A Day in the Life of a 1 Year Old.....

Connor turned 1 this past July. Since then he has learned how to walk.... meaning... how to get into everything that he couldn't before! :) And let me tell you....he has a blast doing just that! Until he gets in trouble....he doesn't like being told no that's for sure!! But does any kid??

Well today a couple of {funny} incidents happened and I just had to share.

He was playing in the boy's room and was trying so hard to get the kazoo out of the box of music toys.....trying so hard that he fell....right into the bucket of toys! He was crying so hard and I felt bad but at the same time it was {funny} and so being a {terrible} mother I had to run and get my camera first before I got him out!! So worth the picture though. {Terrible mom, I know!:)}

He was so happy to be rescued.....and so happy to be playing that kazoo....even though he still had tears in his eyes from the traumatic experience! (You can see the tears if you look close.)

A little bit after that first event, came this: the typical getting into the kitchen cupboards. Only this time he was able to open brother's container of pencils, crayons and markers......and this is how I found him. Very happy and content trying to one-by-one place each marker, crayon and pencil into a measuring cup (found in another cupboard). Little stinker!

Uh-oh! Knocked it all over! :)

And even though it can be frustrating at times with all my cabinets (kitchen, bathroom, etc.) being raided all day long over and over again.......I still can't get mad at this cute little boy!

I mean, who could ever get mad at this cute little face? Certainly not his mother! :)

Fall Fun and Pre-School Party!

We've been so busy this past week I hardly know what to talk about. Here are just a couple of the fun events that have occurred this week due to Fall and Halloween celebrations.

Last Saturday we went to the Annual Fall Festival at Shawn's elementary school. It was a lot of fun. They always have bounce houses, slides, food and lots of games & prizes. I only got a couple pictures, but here they are....
The first are the boys climbing up the ladder at the beginning of the obstacle course:

And here they are coming down the slide at the end of the obstacle course...Shawn came in first with Brady a close second:

Our two silly boys...... "What up Homey G's?"

The next fun event was Brady's Preschool Halloween Party. It was today (Thursday) because it is the last day of his school week. He was SOOO excited to dress up in his costume for school he could hardly stand it! Here is our little pirate in front of his preschool teacher's house:

They had all sorts of games and activities including spray-painting the kids hair all sorts of cool colors:

And here is our pirate after getting home with all his loot! {and boy did he get a lot of it!!}


And last but not least, here is Brady singing a cute Halloween song he learned at Preschool. He's been singing it all month long so I had to get it on video! :)

Hope everyone has a fun weekend and a Happy Halloween!
{Stay tuned for more pics of all the kids in costume for Halloween!}

Fall Break Fun!

For Fall Break this year we were boring and didn't go anywhere exciting or fun {Mike was in North Carolina most of the week for some work training}, BUT we decided to just have fun around here! I didn't have to babysit the whole week so I decided it was a good week to "Spring Clean"(aka "Deep Clean") the house - something I've wanted to do for a long time. On top of that - which is SO much work! - I tried to spend some time everyday doing something fun with the kids. Here are just a few snapshots of some of the things we spent our time doing for our Fall Break:

Shawn and Brady set up camp with their sleeping bags and spent some quality time with their gameboys. :)

Connor decided to get in on the fun and he {snuck} in when Brady got up and tried to play his Leapster!

We spent a couple different times at the park -- the weather has been so beautiful!!! The boys LOVE the park! And this was Connor's first time I actually let him walk/crawl around the playground and go down the slide, etc. (I'd been holding off until he was better at walking.) Needless to say, he LOVED playing with his brothers instead of watching them from the stroller!:)

We made some new friends building "volcanoes" in the sand:

And we played a little bit of catch with the football:

One of the nights Mike was gone I had a "slumber party" with the boys. We ate popcorn, watched a movie, and then they slept on my bed with me (except Connor who I still had sleep in his crib.) It was a lot of fun!! Although, I didn't get much sleep being squished between two little boys who love to roll around in their sleep! :)
Here are the boys all snuggled up in their jammies and blankies:

I apologize for this one - I sorta cut the top of our heads off and I look like I'm choking Connor! I don't know why I didn't take another. Oh well!

All of us in our slippers!

One afternoon we decided to make our traditional "Pumpkin-Faced Cookies" that we make every October. Here are the boys rolling the dough balls in the sugar:

The cookies post-baking and pre-frosting/decorating:

The boys decorating the faces on the cookies after I frosted them:

And the finished product - cute and YUMMY!!!

Overall we had a fun Fall Break! It was nice to be able to relax, play, and get a little extra sleep! I certainly wasn't ready to go back to real life this week, but at the same time it's so nice to be back "on schedule." {Yes, I am one of THOSE people who love to have my schedule!} :)

Now it is just count down time until Thanksgiving and then Christmas in Hawaii!!!

So Far, So Good!

