Is it Halloween Yet?

Last year at this time I was thinking, "next year is going to be so fun because Anders will be able to appreciate all the fun things to do around Halloween." This year I'm thinking, "last year was so easy!" It actually is really fun to have a toddler that really gets the idea of Halloween and gets excited about things. There's just so much to do for one little guy! We've had so much fun so far and expect to have a full week of Halloween activities. It's probably best to break it up so the post isn't too big. Here's a taste of what our last week has looked like:

Black Island Farms

My cousin, Cindy was in town with her cute little guy, Atticus. They invited Anders and I to the Black Island Farm, along with her sister Stacy and her smart little guy, Jay and their Grandma Lori. We had such a fun time! Anders was in love with all the pumpkins. I'm so glad we had the chance to get together with Cindy while she was in town. That day sure wiped us out though!

My Gym Halloween Party

We've been so excited for Anders' gym Halloween Party since we heard about it. We got to bring a friend with us for free, so of course we invite Sharee and Carson! The party was insane! We had to wait in line to get in the door and we couldn't see a thing because there were so many people there. This is the only picture I got of Anders because it was just too crazy. It was fun to see Carson experiencing all of Anders' favorite things. We were invited to go to my mom's school carnival right after the party, but unfortunately, we had to pass. We had a little too much Halloween fun at this party. Okay, so it was me...I just couldn't stand the thought of more screaming kids dressed up in costumes running around me and pushing Anders over. We went to see Wall-E instead. It was the first movie we've taken Anders to in a whole year! He did so great! He sat there the whole time, eating popcorn laying on my shoulder. Thanks Daddy! We had so much fun!

Day's Pumpkin Patch

We went to pick out pumpkins for Grandma and Grandpa Speirs last Saturday. Anders even got to paint one of the pumpkins he picked out! He had a great time. He still tells me about Carly's pirate pumpkin. Way to go, Carly! You're the best Mr. Potato Head expert ever!

Firth Family Fright Night

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I am the biggest Halloween bum! I love to enjoy everyone else getting into it, but I refuse to dress up. I hate dressing up in costumes. My family makes this even harder on me because we have a Halloween Party every year with costume contests and all. Christian and I usually do something dumb that's very last second, but this year...nothing. Boy, did we hear it! These are the only pictures we had on our camera, sorry Billy and Nikki! We absolutely LOVED their cute idea! Ryder was so proud, Billy lives for dressing up for Halloween, and Nikki...poor Nikki finally gave in to the pressure. Way to be such a good sport! Next year, maybe we'll join you. I wish we'd taken more pictures. I know there will be plenty of other people posting pictures of this FABULOUS event.

Anders' Tag

Thanks again Tara! Sorry I'm so delayed on all my tags!

5 Things You May Not Know About Anders.

1. He's left-handed, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because neither Christian or I are left-handed. The closest people that are left-handed to us is my aunt Amy and Christian's uncle Layne and his son Little Layne. He does everything with his left hand. He kicks, swings a bat, throws, writes and everything with his left hand.

2. When he sleeps, he has to have two binkies, one in his mouth and one in his hand. He randomly switches the binkies from his mouth to his hand throughout the night. This is a horrible habit that I'm still not sure how we will break.

3. His favorite things to watch are musicals. Christian's not very proud of this. His favorite show at the moment is Annie. My mom bought me this movie when I had surgery and Anders watched it with me. He wants to watch it about once a day now. We would worry if he didn't know how to throw a ball so well or shoot baskets with ease. Luckily, he's a pretty well-balanced kid!

4. His favorite thing to eat are Popsicles. If his ever says "pee-otto," he's actually saying "please Popsicle." I hear this more than anything everyday. We try to limit him to 2-3 Otter Pops a day.

5. In the car, he has certain cd's he wants to listen to and won't give-up until we give-in. These include High School Musical, Mamma Mia (hence his love for musicals), Wicked (only 2 songs), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Wee Sing, and primary songs. I love to hear him singing the songs he knows. Again, it helps that he seems to be pretty athletic. We'll just keep working on that.

Shishin or Daddy?

I just had to add this funny little new-found freedom Anders has figured out. A few days ago, amongst some jibber-jabber that Anders was saying, we heard him say, "shishin." We both paused and said, "did he just say what we think he said?" We decided that there's no way he did. Where would he figure that out? The next morning (his birthday), he climbed in to bed with us and rolled over to Christian and said, "Dad...dad...SHISHIN!" Finally, Christian opened his eyes in disbelief. He immediately tried to convince him that his name was "daddy" and not "Christian." The more he tried, the more mad Anders would get. Finally, I told him to just let it go and it will wear off. The funny thing is that when we hear kids call their parents by their first name, Christian goes on and on about how disrespectful that is. It's almost like he jinxed himself! We thought maybe he'd forget it, but already today Anders has asked me, "where's Shishen?" He also pulled the morning routine thing again. It's so hard not to laugh. Christian really doesn't think it's as funny as I do. It will wear off, won't it?

