Buddies!

My friend Lauren and I met when she was about 9ish months old and I was 20ish months old (says my mom). We've been great friends since! :)

Connor and Matti (Lauren's daughter) met when he was 1 month and she was 7 months (pictured below) :) Sadly since we live an hour from each other, they don't get to see each other that often. But hopefully we can see them more and they can be friends for a long time too!

Lauren is also a photographer, and she had a photo session last week and asked if I wanted to come with her. Connor and Matti were able to hang out for 4-5 hours and hand LOTS of fun! :)

Connor's soccer pictures

We went on Friday to get Connor's soccer pictures done, and I had been going back and forth on whether or not to even buy them. I figured we'd check it out and see. After watching for about 15 minutes (they were running 45 minutes late so I was watching the other teams getting theirs done), I decided that I was not going to pay for them. As a photographer, I know I'm picky... but they were absolutely horrible. They were shooting in the direct sun (squinty faces, harsh shadows, etc.) and they really weren't even posing the individual or group shots. So... I took Connor over to a cute little spot on the other side of the park and did a few of my own :) I think they turned out pretty cute!

  

My sweet boy. I think this is my favorite one :)

This one was Connor's idea. I do whatever he wants to make him happy during pictures :D

Connor said that this face was better than a smile ;)

I beg to differ...

Preschool Pictures

I had lots of fun taking Connor's preschool's pictures this year! Connor was his usual, uncooperative self... but I think I still got a few cute ones :)

(T) Miss Chanelle, Isabella, Connor, Zoe, Brooklynn, Landon, Bella, Avery, Miss Stephanie

(B) Trevor, Parker, Tyler, Jayden, Nathan, Layah

My puppy

As you probably know, Connor either 40% dog, 40% cat and 20% boy :)

We were at work, and he came crawling in like this and said, "Mom... puppies need to wear shoes too!"

Yep Connor... sometimes they do ;)

First day of Soccer

Connor started soccer this Friday. He was so excited about it! Here's a few pictures from the evening :)

Dentist

We kept putting off taking Connor to the dentist, since we've been waiting for open enrollment at Aaron's work, so we can add him on. When we first got his dental insurance, Connor was only 9-10 months and we figured there was no need to pay for nothing. But since he's 3.5 and has never been, I figured we'd better go!

I had been talking to him for about a week, telling him where we were going. He was fine at first, and then 2 days before we went, he started crying and whining about it, saying that he just wanted to brush his teeth at home. The day before we went, I took him to Target to pick out a small toy and said that he would be able to open it if he was a good boy at the dentist. All that day he was still whining about the dentist, but talking about his new plane.

We got there and he'd fallen asleep on the way, so I was a little stressed that he'd be moody. But lucky enough, he did awesome! He talked to the hygienist, listened to and followed direction, and got his teeth cleaned and polished. He even impressed her when she pulled out the floss and he told her what that was for! :) He has no cavities and he only had a small bit of plaque on 2 teeth!

Yay for great brushing!

Gymboree

Back in June, I bought a Groupon for 4 weeks of Gymboree. I totally forgot about it until last week, when I realized that it's expiring soon! So we went ahead and joined a class that next day. He's going to be doing 2 weeks of music class and 2 weeks of art class. So far he's loved both of the classes. His favorite thing so far though has been the free time in the gym! :)

Connor Quotes!

Connor says the funniest things, and I used to blog about them. But then I stopped blogging and I didn't record most of them. Here are the ones that I had recorded somewhere though! I think I'll start writing them down more often. They still make me laugh! :)

9.17.12 I kissed Connor and said "love you babycakes!" and he said "Hey... I'm not your babycakes, I'm your big boy cakes!"

9.7.12 For prayer tonight, Connor said "please help my cake so that it won't get smashed tonight, please help the snow so that it won't come crashing into our garden and please help the fishies so they don't come smashing into our wall and get stinky." He has no cake, we don't have a garden and who knows where the flying fish are coming from?!

8.25.12 After spending the day with Connor and my friends daughter (who's 15 months old) Connor told me "Mom... I was a really good babysitter today, wasn't I?"

8.22.12 Connor is watching a TV show and I started singing the theme song. He says "No mommy, don't sing. Let the TV sing."

8.16.12 Connor told me with a said voice, "Mommy, I wish we had a helicopter car."

8.15.12 Connor told me, "maybe you can have two baby brothers next... so one can drink milk from one booby and the other one can drink milk from the other booby!"

