First Trip to the Dentist

Lucas went to the Dentist for the first time ever yesterday! I was so proud of him. We talked about the dentist for a few days before so he was pretty excited about the whole thing. His favorite part was the "vacuum" straw that he got to hold all by himself. Here he is checking out the dentist tooth brush...Using the cool vacuum!
SMILE...they were even able to clean his teeth and paint on his fluoride.
Here's Dr. Souza drawing a face on Lucas' glove balloon. He is wonderful with kids and explained everything to Lucas. Lucas flirted with all the ladies and got a bag of goodies to take home with him which included...small beach ball, glove balloon, stickers, Lucas' tooth brush, Lucas' tooth paste, Lucas' dental floss, his vacuum straw and a free meal from Chick-Filet because he had NO CAVITIES!!! Yahoooo!

Meeting REAL Pilots!

Lucas is still infatuated with flying, airplanes and pilots...especially girl pilots just like "Vanessa" on his Bee Movie. Last week, we went to a BBQ to see our friends who were in town visiting from South Carolina. They are both currently C-17 pilots in the Air Force. Eric and Heidi Buchiet spent dinner talking to Lucas about flying. It was mostly Lucas telling them how to turn on the engines, how to take off and what the wind sock should look like and which buttons to push in the cockpit. He's the true expert according to Lucas Anderson!What made this event even more exciting was the fact that he got to see Heidi and Eric do a fly over the U.S. Air Force Academy about a month ago. It was very exciting and came all together when he finally met them. I think for the first few minutes he thought we were crazy and just making up stories...Heidi and Eric looked like everyone else and were not in pilot uniforms. After awhile he just decided it was true. As you can see, he loves Heidi! It was sure fun to catch up with old friends and watch Lucas interact with them.

Uncle Mark & Aunt Kate -- Moving Out

Lucas loved having Kate and Mark spend a few weeks living with us. I think it really was comforting to know that there were other family members sleeping upstairs with him. In this photo we caught a rare moment of him actually holding still...it didn't last long but it sure was cute seeing him cuddle with Uncle Mark!We were able to convince Kate to join in too! They closed on their new house this week and are finally enjoying some peace and quiet. They were awesome roommates for sure and we will miss them. We can't wait to go see their new house!

















Here's a photo of daddy too. He's doing really well but getting bored at home. We try to get him out everyday but our "outings" are pretty mellow these days...trips to the park, the store and to BBQ's.

Lucas got ahold of the camera again and took this self portrait!

Daddy's Helicopter Ride & Mommy's Birthday

See the little black dot in the sky? That's Daddy's helicopter flying over Colorado Springs...
It's getting closer...
Here it is landing at a Hospital in Colorado Springs!
Yep, Daddy went on a helicopter ride May16, 2008. We were climbing at a local area called Turkey Rocks. We had a wonderful day full of fun climbs, finding blue beetles (Lucas befriended many of them) and the best weather in months. It was the last climb of the day when Daddy started climbing and his foot slipped before getting any protection in. He fell about 12-15 feet landing on his feet and butt. His back instantly hurt so we realized quickly he would not be hiking out anytime soon. Luckily, there were three other couples climbing in the same area and they rushed to help. Lucas was swept away by two pretty girls, Emily and Annie, who kept him occupied and entertained while we helped to keep Daddy "comfortable." The helicopter came quickly and before we know it, he was off to hospital.

After a night at the hospital and a transfer to Denver for another 4 days it was determined that Mike broke four vertebrae in his lower back but would NOT need surgery! What a long wait but we were all excited to hear the outcome. He was fitted to a back brace and able to come home on Tuesday evening.

Mikes brother and his wife (Mark & Kate) are currently living with us and have been a tremendous help. They stayed at a hotel with Lucas and I for the duration and help distract us all during the long days in Denver.

Daddy is doing extremely well, he's able to move around a bit and walk slowly. He's really been enjoying his birthday gift...a remote control helicopter from my parents...thank you Dad and Wanda! Lucas loves it too!
Mommy and Lucas at Washington Park.
Oh, did I mention it was my birthday on May 18 two days after the accident? We made the most of the day. My parents came to visit Mike in the hospital and then we all headed to Washington Park where we all took a little bike ride. This was no average bike ride, it was a four person peddling cart with a front basket perfect for Lucas who rang the bell each time we got close to the crosswalks. It was sooo much fun. We made sure no one could pass us and Uncle Mark rode is own bike and clocked how fast we got going...top speed was 17 mph! Kate and I took the lead seat and my parents were in the back...it was a great team and we laughed and laughed. It's exactly what we needed. Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died so we don't have any fun photos to document the event.

After a nice afternoon at the park, we headed to the hospital to visit Mike and have birthday ice cream cake. It was delicious! We had to say good night to Daddy and then went out to dinner at the Rio Grande downtown Denver . The margarita was yummy and needed too! Unfortunately, Lucas got very sick and lost everything right there at dinner. This was the start to 3 days of the flu that cycled around each of us...no fun!Here's daddy in his turtle shell brace and this is his new favorite spot in the house. We arm him with the remote, the phone, suduko, pillows, blankets, meds and snacks!

Here's daddy and Lucas opening up the remote control helicopter. Lucas is besides himself...so is daddy! Playing with the helicopter in the garage works well for the first couple flights to practice. As you can see, the climbing wall has been taken down. (Thank you Mark!)


Lucas is a big helper and gets the helicopter each time it crashes or gets too close to the walls. Super fun!

We are all doing well and getting used to our new routines. We are so fortunate that things were not more serious and are now enjoying some down time with each other.

Big hugs.
Love, The Anderson's

House For Rent !

It's going online today...so exciting!

Where's My Birthday?

