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.