pumpkin carving

We carved pumpkins for the first time last night and what I thought would be such a fun family activity, Connor got frustrated that the 'guts' wouldn't come out very easily and was soon bored and apparently Bryan had traumatic experiences as a child with the guts of a pumpkin and wasn't too eager to help. So, I ended up completing by myself during which I was regretting the decision, but of course in the end it will be fun to have them out on the front steps this weekend.

Then I display my work on the table and Bryan tells my my cat looks like a camel. Nice.
Hope to see you all trick-or-treating at 31 Otter Court Sunday night!

Oh, and my camera had an accident (Connor may have been involved) and is out of commission for the moment, hence the poor quality of the photos.

lambeau field

This past weekend Bryan and 5 other guys made the trek to Green Bay for the Packers/Vikings game. Obviously we all know how it turned out, and the weather was pretty crappy, but they had a good time and Bryan enjoyed touring Lambeau field and of course I'm sure they enjoyed the tailgating :)

Bryan's view from the top of their RV. Kmart and Lambeau.
Having never been to Green Bay myself, I still find it wrong that there's a Kmart, since it is the headquarters for ShopKo you know :) (and of course my years of working at ShopKo have me still being loyal...well unless there's a Target nearby)

Bryan's tour guide. This is exactly what I would expect of a Lambeau Field tour guide.

Tailgating.

Again, such a bummer of a game but they still had a good time.

potty training.

Well, Friday night I had this big potty training post ready to go, basically my top ten reasons why I hate potty training (began drafting after cleaning two pairs of shoes and then poop out of multiple pairs of underwear from the day so you can about imagine the tone of my top 10).

Knock on wood...things have gone VERY well since then.

Yesterday, he went on the toilet six times and only had one accident (and we were at my brother's house, I am almost sure he would have gone on the toilet if we were home). Today has been good as well, 4 times on the toilet so far. Still wearing a diaper for naps and bedtime, but it's going well over the weekend.

So, hopefully we're on our way. I've probably increased my patience level as well, apparently I was expecting him to just 'get it' when he was ready, but really, it's only day 4 today of wearing underwear all day.

uncooperative and non-photogenic

According to the ultrasound tech, that's our new baby. Great :)

But for a decent baby update, all is well, as far as we know. Had a doctor appointment on the 8th and all was well there, heart rate about 150-160. I think the doctor thinks its funny women ask, because, myself included, we're really just trying to guess the gender, ha. No idea what Connor's heart rate was but it did slow down into the 130-140 range near the end of the pregnancy.

Then this past Thursday we had our 'big' ultrasound. Appointment went well, not sure the tech would say either way I guess, but she sounded cheery, ha. She did struggle getting the pictures she needed for both the doctor and us. She said baby was completely flipping positions constantly and was hanging out beneath my belly button which they're unable to see with the equipment due to the air there. So, below are some, might I say, terrible photos of little baby b.

We did not find out the gender, however the entire morning before the appointment I was very much reconsidering this decision, but I'm glad I didn't. Connor thinks it's a boy, no matter how you ask (used to always pick the second option, however you phrased it), Bryan thinks it's a girl (I think he just wants to be done after two, ha) and I have no idea, however I'm leaning more towards boy. Obviously, a healthy baby is the most important thing :)

Ultrasounds creep me out a little bit. Like look at this. All I think of is ET or the aliens from the movie Signs.

Foot. Surrounded by a giant placenta. (no idea if it's really giant or not, but I've been googling it, ha, appears to not be a terrible thing if it is oversized, or at least I hope).
The tech wasn't planning on giving us this photo, hence the caption 'trans placenta' but she was unable to get another picture of a foot the rest of the time so she went back in her picture stash for the doctor to give us this one.

Hand.
Don't be alarmed, baby is just showing off that it can signal 'four' and tuck the thumb in.

And that's really it. I have about 20 more, but they are worse than the above.

Officially half way there this Tuesday, a little crazy to think about that. Next appointment will be sometime in the first few weeks of November.

smile!

