Connor's Christmas Program!

 
  Oh, no big deal. I'm just the mother of the most adorable reindeer of all time!

   Connor had his very first school program last Friday. It was a proud moment for me! I beamed and giggled like an idiot, I'm sure. They sang lots of songs, and played a few with bells. Connor, of course, wasn't paying attention to his teacher and slowed the song down by taking forever to ring his bell on cue! But he made it up later. One cute little boy, Dax, (our neighbor and Connor's best friend in the class) loudly asked after the end of one song, "What did we play, Miss Nancy?" When she whispered to him Jingle Bells, he proclaimed, "WOW!!!" Connor responded just as loudly, "You did a GREAT job!" The two of them got lots of laughs together.
   
     About halfway through the program, Connor's little reindeer headpiece started falling off. The poor kid (and Miss Nancy) struggled with that for the rest of the concert. But he was a trooper! Sorry Connor. It's your dad's fault that you have such a large head and nothing fits properly....

                   Proud parents, in our fun-size chairs.

                          
        Connor in the center with the festive red pants. Dax is on the far right.

                  Not a fantastic picture, but shows his droopy antlers.

     

 

 

 

Lounging

   Since Thanksgiving, I've been pretty lazy. It's wierd to wake up and not go through a to-do list in my head! And it's been really nice to relax a little. It's turned cold now, and we've had a little snow. We've spent a lot of time inside being cozy together. We did venture out the other day as a family. We took the boys to the new Scheel's store a few miles away. They have a big fish tank that you walk under upon entrance. And a ferris wheel. (Or as Max calls it, the Furnace Wheel) Connor was thrilled to ride it, but once Max got a good look at it he chickened out! So Connor took Max's token and got to ride twice!

 

They played Buck Hunter, and there was a big corner with target shooting and characters that would dance and sing when you hit their target. Once again, Max was scared. But Connor loved it, and to our dismay announced to nearly everyone we passed by that we were going to go shoot everyone! No matter how much we tried to correct him, ("TARGETS Connor! We're going to shoot TARGETS!") he continued to be excited about shooting everyone. One stranger commented that he probably wouldn't be getting any presents from Santa this year. Maybe we'll wait a while before bringing him there again.

Maggie has her first two teeth! It's amazing how calm she is all the time. You could hardly tell she was teething for the most part!

 

Tomorrow Connor has his first school program! I'm so excited to see my little man singing with his class! They grow up so fast. I'll be taking LOTS of pictures!

 

From our lazy days:

 

                Max's 'pocket'

         His toy cell phone goes there too.

  Bath time with Baby Leah.

  One of our beautiful, cold days.

 

Today we've opened a new package of building blocks (joy of all joys and squeals of delight), and will spend another day inside, lazy and warm.

Pictures!

   I wanted to post some of our family photos that our friend Darla took. She did an amazing job! If you know my boys' energy and ultra-high distraction rate, then you know that's really saying something! If you want to see more of her work, here's a link to her website: http://www.rozephotography.com/

 

Lonely

Well, we made it. We got everything (at least the important things) ready in time for my whole family to stay here for Thanksgiving. It was a great weekend! My sister and I only fought once. The dinner turned out perfect. We played games and enjoyed each other's company. As much as siblings can, anyway... But now the house is too quiet and my kids and I are lonely. It went too fast. Now I can't wait til next summer when Joce has her baby and we get to road trip ourselves back to MN!!
   I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with my camera, but I managed to get a few pictures.
                                       
                                                Maggie checking out her cousin Alaina.

 

Sweet lil Leah.

                                         
                                        Tony decided to destroy my house soon after arrival.

 

Uncle Keith, juggling the girls.

                                              
                                                                    Half of the group!

                                      
                                                    And the other half.

                                               Leah and Cori, visiting the Temple.

                                      Brett, Tony, Fyonna, and the LDS Temple downtown.

    Joce and Mags. Joce was the only one who could get her to calm down that night. (She's teething.)

                                        The wee ones being entertained by Mickey Mouse.

                                            Max and his Uncle Seth.

 

My mom's birthday was on the 10th. The boys and I made her a cake.

 

 They did all the decorating! It was beautiful.

 

We blew up the balloons so she could have a party waiting for her as soon as she walked through the door! (Connor made sure they were all RIGHT THERE!)

 

And there was dancing.

 

 

 

Happy Halloween?

    Halloween played a nasty trick on Connor this year by giving him tonsilliths. Tonsil stones. Yeah, sounds pretty nasty. And it is pretty nasty! It's like tonsilitis. Sore throat, coughing, sinus infection. He's been sick on and off for a month. He'd get a little break here and there, so I thought he just kept catching colds!! Poor little man. So he's on medication now. I wasn't sure if I should send him to school today or not, but school won out. It's Halloween! Everybody got to dress up and bring candy to school! I couldn't make him miss out on that. But I wish I had, because I got a call from them saying that he had been crying non-stop for 20 minutes and I needed to come get him. :( He's happy to be home now. He doesn't do well with change, and being dressed up and not doing normal 'school' things must have thrown him a little too far out of his comfort zone... Hopefully trick-or-treating tonight isn't a disaster!
   In the meantime, we enjoyed a little snow last week. Today is a record high of 75 degrees... Last night we carved pumpkins.

 

A few days ago I gave the boys an oceanic experience. I found a blog with lots of fun ideas for messy play! It was so fun! ...for me.

 

 

 I thought it was so cool! But the boys, while they loved the colored water and the fish, were not happy about the seaweed! (dyed noodles) Honestly, I never realized until recently how neat-freaky my boys are! They despise being dirty! Max avoided any noodles at all costs. Connor got a little better with time. By the end of the bath, he'd managed to stick half of the noodles to the walls.

In between the ocean bath and the REAL bath they had the best time! While I was busy cleaning up the noodles and refilling the tub, they were busy playing naked robot. Max found a plastic bucket to put on his head and chased Connor all around the house. All I could hear were squeals and laughter, and managed to get a couple of great photos!!

 

We had our pictures taken Saturday, so family members.. keep an eye on your mail in a few weeks!

And now, turn up your volume. We have a growler in the family. (Sorry it's sideways.)

 

Maggie

She's four months old! She's talking all the time, and is reaching up to grab things. Usually my chin. I've gotten a few tiny giggles out of her, but I'm anxious for a good laugh!

 

She's getting chunkier every day. And her smiles just keep getting bigger! Mostly because she adores me, but c'mon. Who doesn't?

 

It's just occurring to me now that I don't have as many pictures of her as I thought. Better get on that! We are having our family pictures taken two weeks from today. Hopefully the kids are cooperative enough for some good ones!