Art Show

Braden has an incredible desire to be famous. A year ago one of his friends was in the paper and all he could talk about was what he had to do to get himself in the paper. Luckily, he was put in the paper later that year when he had his picture taken at the preschool bike rodeo. Then, this year he tried out for the Missoula Childrens' Theater very excited to be on stage. Sadly, he did not get a part this year. Then this month we got a note home that he was chosen to have his art showcased in a community art show in town. He was thrilled. He made sure we all could make it. He said one of his friends had his art chosen also and he couldn't go "can you even believe he isn't going" he said. Then, he rushed us along to get there because he was certain he would be needed on stage.  I love that he has this desire to be famous. One day hopefully he'll be a big star and take his mom and dad on a cool trip!

When we told Conner that we were going to the art show Conner exclaims excitedly "An art show? I LOVE art shows! Well, I don't know what an art show is but I do love art!" So easily excited.....and as it turned out. Conner's preschool had submitted his watercolor as well. What great artists!

Games with Dad

Jeff was playing cash register with Conner the other day (one of Conner's favorite games) and was buying many things from Conner's store. After Jeff would pay he was trying to get Conner to figure out how much change he should really get back. Dad decided it would be a good learning game. After a few rounds of this Conner says firmly "Dad, please sit down. You will get what I give you." in response to Jeff trying to tell Conner that he should only get $1 back from $5 instead of $24.

Legos

Tonight the four of us were playing Legos in the living room with some of Jeff's legos from his childhood. Jeff noticed on the bottom of some of the lego guys it had the date 1974 printed on it. I told Braden that was when I was born. He said "Wow, was that when dinosaurs were alive?". The sad thing was, he was quite serious.

Big Reader

Ever since Conner has started preschool (in September) he has decided he is going to be a reader like his brother. He "reads" books to us all the time and I love it. He follows the words with his fingers and tells us some great stories. Today while we were exercising in the workout room Conner was "lifting weights" on his favorite of daddy's machines. He decided to "read" the words on the machine to me. This is what is says on our workout machines "Exercising is good for you. Even grown ups can do it because it is so good for you." He then looked up at me with such a proud face. What a sweet boy....

Grown ups

Braden has always been so anxious to "grow up". He's always talking to Jeff and I about when he can get a car and move out. You'd almost think he didn't like us but I think he is just a natural born independent. The other day he was talking to me about when he would be a grown up at 26 or 28 (normally he uses the 18 age that he got from someone). Conner heard this and was talking to us about then he could be a dad. We said that we hope he does become a dad someday. Conner then replied "Yes, then we'll all be so big we'll need to live in a castle". I can't wait until we get to move to that castle....

What do people do all day?

While Jeff was reading the book "What do people do all day?" with Conner ( a book about people's jobs), Jeff asked Conner what mom and dad did for jobs. Conner said mom goes running and dad goes fishing. Our jobs must seem cool to him......

A new bed finally.....

We finally (yes, finally) got Conner a big boy bed. He has been happily sleeping in his cribby until now. Last winter we bought him a really cool car toddler bed and he wanted nothing to do with it. Jeff and I figured if he was happy in his crib we didn't care if he still slept in it. This summer I was talking with him and asked him if he wanted a bed and he decided he did. However, I needed dad for this and unfortunately dad has been very busy building our beautiful new addition. This week we finally had a free afternoon and we went to the furniture store to let Conner pick out his bed. The sales lady talked to Conner and asked him if he was excited to get a new bed. He said yes and then continued to tell the lady how his crib is so uncomfortable and he hardly fit in it (this is not true of course) but he put on a good story for the sales lady. We looked like champ parents that day! Anyway, Conner got his new bed and picked out cool Cars bedding for it. I'm a little sad that we are now a crib free household.......Where did my babies go?

