Belated Christmas post

It's been quite busy around our household lately, so I'm just now finding some down time to blog about our Christmas! We were up several times the night before Christmas, so needless to say we were pretty tired to start the day Christmas morning. I was a little nervous about how Connor would do with a non stop busy day, but we survived it & Connor did better than expected. We had a great day with both, my family & Matt's. It was fun to see Connor grasp the concept of the "Santa theory" this year. He came out to the living room that morning to find a bite out of Santa's cookie and was so excited! "Santa taste the cookie!" The excitement continued as Connor found the Buzz bouncey ball he had requested from Santa. I love seeing the joy through Connor's eyes :). We had a wonderful day and had received many goodies as well!

Connor with his Santa goodies.

"Thomas the train, Mom!!"

Checking out his new train set

The almighty Buzz bouncey ball!!!

"Chugga chugga chooo chooo"

Checking out his new "Marble tall tower" at Nana & Papa's house with his buddy, Eric

Enjoying some time with Connor's cousin, Bo

We were trying to get Bo to teach Connor the art of going potty on command ;)

The new little family

Bo stole the show this Christmas! He's such a sweet pup with a wonderful mellow temperament.

Uncle Craig & Auntie Nicole then introduced Connor to his new buddies!

Connor was quick to name all three of his fish, Dorothy (like the goldfish that Elmo has on Sesame Street)! It took a little convincing, but we were finally able to get Connor to name all three of the fish something different.

Introducing Dorothy, Baby Dorothy, and Stripey :)

Showing Papa his new fish :)

Connor definitely understood the concept of unwrapping gifts this year. He was more into unwrapping as many gifts as possible instead of enjoying what was in the actual package. Once we devoured his presents, he made his rounds trying to clamp onto other people's gifts. Oh three year olds...

His determined face...

Modeling his new Buzz helmet from Bo :)

Connor helping me unwrap my gifts

The sweetest pup snoozing through all the excitement

After Connor made it through his presents, he began to entertain himself with Bo's crate. New time out approach??!! ;)

One proud pup Mama!

Boys and animals...so much alike...

In three year old land, its wonderful to boss others around and tell them what to do. Connor was enjoying that with Bo :)

We were running on 'empty' shortly after we got to Lori's house, so pictures were not captured. A long nap took place before we headed home. Connor wanted to try out his new helmet, so he fought all exhaustion and headed out on the road for a cruise on his Thomas the train bike.

It was after dark, so pants weren't necessary!

We stopped to check out the neighbors' decor.

Connor was so precious saying "Look! The biggest snowman I've ever seeeen!"

:)

We slept much better that night after such an exciting day!

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone already! Now we're just anxious to see what 2012 has in store for us :)

What's up

Latest happenings...

Connor & I make a nightly trip around the block and cruise around town in my car to check out "Christmas stuff." We seek out any blow up items, and we usually hit "jackpot" when we find items like Santa Mickey, or Christmas Pooh and Tigger. It's our nightly bonding time in the car and I am hoping all our neighbors keep their decor up well into January!

Our famous 'crazy decor' neighbors (you may recall their outrageous decor back from Halloween) just came into town about 3 days ago. We were delightfully surprised to see them out the moment they got home setting up all their Christmas decor & blasting their holiday music over their outside speakers. If that wasn't exciting enough for Connor, the house next to their house pulled out a Charlie Brown/Snoopy blowup along with a Thomas the Train blowup. I'm seriously surprised Connor hasn't asked to pitch his tent in their yard and sleep next to Snoopy & Thomas.

Since I was honestly getting tired of walking across the street to see the neighbor's decor 10+ times a day, I opted to serve Connor's supper at his picnic table in our front entry. He just lit up when I suggested the idea! He then said "Buzz, Woody, hungry too!" So we grabbed his Buzz and Woody, and we all had a romantic, moonlit dinner in our front entry way! :)

We've also had a few new additions to the family.

Addition #1:

As Connor likes to say, "Goodbye truck--Hello new car!"

