The Montoya Family

Sleeping Boy

2011-11-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I haven't updated in a month. It's been a busy, crazy, hectic month... so here's the first of a few posts :)

My sweet boy

2011-10-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

I don't think I realize how loving and kind Connor is until moments like tonight...

I was crying and Connor walked into the room...

Connor: "Mama, are you sad?"

Me: "Yeah, just a bit."

Connor: "Don't be sad. I can give you snuggles."

he climbs up onto my lap and wipes away a tear

Connor: "Mama, you happy now? I wiped away the sad!"

Me: "Yeah, I'm a little better"

as another tear falls down...

Connor: "Oh no, you're sad again."

and wipes the tear away and molds my mouth into a smile

Connor: "Now you're happy again!"

Connor update

2011-08-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

He LOVES to build bridges and towers with his blocks... and every time he builds one he comes running in to wherever I am and exclaims "mama, come look!!" and makes me come check it out :)

He loves to pretend that he's a puppy. He usually makes us throw a ball and he'll fetch it on all fours, bringing the ball back in his mouth. A few days ago he woke up and came crawling into our room and said "ruff!" and I said "Good morning Connor" and he said "I'm not Connor, I'm a puppy! RUFF!"

He's getting very smart at trying to get what he wants (or so he thinks). I was putting him to bed tonight and he kept coming out of bed for a million reasons. Every time, I sent him back to his room. After about 45 minutes, he comes out with a sad look on his face, gives a sigh, and says "I can't sleep." So simple... so true.

He loves numbers and counting and he's getting pretty good at it too. He'll often have something (food, cars, penny's etc.) and say 1...2....3.... I have THREE! (or however many he has). Also, if I ask him to go get 1 or 2 or 3 of something, he can count it and bring it to me :)

He has a love/hate relationship with ants. He's very fascinated with them and talks about them all the time. Every time he sees one, he brings it to me (usually dead) :(

Has the BEST sense of direction. He can tell me how to get home from Walmart and my mom's house.

Connor- "Can I have some milky?"

Me- "No. You can have water"

Connor- "No, I want milky!"

Me- "Connor... I said no"

Connor- "ok.... hmmm (puts finger to mouth and thinks)... how about some water?"

He's always thinking of others. Whenever we see something pink or girly or a bow... he says "I get this for Chloe!" A few days ago he saw an elephant statue and insisted that he needed to get if for Kate (my sister who has a jungle type living room). Tonight during bedtime prayer he said "and please bless Grammy that she'll feel better and be happy and she'll be my best friend!"

He remembers everything. We were driving a few days ago and he suddenly yelled out "Mommy, look! Grammy took me on a walk in my stroller there!" and pointed to Stater Brothers (my grandma was here in July and took him there once. Also, ONE time I let him go in the cart at a Walmart that has an attachment seat for extra kids.. and he called it a train. Now EVERY time we go to Walmart (any of them) he looks for the "train cart" (even though not all of them have them).

Sometimes I will nibble on him and say "yummy, you taste delicious!" and every time he gets very serious and says "No mama, you're not Cookie Monster!"

Connor's first dance class

2011-08-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Connor LOVES music and dancing... so when I found out that boys ballet was free at a studio here in Beaumont, we decided to give it a try. The teacher said that when he's about 5 years old, they have hip hop and a few other dance classes too... but I figured ballet would be fun for him to dance and learn a few things.

Here's him on his first day before class

His first class

The class I put him in is for 2.5-4 year old's. There were 3 other kids besides him, all of which were girls and well over 3 years and I think they'd all taken the class before. Connor was a bit hyper and excited to be there, which in turn was him not listening as well as the older girls. I could tell that right away the teacher was getting frustrated because he wasn't doing everything he was supposed to be doing (of course he's not going to be perfect... he didn't know half of what she was even asking them to do because he had NEVER done it before!). Not even half-way through the class, the teacher (and owner of the studio) pretty much said that she'd rather him not be in the class, that he was a little too young for it and that she'd rather him try the 'Mommy and Me' class (even though they don't currently have that class... he has to be put on a waiting list until they get enough people to form a class). So, we left the class with Connor sobbing hysterically because he wanted to "dance with his friends and not go home!" :( I was just so disappointed in the whole situation. I'm sorry, but EVERY 2.5 year old would have been acting the SAME way that he was acting. The 3 other mom's that were there even said "he's actually doing so good for only being 2 and a half. Don't worry, he's fine!" I don't understand why the teacher would make a class for a certain age group, and then tell you that he's too young for the class. Ridiculous! :(

just because

2011-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

no more pictures please...

Look Mom, it's a helicopter...

sharing his motorcycle with me...

"cheese!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chick-fil-A Party

2011-08-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

First time in a bounce house. Was a little freaked out at first, but got into it quickly :)

running from his "girlfriend"

she caught him :)

listening to directions on how to play the game

he actually didn't drop it! :)

The operator/owner (aka Aaron's boss) getting a pie in the face! :)

yum!

Family Pictures!

2011-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

My wonderful family got together to do updated family pictures! I think they turned out great!

Mom and Dad

BJ, Chloe & Kimmy... Bethany... Katie & Nathan... Aaron, me & Connor (siblings)

all the girls, my grandma included

grandma!

When we took this picture, we felt so small, like someone was missing! It's weird to think that this was all my family growing up!

My sister Bethany and her boyfriend, Jon

my siblings

all 7 "kids"

Bethany

4 Generations!

My parents and their grandkids :)

Katie and Nathan

Chloe, my niece

my little monkey!

my family :)

They love each other so much!!

BJ, Kimmy & Chloe

4 Generations!

Utah trip

2011-07-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

We planned a trip to Utah to visit my little sister, but then also found out that my aunt and two cousins were getting baptized and they made it that same weekend. So it was an eventful trip to Utah! :)

Connor reading a book with Jon (my sister's boyfriend)

The Up house in Herriman. It opens 7/29 for tours... so we didn't get to go in :(

My uncle Rick, cousins Abbey and Valerie and Aunt Kim... all three girls were getting baptized :)

My aunt and her great nephew and niece. She looks young enough to be their mom!

Cousins L-R Abbey, BJ, Katie, Me, Bethany, Valerie

baptism day

Chloe (my niece) waiting for Connor to come back inside

At the Discovery Gateway museum :)

doing the ironing, just like his daddy! :)

cousin Chloe doing the grocery shopping :)

He LOVED the water section!!

our little reporters

LOVED the helicopter

played a little pool...

she was kissing herself in the mirror too!

playing blocks with Ya-Ya

obsessed with anything that has wheels!

helping Uncle BJ build!

going down the "wee hoo slide"

Then we went to Myan Adventure for dinner. It was way cool. It's kind of like rainforest cafe, but they have divers and such. Here they are watching a show...

outside of the restaurant...

NKOTBSB July 1st

2011-07-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

I surprised my mom with tickets to the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block concert for her birthday/Mother's Day. The concert was July 1st in the Staples Center and we had a BLAST. We went to Pink's Hotdogs for dinner before, and it was so delicious! We've love Backstreet Boys for over a decade! The NKOTBSB concert was one of the best I have ever been to!

(a few pictures, totally out of order... but too lazy to fix) :)

even though I love ALL the boys, Kevin was always my favorite. Five or so years ago he decided not to be in the group anymore. But he made a surprise visit that night and sang a few songs! It was the best surprise ever!! :) :) :) (He's the one hugging in gray)

dirt

2011-07-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Boy, n:. a noise with dirt on it

Beach trip on July 7th

2011-07-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

My sister was visiting from Utah for 4th of July and decided she wanted to go to the beach on the Saturday before the 4th. For anyone who has never done this and wants to... DON'T. After a VERY long car ride there... after a VERY long wait in traffic at the beach... we had a VERY long car ride back home (without going to the beach) because there wasn't any parking and it wasn't worth the 3 mile walk to the beach. So.... she decided she wanted to go the next Saturday (crazy)... so we all said we'd go with. Well, I think the "parking Gods" were on our side, because we found a spot that was the second closest to the beach, within 2 minutes of getting there.

My WONDERFUL new purchase... this wagon is AMAZING!!

(In the wagon I had 4 beach umbrellas, 4-5 beach chairs, a backpack, a few towels, a small cooler, a few pairs of shoes, and a 2 year old!)

Connor LOVES the sand! He calls the beach a "big sandbox"

pouring sand onto Auntie Ya-Ya's blanket :)

Bethany (my sister) and her boyfriend (Jon) getting some sun! :)

Of course we remembered everything but sand toys (got left by the back door)... but luckily a lady was walking around selling some. Soooo worth the $5 :)

As you will see, most pictures are of Connor running AWAY from my sister. Everything is "I'll do it myself" and he thought he could swim...

I wish we went to the beach more than 1 time a year. It's just far away and a major task to take a 2 year old. Hopefully once he's a little older we'll go more often! :)

4th of July - 2011

2011-07-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm just amazed every year at how much our little guy grows!!

We went to a park in our city this year again to watch fireworks. They have a few bands perform and have food booths set up and then a firework show at night. Connor was surprisingly good at staying on a blanket for hours!

As long as he has some cars, he's good to go :)

He looked at the camera and smiled because I DIDN'T take it!

Connor loves his Auntie Ya-Ya

and his Auntie Kate!

Our "family" picture :( Aaron was at work and when he finally got there, I forgot to take a family picture :(

My sister, Bethany (R) and her friend Beth (L)

My sister, Katie and her husband, Nathan

Connor LOVES his flags!!

Three Dog Night performed...

I was trying to get a picture of him watching fireworks... but he did this when he realized I was taking a picture :(

We had LOTS of fun and can't wait to do it again next year!!! :)

Two and a half Years!

2011-07-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

A little bit about Connor James at 2 1/2:

He repeats EVERYTHING we've said while he's playing with his toys. Yesterday after Aaron left to go get us Del Taco for lunch, I hear Connor having his car say "yeah... Daddy's getting me tacos" to his other car. Last week in Utah, he was playing with my sisters Russian nesting dolls and one started crying, and the other said "it's ok. I'm sorry." He'll also say sorry to any of us if someone is hurt or upset, even if it wasn't his fault :)

He LOVES his cousin Chloe. He asks every other day if she can come over and play! Plus, ALL girls are "Chloe." He also has a color book with different things on each page, and on the "blue" page there's a blue bow and he always says "for Chloe!"

He love trains and race cars (not just cars... they are ALL race cars). He loves Lightning McQueen and now loves watching Cars (I tried before and he wouldn't sit through it). When we went to Utah, he saw my sisters blue car (a ford focus) and said "wow... Ya-Ya has a blue race car" and begged all week to go for a drive!