Shawn's first quarter of Second Grade has ended! All I can say is...so far, so good! He was on the Principal's Honor Roll for the quarter (98% average grade!) Way to go Shawn!!!

He also was the Student of the Month for his class in August:

Good job Shawn! Let's keep up the good work all year long! We love you! :)

Random Moments of Motherhood

Here are just a few random happenings from our house this week.

SHAWN - is growing up so fast. Too fast. I still can't believe I am the mother of a 2nd grader! And a smart one at that! Last night I was talking to Shawn, and as I was explaining something to him I apparently was using quite a bit of hand motions while I was talking. (I tend to do this sometimes.) When I was finished Shawn looked at me and said very matter-of-factly:

"Mom. You don't have to use sign language. I speak the same language that you do."

All I could do was laugh and think to myself "What?!"... where does he get these things from?:) Such a personality my little boy has! :)


BRADY - I just have to say.... Brady has the BEST preshcool teacher in the history of preschool teachers! That woman is AMAZING!!! {All of you that take your kids to her I'm sure feel the same way!} Everyday he comes home having done the coolest activites and made the cutest crafts that go with their theme for the week. Here is a picture of Brady with just a few of the things he has made the last couple weeks. There is the wreath hanging above his head, the huge leaf hanging next to him, and the darling scarecrow he is holding.

The only problem with so many cute art projects is...how do you choose which ones to keep.....and where do you keep them all?!?! I'm glad Brady is loving preschool and he seems to be doing really well and learning a lot! He will be ready for Kindergarten next year for sure!


CONNOR - Connor is just being great at being the baby of the family! He is getting such a cute little personality. I think that is one of my favorite things of being a mom is watching your kids grow up and develop their very own personality and character. And each of my children are so different it's amazing! Connor has learned (just in the last week or so) that he can walk everywhere and he has now just taken off! {Which of course means many more cupboards and closets for him to get into, but that's a whole other story!:)} He loves to play with his brothers, snuggle with mommy, and he absolutely ADORES his daddy! One of my favorite things about Connor are his beautiful eyelashes:

All of my boys have these long gorgeous eyelashes and I am so jealous!! Why can little boys just be born with them and us girls have to try so hard {using mascara and things} to try and pretend like we have them?! Not fair! But I do love them on {all 3} of my little boys eyes! :)

He's Walking!

We have reached another milestone at our house this month -- Connor is now officially walking!!! He is 15 months old tomorrow so we are very excited for this accomplishment! :) He has been walking holding onto things for a quite a few months and even the last couple months he would attempt a couple steps here and there on his own, but this week he just decided he could walk everywhere!! Here is a little video of our cute little guy. {My favorite is when he touches his little hand to the wall to try and steady himself!}

Touchdown!

Shawn had his first flag football game of the season today. (He plays with his elementary school.) It was so fun to watch! They are already quite a bit better than last year. :) Shawn played good too! He is the Running Back and he made 2 of their team's 3 touchdowns!!! Both of which he ran almost the full length of the field to make! Even though their team lost (both teams made 3 touchdowns, but the other team made 2 of their extra points to win by 2) they really played well and had so much fun! I was pretty much into just watching the game so I only got a few pictures (and not great action ones), so I will try and get better ones later in the season. But here are the few that I was able to get.
The first is actually Shawn sitting off to the side waiting his turn to play.

The next is Shawn playing defense and trying to get to the person with the ball.

This one Brady took --- Shawn waiting for the play to start (and squinting in the sun!) :)

Shawn and some of his teammates waiting for a play to start.

This picture Shawn is actually running with the ball! It's hard to tell because his back is to the camera, but you can see his teammates blocking the other team from getting him!

This is Shawn right after he scored a touchdown!!!

Coach O. having a huddle with the team. He is a really good coach and all of the kids seem to like him a lot. {He is also a 2nd grade teacher at their elementary school.}

Brady was really into playing with the camera, so here is a picture of me and Connor watching the game.

Then he wanted one of him and Connor. Connor didn't want to look at the camera so Brady decided he was going to make him. Pretty funny!

Well, that's all for now....more pics to come late in the season I'm sure!

Obsession...

So I've recently discovered a new website (blog) that I just am in love with! It is called Summertime Designs and she makes all sorts of pages and elements that you can download to your computer to use.....for FREE!!! Free is good. {A lot of websites that make things like this charge quite a bit to use their products.} She has so many cute things and I have been totally obsessed with it lately. I've been downloading and creating and.....well, let's just say my husband thinks I should be banned from the computer when he's home from work. :) Now, I'm no pro at this sort of thing {as already stated - I just discovered how to use this stuff} but I figure practice will only make me better, right? Here are just a few of things that I have attempted:





I'm thinking not too bad for my first time with this "digital" stuff! :) Anyway! Here is the website if you want to check out all the FREE cute things: www.summertimedesigns.blogspot.com
(there is also a link to it on the left side of my page under favorites.) Right now she has some totally cute Halloween things!!