Eric and Erica Timperley

Reality Check

2012-02-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is just a joke. Only a joke. But, also true :) Set up like this:

What I should think
How life really is.

Let's begin with the little guy, Conner:

Beginning to form attachments
Won't leave my side, screams if I leave the room.

Playing above age level
Loves to get into Claire's toys.

Growing boy
Eating everything he can...we will go broke at this rate.

Curious about his surroundings
He pulls everything & anything out to investigate making a path of destruction along the way.

Enjoys water play
Wakes up with the mission of getting to the toilet to play in the water...at all costs.

And the big one, Claire:

Excellent playmate for brother
Continually tackles him until he cries.

Creative storyteller
Talks non-stop.

Inquisitive
WHY?

Sensitive Palate
Won't eat anything besides sweets.

A Leader
Bossy.

Stands by beliefs
"I know everything." Arguing with us about everything. Apparently white is not a color, Jesus' 12 "friends" were NOT disciples, & she knows the rules to every game invented.

Crazy Kids!

2012-02-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

We were having fun playing around with glasses this morning..until they broke :(...

Conner has a new thing that's pretty funny (when I'm in a good mood :)). As soon as I say no-no to something he screams at me or cries. THEN, when I go move him if he doesn't stop after a no-no, he throws himself to the ground and throws a big fit on the floor. His entire body goes limp on the floor and he screams. Depending on how tired he is it either lasts about 10 seconds or a LONG time. I can't wait to see the stuff he has in store for us when he starts walking :-/!

Fire Station!!

2012-02-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

Been a crazy day! This morning we had a "field trip" with Lincoln Mommies to the fire station. It was a very nice outing, BUT super cold out!! I had to work for an hour right after and then work on some Bean Calico for our MOPS event tonight. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. I'm starting to have some major regrets on signing up for the Half Marathon. I'm having such a hard time finding time to run and when I do get my runs in I'm feeling frustrated because I don't feel like I'm getting better!! It seemed so easy 2 years ago with one kiddo :). I'm about to give up, but we'll see how this month goes first!

Conner is such a little ham. He almost always smiles as soon as he sees the camera out:

The kids listening to the firemen & watching one put on his firefighter outfit.:

Claire playing with the hose...and then she got to go into the truck:

My little Conman again :). He is just SO EASY to get pictures of! Claire does not like having her picture taken so there are always way more of Conner!

First Art Project

2012-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here is Conner's first art project: a sun catcher!! We put up contact paper and me, Claire, and Conner stuck pieces of tissue paper to it to make a sun catcher. It was fun to see Conner put up the pieces, but it was his favorite to tear the tissue paper up for me and Claire to stick it on.

My family has been dropping like flies around here! Conner was kind of sick Sunday--a few throw ups & some diarrhea. Claire got VERY sick Monday night, ALL NIGHT LONG :(. But, she woke up full of energy Tuesday morning (great for her, exhausting for me & Eric after such a LONG night!). Then yesterday was Eric's turn :(. I'm holding my breath and crossing my fingers in hopes that I don't get it!

Today I helped out with the Valentine's Day party at Claire's school! It was very fun to see her with her friends and to spend some time there. The biggest thing I learned was that no matter how much her teachers are making, they should be making more ;o)!

More snow

2012-02-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Conner got to go out this morning and enjoy the snow. I pulled him around in the sled and he seemed to think that was alright! I'm not sure he's feeling the best today and pulling him around in the sled almost put him to sleep. But, he sure does make a cute snowbunny! (UPDATE: Conner is NOT feeling well :(. He is throwing up (BOO!!!) but he's still acting normal and just eating a little less. There goes my Super Bowl plans...).

Claire had lost her hat...she had snow in her gloves...snow in her boots. She was done. Done. DONE! Then....she got snow in her face. Time to go inside!

Claire's family

2012-02-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Claire drew a picture of our family. From left to right it's: Claire, Daddy, Mommy. Where's Conner? Look carefully and you'll see that Claire is holding him upside down. Why? "Because he's a funny guy like that."

SNOW FUN

2012-02-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

We got soooo much snow!! SO, SO MUCH! Now, typically I do not love playing in the snow. But, we put Conner down for a nap this morning and we played outside for 1 1/2 hours! It wasn't too cold and the snow was so thick and dense and perfect for building things!! AND THERE WAS SOOO MUCH! I couldn't get over it! It was a really, really fun morning.

It's up to Claire's waist!! All in one night!

Our snowman:

Not sure if you can see our snow wall in this picture, but we built it to keep Daddy from throwing snowballs at us. We had MANY snowball fights...too fun!! Later we made a window and a tunnel in our snow wall.

The corner of our window not covered by fallen tree shows how much snow has accumulated. Eric & I have both witnessed branches cracking and falling in our neighbors yards too (not as big as ours though!) because the snow came so fast and is so heavy.

Lucky, lucky us

2012-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

We are TIRED. I had Bunco Thursday night and didn't get to bed until midnight and then last night Eric played poker and didn't get home until 2AM!! So, it was ever MORE startling last night about 4AM when we heard a HUGE NOISE. We both sat straight up, but we had no clue what it was. Conner was up crying (his sleeping through the night ended as quickly as it started! but last night he spent a lot of time crying...so I was half awake listening to him cry and trying to decide whether to get up or not...) anyway, we heard a loud noise and jumped out of bed. We couldn't figure out what it was until Eric walked past the kitchen window. WOW! A tree almost fell on our house...that's what that noise was. We are so grateful the tree wasn't even a few feet longer or we'd be freezing this morning with no window and possibly part of our roof gone!! But luckily, it hit just outside the window.

The view from our kitchen window:

10 months old!

2012-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Conner's personality has continued to grow this month. He is so full of love, smiles, and cuteness :)

**He LOVES Elmo! He's never seen Sesame Street, but he just loves all of our Sesame Street toys and especially loves the books. He literally squeals with delight while reading them.

**He is now a biter. He bites my shoulder when he gets excited & he bites Claire when he gets mad at her...which is frequently. He loves her more than anything, but he also gets frustrated with her very quickly.

**Conner also has really discovered a love of playing with balls. He laughs & laughs when we play catch. He loves to throw the ball too...it's adorable.

**He has 6 very large teeth, crawls all over, cruises the furniture, loves to turn on the xbox & be naughty, and still really loves his Mama :) (and his sister and Daddy).

**I cannot believe how much he eats. It's amazing. He eats baby food sometimes, but has most meals on table food & just eats and eats and eats!! Guess he's not going to be done growing anytime soon.

More nice weather

2012-02-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

Another coatless day in January. It was beautiful outside again today. Conner had his snack outside and Claire went skating!

Before bed the kids had a pretend picnic downstairs...Conner thought he was a big boy getting to sit up at the table with Claire :)

Stuff

2012-02-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

Our new couch came and made it into the basement! We are still waiting for our over-sized chair and TV, but we tested the couch out with a movie last night...very comfy!

Eric's been getting a little crafty :). I showed him this BIG ruler to use as a height chart for your kids and HE MADE IT FOR ME! WAHOOOO!! I love it!! I want to transfer Claire's from her closet door and then put all of my kids on it and hopefully my Grandkids someday too!

And it was another beautiful day outside. I'm kind of mad at myself b/c I didn't go jogging either of these last two nice days...just not in the mood :-/! Oh well! Claire had PreK in the morning, then both kids napped, and so we didn't have too much time to play outside yesterday. We participated in a infant communication research study and the undergrads came over for 1 1/2 hours yesterday late afternoon to video tape Conner.

Having both kids on riding toys was trickier than you might imagine. Conner LOVES to scoot on his "bus", but he always looks like he's going to tip over because he gets to much gusto going. And Claire loves her bike, but gets stuck on EVERY SINGLE crack and I have to go push her to get her unstuck a lot. It was a challenge bouncing between them!

And Claire this morning with all her animals ready to watch her show.

Outside!

2012-01-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

Another unusually nice day in January!

And no one can make Conner laugh like his sister can. She doesn't even have to say anything!! Here's a video:

FINGERPAINT

2012-01-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

Our finger painting got a little out of control this morning...Good thing it's washable!!

The left is Conner's handprint and the right is Claire's. I didn't realize how HUGE Conner's hands are! I had to label the back of his handprints because they are so close in size!

