Naples Childrens Museum

The Mamas & I gathered our munchkins (6 kiddies total) and headed down to the Naples Museum for the day.  Connor & I had fun riding along with Ryder, Landon & Danielle...

The boys ready to hit the road...(Landon is looking equally cute-just sitting too far over for me to get him in the frame)

We did our best trying to find a place that would entertain the babies and the 3 year olds...the maze was a favorite!

The tree pictured below has a McDonald's type climbing apparatus up the center of it that the kids could go up alone then climb back down.  I waited patiently for my child to return to me and once he reached my level again, he goes "Mom, my shorts are wet..."

Ahhhhhhh!!!

We were a good hour from home, I did not have a change of clothes, we had only been at the Museum for about a half hour, and Connor was in potty shorts, underwear, and crocs.  I thought quickly and rushed to the bathroom...

I was in survival mode.  I went in the stall, washed him off, rinsed out his clothes and shoes, and ran them under the high pressure hand dryer.  Connor hates the sound of the loud hand blower, so he was crying while I was drying and running around without any bottoms on in the bathroom.  I scooped him up, hopped in the handicap stall, reclothed him, was ready to leave, then heard a man enter the bathroom.  As I opened the stall door, I thought it was pretty odd to see a guy in the ladies room.  He began to use the urinal, so then I thought...what's a urinal doing in the ladies room?!?

Then I had an "Ah ha" moment.  I had seen the sign on the bathroom entrance that said "Boys room" and didn't think twice.  I had a boy, he was covered in pee, I was in the right spot.  DUH!

I didn't even stop to think I was in the "Mens room."  I scooped up Connor, bolted for the door, and didn't look back!

After the potty incident, we recovered, and headed to the mini restaurant where Connor, Ryder and Sophia "cooked" for me!  Ryder was cute as can be at the checkout counter.

Me: "So how much do I owe you for my bowl of eggs and noodles?!"

Ryder: (pushes about 10 buttons then looks up at me) "Nine dollars Miss Megan!"

He was pretty darn cute and played the role quite well!

After cooking, we did some fishing...

and grocery shopping...

And fed the birds seeds...

and checked on the animals at the Vet office...

and picked some flowers from the planters...

Then replanted the flowers to water them...

The skies cleared enough for us to go outside to play in the water tables.

The boys kept busy doing this for awhile...

Then we moved onto the maze...

and then some wall water painting...

We stopped in the "Seasons" area many times throughout our visit.  The boys could not get enough of the leaf blowing tree.

It was tough to get the boys to stand still long enough to do the News broadcast.

They were pretty darn funny with their microphones though!

We made our way back to the front entrance in a slow attempt to peel the boys out of the Museum, when we noticed we never stopped in the art room.  The boys smocked up and worked on some artwork!

We loaded up, ran through McD's drive thru for a light snack, Landon passed out oh-so-preciously with a chicken nugget in  hand, and we made it back to Ryder's house.  Connor did not want to part ways with Ryder, so we had a precious meltdown in the parking lot.  Once we got a nap, we were all better! 

 The boys had such a great time together!  It was nice to try something new and have it turn out successful!

Professional Pics 2012!!

I can't post all of them on here until I buy the rights to the disk, but I wanted to share the ooooodles of pictures with you :)

http://client.mattsteeves.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=22973016&AlbumKey=tK2b3z

Just ignore the pictures with my double chins or with Connor's squished, droopy eyes from me squeezing him....you'll see! :)

Here are my faves so far...

See the link for all 100000000 other pictures we had done :)

Sweet sunshine

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day spending time with the ones I love!

Thank you to all that we celebrated with today!

Here are the few pics I managed to take today :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day!

I'm having a wonderful Mother's Day celebrating with my precious boy that made me a Mama!

There is no greater gift :)

P.S. A very very Happy Mother's Day to my amazing Mom!  We're looking forward to spending the day with you! Xoxox

Dyson's 1st birthday party!

This precious little guy is turning 1 soon and we were able to celebrate with him today...

Connor & Ryder tore up the bounce house water slide...for 5 hours!!

We all had such a great time and Dyson was cute as can be!

To the beach!

On Friday, we needed a change of scenery...

So we loaded up & headed to the beach for dinner!

We always have a good time when Auntie Katie is in town!

I'm pretty sure every restaurant needs a huge open space for children to run while they're waiting for their food to be served...

