove box instead of displaying it in the windshield on another day, and had an almost-accident caused by not having the parking brake on when the car was parked in our apartment lot. Oops! Things definitely could have been worse though, so in all instances we were very grateful that nothing was any more unpleasant. 

(Bathtime with Daddy is always fun!)

Dean threw up while we were shopping at our local store this weekend. He was eating well and full of energy all day, then in the course of our 20 minutes in the store, got white-as-a-sheet and coughed until he threw up once. That was it though. No more throwing up. We left the store as fast as we could, and watched him for quite awhile and gave him clear liquids until bedtime and he's been fine since. So, that was an adventure! 

Thankfully, the highlights this week outweighed the aforementioned fun stuff. 

Highlights:

Doing an 18 month handprint project with Dean to help decorate his room.

(Brittany also painted wood letters to display, the room is coming along slowly)

Brittany getting some time to work on her beautiful new sewing machine (that was a gift from Mom Anderson--Thanks MOM!) to start putting together a baby blessing dress for Riley. (Only 4 more weeks until D-DAY!) Pictures to come, when the project is finished, soon, hopefully!

Being able to attend James' voice recital as a family and listen to him sing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It was wonderful! He was the last performer and did such a great job. We wish the video had saved like it was supposed to. (Oops, again!) Guess a few pictures will have to suffice, for now. 

(Singing "High on the Mountain Top" with his whole voice class)

(Walking off stage, in all his glory, after such a great performance)

(James and his accompanist: Daniel, they made a good team.)

Being able to attend Shayla's First Birthday Party. Dean and she have become such pals, and it was so fun watching her smash a cupcake with yellow frosting all over herself and get excited about all her gifts. Dean sure had fun teaching her how to open her gifts and play with her toys. :) 

(Dean and the birthday girl playing with her new toys.)

Having our brother Tyler and his girlfriend MiLinh stay with us for two days. We had good food, talked a lot, watched a good movie, and let Dean work his charms on them. It was nice having them go to church with us--even if we were all exhausted from talking all night! Dean was taken with MiLinh, and she had him tamed in church, so Tyler better watch out because he might steal her! Hahaha. But in all seriousness, it was so great to have family around and new people for Dean to entertain. We even scored some twin blow-up mattresses on sale for a great price to make it more comfortable for them, and any others who decide to come visit after our new arrival. It worked out great. 

(Dean with Uncle Ty and MiLinh)

(Did this by himself during dinner, and said "TA DA!" So cute!)

Lastly, making it through such a busy week of school, appointments, shopping, and events, managing to clean enough to receive guests, and still find time to eat good meals, and sleep somewhat, we consider to be a big highlight! It was great to be busy, and feel like we accomplished good things in the end. 

 

(The fun subway sandwich we made at home.)

(Dean's new outfit, perfect for St. Patrick's Day.)

Now we are looking forward to another week closer to the end of the semester, and to General Conference next weekend. Yay!

Love,

The James Anderson Family

Straw and Nursery Success

This past week we have been having all sorts of fun internet problems: hacking, connection time-outs, and lost, saved items. But we're back on track (hopefully) and are excited to be able to report what we've all been up to.

Dean has had two major successes this week: drinking from a straw, and going to all two hours of nursery today at church (and it was his first time)! We went to the store at the beginning of the month to stock up on diapers, etc. for Dean and decided to get him some new sippy-cups since his old ones were needing replacements. We got him the kind with straws, thinking maybe this would help him learn, since he's tried several times and had no continued success. Sure enough we got him home, put some water in it and he had it figured out instantly! So funny! Guess he was finally ready.

And as for nursery, I'm pretty sure us parents were more nervous than Dean was. He was so excited to play with other kids, have snack, and draw without being told "no," "don't," "come back," and "shush" that he took to it like a pro. All the leaders kept telling us how wonderful he did. We're not even sure he realized we weren't there from the looks of things. What a blessing nursery is; especially now that we're so close to adding a Riley Mae into the mix really soon! We're so happy that he did well today, and hope he continues to do as well in the future.

In other news, Dean has really been enjoying being able to spend more time outdoors recently as the weather has been in the 40s! Yay! And he has recently learned how to spin. We've inserted a couple short videos for you to enjoy.

Brittany's 8 month mark is this upcoming Tuesday (the 15th) and she is doing well despite lower back pains induced by bending and twisting with all the new weight she has to carry.

James' semester is coming to a close rapidly and all the excitement is getting funneled into plans for his next and, if-all-goes-well, FINAL semester--yahoo!! This semester ends on April 9th and the next one begins on the 21st. Not very much room to breathe, especially considering that Riley could be coming anytime now. We're secretly hoping for sometime inbetween semesters, but we really, ultimately, just want her to come when it's time no matter what else is going on.

Our favorite activity this week was definitely Family Home Evening. We had a short planning lesson where we decided to do a service FHE, a preparedness FHE, an Ensign FHE, and a Proclamation to the Family FHE each Monday night, respectively, each month. Then we initiated that plan by baking some St. Patrick's Day cookies (we let Dean help us put the sprinkles on) and putting a little surprise together for our friends to drop off on their doorstep. We love doing things like that as a family!

Final Note: The scrapblog program that Brittany was previously using to post pictures has been deleted, so no more fun photos like that to share, unfortunately. However, she is almost done with a full book of Dean's First Year, which we will be dedicating a page of the blog to in the near future. Be looking for that post to come.

Love,

The James Anderson Family

New and Borrowed Shoes

Can't believe it's March already! So many exciting things coming up for us Andersons. Dean will be 18 months this month and trying to transition into the nursery. And Brittany will be 8 months along in 2 weeks, and all of us will be closer to meeting the willful Riley Mae, instead of just getting to feel her kick.  

Wanted to post some pictures from this last Sunday, when Dean got to wear his new Sunday shoes. His old shoes, that he wore for church and play, were well worn in the toes before we finally got around to getting him some new ones. He has some cute little Champions for everyday use, and some spiffy new black dress shoes for Sunday's only. He loves his church shoes; he always brings them over to one of us wanting us to put them on for him. 

Also, wanted to share some photos and a video of Dean and Daddy bowling on Tuesday. Dean is a natural! And it was so much fun! He even got to wear his own bowling shoes. We loved how quickly he caught on to the whole concept of pushing the ball down the ramp and then going back to the seating area to wait for his next turn. He'd turn around and say "'skgo! 'skgo!" (for "let's go!") as he ran back to his seat to watch Daddy. Priceless moments.

Enjoy!

Love,

The James Anderson Family