One of his favorite/most often spoken phrases "You're too loud. Quiet!" (usually when he's in trouble and I'm telling him what he needs to do. Another one is "I'm sorry." :)

He NEVER stops talking. Full and complete sentences too! He does all his practicing with his cars. They have full conversations with each other all the time :)

Favorite foods: Pizza, yogurt, applesauce, blue berries, strawberries, corn & cheese. And basically anything mushed up (baby food style) or casserole style. He doesn't like to have to chew his food for a long time!

When he's in trouble and I say "1... 2..." he starts to cry and says "No... no 3... 4..."

Everything is "I do it myself!" (more like "mysels"). Sometimes it drives me crazy because it takes triple the time to get things done... but I know he's learning so I usually let him do it :)

I've noticed normally with kids, they say the "th" of words with a "f" instead. But Connor does his "th" with an "s". He also does his "f" with an "s". (example= Bath is Bas, Myself if mysels, thank you is sank you, off is oss, etc.)

Although we're still struggling with naps/sleep/lack of sleep... we've kind of worked it all out. He usually goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and wakes up between 6:30-7:00am. I try not to let him nap, and most days he doesn't, but there is NO WAY I can stop him from sleeping if we go on a car ride between 2-6pm.

His new thing is throwing things. He will randomly throw what he's holding (toys, cell phone, his drink, etc.) and he doesn't just toss it, but throws it clear across the room. This drives me crazy and if anyone has any advice on how to stop this, PLEASE let me know! :)

He is the joy in my life. I don't know what I would do without this little boy to get me through my days. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry. He's so thoughtful and loving and kind. When I'm sad or upset, he says "I'm sorry mommy!" and gives me a hug (even when he had nothing to apologize for). He's wonderful and we love him so much!! :)

***for anyone who is looking for a photographer/studio in Utah...

A review of Fotofly in Draper, Utah

A while back on Facebook, I found a photography studio called Fotofly. After viewing pictures from their blog and facebook page for over 2 hours, I was in love. I absolutely loved their style.

Being a photographer myself, Connor gets his pictures taken a lot. Literally every day, I have the camera out. So he has come to HATE having his picture taken. When I pull it out, he runs. He hates studios too. I try to get his picture done every 6 months in a studio, just in hopes that they can capture a few of him actually looking at the camera and smiling like a good little boy, lol. But he hates it. I have tried EVERY chain studio that there is. But as soon as we get in one, he wants to leave... as do I.

I'm not a snob or anything, but I have found something wrong with every studio that I go to. Sometimes it's stupid things that only bother me because I'm a photographer... but sometimes it's major things. One of my MAJOR pet peeves is an untrained photographer. I HATE when they can't think of any poses and don't really know what they're doing. Why pay money for them?! The second thing I hate is the quality of the photographs. I have actually had photographers take pictures that were not in focus and then try to tell me that it will come out better when they're printed. Also, the ones that are printed in studio usually are horrible.

So... after finding Fotofly, I HAD to try them out. Sadly, they are in Utah. But we go to Utah every 6 months or so, and when we were planning our trip a few months ago, I made an appointment (because they go FAST!). I was SOOOO excited to go, but I just kept thinking he was going to be horrible like normal. I could not have been more wrong. This was by far the best studio experience I have EVER had (and that's including even before I had Connor).

When we got there, everyone was so nice and greeted us right away. They have a little kids room, so Connor was able to play in there for a few minutes before our session. I was early, but they were right on time. The photographer (Daniel) came into the play room and sat down on the floor with Connor and started talking to him and getting to know him. Then he explained what his ideas were and asked if I had anything I specifically wanted. Then we went into the studio.

This studio is amazing. They have two separate rooms, and each wall is something different (blue wall, white wall, cement wall, floral fabrics, a corrugated metal type wall, red "barn" type wall, a blue door with steps and I think a yellow door... I'm sure I'm missing something else). And they don't have cheesy props. They have cool, modern pieces of furniture (bright colors).

Right away, I knew Connor was going to do good. He just clicked with Daniel. They were talking about Lightning McQueen and trains (Connor's favorites) and I knew Daniel was in! :) Connor listened to EVERYTHING Daniel told him to do (which is NOT normal for Connor) and Daniel was getting him to laugh, smile, be serious, etc. We got a WIDE variety of poses and backgrounds. Full body, close ups, laughing, serious, playful, etc. Anything and everything I could have wanted. Then at the end, he asked if there was anything else I wanted to do.

I NEVER once felt rushed. There was no checking his watch to make sure he was running on schedule. He was VERY well trained too. There was never a pause in the picture taking, trying to come up with another pose or something to do (which I have had many times at studios). He had the energy like no other. I would have been exhausted after what Connor put him through!

After the session, he told me it would be about 30 minutes to edit the pictures (which is a long time, but at least he was honest. Other studios say "oh it'll be just a moment" and then it's 20 minutes later and I'm still waiting). But the 30 minutes (which I think it ended up being less) was well worth it, because the pictures were amazing! (plus they had the playroom for Connor, so I wasn't having to entertain him and try to keep him in the studio while I waited). They had another person (not sure her name) show me the pictures. They were done in a slideshow with music and everything. I LOVED that there were 50+ pictures to chose from, not the normal 10-15 in chain studios. After viewing everything, she went over pricing.

Their pricing is AMAZING (I feel like I keep using that word describing them!). The basic price (which never changes) is $79. And it doesn't even matter how many people are in your family either. No "sitting fees" or anything like that. JUST $79 for ALL pictures on CD and the copyright to print whatever and where ever you want! And then if you want to print with them, it's ONLY $4 a sheet (you can also get 25% off sheets if you purchase within the first week, making them $3 a sheet. I LOVE that they give you a week too.... most places say you have to purchase what you want at the "discounted price" the first day, or you have to pay "full price" and a reordering fee later). They were not pushy either. I felt like I could have walked out of there only paying the $79 without anyone getting mad (I have had some mad photographers when I just bought the "introductory package"). I think they even say on the website that if you're unhappy with the pictures, you can leave and don't have to pay or get anything... but I highly doubt that would EVER happen because of how good they are! Oh, and tipping is also encouraged (which I totally did, because he was so worth it!) but it's not a must.

Any my final and favorite part.... you get your pictures right away. It only takes something like 2 minutes per page to print. AND they burn the CD and copyright release that day too. So you take EVERYTHING home with you when you leave. Plus no "shipping" or "processing" fees (as other studios have charged!

I told Aaron that he's a LUCKY man that we live in California, because if we lived in Utah, most of his paychecks would be going to Fotofly! I think I would be in there every month if I could (yes, I am that obsessed with pictures!). I heard all these great reviews before I went there, but I was still skeptical. After going there, I completely understand what EVERYONE is talking about! I will NEVER go to another studio again. Fotofly is my studio of choice! :) Now... I just have to convince my husband to let us go to Utah at least twice a year...

(I'm getting nothing for doing this review... they probably won't even see that I've done it... I'm just am trying to help out those I know in Utah. Make your appointment now!) :)

Music

2011-07-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Connor lives and breathes music. All day long he is singing or dancing or playing an "instrument." Instead of building towers, houses, etc. with blocks... he builds a piano and plays it, or uses toys as trumpets, flutes, etc.

I wanted to get him into piano lessons, but at this time, we don't really have the $100 a month for lessons. I teach lessons, but I only teach through the "normal" method, not Suzuki (playing by ear), and I think he's a bit young for the normal way of playing (since he doesn't read or even know his letters yet). BUT... I did find a toddler dance class that I enrolled him in, which starts in August, so hopefully he'll really enjoy that :)

I just wanted to write a few of the things he knows here for "journal keeping" purposes. From looking at a picture, he can point out/name a piano, harp (sometimes known as a "tickle" lol), flute, trumpet, clarinet, drums, trombone, violin (he calls a guitar a violin too), and tuba. From listening to them, he can pick out a piano, trumpet and drums :)

Anyone local know of any inexpensive music lessons/classes??

Spices

2011-07-19T18:42:00.001-07:00

I get SOOOOO annoyed when I am looking for a certain spice while cooking and then can't find it in the cupboard, so I use something else.... then realize a few days later that I actually DO have that spice. Well, I think I might have found a solution. I came across a blog where the person had done this!

(this is their picture... I haven't done it yet)

they used baby food jars and heavy duty magnets and put them on the side of the fridge. What an excellent idea, right?! Anyone else done this before?

New Pool

2011-07-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

We have a huge pool in our community, but sometimes it's nice to just go in the backyard and go swimming... so I bought this perfect size pool for Connor. Only thing is we need to find a pump/filter for it now, because after about only a week, it got algae all in it and I don't want to have to keep emptying and filling it every week this summer! But... Connor LOVED it for that first week, lol :) Hope we'll get it back and running soon.

Father's Day 2011

2011-07-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

I think I need to start blogging the pictures as soon as I take them, because I can't even remember what we did for Father's Day. That's ok... here's the pictures anyways :)

(the next 5 pictures were in a collage for Aaron for his present... we started these last year and hope to continue every year... at least until Connor is old enough to refuse) :)

Connor and Aaron :)

Father's Day 2011 - pictures for my Dad

2011-06-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Connor LOVES his grandpa's guitar (and all music in general) so I decided to do a quick little shoot of Connor with the guitar for my Dad for Father's Day :)

Ice Cream Tempie

2011-06-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Connor - "I built a tempie... my tempie.... oh... ice cream... it's not a tempie, it's ice cream!"

Connor James - update

2011-06-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little boy is a joy in our lives. He keeps me busier than I ever thought I could be! He always keeps us laughing! He's very smart, thoughtful, and sweet!

Here's just some pictures & things about Connor...

His favorite TV shows are "Trip" (Little Einsteins), "Pablo" (Backyardigans) & "Kit-the-Dog" (Kipper).

He could live outside if I allowed it! All day long I hear him asking to play outside in the water, the grass, or the "wee hoo slide"

He rarely takes a nap (he still would, but I don't let him because then he's up too late)... but otherwise sleeps from 7pm-6am(ish) and only wakes up once (major improvement). He always goes right back to sleep though, so it's not too bad (he usually just wakes up because he has to pee or he's thirsty)

He's a crazy little daredevil when it's HIS idea. He'll cry and tell me he's going to fall when I sit him on the toilet to brush his teeth or do his hair, yet he'll jump up on the arms of the couch and jump off, or make crazy creations like below and attempt to climb, and not even show fear!