After a few months of research and checking out different dealerships, Matt is now the new owner of a beautiful blue Hyundai Sonata.

Matt told me the number one rule at the dealership is to "Not fall in love with a car."

We saw this car & I said "Honey, I love it!"

Haha!

Addition #2:

The cutest new member of our family...

Meet Bo. My sister, Katie, and her honey, Eric, adopted this precious little pup this past week. I haven't met him yet, but I already love him so much! Makes me miss my Coopy.

Lots of family & fun times ahead the next few days.

As Connor says,

"Merry Christmas everyone!"

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Uncle Craig!!!

We love you!!!

Thinking of you lots today!

As Connor likes to say,

"Big Hugs and Smooches!!"

Sidenote: It is apparently a good day to be born, because we've had at least 7 babies born here at Health Park today...of those, one set of triplets! :)

'Tis the Season

Life has been busy lately, although I don't really have much to show for it! It just feels like there are not enough hours in the day to get all the things that we'd like to get done-Done! If this post appears somewhat jumbled and mish-moshed...well...that's just how my brain feels right about now. Just go with it :)

I made the recent decision to convert our guest room into a play room! So glad I made that choice! With a recent birthday and upcoming Christmas, Connor's toys are starting to take over! It's funny how a new room brings life to Connor's old toys again too! He loves having his own special room to play in. He often goes in, closes the door, and begins making his toys "talk" or "zooms" his cars. There is nothing cuter than listening to him play creatively on his own. :)

Connor's little brain is a sponge these days, so I've been trying to teach him anything & everything I can think of! We were at the playground yesterday & Connor was pointing out the shapes on the ladder to me and goes "A triangle...and an OCTAGON...noooo, 1-2-3-4-5...a pentagon!" I was shocked! He said he remembered it from "Team Umizoomi"--a show that Connor usually watches mid morning while I take a shower/get ready. So nice to know he's learning! This week we've been working on learning the days of the week and counting past 25. We've also been working on the "don't hit other kids, even it they hit you first" rule. Today was a great example. A little boy on the McD's playground was randomly hitting Connor. Connor came to me & told me he was hitting him (big steps for us instead of Connor just swatting him back!). It was tough, because 'the hitting boy' had a Mom that was MIA and apparently not big on paying attention to her child on the playground. I just kept reminding Connor to try to avoid the little boy and if he hit him again, to tell him "hitting is not nice!" So shortly after, it occurred again...and I hear my familiar child's voice from around the slide say "My Mom said hitting's not nice!!!" It was pretty great!! :)

We've made it a nightly tradition to drive around and check out Christmas lights. I've gone through quite a bit of gas already this Christmas season, but it's so fun to hear Connor get so excited... "Over there! See 'em! See 'em!! Santa! Snowmans!" When we see a manger set up in a yard, I take the opportunity to explain to Connor a little about the meaning of Christmas. Here's a small blip of our conversation a few days ago...

Me: Do you know whose birthday is on Christmas?
Connor: Baby Jesus...and SANTA!
Me: Well, just Baby Jesus.
Connor: Can Santa have a cupcake with me at Baby Jesus' birthday party?!
Me: Sure honey!

That's about as far as our Christmas lesson went! Funny to see how his little mind works!

While we are driving around looking at Christmas decor, we jam to 104.9FM, which is non stop Christmas music (old and new). We were listening about a week ago and this is what happened...

The guy on the radio says "Happy Holidays!" Then Connor chimes in & says "Hol--i--days, sweeping the clouds away..."

I'm pretty sure all things route back to Sesame Street in his eyes! It was pretty darn cute! :)

I'll let the pictures below tell their own stories of what's been going on lately.

Remember my recent blog on our Elf on the Shelf, Jingles. Well, he's been keeping Matt & I busy with finding new hiding spots daily. If you were a fly on the wall in our house around 10:30pm at night, you'd see one person standing on a dining room chair in the living room while the other is holding a cell phone to serve as a flashlight as we try to find a nice 'watching post' for Jingles. I have to admit it's pretty fun and it gives Connor a fun task of finding him each morning!

