Free Range Family

Saint Patrick's Day is on a Saturday this year, and is a somewhat special day for Lon and I. Not only is it the holiday but it is our two year anniversary of being married by common law. We are pretty excited about this, and thus have some plans for the day. In the morning, we are going to the town's parade with Kelsie, Kelton, Chelsey and Colton. I am so excited to see these girls and their kiddos, and I know that Alan will love seeing the parade. Last year, we tried to go to it but I thought it was an hour later than it actually was lol. Fail! :P But this year, we are meeting the group nice and early so we can all walk down together and find a awesome viewing spot. After the parade, I am thinking about packing a simple lunch and taking Alan to a park for a picnic. I wanted to do this today but didn't have the time to with all the housework and errands I had to do. But I think we will try Sacajawea Park, since we have been to Pioneer and Rose recently. Then I will put ...

Its Wednesday, you know what that means! Its time for my weekly edition of the Pregnancy Post! :D I can't even believe that I am already 22 weeks along, that means three and a half months til we get to meet our beautiful little Anna! I cannot believe how fast it is going, yet I still am impatient. I just want to meet herrrrrrrrrr! Lol. :P Enjoy this week's post! I know its been a wild week for me lol! How far along: 22 weeks and 3 days Size of Baby: 1 whole pound and 11 1/2 inches long or the size of a spaghetti squash Developments of Baby:  Baby girl's lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. Her pancreas and brain are developing steadily. Her lungs are becoming more mature, and she even goes through the motions of breathing. Her eyes have formed, but his irises still lack pigment. Weight Gain: I lost some weight last week due to morning sickness, so I am now at an even ten pound g...

I have been so excited now that we know the gender of our baby and are preparing to move into a bigger apartment, I have been planning Alan and Anna's shared bedroom for a while now. When I did Alan's nursery for the first time (he slept with us until he was nine months old), I didn't do too much. But this time around, I want to go all out! I love to decorate rooms and think that setting up this nursery will be a total blast! Alan's theme will be blues and reds with a cars and trucks theme, while Anna's will be purples and greens with a butterfly and sparrow theme. Maybe something like this: We'll start with the girl stuff first... I like the birds in this nursery a lot! I love this nursery and especially the tree on the wall! Oh how I wish we could paint our walls! Or this one with the butterflies, so cute! And now for Alan's side of the room... I love the cars on the wall in this bedroom! But we could do something similar with those wal...

**Warning** This post will contain a TON of pictures lol. The weather was gorgeous and I took a lot of photos this weekend. You have been warned. I am not complaining lol. Not. one. bit. This past weekend the weather has been so gorgeous, we have spent almost all our time outside. I love it! This past weekend was pretty busy, but we were able to still enjoy the 70 degree weather. Alan in his shorts Friday it was so nice out, that when Alan picked out shorts to wear for the day, I willingly let him wear them! We didn't do much that day, Kelsie and I had to cancel our play date plans but I still took Alan to Rose Park to play once I had finished with my housework. Alan took off running right away! And he didn't stop once he hit the playground It was a little windy, but the sun was shining so we didn't mind. Alan set off to explore the park, and found a weird wheel thing. It turned in a circle, but I couldn't figure out what else it did. I think they used to be us...

Last night Grandma Melanie, Uncle Kalvin, Aunt April, Alan and I all went to go see Disney on Ice at the Metra Park. We had a ton of fun and the show was really cool!  We got seats high up in the nosebleed section because they were super cheap ($10 a ticket on opening night) and so that Alan would be able to see the whole thing but not be tempted to go down and participate lol, like I saw a bunch of kiddos do. With my luck though, my son would have been the one ON the ice with the characters just because he was so excited to see Mickey or something lol. :P But the seats ended up being perfect! We had an awesome view of the show! Aunt April, Alan and I before the show We also saw a few people that we knew. We saw Kelton, Kelsie and Keith in the skybox and waved, even though I'm pretty sure we were too far away for them to see us lol. And I saw a co-worker and her family who sat close to us. Even Aunt Natalie's best bud Mary saw us lol. :) It was cool to see everyone! There w...

Happy Thursday! The weather is just gorgeous again lol. Mother Nature can't make up her mind anymore lol! If I have the extra time today, I might take Alan to another park. Its so sunny out! We are just so excited for the Disney on Ice show tonight! Since Alan woke up this morning, all he can talk about is Mickey and Minnie lol. He even wanted a Mickey shirt to wear and when we were unsuccessful in finding him one, he threw a little fit. Ugh lol. :P Boy is my little guy all about Disney today! Be sure to check out my post from earlier today, where I reveal my daughter's name choice! :) We are so excited and can't wait to meet her! Only nineteen more weeks! Here's this week's Toddler Talk post! Hope everyone enjoys! Link Up Suggestions: 1. We ask that you follow all three hosts.That way you can keep up to date on future Toddler Talks. 2. Feel free grab the Toddler Talk Button and display it in your post or on your blog. 3. Stop in to other blogs that a...

