Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!  I hope you have a wonderful day and really enjoyed the celebration of you last night!  Love you!! 

We had a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad last night at our house. It was a great time and I think we pulled off the surpise pretty well! Thank you to all of the Tracy family for making the trip out to Seattle.  Also, thank you to Jennifer, Alyson, and TC for all the help and co-hosting of the party!  Lots of love to you all...and now enjoy the big moment captured on video. 

Smile

Anderson's favorite song is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker...or "Daddy's Song" as he calls it.  I sing it to him everynight as part of our bedtime routine and he regularly requests the song when we have a dance party!  He's getting pretty good at singing the chorus although he adds in some of words here and there.  Enjoy this serenade!!

Buddies!!

Anderson has been really interested in who is friends/buddies are and asks about them often.
He'll say "mom, tell me their names" and then, I'll list them off. He'll usually adds a couple that I forget and then says, "mom, those are my friends not your friends!"

Now that we are living in Seattle (yes...we moved this August), Anderson gets to go to a park pretty much everyday. Yesterday we met the Roach's and Judy's at Viewridge Park after watching the Huskies game on TV. Here are some videos of Anderson and his buddies! 

Video 1: Anderson, Wesley, Sam, and Ben...priceless!

Video 2: Anderson and Ben playing on the merri-go-round. They were pretending to be firemen...at one point, Anderson says "fire in the hole." At 2 1/2, I'm not sure where he gets this stuff but it sure is funny!  Oh...and yes, he did jump off the moving merri-go-round just as I turned off the camera.

Video 3: This one cracks me up...and its the comedy that we get to live everyday!  First, Anderson falls and says to himself "I'm ok."  Then, he sees what Ben is doing and, of course, tries to copy him...so, he begins to hug Beck's behind.  At some point, he realizes that this is not ok and backs up.  This one had me laughing out loud but I am his mom and I do find everything he does to be genius or hilarious.  

Cannon Beach

Last weekend we went to Cannon Beach! We stayed in a great little cabin with Ben and Alyson Hatten (from our Denver crew). Great fun enjoying the warm weather and sand, flying kites, and catching up with the Hattens. Hope you enjoy the photos...

Brad, Anderson, Alyson, and Ben in Cannon Beach

Family lovin'!!

Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach

Bought a kite from a guy who's beard was down to his waist!

Workin Man

Yesterday while I was pulling a few weeds Anderson decided to help a little.  He pulled a couple of weeds and then said "I'm just a workin man."  Lucky for him (and my sanity), he mixes in these cute moments among the two-year-old tantrums that he's really good at throwing!! :)

First Annual Denver Health Residency Reunion

We just got back from a great trip to Colorado.  One of our most favorite trips to date...it was filled with lots of time spent with good friends and lots of time under the great blue Colorado sky.  Half way through the week we headed up to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs for our first residency reunion.  We had 16 adults and 8 children.  9 residents from the Denver Health emergency medicine program made the trip - Brad, Andy, Matt, Nate, Todd, Elijah, Ben, Zach, and Gaby!

We played in the hot spring pools, went for runs/walks/hikes, played tennis (kicked some butt in tennis actually), ate good food, celebrated Father's Day, and laughed a lot!  One night we went to Laughing Ladies in Salida (all 24 of us) and had some of the best food in all of Colorado.  Laughing Ladies is definitely my favorite restrurant in Colorado.  We've been there twice now with huge groups and each time the service and food has been spectacular.  Definitely worth a stop if you are ever in the mountains of Colorado!!

Elijah, Nate, Zach, Brad, Matt, Ben

Addison, Isabel, Henry, Anderson, Tyler

Lookin good...

Love those kisses for mommy!

Marcy, Lindsay, Robin

Most of the kids...why can't they just cooperate!  :)

Hot springs!!

Celebrating Father's Day!!

Anderson and Addison...besties!!

Robin and Marcy

Table 1 at Laughing Ladies

Table 2 at Laughing Ladies

The BIG GIRL...Isabel

Hiking with the group...the kids did great!

