Pear Tree Greetings

Just in case some of you have noticed the Pear Tree Greetings images on the right side of my blog...and thinking I've caved to the advertising world of blogs...so not true...I only advertise my work stuff :)

Pear Tree is a new website we've created at work to kind of compete against the shutterfly's, snapfish's, etc. of the world. And...we're really affordable!! Check it out, and if you see something you're interested in and want to order, just comment on this post or email me at crbode@gmail.com and I'll get you my friends and family discount (since I'm assuming if you're reading this, your my friend or my family :))

http://www.peartreegreetings.com/

girls weekend group pic

Warning, no make up, no showers, and yeah. Just 'us' :)

is this called crawling?

Connor has definitely been able to 'move' for the past few weeks, and has definitely been 'in position' for crawling, but tonight, it seemed to be a little more than scooting and almost crawling...maybe. He still won't come to you if you're sitting pretty far away, but throw a cell phone or a remote out there, and that's apparently worth crawling for :)

Sorry for the lack of pj's...if you've ever witnessed diaper changing/dressing time with Connor...it's at the very bottom of his least favorite things to do list.

Girls weekend!!

Some of my best friends from college made the trek down, over and up this weekend to stay. It was SOO great to catch up with them (two I haven't seen since my wedding!)! It was a pretty low key weekend, had a fabulous dinner at Neighbors Friday night, then stayed in and cooked Saturday night. Connor was a trooper all weekend, but definitely ready for his 'man' time today!

We also found and ordered Anne's bridesmaid dresses! They are so adorable and she FINALLY has a color scheme! Ha. Yes. Now she can plan :) (I love you Anne)

Rach cutting the 'weiner' for breakfast.

Anne making the cookie dough. Which, we forgot flour at the store so had to make a second trip, and then after all that work forgot to cover it in the fridge and it got rock hard.

Ernie cutting the onion for the eggs.

Okay, so it started snowing. Our first snow of the season. And I'm not sure why, but the thing to do at the moment seemed to be to try and capture this on camera. Why? Not sure. It was windy and cold. Apparently we needed a reminder that we do still live in Minnesota.

A few more pictures to come. Connor is crawling (well, kind of) and have to go videotape it.

no more swing.

I think Connor has officially outgrown his swing.




The mobile is supposed to be moving around and around...Connor 'caught' it.

outdoor decor

My outdoor decorating is finally complete. Thanks to the help of my mom, Bryan and scoring some good deals at a fellow Taylor company out in Colorado.

I will add that I am by no means great at decorating...but this is definitely good enough for me! (yes, that is Connor helping me on the step)

Poor quality photo, but I still thought it was cute. He didn't stay that way for long (see above)

And my favorite part of all. The cat eyes (yes, Sarah H, I still hate cats, but this cat is cool)




Experimenting with the options on my camera. Obviously none of them took a great picture, but it was worth the effort.

I wasn't lying.

Just in case you thought I had a typo or was confused about how much milk I had stored up in one of my previous posts...

Each bag has roughly 25-30 bags of milk in it.

And it wouldn't stay closed. And it's honestly even packed pretty well. (mind you we have a bunch of meat in there, too)

Gives a new meaning to the name 'chest freezer' that's for sure.

"I am not a vegetarian"

Connor and I were grocery shopping the other day, and as we were in the baby food aisle, he made it clear to me that he is not a vegetarian and what were those foods that said 'ham with gravy' or 'chicken with gravy' and why wasn't he getting those,too. So. We got one of each 'flavor'. And of course, for Grandpa Ponch, we had to try the ham first. And...well...we're not so sure of this 'meat' thing. However, first let me warn you that when you open the jar, it can clear a room. Bryan and Grant were sitting at the island Tuesday night when I opened the turkey jar and Grant about puked. It REEKS. Everyone I've told this story to at work is like oh my goodness, just start chopping up real meat at home. It's possible I might. Looks gross, smells gross, and it doesn't appear that it tastes any better. Well, oik, the kid smiles when I take out the camera but you SHOULD have seen his face and gagging reaction.

