Cousin Joe

On Sunday my cousin Joe came over to visit with the family. So, the boys washed the car....

(and Daddy)

And, they vacuumed...

I hate that most of my family doesn't get to see my boys grow up, so when someone come to visit I really enjoy watching them with the boys. Well, Joe may have been the most fun to watch. Usually the kids gravitate to Brandon when he is home. Brandon had to go help a neighbor for about an hour and a half so that left the kids with me & Joe. Well, it only took Connor about 5 minutes to realize "Joe is Fun" (his words). Joe played like a big kid. He really reminded me of Brandon. Which is a pretty big compliment since I think Brandon is an awesome Dad. Connor & Joe built sand castles & he didn't even mind when I handed Hudson a juice while he was on his shoulders.

I have obviously know Joe his whole life. His nick name as a kid was animal & it was very fitting. When you watch someone go through their crazy teenage years, you never know how they will turn out in life. I am so proud of my cousin. He has grown into a mature, kind, fun loving man. He has a beautiful, smart, wonderful wife. Seeing him with my kids showed me what a great father he will be some day. We had a great visit and I really appreciate him taking time from his "guys weekend" to spend time with us. We Love You Animal!

As we were pulling away from dropping Joe back at his rental house Connor said "I had a great time with Joe".

The Beach

Brett & Erin had a room on the beach this weekend so we decided to invite ourselves to their vacation for a few hours. The kids had a blast in the water & sand. Here is Hudson buried in the sand.

I love the next picture. It explains just how hard it is to get a picture with both kids even looking the same way. Forget about both smiling. Hudson, who always looks at the camera decided to put his head in a bucket the one time that Connor actually looked somewhat near the camera.

Later that night we went & picked up my cousin Joe who was in town on a golfing vacation. We had a great dinner & it was really nice to catch up. I love it when family visits!

play date

Today Connor had a play date with his friend Ella. They had such a great time together. We put out the blow up pool & they splashed & played. Then they had lunch & headed for the play room. Next thing we knew they were together on the recliner eating cookies. So cute!

potty training update

Well, as far as day time is concerned Connor is potty trained. He is doing such a great job. He tells me every time he has to go and has been accident free except one time when he was upset. I sent him in pull-ups to school & the teacher said he can start coming in underwear. He has been wearing underwear for 3 days now & it is GREAT! Really it only took about 1 week to complete. I ended up giving him 12 cars. Now he gets one at the end of the day if his underwear are dry. I had bought over 20 so I figured we would keep up the positive reinforcement for a few more days. Next step is getting him to realize when he has to pee at night. But, I am really not looking forward to getting up in the middle of the night to help him. So for now he sleeps in pull-ups.

I will say that the first thing I do now when we get to a store is find out where the bathroom is just in case he has to go. It's kind of like being pregnant all over again!

blizzard beach pics...finally

The lazy river was fun, but Hudson kept trying to jump in!

All 12 of us in one picture.....though Ella refused to look at the camera.

Just before Hudson & I went down the big slide.. he loved it!

What a great day with great friends!

Gyros, corn dogs, funnel cake....oh and a fair too!

When we first got to the fair Connor was very afraid to try the first "fun house" type ride. Here is a picture of him crying & wanting to get off. I had to walk away as all I wanted to do was rescue him. Brandon talked him through it & the very nice ride attendant helped him. I was so proud of him for facing his fears, but the Mom in me wanted to take him off the ride as soon as he started to cry. Thank goodness for Brandon or he would probably be a big sissy! He was so proud of himself too. By the end of the night he went through this maze about 10 times. His friend Ryan was so great waiting for him & telling him not to be scared. Ryan has a special place in my heart for how great he is to Connor.

Here he is coming down the slide of another maze....getting ready to give his Dad a hi-five on the way down.

He wasn't big enough to ride the swings alone so he Brandon & I took turns riding with him. Brandon forgot to take a picture of me, but lucky for all of us, I got one of him. The best thing about this picture is the face of the girl in front of them. You know she is thinking "Is this thing gonna hold with that big kid on it?"

Connor & Ryan loved this ride!
Connor and his buddy Ryan
I have discovered that when Connor is concentrating he sticks his tongue out...kinda like

Charlie Brown!