AND my favorite new quote from my 3 year old daughter..."I want a cell phone for my Birthday. Let's add it to my Amazon wish list."

what?!

2012-01-30T05:49:00.000-08:00

Oh my word, 3 nights in a row of Conner SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!! Friday night it was a 7 hour stretch (I was very excited), Saturday night 7:30p-6:30a, and then last night 7:30p-6:00a! I would love to say that it felt WONDERFUL, but I actually slept really bad all week-end for some reason...I don't feel like I got to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. BUT, I LOVE that I know he CAN sleep through the night and I was still VERY, VERY happy!

School Carnival

2012-01-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

We had Claire's school carnival today. We had supper there and enjoyed watching Claire play the games. Her school goes up to 5th grade, so she is in the youngest class possible. She looked SO SMALL there waiting in line with all the "big kids" for games!

Here's a picture of Claire & Conner before the carnival. Claire loves pretending she's the baby :)

Conner sat in his stroller the whole time and did great. He's such a good little boy and loves eating his puffs and cheerios!

YES, we got her cotton candy! WHY? Honestly, because we didn't want to spend the next year hearing about how she didn't get cotton candy at the carnival!! We still hear about when Eric took her to the circus LAST YEAR they didn't get cotton candy...so tonight was her lucky night (AND MINE!! YUMMM...I LOVE COTTON CANDY!!)

Sorry Conner

2012-01-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

I am so, so sorry Conner. I know when you are 14 you will wish this was NOT ever posted ANYWHERE, but those chunky legs are too cute not to share. He has really started thinning out in his torso and arms, but man, those legs are still chunks!

Here's Claire with her first chapter book complete!

And Conner, enjoying the tunnels :)

Back to Milkworks

2012-01-26T05:37:00.000-08:00

This week I hit my breastfeeding wall. I was/am DONE. BUT, I'm hesitant to stop because I don't know what to even give him for the next couple months until he turns one AND I'm afraid I'll look back and think WHY DIDN'T I JUST SUCK IT UP AND NURSE TO A YEAR?? So, I decided to head back to Milkworks one more time in a last ditch attempt to figure out what's causing this pain.

I'm trying a new round of creams/ointments and I'm going to give it a go for the next couple weeks. Dr. Leper said it is probably some sort of dermatitis and that usually leads to more thrush...so I probably had thrush one of the times I was in before, but that dermatitis is the ongoing issue.

My biggest question to her was: WHAT ABOUT NEXT BABY?! Because at this point I can't imagine another year of painful nursing. She wrote on my treatment plan for "next baby" to come into Milkworks immediately AND using ointment FOREVER :).

So, I'm crossing my fingers I can get a little relief for a few months and make it to a year! I still can't understand how I was able to nurse Claire without problem, but whatever :-) (that's Claire's new phrase "Whatever...")

Ugh!

2012-01-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

I was OUT OF IT Wednesday morning. Monday and Tuesday I was pretty snippy and didn't feel "normal" and then by Wednesday I was DONE. I can't remember the last time I felt so upset about everything and super emotional and just awful. I finally looked in the mirror around 10:30 and noticed that my eyes were BLACK...HUGE, BLACK circles under my eyes. It clicked, ooohhh, I'm TIRED....duh!! THANKFULLY Eric came home for lunch and I got to lay down for 2 hours!! I can't remember the last time I felt that tired!! I think that getting up so many nights with Conner just finally caught up with me.
My children and hubbie were wonderfully patient with me though :), love them so much!

Twin Outfits!

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Eric & Conner were ridiculously cute this morning. You can't REALLY tell in these pictures, but they had on outfits that looked super similar. It was adorable :) if I may say so myself. They both had the same print, double pocket, button up shirts on. Plus, khakis and brown shoes :). I got some great pictures of the two of them. My handsome guys!

Our prayer before dinner was pretty memorable tonight as well. We were about to start our usual "God is good, God is great" prayer when Claire asked if she could do her prayer tonight.
"Dear God, You are blessed in my heart. Thank you for Daddy making this food. I hate this food. But, I'm going to try just one bite. Thank you God. Amen."

Then she asked us each what our favorite part of her prayer was. We were trying hard to hold back the laughter!

FRIDAY!

2012-01-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Claire was cracking me up this morning. Here she is ready to go to Grandma Rosenberry's. She is wearing Daddy's socks (which I think look cute because they look like boot socks :)) and her "scary" monster hat:

We were about to head to baby playgroup, but Conner would not stop crying, so he had a power nap before heading over. I took this picture because I couldn't believe ho big he looked in his crib!

AND here are some baby playdate pictures. His friends are Molly, Emmett, and Jack.

I went to lunch with Jeannine over Eric's lunch today and had a great time reconnecting with her. I've only seen her one time since she's moved back from Knoxville, so it was great to visit (KID FREE) with her! I'm looking forward to a relaxing night HOME with my hubbie tonight :)

Growing Up

2012-01-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

Conner has been growing up into a little boy :). I just realized today that he's pretty much given up his paci...I can't remember the last time he used it. He is crawling more & more everyday. And he's starting to eat more big boy food!! Yesterday night he had a pita with hummus for supper. This morning a spinach, pear, & banana smoothie, and for lunch a cheese and bean quesadilla, and supper, some cheesy spinach lasagna. I think I can officially say that he is already eating more than Claire does too. It's ridiculous how much he can eat and also ridiculous how little Claire can eat and continue to grow! The cutest moment of the day though? Eric coming home (after a very long day) and Conner looking at him with the biggest, happiest grin and saying, DADA!!!!

Claire's creativity is really blooming and making her seem more grown up as well. Last night she wanted to make a Magic School Bus movie and we spent over 3 hours doing costumes & filming it. We put it on a DVD and got to watch it on our TV...she thought that was so awesome! She's also been asking more & more about words and how letters form words. I'm excited because I haven't been doing any of that stuff with her and just letting her lead the way like her PreK teacher suggested. She loves to try and spell and write out words. She is such a smartie pants! We went to the library this morning and got her very first chapter book. Eric & I are so excited to read it to her and see if she is old enough to comprehend it. She is so excited about the book (Tinkerbell!) and I'm interested to see if it can hold her attention with very few pictures

Claire was so excited in this picture because she finally spelled a "real word"! She wanted paper right away to right it down

I went out last night for dinner with friends. SO NICE. It felt wonderful to get out of the house and visit with such awesome mamas!

Claire learned to talk...and talk...and talk...

2012-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Funny what 3 years old come up with to say!

On the way to church with just me & Claire in the car...how does Daddy always avoid these great conversations? :):

Claire: I want twins next time we have a baby.
Me: How about just ONE more baby? Do you want a boy or a girl?
Claire: Girl, but I think it will be a boy. He can have Conner's seat and Conner can have my seat.
Me: Well, it's going to be a while before we have another baby.
Claire: Well, that's up to God to decide, not you.

Same drive to church:
Claire: God is always with me.
Me: Yes, He is.
Claire: Is He at Target?
Me: God is everywhere.
Claire: What if some people don't believe in God?
Me: We can pray for those people that they find and love God too and go to Heaven.
Claire: But, what if you are an adult and you don't pray to God and you die.
Me: I just don't know, Claire.

"I know everything in the whole world." I hear this EVERYDAY, multiple times.

"I want to marry Conner because he's the cutest in all the land."

Claire: "Let's play pretend. I'll be a princess, Conner's a prince, you're a Queen and Daddy is...uhhh...what's the other one?"
Me: "A jester that tells jokes and does funny tricks."
Claire: "No...uhhh...KING. And the king sits in a big chair and makes all the choices and tells everyone what to do."
Me: "Well, this is the 21st century and the King and Queen rule equally."
Claire: "No they don't. I know everything in the whole world and I know the King decides everything."

Me: "Daddy, guess who got to do show and tell first today?"
Eric: "Ummm...Asher?? Bella?? Emma??"
Claire: "I'll give you a hint. It's your daughter."

Claire: "If you were my kid, I'd take all your money."