6 Quirks Tag

I was sitting here sharing some popcorn with Anders when I was reminded that Tara tagged me a long time ago and I totally forgot! Sorry Tara! I'm way behind and I'm going to hurry and catch up.
1. Everyone HATES sharing popcorn with me because I pick each kernel out piece by piece. I only like to eat certain-shaped popcorn and the half-popped kind. Yes, I actually do search the bowl for these particular pieces. Wow, that sounds even more crazy when I put it in writing. I'm a nutcase! Christian usually has me pick out my favorite ones and then he'll start eating.
2. If I don't do my exact routine in the shower, I will forget what I haven't or have done because I'm so deep in thought. I have forgotten to condition my hair, rinse my hair, shave, etc. I have to get back in and finish the job. I guess everyone has a routine, right?
3. (This one drives Christian crazy) I can't stand wasting my time in the bathroom because I am afraid I'll miss something. This especially happens in Fairview, when we're all sitting around the table chatting. Christian actually has to stop the conversation so I will go. I know it's not good for me, but I hate to do it!
4. I am EXTREMELY picky about what I eat. If it's fruit, it has to be flawless and very crisp. I can't eat mushy grapes or red delicious apples because they're just not crisp enough. If it's chicken, it has to be completely white. I totally examine it when I'm eating it and if I see anything like the nasty vein, I'm done. When I cook chicken, I totally dissect it. I cut out everything and lose half the chicken. My dad's favorite quirk is that I won't eat any kind of meat on a bone. Doesn't matter what it is, I won't eat it!
5. I know, I have major issues involving eating...but the list goes on! I have not been able to fully explain this to people and I don't understand it myself. There is a small handful of people that I can eat the food that they make by hand. I couldn't ever eat the treats people would bring in elementary for their birthdays if they were homemade. My small handful usually includes most of the people in my family and a few other people. It may have something to do with sanitary fears, but I'm not sure! I honestly can't explain it.
6. I have the hardest time making choices when I'm eating at a restaurant, picking a treat at the store (this one goes back to my childhood), or even at the grocery store. It drives Christian and my other family nuts! I get such anxiety when I have to make a decision and my time is limited. There are even certain stores that I go in that the first place I have to stop is the bathroom because of my shopping anxiety. Places like Borders, Target, Ross, Michael's....they're not good for me. There's too much to look at and decide from. It may have something to do with my major "buyers remorse" issue. I always feel like I could have made a better decision after I finally make the decision. To try to avoid this by trying to do as much research as possible about the items I'm going to be deciding between. Sometimes my family even makes me look at menus online before we go to the restaurant. I'm a nutcase, I'm well aware of that!

Happy Birfday Anders!

Yesterday was a very overwhelming day. My baby officially became a big boy and turned two. I was so surprised and pleased to see how much he really understood that it was his birthday. It made me so happy to see him be able to take it all in. All day, all we heard was "Anders' birfday." We started out the day by taking him on a special shopping trip to pick out a present with the money Grandma Larsen gave him. He is so proud of his red football. Ideally, he would have come right home and taken a nap. Since it's conveniently fall break for Daddy, Anders was especially difficult to convince that he would be taking a nap. After a couple hours of "Super Nanny" techniques, we finally succeeded! I started frosting the cupcakes for the party later that night (obviously not early enough because Anders woke up halfway through it). He was so excited to see his "birfday cakes" and kept saying, "hold one, Mom?" It broke my heart to tell him no because I knew that he really didn't want to just "hold one." He also remembered that we told him that after his nap, we'd go to his birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese (which could have been part of our nap time problem). Right when he woke up, he was pumped to go to the party at "Choo Choo Chesse." Here are a couple of pictures of Anders enjoying the gifts he got from his party guests and also some pictures of our rockin' family party at Chuck-E-Cheese!

A once-in-a-lifetime picture. He somehow gained enough courage to actually touch the mouse!

Finally getting to eat his "birfday cakes."

Ryder, prending to eat a cupcake when an adult was looking. When we weren't looking, he was actually taking the candy off all of the cupcakes. What a stinker!

Showdown between Anders and Ryder. We realize that we'll be reminding Anders his whole life, "it's doesn't matter if you win or lose..." when he's playing against Ryder.

Of course, Anders is saying, "hoo ha boy." If you've been following our blog, you'd know that he actually means "yee ha, Cowboy!"

