Scottie is 5!

Scottie had a birthday on the 27th of October. We had a fun time at the park. We had pizza bagel bites, a pinata, some chocolate cake, lots of friends, and some awesome games. The highlight of the day was watching all the kids take on Hyrum single handedly in a tug-of-war. It was funny. Those kids are strong!

Lunch!

Tug of War

Scottie wacking the Bat pinata

Bike Accident

St. Patrick's Day this year we celebrated in style. I made corn-beef and cabbage, then skipped dinner to take Scottie to the doctors. Scottie crashed his 2-wheeler coming down hard and breaking both his radius and ulna. He will sport this beautiful green cast for 4-6 weeks. He has been such a good sport. Poor little buddy.

Scottie, James and Dad lounging together.

Aren't my boys cute. Can't wait for the fourth to make his debut in May.

I can do it!

Scottie is in a stage where he wants to do everything by himself. He can put on his boots by himself, open the front door for people, put on the top snap of his car seat. He is gaining some independence. On Sunday he took his independence to a new level. He had eaten some yogurt for breakfast and the bowl and spoon were still on the table. I was feeding James in the bedroom and Hyrum comes in
Hyrum: "Did you have anything to do with what Scottie is doing?"
Nicole: "What is he doing?"
Hyrum: "Let me take a picture and I will show you."
My curiosity was peaked so of course James and I had to see for ourselves.

Scottie had opened up the fridge by himself and the only good thing that he found within arms reach was Ketchup! So he poured himself a bowl and went to town.

He got a little embarrassed when we were all laughing. I guess it makes sense to him, he likes yogurt and so he eats a bowl of it, he likes ketchup, why is it funny to eat a bowl of that?

Scottie versus Seminary

My dad has a healthy view on misfortune, if you take a picture of it, it doesn't seem so bad and you eventually can look back at it and laugh.  My most memorable picture of misfortune was when Shannon and I got the worst sunburns on our faces EVER while snow skiing.  Literally, we both could end up with skin cancer from that one burn.  I wish I had the picture handy so I could show you our misery with both our little faces puffed out to about twice their normal size.  I think we were old enough that we should have put on sunblock ourselves, but young enough to forget and not do it.  Youch!  

Well, in the spirit of my dad, I will post this:

Scottie had his own little misfortune on Sunday.  After church Hyrum had a little meeting in the seminary room.  Scottie having fun, pulled down one of the extra thin and not-so-sturdy seminary tables on his head.  This is how it was it was described.  Scottie falls bonk on his head and then bonk went the table on top of his poor little head.  Luckily the man Hyrum was meeting with had sense or luck enough to get his toe in there, thus decreasing the brunt of the fall.  He figures that is what saved Scottie from stitches and a concussion.  

These pictures taken after a couple of hours and after the bleeding had stopped and been cleaned up definitely don't do it justice.

Notice the goose egg starting to form on his forhead.

This morning while he was sleeping you can get a good view of the cute little gash coming out of the corner of his eye but the goose egg is sort-of hidden beneath his hair.

We are glad you are feeling better little buddy.

Happy Birthday to Us!

October is a month of craziness for my family. As a kid I LOVED October because not only was it my birthday, it was also the birthday of two of my sisters and my Dad, plus Halloween. That means that every couple of days we got to have cake or some sort of goody, and then we got to eat Halloween treats, what could be better. The only down-fall as a kid was that my Irish twin, Shannon, and I always had to share our birthday party, but since we were so close in age and most of our friends were friends with both of us, it really did make sense. So now, to keep up with tradition, I had my first son on October 27th.

This was a big year for me, I turned 30, GASP! I always thought that was so old when I was a kid (my mom had me, the 4th child, when she was 30 years old). Now I think I am pretty young still. After all, I only have one child, and my husband is still in school, that should give me some sort of youthful air right? :)

So for the celebrations this year Hyrum took me out for a night on the town to dinner and a movie, I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to the theater to see a movie, it has been ages, so it was fun. My awesome fam also made me feel special during the day by coming over and celebrating with me. Thanks guys!