Camera Settings

2012-01-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

I don't know too much about my camera other than I love it :). My pictures have been turning out a little yellow lately, but, no biggie, don't really care too much. HOWEVER, today I figured it out!!! My setting was on "PORTRAIT" instead of "AUTO". Auto is totally the only way I go and the pics normally turn out great. Notice the difference:

Portrait:

Auto:

We had new furniture delivered Friday, but it didn't FIT in the basement so it went back :(. Kind of sad and now we are left trying to figure out whether to try and find something else or just forget it (I'm leaning towards 'forget about it'!). In thinking back on this week-end it was kind of bad. My nursing pain is out of control :(, the furniture thing, Eric worked Sat morning and I worked both afternoons. We missed out on a friend's B-day plans because of ME & it just seems like it should be bad...BUT, it kind of still felt like a nice week-end!? The kids were great...cute & wonderful & AMAZINGLY enough me & Eric picked out the new furniture with no arguments and have had no arguments in trying to decide what to do now. Things have been going pretty good around here.

Here's my little pirate after one of the million treasure hunts I did with her tonight:

Phone Pics

2012-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

I have a couple cute pictures of Conner from my phone that I wanted to blog about! First, my little Conman helping me shop at Target. I have spent SO MUCH on groceries lately. It doesn't feel like we have been eating that much (and actually it feels like we've been going out too much lately too!) but I think buying so much organic for Conner is costing lots AND starting to buy food for FOUR people just makes a difference!And here's Conner in his 2T jammies!! Yes, he's only 9 months old...these definitely run small :). Brent & Jenn gave them to us and I just love them! What a little stud!
And my newest LOVE. Ahhhhh, I love this stuff. Cold on ice, heated up in a mug...it's all good. I just mix it with some rice milk and it's heavenly. I'm thinking this is a very bad, bad habit to get started on, but it's soooo yummy :)

2 day project

2012-01-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

We worked on a special project the last few days. I feel like I don't get to do a lot of stuff with Claire now that Conner is always around & tries to eat anything we want to work on at home, so it was nice to do something FUN again!! We traced out Claire and her Bear to make life-size images. She wanted to put her bones on hers & make bear like he looks regularly.

Bear got all colored and is even smiling:

Claire's skeleton is the same size as her!

Here they are holding hands...they're buddies :)

I was pretty proud of her! She did all the cutting of the bones herself. I got busy doing something else and could NOT believe she cut out the skull and hands that well! I didn't know she knew how to cut that well??!

He survived & so will I!

2012-01-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

Conner had a big day today. He had his first morning at the MOPS nursery...and he survived!!! YAY!! I was absolutely shocked that they didn't have to come & get me...but, he made it through. GO CONNER :). I had a lot of mixed emotions dropping him off...feeling bad that he'll miss me, missing him, guilt for being excited too, guilt for "staying at home" but leaving him with someone else...just lots of emotions...but we both survived!

Then tonight Dave & Cindy very kindly offered to watch the kids so we could go out for our anniversary and CONNER SURVIVED AGAIN. It didn't sound like he cried the whole time, and maybe actually did OKAY?!? I hope this was not a one day thing, but a new & improved Conner :). It was VERY nice to be able to get out without the children, it doesn't happen too often.

Today has been an especially bad day for nursing, but I need to keep reminding myself that this is all a CHOICE & SHORT TERM and there is so much to be grateful for with nursing as well. I'm thankful to be able to breastfeed. I'm thankful to have a healthy body that allows for nursing. And I'm thankful for the special moments I get to spend with Conner on the days where it's not as painful....but man, today HURT.

Haircuts

2012-01-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took Claire in and got 4" cut off her hair. It looks super adorable :). She looks way older to me and everything she says seems just a touch sassier with this new hair! She wanted it even shorter, but this was as short as I was willing to go! This morning Eric cut Conner's hair with clippers. We've tried to cut it a couple times with scissors, but his hair seemed ready for clippers. Besides the fact that it seemed mildly traumatic for Conner, it turned out pretty good! He looks blonder & I'm so grateful to not have his hair sticking up all over the place any more (although it's still sticking up a bit :)).

Conner's been grumpy today. Pretty sure it's related to teeth one way or another because I finally just got him to lay down for a nap after putting some teething gel on them.

AND we are having another beautiful day here. Eric snapped these before heading into work. I LOVE them. Me & my precious, precious kiddos. These kids are amazing and are my everything.

Stuff

2012-01-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

*I started work yesterday. All week Claire has been telling me how silly I am b/c "you don't work, mom!! Stop saying that!" AND "I'm going to miss you soooo much." I'm only going to be doing week-ends and maybe 1 week day--about 10 hours a week until May. Work went well and I remembered how great it is for me & Eric to get a little role reversal in...helps appreciate the other one more I think! I pumped while I was at work, which I've been dreading, but actually ended up being very nice. I pumped a lot of milk and NO NURSING PAIN while I pumped.

*We were all driving in the van this week-end and Claire told me, "Mommy, you are doing a really good job driving." I leaned over to Eric and said, "Did you hear that? Claire thinks I'm a good driver!!" Then she continued, "You didn't hit any cars or peoples today!"

*Conner started saying MAMA and his famous Maaaaahhhhhhm (MOM in a loud, drawn out scream) & sometimes DADA. He is signing ALL DONE every meal now and it's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen because of the face he makes while he does it :).

*Today is our anniversary. 7 YEARS. For our anniversary I got to get up every 2 hours during the night until 6:30a when Conner was up. Eric relieved me at 6:45a and then I relieved him at 8a. Stinker butt, Conner!! Since this was my first week-end back at work we don't have any plans to celebrate yet...we're thinking maybe some night this week or next week-end. We weren't quite sure how the adjustment to me working was going go & didn't want to try and plan anything. We were reflecting on the last 7 years last night and I wondered what I thought life would be like at this point in our marriage when we first got married. I know I never imagined staying home with the kids and I could have never guessed we would love our kids this much. I'm just so happy that life with Eric has been easy. We get along great and are very happy. We are surviving this time with young kids at home together, but also look forward to a time when we can spend more 1 on 1 time with each other!

Nice Weather

2012-01-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

It was so beautiful out today! Claire has been SO TIRED so we couldn't give up nap today, but made it out a little bit before the sun went down. It felt like a spring time! Eric came home at 4, so it was great to all be outside and get some fresh air. He took the kids on a run after we played for a bit so I got to make supper in silence (it was kinda sorta amazing to have 30 min of quiet time!!).

I'm expecting to find a lot of leaves in Conner's diapers over the next few days because he would not stop eating the leaves! They must not have tasted too bad...isn't he so cute? I love taking pictures of him b/c it's usually super easy to get good shots of him. Claire on the other hand...she's tricky!! She got a black eye a few days ago, which is now green because it's fading...it was pretty icky looking!

Claire's getting better at her bike, but still needs quite a bit of help to get it started going and to turn around.

I had a TON OF FUN at BUNCO last night. I never want to go out and do anything in the evenings. I have no motivation and really enjoy just sitting and chatting with Eric or watching TV and it's soooo hard to pull me off the couch and get me somewhere...BUT, I go to BUNCO even when I really don't want to & I always have a crazy fun time!

Dr. Appt.

2012-01-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

Conner had his doctor appointment today. He had a MISERABLE time b/c someone other than ME wanted to touch him :), but he survived. His head was 18" (70%), weight was 21lbs.1oz (60%), and height was 30" (90%).

One of his ears had a little redness meaning a little ear infection which is one of the reasons he might be getting up so much during the night...BUT, since he's gotten multiple times during the night his whole life, that doesn't really explain much :). We are 'treating' his ear infection with time & adjustments. His sleeping is just a personal problem we are working through :)! His dr. was VERY supportive and just reminded me that some babies are higher need than others and can be attached way MORE than other babies.

No mention of yeast in his mouth and I didn't mention anything about nursing discomfort...just keep reminding myself my goal is 3 months away!

9 MONTHS OLD!

2012-01-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

And just like that, we have a 9 month old little baby boy. Time goes by SO FAST!! He is such a cutie pie! This week sleeping has been particularly awful for us, BUT he also has added a lot of personality in his actions, so the days have gotten extra fun :). Conner is still scooting around at full speed, but won't crawl. He pulls himself up on anything and cruises around. He will still eat pureed jar food, but really prefers finger foods now. He has 6 teeth and still drools constantly. He is still REALLY loving his Mama, but Christmas helped him start to warm up to others a bit. He looks as though he is signing milk sometimes, but it's hard to tell. He did figure out waving HI and BYE this week and he's pretty proud of himself. Conner loves bath time, chewing on toys, and watching big sister, Claire. He keeps us busy, but we love this little man!

