Anderson is FOUR!! :)

Our little Ander nugget is FOUR!! He is a busy little sweetie. So busy. He loves to have Beckham share a room with him, he has had a special little extra attachment to him since he helps him feel safe at night. He also plays a lot with Benson, who is so good with him, and now that she's a little older he and Roz play together allllllll the time. He is a happy boy, with a more serious/mellow disposition. He will dance silly and laugh and his imagination is never-ending, but he also looks quite serious most of the time and is pretty intense. He also really loves Jesus and I love that. Grandma got him a picture of Jesus for Christmas and he wanted it right by his bed. He told us, "He's coming soon," with a sweet little smile.

He LOVES to make machines out of, literally, everything. His mind is constantly turning and figuring things out, which is why he gets into so much mischief. At least 90% of the time he's playing he's making machines and I hear machine sounds (garbage trucks, lawn mowers, his crane that he calls his "craner," etc.) I will be extremely surprised if he doesn't decide to be some type of engineer when he grows up. He pulls out the vacuum and the carpet cleaner for fun and will play with them and make their sounds for hours. He tends to get in trouble a lot because he is so curious and busy, but I know it's innocent, he sees something or thinks of something that is so cool, then does what he needs to get it, haha. I've made a list of a few of the things that he's done in the last year below, and now I laugh about them. 

He has never been big on stuffed animals, but finally, last year we got him a little turtle after we visited an aquarium and we saw that he loves turtles, he now calls it his "baby turtle" and he really loves it. He sleeps with it every night and snuggles it to his cheek. He loves to cuddle and also loves his "spacey blanket." He loves when I spend nap time in his room, reading on his bed while he plays. He loves back scratches at bedtime, but he is SO ticklish, haha. He has the deepest little baby boy voice, with a hint of scratch, and he always acts so mature. He has a signature scowl and is very focused on what he's working on. He is also super independent! He loves to get his own breakfast (cereal, toast, or yogurt), wash his hands by himself, and get dressed. He is completely potty trained as of a few months ago, including night-time, I am so proud of him. He is also an excellent eater. Out of all our kids he will eat the most variety of vegetables (raw peppers, carrots, salad, tomatoes, celery, and cucumbers). He is an absolute joy, I love everything about him and am so grateful for him.  

He loves putting his costume on allllll the time!

They like to play in Roz's room. :)

That little smirk. :)

He is like a magnet to tools and work, in general. He helped me build three bookshelves!

Trampoline fun. :)

Of course, rather than running through the grass with his siblings, he's messing with the bike trailer brake and figuring out how it works. 

He was in a mood and didn't want to get dressed for church. This was the result. 

He is always messing with fans! Blowing papers off of them, turning them off and on, etc. 

Watching the snow together. :)

Washington County Fair. :)

One of his first weeks as a Sunbeam and I left him like this, haha. He's doing much better now! :)

Building LEGO's with Grandma Brown.

We went on a field trip to a junk yard and saw them destroy a car, which he loved!

One of his soap messes. The sink is FULL of soap. It was everywhere. 

He loves listening to music on my earbuds, he sits so still.

Reading with Daddy!

Ander with baby goats at the fair! It was SO cute watching him with them, haha.