Well, Chuck-E-Cheese was exactly what we expected. Even though it has only been open for a few weeks, it draws the same crowds as any other Chuck-E-Cheese would (if you know what I mean). However, there were about 15 times as many people there! I thought we'd waited long enough for the crowds to die down. Boy, was I wrong! Anders didn't seem to mind! Oh, did I mention that I was struggling with the flu the whole day?? That definitley added to my Chuck-E-Cheese experience.

Wee Witches Weekend

I think I'm the only person in my family that has never been to Gardner Village. Even my little brother has been dragged to Gardner Village during Witchapolooza. He is still complaining about seeing all the women wearing sweaters with witch buttons. When we found out it was "Wee Witches Weekend," I couldn't pass it up! I found this great costume online for Anders. He is a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan. It's really hard to get him to take it off once he puts it on. It was fun to walk around and see the other kids in their costumes, but I have to say that Anders rocked the house. We had kids stopping and saying, "hi Goofy." It was so cute. Gardner Village is a fun place, but it's not really a shopping place for kids. The shops and things aren't set up for kids and could make a person crazy if they attempt to take a 2 year-old in them. I found it interesting that they would designate a weekend where everyone brings every kid they know. It created a very kid crowded place. The witches were cute and Anders loved looking at them. If you plan to go this weekend with your kids, don't plan on shopping! It's way too crazy.

Here's our little Goofy champion!..or as Anders calls it, "Foofy."
There were lots of cool fake witches, but we were lucky enough to find a REAL one!
This was a really difficult picture to take. Anders could see a man on the top of a building that he was sure was a pirate. We tried everything to get him to look at us. Was a silly kid!
One of our resting stops.
Anders was so funny getting his face painted. He sat completely still. He was so proud of the pumpkin on his cheek. In this picture, he's relaxing watching a witch on the lake. He could have sat there forever. Sometimes I'm lucky to have such a mellow kid (let me emphasize that it's only sometimes!).

*As a little side note, I had my post-op appointment today. I found out that my ovary had a benign tumor cyst on it that somehow made it heavy enough to twist and prevent blood from getting in or out. This is what made it about 10 times the size of a regular ovary. Who knows why this happens sometimes! I just happened to be a lucky one. The baby is still doing great and there's no reason to expect any different at this point. For those of you who have been waiting to find out how heavy my ovary was, be prepared to be disappointed. The pathologist didn't weigh it! What a bummer. It had to be a couple pounds because I'm 16 weeks along and still have not gained a pound. So it probably weighed however much you should gain in those 16 weeks. I now have permission to pick Anders up quickly, but not carry him. I can put him in the car seat or highchair now. Yipee! You don't realize how important that ability is until you lose it. We finally got a chance to thank my doctor for following her "doctor's intuition" and prioritizing me as a patient. It really validated my pain that she trusted that my description of my pain was accurate enough to cram me in to her schedule. We feel so blessed that she followed her intuition and figured out exactly what was wrong and took care of it. Who knows what could have happened to the baby or me if she didn't. She's amazing. We have felt so blessed throughout this whole process and couldn't possibly put it all in to words. We feel like the Lord prepared us for what was going to happen in so many ways. The support we have received since my surgery is amazing. We have an amazing ward that has really stepped up to make this as easy on us as possible. These last few weeks have flown by so quickly and it's because of all of the support we have received. I'm so grateful for the many hidden blessings inside our trials in life. I just wish it didn't take an event like this for us to recognize them all.

Oops!

I haven't been able to get out much, as I'm sure you can imagine. Last Thursday, I got the doctor's approval to start driving again...what a privilege! Today, I decided to get brave and take Anders to his gym all by myself. The teachers were great in helping me lift him to do all of the activities and things. I picked up Carly afterward, because I'm not quite brave enough to go to the store by myself with a nearly 2 year-old yet. After the store, we decided to take some lunch to my mom at work. First, I need to give a little background about my family and Sonic. My parents are regulars at the Layton Sonic. It's really embarrassing to pull up to Sonic with my mom and she says "hi" to all her friends through the window. They all know that her regular is a Route 44 Caffeine Free Diet Coke with a splash of Cranberry. Since we've moved closer to my parents, Anders has been present for MANY of their regular Sonic stops. Therefore, their order also has included a small apple juice slush (Anders' juice). Every time we drive by Sonic, Anders says, "bye bye juice store!" I wasn't aware of seriousness of the situation until today. I pulled up to the drive-through and told them to wait just a second while we figured out what to order. All of the sudden Anders yells out in the back seat, "Umm...juice...french fries...and...Grandma's pop!" It was really hard to order our lunch after that. Should I be worried??