Mr. Smiley

It's rather difficult to capture a good head-on smiley shot of Connor lately, since he's so busy running all over! But when you do get a good picture, his little smile just melts your heart! Here are a few of my recent favorites.

(His appley-cheek smiles make him look more and more like his Papa)

Hanging out in his Dora tent!




Waking bright eyed & bushy tailed for his Nana

Oh I could just squish him! :)

Obsession

Careful where you step in this house, or you will surely trip on some sort of ball. Connor's obsession is playing with his numerous plastic balls. He loves to drop it on the floor, then fetch it. He has also recently enjoyed the marvel of rolling the ball across a table top. It keeps him busy for hours! Although he still uses both hands, he usually throws/rolls the majority of the time with his right hand.

Connor watching intently as his green ball rolls across the table. *And may need to mention the fact that Connor thinks he belongs to a nudist colony. He is so anti-clothes lately! These shots are right after bathtime....I don't usually let him frolic around in the buff!








The fun doesn't stop inside...

So if you'd like to be Connor' best friend, just give him a ball.....and he'll have a ball! Ha!

Genius...

Connor's brushing up on his Jeopardy skills so he can keep up with his Auntie!

"I'll take 'Smart kids' for $600, Alex!"

We love you and miss you, Auntie K!

Ravioli face

Happy Birthday Shelby!

It was almost a year ago that little Miss Shelby entered the world! Connor and I had the pleasure of celebrating with Shelby & her wonderful family today at the park for her birthday party! We had a great time---Connor especially! I was a little worried on how the day would go since we arrived without Connor taking his morning nap. Connor partied hard for 3 hours straight & could not have been happier! He sure does love his favorite red-headed friend, Shelby! They were too cute together! They stand at about the same height, but Connor's build (and head size) easily outsizes Shelb's! Jaclyn (her Mom) did such a great job putting the party on and I love love loved all the little details (which I was unable to photograph them all since I was busy with a little boy splashing in puddles, venturing toward the pond, and chasing his ball). She had an adorable set up with little personalized chocolates, cute little "1" cards to write out a favorite memory you had with Shelby over the past year, and a beautiful cupcake platter where each guest got to sign. My favorite part of the day was seeing the two kidlets in Shelby's new wagon, strapped in facing one another, as we headed over to the playground area. They were so cute together! It also helped me realize how much work twins would be! I could not even imagine! Here are some pictures from our wonderful afternoon~

The birthday girl making her entrance!


Feasting on some lunch! Was funny to see how much Connor consumed compared to Shelby...Shelby is a food sharer, where as Connor does not share his food!


That face :) This little girl is cute as a button!


Beautiful Mama & baby!


What kept Connor busy most of the time...puddles and his ball...


Probably would not have let him play in the puddles, but I wasn't about to redirect him for 3 hours at the party...so some soggy socks and sneakers didn't really hurt anything!


All loaded and ready to head to the playground


So cute....


Scoping out the playground


Weeeee....


To get both kids in the swings, looking, and smiling...near to impossible!


Escapee


Present time


...meanwhile Connor was helping clean up the horseshoe area?!...and then ventured over into that puddle as well!


"Hmmm...this is interesting..."


"Not bad"


Then she dove right in--face first!


We weren't even out of the park parking lot and I had one pooped partier on my hands!

Happy 1st Birthday, Shelby!

Where's Waldo?!

I spy a future horticulturist....or archaeologist! Not sure rock eating is a profession.

Mischief

There's been some serious mischievous behavior going on these days...

Here's proof:

Photo taken in a dressing room, just moments before Connor took my sandals & started tossing them under the dressing room door. Was grateful it was just my shoes and not more important articles of clothing...

Photo was taken about 1 minute before Connor piddled potty in the kitchen, during his nightly nude ritual after bath!...which was followed by splashing in the puddle of urine before Mom could get there quick enough.


Photo taken as proof that Connor has mastered the art of climbing.
"Step aside Mommy's shoes...Connor coming through!"


This is usually about the time Mom has her heart attack.


Photo taken this morning. Mom should have realized Connor was extra quiet while she was in the shower...And we thought it was safe to start putting the toilet paper back on the rolls. Ha!

Dirt.

My To-Do list lately goes a little something like this:

Check off one task.

Add three more tasks.

And repeat.

