Ugh, ugh, ugh

So, I was watching Narnia tonight with Shauna and when this scene with Lucy started where she does some incantation and magical snow appears and she thinks it's all wonderful.

As she stood in wondering awe, I thought, "Only a kid would think snow is magical". Because it isn't. It sucks. I hate it. And the last 24 hours reminded me why. First, yesterday I got stuck in the snow and took a half hour to get out. Then, on my way home from the movie with Felix in the back my car started skidding out of control when I tried to stop for a light. Instead of stopping, I slid straight through the intersection and did a 360. Luckily, there was no one on my side of the road or in the intersection and I slammed into the sidewalk and stopped. But while we skidded and spun around I found myself yelling, "HOLD ON FELIX!!!!" I don't know how much good that did, but it was all I could do. It was horrible. I teared up and drove straight home and resolved to not go anywhere until the weather clears.

Creations

Andy and I have both been hard at work. Here are our creations. This is a Sponge Bob collage from Andy and covers our entire kitchen wall. Mine is Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.

Merry Christmas to us!

Pretty good picture, eh? You probably think we had someone here to take it. But no, I totally got a flexible tripod from Kyle's sister! But okay, today wasn't our real start to Christmas. It started about 8 days ago, with this amazing present. I couldn't wait, so last Friday we had our first Christmas eve. I made this sweater for Kyle:
He told me I was really weird. But he loves it. Even if it weighs like 17 pounds.

Kyle got me a book and all the Narnia books on CDs.

And he got Felix this head boppy to help him fix his flat head. That's a gift that keeps on giving...I don't remember who said that to us about the present. But it's very true.

On "Christmas Morning" we got Felix all these presents. He was very appreciative and interested. I promise. That turtle is a night light that lights constelations on the ceiling.

Kyle loved the medicine cabinet I got him, he doesn't have to go off to his mom's empty house up the hill to cut his hair anymore. Everyone is glad about that. Especially his parents (who bought him a hair cut set for a past Christmas in hopes of getting rid of him).

Kitty immediately set out to ruin our Christmas tree once and for all. I think she was mad about us not buying her any presents.

She almost knocked it over and managed to put out half the lights, so I set to take down the tree even though real Christmas wasn't here. I was sick of fighting with her.

So on real Christmas Eve we didn't have any plans because Kyle's mom thought it was worried about it being too foggy to drive down there. Then Wendy invited us over for dinner and we had a wonderful Christmas Eve night. It was really perfect.

Jer was busy building a foosball table.

While everyone else obsessed over the baby.

And the baby obsessed over Jamie. He really loves that girl.

Then as always, we had to leave because of Felix. But I guess it was more my fault, since I forgot to bring his food. We put him to bed and watched Despicable Me, which was very pleasantly surprisingly great. I think some of my Christmas money will be spent on the kitty book. If you haven't seen it, you gotta. In the morning we argued about when to get up (the person who had just got up with Felix wanted to get up). We had a couple more presents for each other because Kyle said he was going to be too disappointed and so we had to get something for our stockings. Kyle got wood carving equipment and I got cds and a new necklace!

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes

Before:

After (at nearly double the weight and a lot less screaming in the bath):
Before:

After (thanks dad for helping!):

Overalls...really?

In 7th grade I could not find jeans that looked good on me. I searched and searched and never found any. I found that skirts looked great on me, but a stupid 8th grader declared every day as Friday Flip Up day and that was the end of me wearing skirts. So I finally found a pair of overalls that I thought I looked okay in and that was the best I could find. One day this girl asked why I wore the same pants every day and I lied and told her I had multiple pairs. This was a time of horrible nerdiness and immense self loathing, and with time overalls got associated with this awful feelings. So after 7th grade I decidedly hated overalls and banned them from my life. That included my kids' lives so I swore never to buy Felix any. Then I happened to get two pairs of overalls from my showers...and he finally hit the size that they were so I decided to try them on him as a joke to show Kyle. But then guess what, I FELL IN LOVE! He looks so cute in them, they are my new favorite outfit. I swore I wouldn't use my blog to gush about my baby, but I've been home alone all day and had no one to share his cuteness with.

I Forgot to Post...