EDIT: So at 9 months and one day old he added a couple new tricks! He signed ALL DONE for me & Eric on different ocassions. It was SO CUTE and he looked so proud of himself :). He also KINDA SORTA started crawling. All of the sudden this morning, he was trying to crawl instead of scoot and then this afternoon he's been slowly crawling everywhere he wants to go. What a big boy!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

We had a FUN New Year's Eve this year. We generally stay home and are excited to make it past 10:00...but this year we went to Dave & Cindy's since everyone was around. We stayed up until 2AM, which was FUN...until Conner brought us back to reality at 4:00AM when he was up and wouldn't go back to sleep. But, we are slowly trying to catch back up on sleep and it was very fun to get to spend so much time with people we like :).

Baby Friends

2011-12-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

I got to spend some time with my good friend Steph this week. AND, I got to meet her "new" baby!! Titus is 2 1/2 months younger than Conner and it was fun to have them "meet" and "play". I had a great time catching up with Steph!

Cousins!

2011-12-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

This picture looked so much better cropped, I decided it deserved a post of its own. They are adorable, aren't they?!

Claire (3), Jackson (6), Conner (8 months), Joseph (3)

Timperleys

2011-12-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

We had a few Timperley days since Brent & Jenn were back. It was great to see them AND to get so much time all together in. It had been 6 months since we'd seen them and the boys had changed a ton!! AND...it was even more wonderful because Conner was letting other people hold him. I think being around so many people in Hastings warmed him up to the idea of others!

Cousin play doh time is always a must :) They spend so much time at this little table playing play doh!

WHAT? 2 of the kids are sitting still for a picture??!? HURRY, HURRY. Grab the other 2.

Adding in Claire...only one more left...

AND YAY!!, an "okay" picture of all 4 grandkids...hard to come by with their ages :)

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

2011-12-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve morning we went to my parents and had breasfast, presents, and gaming :). That afternoon we went to Tom & Susan's for more yummy food, presents, and the grab bag game. Then we headed to Hastings for the evening. It was a FUN DAY!! The kids did good and rolled with the punches for the most part!!

My dad is always taking pictures of people taking pictures...so I thought I'd do it to him for once :)

Yummmmm, candy!

LOTS of Xbox!

My Aunt Susan and Danielle made these CUTE matching dresses for Claire, Eva, & Faith. They looked adorable!!

Look at all the Stromer stockings!! And that's not even everyone!! We took a family picture while we were out in Hastings and there were 28 of us...we've added 7 people in the last 7 years!

Claire was...well.... she was CLAIRE on Christmas morning. Not overly excited, but just a happy girl! I think Conner was probably more excited about Santa's presents! I always think she's going to have this HUGE, AWESOME reaction to things and the excitment level is never quite there. I think she gets that from her Daddy :)
Here my Christmas cuties are trying out their sled from Santa!

Conner got MONSTER SLIPPERS from Santa!! Although, Claire has now claimed them as hers :) & they fit her so that's fine!

Claire & Conner had lots of fun playing with Hawaii cousins. It took Conner a day to warm up, but by the end of the visit he was even letting other people hold him!! It was CRAZY!

Christmas CUTIES

2011-12-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

"Seriously mom, a hat?!?"

"This needs to come off"

"ahhh...that's better. That was fun taking my hat off. When are we opening presents?"

Rub a Dub Dub, 2 cuties in a Tub!

2011-12-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

Dec. 23rd

2011-12-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

We opened up our family gifts on the 23rd. Claire was looking forward to it ALL day and wanted to open her "smallest bestest present" first (it was a necklace from Daddy). She had fun opening her presents and even helped Conner open his (what a great big sister!).

Here she is working on her new solar system puzzle in her new robe!

And let's not forget allll the polly pocket stuff she got! She said that was her FAVORITE of the night!

And here's Conner being cute too for our little family Christmas celebration!

Bball

2011-12-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night Claire went to the woman's basketball game with my mom & dad. She enjoyed the food :) and cheering for the "people in white because that's Grandma's team." It was still the Huskers, they just had on white jerseys. She is displaying her new poster in her room & loves it!

LET IT BEGIN!

2011-12-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

My first run of "training". I went for 22 min on the treadmill and went 1.5 miles. I walked/slow jogged it and it was HARD and I was TIRED. I wanted to do 3 miles, even if it was just walking, but obviously did not make it that far. Today I am sore. EEKS!! I have a LOT of work ahead of me, but I'm excited because I know how quickly you can get better!

Eric has not started yet. I'm a little worried for him that he is a little too overly confident in himself ;)!

I'm so glad I signed up for the Half Marathon. I'm at my ideal weight and can eat anything right now because of breastfeeding, but I think it will feel SO GOOD to start exercising again and have some goals.

Big boy getting bigger :)

2011-12-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

Conner was doing a couple new things yesterday. He keeps pulling himself up in his crib now. This took him a while to figure out because his crib is as low as it can go so there isn't a lot of help getting UP. Now he pulls himself and bites the top ledge, but he always ends up bonking it and then screaming :(...so that's fun, NOT.

He is also getting into crawl position a lot. Still drops to his belly to scoot, but likes to get onto all 4s sometimes. Since he gets onto all 4s, he can now get from his tummy to sitting. That's super fun to watch! I love that if he wants to sit up he can.

He's also starting to move along the furniture. He usually won't unless he has good motivation (like getting closer to MAMA). But he LOVES standing on furniture and will now move along it. That makes him seem so old!

Conner's scooting farther & farther. I usually let him play with toys and watch Claire's morning show while I shower. Today when I got out of the shower he had made it into my bedroom :-/! Normally he won't move from the spot i put him down at. Guess I'm going to have to figure out a new shower routine!

He's been getting up every 2 hours during the night and will ONLY go back down if I nurse him. He screams & screams when Eric tries to go in there. So, that hasn't been to fun...I'd rather sleep that get up 6 times a night, but whatever! I have created a naptime monster by nursing him before I put him down. He doesn't nurse to sleep, but he still expects at least a short nursing session before I lay him down.

He has 4 teeth and 2 more looking like they'll come through soon and he looks so different with his teeth. The teeth are SO CUTE, but I do miss his huge, gummy smile!

Oh no, Daddy!!

2011-12-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

Eric looked down at his wedding ring today and say a BIG EMPTY HOLE. His GORGEOUS square diamond was gone :(! Eric LOVES his wedding band and was so sad that the diamond was lost :(. Now, can you imagine how small a diamond like that is? Can you believe then that this afternoon he found it IN.HIS.POCKET??! I still can't. But, we are excited to get to A.T. Thomas and get it reset!!

AND, I also must say what a great Daddy Eric is! Without effort & without complaint he jumps in and helps with everything. He teamed up with Conner & played hide 'n seek with Claire all evening, bathed a child, read stories...ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that needed to be done. I have never ever heard Eric say WHY ME? I only ever hear him say LUCKY ME. Well, lucky us too, Eric.

Bath CUTIE!

2011-12-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Conner LOVES his baths!! And look how stinkin' cute he is post-bath!! ahhhh...my little sweetie :)

He's still got those blue eyes...

Christmas Pics

2011-12-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

It is super dooper challenging to get a good one of the 2 of them...but, I did get some fun separate shots!! I LOVED their outfits this year--Conman in a tie? TOO CUTE <3!

Can't get enough!

2011-12-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

I CANNOT get enough of this little cutie! Claire has been SOOOO funny and SOOO sweet this week. LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

Get IN MY BELLY!