You may have to squint, but Jingles is along the window ledge. I need to make a point to hand Matt a dust rag while he's up in these tall areas...kill two birds with one stone!

Connor received his Charlie Brown tree from a wonderful family friend this year. You know you have a great family friend when they buy your child a "Seminoles tree," even when they are the biggest Gator fan on the planet. We love you, John Hulslander!

Connor received a belated Birthday card from Aunt Holly this week. Connor had the best time taking his birthday money and picking out a new special toy from Target. Toy of choice: Percy from Thomas the Train. Thanks again Aunt Holly!

Connor and I make a point to attend "Family Night" quite often at our local Chickfila. The cow mascot must have a special place in his heart for Connor, because out of the 1000 kids that are always hanging off of him, he makes a point to take Connor aside to dance and hug him. Connor loves this Cow so very much and was so excited this past week when "Chickfila Cow in Santa costume, Mom!" I wish I knew who was inside his cow costume to thank him for making Connor's day each time we visit there!

I wish so badly that this picture below was a video. My mom sent me this picture on Tuesday while I was at work. Apparently, Connor and my mom made a trip to Walmart for a few things. On their way out, Connor dropped a few coins in the Salvation Army bucket and wished the lady a "Merry Kissmiss." The woman adored Connor so much, that she asked him if he wanted to ring the bell. Connor took on the duty whole heartedly and not only rang the bell, but sang the best lispy rendition of "Jingle Bells." My mom said he was the CUTEST thing ever and raised lots of money!! This should have been a clip on the local news!!

If I don't get a second to post before next weekend, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to the "3s"

First off, I'd like to apologize for the photo quality for this post as well as posts in the near future. This clutzo managed to drop my camera at a Christmas party last weekend and it has been having technical difficulties ever since. I found that out the hard way today when my camera wouldn't work to take a picture of Connor with Santa!! Thank goodness for camera phones!!

Secondly, I'd like to point out that all of those people out there that warned me that the real "terrible twos" hit when your child turns three--were, in fact, correct. I have had more trouble with Connor in the past two weeks than I have in the longest time! He appears to be more opinionated, strong willed, and has a love for the word, "No!" I just keep pushing through with time outs, and following through with discipline to try and nip this oh-so-joyous stage in the bum! Last weekend we had to do what I like to call "abort, abort, abort" and leave a birthday party because Connor was having ginormous meltdowns for the first hour. Then, today, I'd like to delete about an hour of my memory from our fun visiting Santa adventure day, when Connor decided he was not leaving Bass Pro Shops no matter what I said or tried to negotiate. We wound up in the nearest dressing room for a quick time out before leaving the store. I'm pretty sure the "bipolar" stage needs to be over...NOW! :)

On a lighter note, my child is still wonderful and fun as can be! We are having such a great time driving around looking at Christmas lights nightly. Connor's elf on the shelf, Jingles, has been keeping Matt & I busy with finding new spots for him to hide every night after Connor goes to bed! It has become a fun game for us! Connor's cute as can be looking for his Jingles first thing in the morning. He runs around and goes "Nope, not in there..." Despite the mood swings, this age is the most fun so far!

I dumped a few pictures I've compiled via my phone camera over the past week or so & decided they were cute enough to share :)

Mr. Squints with his cheese face

Another cheese face by the Christmas tree in his new Buzz jammies from Uncle Pete and Aunt Jill.

On our way to see Santa this morning. Talk about adorable in his antlers. Don't tell anyone, but these were a 'hand me down' from my Coopy! I'm pretty sure Coop only wore them for his first Christmas and they have no scent of dog on them! ;)

Here's my little reindeer boy with Santa! He's so brave this year. Walked right up, climbed up the steps to sit on Santa's lap, and even sang a few lines of "Jingle Bells" with Santa. When I told Connor to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, he turned and said "a Buzz bouncy ball." Pretty sure he's never asked for that until that very moment nor has he seen one. I plan to Google it once done blogging :).

