Pumpkin Time!

Our good friend's, Missy and Spencer, had some people over to carve pumpkins. Connor loves Missy and Spencer and was THRILLED to get the chance to go to their home for a "Pumpkin Halloween Party" as he put it. He was the only kid there and found joy in snacking on some doughnuts, chocolate and chips and dip while helping Byron scoop out the inside of the pumpkin and then carve it. He was a good helper and so proud of his work!


(I'm realizing now that I probably should have posted a picture of the actual finished pumpkin, but oh well. It looks cool.)

Friends

Connor loves being around other children. He practically begs me to make play dates. We've been lucky to make new friends, Lilly and Grace. I met Lilly's Mom through a book club and Grace's Mom through playing church basketball (our team rocked by the way). Lilly will be moving soon so we're so glad we've got the chance to hang out a few times. Thanks for the fun times Liz and Amy!

Last week Byron had Thursday and Friday off for Fall Break and so we took the chance to head down to S. Carolina to spend some time with Byron's parents or "Mimi and Papa" as they're better known as around here. Some of the fun things we got to do included: Kristi getting her hair done one last time before the baby comes (I'll have beautiful hair for a few weeks at least); Theresa, Bev, and Byron's brother Jarom taking Connor to Chuck E Cheese while Byron and I had a night out; Byron and I attending a session at the Columbia, S.C temple (one of the male temple workers seemed a little concerned that I might have the baby while at the temple); having fun playing with Missy (the dog) and Izzy (the cat), the sand box, going fishing, feeding the neighbor's horses, exploring around the house; and I think the highlight for Connor, attending the South Carolina State Fair. He was so excited to see the Ferris Wheel for some reason and kept talking about it all day.

Connor loved finding the work machines and "testing" them out. The only hiccup was he kept on asking for the keys. He wanted to fire those babies up! He loved seeing all the animals and had a fun time petting this "soft" bunny.

The highlight for him though were the rides. He had a crash course in the art of waiting in line. There were a few car rides he was tall enough to ride and he was thrilled. The picture below is of the roughest ride he went on. Little race cars went around a loop but really sped up and whipped those cars around the corners. We saw the ride and thought Byron should ride with him so Connor wouldn't get whip lashed. When it was finally Byron and Connor's turn, I walked over to the side they were on and noticed Connor was crying. I asked Byron what the problem was, thinking Connor was scared and Byron told me Connor didn't want him to ride with him. He kept on saying "No Daddy, and asking him to get off." Ahh, Mr. Independent. For his last ride hurrah of the night, Connor wanted to do the ride again and as we were walking over, he turned to Byron, put his hand out in a stop position and said, "No Daddy, do by self." Alrighty then. He was thrilled though when another little boy sat next to him. It was hilarious to us to see the two blond heads slide to the side of the car together at the turns and then whip back to the center. Connor was observing some of the older kids ridding the ride who were holding their hands up in the air like on a roller coaster. I could tell Connor had finally worked up his courage and put his hands up for second before he lost his nerve and grabbed onto the the bar for dear life as they rounded the bend. Ah, moments like those are priceless.

We had such a great time, thanks for having us Mimi and Papa!

A, B, C's

When Connor turned 2 last January I bought books about the alphabet and letters for the bathtub with the intention of helping him get his ABC's down. He was totally disinterested. I read the books over and over and pulled the tub toys out but he was never very into it. I tried singing the ABC song but he'd ask me to "Stop, please". What was I to do? I just inserted teaching moments when I could and guessed he could learn his ABC's in Preschool or Kindergarten. So imagine my surprise tonight when I passed by the bathroom as he was taking a bath and heard him singing the ABC song to himself! I peered into the bathroom and saw him arranging the letters on the tub and singing the song to himself over and over and over. A few letters were jarbled in there but for the most part he got them all. Um, okay. He must study by himself after he goes to bed.

I Hope She Likes Pink...

I sure hope our little girl likes pink! Here are some pics of her room. All three of us have enjoyed working on it.

We splurged and bought some new baby bedding from Target and Byron and I made the "ABC" artwork.

Byron's Mom, Theresa, brought up this pretty in pink little number. Connor loves playing all the different musical selections.
I made these curtains and yes, once again, they're pink.
Getting ready to do some rockin'.
You can't tell from this picture I realize, but the changing table is also in pink and brown stripes.
But really, who am I kidding? As a woman who's closet is 80% pink...I love it. :)

Conference Weekend

I think we had our most successful Conference Weekend since Connor's been born. He was especially happy yesterday to play while Conference was on. Poor little thing though, on Saturday when he got up from his nap, the afternoon session had just started. He came out and listened to the children's choir sing "I Am a Child of God" happily enough. However, when President Eyring then stood up to go through the sustaining of church officers, Connor threw himself back onto the couch and said, "Ohhhhh noooooo" in the most desperate and pitiful of ways. I think he thought the session was ending and just couldn't handle it when he realized there was more yet to come. One more conference weekend down with a toddler, I don't even want to think about how many more to come. Thank heavens there's the Ensign to look forward to.

'I Do It"

Connor's always been indepedent and is becoming even more so as he gets older. His favorite thing to say is, "No, I do it." Most of the time he's very nice about it, but firm at the same time. I try hard to let him do as much as is safe around the house while supervising him. (I tell you, that's exhausting for a mother!) This morning I was trying to get ready and he was interested in my makeup so I just let out a sigh and said, "Sure, you can do it" and hoped for the best. (That's how desperate I was for 2 min to finish getting ready for the day. I sacrificed my makeup.) He was so proud of his "work" that he even "posed" for a picture proudly displaying the black streaks all over his face. I even caught him checking his handy work out in the mirror. It'll be good when Byron graduates. I'm starting to think he needs more "Dad time" and less of me. :)