2011-12-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

Guess what this extra large gummy bear on the left is full of? Two weeks worth of vodka! Eric had soaked some gummy bears in vodka for a week (in the fridge) for the Christmas party last week-end. After the party he put the leftovers in the freezer. The gummy bears continued to absorb the vodka and now there is no vodka left. I wasn't wild about them last week, but frozen, they are DELICIOUS! They taste just like gummy bears and you can't even taste the vodka...they've been a fun treat :)

I've also developed a theory about Conner's clingy-ness (and let me tell you, HE IS CLINGY!!)...I now think that he is trying to figure out a way to get BACK in my belly. He just hangs on me, fussing, non-stop. The child cannot get enough of this Mama. I think he's cutting 2 more teeth (so he'll be at 6 teeth) and he's up all night WITH MAMA and all day he's been clinging to me worse then normal...if you can imagine that ;)

In it to win it

2011-12-15T12:52:00.001-08:00

The time has come to decide whether or not to sign up for the Lincoln Half Marathon. I've been trying to convince Eric he should do it & he finally signed up last night. I've been adamant that I was NOT going to even attempt this year while nursing and getting up 4 times a night. BUT, the jealousy of him signing up has gotten to me and I registered this afternoon. EEKS! I have not done a single exercise...not even a walk...for probably over 2 months. Here's to motivation. Here's to a new start. Here's to hoping I get some sleep & can manage this . Put down the cookie. Put down the pop. Put on your running shoes. Get out the door. Well....maybe next month :)

I have been told ever so nicely by my hubbie that he will not be running with me this year. Training...sure, he'll run with me when we can...but he's going for a better time this year than I could ever manage. So, although I don't think either of us are "in it to win it", it should be a fun next few months. We always enjoy having goals that we can achieve together. So, RUN BABY RUN!! Plus, Claire is VERY excited for me and told me that not only will she run with me, but she will also give me her magical running socks to wear to make me go faster AND she'll give me some pixie dust to help me fly some it...AWESOME!

The sweetest little girl!!

2011-12-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

We had a great, rainy day today! Conner has really found his tongue and LOVES sticking it out for everyone to see. He is very proud :). And he is very sweet, but his sister is the sweetest of all! I know she is great...BUT tonight one thing really made me smile and remember what a wonderful, caring girl she is becoming. After dinner I gave her a BIG CHOCOLATE COOKIE WITH PEANUT BUTTER CHIPS (we have 3 dozen from the cookie exchange I didn't go to :(), she immediately broke it in half and gave half to me! How sweet is that? Then she said, "I'm going to share this with you because I love you." OH BOY CLAIRE, I LOVE YOU TOO! And if you know Claire, you know she LOVE LOVES LOVES sweets, so the fact that she is so willing to share without even being asked says a lot. What a sweet, sweet girl!

We had quite the pot & pan adventure today. We don't do this too often because it doesn't hold their attention long, but it was still fuN!

Boy vs. Girl

2011-12-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

We watched old videos of Claire as a baby the other day and I cannot believe how similar Claire & Conner look. I know they have some similar features, but watching the videos we were both amazed at how they don't only look a like, they have a lot of the same mannerisms too! In some of the videos I would not have been able to tell if it was Conner or Claire.

However, they have been very different babies and I look at each of them differently. I have been surprised how much I wonder what kind of MAN Conner will grow up to be. I don't find my mind wondering too often about what Claire will be like as an adult. I often wonder what she'll be like in elementary school & high school, but never really think about her becoming an adult. With Conner I can almost cry at the drop of a hat looking at his little hands and little feet and thinking about how quickly he'll grow into a man and possibly have his own family. I've been thinking a lot about this difference and have come up with a theory on it: It is VERY likely that Conner will someday be bigger than me & that Claire will never be bigger than me. I think it's fun to think that Conner is SO SMALL now, but will continue to grow and someday be bigger than me and maybe even Eric! Maybe that's why I just cry when I think of those tiny hands holding my fingers growing up and becoming a man.

I'm excited to see what kind of differences we begin to see between Claire & Conner as they get older. I knew they would probably have different interests & different personalities, but I never expected to feel so differently about each of them. They are both incredibly special & although this parenting thing is HARD WORK, it's so worth it.

COOKIES!

2011-12-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

Claire's advent surprise yesterday was making sugar cookies...so today, along with the 3 dozen cookies I made this morning for a cookie exchange, we made her cookies! This was so much fun! Conner took a great morning nap and we had some really special GIRL TIME :). Claire was SOOOO good at it, I was shocked. She cut them really nicely with the cookie cutters by herself, put them on the pan, frosted them...basically I just put them in the oven!

I woke up not feeling well today and had a hard time sleeping last night because of coughing. I felt good for a few hours and made alllllll these cookies and now I'm not feeling so well again :(. I have my MOPS Christmas party with my group tonight with a cookie exchange, but it looks like I'll just be staying in and eating my own cookies :(! At least today has been an EASY DAY! Conner slept a TON (a 2 hour morning nap AND a 2 hour afternoon nap) and Claire is working on a 4 hour nap right now!!!!! My kids NEVER EVER sleep like this...I think we are all pretty exhausted...

Music Class Program

2011-12-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Claire had her last Christmas program last night! It was for her music class at Sheridan. It was pretty cute, but I'm not 100% sure the 3 year olds were quite ready for a program like that :)! We had fun watching though & although Claire didn't hardly sing a word, she sure did look cute!
Here are the kids before the show. Eric did Conner's hair...CUTE! BUT, I think it needs to be a bit shorter for the mohawk :)

Side mohawk view!

And Conner's ready for the show!!

The teacher was blocking my view of Claire :( so I didn't get too many pictures! She was first angel and went to tell the shephards the good news that Jesus had been born!

Sickie!

2011-12-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

The kids playing in a box...yes, Conner's wearing a purple necklace...yes, I put it on him...whatever, he's happy :)!

I've been slowly getting sick the last couple days. My cold continues to get worse and worse. I HATE that feeling of drainage down your thoat :-/ and stuffiness. I'm surviving, but I've definitely been better!We watched LOTS of movies today (although it turns out babies don't want to sit and watch movies??! HA!). Conner took an awesome morning nap though so I also got a morning nap in while Claire watched a movie, ate peanut butter in living room (against the rules), was coloring a picture on the couch (against the rules), and playing with the DVD player (against the rules)...guess she didn't want me napping!

Basement fun

2011-12-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

Until this year we never really played in the basement. Now it seems we are down here all the time! I'm so glad we picked a house that had an open space where the kids can ride around, crawl around, & PLAY! It's almost always messy & chaotic, but we love it :)

Tunnels from Aunt Jenn--Claire made hers into a picture frame (which has since been decorated!). Conner hasn't ventured INTO the tunnel, but loves to play with them:

Our presents

2011-12-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Claire decided to make us all cards for Christmas. It was SO SWEET. She worked very hard on them this afternoon and then wrote eveyone's name on the card. LOVE HER!

And, isn't this the sweetest little family ever? All 3 of them were playing together...& with the picture you can't even here Claire saying,"MOM-Conner is in EVERYTHING, come and get him and take him somewhere."....they all just look like they are happy as can be, huh?

Saving a man's life!

2011-12-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

I was heading to my parents house earlier this week to drop Claire off. We were looking at all the Christmas lights on our short trip over to their house. As we drove by one house I had to take a double look because there was a MAN HANGING FROM THE ROOF!! His ladder was up & he was just hanging there. I paniced and started wondering how long he'd been up there. I threw my car in reverse, realized I was still the middle of the street, so I pulled into the driveway. As I was about to get out of my car I looked up at him and thought, "Is that guy real? Maybe it's a fake." The people were home and all of their lights were on. I couldn't sit there and keep guessing if it really was a "real" man, so I got out of my car and yelled, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" No movement. No response. He's a fake. I get into my car completely embarrassed and drive off! Eric's been making fun of me about it so we drove by it last night on the way to small group, even he had to admit it's a pretty good fake :).

SNOW

2011-12-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

My beautiful snow angel!

Preschool Program

2011-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

It was a busy day! Claire had her Music class rehersal at 11, then dance recital, then preschool program!! Here are some pictures from the Preschool Program. The kids were very cute and Claire even gave herself a solo half way through when she started singing JINGLE BELLS all by herself :) (and Jingle Bells was NOT one of the songs they sang today!). After the program there was time for fellowship and crafts! The kids made ornaments, decorated cookies, AND even got to decorate a Birthday cake for BABY JESUS to take home! Thanks G&G Timperley, G&G Rosenberry, and Gma E for helping make this a special evening for Claire!

Decorating some cookies:

Decorating her cake:

The cake is complete...ready to go home!

We went to Texas Roadhouse after the show to celebrate Claire's FUN DAY! Topped off with ICE CREAM & CAKE at home...this was definitely a very special day for Claire!

