Happy Halloween!

Thursday night we had daycare's Halloween Party. It was the same day as his 18 month appt with three shots...so we're blaming that for why he was crabby :) He refused to take pictures right away but eventually we tried again...but the only way he'd do it was to sit in an infant bumbo seat...he thought he was pretty hilarious.

The photographer edited the bumbo to somewhat more of a masculine, skeleton worthy color.

Oh, wondering about the face paint? He LOVED it. I drew a ghost on one cheek. He needed more. Drew another ghost on the other cheek. Needed more. White nose. STILL needed more so he got a ghost on his hand, then we just had to remove him from the face painting area. Ha. Who knew? He just kept coming back to sit on the little chair and would look at me like, what can I get now, mom? Too funny.

18 Month Appt

We had Connor's 18 month appointment this past Thursday. Week late, but that's ok. Everything seems to be 'on track'. Always nice to hear ;)

Stats:

Height: 31 3/4" - 25% (hey, last appt we were at 19% I think)
Weight: 26 lb 3 oz - 40%
Head: 19" - 76%

So, nothing much else to report. He's definitely starting to repeat words that you ask him to, doesn't always sound like it should, but he's trying.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Bring on the trick-or-treaters!

tickle monster...

I know this seems like we're torturing him...but I just can't get enough of his laugh! If you do it enough...he just shakes his head, out of breath, like, time out...I need a breather. So fun.

Free holiday cards!

No...I can't give you all free holiday cards...if that's what it would take to make sure you ALL order Christmas Cards from Pear Tree Greetings...as much as I'd love to, I can't. :)

However...if you take a picture of your kids (pets are welcome too!) in their Halloween costume and upload it to Pear Tree Greetings facebook wall in the next week...you'll automatically get entered to win a $50 coupon on any order from the site. Fun, right :) I thought so.

Random update from the weekend...it was great :) Spent Friday with my mom, Grandma and Connor in the cities, scrapbooked Friday night and most of Saturday (DONE with Connor's first year!), hockey game with Blake and Lindsey (Scotland roomie) Saturday night and errands with Anne on Sunday. Low key, relaxing and just nice! Have a video of Connor getting tickled that is pretty cute, will try and get it up soon.

Busy week ahead...scrapbooking night tomorrow, vball Wednesday and daycare Halloween party on Thursday. Fun, fun!

speed racer

This is something Connor has always done, well, since he could walk behind things, but, he's definitely getting faster.

Race Day

So, let me begin this offical recap of the half marathon with this:

This was one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life, both physically and mentally. It was hard. So hard. By the end it was difficult to NOT focus on how amazinly painful my legs were (or the fact that I couldn't believe they were still operating), or that the balls of my feet hurt so bad I wanted to take my shoes off or that I just wanted to walk...SO BAD. So bad. I have to give a HUGE thanks to Bibs who stayed with me. Many times I told her to just GO...but she didn't. Then I finally told her that for how many times I told her to go ahead...I was so thankful she stayed :) I'm blaming the hills for most of it. However disappointed I am that I had to walk up some of the hills, it motivates me to find another half marathon. A FLAT half marathon, to see how well I can actually do. So there, that's that. None of us have ANY intention of running that particular course EVER again. :)

Now, for the pictures.

pre-race at Anne's house

Bibs, Anne, me, Erin

pre-race, just after getting our race bibs and trying to warm up, it was 35 degrees I think, but during the run, none of us ever felt cold. Some crazies were even in shorts and tank tops. Crazies.

Oh my gosh, did I mention we had FANS? Well, Erin had fans, but they cheered for the rest of us too. Not going to lie, hearing someone cheer 'Go Christy! Go Christy! Way to go, keep it up!!' at about mile 5 or 6 was AWESOME. Thanks SO much to Randi and Dave, Erin's friend and boyfriend, for making the trek down. Thank you!
(we made them act like they were cheering for this picture)

post-race...smiles of satisfaction

again.

moving around was VERY difficult at this point, our legs were killing us

Erin with her fans

Erin and Dave. So cute. Not going to lie, I think I dreamt that Dave proposed at the finish line...didn't happen, but would have been cute, ha.

So, that's that. The other girls have some more pictures that I'll have to get and post if there are some good ones. We are so proud of ourselves and are all looking forward to doing it again. (again, I mention we'll do it again on a FLAT course)

fall photo shoot

For a project for work I needed to take some Fall photos of Connor. So Friday morning we went down to Sibley park to see if we could get some. It was like 38 degrees and a little damp...he wasn't entirely thrilled, but oh well. It was fun :)

Hey Ma, are we done yet?

we did it!

OMG...we DID IT. We ran a half marathon. And WOW was it HARD. No lie. It was at a state park outside of Faribault, therefore for 11 of the miles we were in the woods in a state park running on wet, leaf covered trails with tree roots sticking up all over and HILLS. Oh my word were there hills.

So no, I did not achieve my goal of running the entire time. I had to walk up the hills, they were crazy, and they just kept coming. Not to whine or complain, but I did certainly not train for hills, even though I should have.

That said, I still did meet my time goal of less than two hours and thirty minutes. Ha, barely...came in at 2:29 something...can't remember. I was focusing on staying standing and not falling over my legs were so tired.

Pictures to come, just thought I'd update you all that we finished :)

fun with cousin Ashlyn

Bryan picked up Connor early yesterday and it appears they went to visit cousin Ashlyn since my brother sent me this picture during the day :)

I'm a bad mom...I need to get the kid some snowpants, boots and warm coat. Well, I have snowpants for him, but they don't match his coat...ha. So therefore I think he needs a new coat. Sick, I know.