Lucas loves sprinklers...we've known this for over two years now. Lucas also loves Home Depot because of all the cold winter day trips we took there to see all the cool weed whackers, grills, lawn mowers, sprinklers, snow blowers, etc.

Lucas also loves birthdays! With all this birthday talk in the house Lucas asked me yesterday if we could go to his birthday. He said, "Mommy, can we go to Home Depot today to get a chhuuaa-chhuua-chhhish sprinkler?" Now, I'm probably not spelling the noise correctly but he loves the sprinklers that go back in forth in a hammer like motion...as Lucas describes, "Just like Steve and Ellens!"

I told him he could have one for his birthday in August. His replied, "can we go find my birthday in August right now?" He was all ready to get in the car and go find his birthday! August is a long wait...maybe there will be a sprinkler surprise one day...an early birthday present!

Too much fun!

Mother's Day!

Whipped cream is wonderful!
Mommy & Lucas on Mother's Day 2008!

What a wonderfully made up day! A big Thanks to Hallmark and everyone else who promotes such a great day. Although, I think Mom's Day should really be at least once a month if not once a week!

Our Mother's Day started out a little rocky. Lucas wanted to celebrate early so he woke up at 4am! No sleeping in this year on Mother's Day for me. We cuddled on the couch for awhile and then had breakfast. By 6am he was getting grumpy and tired. We (Mommy & Daddy) had big plans to take photos of our house so we could get it online to rent this week. This meant moving one clutter pile from one room to the next avoiding the camera and the pile kept growing! It's amazing how much "stuff" one family can accumulate! Thank goodness for Good Will and the Marion Soup Kitchen!

Lucas wanted nothing to do with this photo taking craziness. He cried, he laughed, he pouted, he smiled, he HAD A HUGE MELT DOWN. Uncle Mark volunteered to take him to the park and that was not on his agenda for Mom's Day...going to the park without mom?! NO WAY! We'll he did go and after 20 minutes or so realized that the park was way better than the photos.

Things turned around quickly with lunch and ice cream. Lucas loves Chocolate Ice Cream with Sprinkles of course. It was yummy and made everyone ready for a big NAP! Phew! The nap solved all our sad issues. We all woke up happy and ready for our Mom's Day hike. We got to see and hold a baby snake for the first time, see two Canadian Geese fly in to a pond and eat next to us and a whole bunch of water skippers. We had a wonderful time!

Kate and Mark made us dinner so Daddy and Lucas were off the hook too! We had tasty kabobs, watermelon (Lucas ate 85% of it...that's my boy!) and my very favorite....Angle's Food Cake, Strawberries and Whipped Cream! I think Whipped Cream is one of Lucas' favorites too! We had to have some on our waffles for breakfast this morning! :) Thanks Daddy, Lucas, Kate & Mark! I had a great day! Thanks for the homemade card too...I love you all!

May Days...

May is tricky around here in Colorado...one day it's beautiful warm and sunny. The next day it's beautiful cold and sunny! We had hail last weekend and 80 degrees today. Everything is turning green so it's looks like summer.

Daddy went to Florida for works so Mommy and Lucas headed to Grandma & Grandpa J's for the weekend...two weekends ago. We had a wonderful visit and played with our stand "toys"...grandmas blender and juicer and grandpas sprinklers. So much fun! Lucas is very happy to have summer here. He's been waiting so long to be able to play with sprinklers again.

Mommy had to go to an appointment last week so Kate and Lucas spent the day together. They went to the park and played with the front loader which is one of his new favorites. He's usually a little to small to reach but determined and we make it work. He also got to go to the library and tried to find a book on airplanes and blenders. They were plenty of airplane books but I guess the librarian had trouble with the blender book. That's it...I'm going to write a children's book on appliances. This will be my plan once my Shaklee Streamline Magic business takes off. :)Keep growing...just a few more inches...Thank You Kate for taking great care of Lucas!
Lucas was interested in a lime I brought home from the store. He told me he wanted to try it but there was no tricking this boy. He was not going to try the lime but he sure had fun watching mom try to come up with funny reasons why he should try. "Lucas, if you taste the lime, Mommy will take a funny photo of you for your computer story (blog)"...nope, I just got giggles and smiles! Smart boy!
We went out climbing on Saturday at Turkey Rocks...climbing area just Northwest of Woodland Park and fairly close to our home. It was fun to climb but it was COLD! The wind chill had us all surprised and wanting summer by mid-afternoon!
Here's a photo of Uncle Mark climbing...taken by Lucas.

Where is May Going?!

Mommy & Kate showing Lucas what baseball is all about!

I can't believe it's May...almost mid-May!! Where do the days go?

May is a big month for our family. Lot's of Birthdays! Mike, Mark and my brother Eric have their birthday on Cinco de Mayo. Des celebrates her birthday on May 7th. Mommy's birthday is May 18th and a whole bunch more I'm sure I'm forgetting. I also get an extra special day in there...Mother's Day! What a fun month!

We took Lucas, Uncle Mark, Aunt Kate, Daddy and Mommy to a Rockies Baseball Game on Daddy's birthday. It was Lucas' first time to go to a real baseball stadium and he was very intrigued and wondered what was going on down where the baseball players were. We had to explain everything to him and walk around to get some better views of the players.

We had a great time and Lucas ran all over the stadium. He even got to go to the very "tippy-top" with Daddy and Uncle Mark. We had pre-game beer and birthday cake in the parking lot and hot dogs for dinner! Too bad Daddy was the only one to remember to use the camera and missed out getting his photo taken on his birthday. Sorry Daddy! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!...you're as old as Mommy now...the big 31!
Oops...daddy's forgot to get in the photo and Lucas was trying to hide.
Baseball Player Lucas Anderson!
Baseball Player Uncle Mark!