A Gaggle of Grandparents
While in Kansas we had the opportunity to visit with 4 sets of Grandparents! Mimi and Papa Clark drove in to meet us and see family. Here are Mimi, Susan and Oliver.
We ended up with only one photo of Papa Clark so here he is with Mimi saying goodbye to all of us.
Kennedy surprised us all by taking a nap with Grandma Anderson (usually it's Grandpa Anderson that we find napping in a chair). Kennedy basically dropped her naps when she was 18 months old. The next day, though, Kennedy ended up in the Emergency Room with an ear infection so that could explain the nap.
Here's Grandpa Anderson getting ready to take the kids on a ride on a 4 wheeler.
The kids had fun with Great Grandpa Andy, especially Oliver who Grandpa let play with various electronics.
It was really fun to see Great Grandma Darlene, whose maiden name was Oliver :-), interact with the kids. She had Oliver laughing out loud.
Here's Great Grandma Darlene helping Kennedy get her shoe on.
Labels: Beans
Walk about
Oliver and I strolled through our neighborhood a few days ago with an eye toward downtown. We met our friend, Becky, for lunch at First Avenue Bento. On the way we stopped for a bathroom break at the Multnomah Building and ran into another friend, Beckie.
Oliver wore one of our bike hats pulled into the size by twisting a rubber band around material in the back. Our neighbor Jan said it reminded her of that bad pony tail many men wore in the 80s.
It was nice to walk to and from downtown across the
Hawthorne bridge. This is Kennedy's favorite bridge and she never tires of hearing facts about it.
Labels: Beans
So Many Cousins!
Kennedy and Oliver have been lucky enough to hang out with quite a few cousins from Mommy Susan's side of the family this past weekend. Cousin Katrina (Kat holding Oliver) and friend, Kelly, came over for Friday family movie night. We all watched Pocahontas and had pizza.
In Kansas they played with cousin Melissa. Here they are on Grandma Leota's front porch.
Also in Kansas, they had fun with some of the Anderson cousins. From the left in this photo are Kennedy, Oliver, Nathan, Sidney, Sadie and Lenea.
More Kansas photos coming.
Labels: Anderson Family, Beans, Clark Family
Home Again
We arrived home last night from our trip and as nice as it is to travel, it is equally as nice to get back home. We had a great time with relatives in Kansas and will have photos available as soon as I locate the camera in our as yet unpacked luggage! In the meantime I have a few photos from the cell phone. Here are Grandpa Anderson, Oliver and Kennedy playing in our rental vehicle.
And here's Oliver walking around outside our hotel room. He likes to be on the move.
Labels: Beans; Anderson Family
Holiday Travel
Landed safely in Denver. Meeting Grandparents Anderson for the drive to Kansas to spend the holiday weekend with family.
Sent on the Now Network� from my Sprint® BlackBerry
Spring Flowers
Walks through the neighborhood are lovely right now as Portland is awash in spring blooms.
Oliver, a Boy on the Move
Oliver is definitely a boy on the move and now that the rain has slowed down we've moved activities outdoors as much as possible. Here are a few photos from Thursday afternoon. Here's Oliver trying to find a dandelion.
Here he is crawling around in a play structure.
Here he is at a play table.
And here he is on the way to the park after dinner.
Labels: Oliver Del
Photo for sister Stacey
Stacey commented on FB that she missed seeing the kids and that normally she would see them during spring break time. Living in and getting settled in HI has put a slowdown on Stacey's travel. So, we quickly took and posted a picture on FB of the kids smiling for their sister Stacey.
We can't wait to see Stacey and Carl this summer.
Labels: Beans
Oliver Del tries his art on
Oliver has watched Kennedy get creative with crayons, paints, chalk, etc. and decided he wanted in on the action too. Lately he's been heading directly to the sidewalk chalk when we go outside. Inside, we put a piece of paper in front of him and he selected a few crayons and off he went...
Here's a random photo of Kennedy from a few weeks back.
Labels: Beans
Playdate Fun for All
Kennedy had 2 playdates last week. The first was with a former classmate that she has been missing, Creighton. We somehow managed not to get pictures of them together. They had a picnic lunch in the park and played a bit at home.
On Saturday evening we went to another classmate's (Jimmy's) home and had the most wonderful time including a thai meal prepared by his mother Palin (phonetic: Pie-Linn). Palin is from Northern Thailand and the meal consisted of traditional Thai soup,
panang curry, jasmine rice (brown with bits of yam and white), a shrimp and broccoli dish, and fresh fruit. Dessert consisted of homemade apple pie. Palin sent some panang curry and rice home with us and Oliver, particularly, ate most of it himself. He couldn't get enough! We had wonderful conversations with Jimmy's father, Jim, and Palin, and enjoyed an outing to the local park as well. When we got back in our vehicle to go home I was shocked at how late in the evening it had become. That is surely the sign of a good time. Here's a photo of Kennedy and Jimmy in a pose.
And here they are playing music together.
Labels: Bean
Mobile Oliver
Oliver is starting to pull this stringed toy giraffe around the house. It's very cute. What's still not so cute is his climbing. He climbs everything, but really favors climbing the living room furniture. At least the rain has ceased a bit and we can get outside to the park more often.