Reading

Connor is really into reading lately, which is awesome. His patience runs out after a little bit, but whenever you ask him if he wants to read he runs to where the books are and brings one to you. The other day I found him 'reading' out loud to himself while turning pages and then again when I captured it on video. Love that he enjoys reading, hopefully this continues!

fun with dipstick

This past Saturday Connor spent the day with Grandma & Grandpa Bode so I could run and Bryan had to work. They made a stop to Bryan's uncle Ed's house to visit with them. Turns out they have a cat (Vick/Amanda...when did this happen?) and it's name? Dipstick. Ha. Hilarious. Apparently Connor followed it everywhere it went.

ghosted

Sunday night we got 'ghosted'. How cute is that? The doorbell rang, Bryan went to answer it, thinking it was the boy scout who had been at our door about an hour before but Jay sent him away (ha). Hey, we've purchased a $20 tub of popcorn already from a different boy scout, we're not that cruel. Anyway...so I'm thinking it's the boyscout, I hear the door open, but no sound. Finally I look by the door and Bryan is standing there with an orange bucket in his hand looking around outside. We had been ghosted. He of course was trying to 'catch' the kid...party pooper. So it's a neighborhood thing, the goal is to have the entire neighborhood 'ghosted' by Halloween. So now it's our turn to 'ghost' someone! I love our neighborhood! (maybe this is a normal thing for living in the city...this sure didn't happen in the country growing up!)

Okay, so I staged this. But this is basically what happened. When you 'ghost' someone you're supposed to tape the ghost to the window, leave some treats and RUN.

How did they know Oreo's are the key to my heart?

Fun! I love Halloween!

kissing kate

aww...they're officially 'snot buddies'

ha.

seven days...

til my half marathon...EEK

If you know of any massage therapists that would want to come over to my house Saturday afternoon and do four massages...let me know, we are looking for one! And if they had a friend that did facials...we'd want them too!

Hey, we deserve it! (well, we WILL deserve it after we cross that finish line!)

18 months

Connor was officially 18 months yesterday. Wow. 18 months!

Things he's up to now...

-being naughty. Throws his food off of his tray when he's done. Then laughs. NAUGHTY.
-LOVES to go outside
-LOVES bananas, seriously eats on average 1 a day
-plays with his mini dozer, tractor-backhoe, pay loader and road grader all the time
-has a sweet new alligator see-saw...videos/pics coming soon
-has started 'reading' out loud...
-still doesn't say much other than 'uh-oh', occasional mama and dada, 'more' which sounds a lot like 'mama'...and I swear I've heard him say lawn mower, backhoe and yes. (yes, I may be dilusional)
-is into hugging and kissing...it's adorable
-still (knock on wood) is an amazing sleeper and 6/7 nights a week goes down without a peep. Just say 'time for nigh-night Connor' and he starts waving buh-bye to whoever is in the room, grabs his blanket and is ready to head upstairs
-loving bath time again, which makes this SO much easier. Maybe he's ready for a water park??
-has a love of marshmallows, and holds up his index finger when I say 'only one'
-loves to read books with you and can point to most of the animals
-can point to all the 'easy' body parts (tummy, toes, fingers, eyes, ears, hair, etc.)
-has an odd obsession for shoes. We'll be in the kitchen and he'll come in from the card room wearing one of our pairs of shoes (yes, sometimes they're mine) and he walks all around the house in them...
-drinks pretty well out of a cup but I'm still too nervous to just give him them because it'd be a mess :)
-is doing awesome using utensils and refuses any help. Today and yesterday he ate his entire bowls of cereal by himself
-doesn't let me put a bib on him
-doing great at daycare, still gets bit probably 3 days a week, but at least he only cries maybe once or twice in the mornings when I drop him off
-still has that darn nuk...but, at our house, only when he's in his crib. it's to the point where in the mornings when I pick him up out of his crib he pulls his nuk out and whips it (yes, whips) into the crib
-loves to play catch and baseball...altho he has to work on 'watching' the ball
-absolutely makes our day, every day :)

Marissa + Kels

Last weekend Bryan and I drove up north for Marissa's wedding. I went to school with Marissa in River Falls as well as she studied abroad in Scotland with me. It was GREAT to see her, she looked amazing and the wedding was beautiful!

Rach and I. Rach has lost FIFTY pounds, fifty! Rach, you look awesome!

Us.

Thanks Rach, I stole these pictures from your facebook, I didn't even bust out my camera.

deer!

The other night we were sitting around and Bryan noticed there were some deer in our cul-de-sac. Yes, deer. I suppose I shouldn't have been too suprised with the ravine right there, but still. Connor thought it was super cool.

Sorry for the terrible pictures.

TOG Fall Party

Well, yes, I'm still alive, if any of you are wondering. Just been super busy lately. So, finally getting all my pictures off of my camera and getting life organized. I have the kitchen cleaned, living room picked up, and laundry as caught up as it can get (last load in dryer right now) so I'm feeling good. I FINALLY have no plans this weekend (except sadly missing Sarah's baby shower in LaCrosse :()...and I am thrilled. I need a break from whatever it is I've had every weekend for the past few months. Okay, enough of my complaining. It's been great, just haven't had time to breathe it seems.

Anyhow...totally forgot about these pictures. A few weeks ago Connor and I attended TOG's fall party at McGowan farms in Mankato. It was fun!

Connor found one of his friends from school...hello, friend. Fancy seeing you here.

Trish + Kate

They chased each other around half the night, it was pretty cute.

Obsessed with the hammer power meter thingy...however the hammer was a bit too heavy for him.

And I had to save him from getting in the way multiple times.

Kaitlyn. Loves to pose :)

Aww, mom..