the best christmas yet

dear zander,

this has been my my favorite christmas thus far with YOU

they get better and better each year

more and more fun

i love your comments and facial expressions

oh, to be 3 years old again!

you are my favorite person, zander.

love, mommy

sunday funday

the bed turned into a jungle gym

i love you zander brighton

my favorite person in the whole world.

being silly

so funny

giggling

wrestling match

Me in a headlock

Zander and I had such a FUN afternoon yesterday. We went to lunch at Joe Sensor's with auntie ally. We watched some football and played Zander's favorite game, Buck Hunter. He was very well behaved. Then we dropped ally off and went back to our apt to hangout. We were playing cars and reading books and then Z heard something. It was "CrEePy cRaWleeS" (it was actually Punky under the bed). Zander protected us from them by being a wolf and growling at them when we heard them. It was too funny. When Punky finally came out from under the bed Zander was soo surprised..and relieved. He could finally leave the bed. And of course, we had to wrestle. I am honestly sore today from our wrestling match. I am starting to get a little concerned about how I am going to feel in a couple years after our wrestling matches....I don't foresee him 'taking it easy on mom'.

the past month...

here are a few pics from the past month....

when we were walking up the stairs to go into the stadium zander yells, "this is awwwesome!"

this has got me thinking....

So yesterday I went to lunch at The Nook, which I HIGHLY recommend. It is across the street from Creighton Durham Hall HS, and has absolutely the best burgers. EVER. Well, the place is quite small and lives up to its name bc it is a nook. So we sat at the bar next to another woman. She was very nice and was chatting with me. She leaned over and whispered to me that she had a message for me, that she had this intuition about me, told me i was a beautiful woman and she wanted me to take the note and read it later. She gave me the note and then told me to read it, and if I wanted to keep it I could. This was her message to me:

Do not wait for true Love to find you. find true love for yourself. then, love will come your way

Do not wait for world peace to have inner peace

Do not be afraid of death for if you cease to exist, then you'll never know that you existed!

There is an after life. I see, feel, hear, dream of ghosts.

If the hippies/baby boomers were right we are all one. then essentially you are God, me, him, and Mr. T!

THE SECRET TO LIFE IS......LIVING!

smile

"where there's a will there's a way" DO IT.

I have read this over, and over, and over since yesterday. There are so many things I could say about this message but it would go on for pages. One thing I do have to say is that I find it extremely chilling, intriquing, inspiring...especially the part about ghosts because those of you who know me well, my life goal is to be a paranormal investigator and wish I had the intuition that this woman, psychic mediums, etc have. I think they are the people who are intouch with themselves, the world. So anyways, take it as you wish......

halloween through the years....

2009- Age 3

2008- Age 2

2007- Age 1

2006- Age 3 months

Zander's favorite costume so far is his CHICKEN costume....that is my favorite too. He had a lot of fun trick or treating...and eating his candy of course. I was able to sneak a few pieces but he keeps pretty good tabs on it so it was a difficult task.

Last Sunday, Zander came up to "the cities" with me. Every time I exit onto the 4th St./Univ. Ave exit off 35W North, Zander asks, "are we in your cities mommy? is this your cities?" I LOVE it! And then of course we have to drive by THE STADIUM. I warned him before we drove by that we couldn't go inside, we could only look because it was closed. Of course there were ppl in their cleaning from the previous nights game and he wanted to know why he couldn't go in there. These people looked like ants and he of course could see them 2 blocks away. After that we went to our apartment where Zander told me it smelled. So I asked him if it smelled bad and he said yes. So, we spent the next 2 hours cleaning. I learned that the Swiffer is excellent for kids haha and he loved Swiffering!

weekend recap: scooby doo, wrestling, and more scooby doo.

Zander and I had a nice little weekend together. Not too eventful, but entertaining as usual. Friday Papa, Zander, and I went to Outlaws to eat. Zander behaved well, and ate great! Madison's (zander's gf) mommy was there and Zander was so excited to go say hi to her. Some of his friends from school were there as well. I swear he knows more people in Springfield than I do. Saturday we woke up, watched a few cartoons (scooby doo) and then went to the park. Zander opted to ride his bike all the way to Riverside Park rather than get a ride in the stroller. I warned him he might get tired on the way back, but he was convinced he wouldn't. Well, he was not happy with having to ride his bike all the way back. He did it, but cried the entire way. We spent the rest of the day wrestling, playing catch, pretending to be super hero's, watching cartoons, etc. Sunday Zander finally got to play with his best friend Ethan. Whenever Zander is with Ethan he is really LOUD and excited. Ethan is the complete opposite: quiet and laid back. Must be why they get along so well.

a day in the life.....

walking across the bridge to the west bank

(i think it is odd that no one else is on the bridge with me considering i took this mid-day. kind of eerie)

love this view of the city

new theme

Well, I have decided to change the idea behind our blog. Since Zander is staying with gma & gpa during the week I decided to update the blog based on what I am up to each day (or every other) so he knows what i'm doing "at my school and in my cities" as he calls it. Now, each day Zander can check our blog to see if I have updated it or not. I think this will be fun for Zander and I because he doesn't really like talking on the phone, but he does like looking at pictures on the computer. On the weekends, Zander and I will post together! We will see how this works....