Wedding Fun

A pic of the reception...beautiful!

Some creepy guy that offered to hold Kate...why did we let him hold her you ask?

Kidding :) It's just Cullen. With Grandpa Jeff peeking into the shot.

Us. We even got a slow dance in. However, it didn't take long for Bryan to ask 'how long is this song?'. So romantic. I know.

And the cutest pic I took all night. The Nessler Family :)

Emily's Box + Book

Card box made another appearance yesterday at our friends Emily and Chris' wedding. It was a beautiful day, beautiful wedding and a beautiful bride! (okay and a pretty handsome groom) Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of it. Ha. But, I DO have pictures of their card box and guest book.

The interior pages are way more exciting when it's 'full' of the notes from guests. Not going to lie, makes me happy seeing the book fill up!

rocking...

No crawling yet, but he's definitely rocking up on all fours and can kind of go backwards. As much as Bryan wants him to figure it out and start zooming all around the house. I can wait. See that big white blanket in the background? Full of squash/carrot/pea spit up. Okay, not full, and I wash it at least weekly, but if our little moster starts moving...that means squash/carrot/pea spit up on my new carpet. And I'll probably find new spots daily from who knows how many days ago. At least now it's contained.



Aren't his pj's cute? Great Aunt Mary gave us those before he was even born I think. Love them.

downward dog.

Angie and I took yoga awhile back, ok, I went to like 2 classes before I decided I didn't like it. I need to break a sweat during a workout. I know, I know, there are TONS of great things about yoga, blah blah. Anyways, the one thing I learned/remember is the 'downward dog' position. Here's a visual.



So we might need to work on sticking that butt up just a bit more in the air...baby steps.

zwieback toast

We occasionally give Connor some little Gerber toast to munch on (yes, it's called Zwieback toast). He loves it..but it gets a litte messy :)

i'm gonna get you!

Just a random smiley photo. Sorry for all the crap in his eye...he still supposedly has

a blocked tear duct...I hate it. Definitely will be checking in with his doctor on this. (his 'crap' is white to yellow and they say tear duct issues shouldn't have color)

church photo

Bryan is still a member in Courtland so the other week they had church photos for making a new directory. If you got your photo taken, you received a free 8x10 and directory. So, we did it. There was one picture that turned out pretty well, and we maybe even would have bought a few...if it weren't for the absolutely outrageous prices. $50 for 2 5x7's? no thanks.

Yeah, I haven't taken the time to scan it in yet, so this might look weird...a picture of a picture...

fun with Madelyn

On Sunday Bryan took Connor over to our friends Craig and Lora's house. Connor and their daughter, Madelyn, had fun playing on the blanket with Connor's nuk...

mom OR dad

Since it rained all day, Bryan thoughtfully went to go pick up Connor at daycare because he was done for the day earlier than normal. I get an email at 4:45 while pumping that they've been trying to get ahold of me because DAD was there to pick up Connor, but I had only written MOM on the daily sheet. So, I emailed back saying no problem...then remembered I had the car seat.

So, what turned into a nice gesture by Bryan turned into a minor crisis. But...I still think it's cool that daycare is pretty strict with letting kids go...which makes total sense!! But they recommended from now on I just write 'Mom OR Dad' on the sheet...just in case :)

hat hair!

Tonight after our bike ride, I took Connor's hat off to find this!

Pretty adorable. And it's proof that he's really getting some hair! He had quite a bit at birth, then lost a lot of the dark stuff, and the blonde really started coming in. It's the thickest right down the center...makes for a pretty funy mohawk in the bath :)

first bike ride!

We finally got use of the bike trailer we purchased last year, kind of had to wait until Connor was big enough. We've done it three times now and he's liked it every time! (if you count falling asleep liking it...because I do) Little struggle at first figuring out how to buckle him in...but, we got it.

So he seemed a little constricted...

"okay mom...am I really not supposed to be able to move my arms?"

regaining feeling in his fingers.

And after this first trip, we learned to stuff a bunch of sweatshirts to each side so that when he falls asleep his head can lean against something. Trial and error I guess :)