His favorite foods are the same as always (cheese, yogurt & any fruit). It's getting harder to get veggies into him and he rarely takes more than 2 bites of meat. Sometimes I hide veggies and meat in meals and he'll eat it perfectly :) (one of his favorite right now is applesauce with butternut squash... I think I could hide anything with applesauce and he'd love it!)

He's starting to talk REALLY well. He can basically let me know anything/everything that he wants/needs. And he's starting to repeat a LOT of things others say. One of things he says most often when he's in trouble and I try to talk to him is "no... look at me. Listen to ME!" (what I usually say to him)

he loves to play soccer, basketball, baseball, golf, etc... but every ball is either a soccer ball, or more likely a "bake-a-ball" (basketball)

he hates to be dirty or hates if something he likes/wants to hold is dirty and it always telling me to "cweam (clean) it"

He LOVES music. He stands up in our pew in church at "leads" the music with the chorister. He tells me all the time that a base drum says "boom boom", imitates how to play a trumpet and piano, and clangs everything together and says they're cymbals! He can also name a piano, a harp (which he calls a tickle because of how it's played), a violin, a trumpet and a flute by looking at a picture of them. He just learn how to turn the CD player on and I constantly come into the living room with him dancing and singing to his CDs.

He loves to "play" (watch Daddy play) Angry Birds and Flatout (car racing computer game)

He LOVES water. Bath, sink, pool, hose, etc. He also loves bubbles and is constantly saying "I take a bubble?" (bath) or play outside with bubbles.

He's the loudest child in the US... yet he constantly says "be quiet... you're too loud" if my voice goes above "normal." He refuses to even let me sing in his presence! But he does love to sing on his own. Some of his favorite songs are Do As I'm Doing, Popcorn Popping, Wheels on the Bus, Once There Was a Snowman & Ring Around the Rosie

He LOVES Disneyland. We got passes for all our birthdays (they're all in January) and we've been trying to go at least once a month (sometimes more) since then. At first we'd tell him where we were going and he'd have no idea what we meant... but lately he's been asking to go. He'll just be sitting there and suddenly say "Go to DineyLAND!?!? play on the train, the cars, see Mickey, etc."

He loves to say prayer for meals and bedtime. He would do it on his own, but it'd turn into a 45 minute prayer with everything he's thankful for (trees, milk, cars, his bed, his door, books, everyone he knows, etc), so I usually have to assist :)

Mother's Day

2011-06-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

My first Mother's Day...

Mother's Day 2011

It's crazy how much Connor's grown!!

Connor's "wee hoo slide"

2011-06-08T01:31:00.001-07:00

All I hear all day long is Connor asking to go outside.

He always wants to go on his "wee hoo slide" :)

Just because :)

2011-06-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

I love this boy! :)

Easter

2011-06-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

Easter morning... opening his basket before church...

LOVES his little chicky that hops

sidewalk chalk

watching his chick hop

Happy Easter! :)

After church... Easter egg hunt and Auntie Kate and Uncle Nates

he kept flipping his basket upside down

yay! I found an egg!!

most of the eggs he would say "eww... yucky.... cweam (clean) it" and wouldn't pick it up, lol

Dyeing eggs

2011-06-08T00:40:00.000-07:00

Connor LOVES his new train table. It keeps him VERY entertained while I get stuff done!

(I was making dessert as he was currently playing)

dyeing eggs with Auntie Kimmy

Grandpa did NOT want that egg going in the dye, lol... oops!

Aaron's Dad and step-mom came to visit for Easter

getting tired... relaxing with Uncle Nate

Community Easter egg hunt

2011-06-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

We went to Yucaipa Community Easter egg hunt, which turned out to be a total bust. We drove 20 minutes to get there, for Connor to get 1 egg. All the parents in his age group were grabbing the eggs so they were literally all picked up in about 15 seconds. It's ok though, Connor didn't seem to care.

Connor's tempies

2011-06-08T00:27:00.000-07:00

Connor LOVES temples or as he calls them, tempies. Any pretty tall building he sees while driving he says "look... a tempie!!!!" and giggles and gets so excited. And now he's started building them with his blocks. Actually, anything he stacks (pillows, toys, blocks, etc.) makes a tempie...

food storage room

2011-06-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

We have a storage room that's about 8x8 feet that's been used as a junk room up until now. Basically everything we don't know what to do with, we put in there. Well, I have been trying to get more and more of our year supply of food storage, but didn't have anywhere for it to go. So we decided to completely clean out the room, and put up bookcases/shelves for our storage. Connor was such a good helper and helped me carry cans from the kitchen to the storage room :)

and then he was so exhausted, he crawled up into our bed and fell asleep on his own :)

(these pictures were from the beginning of April.... hence the fact he has a paci in his mouth)

some videos

2011-06-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

I always forget to post videos... but I'm sure all his out of state relatives would love to see them... here are a few videos I had wanted to post, but thought we lost them on our other computer... but just got them back again :)

"thank you Mommy... thank you appies"

gardening like daddy...

Our First Family Vacation

2011-06-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

This year for Aaron and my anniversary (May 3rd), we decided to take a little mini vacation. We decided it would be fun to do it yearly, but do a family vacation instead of just the two of us (maybe we'll do just the two of us for 5 year, 10 year, etc.... not sure yet). We've never been on a family vacation, so this was something special and a LOT of fun. We wanted to go somewhere that we'd never been before and we were deciding between Santa Barbara and San Diego... and then finally decided on Solvang and Santa Barbara. We had a blast! Connor was so good the whole time and we can't wait til next year's vacation! :)

SOLVANG/BUELLTON

he looks so mischievous here!

in a clog in Solvang

playing in Hans Christian Anderson Park

the only family picture we got (thank you stroller turned tripod)

in a stream in HCA park

Manny's Restaurant (Mexican food)... delicious! Here he's eating fried ice cream :)

Connor LOVED the hotel pool :)

the famous Pea Soup Andersen's... even though I didn't think it was all that grand.

hanging out in Solvang Park

we found the COOLEST "whimsical park" as it was described!

a water mister..

Connor and Daddy in jail!

this is just about a quarter of it in the picture

Connor and Daddy feeding the ostriches!

playing in a fountain after lunch

trying to steal the pennies (only because he wanted to throw them back in!)

a break for ice cream :)

at a mission

SANTA BARBARA

at the Santa Barbara Zoo

Connor and Mommy checking out the animals

his favorite... the ellies! (even though he doesn't look too excited, lol)

flamingos!

feeding the fishies

I love this picture. It's so Connor...

He just looks so sweet and innocent yet he was trying to get over the wall!

saying hi to the giraffes

feeding them lettuce!

at East Beach in Santa Barbara

running and jumping into his sand pit!

he LOVED the "sandbox" as he called it. He could have stayed there hours... but you can see he started getting tired after a few hours...

(P.S. I am getting very frustrated with blogger these days :( It was only letting me load 1 picture at a time otherwise it'd have an "error" message, and then I couldn't move anything around or it would get sent to the bottom of the page. PLUS it wouldn't let me put spaces between most of the pictures... grrrrrr....)

Farewell, our dear friend...

2011-04-22T22:50:00.001-07:00

a quarter through his 3nd year...

2011-04-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

-He's talking WAY more than ever before. Full sentences and everything. A LOT of the time, I am the only one to understands him... and usually has to translate to others :) It's funny, because he was talking here and there, trying to put things together... and then just a few days ago, it was like it suddenly clicked, and he just hasn't stopped talking!

-He's VERY independent. "It's my turn!" or "Conny's turn!" is often what comes out of his mouth. When going to the bathroom, he has to open the door, turn on the light, lift up the toilet seat (go to the bathroom), and then flush, put down the seat, turn off the light and shut the door ALL on his own. If you do ANY of those things, he has a meltdown :(

-He LOVES sugar. I do my best to limit it, but if he had his way, he'd eat cookies, candy and cake all the time! He constantly asks for chocolate or cake or cookies for breakfast! Around dinner time today, he said "I'm hungry!" so I started to dish up his plate and he said "NO! I hungry for cake!"

-He's been throwing MAJOR temper tantrums lately. I think it's that he hasn't figured out exactly how to express when he's upset, so he just melts down. He LOVES building blocks, and if a single one falls, he throws himself onto the floor kicking and crying, as if his world is falling apart!

-He's very good about playing toys by himself... but he much prefers it if I sit by him while he plays. He doesn't want me to play with him... just sit by him. In fact, he just came in my bedroom, turned out my light and said "mommy... come sit on the chair (meaning the living room chair)" because he's out in the living room playing trains :)

-He is obsessed with trains. Still loves all transportation... but trains are his favorite! He just was given a train table with some trains from a friend from church and that is ALL he wants to do.

-Whenever he wants you to hold something for him (if he needs to do something, or has too much to hold) he hands it to you and said "hold me dis"... I don't know why, but I think it's so cute! :)

-He used to get VERY upset and would start crying if I was hurt of upset. But now when I hurt myself he says "mommy... what happened? Mommy... you ok?" and will come and give me a hug or kiss.

-Drives me bananas in the sleep department. He needs a nap... but if he takes a full nap... he won't go to bed at night til 10-11pm. But if he doesn't take a nap, he gets miserably fussy and usually falls asleep during dinner or VERY early... and then wakes up at 4:30-5am. So we're now trying to make sure he gets to sleep (his nap) by 1:30pm and then only letting him sleep an hour (he usually sleeps 2-3), and then trying to get him in bed by 8:30pm. We're only on day 1 of trying this.... so hopefully it'll will work :) ***update... it's 8:50pm and he's still not asleep and crying from his room... maybe it won't work :(

-One of his favorite phrases is "LET GO!"... usually when I pick him up or hold his hand or move him when he doesn't want to be touched. And it's oh so wonderful having him scream "LET GO!" while grocery shopping, while trying to wiggle out of my arms. Makes me look like a kidnapper!

-He loves calling all our family on the phone. He will call everyone (usually grandma, grandpa, Auntie Ya-Ya and Auntie Kate) and have a full conversation with all of them. Then he decides he's done, says bye, and hangs up on his own! He asks to call everyone about 2-3 times a day (I usually let him call once a day though).

-He's still afraid of nursery, even though I am one of the nursery leaders and am in there with him! When we pull into the parking lot of the church, he starts to cry and says no!! It's only been a few weeks I've been in there with him, so hopefully he'll catch on that I DON'T leave him anymore!

-He's very smart, and thinks he knows how to get what he wants. We were playing in the backyard, and then he wanted to go over the fence (into a grassy area we sometimes have gone in to take pictures). I told him no, and he kept saying "play in the grass." Then finally he said "I say cheese?!" Little stinker won't EVER say cheese while taking pictures (he runs from me and says no!), but he thought it might get him what he wanted this time!

