"Both Babies"

July - September

Often when Jared is referring to both himself and Karl he likes to say "both babies." He knows he's not a baby, he likes to remind us that he's bigger than Karl, but he still likes to be our little guy, like Karl. Here are some fun pictures and videos of "both babies" playing together.

Cuddling to watch morning cartoons.

Trying on Daddy's hats together.

Karl loves getting the chance to play with one of the xbox remotes or to watch Jared and Daddy play a game. Daddy can get very animated and that's pretty entertaining for little Karl.

Looking out the widow and playing on the bed.

Jared and Karl have always loved looking out the widow, so I'll often open the blinds in the guest room and let them play on the bed while they look out the window. Jared always says "grasshoppers!" when he first looks out.

Playing in the stuffed-animal-circus-tent.

Jared and Karl both enjoy sitting in the Elmo couch to play, so they have a lot of fun when they're in it together playing like it's a car. Jared's the driver and Karl's the happy passenger. I'm so glad these boys love playing together! :-)

Karl's First Tooth!!!

August 7, Thursday

The day Karl turned 8 months old, he only just had the signs that a tooth would finally be coming through. Two days later it cut through, and Karl had his very first tooth! You wouldn't have know he was teething unless you looked at his gums. He didn't seem to fuss, drool very much, or give any sign, except for a little bump on his gums. This little guy has loved to eat and try new foods; I think he'll be very happy as his gets more teeth and is able to try more yummy foods!

S'more Mud Pie

August 2, Saturday

When I was growing up, my mom would often make this dessert called Mud Pie Bars. We always loved it, so did our extended family and our ward family whenever my mom would make it for them.

classic crust, partially baked, w/ a layer of chopped walnuts

 So, when I got married, I made sure to take that recipe with me and whenever I made it for other people the pan was always cleared, sometimes before Ryan or I could get through the line to get some.

layer of semi-sweet chocolate chips

 So, Ryan suggested I try making it, but as a pie, since I like making pies so much. So I did, and it turned as a really good pie. I made it almost exactly the same, but just put it in my favorite pie crust recipe instead of the cookie bottom it normally has.

topped with a brown sugar-marshmallow meringue 

baked at 350°F for 30 minutes

 We really enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe, Mom!!

Enjoy!!

BB Gun

July 26, Saturday

So, one weekend this past summer, we were having some trouble with our a/c, so we decided to leave it off for a couple days ‘til it could be looked at. A couple days with no a/c in Houston can be very exhausting. We had some things to do around the house, but by afternoon time we were all very sticky and sweaty and ready to be somewhere nice and cool. So, we decided to go take a very long, slow grocery shopping trip and cool off for a while.

 Well, all that time at the store felt really nice, but it also led to us ending up getting a BB gun. Ryan had been interested in getting one, plus, with a pecan tree in the front yard and the back, sometimes the squirrels can be annoying so we thought it’d be nice to have around.  And, Ryan thought it would be fun to use while we’re out camping to teach Jared how to shoot.

So, we got a BB gun, and when we got home, Ryan was all ready to try it out in the backyard and set himself up a target and everything. It was fun for him to be able to do a little shooting practice again and he was really looking forward to using it the next time we would go camping.

Michigan Trip: Part III

July 18-20, 2014

On the eighth day: it was once again another fun filled day with plenty to do together. In the morning, Ryan and Alisha helped the kids make ice cream with this ice cream making set just for kids. They had a lot of fun and had some good vanilla ice cream to eat by the end of it.

Around the afternoon time, we all got into our cars and went to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, which is exactly what it sounds like. Karl and Jared loved it! There were so many Santa’s, snowmen, and shiny, festive things to look at. Jared really like the little villages they had on display. Karl liked getting to jiggle some of the bells.

After that we took a short drive to the shops in Frankenmuth. It was beautiful day. We walked around and looked at different shops. Ryan and I took this chance to load up on some of Frankenmuth’s famous fudge. Before going home, we went to a nearby park to play a game of soccer. All of us got out to play except those who were taking care of the babies, including a tired, crying Jared. It was a fun game! Ryan and I got to have Thomas ride around with us for the day, Jared loved it. He kept calling him “Romrus” or when he’d forget he’d call him “Rups” (because Thomas’s little brother’s nickname is Sup or Sups). Thomas made Jared laugh a lot!