First Dance Recital

2011-12-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

Claire had her first dance recital today! It was SOOOOO darn cute :) We had been guessing that Claire would stand up there and not do the dance, but WE WERE WRONG. She rocked it. She was doing all the moves like a pro (kind of...) and looked SO DARN CUTE. I could not have been more proud. They did their dance to "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" so all the girls in her class wore their swimsuits. She was a STAR!:

Here they are up on stage. The class was 3-5 year olds and everyone did great!

After the show all the girls were presented a rose...Claire was a little excited :):

Thank you G&G Timperley, Gma Rosenberry, & Gma E for venturing out in the snow this afternoon to see the show!

8 Month Old Stud Muffin!

2011-12-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

Today Conner turned 8 months old!! We love you little man!

Dancing Diva

2011-12-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Last night was the last dance class before the recital Saturday. Claire has had a fun time doing dance, but I don't think she'll miss it for awhile!

When she got out of dance class last night I asked, "How'd it go?" Claire said, "I tried really hard to be good, but I just couldn't!!!" I couldn't help but laugh!!!

I talked to her dance teachers after and they said that she just stands a lot (while the other girls are dancing) and provides "commentary" on what else everyone else is doing ("why is she doing that?", "look at her"). They said she is quite the chatterbox and before class starts tells all the girls stories from her handbooks and now the other girls come in asking for the stories.

The recital should be entertaining... :)...and boy, she is cute!! And she still loves dancing and singing her own songs and dances the best!

Dec. 1st!

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

BUSY TIMES around here! I've started my training for assessing again. It's mostly at home, but it's super hard to find time to work on training with my beautiful children with me all the time :)! Eric's office is switching to a new software and he has been busy putting in extra time installing all the hardware to make this happen. Claire is still testing the waters and trying out new naughty behavior everyday to see what happens! I swear she is so perfect for around 3 months, and then has a couple weeks of TERRIBLE behavior, and then goes back to being our angel...hopefully this will all pass quickly before Christmas! Conner has 2 teeth up top popping through to join his other one. He is very interested in the bathroom ( he always thinks it's going to be bath time, which he loves!!), balls, his toy steering wheel, and cords. I've been weighing him a lot lately and was a little bummed to see he's down 1/2 lb. from his 6 month appt. Tomorrow he'll be 8 months old, and he's at 21 lbs. He's still seems to growing height wise though...I guess we'll see how it all plays out!

Mama was BUSY yesterday at nap trying to wrap all these presents with my helper, Conner. But, we have all the advent surprises ready to go for Claire Bear! She opened the first one this morning...snowman magnets I made last year for the fridge...she was thrilled!

AND...a shout out to my cloth diapers! During Thanksgiving week Conner used disposables 2 times overnight and peed through BOTH of them in the middle of the night :-/! Happy to be back in cloth full time, and haven't had any more night time leaks!

Neat video

2011-11-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

I posted this video on Facebook & thought it was too cute/funny/interesting not to post on my blog :) The story of Mary & Joseph through Facebook!

I'm a Big Boy!

2011-11-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

Conner is a big boy BECAUSE...he loves to sit and try and ride his big sister's bus:

He looks like a little model...

He can pull himself up...sometimes...definitely when there are toys involved:

He shares with his friends:

He is a HAPPY, SLOBBERY boy...always working on those teeth:

This big boy is also been sleeping better this week (YAY! we'll see how long it lasts...). He's still getting up 3 or 4 times, but that is a much welcomed improvement!

We've had a busy last few days. Claire has been a booger and we started a new sticker chart/behavior chart because of some extra stinker butt behavior this evening...we're hopeful some sleep and promises of candy canes will make the rest of the week go smoother!

Christmas Photo

2011-11-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

I just ran across this picture of Claire & started laughing!! It was from a couple weeks ago when I was trying to decide where to take the kids Christmas photo. We were doing "practice shots" around the house...she's too cute...love that little girl!

Kangaroo Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

I was in the mood for black & white today, so all my pictures reflect that :)! We went to Mark & Lori's for Thanksgiving lunch and then The Timperleys for dinner. It was a really nice day, but by the time we got to Timperleys this MAMA KANGAROO was getting pretty tired of her BABY KANGAROO!! Conner LOVES his Mama.....so, so much. AND he wants to be with me ALLLL time and he's heavy and it's exhausting :). I absolutely love him to pieces, but it's tiring that he doesn't ever want to be with anyone else!!! We still had a fun day and luckily we got him to nap in the afternoon and to bed at 7:30p! We stayed up late playing games and having fun & I had time to de-stress a bit :) I just need to remember that THIS WILL NOT LAST FOREVER, someday I will be able to go to leave the room without him crying and scooting after me!! Claire stayed up until midnight and was/is EXHAUSTED!

A pre-Thanksgiving bottle for Conman:

Claire with one of her besties, Eva:

All the "Rosenberry" side kiddos...wow, that side has really started growing...what a bunch of cuties!!

Ms. Mae with her bro:

"Cousin" Faith was pretty interested in this little guy. She kept wanting to 'pet him':

I had to keep this picture in color b/c Eric & Conner had matching shirts on...and look how good looking my husband is...ahhh, lucky me, 2 super handsome boys who can't get enough of me:

Go Knights!

2011-11-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Southeast football played in the State Championship game last night!We all wanted to go, but it was TOOOOO COLD for our family, so Eric headed out solo to watch the game. One of Eric's greatest memories is winning the championship game in 2000! Eric was pretty excited to wear his Championship ring & State Champ coat!! He did leave me with TWO CRAZIES though, but the night actually went really well! Claire & I even cleaned the basement, which was quite the project :)

Conner was UP crying most of the night until midnight when we finally broke down and gave him some pain relief medication. We're not big on giving him stuff like that, but IT WORKED and he slept a 4 hour stretch! I think his teeth are really bothering him & he's not only up a ton like usual, but UP & CRYING!!! Poor guy...and poor us. I always feel bad for Claire too because there is no way her sleep isn't being affected by Conner crying so much during the night!

Lists

2011-11-22T10:44:00.001-08:00

Last time we left The Timperleys, Claire hid in their closet and we couldn't find her. We talked about NOT hiding unless we are playing hide 'n go seek. Here's what she told us:

"Can you write that down? Make a list of all the things I can't do & we can take it with us every where we go. Then I'll know all the rules."

That would be a long list :)

Now Eric is asking me to make him a list of things that I want him to get done.

Our running joke around here is, ADD IT TO THE LIST!

Light Bright!

2011-11-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

I played with Light Bright alllll the time growing up. Claire got this last year for Christmas and has been doing it a lot lately. Here is the flower that her & Daddy made:

Conner CUT A TOOTH!! He still seems unhappy about it right now, but his first tooth is up enough where you can it and feel it. BIG BOY :-) He's been sleeping even worse and up at 6:00a everyday though...AND he's been super dooper clingy...so I'm ready for him to start feeling a little happier! But these are also the days that I'm so glad I get to be home with him and not working full time!! I love that on his hard days I'm the one that gets to snuggle him & help him feel better!

CHINA KIDS!

2011-11-22T05:19:00.000-08:00

Look at these cuties in their China outfits!! They were way too fun :)

DANCE!

2011-11-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

This was as funny to see as it was to watch them take it. A bunch of 3-5 year olds trying to pose :)....adorable. Dance class has been fun!! In hindsight I don't know if it's been worth the drive time....but it's still been pretty darn cute!! (can't figure out why my text is underlined...and don't care...Conner is climbing ALL OVER me ALL THE TIME (including now) & it makes everything just a little harder to get done!!

Kind of like Christmas

2011-11-19T05:44:00.000-08:00

The Timperleys just got back from China and we went over there last night. WOW. Their pictures were so amazing and the stories were super interesting. It's just such a different way of life from ours! For example, they don't have diapers on their kids...hmmm...you can imagine the level of sanitation there with NO DIAPERS?! EEKS! It sounds like they had fun though, & their stories and pictures were definitely interesting!!

They brought us (& the kids) back all sorts of China goodies & that was fun too :)! I'm going to have to get a picture of the kids in their new Chinese outfits (ADORABLE!!)!!