-He's obsessed with milk. He asks for milk literally 20+ times per day. The moment he wakes up... when he gets tired... if he's bored... when he goes to sleep... when he's hungry... ALL the time! Of course I limit him, but he's now refusing to drink anything else :(

-His favorite foods are fruit (any kind) and cheese and yogurt. I try so hard to get him meat and veggies... but he's getting stubborn. So now I'm trying to get creative with dinners... the other day we had spaghetti with zucchini and carrots (shredded up) and he ate a whole bowl not even realizing what he was eating :)

-When I ask him to pick up his mess, usually he says no. But as soon as he wants to do something else I tell him he has to pick up his mess first and he says "ok... cweam up... cweam up.... cweam up..." (clean up) over and over until the whole mess is picked up :)

-He sat through his VERY first movie in the theaters recently. We saw Tangled and he LOVED it. We've tried a few movies in the past and he usually only makes it about 15-20 minutes before he's done!

*I guess that's about all I can think of now. I just have to write them down here or else I know in a few months I will totally have forgotten everything!!*

St. Patricks Day

2011-04-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

a little out of order (only a month late), but I just found this on my other camera :)

bath time! :)

2011-04-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

Connor loves Bathtime almost as much as he loves going outside. Sometimes that's the ONLY way to get him inside (without screaming) is the promise of a bath :)

Outside

2011-04-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

If Connor could, he would live outside. He NEVER wants to be inside. Connor's vocabulary mainly consists of words like "outside, pool, grass, hose, swing, wee (slide), sandbox, and wagon." I wish I didn't have things to do during the day... because we'd just spend all waking hours outside and he'd be the happiest/non fussy 2 year old alive!

notice the smile/joy in all of the pictures?! :)

Kate's Birthday

2011-04-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

We all went to Disneyland for my sister, Katie's birthday!

Kate and Connor on his favorite "ride"

He loves his Auntie Kate

we did a lot of Connor's favorite rides... the train :)

happy little girl :)

in line with Nate and Kate

another favorite, Small World (I love the new characters!!)

catching up on some sleep with cousin Chloe (Connor slept for 2.5 hours!! Longer than he does at home! lol)

Happy kids after a nap! :)

Connor LOVES the temple

2011-04-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Connor absolutely LOVES any temple that he sees. Every time we're at church, he has to point out the temples in the pictures as we walk throughout it. My sisters Stake Center has the Redlands Temple right across the parking lot... and Connor's been there before and seen in. Now he thinks that EVERY church building has a "tempe" right across the lot. I was trying to get a cute picture of Connor in front of it, for his room... but he wasn't having it that day. We'll try again soon :)

Connor James

2011-04-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Finally got Connor in for his 2 year old check-up (after 3 cancelations... 2 by the doctor, 1 by me)...

Stats-

31 lbs.

36 in.

and healthy! :)

(having issues with blogger lately when trying to upload more than 1 picture at a time. Keeps giving me an error message.... anyone had that problem/know a solution?!)

Little Einsteins

2011-03-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Connor's new favorite show is Little Einsteins. He LOVES music, so this is right up his alley! He usually watches it only at my mom's house, because we don't have cable (and we can't watch on Netflix)... but I found the ending song on YouTube so that I could get a recording of him singing (or attempting to) it.

(This one's for you, Ya-Ya)

Oh, and he's acting out what they're doing in the song too. When he grabs his clothes, he's doing a curtsy like the little girl does, lol.

(don't mind the messy bed behind... Connor was just jumping on it and destroyed the covers!)

Bethany visiting from Utah

2011-03-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Bethany had a few weeks off from work for Spring Break so she decided to come home to visit. She brought along her friend Joseph for a few days (she was here 2 weeks though).

Connor LOVED Joseph... he called him Jo-Jo. He was his little sidekick and wanted to do everything Jo-Jo did.

Joseph took a picture by the palm tree...

So Connor had to take a picture by the palm tree...

Joseph hasn't been to CA since he was really little (he grew up in Utah) so we took him to Hollywood to see all the cool spots, then to the LA Temple, and then to the beach!

Katie, Mom & Connor walking along the pier toward Ruby's for dinner...

Connor LOVED the beach!

Connor loves his Auntie Ya-Ya

We were so sad to see her go home. Hopefully we'll get to see her again soon!!

Connor's Shapes

2011-03-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

So he gets a little distracted in the end... but here's him naming/pointing out some shapes...

(as of 3.29.11 -actually, for about a month now- he knows circle, oval, heart, star, square, rectangle, moon, & his favorite... triangle)

Family Pictures

2011-03-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

About 6 months ago, we did extended family pictures with my family. Of course I was the one taking the pictures (with the help of my trusty tripod)... but with so many people and 2 fussy children (plus a few cranky adults), we ended up not getting everything that we wanted. One of those included my family (just the three of us) pictures. So... my mom had no pictures of us on her wall. Things kept coming up, and then my little sister was home from Utah for a few weeks and so we finally decided to just go to the park and take a few pictures. In a few months when I lose the weight I want (hopefully... if it ever happens), we'll hire a photographer and actually do a full session... but here are some of them from our quick little session (Thanks Beth!).

Elder Holland

2011-03-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while because first our computer crashed... then a week or two later our laptop crashed. But now we have a new computer, so hopefully I'll get back to my normal posts! :)

A few weeks ago, Elder Jeffery R. Holland (one of the 12 apostles from my church) came to visit our area and we were so blessed to hear him speak a couple of different times. It's always difficult to listen/enjoy church when you have a 2 year old who will NOT sit still, but I felt the spirit so strongly and I enjoyed every moment of it.

After the conference was over, Elder Holland stood outside in the foyer to meet as many people as he could. When we came up to him, I shook his hand and he said "thank you for coming." and I kept moving along. Then Connor yelled out "My HAND... My HAND... My HAND!" in which President Miskin (our Stake President) heard, and said "Elder Holland, I think this little guy wants to shake your hand too" and Connor then shook Elder Holland's hand (for those of you who know my son... he's NOT a friendly guy to strangers. He usually says "NO!! No like it!" when I ask him to even say hi to people he knows. He's VERY shy when it comes to things like that). And then the rest of the day, he kept saying to himself and to anyone who would listen, "My hand... I shake. Conny's hand too." :)

Our growing little guy...

2011-03-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

Since Connor's 2nd birthday (which was only a little over a month ago), his vocabulary and understanding of things has tremendously grown. He's communicating so much more, and it just amazes me every day. Here are some things I want to remember about Connor at this stage in life: (sorry, no pictures)

-Every time we shake something (juice or milk cup, yogurt, paint can, etc.) Connor says "shake shake shake... shake shake shake... shake your booty... shake your booty."

-He says "please... thank you Mommy" before I even give him what he's asking for.

-He can point out and say "triangle, circle, square, star, heart, oval & rectangle"

-All I hear ALL day long is "Mommy, Mommy... I heard a car!" "Mommy, Mommy... I heard a motorcycle!" "Mommy, Mommy... I heard a plane!" "Mommy, Mommy... I heard a train!" and so on and so forth...

-Most nights Connor goes to bed with SOMETHING in his hands. I figure it's not worth the fight as long as he'll go to sleep (which he does, wonderfully!). The other night he had a flashlight, a soccer ball, a key, and a car. It's not always that many things though... usually it's one book or one car/train :) (tonight it was a paintbrush)

-Every number is "2" and most colors are "red" or "blue"

-Connor calls himself "Connie"

-Everything is "Connie's turn!" He's in the "I want to do everything on my own" stage. If I pick something up for him, he will take it (or sometimes cry about it), throw it back on the floor, say "Connie's turn" and pick it up on his own. Same thing goes for getting in his high chair or carseat, putting his jacket on, flushing the toilet, etc.

-When he finishes a puzzle or something similar, he says "Woo Hoo BABY!"

-Loves to do "magic tricks." He'll put a toy under his blanket and ask "where'd it go?!" over and over and then giggle a little and act like he lost it, and then all of a sudden rip the blanket off to make "appear." Everyone says he's got great stage presence :)

-First thing he does when we go outside at night is look for and point out the moon to everyone

-He LOVES to help us. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, carrying something heavy, etc.

-When he plays with his cars, they are never mean to each other or get in fights or crash to hurt each other. If they do crash, he flips one upside down and says "oh no!" and then says "help me!" and then he gets another car to come over and help it right side up.

-When Connor falls (or pretends to fall) he puts an arm up and says "help" and usually I help him up. The other day, he wouldn't let me help, he said that his car needed to help. So I brought him a car, and he held it and acted out the car pushing him over, and helping him get up off the ground :)

-Is 100% daytime and nighttime potty trained. I usually don't even have to remind him anymore. We went up to Utah for a week, and he stayed dry the whole drive up there... while we were there... and only had 1 accident on the way home (we didn't stop in time).

-If you try to take ANYTHING away from him and he doesn't want it taken away... he hugs it really close to his chest and says "it's mine... I keep it!"

-When we pull off my mom's exit, he starts saying "Grammy! Grammy! Grammy!" and if we aren't going there, and we pass her exit... he starts to cry for Grammy.

-He LOVES his cousin, Chloe. Every time we're at Walmart or church or a grocery store, and he sees a baby off in the distant... he tells me, "I see Chloe!"

-If I'm trying to get his attention while he's playing, he ignores me for a moment and when I call his name again, he says "yeah?!" with a sweet little voice as if saying "yes, mommy? Sorry, I didn't hear you the first time" Little stinker!

-When he would tell me something and I didn't understand, he'd repeat it over and over, and then when I figured out what he was saying, I usually would say "oh!!! A motorcycle (or whatever it was he was trying to tell me!" Now... when he says something I don't understand... he'll say it once, and then when I look confused, HE will say "Ooohhhhh!!! a (whatever it is)!!" like the "oh" tells me the answer! :)

-We thought there was a problem with Connor's left eye because it turns inward, but we took him to the eye doctor and he said that it's not actually turning inward, and he has something called pseudoesotropia http://www.freevisioninfo.com/childrens-vision/131-pseudoesotropia (fake inward turning) and that there was nothing to worry about, and he'll outgrow it. He also said that he's a bit far sighted (Aaron and I are near sighted) which isn't normal... and that his eyes will most definitely become near sighted.. and he'll need glasses, but he doesn't want him in them yet (told us to come back in a year to re-check).