Back at the house, Ryan and I got to work cooking. Over the past day or two others in the family had made some delicious meals with what they’d gotten from Jungle Jim’s and now it was our turn. We (along with some help from Mark) made a Salmon Pot Pie and Ryan also made some pao de queijo, which was so good. That night, we all got together in the living room and Mark and Kris gave us our Kid’s Day gifts. They brought us back some fun things from Germany and their travels around there, so we had some fun things to take home with us.

On the ninth day: we finished packing up out last few things, ate breakfast, and then said our good-byes to everyone. It was so hard to leave after we’d had such a great week with so many people who meant so much to us! We had a really long drive from Clio, MI all the way down to our hotel just outside of Memphis, where we stayed for the night.

On the tenth day: we made the rest of the drive all the way to Houston and were home by the late evening. After two days of traveling we were very overwhelmed with fatigue and with letting it finally sink in that our trip was over and we probably wouldn’t get to see everyone again for quite a while. :’(

Luckily we had a lot of good memories, photos, and souvenirs from those wonderful days. Jared, who was really missing Romrus, Rups, and Ben, luckily had a few new fun things to distract him, like his blocks and train set from Gramma and Papa and his Lightning McQueen bed from Eric and Becky, both which he loved! We are so grateful to have such wonderful family! We feel very blessed! J

Michigan Trip: Part II

July 15-17, 2013

On the fifth day: we had our big zoo day. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo and we all wore our matching green shirts that Mark and Kris had designed and embroidered for us. They were awesome, and it made it easier for us to find each other while we were at the zoo. There were about enough kids and adults that we were each paired up a kid with an adult. I got to have Elena with me and Ryan got to have Thomas and Jared most the time. Thomas, Jared, and Sup had fun taking turns riding on Ryan’s shoulders. Sometimes that was easier for them to see over the fences and the rows of people.

We had a great time! We saw elephants eating, alligators belching, giraffes chasing a cat away, lions sleeping, a polar bear swimming, and a tiger on the prowl. Jared was kind of afraid of the tiger. I thought the manatees were amazing. We also got to pet a snake. Before leaving the zoo, we got some stretched pennies from Gramma and Papa. We also went in to the gift store. Jared picked out an alligator and Fennec Fox for Karl and himself.

We left from the zoo to head all the way to the house in Clio, MI. We made one main stop on the way, at Cabela’s for a break. Some of us played soccer and some of us looking around in the store. It was a little late when we made it to Clio, so we mostly ate, unpacked, and did a couple other things before getting to bed. Jared got to sleep in the “Empress” bed, I think it’s called, with all the other grandkids, Gramma, and Papa. He very tired after such a long, fun day; he was the first to sleep.

On the sixth day: we had our family picture day. We all got dressed up in our different family colors, ours being orange, and went to JC Penny to get tons of photos done. It was fun and it was great that we were all able to be there to get them done together. Jared has been in a phase were he doesn’t like strangers to address him or even look at him, so it was very difficult for him to get his pictures done. That afternoon, some of us had an interesting time getting a Jacuzzi set up. It needed to be moved about 40 or so feet across the yard to a place Chris and Alisha had set up for it. There’re plenty of creative minds in the Anderson family so they figured out how to make a track out of planks and logs and roll the Jacuzzi over with some stops along the way to readjust. It worked pretty nicely.

That evening, Becky’s mom and sister, Diana and Sarah, were so kind to come baby-sit the kids for us so all the adults could go to the temple for Luigi’s endowment session and his family’s sealing ceremony. It always really neat to be in the temple with so much family and Ryan and I are glad we were able to be there for that.

On the seventh day: we celebrated Elena’s birthday and we all got to go to her baptism that morning. It was a wonderful program. Katie, Elena’s big sister, gave a wonderful talk and Olivia also had her baby blessing. Elena and Olivia both looked so pretty in their white, hand-made dresses! The rest of the day, we had a lot of fun, mostly around the house. We played horses shoes, monkey-in-the-middle, and mafia. Ryan made a contraction to squeeze the juice and sugar out of our sugar cane. He had tried sugar cane a couple times on his mission, in Brazil, and knew how good it was, so he was looking forward to seeing if ours was any good. It turned out, the one we’d picked wasn’t that good, but it was still fun for him to work on the project.

In the evening, we all got to try Eric and Becky’s different flavored homemade lemonades. They were so good! Papa Mark told us all the story of Old Ephraim while were sitting around the campfire. We ended the day by heading back inside to sit together in the living room to sing happy birthday to the birthday girl again and give her presents! 