Two Wheels

We have been meaning to teach Braden to ride a bike without training wheels all summer. However, we do not have any good places to ride bikes right by our house besides our driveway. Luckily, our driveway is super long and good for scooters and bikes with training wheels but not ideal for teaching balance since it is all sloped. Our streets are horribly graveled and would rip a kid to shreds if they were to fall. Finally, this week we decided it was time. We put on the helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads, and headed off to the school playground up the street. I was expecting a lot of falls along the way but Braden picked it up after about 3 tries. Jeff held him up while he tried the first few times and then he was off and riding! He loves it and was so proud that he learned so quickly. He got a little cocky the second day of riding and was ripping around and riding with one hand. Then, he fell. He didn't get hurt but I'm hoping it was a good lesson early on to be a little more careful. A mom can hope anyway........

The beach

Our summer has been a fun never ending string of playdates at the various parks and beaches around Skagit County. This last week we had the pleasure of meeting our buddies at Washington Park which is a great park that has both a beach and a playground. Conner excitedly called me over to him on the beach and showed me a tiny little bug he had found. He was so pleased with himself. I said"Oh nice, you found a bug" Conner, "Yes, I love him. Do you want to hold him?" Mom, "Um no, I don't like bugs very much" Conner, "Why? He's so nice.". I love that he is so kind to the insects. I just hope he doesn't start bringing them indoors.

Llama Llama

Conner really loves the books Llama Llama mad at mama and Llama Llama red pajama. We read them almost every day right now. My favorite part is he calls them Llama Llama mad at mama and Llama Llama has some jammies. Even though we read the title every day that is always what it goes back to.

Good things about being a boy

My boys HATE getting their fingernails cut. I mean hate it.... So I just got back from a 5 day trip without them and of course their fingernails are now ridiculously long. This morning as I was having my morning cuddle time with Braden on the couch I told him that I needed to cut his fingernails. He grabs my hands and states that mine are long too. I told him (once again) that girls can have long nails but boys do not. Braden says "Well, when boys get hot they can take their shirts off and girls can't so I guess there is one good thing for both of us". Well, he's got me there.....

sweet boy

Tonight when I was putting Conner to bed he leaned up to give me a hug and a kiss and he said "Mom hugs are always attached to kisses, right?" "They are supposed to be together." He is such a sweet boy. Even if you can't tell from this picture, he really does love his mama (just like llama, llama).

Seattle Vacation

This week we decided to take a mini-vacation down to Seattle. The kids were so excited to stay in a hotel and Braden had been counting down for about a week. We stayed at Lake Union and they had a pool that was shallow enough they could both touch the bottom which made swimming a lot of fun for them. Braden can swim pretty good now and Conner is getting pretty comfortable in the water also.

Monday morning we went down to the Woodland Park Zoo with Aunt Julie and the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Thomas. We spent most of the day at the zoo. The highlights were the dancing elephant (you can see in the picture how his foot is picked up a little). He was crossing his feet in front of him in a dancing motion and bobbing his head in the same pattern over and over again. We also saw a bear doing a similar thing with his head. The kids (and Jeff) thought it was very funny. Another highlight was the otters and the penguins. Everyone had a great time. Then we went back to the hotel to swim and out to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. The next day we went to Gameworks and played video games for 1 1/2 hours (Braden was in heaven). Then lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Afterwards we went to a place in Bellevue called Sky High Sports. It is a giant building filled with trampolines. They jumped and jumped and jumped. Braden's favorite spot was the trampolines that you could jump into a large foam pit and Conner liked to race in the 8 and under area. Dad liked to jump high and far. He was the sweatiest one at the end. Then we got ice cream cones on the way home. It was a great mini vacation.

Last Day

This year marked the end of several things for my kids. Braden had his last day in Pre-K and will be moving on to be a Kindergarten next year at his daddy's school. He is very excited for the change and couldn't get older fast enough. According to Braden, he is already pretty much a grown up. He is so independent and would like to do everything himself. His first day of Pre-K this year all the parents were asked to attend and introduce the school to the kids. As I sat down in the classroom, Braden looked up at me and asked me why I was still there? I told him that all the parents were supposed to stay and he looked around to make sure I was telling him the truth. Then as the year progressed he kept asking to do more and more by himself. His grandparents take him to school during the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I drop him down at Grandma and Grandpa Thomas' house. I started off walking him in and saying goodbye. Then, I was asked (by Braden) if I would stay in the car and let him go in the house by himself. I agreed and waited in the car each day until I saw Grandpa wave at me. Then after a few weeks of this he got out of the car and told me to drive off before he went inside. This is where I drew the line. I told him I would not leave before I knew Grandpa was there. Geez....he's growing up quickly!

