Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! Not sure if that is a "it is finally friday" or "wow, it is already friday". It has been a crazy week for us. But Connor & I slept in until 8am this morning-that was amazing! We had snow this week & there is still snow on the ground. Yah! So, on Wednessday, I had my doctor appointment and Connor's doctor appointment scheduled.



Well, mine was running late, so I had to move Connor's to Thursday. My appointment was quick & easy, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which is always great to hear. But we sat in the waiting room for over an hour and a half...at least we were the only ones there the entire time-I guess no one else wanted to go out in the snow. But we got a special treat afterwards-Olive Garden, again! I know, we are spoiled, poor Chris never gets any of the good stuff.



So, then yesterday, we went to Connor's doctor and he weighs 27 lbs, 11 oz. , he is 34 3/4 inches tall and he above the 50% tile in all areas of growth, so that is great! Although, he is still not talking, we will be working more on that. He did get 2 shots, which is still harder for me than him. He did better getting the shots than getting weighed, he doesn't like to be paraded around the doctors office in just his underwear, I think he feels "exposed". The doctor says this is normal 2 year old behavior & this is why he only schedules 2 two-year visits a day, that is all he can handle, LOL. Good point! But he was okay with us waiting or not getting a few of the other vaccines and holding off on baby's vaccines as well.



But it made me realize how much I LOVE all of our doctors here. We have found a great peditrician, my OB is wonderful, our primary care doctor is great too, our eye doctor is not bad either, and our dentist is great! So, we couldn't be happier with all of them, which is pretty amazing for the terrible doctors we have had in the past!

Read more...

Sew Sew Crazy...

Well, atleast I can admit that I am crazy or atleast close to losing my mind...but with a toddler, being 7.5 months pregnant, a husband who works a lot, and so many different projects going on at once, I feel I am entitled to be a little crazy! So, I have opened up a shop to sell a few things on etsy (if you haven't heard of it, it is a really cool website designated for homeade, crafted items). Very cool! So, I have a couple of the cute little tag ribbon blankies and burp cloths on there, check it out at http://sewsewcrazy.etsy.com/ Please feel free to pass the website along :)

This was my latest crafty project...bean bag fish. I made them using colored felt and stuffed them with dried rice. Connor LOVES them. He loves to take them in and out of his bucket, toss them, and balance them on his head. What entertainment! And they are a great way for him to learn colors.

Read more...

Snow! Snow! Snow!

We finally have some snow. It isn't much, but I will take what we can get. There might be a couple of inches now, but that may be a little generous. Connor & I went out and played in it this afternoon. Although it took us about half an hour just to get all bundled up to go outside, it was well worth it. He had so much fun, I thought he would hate it. He just ran around and loved to watch his feet move the snow. He did not want to come inside, but it was cold out and our noses were cold, so we didn't stay out too long. I am SO excited we got snow! And it is still snowing a bit, so hopefully we will have even more by morning. So fun! Although, we have a busy day of doctor visits tomorrow, I still want more snow.

So, Connor has recently started hiding his toys all around the house. He thinks this is pretty entertaining, me on the other hand...I am not so sure. I open the pantry and there are about 5 cars all lined up on the bottom shelf, later I open a drawer and there is an elephant. Then I found a couple of blocks and balls in the cupboard. When I ask him about them, he laughs and thinks it is hilarious...what a crazy kid! I don't know where he gets it from...

Read more...

Lots of Fun!

Connor has been enjoying his bike that hooks up to the tv. He likes to play Thomas and Dinosaurs on it. He even has fun 'helping' change the batteries. His legs aren't quite long enough, so Daddy has to help him pedal a bit.

We had a good weekend. On Saturday we went to the Butterfly House, but weren't expecting it to be 90 degrees and 100% humidity where all the butterflies were, so we were very warm, as it was only about 10 degrees outside. We had fun looking at all the pretty butterflies. Connor also bowled with a coconut (it was real) and knocked over pineapples (they were fake). He also played with remote control bumble bee & ladybug, colored with markers, and played in the sand box. He had fun!

Last Thursday was a very nice day outside, so we had to make the best of our crazy weather & play. Connor had a blast playing with him new bubble mower. Friday it was cold again & today we woke up to snow! We are supposed to get some more snow Monday and Tuesday...cross your fingers for us. I would love to be able to go out and play in it!

Read more...

30 weeks & counting...

Well, I finally hit the 30 week mark, only 10 weeks left to go! However, it may not sound like much time, but it is still 68 days! Yikes, that sounds like a LONG time. My belly has gotten really big in the last couple weeks...I can't imagine it getting much bigger, but I guess it is going to. I have been feeling pretty good, just tired. My body definitely tells me when I need to slow down, which is hard for me. I am starting to get in that uncomfortable stage & my belly is starting to get in the way, I have a much harder time bending over, getting up from the floor, getting out of the bath tub, and getting out of bed. And we still haven't decided on a name for this baby boy yet, so his name remains "baby boy' or "baby brother".