Connor & I did lots of beach running during dinner :)

Before we went to eat, Connor thought he might be able to push over the crooked palm tree.

It was pretty cute...

We quickly made it back to our car before the skies opened up & poured!

What a nice night we had!

4604

We moved into "4604" when I was three years old...

Twenty-four years later, Mom & Dad will be moving out when my little boy is three years old...

We have made so many memories in this house over the years!

All of our first day of school pictures taken by the fireplace-

Easter egg hunts in the yard-

All the nights I'd sneak into Mom & Dad's room to sleep when I was scared-

Birthday parties with egg relays and pony rides-

Flying kites in the empty lots next to the house-

Learning to ride a bike on our road-

Sleeping in our beds with our big red tent up-

Christmas mornings, like the one where Santa brought our new swing set-

Watching out for critters in Craig's tree fort-

Homecoming, Prom, and Graduation pictures-

The list goes on forever...

Yesterday was a day I tried to soak up some last memories in "4604."

Connor did most of the soaking...

While it will be weird to no longer consider this "Mom & Dad's house,"

we are excited to see what memories will be made at their next house!

The new "owners" better be prepared for Katie & I to stop by on a regular basis to check on "our house."  :)

Here's to cherishing our memories & making new ones!

Times flies...

Connor at 1 1/2 years old...

Fast forward two years...

Connor at 3 1/2 years old...

A few more years & he'll be just as tall as his Papa!

Day 3 of school

...And all smiles!

Today was much easier on his Mama's heart! :)

And we're pedaling...

We started with Mom pushing from behind...

Then we let gravity assist with going down the driveway...

Then Connor got the hang of pedaling all on his own...

And then he thought it was way more fun to ride down the driveway & purposely crash in the grass.

He's definitely all boy! 

Hot stuff!

I asked Connor to show me his muscles while he modeled his new big boy boxer briefs.

I'm pretty sure I'm safe to quit my job and get Connor into modeling to help support the family.

Good idea huh?!

Changes are upon us...

We are very happy and anxious to report that we have plans to move!

The sign in our front yard made it pretty official today.

We are very excited about what our future holds in our new home.

In the mean time, please tell everyone you know that they should buy this house. :)



First day of "school"

Today was a first.  It was Connor's first day at the Mom's Day Out program at Noah's Nursery.

I woke up early to get ready and had to come wake up this precious boy.

We tried to avoid using the word "school" and just tried to make it another fun day playing with Ryder.

The boys were so excited to see eachother.

The boys were even cooperative to get a few pictures before going in.

Ryder was such a sweetheart.  He told Danielle that morning that he would make sure Connor didn't cry at school.  I was so grateful to have the boys together in class.  Ryder went right in like usual, but Connor reached the classroom door & realized he didn't want to go.  My heart sank as he cried & I forced myself to leave.  It was a little easier than I thought it would be on my emotions.  I've had many days where I watch Connor ride away in his Dad's car and I just cry and cry.  There is seriously no worse feeling than having your child taken from you, especially when you have major concerns for how he'll be cared for while he's away.  So today with school, I was reassured that the teachers were wonderful and caring, that Connor had Ryder and Sophia in his class as familiar faces, and I knew it would only be for a few hours until I could come pick up my sweet boy!  I had a few tears when I reached my car, but thanks to Danielle & Amanda, our breakfast date after dropping off our kids helped take my mind off of Connor being away from me.

As soon as the clock hit 1:00pm, I was there and waiting to pick up Connor from school.  I peaked in the window and Connor perked right up & said "My mom's here!!"  I love that run-over-to-you-hug when Connor first sees me.  He was so sweet and said,

 "I really missed you Mom!  You came and picked me up in in in...in 20 minutes."  :)

Teachers said he cried a bit when I dropped him off, played well, then cried when kids were starting to get picked up, as if he was worried I wasn't coming.

The teacher noted he had such nice manners.  She asked Connor if he needed to go potty and he said "No thanks."  Such a little man he is!

Connor was in such great spirits when I picked him up, so I tried for another first day of school photo.

Connor asked me as we were leaving, "So did you have a nice time in church Mama?!"

He was so precious, as he thought I went to the church next door while he was in school.

I told him all that I did while he was in school and he told me all about his day.  He was excited to tell me he had jello in his lunchbox :).  We were freely using the word "school" and it didn't bother him at all, or cause the usual "I don't want to go to school Mama.  Not 'til I'm old."

Hoping for less tears when he goes again on Thursday.