Connor's new face when you ask him to smile:


This seemed to be new, come day of family photos. Fantastic. :)

BIG dump truck

Bryan's brother, Aaron, also works in the construction industry and has always wanted for Connor to see the equipment that he runs. Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Bode picked up Connor from school in the morning as Aaron's company was moving equipment from one site to the next...and apparently, due to the size of the equipment, it's quite the process. Connor of course LOVED it and was upset (read: meltdown) that he wasn't able to get a ride in it. All we heard about last night was the two BIG dump trucks that Aaron drives.

So this morning we were able to get escorted into the pit he works at and go for a few rides, I even had to sport a hard hat and neon vest, no pictures, sorry. To date, my favorite piece of construction or farm equipment is the giant sprayers that have wheels six feet tall...however...the equipment that Aaron runs is definitely battling for that top position. It's like excavation equipment on steroids.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the loader tractor that loads this thing, but hopefully you can about imagine. In case you can't see, Aaron is holding Connor.

harvest

It's harvest time so we've gone out to my brother's fields a few times as well as Bryan's dad's cousin's place. Connor of course loves it and gets rides in the combine. He apparently doesn't say much when he's in there. Hands on his lap, intently watching the combine do its thing. Maybe he's just showing Joe and Stan how responsible he is and so that they someday let him drive it himself...

Quick break for supper

with Grandma Ruth

Thankfully, we've had AWESOME weather for these guys to continue working day after day to get the crops out.

zip line

Saturday night we stopped at my Uncle Bob's house for their Oktoberfest party. Connor had an absolute BLAST. Ellie and Lucy (my cousins) have a trampoline, giant play set and this amazing zip line. The first few times, Bryan ran with Connor supporting his legs. Then the next few times, Bryan just ran next to him, finally telling me that even if Connor DID fall, he's not sure he would catch him in time anyways, fantastic. Eventually, Connor just wanted to do this by himself. I was shocked that he did this, clearly I underestimate two year olds :)

I even had my video camera in the car, SO mad I didn't get a video of this!

fun at mary's

As always, we were spoiled at Mary's, and Connor loved it :) He had fun jumping around her new landscaping in the back yard and then spending some QT on the couch with Bryan. Thank you again, Mary, so much for everything! We loved it!

fantastic weekend

Bryan, Connor and I had a fabulous weekend. Saturday morning started with Connor hanging out with Bryan at the job sites and I went shopping to finalize family photo wardrobes. Around noon we headed up to Como Zoo for a few hours, went to my aunt Mary's house, a party at my Uncle Bobby's house, back to spend the night at Mary's and then family pictures on Sunday to wrap it up. We had a total blast trying to enjoy these last few weeks of nice weather!

The only pics I took at the zoo...and then more pictures coming soon :)

This is the wildly adorable (not) face you get when you say, "say cheese, connor".

the bergen experience

A few weeks ago, two other couples + Bryan and I took a road trip to the Bergen bar in Windom, MN. It's about an hour south of Mankato, basically in the middle of no where. This is this group's second road trip to Bergen (aside from Jay, who was terribly sick the first time we went) and yet again, it was a fabulous time. By fabulous, I mean I think we were laughing the entire 4 hours we were together, aside from when we were devouring our amazing 22 ounce ribeye steaks, twice baked potatoes, drinks (pop and water for Ang and I of course) and more. (Bryan and I's tab came to $40 something, no lie, this place is a diamond in the rough)

The highlight of the trip might have been the flooding. No, the flooding was not a good thing, but it provided us some good entertainment as we attempted to find an open road to the bar and eventually, just had to go for it. I'm sure none of you will enjoy this video as much as those of us that went, probably a 'had to be there' situation, but it made me laugh all over again. And obviously I have no movie making skills, ha, as you'll easily notice, but it was still fun to put together.





Oh, and then to top it off, Ang introduced me to this video on the way home and we had to watch it a few times, once again, unable to control our laughter. You really have to watch the entire thing.