Read more...

Birthday Activities!

So, I was planning on making Connor a birthday tee, I did the same last year, but used the print/iron on-it was really cute. This year, since I have been sewing a lot lately, I decided to sew something onto a shirt. I gave him the option of a train or a monkey. Well, he wanted both, so guess what??? I ended up doing both-what a spoiled little boy! (I wonder where he gets that from). So, he wore the train tee on his birthday & the monkey tee for his party. He really liked them & my plan is to make a tee every year for him to wear on his birthday until he turns 21...we will see how long that lasts! Both tees turned out cute, Chris & I decided they were "Mama Cheesy", that is how we described them. But Connor liked them, so that is all that matters. Also, I made these really cute crayon rolls as little favors (along with a coloring book) for party favors for the kids that came to his birthday party. Connor enjoyed helping & by helping, I mean driving cars all over me & the sewing machine while I sewed them :) And I decorated the cupcakes using my new decorating tools that I got for Christmas-I had lots of fun, it was just time consuming. I have eating more than my fair share of cupcakes that last few days! No wonder I am getting so big lately! I also made 3 colors of play dough (yellow, green and blue). Everyone has asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Super Easy Play Dough

-1 cup flour

-1/2 cup salt

-1 cup water

-1 TBSP vegetable oil

-1 1/2 tsp cream of tarter

-food coloring (optional)

*Mix all ingredients in saucepan over low heat (it doesn't take very long at all). Play dough is ready when difficult to stir and forms a ball. I take it out of the pan, place it on a piece of wax paper, let it cool a bit, then put about 1/2 tsp of vanila (helps preserve it-but optional) and knead it. Once completely cool, place in air tight container.

**The best part about it is that I know what is in it & all the ingredients come straight from my pantry, so it is things that I use daily/weekly-so it is not bad if a little bit gets eaten, no worries!

Read more...

More Birthday Fun!

Some more birthday pictures!

Read more...

Happy Birthday to Connor!

Happy Birthday to Connor! We made it through two days of birthday celebration! Connor had a blast! On Friday (his actual birthday) we woke Connor up early so Daddy could wish him a Happy Birthday before leaving for work & Connor was thrilled to see his balloons and cars we had waiting for him downstairs that morning. Connor & I went to Olive Garden (again without Daddy) for lunch-very yummy! Connor was also excited to wear his 'birthday train tee". He opened up his birthday gifts from family & friends who weren't able to make it to the party-he had a blast with all the fun gifts. He had been waiting so patiently to open all those gifts & he enjoyed all of them. Then today (his party day) he was excited to wear his monkey birthday tee and thrilled to have his friends over to play...all the kids did a great job sharing and playing together-it was amazing! They had fun playing with playdough, playing in the swimming pool of balls, and just playing! Connor loved the cupcakes and was so excited that everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him, he felt very special. He had so much fun opening all the great gifts from our wonderful friends. His two day birthday celebration was lots of fun, but we are all very tired! And we still can't believe he is really TWO!

Read more...

Weekend Fun!

Well, the weekend is over already...it always go by way too quick. Chris ended up going into work for a few hours on Saturday, so we took him to work and ran a few errands. Connor & I had lunch at Olive Garden (YUM) & did some shopping-we had fun. Connor is SO good for me when we go there by ourselves, he even sits on his own side of the booth. He loves the breadsticks. We had a great time, then picked up Chris from work, came home and watched the Cougar basketball game-they won! Saturday night we had a fun dessert of fondue chocolate with some fruit to dip, delicious! Go Cougs! Then we had a baptism to go to today, so we made it to church again, we are doing well :) Then to Applebees for lunch to celebrate the baptism. It was a good time, but we were all tired, so we all took a nap this afternoon, which was great! Then, as a special treat, we went to Coldstone for ice cream, Connor got to choose his own ice cream this time...he picked chocolate with M&M's-what a treat for him. He was loving it! And we enjoyed our ice cream as well :) We were just all about treats this weekend...must be my sweet tooth, at least I have the baby to blame for that!

It is supposed to get cold here this week, Thursday is a high of 13 degrees, but this last Friday, we spent a good part of the day outside playing because it was 62 degrees out! That is what the pictures are from-I had fun playing with the new camera and enjoying the fresh air. So, that was a treat! And this week, we are getting ready for Connor's birthday-he will be 2 on Friday! How quickly these 2 years have flown by!

Read more...

Some Creativity!

Finally all those creative juices produced something...3 things in fact! I have made 2 little ribbon/taggie blankies for baby (Aunt Amy made a cute airplane one, so I had to do animals). And I made a "Cars" blanket for Connor. He likes the cars on it, but won't use it, suprise, suprise. I am happy I atleast got these couple of things made. Chris has been complaining that I just keep bringing more and more fabric into the house & nothing is being done with it :) It is true that I have made several trips to the fabric store lately, but it is a great excuse to leave the house by myself-not Chris & Connor's favorite place to go :) And someday something really cool will come of all the fabric!