Michigan Trip: Part I

July 11-14, 2014

This summer our family got to go on a trip to Michigan to spend a week with our Anderson side of the family. It was an awesome week!!

Crossing the Mississippi River.

 The first day: we hit the road to make it to Benton, Arkansas, just outside of Little Rock, for the night. Our only main stop on the way was to eat dinner at a Denny’s. Service was painfully slow, so we decided we’re going to have to stick with fast food next time.

Karl's first shopping cart ride, up front!

 The second day: we went to the lobby of the motel we were staying at to have the continental breakfast (fruit loops), and then we headed out. Through the course of the morning and afternoon we drove through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. Our destination for the evening was Evansville, IN, where we staying the night with Eric (Ryan’s brother), Becky, and Olivia. We were very excited to finally meet baby Olivia, who is our new niece, one month younger than Karl. Eric and Becky have an amazing play room in their basement that’s full of Thomas and Philip’s (Sup) toys, so once Jared discovered that we didn’t see him much while at their house. We got to see The Lego Movie that night, which we’d been hearing a lot about. Jared and I really liked it, but Ryan, who’d been driving the past couple days, fell asleep.

Ryan showing Jared the Cabela's fish.

 The third day: Becky made us heavenly omelets with everything we wanted in them, and then we went with them to church. When we got back home we packed up and got out the door as soon as we could to get to Cincinnati to meet up with the rest of the Andersons/Wells. Throughout the day we went through Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Our main stop was at the Cabela’s in Louisville, to look around. That was fun to show Jared all the animals and fish.

Entering Ohio, on to Cincinnati.

 When we made it to our hotel in Cincinnati, we had to wait a little while for everyone else to show up, but we were so excited to see them when they did. Jared yelled “Papa!” when he saw is Papa Mark. He had a fun time following Papa Mark and his cousins, Thomas, Sup, and Ben around collecting bottle caps for Papa’s collection. Mark and Kris were proud to announce to us that Germany had won the World Cup. Gramma Kris and Alisha set us up with some yummy chicken and rice and a bunch of other choices to go with our dinner. We had a relaxing, fun first evening seeing each other again.

Both boys in beds.

The fourth day: the main event was getting to go to Jungle Jim’s, which was a large and amazing grocery store, with every food you could think of and a lot of fun displays and decorations. It was a lot of fun seeing what they had. They had the kind of carts where the kids got to be drivers in a cab in the front. Jared loved that and drove next to his cousin Elena. The kids managed to get hold of toy guns in the candy section, so whenever they saw each other in the other carts, they (pretend) shot at each other. It was a pretty good time. Ryan and I came away with fortune cookies, sugar cane, salmon, pina colada liquorish, koala candies, and other goodies.

Jared shooting his candy gun from Jungle Jims.

It was a stormy day, but we still found a good time to get to the park to play soccer and to get to the pool to swim. Ryan's and my room ended up becoming the toy room, so while it was raining, we got to play with the kids and play Uno with Gramma Kris and Luigi. For dinner, Gramma and Papa treated us to Mad Mikes hamburgers. They were delicious and very satisfying at the end of a long, fun, eventful day.

Utah Gifts

July 6, 2014

While Karl and I were gone in Utah, Ryan had the weekend and three days off work to be home with Jared.  I think it turned out to be a special time for both of them. One of the days, Ryan took Jared to the comic store for his first time, and helped him pick out four comic books with some of his favorite characters: Wolverine, Iron Man, and Hulk. Jared has loved them!

When I came home from Utah, I brought a couple things for them. These four birds I got from the carnival and a bird house for them. Ryan and Jared didn't wait long after we were home to paint the bird house together. Ryan asked Jared what colors they should do everything and then they painted.

I think it turned out pretty nice, very colorful. The birds I'd picked out for us were kind of fun to play with. When I bought them, the lady showed me that you put water in a hole in the back and then blow through a hole in the tail and then it sounds like a tweeting bird. Ryan was really good at it and Jared really liked trying. Karl obviously doesn't know how to blow just yet, but he always likes to play with his when I get it down for him. :-)

Utah Visit

June 27-July 2, 2014

This is Karl during the last leg of his very first flight, from Houston to Pheniox, to SLC, to meet his Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and some cousins for the first time. He helped Momma make some nice friends during our hour long flights. He such a little cutie-pie!