3.20.12 Connor came up behind me and said "Merry Christmas! I got you your favorite boobs!!" I was a bit shocked and confused until I turned around and he was holding my bra!"

3.9.12 Connor was watching videos on YouTube and he found one of a dad filming his little boy going on a water slide. Connor started watching it and then said "wow... this one's making me nervous!" and turned it off!

3.3.12 Connor was talking about eggs and my dad said, "do you know where eggs come from?? Chickens!" and Connor paused for a moment and said "what the heck?!"

3.3.12 Connor told me "You can clean up my mess and then I'll be so proud of you!"

2.21.12 Connor decided to scream VERY loud and I said "Oh no no no... you do NOT scream like that!" and he looked at me serious and calmly said "oh yes yes yes, I do!"

2.17.12 Connor and I are reading a colors book before bed. He points to all the pictures and says what they say or do. "Cars are for driving. Frogs say ribbit. Grapes are for eating. Ladybugs are for flying. Bears growl." etc. Then he gets to a rainbow and says, "rainbows are for saying ooooooooooo!"

2.15.12 Connor's sitting on my bed and he was sitting on his stuffed dog. I hear him start making barking/whining noises and then he said, "oh, no!" as he pulls the dog up and then says "I'm so sorry I was sitting on you. I didn't know!" and then he (as the dog) says, "ruff ruff! It's ok!"

2.14. I told Connor that he needed to take a nap because we had a lot we were doing that night and I wanted him happy. He laid down, but wouldn't sleep. I told him to just try to close his eyes and he said, "But it's just weird... my eyes won't stay shut... they keep opening!"

1.26.12 Connor was playing doctor. He was doing a routine check-up on me and when he finished I said "so... how do I look?" and he said "Beautiful and healthy!"

Mystery Glasses

My dad got Connor some Mystery Glasses! They help him to tell great stories and to solve mysteries!

I love how happy he is in his daddy's arms, listening to a mystery :)

Gluten and Dairy Free

For over a year now, I have been having some health issues. I have tried a few things and nothing seems to work. After much research, I have found that going gluten and dairy free might help a LOT with what I'm going through. I know it's going to be a struggle, but I figured that if it helps me feel better (I'll never get back to "normal" health... but at least I can get closer), then it's worth it. So I am now on Day #8 of Dairy Free and Day #4 of Gluten Free (I was only going to do dairy, since I was being a chicken about gluten... but 5 days after I started dairy and realized it wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be, I went ahead and did gluten too!) :)

My "job"

Most of the time, my job is not really a job. It's an all day play date where I get to hang out with these four! :)

They are crazy, goofy, funny, loving, adorable kids!

and luckily, they all get along really well with each other!

Max knows they're nuts... that's why he was trying to get away...

:) :)

First Day of Preschool 9.3.12

Connor was so excited to start preschool this year. That's all he's been talking about! :) The time finally came on Sept. 4th. He had a blast! He goes two days a week for 2.5 hours each day. It's the perfect amount of time for him (and for me)! 

Mystery Stories

Connor has recently become obsessed with "mystery stories." 24/7 he wants to tell us one, or have us tell him one. Here is one of his :)

Eller Family Vaca-Getaway to Pine Valley, Utah

It was all my sisters idea. She said that my mom and I should meet her in St. George, Utah (halfway from where we live in southern California and her in Salt Lake City, Utah) over Labor Day Weekend. It turned into what we have all decided to be the 1st Annual Eller Family Vaca Getaway :) We ended up having everyone but my brother's family there (hopefully they can make it next year). It was TONS of fun! :)

Here's Connor exploring the new surroundings outside the cabin

My awesome family! :)

We had a talent show one of the nights. Connor told a story, sang a song and did some somersaults (not all at once) :)

delicious s'mores!

While we were up there, I thought I would do Connor's 3.5 year photo session (since we hadn't done it yet and it's absolutely gorgeous up there). But he wanted nothing to do with it. He'd rather make silly faces...

collect acorns...

and refuse to smile...

We decided to make some family t-shirts. Here's my sister Bethany and her husband Jon, decorating theirs.

Aaron working on his crazy shirt. I should have got a picture of the outcome... it was the most... colorful...

Connor was very excited to do his on his own. Then he wouldn't take it off and wanted to wear it every moment for the next 3 days :/

I finally got a smile... thanks to Auntie Kate making him laugh

Aaron, Connor, me, Jon, Bethany (sister), Mom, Dad, Katie (sister), Nathan :)

tired boy taking a long nap on the way home :)