This fantastic picture that Erinn took of us. It really is the best picture of Felix ever. He is such a cute kid. Also, I didn't post some of Erik's great quotes. He was brainstorming ideas for tattoos for Felix and said, "How about a cross with God written on top?" And I told him I went on a mission and told people about Jesus and he said, "That's not a mission. A mission is climbing rocks and running through grass." He had a million other great quotes, but I can't remember them. Oh, I just remembered one more. I was worrying about what Kyle would think about something and talking to Keri about it in the car and from the back of the car he says, "Who cares what Kyle thinks, it only matters what you think!"

Seattle Baby

So off to Seattle we went, Felix and I. Just Felix and I. I woke up the morning of the flight totally sick to my stomach. I wanted to puke. I was so nervous about flying with that boy. He was great in the airport. He loved laying in the seat next to me while we waited and just played. Then we got on the plane...and he started screaming bloody murder. He was hungry. Right then he was hungry. I was so frazzled I could not get the top on the bottle. There was a grandmotherly lady next to me. She told me to give him to her and she rocked him and I was able to get a bottle ready and she fed him and got him to sleep and then I could relax. The rest went smoothly.

Keri had a present for Felix when we got there. It was a grover doll. She was all worried that we already had a bunch and it was a dumb gift, but I have never heard Kyle so excited...and I'm worried that though Kyle has three of his own, Felix still won't get this one to himself--see why I worry:

I texted a picture of Felix to Kyle the second to last day and Kyle texted back: "He's even FATTER"--this picture captures that well:

It was so weird because I didn't notice any change, but everyone talked about how much bigger and chubbier he'd gotten in the week we were gone.

Keri'll probably kill me for posting this picture, but I thought it was funny. Keri says she didn't know she was in the picture, but that's quite the face...

Taryn and Erik LOVED Felix. Taryn said he wasn't better than the Cricut Kass brought them on her trip, but Erik did.

Erik was quite obsessed with him. Felix hardly got a spare moment to himself. Erik even climbed under Felix's gym and would lay with him and play with the dangling toys. And he thought everything Felix did was hilarious and fascinating.

We went to Seattle on Wednesday. It was quite the day out. Everything is so much more exhausting with a baby. Especially a baby who doesn't like the carrier and demands to be carried so that he can see everything in front of us. We went to the Space Needle. They give out free photos now...aren't they just the best quality?

It was CRAZY windy. So windy that it woke up my very sleepy baby. And made me look REALLY pretty.

But inside was relaxing and nice. And Felix enjoyed his bottle. Vic wanted to meet us for dinner, but what you see here is the last of Felix's food. Which meant we had to rush home...everything's so much more complicated with a baby. But he's so great it's okay.

Thursday night Vic made us a fancy meal. It looked so gourmet I had to photograph it. It was yummy too and even healthy!

But after dinner there was a disaster. Taryn came down and asked why her door was closed and locked and Keri told her because she was worried Erik was getting into her stuff. Then Taryn informed us that both keys to her room were IN her room. After a lot of problem solving and attempts to pick the lock, Vic just had to cut a hole in the door to reach in and open it.

Erik gave us each something to remember him by. I got a Charlie Brown Silly Band. Felix got a bulldog tattoo and Kyle got a picture of a raccoon. Kyle's got left at Keri's though...

Friday Jer texted and asked us to come to his house at 7ish for his birthday party, or whenever I got home--since my flight got in at 6. We agreed to come over for a quick cake and ice cream. So on our way to Wendy's from the airport Wendy calls us and asks how close we are and if we just want to meet them at NickelCity. That was quite the surprise to us. But to NickelCity we went. Felix must've been exhausted, but he was very happy and very good and just ate his hands up during the party. And though it was quite tiring, especially since the most fun games take a lot of energy, it was fun to go to Jer's party. But I was very excited to get home and go to bed after it was all over and to finally be home after our long trip. And I also can't wait to go back.

Merry Anderson Christmas

Last night was the Anderson Family Christmas party. I was nervous about it because Felix is not a big fan of crowds, and crowd is the very definition of the Anderson Family. This is us on the train ride.
This is Felix with my dad. Felix was good during the first picture, but someone put their big hand up in front of the camera.Felix was NOT a fan of Santa, but that just made me laugh.

But he did like the train ride. It was cold, but he liked that because the party was so hot. Even though people judged me for not bundling him up, he was loving the cold and he loved the motion. He didn't even cry when it started raining on him.

And then the Stevensons had fun with him as you can tell below:

It was a really good party and I was glad I got to see everyone there. It was even the first time that Felix met a few of his uncles.