little boy's dream

This about sums up everything that makes Connor happy. (okay, he's a happy guy overall, but wow, get him anywhere near a 'manly' motorized vehicle and the kid goes crazy) (and I mean that he could care less about 'mommy's car'...especially if daddy's truck is anywhere near.

playground fun

Another big attraction for Connor at Friendship days was the playground (thank goodness you didn't need three tickets for that 'ride'...ha). He LOVES to climb on anything and everything and is great at going down slides all by himself. Funny when he sits down too far away from the slide and has to inch himself forward to the edge.

Action shot coming down the slide...

and hair flying in the wind...(kid needs a haircut again)

words just escape him when girls are around

surfing down the slides

trying to get a pose with him and Danica

didn't work so well

this was our best shot.

danica and her mama

loving the swing

Friendship Days 2009

This past weekend was Friendship Days in Nicollet. I was pretty excited to take Connor, maybe hit some rides, parade, etc. The weather was basically perfect, it was great. Connor had a great time...except that he didn't win either bike drawing and we woke him up from his nap today to go to the parade...and he was one tired boy.

Regardless, it was a great weekend! Friday night Connor stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Bode so Bryan and I could go out. SUPER fun time, we needed it! Thanks Nate and Cheryl!

Saturday we relaxed...(ie took some great naps), ran some errands and then headed to town to check out the rides, food and fireworks. Connor was a trooper, enjoyed the rides, loved the playground and did awesome through the fireworks! When the finale was over he pointed at the sky and laughed.

Walking to the rides.

Look, mom, one handed!

27:41

That was my time from the 5K I ran with Anne in Nicollet yesterday. And I hated every minute and every second of it :) No offense, Anne! My goal was 30 minutes and on Friday I had told a co-worker that I bumped my goal up to 35...we compromised at 32:30. Thanks to Anne, some adreniline and who knows what else. Regardless, felt great to beat the goal and to run the whole thing. What's next? Maybe an 8K in St. Peter next weekend............. :)

quick trip to the lake

For how hot it's been...I'm sad to say that we've barely utilized the lake. Last weekend I was in a volleyball tournament so Saturday was out (however it would have been an AMAZING day at the lake) and yeah. Just too much going on. However tonight Bryan, Connor and I snuck out there. Grilled supper, then went for a boat ride AND...gave Connor his first swimming lesson. Needless to say...he wasn't a big fan. But, the water is what, 20-30 degrees (I really have no idea) cooler than his bath water? And the life jacket was a new, non-enjoyable experience as well. He did better than I thought tho, he was asking for it, I had jumped in hoping he might want to follow and eventually he did but then soon realized I was crazy and wanted out. We'll try again I'm sure :) Lake of the Ozarks trip is less than a month away and he better be lake ready by then!! So excited.

Just like the lawn mower, never really shows his excitment or happiness...until you take him off or make him get down. THEN he's mad.

(the boat was off and not moving at this point)

Trying to show him how fun it would be to kick in the water.

LOVES buttons and also discovered the horn.

Kind of had to be there for this one, but there's a little jack to plug your ipod/mp3 player into the boat, has a little black cover thing to it. Last time he was on the boat he kept opening it, closing it, repeat. This time...he went straight for it...with his mouth. It was fairly hilarious.

Mmm, the soft, spongy boat key was of major interest as well.

Thanks, Mom, for sending the pictures!

utensils

I've tried to start giving Connor his own utensils when eating the past few weeks, he does really well...just doesn't quite get the concept of 'stabbing' something with the fork or 'scooping' with the spoon. Either wants me to do it or picks the food up with his hands and places on the spoon...as you can witness below. (sorry the video got really long, well, it's not that long, but it's pointless after the first few seconds)

A few things I noticed were humorous...it appears he started on cue in the beginning. He pauses for a split second then I must have been making some great hand motions in the background trying to get him to take a bite.

Takes a bite, then threatens to throw the fork over. When he smiles...that's in response to me shaking my head and mouthing as big as I can "NO CONNOR"...and then you see him scrunch his face and then he drops the fork.

Then the rest of the clip is pointless. Sorry about that.

daddy's boy

Connor has definitely become a daddy's boy lately. I try and try to remind him how I supplied nearly a year's worth of milk for him, change more diapers, but, nothing seems to make him realize I'm even in the room. It's just a phase...right? Kidding, it's super cute. He wants to be by Bryan everywhere he is. He points to Bryan's garage stall in the mornings (I'm sure if he could talk he'd be saying 'where is daddy' or 'where's daddy's truck'), obviously has the lawn mower obsession, he just gets to do everything 'cool' with dad. So, Sunday afternoon was no different when Bryan was trying to get the speakers working outside and Connor plopped right down next to him to help him out.

