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 :)

grayson: eight months

Well, to be honest, nothing much new around here in G-man's world. Although he still doesn't 'move', he's getting more 'active' in his exersaucer. Amazing, right? :) For how much crap I give him, it's seriously sooo nice that he's not mobile, ha. I painted my entire room while he sat on the bed (let's just pretend that's not hazardous, I had the windows open at least) and didn't move. If he fell over, no big deal, just babbled away and took in the scenery from his new position. So, we're really not complaining. He is a decent sleeper still, will give us full nights mixed in with up-once-nights. Not complaining there, either. We're probably ready for the 'ol 'cry it out' method, but I don't mind cuddling with him for 10 minutes in the middle of the night. Two teeth. Back to having BM's every 4-6 days which is really frustrating (for all of us) and when it happens...you feel horrible for the little man. So, we continue to pump juices and fruits into him, hoping that will help. I think three days a week his sheet from school says 'he was so content doing [insert baby activity here]'. Loves watching his brother however is figuring out he does NOT like it when Connor steals a toy away from him [insert terribly dramatic, no sound because he's crying so hard, here].  Drinking 4-5 six ounce bottles a day. Milk supply just went under the 400 bag mark. I think he thinks he's ready for steak and potatoes, because he hates eating veggies for me, however he loves his oatmeal, so I just let daycare force down the veggies ;) And I would try giving him table foods, if he didn't choke on puffs. Ha. (I am horrible) No, I'm joking. He loves his puffs. He just needs help getting them into his mouth. No idea how much he weighs, I just know that I'm ready to move him to a regular car seat and ditch the infant carrier.

So, that about sums up our little (big) man! We love him to pieces.

school pictures

Annual school photos. Enough said :)

(scanned in from originals, hence the nice line right down the middle of Connor's face)

There is a shot of them together, but I had that taken on the 'fall' background and I'm requesting they crop out the creepy scarecrow in the background, so once I get that back I'll be sure to post.

family photos sneak peek

The other weekend we had our family photos taken by Gina of Gina Zeidler Photography. I've said it before, but she does such an amazing job and altho I stress out every year (what to wear, will the boys cooperate (Bryan included, ha), what if someone doesn't nap that day, etc.), she makes it so stress-free and fun for the session. I've only seen the few below and a family one that I'll keep secret in case it makes the 'ol Christmas Card! Can't wait to see the rest!

It's pretty safe to say there won't be a great picture of the two boys together (smiling). This was at the end of our session and Connor wanted nothing to do with posing for more photos. He was pushing Grayson over, Grayson was getting a little crabby and yeah. Oh well, this one is still cute ;)

our little ham

Thanks also to my friend, Rachel, who joined us for our session to help keep the boys entertained and smiling. Connor was in HEAVEN with the goodie bag Rachel brought. He still talks about 'that green bag Rachel gave me with lots of cars and trucks and candy'. 

And no guarantee that some of these photos won't make our cards, of course :) (as if any of you are too concerned)

girls weekend

Last weekend five of my college girlfriends came down/over for a low key, relaxing get together. We had no serious plans other than to just catch up, laugh, drink a little wine (beer was accepted as well) and we had the babies, so couldn't do anything too crazy anyways :) Always love our time spent together!

just to clarify, his shirt says 'Certified HUNK'...not CHUNK. Ha.

Ashlynn and Erin

Bibs and I

Steph and Rach

taking the plasma car for a spin

which turned into an activity for all to try

Looking forward to our next get together :)

brotherly love

love these boys.

Halloween 2011

As tradition has it, Krystal and the kids and our parents come over to celebrate, hand out candy, let the kiddos play and just hang out. This year was the first year actually taking Connor and Ashlyn trick-or-treating, and I had some reservations on how Connor would do. As he tends to get a little shy, I was imagining having to go up to the door with him, have him standing behind me, refusing to say "trick-or-treat", etc., and thinking it could be a really short trip around the neighborhood. However...he definitely proved me wrong! It was such a fun night.

 my little pigskin

 First house, neighbor Dave, kids went right up on their own and officially trick-or-treated for the first time! It was pretty adorable, they're growing up too fast.

 

 They thought it was the best thing EVER. Running house to house yelling 'this is SOOO fun' or 'giddyup cowboy!' (no idea why the cowboy references were coming out)

The kids got pretty tired eventually, when Krystal and I offered to carry their candy buckets we were surprised at how heavy they actually were! No wonder they were beat. Krystal and I had a good time reminiscing our own trick-or-treating adventures, especially considering it was the 20 year reunion of the giant snowstorm. While we were out with the kids, my dad told Bryan that he apparently drove around Nicollet for nearly two hours looking for me and my friend that year. Hilarious (probably not at the time).

So, it was a pretty successful Halloween. The fact that I even got Connor to wear a costume I think is amazing. We had 76 kids come to our house which was a record for us. We have two new homes going up in our cul-de-sac so we'll be looking to beat that record next year. If I was a kid out there, I'd probably skip our street, too :) The only downer, I didn't get any decorations or cat eyes up. I need to figure out a new spot for the cat eyes as I didn't think Grayson would appreciate them too much in his room. There's always next year :)

teeth!

Grayson has been working on teeth for awhile now and you can finally really see them coming in. I swear it's been a month since I could first start to feel the top of it on his gums, but that just makes sense considering the pace he's doing everything else at :) (ie....he still doesn't roll)

(sorry two close up pics of Grayson in a row, playing with my new camera and lens that I have no idea how to operate :))

home. sick.

Grayson has been up and down with sickness the past week or so. Constant runny nose and congestion, and you can imagine how much he loves the booger sucker thing (I'm sure there is a much better name for that, but why beat around the bush). Last Thursday he got sent home from school for throwing up, I go to pick him up and he's super happy and bubbly, but he still threw up twice within an hour of being home. Thankfully, instantly returned to smiley happy self. He was just fine over the weekend and through yesterday. This morning, he was a little cranky at me, but I was just thinking it was because I added four ounces of water to what was left of his bottle (so like one ounce of milk, ha) and he wasn't really digging that. Connor went up to him and goes "don't worry buddy, your teachers will get you a nice warm bottle of milk with no water in it."

But, it must not have been the watered down milk, as he was sent home a little after 1pm today with a fever of 101.2. He also puked in his car seat as soon as I got him into the house. Lots of naps and snuggle time in store for us tonight, which I'm okay with!