Santa 2011

So I really thought this would go better this year. Connor is very into and aware of Santa, although we have those precious moments when he 'hates Santa' or 'doesn't like Santa', those are fun, but overall we've been able to play the card that Santa's watching pretty well. We've talked about sitting on his lap, etc.  Last night Connor was the most well behaved boy I have ever seen, it was so sweet. I would ask him to get Grayson's nuk, 'Sure mom, no problem'. One time he even caught me not saying please and he paused, looked at me and said, 'did you say please?' Love it.

But, as you can see, it didn't go well. Although just with school and class pictures, I think they're more fun when they're not 'perfect'.

 I really thought Grayson would do fine, I forgot to do the whole 'place your child on the lap while still facing you', not sure that would have helped any.

Grayson is wearing the same shirt Connor wore for his first Santa visit. Here's a recap of Connor's first three visits.

a side by side comparison

Connor didn't want to go near Santa with a ten foot pole. He did manage to say what he wanted (a snow plow truck), but he was clinging to me for his life so we're not sure if Santa heard it or not...but I'm sure if Connor behaves the rest of the weekend we'll be sure to give Santa a call. Ha.

On the way to the car (Connor back to his bubbly self), Connor mentioned that he's sure Santa heard what he wanted and that since Grayson cried, Santa is only going to be bringing him a nuk.

I would love to promise this is the last post with Connor wearing this shirt, but I make no guarantees.

2011 Class Pictures

 Daycare took their annual class photos back in October (or was it November?) and the print orders came in this week.

Connor and his 'snuffie' friends

 typical 'when is this going to be over' expression

(middle row, far right)

Grayson and his 'tigger' friends

This picture makes me look like a liar when I say Grayson doesn't move. I mean really, the kid especially wasn't moving back when this photo was taken and he's the one that appears like he needs to be restrained. Go figure.

(front row, 2nd from right)

Wouldn't be a 'good' school picture if they were perfect, right?

Muesing Christmas 2011

The annual Muesing (Bryan's mom's side) Christmas was this past Sunday night at Whiskey River in St. Peter. It's a good, semi-central location for all and it's always a good time.

Grayson and April

Evan and Connor played so great together, although we banished them out of the little party room as they were doing what boys do best, running around and making truck and train noises. I know, I know, control the children. 

John and Aaron

the 'kids'

Tough lighting so why not play with editing it a bit :)

the 'older' kids :)

Until next year!

vikings game

Somewhat spur of the moment, Connor got to go to his first Vikings game on Sunday. He did so well and seemed to have fun even though it was right over nap time. He was about done halfway through the third quarter or so, but I think the entire crowd was by that point so not sure I blame him.

 

 After the game we had some time to kill so we stopped at the Mall of America to hit a few rides. Although parking nearly caused a divorce, we eventually found a spot and had about an hour to spend on the rides. Connor definitely enjoyed himself.

 

 Don't let this ride fool you, it looks like the tiniest little track and only has about 6 cars, but it really whips you around the corners.

We had a great day, even more fun that it wasn't necessarily planned!

feeding cattle

Connor and Bryan went on a little adventure this past weekend with my dad which included making a pit stop to feed some cattle. He must have done well, Grandpa Tim said he earned an entire dollar!

grayson: nine months

I'm a few days late with this post and also had plans to attempt a little mini photo shoot to go with it, but didn't get to it. Maybe we'll try for month 10.

What's Grayson up to these days? He's still not crawling. Or rolling. Although, he is leaning VERY far, actually a little too far for my liking because as he's learning to reach farther and farther, this is causing him to fall over. Then, since I mentioned he can't crawl or roll, he's stuck, and requires our assistance to sit him up again. I much prefer the purely stationery little boy who didn't move. Kidding, it's fun to see him moving up in the mobility department. Slowly but surely.

However, his new view down on the ground has led to amazing discoveries such as the door stop. Fascinating. 

He doesn't sleep super awesome. Most nights, he's up around 12-1 and then again at 5. I'm getting pretty close to letting him cry it out (deja vu, I wonder how many monthly posts in a row I've said that now, ha), but just don't have the heart yet. He typically eats a few ounces and is right back to sleep.

He doesn't poop. Seriously what is it with me and my children?! He'll go 6-7 days and then will pass something bigger than what you and I are probably used to. I'm not kidding. I have a picture on my phone if you're interested. (again not kidding, plan on showing the pediatrician next time we go in).

Speaking of pediatricians, I'm a horrible mom and always forget to book well baby appointments in advance, so his official nine month stats won't come until he's about 10 months. Oops.

Prefers to eat table food over baby food, always. He still eats his cereal (that I mix with pear baby food and prune juice to try and keep things moving, which clearly isn't working) well, but hates eating veggies or the little 'meals' of baby food. But give this kid some banana bread, bites of chicken, green beans, so far, and he'll try it.

Thinks the sippy cup is hilarious. Loves to have us help him use it, but then loves to blow raspberries with a mouth full of water. Enough said.

Mostly wearing 18 month clothes.

Is my snuggler. I.Love.This. We have a favorite position while sitting in the rocker chair in the living room and he just nestles right in, regardless of his mood. Okay, if he's uber pissed it maybe doesn't work, but most of the time, I get some good quality snuggle time.

Loves daycare, or at least it seems like it when I drop him off and he's flashing his two-tooth grin and reaching for his teachers. They also love him, I think, other than the pooping issue, hard not to love a baby that doesn't move I would imagine. Although that causes issues in the self-defense department, hence the gash on his cheek from a 'friend' at school.

Unofficial weight this morning was 23.6 pounds.

Still our happy little guy that we love to pieces. Happy nine months, Grayson!