This June also marked the end of a very important person in our lives. Sandy, our daycare provider, left her position as a daycare. Last week was the last day and I cried my eyes out on that last day. We have been going there since Braden was 8 months old. Braden, the independent child, seems totally fine with the idea of not seeing Sandy any more. He is ready to start Kindergarten and move on. Conner, however, is a little sad. He loves Sandy like a grandma. Luckily, he is starting an am Pre-K program next fall so he would not need as much daycare anyway. We hope our new provider, Miss Andrea, will be just as wonderful as Sandy.

t-ball

Braden played his first year of t-ball this year. Jeff and I ended up helping coach the team and this worked out well for Conner. He decided a few practices into the season that he wanted to play. Since both Jeff and I were helping coach, Conner was allowed to play just like all the other kids at all the practices (we had one practice and one game a week). He was very good about understanding he couldn't play during the games (you have to be 5 to play t-ball legally). He even got his own jersey at the end of the season.

Braden really enjoyed t-ball at first. He loves playing "pitcher" and first base because that is where all the action is. Most balls are only hit between these two positions in our league. He was all over fielding those balls and he has a pretty good arm. His batting on the tee could use some work but he is a lot better about hitting a pitched ball. We think we will try putting him in coach pitch next year. He enjoyed the season but it was a long 2+ months. By the end he would tell me that he was glad we got rained out because he needed to rest his arm. He would say he still enjoyed the game but his arm needed rest. He still loves sports and we are interested to see which ones he will decide are his favorites once he is in school sports and has to make some decisions. Hopefully his sports enthusiasm will stay with him until then!

Row, Row, Row your boat

Conner was singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat and trying to think of the right words. This is what he came up with:

row, row, row your boat
carefully down the lake
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
it's a piece of cake...

Hey it made sense and it rhymed. I think I like it. I also like the replaced gently with carefully....

Language

I think Braden has started to tell me in his own way that it is time to start correcting Conner's language and speech. I will tell you there is a lot of things about motherhood I never expected until I had these little munchkins. One thing is that I am almost heartbroken every time we pass a stage that I loved. It has been harder for me with Conner since I don't have another baby to fill that stage in another year or two. One last thread of baby we are hanging on to is the cute things he says. I know I only have a little while longer before he just sounds like a regular grown boy (and yes that makes me sad). He still says some things like the word them instead of they "Where them going? or What are them doing?" Wrong but I love it. He also says some words incorrectly like buffalo is pronounced fuffalo to him. He can probably say the word buffalo just fine but he thinks the word is fuffalo. The other day we were talking about the buffalo and Braden piped in that we were not saying the word correctly. Apparently we were irritating him. I guess I will have to let Braden tell him the correct words but until then I will enjoy the cute words.

Commercialism

Braden sporting the scared ninja look with the birthday present ribbon....

Braden is so funny about things he sees in commercials. We really do not let him watch much TV and he is only allowed Nick or Disney Channel. However, he always pulls these products from commercials out of his pocket of knowledge and tells us we need to buy them for various reasons. A while back it was a conversation about why we couldn't buy just anything we want all the time because it costs too much money. Braden quickly comes back with "Yes, we can't even afford to buy a Sunsetter retractable awning with a $200 certificate". A conversation was then had about what he was watching on TV. Then one night when we were brushing out teeth he informed us that we needed to buy one of those no touch toothpaste dispensers to help with our toothpaste needs. My favorite though was tonight. Braden was in his spring concert for preschool. On the way home it was just Braden and myself because Conner rode home with dad. I was telling Braden how proud I was of him and what a good job he did at singing. I told him how much I loved him. He asked me if I loved Conner more than him. I said no, I love you both the same. Since he didn't seem convinced for some reason, I told him that I even loved him first because he was my first baby and I loved him and Conner more than anything in the world. He then responds by telling me the following: "Yeah, I knew that even when I was a baby and couldn't talk. You know mom, you should have bought me that thing that helps babies to talk and read (I think he was referring to Your Baby Can Read DVDs) because then I could have told you how much I loved you too even before I could talk. It was so sweet and yet so funny at the same time. What did I do before them?