Try this switch dad, I'm sure it's this one, did you even try this one?

marie's graduation

My cousin Marie had her graduation party on Saturday so mom, Connor and I drove up to congratulate her. It was great to see everyone and I apologize I don't have any pictures of/with her! Don't fear...aunt Mary was there so I'm sure I'll have some eventually to post.

Speaking of Mary...caught IN the picture instead of behind the camera!

This was really meant to be a picture of my Grandma, but I must have focused on my uncle Bobby instead. Isn't my Grandma cute? Ha, she needed a hat and it was a Mexican themed graduation party...

morning stroll

Saturday morning Connor and I went for an hour long walk around the neighborhood. He refuses to lay back in the stroller most times. Not exactly sure why, but it was early and he was still a little sleepy so he ended up falling asleep with his head on the side bar/rail.

Yes, I know it's June and it's been warm lately, but it was 7:30 in the morning so I felt a sweatshirt and hat were necessary.

teething?

Starting this past Thursday night Connor has been 'sad'. He was up nearly the entire night Thursday night and nothing seemed to make him feel better. Low grade fever, nothing serious. Sent him to daycare on Friday, stopped over there mid morning and they also said he was 'sad'...and drooling like a mad man. I mean, streams of drool coming out 1/4 inch thick. They changed his shirt it was so bad and went through multiple bibs. Teeth. Right? So tonight I finally got a good look inside of his mouth and you can see one of the bigger teeth in the back on top are definitely poking through. I cannot imagine how bad that has to hurt! Like, the part of the tooth back there where you get seeds/food stuck in the middle of the tooth (ha, maybe that's just me) is still covered with his gums, but the 4 'peaks' to the tooth were poking thru. OUCH! Poor kid.

Regardless, much 'happier' lately and drooling much less already.

What a WONDERFUL weekend! Can't wait for more weekends like this!

Mankato Twins Game

Saturday was the fundraiser for the Mankato Twins (Angie's husband, Jay, plays and is also the manager...and I play softball with a few of the other players and my boss, Travis is also on the team, in case you cared). BEAUTIFUL day for it! I only could stay an hour as Connor and I took off for my cousin's graduation party but of course we had to spend some QT with Connor's bff Kate.

Classic pic of Connor and Kate. Gazing into one another's eyes.

Or, Connor is more than likely eyeing the nuk.

Probably tucking his hair behind his ears. Seems to need a hair cut again. But, I think the curls are gone forever :( I had someone tell me when they gave their child their first cut and cut off all of the curls...they never came back. Why oh why couldn't that have happened to me!?!?

I think there was a puff right in between them...

Good grab, Connor. However Kate definitely has her eyes on the treat cup.

turtles!

My mom sent me these pictures over the last few days...she's had not one but TWO massive snapping turtle sightings! I think they are incredibly cool, so prehistoric looking.

She thought this one was between 1.5-2' long. 2 feet long!

It was also missing it's left eye (which is how she determined they were two separate turtles)

This was from yesterday...she found another one laying eggs by the driveway! Crazy. 80 days gestation apparently...so we'll see!

Aren't they cool?

Except...that they live in water...

Bring on the lake parties :)

(swim at your own risk)

Kidding, you'll be fine.

car fun

Just some random picture from the other night (I think I've deprived myself of taking photos so I went a little overboard)

Fixing the engine.

drooling away.

jelly

Another new found love...jelly toast. Except, he forgets to eat the toast and eats the jelly. Special thank you to Anne & Jeremy for the 'real' jelly, big hit!

hmm...these chunks are interesting.

REALLY interesting :)

YUM

morning fun

The other morning Connor was overly anxious to get going (there goes my excuse that I'm late because of him) so I just let him roam in the garage. Of couse I continued to check on him every few minutes...and one of the check ups I found him here. (hard to see, sorry for the awful photo quality, not sure what happened) He managed to get up onto the lawn mower and sat there. He does this daily.

hmm.

Hmm.

That was the chiropractors response when asking me a series of questions about my labor and delivery with Connor.

Let me back up a bit.

About two weeks ago we found ourselves once again in the pediatricians office with another ear infection. Words such as 'chronic' and 'tubes' were definitely spoken so we just were hoping that the latest prescribed antibiotic would do the trick.

In the mean time, and actually prior to, I've spoken to more than one mom that has told me about amazing results from going to the chiropractor. (insert leery, skeptical face here) So, we did our ten days of antibiotics again and after two days being off, he woke up to having mattery eyes. UGH. So, I called the chiropractor and made an appointment for yesterday.

So we go into his little office where he asks me some questions, some of which included:

Were you induced?
Yes.
Hmm....