-Connor LOVES to do puzzles and read books. He also loves to sing songs. His favorite lately are "Wheels on the Bus" and "Do As I'm Doing"

-He thinks it's HILARIOUS when someone jumps to hit their hand on the ceiling. I have no idea why, but he laughs hysterically. He also thinks it's funny when people fake running into things (wall, car, door frame, etc.) I think he will be like his Mommy and Auntie Ya-Ya who LOVE America's Funniest Home Videos... when people do stupid things (dancing on tables, too many people swinging on a swing, running into something, etc.) and then get hurt. lol :)

-He is the sweetest kid I have ever met! He is so kind and caring. I often hear him saying "you ok?" or "I'm sorry" even if he just accidentally bumped you. He constantly gives me hugs (& sometimes I'm lucky enough to get kisses).

-I think he grew overnight. He was fitting into 2T clothes, and then all of a sudden, they didn't fit. He had high waters and his tummy was showing in his shirts. So I've cleaned out his dresser/closet and he's wearing 3T's now.

-He STILL hasn't been to his 2 year check up (3 times the doctor canceled, and then 2 times we were sick) so hopefully I'll have his 2 year (almost 2 1/2 yr. by then) stats in April :) I do know he's 30 lbs.

How dare I!

2011-02-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

In a previous blog, I mentioned that Connor now decides when he's tired, and he'll just go to sleep. It doesn't matter where we're at, if he's tired... he sleeps. This has NEVER been something that Connor does. I always wished that he'd do this, but he was the kind of baby that HAD to be nursed to sleep or he had to be in his crib/bed. He didn't have a nap today, and around 5:30pm he came in and told me he wanted to go night-night. I said that it was a little early, and we could go to bed in about an hour... and to go play with his toys. (*if he went to bed at 5:30, he wouldn't just sleep for his normal amount of hours, but get up early... he would sleep for an hour or two, and then wake up and REFUSE to go back to sleep*) So he went back into the living room for about 15 minutes, and then came back and asked again. Then he laid down on the floor in my room next to me (I was cleaning/doing laundry) and soon enough, this is what happened...

So by then it's 6, and I figured I'd just let him sleep. So I pick him up and he wakes up a little, so I told him he had to go pee before he went to bed. So he peed first, and then I took him to his bed. He's in a daze/half asleep this whole time. I put the covers over him and start to walk out... and he suddenly starts yelling at me. I couldn't understand what he was saying though (his paci was in his mouth). He just kept saying it over and over. Finally, I take his paci out and ask him again and he says "AMEN!" and I then realize that his arms are folded too! Because he was pretty much asleep (or so I thought), I didn't said our nighttime prayer... and he was NOT going to have that! So we said our prayer, I kissed him goodnight and then he said "bye mommy!" :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Random Sleeper

2011-02-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Connor has NEVER been one of those kids that just randomly fall asleep when they're tired. He's been the kind of kid I'd either have to rock or nurse to sleep (when he was younger) or who'd have to be in his crib or his bed to fall asleep on his own (when he was a little older). Sometimes he'd fall asleep in the carseat after a long drive too. But lately (the past 2 or so weeks), he has just been falling asleep as soon as he's tired... doesn't matter where he is...

on the floor in my bedroom...

in the shopping cart at Michaels...

in the stroller at Joanns...

and even in the middle of dinner...

Such a funny little boy! :)

***update***

he crawled up next to daddy and fell asleep

(he took his clothes off, not sure why, lol)

he told me he wanted to go to bed but it was WAY too early, so I said no.

He showed me!

Connor's New Slide

2011-02-03T22:25:00.000-08:00

My awesome $5 purchase :) :)

(the slide, not the kid)

Connor's First Trip to Disneyland!

2011-02-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

We decided to take Connor to Disneyland for his 2nd birthday, since he'd never been before. We've been prepping him all month, showing him pictures and talking about Mickey and Minnie, etc. He was so excited to go! Just not so excited about waking up...

We met at my parents house before going... Connor's LOVES his "Bonka"

He got a special present from Auntie Kate & Uncle Nate

he calls it Nickey instead of Mickey

He got so excited just to ride the trams!

My crazy father :)

Kate & Connor

His "birthday" and "1st visit" buttons!

He LOVED the cars

and bubbles :) (waiting for everyone to get off of Soarin' Over CA)

He was a little scared when the ride went up in the air

at the tortilla factory with Auntie Kate

in Belle's library, catching up on some reading :)

my little cheese ball!!

Boo's door... he looks so tiny!

Taking a little nap

I thought he would love this ride... but he was scared and cried!

He LOVED the train though :)

The little roller coaster in toon town.... he thought it was a train and wanted to go on it. He HATED it! lol... a little too fast for him

his FAVORITE ride, even though he couldn't even see past the steering wheel :)

Another one I thought he would like...

can you see the joy in his face? lol

he fell asleep during Fantasmic... he was such a trooper, but got way too tired!

right before getting in the car to go home... exhausted!

We had such a fun time, and we can't wait to take him back!! :)

Strange Eater

2011-02-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

I have never met another toddler that prefers baby food over normal people food... until Connor. I'm not sure what's up with him, but he honestly would rather eat baby food all day long instead of anything else. And it's not the yummy dessert baby foods (I don't buy those)... it's fruits, veggies, combos, etc.... anything pureed/mushed up. Tonight we had vegetable beef stew for dinner. I gave Connor a bowl and he refused to eat it. I kept trying to give him bites of it and he just closed his mouth, shook his head no, and kept saying yucky. So... I got out my Magic Bullet and pureed it... put it back in the bowl and gave it to him... he smiled, said yummy, and ate the whole bowl of "soup." Is it just me, or is that strange?!?

When he was a baby, I actually made his baby food... but I had bought some of these (pictured below) to put into our 72 hour kits and into food storage.... and he's obsessed with them. When I THOUGHT he would be done with baby food soon, I started feeding them to him, so that they wouldn't go to waste.. and now he asks for them constantly throughout the day. He calls them "appies" (apple sauce)... even if they're veggies... they're all "appies" to him.

I just take off the cap and he sucks the food out of the pouch. He'd prefer these over other junk snacks (chips, cookies, etc.) too. I guess I should be happy about that, lol... they're pure fruit and vegetables... no sugar/salt or anything else added... so they're totally good for him. And they're way easy to keep in my diaper bag for while we're out and about and he needs a snack... or even when we go to Disneyland... they were a lifesaver!

I just still think it's weird that he would rather eat pureed food.

Connor Is Two!

2011-01-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe that our little guy just turned TWO! It seems like just last week that we were bringing our tiny little baby (who was too small for preemie clothes) home from the hospital. And now he's a big boy and he's growing and changing every day! He has become such a fun little person to share our lives with. He's so full of personality, attitude & charm. Everyone who meets him goes on and on about how adorable he is, and he just makes all the ladies giggle and swoon over him. I miss him being a baby, but I love him being my little boy. I love having conversations with him and having him tells me about his day. I love listening to him try to say his prayers at night (always asking for Daddy to come home safely... and then going on to ask for EVERYONE in the family to be safe too!). He's such a sweetheart and I can't wait to watch him continue to grow!

Here are some fun facts and pictures of Connor at Two:

When I cry or get hurt, he gets very concerned/upset... and he'll often bring me his softies and a paci and say "you ok?" with the sweetest little voice :)

He still loves Backyardigans and asks to watch "Pablo" (one of the characters) the moment he walks into Grandma and Grandpa's house. They have about 40 episodes taped for him, and he knows that Grandma will never tell him no! He always gets a blanket and climbs up on Grandma's lap to watch. He often recites things from the shows, or sings along now too. One day at church, during the prayer he loudly yelled out "Yeti Yeti Yeti!" (from one of the episodes). He also started watching Little Einsteins recently, and really likes that.

When Connor was about 17 months, he decided on his own that he wanted to use the potty. I never took away his diapers or anything, I just let him go when he wanted to. He's had so many issues with diapers (he's allergic to basically anything and everything out there), so I finally decided to just get on with it, and potty train him completely. He's been diaper free for about 3 weeks now, and he's doing great! The first week was horrible but then he just started catching on and now only has an accident here and there (usually when he's busy playing or watching TV and forgets to go). We're still working on night time... but as long as I wake him up around midnight and have him pee, he'll stay dry until the morning :)

EVERY color is GREEN! We go over colors all the time, and I'll tell him each of them, but any time I ask, he says Green! And sometimes he laughs when he does it, so I really think that he's just being a stubborn little stinker. My mom laughs at this though, because she said that I was the exact same way when I was his age! :)

He's obsessed with all things that move. Car, planes, trains, boats, trucks, etc. He LOVES when we drive on the freeway because he gets to see his "truckies" He'll often yell at me to drive faster to catch up with a truck. So lately we're trying to explain to him "speed limit" :)

When he was about a year old, his Grandpa Robert taught him to say "oh no!" and put his hands on his head. He still constantly does it, mainly when his cars have a crash and they're turned upside-down.

He talks up a storm. He never stops talking. He's learning new words ever day. He tends to add an "a" to the beginning of words or a "y" to the end of words... (ex. a-Kate, a-Nate, a-Boo... truck-y, on-y, etc... and even went from saying Momma and Dada to Mommy and Daddy)

He always asks for (or we always find) stickers on his toes (thanks to Aunty Kate who was trying to keep him quiet during church one day). Then he gets mad when I try to put his shoes on!

He is obsessed with flashlights (or as he calls them, "on-ies"). He always has one in his hand. I didn't realize that he called them on-ies and one day he was walking around the house saying "on-y... where are you? On-y... where you go?" and then he found one and got excited, so I finally knew what he meant! We went to the Dollar Tree the other day, and instead of buying a toy, he picked out a flashlight!

He LOVES his "cousin" Oliver :) He has a few dogs in his life (our dog, my mom's 2 dogs, and my sisters 3 dogs)... but Ollie is his favorite and always will be!

If it were up to Connor, he would eat cheese and yogurt and drink milk ALL DAY LONG! When I open the fridge, he comes running and says "a-gurt... cheese... milky???" He also LOVES all fruit.... especially blueberries (which he calls "blue-bees," along with most other fruit) :)

He LOVES retelling stories when he thinks something is funny. He'll often retell a story 2-3 times and just laughs and laughs and laughs every time he tells it.

He's become a little parrot and will repeat anything and everything that he hears. A few weeks ago, we were waiting for Aaron to get home from the grocery store, and I thought I heard the car, so I sent Connor to the back door. After a few minutes when I realized he wasn't home, I said "never mind, he's not home. Come back to the window to look for him." and he let out a huge huff/sigh, rolled his eyes at me, and said "crap!" Then a few days later, there was a box on the floor that he tripped over and fell into, and yelled out "crap!"