So I thought I would try to accomplish a few things at once yesterday. I needed to keep Connor busy/content as he was fighting his afternoon nap. So we went to his favorite area--the planter in the front yard to toss around some rocks and trot through the grass. He was playing so great and independently, that I decided to try to get something done while he was busy. I was still about 5 feet from Connor at the time, but decided to remove the dorky dealership tag frame that was on my car (that I never found the time to remove) when I got my car a year ago. So I was unscrewing that while Connor played just around the corner from me in the front yard. I could see everything but his face at the time! My little project took a whole 2 minutes to do. As I put my screwdriver away and turned to get Connor (mind you he was only 5 feet away and could see him the whole time)....this is the face I found....

Yep. The one time he decides to become bored with playing with the rocks and venture into the mud. Mouth FULL of mud might I add. To the point where he'd smile and it look like he just scarfed an oreo cookie.

So into Mom's room we went to get the digital camera. Yes, still has dirt residue in mouth, but thought a whole 20 more seconds to get a few pictures wasn't going to do anymore damage.


So I did some quick thinking. Stripped the little man. Enclosed him on the patio. Filled up his water table and let him splash away all the filth!

Guess this was our "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" moment. :)

Marathon day!

My mom will be the first one to tell you that I become rather whiney/crabby by the end of a LONG shopping day. Its either from the exhaustion, being hungry, or the usual unsuccess of the shopping trip. My mom and I prayed Connor did not inherit that from me, since we chose a marathon shopping day with him last weekend! We strategically mapped out our destinations, tried to come up with Plan A (if Connor napped like we wanted in the car) and Plan B-C-D-E (if Connor did not cooperate as needed). Of course, we did not abide by Plan A (as Connor was having way too much fun to nap). I knew a day (with about 7 different stops planned) was big enough to document/photograph! I didn't have my camera on me for some parts of the day (usually when Connor's breakdowns were occuring), but got to capture some of our trip for you! Connor is at the current age where he is walking/running everywhere, rarely wants to sit in the cart/be held, and doesn't usually walk the direction you would like him to. Needless to say, we did lots of chasing that day! All went well....and thank goodness for fastfood restaurants with playplaces! McDonald's was our savior that day! :)

Stop #1-Target for returns
*Of course when Mom has giftcard, she can't find a thing for herself...and walks out of the store with something for her child :) Connor got himself a fancy new pair of shoes- Size 7 now!

This was when Plan A failed...would rather chomp on screwdriver than nap when needed! Owell--still happy guy! Just makes the meltdowns a little less predictable when you are shopping with an overtired child!

This is when Plan B came into affect. Destination--Mcdonald's--for a belly filling & time to let Connor run around in an enclosed area!

Stop #3
Pier One--Mom ran in while Nana drove Connor around parking lot to see if we could get him to sleep. Plan unsuccessful!

Stop #4
Sears for returns. This is when Mom kicks herself for not having camera on her. While Nana waited in the checkout line, Connor crawled/bounced around on the display mattresses! Mom may have gotten looks from other Sears shoppers for allowing my child to do this, but it kept him happy/quiet & he wasn't hurting anything. Connor loved it!

Stop #5,6,7,8
Random furniture stores. Connor decided to finally fall asleep, so Nana sat in car while Mom ran in and out of each one. This was about Mom's burn out time as the furniture shopping was not as successful as hoped. Connor woke and joined us for stop #8, but was ready for his meltdown...so we quickly fled the scene. Our savior for the ride home---Dora on portable DVD played! So glad we packed that last minute, as a just in case.

So we had a big day! We were all wiped out....except for Connor! :)
Had a great day and proud to say we hit each destination! Such an accomplishment with a toddler in tow! :)

The Dog Whisperer...

Connor's new favorite thing to do:
1. Find Cooper
2. Go grab one of Coop's toys
3. Squeak it in Coop's face to get his attention
4. Trot over to the tile and toss Coop's toy
5. Turn and face Cooper, staring intently until Coop retrieves his toy

It is so funny to watch Connor as his little mind is working. I have to be extra careful of the two of them together, as Connor holds little fear of Coop. The other day, I caught Connor holding Coop's toy and dragging Cooper around as Coop clinched onto the toy with his mouth!

Connor is a very temperamental dog owner though. He gets frustrated if Coop does not fetch his toy on command. He also gets mad when Coop does fetch his toy and doesn't give it back.

I have a feeling they will be getting into some trouble together as Connor gets older!

It's WARM!!!

I do not know how people do it up North! Seriously...

I had heard that this past cold snap of 30 degrees-60 degrees was the longest its been that cold for a two week period since the 1920's! I have never had to turn on my heater...

Needless to say, when the weather was back up to the 70s yesterday- we were in HEAVEN! The walls of the house were starting to close in on us! We had a wonderful morning of playing in the rocks (Connor), digging holes (Coopy), and watching the boys play happily (Mom).