Waking Up a Viking

probably the funniest song. ever.

Jen & Mike's Wedding

trouble

sisters w/ hattie girl

zander w/ his gf/cousin madison

auntie, niece, uncle

This weekend we celebrated the marriage of Jen (Amsden) & Mike Altermatt. It was a beautiful wedding, & a ton of fun! Zander wanted to dance all day, however when the dance actually started he wanted to go home and watch cartoons. On Sunday, Zander decided to get the hose out and spray grandma, auntie ally, and mommy with the hose. It was hilarious.

annnnd....we're back!

so it has been a really really long time since this has been updated. many things have changed since our last post, probably too much to type about. however, one very big thing is that Zander is now potty trained (minus last week at the cabin. things didn't go so well there.) we spent the last week up north at the cabin where we celebrated Zander's 3rd birthday on July 21st. He got a new Bike! he couldn't wait to get back to grandma and grandpa's house to show his best friends (ethan, sophie, drew, & russell) his new bike. russell used to have the fastest bike, but i think zander's will be the new envied bike to ride. hopefully he takes turns letting his friends try out his new bike. on zander's birthday z, gpa, and i went fishing. zander caught 3 shark! we didn't get to stay out very long bc he thought the boat was "dunking". he only likes being on boats if they are moving...hopefully that changes. zander also averaged around 6 outfits a day while at the cabin, thank goodness we have a washer and dryer.

more sb...

sliced my finger on the paper cutter..ouch!

splish splash

Zander & I made this page together, which is probably why it took nearly 1.5 hours to do! But so much fun. He wants to help, but sometimes too much. He puts glue everywhere. We are both ready for spring/summer, which is where the inspiration to do this page came from. It is Z's first time at Itasca State Park last summer. So much fun!

Haircut!

We were at the EP mall last week at the play place, and Tom decided Zander needed a haircut. We had been talking about getting him a haircut for a couple weeks but finally got it done. I told Tom I was not going with because whenever I go he cries. So, I initially said just a trim. As I was saying that I looked up and saw Zander with his back turned to me and realized that he needed a real cut to get rid of the rats nest he had going on. It was bitter sweet because I miss his curls, but the haircut turned out great. However, he looks much older :( Turns out Zander was very good at his haircut (of course I wasn't with). He even got TWO suckers and got to watch Dora during it.

I had to throw in the pic of Punky, because he is so cute when he is sleeping :)..and now he is up next for a haircut.

Dora, Dora, Dora

Zander's new found love is Dora & Boots (Dora's sidekick). Occasionally he will choose to watch Little Einsteins but everything is Dora these days! I found on Dora's website that she is coming to the State Theater in Minneapolis in May so I am hoping to get tickets to that. Anyone want to go see Dora live, let me know!

but a snow day!

Zander had fun helping Grandpa outside yesterday. Punky was out too, but had to come in because he kept stealing Z's mittens. The snow started at about 9am and by 11am we couldn't see across the street! I am not even sure how much snow we actually got.

not a silly face day

I asked Zander to make a silly face and first he said after Dora is over. Then he said in a couple mintues. Finally he tried but he said he had no silly faces left.

warning

Zander had 2 Gogurts for breakfast, and then 2 later in the day which caused for some awful smelling gas. He first tried to blame Punky, but soon had to leave the room himself it smelled so bad. So far he has one today and the smell continues to linger. This should make for an interesting Pull-up later.

project complete!

Well, the purses are done! They turned out awesome (thanks mom). I forgot to take a pic of the others before ally and coco took them so I just have a pic of mine for now. I also put up a few of my favorite scrapbook pages I have done recently. So, enjoy.

my creative side

My mom & I are making some purses for my 3 sisters, my mom, myself, and a baby bag for miss hattie. We cut out the material for my mom's tonight, and will finish hers this week hopefully! This was my first time following a pattern, so needless to say I got pricked a few times putting in the needles. I'm learning....

this is the purse pattern

my fabric of choice


miss hattie's

mi madre's


top: hattie, mom, me
bottom: em, ally or coco for the last two

I made up just a few random Valentine's Day cards...and then my creativity ran dry. This will do for now....