Obviously that's a word I used often, and since then, I've stopped saying :)

He had blue eyes for quite a while after he was born, but they've changed into brown and I think that's what they'll stay. They sometimes have a yellow ring around his pupil though, just like mine.

LOVES to play outside in the dirt, mud, rocks, etc. But he doesn't like when his hands get dirty, and asks for a towel because they're "sticky" all the time!

Still loves his paci and his softies (little blanket) and I've been trying to decide when to take the paci away (I'll let him keep the softies for as long as he wants). For a while, he didn't really care about it at all (and I should have taken it away then) but about 6 months ago, decided that he had to have it ALWAYS! Recently though, I've made him keep it in his bed, and I thought it'd be a battle, but he hasn't seemed to care. I figure I'll get rid of it soon, that way when baby #2 comes along (not pregnant yet), they won't both have them to fight over!

Loves his Aunty Kate (holding her hand in the picture below) and his Aunty Boo/Ya-Ya (he switches off calling her both names)... and he'll often ask to call one of them on the phone or Skype.

He loves to watch sports (SOOO not our child!!) We went out to eat the other night and a football game was on, and he watched the game the whole entire time we were there... but he kept saying "ball... owie... a-boo boo... ouch... ball... owie..." over and over. He loves to play sports too... basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. Anything with balls! :)

If he hears anything outside (plane, car, bird, dog, train, etc.) he'll stop everything he's doing and whisper "what's that?" and I say "I don't know.. what is it?" and he'll whisper to me what it is.

His favorite number is NINE! I try to do counting with him, and I'll say "1" and he'll say "2" and I'll say "3" and he'll yell "NINE!" So then I say no... it's "4." Then I say "5" and he says "NINE!" and starts laughing because he KNOWS that it's wrong! Also, if he sees any number on signs or in books, he says "NINE!"

We went to Disneyland for his birthday and he had a blast! His favorite rides were the trams, Autopia, & the train that goes around the park. He would have been perfectly fine to only go on those rides the whole time we were there!

He still needs a nap, but we're having issues with sleep lately. He used to nap from about 12 til 1:30... but now it's from about 1:30-3:30pm....but then it's torture getting him to sleep at night because he's bouncing off the walls, not tired at all. But if I don't have him nap, by 4pm he's exhausted and having melt downs. I'm thinking about just waking him up earlier in the morning so he'll go back to napping earlier... or only letting him sleep 45-60 minutes or so, and then hopefully he'll go to bed on time. We'll see...

Sometimes when he's sad or tired, he'll say "a baby" which means he wants to lay down in my arms like a baby. Then after a while I'll say "you ready to be a big boy now?" and he'll say "No... a baby!" (he'll always be my baby!!) :)

He's not that into giving kisses, but if you say "Woo Hoo!" after he kisses you, he'll give you another one... and if you continue to say "Woo Hoo!" after each one... you might get at least 5-6 kisses in a row! :)

He LOVES his Daddy and misses him when he goes to work. He loves running into his arms giving him a great big hug when he comes home! I'll often hear him in the other room saying "where Daddy go?... at work. Where Daddy go?... at work" over and over to himself. He used to ask me all the time, and now he just answers himself, lol!

Happy Birthday Connor! We love you! :)

Connor's First Big Boo-Boo :(

2011-01-10T20:44:00.000-08:00

He's had his fair share of bruises, scrapes, and bit lips... but this is the worse that's happened. As I watched him spinning in circles ("gettin' dizzy") in my parents living room I told him to stop, because I had visions of him falling. But of course, he kept going... and as I stood up to stop him, I watched in slow motion as he fell head first into my parents TV stand, before I could catch him, hitting his head on the sharp edge.

Honestly, it's a LOT better than I thought it would be. As he was falling, I figured we'd be running to ER to get stitches... but it only bled a little bit and he only cried for about 5 minutes before being ok. Now he keeps talking about his boo-boo and he says that everyone else has boo-boos on their heads too!

Aaron's birthday - Part 2

2011-01-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

Since Aaron was working on his birthday, we celebrated that next Saturday instead. We had dinner at Applebee's and then had everyone over for cake and games (which it ended up that everyone was too tired for games).

Here is an example of why I didn't become a cake decorator...

No one cared that the cake was ugly, because it tasted great!! And the frosting was delicious too! I normally don't like frosting, I usually scoop it off my cake... but I LOVED this frosting! :)

I LOVE this picture of the two of them...

I can't wait for Connor's birthday next week... he's going to be SO excited about his cake!

He got a little frosting on his thumb and of course he had to lick it off...

Dakota (the dog) wanted in on the action...

Connor even helped Daddy blow out the candles! :)

The inside of the cake...

Happy Birthday Aaron... we love you!! :) :) :)

Connor's turning Two!

2011-01-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe that our little guy is turning 2 in a few weeks! Sometime I feel like it was just last week that he was born... yet other times I feel like he's 5 years old already! He's such an amazing little guy who we absolutely love, and can't image out lives without him!

I'll actually be doing a "2 year old post" once I take his pictures in a week or two, but I just wanted to post this cute picture that I took today (for his family birthday party invites). I just love his sweet little smile and how happy he is in this one! :)

Aaron's 26th Birthday - part 1

2011-01-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get a picture of Connor looking because the cake was too distracting!

(and don't mind their hair... they just woke up!)

I love this picture. It totally sums up Connor.... he's making a funny face, he's got crazy hair & he has food all over his face

All Connor wanted to do was lick the frosting spoon... and then go back for more...

Since Aaron had to work on the night of his birthday, I surprised him and made mini cupcakes for him to take to work so he could have a little celebrating :)

Not a very happy New Year...

2011-01-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

Aaron had to work on New Years Eve, but he luckily got off at 8:45. That way he could come home and join in the festivities... or so we thought!

We were at my sisters house for New Years Eve. We had delicious homemade pizza & lots of other goodies. We were having fun playing games and enjoying each other's company. Connor was getting tired and I knew that he wouldn't make it til midnight, so I decided to put him to bed. It's usually just Connor and me at bedtime (Aaron works every night) and during our nightly routine, we always say a bedtime prayer. A while back when he actually realized what we were doing would start saying a few things here and there... and I would always say "and please help Daddy to be able to get home safely..." Now, as soon as I start our prayer, Connor says "and Daddy!" So of course we said an extra special prayer for Daddy that night, knowing that he'd be driving home with a lot of drunk drivers. We asked that he would be safe.

As I come out of the room after laying Connor in his bed, my Dad is on the phone and from the look on his face, I knew something was wrong.

On Aaron's way home from work, he drives through a pretty dark pass, where there are only 2 lanes. Usually there are only a few cars on the road, and he's never had a problem. But on this night, as he was turning around a bend, a car was coming at him straight on, in his lane. To aviod a head on collision, Aaron swerved to the right where there was some dirt/grass area. He breaked, and skidded a bit, hitting some very large boulders. The boulders threw the car into the air and to the left about 4-5 feet, landing on some more boulders, which luckily stopped him from crashing into a brick wall. The other driver (we're assuming was drunk) just kept on driving.

Our car has seen better days. The front bumper is severely dented/damaged, the front tire was blown, the muffler was ripped off the car, the oil pan was damaged, & a few more things that we're still not sure of. But... Aaron walked away from it all without a scratch or bruise on his body. Even though our car is dead, we are counting our blessings that Aaron is not. I'm sure that if he hit the other car or he hit the wall, he wouldn't be with us anymore. I am SO thankful that Heavenly Father was protecting him that night.

Next time... Connor and I need to ask that Daddy AND Daddy's car are safe! :)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS EVE

My wonderful family!

us again in our Christmas jammies

sometimes he can be a little cheeseball!

Putting the star on Grandma and Grandpa's tree

Bethany and I always tell/act out The Polar Express

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Connor couldn't decide which present to play with...

Happy boy on Christmas morning!

Getting ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's... he had to turn the lights out first

No, these aren't just his presents... these are my whole family's...

Connor & cousin Chloe

Connor sharing his car with her...

Aaron and I got a Nuwave Oven for Christmas (thanks Grandma!) and we LOVE it. We made the roast for Christmas dinner in it. Aaron was so excited he was taking pictures as it cooked. It cooks the food in about 1/2 the time it would normally take...

Connor in his outfit that his Grandma Masza and Grandpa Richard in Arizona gave him for Christmas...

obviously he's not really in the mood to take these pictures, but I LOVE this one!

"Seriously... you want to take more pictures?!"

the biggest smile I could get, if you can even call it that!

Soon after these pictures were taken, we were playing family games and I gave Connor an oatmeal cookie that my parents neighbor brought over. I figured it was Christmas, why not let him have a little dessert?! Well, I don't know about you, but I've NEVER thought to put peanut butter in oatmeal cookies... so of course it didn't even cross my mind to check for peanuts. And even an hour after Connor's having an allergic reaction, I STILL didn't think or realize that it was the cookie. It was my sister who thought about it and tasted it and told me (see below post for details).

Besides that, we had a wonderful Christmas and hope to have a better New Year! :)

Christmas in the ER

2010-12-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas day. Lots of yummy food, perfect gifts, and spending time with family! I wish it would have ended perfectly... but instead, we spent the evening in the ER!

We found out a little after Connor's 1st birthday (almost a year ago) that he was allergic to peanuts. We've been so good about keeping them away from him... until tonight. I ALWAYS check something before I give it to him. And if I didn't make it, I ask the person who did make it what's in it. It's been a constant struggle, but we've done it. Well, I was tired tonight, and I wasn't really thinking. We were playing games with the family, and Connor kept asking for some candy. He'd had a lot already, and I didn't want to give him anything. But then I saw a plate of goodies that my parents neighbor had brought over, and there was an oatmeal cookie. So I let him have one last sweet for the night.

Turns out there was peanut butter in them... which I didn't realize for quite a while. Honestly, when the reaction starting happening, I was thinking it had to be something else, because I knew he hadn't had any peanuts. At first I thought maybe something had just got into his eye, because he was rubbing them because he was really tired... then started crying while saying "my eye... my eye!" I gave him some Benadryl just in case, and we left to go home. He screamed the whole ride home and once we got home he just wouldn't calm down. He screamed for about 30 minutes as I was rocking him in his dark room. I said a prayer with him, that we would know what was wrong and how to fix it, and that everything would be ok. Then I went out into the living room with him, and he was swollen with welts all over his face. So I called my mom (like always) and she said to go to ER. Then my sister who was next to my mom suddenly said "what about that cookie?!" and it was then that we realized that it had peanut it it. Bethany took a bite and confirmed that there was peanut butter in them.