After Santa, Connor had his eye on the "choo choo train" on display. His eye was on it for a good 30 minutes. Sacrifices you make for your child... :)




I'm off to find help send "Jingles" to the North Pole to relay "good behavior messages to Santa." For all of you that are not familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, you may want to Google it :)

Good night!

Gobble Gobble!

Connor had a "first" this Thanksgiving.

He ran in his first race!

Connor's been unofficially training since he was about 13 months old.

He runs faster than most (including me!), so I thought he'd dominate in this year's Turkey Day Tot Trot.

I had mentioned to Connor he was going to have so much fun in the "race," but he seriously had no clue what to expect. It definitely didn't help that it was somewhat unorganized when we got there!

Once the kiddies started to swarm, we had an idea that the "race" was about to start. We lined Connor up, pumped him up to run towards the big finish line, and thought we were good to go. We then got notice that apparently they were hoarding an entire school bus of bigger kids around the corner, so we needed to relocate our 'starting line.' My little runner was pretty confused on what was going on, since we really didn't know what was going on either. So we lined up again, I kept encouraging Connor with my fabulous Mom face that "You're gonna have so much fun, honey! When the nice man says go, you're gonna run as fast as you can up here and around the corner to the finish line!"...followed with a cheesy, pretend- confident smile.

Connor didn't appear too sure of what was going on...



I plopped Connor right in the middle of the flock of children and hoped he'd take off once he saw where the other kids were going...



The nice man said "Go" and all the kids went...while my precious little one stood there...with his sneakers glued to the asphalt.

I did what any Mother would have done. I shouted in my same happy Mom voice, "Let's go Sugar Bear!" I grabbed his little hand and started jogging to the finish line...in my dress...and sandals.

We crossed the almighty finish line and Connor received his Tot Trot Participation ribbon (or as I like to call it...the WINNING ribbon).

I snapped a picture of my winner.
(Please note that Connor is into saying "Cheese" but will not actually smile...It makes picture-taking kinda tough!)

The winning ribbon :)

Uncle Craig and Auntie Nicole were so sweet to come cheer on our little athlete!
*This would have been super cute if Uncle Craig wasn't being a goober... :)


Once Connor understood what the heck was going on, he wanted to "Race again Mommy?!" I had no problem with pretending to race again, so my funny guy could trot through the big inflatable finish line. We figured out where he'd start his "race," turned around, and found the unthinkable.

They were deflating the blow up finish line and it was now laying limp on the ground.

Connor was officially devastated.

Seriously. It was the end of the world.

So we aborted our "second race" and headed to the car quickly.

It took a while, but Connor recovered and the tears eventually went away. You couldn't dare mention the words "finish line" or reference the "race," or the tears would begin to flow again.

Fast forward to supper time. We had a beautiful dinner at Matt's Mom's house. Connor shared a birthday cake with Matt's wonderful Aunt Debbie & it was super cute...

Connor was loving the fact that his birthday celebration lasted a good week long this year! He even said "Happy Thanks-birthday" when we were leaving. Pretty sure he was confused on what we were celebrating. I seriously don't blame him. We went from his birthday, to putting up Christmas decor before Thanksgiving, then celebrated his birthday at Thanksgiving dinner, then had another Thanksgiving dinner at Nana's 2 days later. Confused or not...Connor's loving all the festivities!

Here's our Thanksgiving dinner Take 2 at Mom's house.

Dinner was followed by a beautiful FSU win over the Gators!
As Connor loves to say, "GO NOLES!"


So to sum things up with us lately...
We've celebrated a 3 year old's birthday, 2 Thanksgivings, put up our Christmas decor, completed Christmas shopping and wrapped 90% of all our Christmas gifts already, and now we're counting down the days until Christmas.

Next on our list...
Naming our Elf on the Shelf and letting him "get to work" in our house.
I'm sure there will be more photos to come. :)

Happy Holidays!

Hello Christmas!

Out goes the birthday decor and in comes the Christmas decor!

My "Go Noles" boy went for a short cruise around the kitchen...

Then suited up in his best Rudolph attire to help me decorate for Christmas!

This is going to be one-great-holiday-season!!