• He thinks his little Strider bike is his motorcycle, and he uses the hose to fill it up with gas. It's so cute.
• He weighs about 40 lbs. and wears 4T clothes. 
• He goes to bed around 7:30 PM and sleeps until between 6-6:30 AM. He stays in his room until 7 AM, like the other kids have to. 
• He is a really good eater. He eats most vegetables I offer, and even asks for raw peppers and carrots when I'm cooking. He loves salad with Thousand Island dressing, loves cherry tomatoes (he'll eat entire containers!) and allllll fruit. He loves pizza, peanut butter & honey sandwiches, cheese, protein balls, almond yogurts, toast, lasagna, and alllll kinds of nuts (especially walnuts, pecans, and cashews).
• He fills up any spray bottle he can find and sprays it all over. Usually the bathroom mirror. At Grandma's house, or when she's visiting, she'll give him little jobs to do with it that he really loves. 
• Filling up the sink and plugging it and playing with all sorts of toys in it. And, occasionally leaving it running! Gah. And also leaving huge water puddle messes on the counter. 
• Fills up play kitchen pans and cups with water and puts it in the play kitchen sink. Wet everywhere.
• Shoves LEGO's, Hot Wheels, and any other special toys he wants down an air vent in his and Beckham's room. I think to hide them? Haha.
• He loves fans, vacuums, humidifiers, our carpet cleaner, the dishwasher, snap circuits, his new crane, and any other machine-like thing he can get his hands on. He will mess with the vacuum and carpet cleaner for, literally, hours. I am not exaggerating whatsoever. As soon as I pull it out for chores it's a battle between he and I who gets to use it. Haha. 
• I bought door monkeys to keep the little ones out of certain rooms or IN their own room at naps and bedtime, but he started hiding light sabers, Hot Wheels tracks and a variety of other long toys and figured out how to get out pretty quick. I also bought these folding door locks that fit over the hinge (I can barely move them), and he had it figured out in a DAY. He was pulling stuff out of the hall closet again like I hadn't even put a lock on the door. 
• He loves to play in the water, he will fill cups and Tupperware containers using the Berkey and sneaks off with Roz. 
• He likes to dump bins of toys. From the amount of toys I have to help him clean up, I'd say it's one of his favorite things to do. 
• Pulled the play-doh out and got it all stuck in the carpet. 
• Sprayed half a can of hairspray out in the bathroom (I thought he was washing his hands). 
• Dumped all of Roz's detangler spray into the soap dispenser and proceeded to squirt it out everywhere in the bathroom. 
• Pumped a bathroom sink full of bubbles from the hand soap and made a huge mess.
• Smacked the closet lock aside and got into Beckham's stuff during nap time, he found a Tinker Crate that was a paint spinner and got paint all over the carpet. 
• His first week going to Primary he didn't want to go. At all. It was a struggle. The singing teacher asked each of the Sunbeams their name so we could sing the "Hello" song, so she goes down the row and when she gets to Anderson she asks, "and what's your name?" And he scowled at her and said "nuffing." So I told her his name was Ander, but I was trying so hard not to laugh, haha.  
• He HATES getting his hair done. He fights me so bad about it, so I usually just leave it undone unless we are going to dinner or church, then I hairspray it and he proceeds to scowl at me and mess it all up. 
• Benson has been doing "school" with him. He draws little worksheets with letters and numbers and Anderson just plays along and lets him teach him, it's so cute. 

23 Questions with Ander:

1. What is your favorite toy? Amote control fire truck so I can control it! (remote control fire truck)
2. What is your favorite part about school? A toy fire truck. 
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Jesus
4. What is your favorite food? Cherries
5. What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream. Chwocwate, with a cherry! (His little finger pointed up when he said cherry, haha.)
6. What is your favorite vegetable? Peppers and carrots and salad
7. What is your favorite fruit? Stwawberry. 
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? Dishes (Me: What job is that? Ander: You just have to wash dishes. I just want to do everyfing!!). 
9. What is your favorite snack? Crackers
10. What is your favorite book? A fire truck one. 
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Pizza. He smiles all cute. Oh, actually Cheerios. 
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas!! 
13. What does Mommy always say to you? Uh, questions. 
14. What does Daddy always say to you? Just jumping me, and big kids and little kids. (he's talking about our new trampoline, haha).
15. What is your favorite TV show? Molang, it's so cute and fun.
16. Who is your best friend? Beckham
17. What are you really good at? Washing dishes.
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be? The biggest fire truck, like this (he puts his hand so high), that I can control it!
19. What is your favorite primary song? About God.
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Not seeds. I don't want to eat those. 
21. Best memory from this year? Getting watermelons (I don't recall this, haha!)
22. Something you accomplished? Colors. 
23. What is your favorite color? Bwoo! (Blue)