 We were glad to have some beds ready and get some good rest the first night we were there, but then the next day, we went to the Syracuse Day parade with my sister, Jacque, and her girls. It was then that I was able to meet my newest little niece, Lauren. Lauren and Karl were good play buddies for each other during the parade, and Karl loved Aunt Jacque's tickles.

 This is me and my two-year-old niece, Kaydee.

 This is Karl with his cousin, Rachel. He really liked all his cousins, they knew just how to make him smile. :-)

 After the parade was a carnival, where we met BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) with a ton of sweet bikes. They were letting kids sit on their bikes, so Karl and Rachel each took a turn. While we were there, we also picked out something fun to take home to Daddy and Brother.

That same Saturday evening, my lovely, little sister was able to go to the Bountiful Temple to have her endowment session, in preparation for her mission. Karl got to go spend the evening with his Uncle Jason and Aunt Sandra, so I could attend Roni's session with her. I was so glad it worked out that I was able to be there for that!

 The next day was Sunday, and Karl got to meet his Great-uncle Karl and Aunt Lesle at church. We also got to say hi to some old friends who were happy to meet Baby Karl. That day was also Gramma Mary's birthday! In the business of the week she hadn't really thought about it, so it was a surprise to her that morning when I said happy birthday to her and Karl and I had a gift for her. Roni and I had a competition that day to see who could say Happy Birthday to her the most. I think in the end you could say my mom was the winner. :-)

Karl and I were very well entertained and taken care of while at the Jacobs house. Roni and I made two temple puzzles and then Roni had the idea to mix the two puzzles and then show it to Mom and see if she can guess what temple it was. Roni's definitely a tease!
 Karl liked this track that Rachel, Kaydee, Roni, and I built.

The next day  was Monday, the day that my grandmother, Virgina Pearson's, funeral was held, the reason for traveling to Utah. Despite the reason, it was a really neat day for me to see so much family again, who I hadn't seen in a long time. I enjoyed hearing more stories about what an amazing person my grandma was, and pondering on the fond memories I have of her.

The birthday lady holding her favorite baby grandson. ;-)

The next day was our last day before heading home, and a work day for my mom and Roni, so Karl and I went to Jacque's to spend some more time playing with the girls. That evening, my dad helped me make one of my favorite dishes, Tuna Pot Pie, for part of our dinner. It was a fun last day being with my family and enjoying the Utah weather. I felt like it was a short time to see everyone after being so far away for so long, but I'm grateful for those few days we got to be together again!!

Jared's Fun

 June 2014

This fun boy always keeps me going, day in and day out. He's always so full of energy and imagination. Whenever he learns something new, even something small, he has a lot of fun with it.

A little while ago he paid attention to how Daddy would put his pen behind his ear while doing the crossword puzzle or writing notes. So, he decided that he wanted to do it while he was coloring. He really got into it and started putting them behind both ears and would get upset and try again when one fell out.

We stopped at Goodwill to see what kind of kids clothes they had one morning and Jared managed to find a few fun things to entertain himself while we were there. He was so cute!! He found this tricycle thing that had a flat tire, but he still took with him all through the store.

This is Jared's "Baby Bear." When he plays with it he's very attentive to it and it's usually in bed with him at night. It's one of my Beanie Babies from when I was a little girl. That's probably the closest thing he'll ever have to baby doll, so I'm glad he's had some fun with it, taking care of it.

This has also been one of his favorite ways to play. He has this Lightning McQueen basket that he likes to drive his Mickey and his monkey around in. This is often in bed with him too. 

Jared loves popsicles. During the early summer it's still not too hot to go sit out on the back porch and eat a popsicle. During that time of year it's one of our favorite things to do once the morning chores are done.

Jared really got into painting. This is him working on his very first one. I helped him start by talking to him about how to wash his paint brush between colors. He did a really good job there for a little while and was very careful with picking colors and washing his brush, but soon he forgot about washing and just had a good time painting and mixing colors. Most his pictures are different colored fish, jellyfish, etc.

One day, when I had the cupboards open, putting away dishes, Jared starting looking up into one of the cupboards and dancing around and making faces. I was very confused for a minute trying to figure out what he could be staring at while being so silly. I asked him what he was doing and he just pointed and said "Jared! Me!" I guess he had noticed his reflection in my metal bowl and decided he'd watch himself dance. He loves dancing! This little guy is so much fun and I'm so glad I'm blessed to be able to spend all day with him seeing his creativity and growth first hand.