New Year's resolutions are going well so far...one was to try atleast 1 new recipe every week and another was to make more from scratch and so far I have tried 2 new recipes this week! Last night I made a soup using left over ham bone with all the veggies I could find, beans, tomato sauce, pasta noodles, and potatoes....it turned out delicious. And I made homeade cornbread (Chris said it was too crunchy b/c I used popcorn kernals ground up instead of corn meal-I was just being resourceful). But Connor loved it & I had never made cornbread before, so I was pleased! Tonight it is homeade pasta with alfredo sauce and homeade french bread! And it turned out really good, I do have to say I was suprised! I don't think I am cut out for breadmaking...I haven't had much luck, but I keep on trying! So, if anyone has any tips, please pass them along :) However, the french bread did taste pretty good (but maybe that was all the garlic butter) & I did make some yummy cinnamon roll dough with it.

And I did survive Monday when Chris went to work, it was Tuesday that I was thinking I wasn't going to make it. It was a delayed reaction to Daddy going back to work. Connor woke up early, spent at least half the day in time-out, and tested me to the extreme. But proved to be an angel once Chris walked in the door! However, I was happy to see him be cute before bedtime so I could atleast end the day with a "good" mental picture of our son. Today has been much better, which is a good thing because I am not sure if I could take another day like Tuesday!

I did get to see a tiny bit of snow, but I will take what I can get! It was enough to make me happy & wish that I would wake up to lots of snow in the morning...wishful thinking!

Read more...

An end to the fun with Daddy!

Well, I guess all the fun has to end sometime. Today is Chris' last day at home with us, as tomorrow he has to go back to work :( I am not quite sure if Chris is looking forward to it or not. But I am pretty sure he didn't get sick of staying home, which is usually the case on long weekends & this was 13 days straight. We are very thankful to have him home, but also very thankful he has a job to go back to :) Connor LOVED having him home to play & so did I. Although we didn't get as much done around the house as we had hoped, it was still wonderful. Today we are scrambling to get the rest of the Christmas decorations back to the basement for storage and the house back to 'normal' again.

I finally found some fabric to make a quilt for Connor's bed, so we will see when I find the time to make it-I am excited to start it. We did get our new camera & so far we love it. It is so easy to use, but has tons of settings to play around with. However, we are still waiting for our new memory card, so we can only take a few pictures at a time, which is hard to do. We made it to church this morning and Connor was really good-he generally has a hard time sitting still for an hour striaght, but we have learned to pack special treats, books, and an activity (today it was stickers). This proved very useful today, as Chris was quite worried about having to peel all the stickers off the pews after church, but all made it to the sticker book :) And we got Starbucks after church, but I was sad to hear they were all out of Egg Nog, but Chris still got his Peppermint Mocha.

However, I am very excited about all the new shows that start this week...Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Bachelor, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. So exciting! Hopefully all that excitment will get me through a rough day tomorrow with Connor-he is not going to be happy that daddy is not here to play.

Read more...

Connor's Playroom..what fun!

All of our outdoors lights are down & it looks so dark outside our house now. And sadly it is time to take down our Christmas tree & all of our Christmas decorations inside-I always leave it up until the last possible day because it is just so pretty! The house will look so boring, so I guess I will have to put up some pink hearts for Valentine's Day! So, that is one of our many tasks for the weekend. Along with organizing our drawers, I organized our tupperware/container drawer, Connor's drawers, and our sock drawer in our room-what a chore! I had no idea how many socks we really had! However, Chris wasn't thrilled about spending money on organizing "stuff", so we decided to build (well, just cut some pieces of wood), and that worked really well. And Chris got to use his saw and feel handy :) That is always a plus. At least we started out the New Year organizing, so we are off to a good start!

But our real fun was finally decorating Connor's playroom. There are some pictures of it, Connor loves it & now will actually play in it by himself for a little bit, we are are making progress! The kids' bedroom is our next decorating project!

And we are anxiously awaiting the delivery of our new camera, so once I figure out how to use it, expect lots more pictures :)

Read more...

Welcome!

One of my many New Year's resolutions for 2009 was to start a blog to share pictures and life happenings with all our friends & family, so here I am...Happy New Year! I hope to update as often as possible with fun & exciting things we are doing as a family, new and on-going hobbies, and of course lots of photos.

2008 proved to be a wonderful year full of travel, fun times, and making our way back home to Missouri. We are set for a very exciting 2009! We will have a new addition to our family sometime the end of March or early April. There are some new (and old) hobbies I would love to take up such as sewing, quilting, photography, baking, and scrapbooking. All the while, having a bigger vegetable garden (and starting from seeds this year), canning, getting ready for the new baby, and completely organizing our house. Oh and finding some way to volunteer my precious time, since I have so much free time. Whew! Sounds like I have a busy year ahead of me along with figuring out how to handle a very active toddler & a new baby! Oh my, sounds like you may be in for some entertaining stories as well :)

Read more...