Funny words from cute boys....

Conner was playing trains with me last night and he took my train and said "uh oh mom, your train just chooched away." He must have decided he really liked his new word chooched because he kept using it again and again. "Look at how them go mom, watch them chooch." Oh yes, also he never uses the word they, he uses them like to say "What are them doing?". He has other funny grammar issues still too like saying "Mom, where you are?" Could I correct him and teach him the correct way to say it? Yes. But am I desperately trying to hold onto to his babyhood with his cute language? Yes. Don't judge me too quickly. I teach him many things: he can count to 100, he knows all his letters and there sounds, he can spell his name and his brothers name. But for some reason, I can't bring myself to correct his grammar. I just love it too much.

Braden really wants to go see Iron Man. It is PG 13 so I was fairly certain this would be inappropriate for a 5 year old. Jeff and I went to the movie and I told him we would see if it was ok for him to watch. Afterwards when I told him it was not appropriate for kids I was shocked that he didn't try to argue. He just said "Ok, mom, does it have lots of stupid words in it?" (Stupid is a word that both of my boys have declared to be a REALLY bad word.) I love to see their minds work. The only bad thing that could possibly be in a movie is the word stupid.

I love you mommy

Conner has developed this very sweet (and very smart) new habit. Everytime he thinks he is in any trouble (louder voice from mom, drops something and makes a mess, brother telling on him....) he will immediately come up to me and say "I love you mommy". I know exactly what is going on but I have to admit I like it. Pretty cute.....

Children's Museum

Last week was Spring break for mom and Braden so we decided to take a trip to the Children's Museum in Everett. We love it there and wish we lived closer. It was very rainy that day so unfortunately we didn't get to visit the rooftop but we still had a lot of fun! Some highlights were the water room which both boys loved. Braden managed to stay pretty dry but Conner was super wet! Conner also really loved the farm. He stayed in there and milked the cow and organized the milk bottles for probably an hour. (He really loves to organize. He is not like his mother.) Then all 4 boys played in the theater for quite a while. Ryan and Braden liked to run the stage lights and sell tickets. Conner was the show singing the ABC song and also enjoyed selling tickets. It was a great day.

Tulips 2010

I love living so close to the tulips. They are so beautiful and I enjoy driving by them everyday (well everyday that I don't have to fight the tulip traffic). I try to get some family pictures each year in front of the tulips which is always a bit of a challenge to get everyone looking at the same time. This year we went on a particularly sunny day and the boys were wearing their sunglasses in the car. I told them they couldn't wear them in the pictures because I like to get close ups of them in the flowers and I wanted to see their beautiful eyes. Jeff, hearing this, took his off too. I didn't realize this until I saw his poor squinty face in all the pictures. His light blue eyes are very sensitive to the sunlight. When I asked him why he didn't wear his glasses he said well you said we weren't supposed to wear them. Oh well, we got a couple of good ones. Tulips make a beautiful background.

Easter

We had three great days of Easter celebrating this year. Friday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Thomas' for Easter egg dying with the cousins. That was a fun and messy activity.

Then we had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday with Grandma, Papa and cousins Sammie, Zach and Toby. Both boys were pretty excited about the hunt this year and scored many eggs. Braden was very quick this year and was willing to pick up pink eggs. Last year he didn't get many eggs because he would touch any pink eggs (too girly I guess). But he was in it for the loot this year. Conner was also quicker this year but halfway through he asked to stop because he was cold. We went in to get his coat and he says"Um, mommy, I think I'm done." Since he doesn't like chocolate at all I guess chocolate filled eggs aren't a big deal. We filled a few eggs with Starburst and gummies (one of only a few candies he likes). However, he still wasn't too interested.

Then Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas and cousins on Sunday. Poor Conner had a horrible allergy attack this day and looked like he had been beaten. Braden had fallen on his head on the concrete earlier that day and had a big scratch on his head. Needless to say, this was not a day where we were looking for family photos. Conner and Braden both got lots of eggs and enjoyed playing with all the cousins. It was a great weekend with family.

Lost Tooth!