Talley's loving Colorado!!

Scarlett, Joy, Robin, Anderson

Early Summer Hiking

Brad and Anderson headed out on the first hike of the summer season...and Anderson first hike not in the backpack. In my opinion, Brad picked a pretty ambitious hike...Lake 22 off of the Mountain Loop Highway. It's a 2.7 mile hike one way. Brad said that Anderson pretty much ran up till about 1/2 way up and then he petered out. Brad carried Anderson on his shoulders for a lot of the trip down. He looks like such a big boy in these pictures...

Dad and Anderson at Lake 22

Eating lunch on the trail...yummy!

Stay hydrated!!

Just taking a break...

Cousins

It was a busy month of May and I'm sorry for not posting more often.  I think I was in a fast forward tunnel all month...hopefully this is not a sign of how fast life will continue to go by and how fast Anderson will grow up.  Enjoy today and live in it...that's what I'm trying to do!!

My sister, Jennifer, and my sweet little niece, Elle, were out to visit in Washington for two weeks.  I should have got more pictures of her and Anderson playing together...it was a fun two weeks!  One of the weekends she was here we got together with all of the Lemon family and had a cousin play-date and threw Jennifer a shower for her second baby coming in September.  Enjoy the pictures below...

Anderson and Hayden (my cousin, Cari's, son)

  

Jennifer and Elleanor

Robin and Elleanor (she looks scared!!)

  

We tried to get a good picture of Grandma and Grandpa Lemon with all of their great grandchildren.  It was pretty funny and impossible to get all of the kids and the grandparents looking and smiling at the same time...

Take 1...the big boys were ready and willing right off the bat but we had a few stragglers...

Take 2...not quite ready...

Take 3...look at those cheesers!!  Anderson was so happy to be a big boy like Hayden!

Take 4...almost...come Anderson, get it together!

Take 5...now we've pretty much lost everyone but Elleanor has finally decided to join the party.



What did he say????

Here's a short list of some of the funny and interesting things that Anderson has been saying lately:

Anderson has a huge imagination and really great pretend play skills.  I'm convinced that he's going to be one of "those" kids with an imaginary friend.  This morning he decided to pretend to jump in puddles in our living room.  He would say "Oh, there's another one.  Come on, Mommy!" This went on for a few minutes until he said "I'm jumping so much I feel like a frog! Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!" 


Then later, when he was playing with his helicopter and flying it through the air, he said "It's up in the sky with the clouds!  That's amazing!"


Also very popular on the list of things that make us laugh, an adult asks Anderson a question and he responds "Ummmmmmmmm, no" or "Ummmmmmmm, yes". 

What do you do?!?

Anderson is really starting to understand the concept of "work".  When he's in a familiar, fun, and comfortable place it's easy for him to say goodbye to mom and dad as they go off to work.  But sometimes there are tears which makes it really hard for us to leave him.  So, we started to talk to him about what we do at work and why it's important.  He is starting to understand... 

Another remix...

Anderson can sing the ABC's...kind of.  Enjoy!!

Life is a highway...the remix!

If you have a little boy, I'm sure that you, too, have had the awesome pleasure of watching Cars enough times to have all of the good lines in the movie memorized.  Cars was Anderson's first tv/video/movie watching experience and it has been a favorite since August.  He is starting to act out scenes from the movie...and I think he might have a future in the music industry.  What do you think? 

60 years...but who's counting?!?!

In a little over a week, most of the Lemon family (my mom's side of the family) is heading down to Palm Springs to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa Lemon's 60th wedding anniversary!  What a wonderful legacy  they have created!  They have 4 beautiful daughters, 9 pretty amazing grandchildren, 4 1/2 (got to count the Borrell sprout as 1/2) awesome great grandchildren, and 60 years of marriage!