Labels: Oliver Del
Special Mommies Day Gift
Kennedy made this mommies day present for us at school. It's a picture of her two moms. That's Susan on the left and Sheryl on the right. Pretty darned special.
Labels: Bean
New Art Supplies
Grandpa Joe brought Kennedy an art set from Aunt Tami. As you can see, Kennedy is pretty pleased with this gift.
Labels: Bean
Old Friends Visit Portland
Susan's high school bud, Dana, and her husband Grant came to Portland for a visit this past weekend. It was great watching Susan and Dana reconnect and to meet Grant. They were awesome with the kids. Oliver and Kennedy just loved hanging out with them. Here's Oliver feeding Grant.
Dana, an artist herself, spent some working art time with Kennedy.
Dana and Grant went to our city's great bookstore, Powell's, and had so much fun. They brought home books for Kennedy. Here's Dana reading
Josephine Wants to Dance to Kennedy.
Labels: Beans; Visitors
Dance Dance Dance
We took Kennedy to her first ever dance party a few weeks back. She was anxious about the event all day long and kept saying "I'm shy." When we got there she was a bit overwhelmed and buried her head into Mommy Susan's shoulder.
Quickly, however, she lost her shyness and danced around the room. Here she is twirling her scarf in her traditional outfit from India, a gift from our friend Anjali.
We really enjoyed watching her dance, float around the room and work her way through the crowd. Good fun.
Labels: Bean
Oliver's Messy Face
We've had friends staying at the house for the past days so the posting has been slow. So much to do! More about our guests in upcoming posts. Kennedy took this photo of Oliver last week. Her photos of him are just so sweet.
Oliver is in great spirits now that he is not in such pain with teething. Susan took some pictures of his messy peanut butter and jelly sandwich face. This photo has a good shot of Oliver's newest two top teeth.
And this one is just a good happy messy face photo.
Labels: Oliver Del
1st Quarter Marathon
I managed to get my first quarter marathon behind me this past Saturday! It was fun and the weather was spectacular.
Slow and steady finishes the race worked well for me. Susan took this photo when I arrived home.
Now that I've got my first organized run behind me, I want to focus on improving my mile times.
Labels: Anderson Family
Climber Oliver Del
Oliver is climbing on everything these days much to our dismay. He has shown a lot of interest in sitting in chairs and playing at the table too. I think he sees Kennedy doing this quite a bit and a few other children that hang out waiting for their sibling at karate sessions, as Oliver is doing here.
Just today, his fourth tooth came through. What a relief! He now has the top and bottom two and will give a snaggle tooth smile pretty easily.
Labels: Oliver Del
Creative Kennedy
Kennedy and her classmates each planted sugar peas. We brought Kennedy's plant home this past week and so far, she has managed to keep it alive and well.
A few weeks back, Susan scored a puppet case at a local resale shop. We found some puppets at IKEA and then brought the case out this week for Kennedy. Here she is watching us perform a little show for her.
She quickly made up her own performances and entertained her mommies for a good while. It's super fun watching her imagination at work!
Labels: Bean
Hiking Visitor
One of Susan's good friends, Cheryl, came to stay with us this past weekend. It was great seeing and visiting with her. Here she is with Oliver.
Cheryl hiked
Dog Mountain on Saturday morning. The weather wasn't clear enough to see the mountains (Hood, Adams, St. Helens) when she got to the top, but she said the views of the gorge were nice and the wildflowers were in their getting ready to bloom stage.
Labels: Visitors
Oliver Del found the mirror!
Oliver now equates hats with leaving the house. He thinks that if he puts one on, we will go outside.
After he realized we weren't leaving the house when he put this hat on, he stumbled upon the mirror and had quite a good time putting the hat on and taking it off and generally inspecting the toddler in the mirror.
Labels: Oliver Del
Books and Teething
We started a grocery list last week and Kennedy decided to add an item. In big letters she wrote "Book" across the top. Seems that the girl knows how to encourage her moms to buy her another book!
Oliver Del is still working on his teeth and the process is bothersome for him. Through it all he still manages to keep a happy spirit about him.
Labels: Beans
Fortune, No Fortune
On Kennedy's class field trip to the Chinese Garden earlier this week, Kennedy shook the stick box until one of the sticks fell out on the ground. She picked up the number and then opened the drawer that had that number (29) to get her fortune. It was a piece of paper with words written on it and since I was chasing Oliver down I quickly put the paper in my pocket.
When we got home, I searched for the fortune and alas, it was not there anymore. Oh well...
Labels: Bean
Oliver Del Update
Oliver had his hearing and ears checked by a specialist on Thursday. We were hurrying around to deliver Kennedy to school and make it to the appointment on time. I dressed Oliver and when he went in search of Susan (he loves to find where she is in the house) I heard her say "Grandpa Andy would be proud, you look like a farm boy!"
As far as the appointment, all is okay. He does have fluid in his ears but not enough to be worrisome for the rest of spring and summer. We'll revisit the specialist if needed in the Fall if ear infections increase again.
Labels: Oliver Del
Oliver and his stuffed cat
Oliver's favorite toy of the moment is this stuffed cat. Here he is cleverly pumping the cat on his tricycle.
Labels: Oliver Del