Why? Were you overdue?
No.
Hmm....

Was labor long and somewhat difficult?
Yes.
Hmm...

Were forceps or a vacuum used?
Yes.
Hmm....

Literally, that's how part of the conversation went. So, he showed me on his little spine model what could be going on, tells me how he actually adjusted two of his daughters in the delivery room before cutting the umbilical cord (eek, scary!).

Sorry this post is getting really long.

So, we go back into the room where he checks Connor out, said his ears weren't necessarily infected anymore but they were still full of fluid. So does a little more prodding around (Connor did awesome) and then told me he was going to try and adjust him. I've personally never been adjusted, but have seen it done, and truly, did NOT expect him to do that with a little kid. I seriously felt like he was going to twist his head off. BUT...again, Connor did spectacular. Didn't even get close to crying. Just kept looking at the chiropractor. I on the other hand, was MUCH more freaked out and shocked at what I just let happen to my child. BUT...it couldn't have been even remotely bad since Connor didn't give any indication of being in pain or freaked out or anything. Must be okay, right? :):)

That said, we went back today for round 2, said his ears had already started draining, only had to adjust one side and off we went. Said this could ultimately help with his runny noses and everything. Down side...he wants to see Connor 3x a week for three weeks (one of which will be done after we go again tomorrow morning), 2x a week for 2 weeks and 1x a week for 4 more weeks. That's A LOT...but...I don't know. I think I'm sold on it so far. If an infection comes back I guess during the course of this treatment, maybe then I'll decide to go back to the pediatrician for it and explore our next option.

Again, sorry for such a long post, but that's about all I have new to report the last few days.

Anne's Wedding

Forgive the far too many images, it was hard to narrow down, I was on a roll and had the time. I also apologize for the lack of good photos. No good group shots, dress shots, formal shots, even good candid shots. It's busy when you're in the wedding, makes it hard to take photos. Sorry! But, regardless, here they are.

Nearly done with the decorating.

Posing at the event center after decorating.

Anne's nephew Joshua. Isn't that hair awesome? Wait til you see his sister.
Josh is 1 1/2, so he helped me not miss Connor as much :)

Rach snuggling with Caleb

Bella. See? Didn't I tell you? Their hair is truly ADORABLE. You need to meet this little girl. She's SO awesome. I wish I had a video of her 'blowing it up'. (pounds knuckles with you then after 'impact' pulls her hand back, fingers spread wide. Adorable)

This picture is pointless other than the fact that Anne looks like Jennifer Aniston. Doesn't she? Must be the chin or something.

If I hadn't already posted a billion pictures in this post, I'd post the 6 pictures taken before this one where one of them was blinking. Six. No lie. Okay, maybe you had to be there to find it funny.

Hair all done.

I LOVED how Bibs' hair turned out. If I ever need an updo again, will for sure be printing this out.

Pretty girls. Okay, well, pretty hair anyways.

Don't you just hate getting your hair done without makeup? Eek.

Classic.

The beautiful bride putting the finishing touches on before pictures.

Again.

Well, I've actually only hung out with Bibs a few times now, but I think I can say this is also 'classic'

The bride and I, naked in the bar.

Are you kidding? Bryan, zoom out.

Bobbi and Anne. Bobbie is married to Anne's brother Jeff and they have the above mentioned adorable curly haired children.

cute!

bar shot.

Jeff (Anne's brother) and Bobbi

Me and John (anne's younger brother)

Yes, she might have the two most attractive brothers a girl could have.

I'm not ashamed to say it.

Except it's kind of weird to call a pastor (Jeff) attractive.

Limo shot.

Anne and Allison, her maid of honor. They have been bff's since high school.

Allison is also hopefully next to get married.

(Allison, you can tell your Bryan I said that, ha)

Netha, Anne's cousin, and I

Bibs posing for an Aussie hairspray advertisement.

Anne not aware we were taking a photo.

Something was funny to Bibs.

Erin totally looks like she's fake laughing.

Our wheels

Cousins! Netha, John, Jeff and Anne

Siblings.

John, Anne and Jeff.

Jeff tried to be in the center of the photo, claiming he never gets to be in the middle.

Too bad, Jeff. This is just how it goes.

(lots of 'love you sis', 'you look gorgeous sis' was overhead after this photo. Cute!)

My groomsman. He was like a pro. Seriously. Controlled our walking pace, made sure we went nice and slow, supported me during the recessional when I could barely walk in the shoes after standing still in them for 3o minutes...

Well, go figure. No picture of Bryan and I.

But, I do think Anne has one on her camera, so maybe I'll get that from her someday and post it.

Again, it was an amazing day and I was so honored to be a part of it!

Congrats Anne & Jeremy, we love you!