They have been a great model of marriage to Brad and me.  They have taught us to not worry about the small stuff, be kind to one another, travel a lot, respect each other,  be mindful and plan well for the future, and above all else...HAVE FUN!  And let me tell you, we have a lot of fun with them.  They are a hoot!!  They are the people that you want to be around at a party because they're  livin it up and making everyone laugh.  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Lemon for all of your love and for what you have given this family!  We love you!! 

Grandpa and Grandma Lemon with Anderson - June 2009



Who made the cut???

Almost every night we follow a very specific bed-time routine with Anderson.  It goes something like this...bath, brush teeth, lotion, pj's, pick out two books, read books, sing "daddy's song" (Smile by Uncle Kracker), get into bed, and talk about what we are going to do tomorrow, then comes the fun part...I usually say something like "daddy and mommy are going to bed".  Anderson, then, proceeds to ask about other people that are also going "ni-ni" and I have to say "yes, so-in-so is also going ni-ni".  He's been doing this since October!  He always starts by asking whether or not my cousin, Bobby, is going ni-ni (he's met Bobby twice but apparently he left quite an impression on Anderson because he is now Bobby's biggest little fan) and always follows Bobby with asking if my brother, TC, is going ni-ni (who he also doesn't get to see that often but loves a whole bunch)...after that it's anyone's guess.  Here's who was on the list a couple of nights ago.  If you didn't make the cut, don't worry I'm sure you'll be on the list tomorrow night or the next.

PS...singing is great for your child's development.  I build songs into almost every routine with Anderson.  It helps to increase predictability, it's good for language devleopment, and it's fun!  Here are a couple of songs I sing during our night time routine.  If you need the tune call and ask me...I'm not going to sing them and post them on here, so don't even ask!  Enjoy!!

Bath:
We're gonna wash, wash, wash your hair;
Wash, wash, wash, your hair;
Wash, wash, wash your hair;
And now your hair is clean.

Brush Teeth:
When you wake up in the morning and you don't know what to do...
Brush your teeth...ch, ch, ch, ch, ch.
When you wake up in the night, in the middle of the night...
Brush your teeth...ch, ch, ch, ch, ch.

Lotion:
Rubbing in the lotion, lotion, lotion;
It's a magic potion, potion, potion;
We're rubbing in the lotion, lotion, lotion;
Its a magic potion, potion, potion.

Birthday Boy

Anderson turned 2 on February 9th!!!  We had a party for him at Little Gym.  It was great and super easy!  They handled everything from sending out invitations to serving the pizza and cake to cleaning up the craziness.  The party was 90 minutes...30 minutes of group activities led by Anderson's Little Gym teacher, Ashley, 30 minutes to eat pizza and cake and open presents, and then, a final 30 minutes in the gym with Ashley.  Anderson and all of the kiddos had a lot of fun!  Thanks to Anderson's friends and family that came to his party!!  We love you!

Big Birthday Boy and Friends

Pizza and cake...YUM!



Getting ready to dive into the cake...



Playing with the parachute...

"Cheese!!"

Enjoying ice cream on his birthday!

Sun and Sand

Here are some of our favorite photos from Maui!  We stayed at a beautiful new resort called Honua Kai.  We had a one bedroom condo with a great lanai, full kitchen, washer/dryer, and huge bathroom.  It was awesome and we totally recommend this resort to others...especially families.  It was not crowded and the customer service was great.  We were so lucky to overlap a few days in Maui with my mom and Mark.  They watched Anderson for us a couple of times and we got to see the property they've been going to for the past few years.  One night that they watched Anderson, we went to Five Palms for dinner.  We got there around 5:30...just in time for their sunset special.  The food was great and the view was even better.  We also went on a hike and explored a couple different beaches but mostly we just chilled on the beach or by the pool.  Perfect!! 

Dinner at Five Palms

Aloha!!  Leis from Grandma Shorty.

Great little beach we found up the road from our resort...there was a playground and an organic market across the street.

View at Five Palms

Kaanapali Beach

Sunset in Kihei

Mmmmmm...smells good!

Anderson loved kicking the soccer ball around the beach and into the water.

Mr. Happy

Dad and Anderson on Kaanapali Beach