Braden lost his first tooth today. It has been loose for some time now and he finally got it out today. His Papa came over and took it right out. He was so happy and it didn't hurt at all according to him. I'm not sure if we will have any other ones so soon. The dentist told us after his last X-Ray that this tooth didn't have a very long root so it would fall out soon. Sure enough, out it came! Now, let's see if the Tooth Fairy will be successful tonight without waking him up....I also love that Conner was happy for his brother but asked very quietly "The tooth fairy isn't going to come into my room is he?"

Sicko

The blog has been neglected because our family has been drowning in sickness. Ok, not the whole family, just Conner who has pneumonia. It seems like the whole family, as we have all been so stressed out. Conner had a high fever from pneumonia for 12 days. We took him into the ER last Sunday when he woke up with a 105.5 fever in the middle of the night. The diagnosed him with pneumonia and gave us antibiotics. Two days later he still had not improved at all, but actually gotten worse. We took him back in and they did another chest x-ray and discovered the pneumonia had gotten worse and now had taken over a lot of his left lung and he was having difficulty breathing. He was so sick that he didn't want to do anything but lay on our laps. He couldn't even get himself to watch cartoons. He complained that his back hurt all the time. He also said each day "I not feeling so good." The sweetest thing was that all day long as he was sitting with me he would tell me how much he loved me. "Mommy?" "I love you" "I love you a whole lot". He would say this to me over and over. He even said it in the car on the way to the ER. What a sweet boy I have. He is finally starting to recover and we are all breathing a sigh of relief.

Swimming Lessons

The boys have started their first swimming lessons (with the exception of Aqua Babies when Braden was about 6 months old). I knew Braden would love swimming but I was a little nervous about Conner liking them because when we went to Chelan this summer he wouldn't go in the pool unless I was completely hugging him and he would only let mom hold him and not even dad. However, after a couple trips to the Great Wolf Lodge, Conner seems to have warmed up to the idea of swimming. He went right into the pool without hesitation.

Both boys are enjoying the lessons quite a bit. They aren't swimming by themselves yet but they will both go out by themselves with a noodle and they are learning a lot about water safety. There are about 6-8 kids in the class and there are two teachers and one "helper". They are excited each day to go into the pool and our friends Ryan and Jack are in the lessons with us so that makes it even more fun!

Conner's 3rd birthday

Conner had his 1st friend birthday party this year at Jungle Playland. We decided to invite just a few friends and go to Jungle Playland. This is one of Conner's favorite places. He was really looking forward to his birthday and kept counting down the days until his party. It was very lowkey and it was just perfect for him. He felt very special having people sing to him and open a few presents. He also really enjoyed running around for a few hours with his buddies. We go to Jungle Playland a lot and this was the first time he was able to climb up all the levels on his own. Normally mom or dad has to climb up and help him up because there is quite a jump between some of the levels. This time he had his big brother drag him up a few times and then he decided he was going to keep up with all the other kids and just figured out a way to drag himself with all of his might. Yippee! We are looking forward to future visits where we don't have to assist so much in the climbing.

Hey, look at my cool fork.....

This is Conner and his best friend Rylan hugging in the ball pit. They go to daycare together and they run up and hug each other all the time.
Jack helping Conner blow out his candles on his monster truck cake that he didn't eat any of. I might have the only kid who doesn't like chocolate or dessert of any kind......(except Starburst and Airheads) I guess I should have made a cake out of Starburst...

Potty Training

We finally got Conner potty trained the week before Christmas. Conner is a child that does not enjoy change. He was happy in his diapers and wanted nothing to do with the potty. We decided just to wait until Christmas break to do it when we would be home from school and could work on it all day. We gave him a lot of notice and told him that there would be no more diapers. It took a few days ( I think mostly due to the fact that he was sick) but we had told him we were starting Monday so we were starting sickness or not. He never had an accident but for the first few days we would spend an hour or so on the potty sometimes before we would get any pee pee. Finally, Christmas Eve he sat down, went right away, looked at me and said "That's not hard at all!". Then, he was completely trained. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge right after that and even with a 3 hour car ride we did not have any accidents. (We put the little potty in the back of the SUV and away we went!) Yeah Conner!