We had a great time at the fair. It is so much fun to see things like this through a kids eyes. I can't wait to go to Disney this summer.

Eureka!!!

For 2 days in a row now Connor has been using the potty with no accidents. Yesterday he told the teacher every time he had to go. Then I reminded him in the afternoon. Today he told me every time he had to go. It is much harder to go out with a potty trained child. We left Home Depot today and as soon as we got clicked into the car seats he had to go. So we ran back into the store so he could use the potty. Then 5 minutes later.....he had to go again. This time he had to wait until we reached the shop. This is so great. We are so proud of Connor & he is so proud of himself. Yeah Connor!

Tonight we are taking Connor to the local fair. He is so excited. Hudson is staying home with Grammy & Pops. He isn't big enough to ride the ride & I feel bad when he has to just sit in the stroller & watch. I'll post some pics of the fair tomorrow.

a day of firsts

Today we were driving down the street & then all of a sudden Hudson started calling out Daddy. I realized we were passing Brandon's shop. It was the first time Hudson recognized the shop just by driving by.

Connor told me when he had to go to the potty..... is this the start of something?

Connor asked "why?" for the first time.... uh oh! I knew this day would come I just didn't realize it would be so soon. My way to combat it is to ask him what he thinks.

Blizzard beach pictures

Here are some pics from Blizzard beach. I only have pics of us eating our yummy dessert.

Connor & Ella shared a bucket of ice cream

Hudson preferred Katina's snow cone

Connor thought the spoon wasn't getting the job done so he decided to use the shovel that came with the pail!

blizzard beach, church picnic, potty training still sucks!

On Saturday we went to Disney's Blizzard Beach. We went with Freddy, Katina, Owen(4), Ella (2), Brett, Erin, Ryan(4) & Olivia(1). All 12 of us! We had a great day. Freddy & Katina got all of us in for free. Pretty nice friends if you ask me! Then by a stroke of luck Brandon & Brett were able to find a pavilion right at the top of the little kids area. It had a picnic bench & chairs all to ourselves. Plus it looked over the one part of the area that our kids liked best. The day could not have been better. It was 90 degrees & sunny. I didn't take any pics except of dessert. We got 2 pails of ice cream sundae. There was every topping you can imagine in it. If you ever go you have to try it. But make sure you've got at least 4 people to share! I ordered some pics that the Disney photographers took & I will put them up as soon as I get them. The boys both love water so they had a blast. Every time Hudson went down a slide he got to the bottom cracking up. Connor found the courage to go down the big slide & he was so proud of himself.

Sunday's weather was not quite as good. It rained pretty hard in the morning. Our church picnic was in the afternoon & luckily the sun stayed out for it. The kids had a blast. Connor won a gift card to Barnes & Noble in the sidewalk art contest. Hudson was just happy that they had hamburgers!

Connor wore underwear all afternoon yesterday. He had some accidents, but I definitely saw a difference with Brandon home. It is very important to Connor to make Brandon proud. So I am thinking that Brandon is going to have to take some time off of work to get this done. I still think diaper training boot camp is a good idea.

potty, words, random stuff

I got Connor a new potty stool. He loves to do everything himself so I figured a little independence in this matter might help. Well, I was on the the phone with Brandon & Connor called for me. I asked him to wait a minute. The next thing I know he has dragged the stool over to the toilet & he is going all by himself. It was a pretty proud moment!

Hudson has a few new words. My favorite has got to be when he saws "wow, cool" He will say this whenever you hand him a new toy or when he sees a big truck.....remind you of anyone? He loves to do anything Connor does! He also says truck, it sounds like duck, but i know what he means. He still says Eat, Dada, Mama & he has a sound for yes.

My thyroid is all out of whack. I gained 5 lbs. & my hair is falling out again. The Dr. wanted me to drop my dose, but I think he is wrong. I got blood taken on Wednesday & have appointment in 2 weeks. Hopefully he will bring my dose back up. I am pretty tired of this junk. My dosage has been changed every 3 months for the past 2 years!