I also made it out to Old Navy yesterday and bought myself TWO new coats because of a sale they were having. It seriously felt like the day after Christmas putting all my stuff away last night...I'm way too spoiled :-)

Good 12 hours

2011-11-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a video from a joyous morning:

Last night I got to go out with my MOPS group for dinner...it was 4 of us and PERFECT. The food was delicious and I LOVED LOVED LOVED chatting with these ladies!

The night was LONG as usual...Conner is just up wayyyy too much...and then decided 6:00am was a good wake up time :(. BUT, the morning went great AND after I dropped Claire off at school, Conner is taking a much needed long morning nap!

Conner is scooting all over the place and especially loves to scoot to paper & cords. He still has been nursing great, but has hardly eaten any solids the last few weeks. He's always been picky & preferred store bought food, but now I can't get him to eat hardly anything!

Claire has been a kill the last few days and saying and doing all sorts of funny things. She learned how to use the video camera and has taken some interesting videos the last few days...including one of me getting dressed :-/!!

Halloween video

2011-11-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

"Suessical the Musical"

2011-11-12T19:58:00.000-08:00

Good thing Claire's Dr. Suess shirt got here in time for our GIRL'S NIGHT! We went with Danielle & Eva to Dairy Queen and then "Suessical the Musical" at Sheridan. What a fun girl's night!! Eva & Claire are HILARIOUS together and love to play (and eat ice cream :-))!

Target Deal!

2011-11-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, I got a great deal on Target.com this week! I got alllllll of this for the kids and spent about $4 (which included the shipping!)!! Just had to take a minute to show off my finds :). Nothing too awesome, but it does include a swimsuit for Claire, TONS of boy's basic shirts, and I even got some socks accidentally mailed to me that I'll be able to donate :).Probably the most exciting items are the shirt she's wearing in this picture (it's Dr. Suess & we got it just in time for "Suessical the Musical") AND an Olivia shirt that Claire wants every time we go to Target (not pictured because she'll be getting it for Christmas!). That Olivia shirt alone was $9.99 originally...GO ME.

Before & After

2011-11-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Before having supper:

After Daddy fed him supper:

Mirror Images

2011-11-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

We had a baby playdate this morning. Here's Conner with his bud, Emmett. I had to post ALL of these pictures BECAUSE I thought it was so funny that their hands are exactly the same in EVERY picture! Cute, cute babies!

Scoot. Razz. Repeat

2011-11-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Conner has been having some happy days lately. I can't get over how often I'm told "HE IS SUCH A HAPPY BABY!" He is just full of love & smiles...as long as I'm holding him ;)! Here's how Conner's day have been going:
-Up around 7am
-Scoot, Razz, Scoot, Razz
-Nurse, B-Fast
-Scoot, Razz, Scoot, Razz
-Short morning nap
-Scoot, Razz, Scoot, Razz
-Nurse, Lunch
-Scoot, Razz
-Afternoon nap--2 hours
-Nurse, Scoot, Razz
-Supper, Scoot, Razz
-Nurse
-7:30pm bedtime :-)
-UP ALL NIGHT!

More Claire

2011-11-10T17:52:00.001-08:00

Claire is so funny...I wish I could remember EVERYTHING she says! Here are some recent funnies:

We went to La Paz tonight for dinner. As we were leaving, a lady said, "You guys have the cutest kids! Your daughter looks a lot like my daughter." We say, "Thanks!" and then Claire chimes in, "I'm cuter!" The lady asked, "Cuter than your brother?" Claire replies, "Cuter than your daughter!" We CRACKED UP! On the way to the car we were trying to explain why this wasn't nice and she kept saying, "But I'm the cutest in the whole world!" The girl has good self esteem!

Claire: "I'm only going to tell Santa one thing I want for Christmas."
Us: "Oh yeah, what?"
Claire: "An iPad. And I'll get it because that's the way it works & then he can bring me whatever else he wants too."

Claire also told me that she was going to marry Conner. I told her that someday she'll fall in love and want to marry that person. We argued about it for quite awhile and her argument was just so sweet: "BUT I LOVE CONNER THE MOST. MORE THAN I LOVE ANYBODY!"

Parent-Teacher Conferences

2011-11-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

It was funny to me how excited I was about our very first parent-teacher conference tonight. I find it funny because I picture myself 18 years from now going to conferences for our 3rd kid and wondering when they'll ever end :)!

But, of course, preK parent-teacher conferences aren't incredibly serious! It was nice to be reassured that Claire is doing well & is on course academically & socially. Her teacher said she was very impressed with her fine motor skills, and Claire told her coloring & gym time are her favorite things to do at school. I don't want to go on & on about how great my daughter is...BUT, this is my blog...SOOO...future Claire if you ever read this, just know that you are VERY smart, sweet, & wonderful, and we aren't the only ones that think so! Mrs. Thimijan told us once again that the focus of this year is not academics, but growing in Christianity, socializing, and playing.

Probably the best part of the conferences was that Mrs. Thimijan had asked her a bunch of questions about different things in preparation for the conference. One of the questions was, "tell me about Jesus." Mrs. Thimijan said that most children talk about how Jesus loves them or that he died on the cross, but Claire told her that Jesus loves her, is always with her, and looks into her heart. How sweet.

Poor Man's gingerbread house

2011-11-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

I picked up this Haunted House (candy/gingerbread house) on clearance at Target. We made it this morning before Music class. It was fun girl time while Conner slept! Conner has decided to start getting up early, and although I'm even more tired, I do get some time in with Claire before the day starts (since Conner goes back down for a nap as Claire is getting up...).

Grandma Rosenberry asked Claire to draw her a picture last week. Today she decided that Grandpa Rosenberry needed a picture too...isn't this just precious? I think so...I love the way she makes her letters! SO CUTE!

Claire colors A LOT. She loves it and has gotten really good at it. If it were up to her we would sit & color all day! She sticks her tongue out when she is in full concetration...just like her Mama does!

Cutsie Girl

2011-11-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

Claire told us yesterday she only wants Santa to bring her one thing: An iPad. Good luck with that one Claire :) She is such a doll...a handful, but a doll!

I tricked her hair into a ponytail. Her hair is SO DARN hard to get in a ponytail, but this was easy, turned out rather cute, and was a ponytail! Conner still needs a haircut...and so do I (& a color!!), and so does Eric...maybe this week!

And she found a leaf as big as her head!!

In 5 months...

2011-11-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

I'll sleep again in 5 months...HOPEFULLY! Conner is so exhausting!! We love him to pieces during the day, but at night, that little booger gives us a run for our money! We are both sooo tired all the time! I've been trying to let him cry now, but Eric is a sucker for his little boy and will always go get him (which I'm really glad about too b/c I don't really want him to be all alone in there crying :(!!) But, I figure in FIVE months I'll be done nursing (I canNOT imagine going longer with all the pain I've had with nursing this time!) and then that boy will SLEEP through the night NO MATTER WHAT. MOMMY & DADDY will SLEEP AGAIN....someday...

...and for now, that smiley, happy boy during the day will make up for the long, sleepless nights!

I'm LOST...IN FUN! Bwahahaha!

2011-11-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

This morning we got LOST IN FUN with lots of friends :). Very nice morning and I brought my camera and tried to get in a few snaps. I definitely had to get in the moment where Conner let Julie hold him for a LONG TIME. No crying?!? I was shocked. Just shocked. He really only likes ME.

Baby jail

2011-11-04T10:57:00.001-07:00

I finely listened to what "they" say (whoever "they" are) and removed Conner's bumper. It's kind of fun now because I can see him while he's in baby jail! :)

New carseats!

2011-11-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Conner is in a big boy seat now! He seemed to like his first ride in it this morning. SO BIG :-)! Claire got a new carseat for BIG GIRLS & she thinks it's great because her cousin Jackson has the same one AND because it has a cupholder!

Snowboots

2011-11-02T11:34:00.001-07:00

So, today we got to try out Claire's new snow boots! Yesterday afternoon, I am not kidding, we were playing at friend's house in leaves with no coats and then today was FREEZING. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! Nasty cold rain turned to sleet which turned to snow. As soon as we got home from music class we put our jammies back on !! But, Claire really wanted to play in the snow, so I let her for a few minutes. Of course I took TOO MANY pictures, but I couldn't decide which ones to post, so I just posted them all! :) (Have I mentioned we BOTH kind of love our camera?! HA!)

