Monday, June 18, 2012

And the birthday went on, and on, and on....

Friday was Connor's 4th birthday. I can't believe his is 4 years old already. In some ways it seems like he has been here forever. Our week in Russia 3 years ago to pick him up feels like yesterday yet I look at pictures and it seems so long ago.  (Don't worry about his eye, we had another laser treatment done the day before his birthday. No, it doesn't make for a good look! Poor guy!) 
Let me start with the beginning of his birthday. The minute he woke up he flew down the hallway to my bedroom shouting, "Mom it's my birthday! I am 4 (shows the fingers) years old! Am I really 4 now mom? Am I? Am I 4 forever now? I am not 3 anymore, right??????!!!!!!"  Oh.my.gosh. I have never seen so much excitement before, he was so darned cute!  We laid in my bed and talked about being 4. We compared how a 3 looked compared to a 4 on our fingers. We agreed that 4 fingers looked MUCH better than 3.  The night before we set out a few presents for him to open because we knew he would not be able to wait until Daryle got home from work. Of course since 2 grandparents and a few aunts and uncles live out of town he had some packages to open as well. I knew these things would keep him going until dad got home. Here he is, look at that smile!
 Peering in the bag that was from Travis.
 Checking out the monster truck book from grandma...
For breakfast we put some candles in his waffles and Travis and I sang to him. It was pretty cute. (Only problem is now they both want candles in their waffles every day...haha!)
 WOW! Grandma sent him his own blue Power Ranger costume... with a SWORD!!  Woo hoo!
 Connor got some more costumes... guess who also wanted to try them out?  Travis the Knight of course!
 After that we went to our Friday movies. When we got home Daddy was here. Off to round 2 of opening presents!  Another pile. 
Connor had been wanting "a guitar with real strings" for some time. I finally found him one that was reasonably priced for a 4 year old.  (Notice he is back in the costume!)
Serenading his mommy. (Can you see the little hint of an Elvis lip there??)
 We told Connor that the birthday boy gets to pick where to go for dinner.  We were not sure what he would pick.  We were pleasantly surprised when he suggested San Tan Flat so that "we can roast marshmallows and have s'mores!!"  Perfect.  He was fine with the s'mores being his "birthday cake" for that night since he would have a cake at his birthday party on Saturday.  It was warm out, but we found a table in the shade and the misters were going. Along with the breeze it was quite pleasant out.

 "Yee-Haw!!"
 Grammy and Grandpa got him this cute cowboy hat for his birthday. (It was the first part of his cowboy costume. He likes to pretend he is a cowboy too!)
 I think Connor feels very comfortable on stage!
Grammy and Connor getting ready to roast some marshmallows.
 Connor and his "birthday cake" package for s'mores.
 My boys like to supervise the guy making the fire for us.
 Looks like camping... without having to sleep on the ground!
I think the birthday boy was happy with his yummy s'mores. What do you think?