2011 Christmas Card

I love Christmas card season. Cliche, but seriously, how can you not love checking the mail to see who sent you a card that day? I love it. Love seeing the pictures, reading the letters. Admittedly, I might be a little more of a nut than others since my day job consists of working with them all.year.long at Pear Tree Greetings (yes, just in case some of you didn't know, that's where I work!), but it has yet to lessen my excitement every November/December when the cards start rolling in. The only thing working there does is put a tiny little bit of extra pressure on me (okay maybe I just put this on myself) to make our cards great. This year I actually went with this Save the Date Card and turned it into a Christmas Card. Huge thanks again to Gina Zeidler for the great photography!

I also love displaying all of the cards we get. Much to the annoyance of Bryan, they stay up until probably February, maybe even March. I guess he's lucky we have a March baby now because I'll probably make sure they are taken down in time for Grayson's birthday party each year. And no, my camera lens isn't dirty, just playing with a new filter app on my phone :)


Disclaimer: In no way do I think I created THE card of ALL cards, ha. I'm happy with how they turned out, yes, but it's probably a similar thing to how we all think own children are the most adorable and everyone else's are just so-so. You know it's true, ha.

Here's to another few weeks of getting the mail with a little extra pep in your step to see what's there!

early Christmas gifts

Yesterday after Connor's program at church Grandma and Grandpa Bode gave the boys a little early Christmas gift. Surprisingly, the packages made it intact through the entire car ride home and Connor had some things to do at home first before he could open them (he gladly offered to open Grayson's as well, how kind). Then, he even waited for me to get my camera.

I do believe this is the first time I've ever dressed them in matching shirts other than their adorable Halloween pjs. I at least tried to change it up a bit with the undershirts and pants selections. :)

Connor excited for his Charlie Brown trilogy and Grayson still attacking the socks.

What? These are just socks? (kidding :))

hey, nice shirt. 

yeah, you too.

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Bode!

Christmas Programs 2011

Connor had two Christmas programs this year, one for his daycare and one for Sunday school. We never once were under the illusion that he'd be the kid singing, doing all the moves, loving every second of it, rather we kind of went into them thinking they'd be a success if he stood there the entire time and didn't come running or crying for us right away. He surprised us on a few things :)

I have video of both performances and at some point I'll try to put a little edited video together.

 shy, of course, but smiling.

our first mistake may have been to sit in the front row

you can see his best buds here, lucas in the back left corner and mason, right behind Connor

He's singing! He actually sang!

still happy...still singing...

the singing continues...

and then it went downhill

and he got his bell taken away

got his bell back, but definitely all hope for participation was a lost cause at this point

and the only kid to be sitting during the last song. ha.

The kids had two performances that day and from what I heard from Lucas' mom, Connor didn't sing right away but sang the rest of the program. So I might just steal her video :)

Now onto his Sunday School program. I would have broken this into two posts, but he was already wearing the same outfit, ha.

 We didn't sit in the front row this time, but he saw us on his walk in and had the BIGGEST smiles on. It was so adorable. Bryan and I were there, Uncle Aaron and then Grandma and Grandpa Bode (Grayson too, of course).

He was smiling at us the entire time. Singing? Not a word, ha, but smiling. 

What more can we ask for?

The whole group. I should have tried to stand up a bit more for this shot so it wasn't perfectly framed by this probably very sweet older couple, and I thought about cropping it, but then the clouds of white in each corner would have maybe been confusing. Ha. 

So, I will mark this as a successful first year of Christmas programs for Connor! 

I'm sure he's glad to be done with them for an entire year :)

'tis the season

Tree has been up since the day after Thanksgiving, but it was ornament-less until today.

We had a very much needed low-key weekend. I'm on a 'December De-Clutter' (not sure if I made that up or stole it from somewhere) kick. Cleaning out things and organizing, one thing at a time. This weekend was the office. Cleaned out the closet, my desk  and some of the shelves. I am seriously considering having an early spring garage sale and selling A LOT of my scrapbooking stuff (gasp!). I have so so so much and although I'm not prepared to fully give up the hobby, there are tools and techniques I no longer do or don't spend the time to do, and therefore, I should just get rid of it. It's taking up far too much space in my house.

This week will consist of volleyball, some more de-cluttering hopefully and I should really start Christmas shopping. I am trying to avoid going to the stores, just the thought of wading through the masses makes me cringe, so hopefully I can find everything online.

And since I really have nothing exciting to blog about, I'll stop here :)

 
Here's to a merry and bright December!

photo dump

Well hello, blog friends. I have had very little to blog about lately and figured I'd just share a few photos from the past few weeks. The funny thing is, I started drafting a post last week about being in a 'groove'. For a few weeks there I was rocking laundry, cooking dinner, keeping the house clean, daily. (many of you I know are already supermoms and superwives, I am not, Bryan and my kids would quickly tell you :), so this was big for me!) It felt great, really great. But, ha, the groove is no longer. Laundry is 2 loads behind and the mountain to fold and put away is now so big I just shut my eyes as I walk past the laundry room so I pretend it doesn't exist. My dishwasher loads are so full I loathe unloading it. My kitchen counters are cluttered. So. No groove post this week, ha. Maybe next week I'll find it again!

I'll try and start taking pictures or doing things with the kids that are blogworthy!

Was trying to find a pic of Connor in this great $3 garage sale snowsuit, but I couldn't find one quickly. I think there is a slight resemblance. Also for the record, I've moved him out of his car seat carrier and into a big kid car seat. He digs it, can see Connor much easier.

Loves his bath time. 

We celebrated my niece Kaelyn's 1st birthday!

G-man and Grandma Ruth

Krystal and Kaelyn at her birthday party

sunny morning bathtime

and that's all I have :)