7 MONTHS

2011-11-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Conner is 7 months old now! AND he is a cutie.

At 7 months:
-favorite food is bananas
-starting to scoot forward
-up every 3 hours during the night
-no teeth
-super sweet & cute
-blue eyes
-huge? not sure how long or how much he weighs, but he wears 12-18 month clothes
-loves having his neck tickled
-LOVES his MAMA...is unsure about others...

We fall more & more in love EVERY SINGLE DAY. What a blessing!!

GO BIG....Green Bay??!

2011-11-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

This "photoshoot" is for you Grandpa Larry! GO PACKERS!!! :-)

Eric & I took these pictures this morning...makes me realize that Conner really does need his first haircut!! Hmmm...maybe tonight?!?

A Halloween How To

2011-10-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

So, have you ever wondered how to get the MOST candy in the LEAST amount of time? The best method is probably Eric's: trick or treat on rollerblades...BUT, if you're children (or you) are too small for skating, here are the quick and easy steps to getting your sugar high:

STEP ONE: Trick or treat at people's houses that you know. Grandparents houses are ALWAYS good places to go :)

STEP TWO: Bring a little brother who is not old enough to have candy. That way you get offered 2xs as much candy, even though he can't eat any of it. *NOTE: It helps if your 'wing brother' is this cute:

STEP THREE: Show everyone your super hero muscles and look adorable:

GREAT NIGHT! It was so beautiful outside! Add to that 2 great kids, one fine looking pirate :), and a 3 year old who shares her candy...PERFECT Halloween. Claire could NOT have been any cuter or sweeter and Conner could not have "behaved" any better. Ahhh....hope every Halloween turns out this nicely ;) But, gotta run, my stomach just stopped hurting from the first round of candy checking (we need to make sure it's safe!) so I guess it's time for Round 2!

Oh loves, how I love you!

2011-10-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

No more pictures please :)

Halloween...more!

2011-10-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Knock knock jokes are kind of a big thing over here right now. Here's a couple conversations we had while I was pushing her on the swing:

KNOCK KNOCK.
WHO'S THERE?
HAPPY.
HAPPY WHO?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

KNOCK KNOCK.
WHO'S THERE?
BOO!
BOO WHO?
You don't have to be so sad!

DING DONG.
Claire, you have to knock on the door.
I'D RATHER RING THE DOORBELL.
It's going to be hard to tell this knock knock joke then.

And Halloween continues...I can already tell we are going to over do it this Halloween! But, Claire is luh-ving Halloween this year and having so much fuN! Her Pre-K party was a Noah's Ark theme so all the kids dressed as animals. I picked up this CUTE giraffe costume for Claire & it was incredibly adorable!

Claire with all her Pre-K party loot:

Eric was out of town last night, so Cindy came with me & the kids to Morrill Hall. It was CRAZY BUSY & pretty chaotic. However, there were 2 cute little pumpkins there :)

Halloween begins!

2011-10-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

There are so many Halloween "events", it's hard to know which ones to do & hard to not overdue it. Claire picked Batman for Halloween. I'm pretty sure she will be the only Batman in twinkle toes this Halloween :). But man, you cannot deny that she looks ADORABLE! She LOVES Super Heroes, but not really the famous ones, she just loves the idea of being a Super Hero. So, this costume was perfect for her this year!

We went to Boo at the Zoo tonight & had A SUPER FABULOUS BLAST. Claire was SOOOOOOO excited about everything & it wasn't very busy at all! Conner has been super grumpy lately, but he sat in the stroller for the entire time and just 'people watched' :)

Waiter making you wait

2011-10-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Eric was playing "restaurant" with Claire tonight. Here was there conversation:

Claire was being the waitress and brought Eric his food. Then she said, "It's my turn to be the waiter" & she sat down.

Eric said, "You are the waiter, that's why you're bringing me food."

Claire, "I want to be the one that waits for food."

Eric figures out waiter to Claire=one who orders food and then 'waits' for the food to arrive. :-)

New Family Photo

2011-10-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Whew, got a new family picture just in time....the weather is supposed to get COLD tomorrow!

The Week-end

2011-10-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

Conner was still feeling a little blue this week-end. He got the rash part of roseola and just seemed restless and unhappy. Sunday was the most smiles we've had in a long time, so we're hoping everything starts getting better! But, he did get some new goodies while he was sick! First off, I got him this super cute dino diaper!!I love it & so does Conner :). I had him in disposables on Saturday for the game and he had TWO blowouts...one was so big it took me, Eric, & Aunt Rachel to change and we all ended up with poop on our hands (we missed you for that one Jenn :))!

I also bought Conner a coat/snowsuit/whatever :) thing to wear when it's cold. He looks so funny in it! I cannot stop laughing. The weather was so cold earlier this week, he's already got to test it out.

Eric wants to call this next picture, "Why Dads need adjustments". Claire was riding him and Conner's pulling his hair...they were having fun while I was getting ready! Conner loves to pull hair...and to give me HUGE open mouth kisses all over my face. It's funny b/c he's constantly kissing my face, but he never does it to Eric!

And here is C.Man all ready for church! The baptisms at church this week had me & Eric cracking up. Two babies were baptized this week: Claire & Connor. That was weird in itself, but then the full names were Claire Marie (looks a lot like Claire Mae!) & Connor David Eugene (FUNNY b/c our dads names are David & Eugene!). The whole thing was just funny!

After church on Sunday I got to take my cousin's family pictures. That was really fun & I think they turned out pretty good! Eric went to small group Sunday night, but I stayed home with Conner just in case he might expose his buddy Emmett to Roseola. I'm ready for him to start feeling better and to get out of the house and PLAY!

Cooking up a storm!

2011-10-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

I've been trying some new recipes this week. I made butternut squash ravioli using wontons (pretty good, but SO rich because it was in a butter & bacon sauce!), Stromboli last night (Eric really liked!), and tonight I fried wontons with a mixture of some yummy stuff in the middle. It's been fun trying new things & really cooking feels like the only thing I'm getting done around here since Conner isn't feeling well. We are all VERY tired!

Tonight, Claire & I decided to try out a Pinterest find. We wanted to make rainbow waffles, but rainbow cake just sounded better. Can't believe how cute it turned out...I bet you'll see it again at Claire's B-day this year!

Cindy has watched Claire the last 2 afternoons (THANK YOU!) and Eric took Claire to dance tonight. Before she left for dance I told her to PAY ATTENTION to the teacher because last class all the little girls were following the teacher and doing what they were supposed to do and Claire and her friend were doing their own thing & making faces in the mirror. I told Eric the recital should be interesting because Claire tends to only do what she wants when she wants anytime I take her to something (like music class, toddler time, etc.). Well, I missed out! He said all the parents got to go in and get a preview the dance...and he said sure enough Claire did only the things she wanted and just watched the others do the things she didn't want to do! Little turkey! I hope she keeps this Independence and continues to walk to her own drum beat when she's a teenager...no chance of peer pressuring this girl, she doesn't care what ANYONE thinks!!

Sick Little C.Man

2011-10-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Our little Conman is sick :(. Poor kiddo! He's had a low fever all week, but Tuesday night and last night his fever in the evening got up over 104! Tuesday night I was SHOCKED when I took it and it was 104.6!!! We had problems getting a hold of the doctor and after a long night his fever broke. We went to the Dr. Wednesday and he said it was most likely Roseola. Roseola is usually just a high fever and then a rash after the fever part is over. Conner's ears were red and I guess that's a sign of Roseola. Since it's a virus, we just wait it out! During the day his fever is very low (99-100) and then in evening it gets up to 103-104. We are just so grateful that it isn't anything more serious (hopefully!!) & are ready to have our happy little guy back.

UPDATE: Conner woke up this morning with no fever, but not acting normal. His fever quickly started climbing again. I called our Dr. and he said to start the antibiotic he had wrote yesterday just in case it isn't Roseola (yesterday he told us we could start it then or wait one more day, so we decided to wait one more day).

It's terribly sad to see Conner feeling so icky :(. The only good thing coming out of this situation so far is that I'm getting a lot of milk stored up because Conner doesn't want to hardly eat anything!

Videos

2011-10-19T13:28:00.001-07:00

I had it brought to my attention that the videos weren't working...they should be now :)