Even Travis decided to try a s'more for the first time.  (He had been hesitant in the past) I think he likes them too.  He finally realized what he had been missing out on all this time!
Back at home he got two more presents to open. One from Grammy and Grandpa and one from Uncle Rob. I think both were big hits!
How cool, a scooter from Uncle Rob!
I must say, Connor makes a pretty cute cowboy!
I got Connor a fireman costume. Looks like Travis fits into it too!
They both have been having fun with the costumes. Who knew this would be so much fun??
As if that day wasn't exhausting enough, we decided to let Connor have a "real" birthday party.... at Chuck E. Cheese. For us this means a party at a location with Connor's actual friends from preschool. Let me tell you, it is hard having a summer birthday!  I was so thankful that his preschool had given out a list of emails earlier in the year. This made sending out an e-vite much easier. Plus, some of his friends were even able to come. I was so thankful his BFF Will was able to come too!  Here is the two-some... I see danger in the years ahead!  They were mighty comfy riding around in this car! It is neat, because I know they will be in Kindergarten together next year too. 
Connor enjoyed playing air hockey. He LOVES this game and was so excited to play on one his size.
Eating pizza and waiting for Chuck E. to come out.
Getting ready to sing and blow out candles!
Connor was soooo excited to see Chuck E. Cheese!
Holy cow, he got this cool birthday crown and a medallion to wear around his neck.  He enjoyed every minute of the party!
Connor and his Toybox peeps dancing around.
Connor has been watching this ticket blaster on commercials for weeks. He was so excited to get inside and get some tickets. He didn't get the 1,000 ticket but he did do pretty well in there.
Of course he had a few more presents to open then they played some more games and we all went home. What an exhausting two days of celebrating.  Fun but exhausting.  When we got home I sat on the couch. For awhile.  I don't usually do that so when I do my family knows I must be either sick or tired. 
One thing that will stick with me about his birthday was how thankful and grateful he was for EVERYTHING. He kept saying this was his best day ever, I was the best mom, Daryle was the best dad, Travis was the best brother and on and on.  He shouted with joy with each and every gift he opened. He truly had  a great time. Now he is enjoying playing with all of his new stuff. He is such a happy little guy.  As my mom said yesterday, he has such a joyful spirit. Why yes he does.
Happy Birthday C-man! We love you so very much.  Here's to many, many more!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Star Wars Fun


Last Saturday it was Star Wars night at Chase Field.  A few weeks back Daryle and Connor were at a game and they were advertising this night. Connor got super excited, because, of course that meant he could wear his Darth Vader costume to the game!  I know I am biased, but I think this is the cutest Darth I have ever seen!  


 The Rally Backs (kind of like cheerleaders without the outfits) asked Connor to come and help sing during the 7th inning stretch. It's a good thing he knows "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" quite well!  He was up on the Jumbo Tron for the entire song. Here he is waving to the crowd.... shy?  Nope, not my Connor!
 I guess he did lift his mask up from time to time. 
 There were quite a few pictures of him dancing around with the Rally Backs and the Legends (those big bobble head guys). I liked this one because the expression on this girl's face says it all! Connor has quite the moves!
They had so much fun that night. Daryle told me one funny story.  One of the girls asked Connor what his name was. He lifted up his mask and said, "Darth!!" When this kid gets into character he is unstoppable!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

It was an early week....


This past week Travis participated in a baseball camp held out our local high school.  He had so much fun!  I think part of the reason he had so much fun was because two of his friends from his baseball team were also there.  The only part we didn't like was that it started at 7 am.  That's right, STARTED at 7. School doesn't even start that early!  That meant we all had to be awake and moving by 6:30 and out the door by 6:45. Do you know how hard it is to wake up somebody out of a nice deep sleep?  We even set his alarm for 6 but he was like a zombie. He went right back to sleep.  I had to say, "I am getting in the shower, you need to get up when I get out." Which turned into, "Ok, I am out now.  You need to get up."  Good thing for him he can roll out of bed, get dressed and be out the door fairly quickly once his little eyes to open up!  Once we got out there the weather was nice and cool. However, by the time it came to get him around 10 it was already warming up quite a bit.  They went through a LOT of water.  

 Yesterday we got there a little early to pick him up. Connor and I hung out in the dugout. Thank goodness for technology.  There was nothing for him to do out there, except climb a dirt mountain (which he did the day before...and he came home a giant dirtball!) and just be hot. hot. hot. 
 Here is the crew. It is nice to see them all becoming such good friends.  They are all great kids too!
 Goofy pose....
Travis wanted to do the camp another week because his friends are doing it again.  I said, let's take a break.  We have a lot going on this week and I already rearranged things from this past week so that he could do the camp. When I reminded him that he could sleep in instead he didn't argue with me!  I think we will do another baseball camp the week following next, at least that one is indoors.  It starts at 8. Sounds like a plan to me!