So we took a ride to the ER (luckily it's only about 5 minutes away) and even though there were TONS of people in the waiting room, we were seen right away (yay!) :) We were in and out in about 1.5 hours. Connor got some more Benadryl (I was told the wrong dosage previously, and hadn't given him enough) and a steroid (not sure which one)... and luckily the swelling went down. It was itching him so bad... I felt horrible, because I couldn't do anything to help him :(

Here are some pictures about an hour after the Benadryl...

one of his legs...

the other leg...

bad picture, but if you can sorta see... his eyes were VERY swollen...

poor little tummy, it was so swollen it got all wrinkly...

luckily Connor had wonderful nurses and a doctor that made this trip not as bad as it could have been. The nurse even gave him that wooden train/truck on the right :)

Luckily he's doing better. We're home and he's in bed. We have to give him Benadryl until the welts/swelling goes away and Prednisolne for a few days.

And now we're going to be even more careful about watching what he eats!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

Twins

2010-12-17T00:03:00.000-08:00

I had to go to T-Mobile to get a new SIM card for my old phone (because I lost my new phone while on vacation to Utah) and as I'm standing in line, I turn around and see this...

my twins :)

A Little Mess

2010-12-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Connor and I decided to make some Cranberry Muffins. He LOVES helping me cook... and I usually let him have some baby oatmeal and water to mix, so he thinks he's doing something too. That way, he can also eat the "dough" :) I finished my batter and put the muffins into the oven. He was mixing so nicely that I decided to leave for a few minutes to go check my e-mail. After only 1-2 minutes, I went back to check on him and found this...

and an empty container of baking soda (which WAS full before I left)

Of course I think this is funny, and take these pictures, and I figure he can't do much more damage, so I'll go upload these pictures while he's mixing his dough (oh, and he asked for more water, which I thought would be pretty harmless)

As I'm loading the previous pictures, I here him laughing... followed by some weird noises and more laughing. I come back out to the dining room and find him "sweeping" his mess...

My guess is that while he was mixing, a little "dough" flew, and it was just too funny to not have all of it fly...

If you can see behind him, it reached my dishwasher and wall, which were about 5-6 feet away from him...

That'll teach me never to leave the room to check my e-mail!

A visit with Santa

2010-12-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

At our ward Christmas party...

I've been preparing Connor for Santa for about a month now. I show him pictures... we've learned that Santa says "ho! ho! ho!"... and I've told him what a nice guy he is :) Connor is scared of anything in costume... so I figured he'd be afraid. As soon as he saw him, he got clingy and started crying. But I tried to distract him by asking what Santa says, etc. Of course that didn't work, so I told him that if he sat on Santa's lap, he'd get candy...

For anyone who knows Connor, he LOVES candy. I hide all candy, cookies & sugar from him, or he'd eat it all :)

and as promised, he got his candy...

and then very quickly got off Santa's lap :)

Picking out a Christmas tree

2010-12-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

I love doing comparisons from one year to the next... just to see what a difference a year makes. Here's Connor last year and this year, picking out a Christmas tree...

He went from a baby to a boy. It's crazy to me how much he's growing up!!

And here he is... helping with the lights...

Backyard fun

2010-12-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

Connor's favorite thing to do is play in the backyard. He LOVES turning the hose on and "watering" EVERYTHING in sight. It's been really cold, so I haven't been letting him play with the hose... so I disracted him this day with climbing trees instead :)

I LOVE this one :)

I love his little expression in this one too!

Arizona Trip

2010-12-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

We hadn't been to Arizona to visit Aaron's parents for almost a year, so we decided to take a short trip out there in the beginning of November.

We were trying to pack up the car, and Connor was getting in the way, so I gave him a snack (lasagna) to keep him busy. Then he came out to me looking like this...

I didn't take that many pictures for some reason, but here are a few highlights from our mini vacation...

Trying on Grandma's glasses, and doing some work on the computer...

Connor and Daddy out in the backyard, checking on the chickens...

Connor thinks he's a doggie...

Playing in the "sandbox" at Grandma's...

Playing video games with Uncle Kris...

Watching movies with Grandpa...

Trip to Utah - Nov

2010-12-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

My blog has been acting up lately. For some reason, when I try to load pictures, 95% of the time, there is an error! Luckily it worked this time... and some pictures are out of order, but I don't care... at least they are on here :)

Bethany (my sister) visited me for my first birthday away from home (in PA where I was a nanny). Bethany just had her first birthday away from home... so I REALLY wanted to go and visit her. I was going to fly up there with Connor... but then I talked my mom and other sister, Katie, into driving up with me and staying for a few days! :) We left the day after Thanksgiving, and came home the 1st of December. We had such a fun time. I LOVE going to Utah. Actually, I love any vacation... but it was especially nice being able to see Beth.

For Bethany's birthday, we did lots of fun things...

We went out to breakfast at Denny's...

We visited the Bountiful Temple...

We went to DI for shopping (where I found LOTS of good books!) & Ikea for lunch! (no pictures from there though) :)

Went to see the lights at the SLC Temple...

Went out to dinner at Famous Daves BBQ (Bethany and her non-alcoholic drink on her 21st birthday! lol)

Here are all the things she got...

Some other random stuff from Utah...

Kate & Connor taking a little nap

Connor's first snowfall. Not technically... but he was too young to know what was going on when it's snowed the previous year. He LOVED it, and didn't want to go inside because it was too much fun!

Grammy was TRYING to take a nap. Connor doesn't like when people take naps, lol.

I was worried that Connor would forget Bethany (you should have seen his reaction when she got home from Russsia almost a year ago after being gone 5 months!) but he totally remembered his "Ya-Ya" and stuck to her like glue :)

I was in the shower and he decided to dump his full container of puffs onto the bed, and eat them off without using his hands (how he often eats his food)!

Connor LOVES when I take pictures of him now. He'll do something, find my camera, and then try to bring it to me and tells me "cheese?" That's what he did here... he lined up his cars (which is what Connor enjoys doing 95% of the day) and wanted me to take a picture of it :)

On our way home... our usual stop in Beaver :)

Poor little Connor :(

2010-11-11T23:36:00.000-08:00

Connor's had a bad diaper rash for the past 4-5 days. It just seemed like it was getting worse and worse. Then yesterday, he started to get blisters, more welts, and red spots all over his diaper covered areas. His urine also smelled REALLY really bad, it burned my nose. We're leaving for a 4 day trip to Arizona tomorrow, and I didn't want it to get worse while we were gone, so I decided to take him to Urgent Care this morning.

He was such a good boy at the doctors. He just sat next to me and Aaron in the waiting room the whole time (almost an hour... until the doctor decided to show up). Then he let the nurse take his temperature and stats without a fuss. When she went to weigh him and check his height, he even took her hand and walked with her (that's not normal for him). He was fine with her checking his height (2 ft. 10 in.) but not so okay with weight (29 lbs.). He's got this MAJOR fear of heights/uneven surfaces and he just kept saying "whoa! whoa! whoa!" when we put him onto the scale, and grabbed onto me.

When the doctor came in to look at him, she checked out the rash ("wow that's bad"...really?! I didn't know... lol). Then she was kind of talking to herself and said something like "well... we can't check for infection with a urine sample... because obviously he's not going to pee into a cup..." and I said "well, he might." I think that shocked her a bit, since he's not even 2... but he's usually pretty good about going in the potty at home, so I thought at least we could give it a try. Well, he sat on the potty, and right away said "I want Dada" and refused to pee. Of course I wouldn't give up and let him play in the sink water a little bit, and tried again. Nothing... just "I want Dada"... so then I said "you can have Daddy if you pee" .... he peed :) (smart little stinker!)

Turns out he has a urinary tract infection... poor little guy. I've had those before (many time) and they are no fun!!! So now he's on an antibiotic as well as a diaper cream and powder to help the rash. My only worry was that the last time I had a UTI (last month), they put me on bactrim, which is when I had the VERY bad allergic reaction (that the doctor told me wasn't a reaction)... and my mom, aunt, grandpa and a few others on that side all are allergic to it too. But I figured I'd just keep watch on him and if he seems off, or anything seems wrong, I'd take him back right away and get another medicine. But so far, so good :) He loves his medicine... grape flavor :) He asks for more when I give it to him, lol.

He seemed a tad bit fussier than normal, but he's still his happy little self. My sister watched him today for me so I can get some stuff done in preperation for our trip, and she said he was "an absolute angel!"

WHAT?! he's never an angel for me!!!

Promotion

2010-11-06T01:13:00.001-07:00

After Aaron lost his job about a year ago, he searched for a few months and couldn't find anything. Finally, in Feb. of this year, he got a call from Chick-fil-A (where he had filled out an application and interviewed a month or so before, and at that time, they told him that they just couldn't afford to hire anyone right then). They decided that they could hire on someone else and wanted Aaron to start a few days later! So, he started off as a cashier. We figured it wasn't a great job... but at least it was something to pay the bills!

In the past 9 months, he's moved up from cashier to trainer, to team leader, and now to manager! He's doing so good there, and loves his job and his boss' and fellow employees! He's now at the highest position at his store (besides the owners, of course!). He's the night manager, usually working 2-11pm, which can sometimes be a little rough on me and Connor... BUT we're lucky enough to have him home in the morning, and Connor probably gets to see him more than other kids get to see their dads! So we are very blessed, and VERY proud of Aaron! :)

Aaron's 1st day as a Manager (11.04.10)

Trunk-or-Treat

2010-11-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

We decided this year to celebrate Halloween on Saturday and go to my parents tri-ward Trunk-or-Treat party. That way, we could have LOTS of fun on Saturday, and go to church and then stay home and enjoy a restful Sabbath :)

Our little Cat in the Hat (who I guess turned into the Cookie monster!) :)

Connor's trick-or-treat bag that I made (along with my mom!)

Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2 :)

Connor LOVES his Uncle Nate!

He was making the silliest faces that night

He was having a deep conversation with Dr. Seuss

That night, he learned how to say "Trick or treat" and "thank you" and he said it to EVERY person that had candy! :)

The ONLY piece of candy that Connor had on Halloween... a dum dum sucker :)

(he didn't ask for more... that was enough for him... and the next day, he didn't even remember he had a bag full of candy!)

still smiling after a LONG night, in his jammies and ready to go home and go to bed...

Happy Halloween!