Being a two year old, Scottie still doesn't quite grasp the concept of his birthday. He does however grasp the concept of a fun day with ALL the attention he wants. We started the day out with some Curious George on PBS and then a walk in the fall air afterwhich he and I spent at least an hour jumping in piles of leaves. Then to make it even better, his cousins Cade, Eli, and Eric came over and he got to ride his bike outside and then jump in piles of leaves for at least another hour more. He topped it off with a fun family night with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa. Could life get any better?

Here are some pictures to show the fun:

At our big group family birthday party for 3 aunts, one grandpa, and 2 cousins, we had bobbing for apples, pumpkin painting, and donuts on a string. That was a real popular one.

Scottie and Cade playing in the leaves on his birthday.

At our birthday family home evening.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens... Since Scottie will be turning two this month I thought I would post a little about the boy. These are a few of his favorite things.


He Loves riding bikes. We bought him a little trike but his favorite is this pink and purple number we borrowed from the Schmidts. I think because it is easiest for him to pedal. He can really cruise these days.






He loves his Grandmas and Grandpas. This summer he got to live a few weeks with both his Anderson grandparents and Magelsen ones and he adores all of them. Here is a cute one of he and Grandpa Jim.











In Shanghai, he developed an obsession for all sorts of vehicles. Here he is with one of his favorites a "lo-lo-lo-lo" (motorcycle), I hope he never learns to say that the correct way.









He loves to go for a ride in the "har".














The hottub is a favorite past time. Here he is with his buddy Anza and his cousin Eli in the background.










Grandma Colleen's house has a trampoline, can life get much better than that?












Hours each day are spent lining up his "hars" and his "choo choo rains." Very very fun.












Yummy, fall apples, string cheese, bread, popsicles, you know, the basics.














With all of this and Mommy and Daddy, life is pretty dang good huh guys?

Sick Scottie

We had a scary couple of days this past week. On our trip to the canal town Scottie was tired, clingy, and hot; so hot in fact that at the restaurant we asked them to bring a fan and stripped off his shirt. Our Chinese friend was impressed with his belly. It was a hot day though so we assumed he was just a little overheated. However when we got home turns out the poor little tyke had a temperature of nearly 104 degrees. Thank heavens for baby Tylenol. After four days of high fevers, we were going to risk it and take him to a Chinese hospital. Luckily the fever broke over night and he is good as new. He didn't eat for about four days but luckily his cute belly is still intact.

Cute pics of Scottie & Mommie

At The Martyr's Memorial. A peaceful tomb surrounded by flowers, sculptures, reflecting pools. Many locals practice relax, jog, or exercise here. Scottie loved the long ramps to run up and down.

One full week of Shanghai

Today marks one full week in Shanghai. A few pictures to document our adventure...

Nicole has been collecting pictures of interesting bikes & motorcycles (we'll post later). But, we decided to give you a sneak preview with this fun shot of the bicycle parking lot at McDonald's near our room on campus.

Earlier this week, Nicole and Scottie went to the Shanghai Botanical Garden. Among the many attractions were dozens of sculptured shrubs and trees. Perhaps the most interesting was the little group of trees shown below. Also inside the garden was a place for Scottie to ride with Mommy on a "lu-lu-lu". That's not Chinese...at least we don't think. It's actually the word that Scottie has assigned to motorcycles. Since we've arrived, he's really become very verbal in his own little language. Then again, maybe he's just learning Mandarin faster than we are.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we found out that our favorite apartment monkey has a windshield attachment device. We had a good laugh trying to imagine this 3 foot stuffed animal hanging in the back seat of our little green Honda at home.

Scottie has become such a little boy recently. Sadly, with that comes more scrapes and bruises. He took a nasty spill on some cement steps that required some special care from Mommy, and a heavy application of Neosporin. It broke my heart to come home from work and see his scraped little face! If you take a close look at the last picture (click to enlarge), you can see the remnants of the wound. That pic was taken in the "underground children's market" that also includes an underground playground. Scottie is playing on a sort-of trampoline.

We can't begin to describe how fun it has been to have Scottie be a part of this adventure in Shanghai.