Friday, June 8, 2012

What?!

I love digital cameras. I don't mind letting the kids take a picture here and there, if they turn out bad you can just press the delete button. I usually just leave the camera on the counter so I can grab it quickly for those Kodak moments. Sometimes I find that my camera has been high-jacked by a certain 9 year old in the family. Here is what I found today.
 Petey with his new dino toys.
 Travis' attempts at getting a self portrait.
 Why is he taking a picture of what is under his bed? I have been looking and looking to see if there might be something that should not be there!  Suit case, sleeping bag, remote control toy, Raiders bag... looks ok to me.

Am I the only one with this issue, do all kids take the camera and take random pictures?? Surely I am not alone!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Conversation


Wow.  Some days I wish Connor had a volume control button on his voice.  I never had these "embarrassing" moments with Travis, I think it was due to his language delay. Connor has no such problem. I would always read and hear about kids saying comments at the wrong times and in the wrong places. I always laughed but I never really understood being in those shoes. Until now.  Here is what happened this morning.  After dropping Travis off at baseball camp I decided to get a coffee from Dunkin Donuts.  Connor wanted to go inside and then sit outside to enjoy his donut.  After settling in to our tall chairs at a tall table here is what transpired.

C: Mom, are donuts healthy for you?
M: Well, not really but as long as they are a once-in-awhile treat they are ok. You don't want to eat one every day, or a whole bunch at once, that would not be healthy.  You don't eat them very often so this is ok.
C: Right mom, I don't want to get diarrhea.  If you eat one donut, then you poop it out, then you can have another donut because the other one is gone, right?
(Me, giggling, trying not to fall out of my chair with laughter!)
M: Yes, I guess so,
Then, out walks a mom with two kids. The little boy is carrying a box with probably a dozen donuts in it.  At first Connor starts to say he wants a big box of donuts like that. Then.....
C: Mom look at all of their donuts!! They are going to have A LOT OF DIARRHEA!!

Aye...

So there you have it. I now am one of "those" moms who now has "those" types of stories!  Gotta love it!!  What else can you do??!!

PS- We then had a conversation about using quiet voices and not talking about these things in public because it can hurt people's feelings.  He sure keeps me on my toes, that's for sure.  I can only imagine our future conversations... lol

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Sleepover

Last night Daryle and Travis got to something pretty cool. Season Ticket holders got a chance to have a sleepover at Chase Field!  Now before you think "Why didn't Lisa and Connor go?" I will tell you why.  First of all I think Connor is too young to stay up until 1 am. He is no fun when he is over-tired. Can you say, "Meltdown??"  Secondly, sleeping on the field with 400 of my nearest and dearest didn't really sound like "fun" to me.  Right now the two boys are sleeping away. It is 11 am.  I will let them sleep one more hour before I start waking them up.  I have been nosing around at the pictures Daryle took and they sure had a wonderful time!
Here was Travis. He packed his own bags. He did a good job. Too bad his dad didn't do as good.... Daryle forgot his pillow!
Playing catch right on the field where the pros usually are.
Looks like somebody got pretty comfy.
Ok, ok. So this part would have been totally worth it... .swimming in the pool out by the bleachers!  The schedule said they would take 35 people at a time for 20 min at a time. I guess Travis and his friend waited until after 10 to swim so there was nobody waiting in line to swim.  They got to swim for longer than 20 minutes. Good for them!
After swim time was snack time. Cold Stone Creamery, my favorite!

This was the morning wake up call. At 6 am  they started opening up the roof.  We have seen this many times before. But laying on the field, looking up and being awakened by this must have been pretty awesome!
Travis got in a morning run around the bases.
 Checking out the dugout. He looks pretty at home there!
I did get a little bit of information out of them before they passed out cold!  They had a really great time.  I think in a few years Daryle can take both boys. It's kind of like camping.  We don't camp so this is as close as it's going to get .... for now anyway!