Ever since we found out we are having a little girl, my wonderful husband Lon has been on a endless task to find her the perfect name. If you do not know the story of where Alan's name came from, let me tell you. When I was pregnant with him, I wanted his name to be Wayne Steven Michael Andersen. He was to be named after three members of the Flaming Lips. Lon was a nice guy back then (not that he isn't now lol), and didn't want to hurt my feelings about how much he hated the name Wayne, so he waited to tell me until after we had had our little man. He had no ideas of his own for a name at the time though. So for the first two days of life Alan was only known as Anders. And we set out finding the perfect name for him. Alan was named Alan Mikael Andersen on his third day of life, and we can't see him being named anything else. Alan means "fair, handsome" and Mikael means "Gift from God." The perfect name for our little boy. :) Our new family, Septemb...

The weeks seem to just be flying by lol! So weird that I am already 21 weeks along! Today, Mother Nature is continuing to be crazy as all the snow is almost already fully melted lol. Oh well, Alan and I have housework and errands to run today, too busy for park playing anyways. :) But tomorrow night, we are going to Disney on Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey with Grandma Melanie, Uncle Kalvin and Aunt April. We are pretty excited! And Friday morning, we are hoping to have another play date with Kelsie and Kelton at the YMCA Open Kids Gym. Via Here is this week's Pregnancy Post! Via How far along: 21 weeks and 3 days Size of Baby: 15 ounces and 11 inches long or the size of a carrot Developments of Baby: Baby girl's eyelids and eyebrows are present. Fat layers form throughout her body. These layers will eventually keep her warm and insulated once outside the womb. She can start to have hiccups this week. Weight Gain: Still only a total of thi...

And I am saying this with the upmost respect and love lol. But... Has anyone noticed the crazy weather lately? It started with the snowless December (we had a Brown Christmas, very disappointed), continued with the bipolar snowy and nice weather throughout January and went straight through with the 60 degree February. Well now that its March, the weather is supposed to start getting nice right lol? Maybe. Yesterday was a beautiful 60 degree day. Today however, looks like this: Today Yesterday I took Alan to the park, we played on the playground. Yesterday Today Yesterday Alan slid down slide after slide, squealing with joy in the beautiful sunny weather. Yesterday Today Yesterday we explored what Alan called the "big scary bridges" while the breeze kept us nice and cool. I was so proud he was doing them! Yesterday Today It hasn't stopped snowing since I took this picture of my front yard either. *Sigh* Guess it was a good thing we went to the park yes...

Unfortunately, our Dr. Suess Day wasn't very successful. I woke up Friday morning and was sick almost all day. So we didn't do the green eggs and ham, and we didn't go traveling. But I did have him make the One Fish, Two Fish craft with me.  Last night however, we went over to my parent's house to get Alan's haircut. It had been a while since it had last been done, and his hair was getting ridiculously long. We were starting to get tired of strangers referring to him as a girl lol. So we decided it was time. Alan before his haircut (See how long it is!) The thing about Alan is, he hates having his hair "maintained" of any kind. It usually takes me 45 minutes to comb his hair with a lot of fighting and chasing. So getting his hair cut is a little crazy lol. It normally takes about three to four people to do it. To distract him, we set him on Aunt April's lap with her iPod Touch playing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on it (thank goodness for toddlers and tec...

Happy Friday and happy birthday to Dr. Suess! Here's this week's Five Question Friday! Where is your favorite vacation spot and why? That I can afford lol? Yellowstone National Park. Ooooh I love Yellowstone National Park, its like my absolute favorite place in the world! I love all the waterfalls, the wildlife, the geysers and all the beautiful mountains. My favorite place there is Fairy Falls. When I was a bit younger, I wanted to get married there but now as an adult we figured the place would be inaccessible for our beloved grandparents. Via My dream favorite vacation spot (the one we can't afford yet lol) is Disney World. We plan on taking the kiddos there when our little girl is about four or five years old. It will be such a wonderful experience, I already know because it will be Lon and the kids' first times there. And it will have been over five years since I have been there myself. My favorite kingdom is the Animal Kingdom and I know it wi...