Easter

On Sunday morning we decided to go to Easter sunrise service at our church. This means that we had to get the kids up at 5:45 am. It was 49 degrees. The boys were not able to wear their cute matching short sleeve Easter shirts. So, I went out the night before for an emergency shopping trip. They ended up in cute outfits, even if they didn't match. The boys didn't last long at the outdoor service. They were cold & fidgety.

After church we took the kids home for a short nap & then headed out to Brandon's parents for a great Easter dinner. I put them in their cute Easter outfits and snapped a bunch of pics. It is pretty hard to get them both to look the same direction & smile at the same time. This is one of my favorite pics of the day.

We got this little motorcycle free from an old neighbor. Someone had returned it to her store, so she gave it to us. It only goes about 1 mph, but it looks pretty cool. I think Hudson looks pretty tough on it. Even if he is wearing a sweater vest.

More Eggs

Last night Erin, Brett, Ryan & Olivia came over to color Easter eggs. We ordered pizza, played & then the husbands played with the kids while Erin & I prepared the dye & paint. Everything started out very nice. Connor even used the egg dipper. We let Brandon & Brett supervise. Erin & I watched & took pictures with Hudson & Olivia.

I kept trying to get Connor to look up for a picture but he was in a zone. The Egg Zone! The next thing we know he has his hands on the eggs...
And is using them to dip into the color. Thankfully for him Brandon was in charge & just let him have a good time.
Connor's eggs look a little more like dinosaur eggs than Easter eggs. I think he did a great job for his first time. We all had a great time.

Potty training sucks!

There really is no good way to say it. I hate potty training. We are doing a reward system.Every time Connor peas in the potty he gets a star & when he gets 5 stars he gets a matchbox car. The first day was great He did it 4 times with only a couple of accidents & he wore underwear almost all day. The next day he cried every time i put him on the toilet & said "I don't want to try". Then as soon as I would put his underwear & pants on he would pea & laugh. After 4 times in 1 hour the pull ups went back on. Score one for Connor. Is it weird that he has pooped in the potty for a month now, but refuses to pea? Anyway, I have thought of a new business. I think I would actually pay someone to potty training him. Do they have potty training boot camp for toddlers?

Yesterday it was so hot out & we had nothing to do so I took the boys on a field trip. I had to be creative & think of something indoor that boys would like. It had to be close to home & all the play centers were closed. So, we went to the Home Depot. They have race Car carts & the boys love them. We went & watched the big saw cut wood, then Connor heard the fork lift. So I spent 10 minutes chasing it down. We watched it work for a while & then we went to the rental center to look at the "shovels". That's what Connor calls the mini backhoes. It was surprisingly fun. Plus, it killed an hour & didn't cost anything.

Here are some cute pics we have taken over the past couple of weeks.

Good food, good friends & lots of eggs

This was quite a week for us where food was concerned. On Wednesday night we went over to Brett & Erin's house. Erin made us an awesome dinner. Homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes & the best gravy. The gravy was so good that Brandon took some home & bought 2 biscuits the next morning at McDonald's to have for breakfast with his gravy.

On Thursday night our friend Katina brought over a homemade chicken pot pie. She made us one after Connor was born & Brandon hasn't stopped talking about it since. It was so good. Brandon's dad was over for dinner so he got to try it too. He said it was the best he had ever had.

Do we have good friends or what? Not sure how Brandon convinced the 2 of them that they should cook for him, but he did. And boy am I glad. 2 nights in a row of great meals that I didn't have to cook. YEAH!

On Saturday we went to the local recreation park for an Easter Egg hunt. We had a blast. They filled up each baseball field with hundreds of plastic eggs filled with treats. They split the kids up into age groups & then let them roam free to get eggs. The kids had a blast. We went with Brett, Erin, Ryan & Olivia. Olivia & Hudson were just happy to carry around a couple of eggs. They love being with the big kids. Connor collected 17 eggs & has talked about it non stop ever since. He is pretty angry that the Easter Bunny took his basket back so it can be used again on Easter. Ryan was the star of the day. He collected a ton of eggs & even a special egg that won him a huge basket of goodies.

technical problems

I guess some of you are having problems viewing the videos... I am working on it & I will let you know when i figure it out. Until then i have set up links to the videos. This way should work for everyone. Let me know.