Ten Women, Ten Stories... Ten Lessons For Our Day

2010-11-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

The Relief Society in my parents ward was doing a RS visiting teaching conference, where they wanted to do a play/musical of the parable of the Ten Virgins (CD cover pictured above). They had women try out for the parts, but there weren't as many as they'd hoped, so they brought in some ringers :) Katie and I happened to be a few of them. I was going to try to put up a clip of the song that Katie and I did (we had the only duet in the musical... all the other songs were solos), but I couldn't figure out how to do it :( Anyways... it was lots of fun, and I had such a great experience. There were even ladies from the Stake there, and they decided that they wanted this performed on a Stake level... so we're back into rehearsals and we're doing it again in January :)

top left to right:Stephanie Kennelly, Renee Kalanui, Lisa Hanes, Kay McKnight, Katie Arnott, Donna Lutz

bottom left to right: Emily Montoya, Rylie Prescott, Ashley Dotter, Tianna Prescott, Michelle Rawls

Pumpkin Carving

2010-11-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm a bit of a party pooper, because I was so not into pumpkin carving this year... actually, it's been the past 3 years (3 years ago I was hugely pregnant, last year had a baby who was into everything, & this year... not sure why). But I still got a pumpkin for Aaron since he's TOTALLY into it, and that way Connor could still get the experience :) I also got Connor his very own little pumpkin which he loves... and carried it around everywhere saying "pun-kin"

Here's Connor with his cousin, Chloe :)

"No more pictures, Mom"

Helping Daddy get the guts out of his pumpkin

He looks like he's saying "I have an idea!"

21 Months

2010-10-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

Only 3 more months til our little guy turns TWO! I feel like it was just last month that he was born, and now he's a little boy. He's just the most amazing little person in our life! He's such a sweet little boy, and he's so kind and always thinks of others. I'd say that he's going through the "terrible twos"... but he's really not terrible. He has his moments where I feel that all day he's crying/screaming and getting into trouble, but 90% of the time, he's a joy to be around. He's got the funniest little personality, and now that he's talking, he's even funnier.

He's been talking SOOO much lately, and now he's even saying sentences. The ones I hear the most often are "I want more" and "Can I go outside?" He just learned today "please." We have been trying for the past year to get him to say please, but he just wouldn't/couldn't say it. He had his own way of saying it though. When we'd tell him to say please, he'd rub you and say "nice" (like we have him do with the dogs)... so he sorta understood the concept, but just couldn't say it. Tonight we were at a Halloween party and I had some smarties, and he wanted one, so I said "can you say please?" (which is what I probably tell him 20+ times a day) and he said "please" so clearly. Aaron and I started laughing and were shocked. Then we gave him a candy and he said "thank you" which he NEVER says either. Then he said "please" and "thank you" another 10 or so times while eating the smarties, lol

His favorite thing to do is the same thing that he's ALWAYS loved doing. Going outside! He would live outside if I let him. When he wakes up in the morning he wakes up his daddy, and says "Dakota outside?" (Dakota's our dog)

When we first got Dakota a month or so ago, we were having a LOT of trouble. Connor absolutely adores her, but he thinks that it's VERY funny when Dakota runs around the living room, jumping on the furniture, etc. So once he threw something at her, and she dodged it... and he started laughing (because he thought they were playing) and kept doing it. But of course the dog didn't appreciate the "play time" and they were getting into fights (to say the least). Also... Connor has softies (which are his little blanket things with stuffed animal heads) and Dakota has decided that they are her chew toys, and will run up to him and rip them out of his hands... which of course sets him off into major tears. So... we've had a few challenges, but we're working through them and hoping for the best!

Connor's had a pacifier(s) since he was born, and he's always liked it, but he's never seemed majorly attached. But recently (within the past few months) he's decided that he always needs his paci and his softies with him. I figured that when he turns two, we'll make it a rule that he can only have it when he's taking a nap or going to bed... then get rid of the paci at 2 1/2 or 3 years. So currently, I constantly hear "pa-pa?" and "sa-sas?" ("paci" and "softies" if you can't figure out Connor-language) coming from him... with tears if we can't find them in seconds. He also thinks that he needs more than one. If I give him one... he says "more?" over and over, until we find more. Usually it takes three until he gives up when I say no! Oh, and sometimes he thinks he needs all three in his mouth at the same time, lol...

He's finally starting to enjoy nursery.. and he only cries for 5-10 minutes when I drop him off now :) And I know he's actually listening and participating, because the other day we were in the car, and he suddenly started singing... and then I hear "pop pop pop" as he does the motions to "Popcorn Popping" (and LDS kids song). I have never sang him that song, so I knew he learned it in nursery. Then he started doing some motions from "Do As I'm Doing." So now all I hear is "pa-corn...pa-corn...pa-corn" with some other words that make no sense, lol. I tried to get it on video... but he thinks that when I pull out the video camera, that means it's time to grab it!

Connor's all of a sudden decided that he loves hats.

He went through a stage where he wouldn't put a thing on his head, but now he's perfectly fine with certain hats. It's not all hats... he's very picky on which ones he'll allow on his head! He's being Cat in the Hat for Halloween, and I was worried that he'd refuse to wear the hat, because it's not quite like a normal hat. But he watched my mom make it, and then we tried on the costume and he said "my hat?" and wanted it on his head. And now he wants it on all the time, and doesn't want to take it off!

He's a great sleeper lately (knock on wood!). He usually takes about an hour and a half nap around 1pm or so, and then he goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and sleeps til anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30am. We used to have a little nightly routine where we'd get jammies on, brush teeth, go into his room and read a few books, say our prayers, rock and sing a few songs, and then he'd go to bed, usually fussing for about 5 minutes before giving up and going to sleep. Well, now he's decided that he just wants to go straight to bed. I'll get his jammies on and brush his teeth, and walk into his room and go to sit in the rocking chair and he says "bed" and points to his bed. So I lay him in his bed, say prayers, and walk out of the room as he says "bye... bye... bye... bye... bye" literally 5 times, even after I leave his room, lol. He does this at nap time AND bedtime. But of course this is ONLY at home... so nap time is a bit difficult when we're at my moms or sisters, or at church (we sadly have 12:30-3:30pm church).

He LOVES music, but sometimes he's VERY picky on what he wants to listen to. I'll be listening to a CD or the radio in the car and if something comes on that he doesn't like, he'll say "a different one." Normally I just ignore him and listen to what I want... but sometimes he can be very persistent! lol

Connor LOVES cars, trains, trucks, planes, etc... anything that moves! I'm thinking about getting rid of all the toys in the house (putting them into storage) because they are never played with anymore. ALL he wants to do is push around his cars and such. When he was born, we had his bedroom a cute jungle theme... but it's VERY babyish, and so we decided to go with someone else now that he's a big boy in a toddler bed. I searched and searched but couldn't decide what to do. I was thinking about doing a monkey theme because that's what we call him, but couldn't find anything that I liked. So I started thinking about a transportation type theme... and there were a lot of sets out there, but not a lot for toddler beds. But my mom and I finally found a set that I LOVE... but it's a crib set, so we basically bought different pieces of the set from different places (Target, craigslist & ebay) and we're creating our own bedding :) We're going to be working on it in the next couple of weeks, and I'm sooo excited! :) We're almost done painting his room too. There's a middle divider thing, and we did the top the light lime green color, and the bottom the darker/navy blue color. And then we're painting the middle grey, with yellow lines (to make it look like a road going around his room. I'll post pictures when I've finished :) But here's what the set looks like...

Connor LOVES helping me and Aaron. He helps put the laundry into the washer, and then from the washer to the dryer... he helps put away groceries and stacks cans... and he loves to sweep and vacuum. The other day, he had a bowl of cheerios (just the cereal, not the milk) and he spilled the whole bowl on the floor and then grabbed his toy vacuum and started vacuuming them up while giggling and saying "vacuum... vacuum... vacuum." How can you get mad at a kid who's cleaning?! lol

We're kind of at a standstill with potty training. He's still great when he's naked... but the moment he puts underwear on, he pees in them. I'm not sure what to do to fix that issue. And it's been so hot, he's just been running around the house naked, so he was basically 100% naked potty trained (at home, of course, lol)... but it's winter now, and colder... so naked isn't really working anymore. Plus we kinda can't go out of the house naked either ;)

Connor is VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY afraid of heights. This is something very new too! But any time I set him on something he starts saying "whoa! whoa! whoa! whoa!" over and over and starts shaking and crying and grabbing onto me until I take him down. But now it's gone so overboard that he's not only heights... it's when he's on anything. My bed, the pew at church, the back seat of the car, the couch... and even last week, I laid him on the FLOOR to change his diaper, and he started saying "whoa... whoa... whoa..." and I just started laughing.... but I think now it's just habit or something.

Connor loves his Daddy! Aaron works from 2-10:30pm... so he's here when Connor goes down for a nap. But when he wakes up, he's gone. And he'll ask for him over and over, and sometimes cry because he's not here. He'll always say "where Daddy go?" and I say "he's at work." So now Connor will randomly repeat "Daddy go? at work... Daddy go? at work... Daddy go? at work..."

I don't know if it's a boy thing or what... but Connor does NOT voluntarily give kisses/hugs. The only way we get them is by bribing him, lol. ("you can have some yogurt if you give mommy a kiss first" hehe) I know that sounds bad, but if I don't bribe him, I'd never get a kiss!! My mom said that she had to do the same thing with my brother, but all of us girls would give her kisses whenever she asked... so maybe it is a boy/girl thing?

Well, I can't think of anything else. I'm sure I'll think of something I wanted to write down as soon as I publish this post... it always happens that way.

Some of Connor's Favorites:

Favorite Foods: yogurt, applesauce, meatloaf, cheese and any & all fruit

Favorite Book: Miss Mary Mack & First 100 Words

Favorite Color: Pink

Favorite Song to Sing: "Popcorn Popping"

Favorite Drink: Milk

Favorite Store to Shop at: any shoe store... he LOVES shoes!
(he's not too fond of Walmart.. I think it's because we're there all the time!)

Favorite TV Show: Backyardigans (still!) and he's started to watch Sesame Street a little bit again

Favorite Song to Listen to: Bye Bye Love by the Backstreet Boys
(he likes songs with a beat... he'll usually ask for a different song when it's slow and boring)

Our Little Pumpkin

2010-10-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

I took pictures of my niece for her 6 month session at the pumpkin patch, and it was such a cute little place that I went back that same afternoon with Connor to do a little shoot. Luckily he was in a GREAT mood and had a blast playing with all the pumpkins and climbing on the chairs, hay stacks, etc. First, before showing all the pictures I took... I did a little comparison from last year when we went to the pumpkin patch...

I can not believe how different he is only 1 year later. It really is amazing how much kids change in the first years of their life!

He thought it was the funniest and most exciting thing in the world to line up the pumpkins, sit on them, and fall over...