All Smiles

Ahhh! I have finally emerged, like a groundhog, out from under a pile of books and papers to check out the rest of the world! This past week I finished my Educational Research class. WooHoo!! Out of all my classes, that one was one of the more demanding ones. That coupled along with taking an online course resulted in me feeling like I missed most of September! But alas, I survived and am here to tell the story. On a side note my grade was posted today... another A! So far I have had all A's, hopefully the trend will continue and I will get an A in my last class. No pressure or anything though!

Oops... earlier in the month Grammy celebrated her birthday... 39 I do believe... and this cute picture resulted. They have so much fun together! Happy Birthday Grammy!! XOXO (It's a good thing I came out from those books to post this or I would have been in some serious trouble! LOL)
Even with our crazy week on I was able to snap a few pictures of the boys. I don't want to jinx anything, but they have actually been having more *moments* where they have been getting along and actually having F U N together! The other night Travis called out for me and asked me to bring my camera. (They are both quite comfortable with the camera...I have created two monsters. ;-)) Of course he was right, it was a perfect Kodak moment! Travis was playing a game on his DS and Connor was watching him. They actually stayed like this for over ten minutes... pure bliss for us! (They are pretty cute though!) Just before bedtime we took some more shots. I love this one because they are both showing their cute teeth.

Next week is Halloween. I am not sure how Connor is going to do. We tried on his costume the other day and he pitched quite a fit! Hopefully on Halloween it will go much smoother! We are all keeping busy around here. The kids are growing and changing every day. This past week I took Connor in for another eye exam. Everything continues to be a-okay, phew! Hopefully he will never develop glaucoma. Thank goodness we have a doctor who likes to stay on top of these types of things so that if he does show any signs we will be able to treat it early. I will be glad when he is older and we don't have to go under anesthesia anymore. We are excited that my brother will be here from Seattle next weekend for a quick visit. I am sure after that I will have tons of pictures to post. Until then, Happy Halloween!!!

Hanging Out At Home

Although I would not call our weather "cool" by any means... we are still having temps in the mid to high 90's.. it has improved enough that the boys can now spend some time in our backyard. The summer months are brutal and since we don't have a swimming pool we pretty much stay inside for most of the summer. We look forward to our fall break because that is usually when we rediscover our yard again! Yesterday the boys helped me clean off the patio and then they decided to have a picnic lunch in the back. (Notice Rock circling like a shark looking for fallen food!)
I have had trouble getting Connor down for a nap this week. I am not sure why. He didn't take a nap for three days in a row, I was beginning to go out of my mind. However, yesterday he finally crashed. Not in his bed but on the floor... hey, I take whatever I can get!

While he slept Travis and I decided to make some sugar cookies. I was amazed at how much Travis could do by himself. Once I got the dough going (and it stopped sticking!) I pretty much let him do most of the work. He did a great job.

I know you are thinking Travis looks rather tall.... well, here is our trick... Yes, step stool! He's getting bigger, but not that big! At the end we had some dough left so Travis decided to put it on the cookie sheet and roll it out to make one big cookie. When I pulled it out of the oven I discovered that he actually made Russia! LOL

Who knew he was so talented?? This is how he chose to decorate his Russia cookie.

Here are the fruits of our labor. I helped decorate or else Travis would have been frosting cookies for hours. Together we made a pretty good team.

Connor woke up and dove right in to one of the cookies. He loved them!

Here is the chef himself...

Now THAT'S how you eat a cookie!!

California Adventures

Hello! Yes, we are still alive! Gosh, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind around here. The last week of September I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out alive. Fortunately, we all made it. On Friday, October 1 we hopped on an airplane and headed for Santa Rosa to visit family and friends. Even though Connor did not take his scheduled nap he was an ANGEL on the airplane ride. I could not have asked for anything better. I do believe he is going to shape up into a wonderful traveler just like his big brother. Earlier that week Travis had been to the doctor and was on two antibiotics. Well, just as our luck would have it, it all began draining into his chest as we were sitting in the airport. Luckily we have a wonderful doctor's office here in town. I called them and they called in a nebulizer for us to pick up once we got into town. It was our lucky day because that Walgreens was open 24 hours so we were able to swing by and pick it up at 10:30 that night. Phew. Crisis averted. After a weekend of doing constant breathing treatments Travis was on the mend. If you are wanting pictures, then this post is for you! Here are the boys hanging out at the top of Grandma's stairs.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were there. Here are the kids with the California grandparents. Notice Travis had to give himself bunny ears. Strange kid.

I just love this picture of Connor. He is an outdoor kiddo!

Even though Travis wasn't feeling himself he still had some fun kicking the soccer ball around with Connor.

Ever since Travis was 2 this bridge behind Grandma's house has been a big hit. Connor loves to stomp across it too. They both realized young that the harder you stomp the louder the noise and the more fun you have.Aren't there child labor laws in California? LOL They both loved sweeping the leaves off the sidewalk for Grandma and her neighbors.

Travis has waited YEARS for Charles to give him the time of day. Finally, after years of "patience" Charles and Travis had some real bonding time. Too bad Connor would interrupt them by running and screaming at Charles and scaring him half to death. It reminded me of the scene in Finding Nemo when the little girl is shaking the fishy and Nemo and his friends are shaking with fright... Well, anyway, Travis was on cloud nine when Charles would sit still and let him pet him. Even if it was only for 20 seconds at a time.

One day we were brave enough to head out to the coast. It is always a gamble when we head out there. We never know what to expect, it is often windy, foggy, and freezing. Again luck was on our side. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! It was slightly cloudy at first but then the sun came out and we just walked around, hung out, and enjoyed the fresh ocean breeze. The boys loved it. A beachfront house could be in our future... one can dream, right??Building a sandcastle. Moat and bridge included.

Connor just stood there watching the waves. I think this was the most still he was the entire vacation. We even had time to get out the camera and capture the moment!

More ocean creatures for the collection.

We LOVE the beach!

We heard that there had been some humpback whale sightings out at Bodega Head so we decided to go take a look. Unfortunately we didn't see any. (I don't know what I was expecting... whales doing tricks? Sea World demonstrations? No such luck. Better luck next time I guess!) It was a little to scary looking down at the steep cliffs with Connor trying to run around. Back in the car we went and off we drove to Petaluma to meet Uncle Billy and eat some of the most delicious hot dogs we have ever eaten.

I think sidewalk chalk is a must whenever we visit Grandma. This time was no exception!

Here are the kids with Lucy.

Having fun on the horses at the park.

Unhappy cowboy?

Of course we had to have some time visiting cousins. Travis just loves hanging out with the older kids. Connor was not cooperating for this one, that explains his absence. Gage, Travis and Renee all look great though! I remember when these two were Travis and Connor's age... scary how fast they all grow up!

There were two major highlights for me on this trip. One was my 20th high school reunion. I had so much fun visiting with so many people from high school. The next day a few of us went out for brunch, it was so great to catch up with each other. The second highlight was meeting up with one of my roommates from college. For two years we lived in an "I Love Lucy" apartment complete with a pink toilet, bathtub, and sink in the bathroom! We both learned how to defrost a freezer in that apartment too. (Isn't that what college is all about??!) Heather and I had lost touch with each other for many years. Getting married, moving around the country and having kids can do that to you! Last year we met up again on Facebook and during this trip she drove up to Santa Rosa with her 4 girls to visit us and hang out at a local park for a few hours. We had so much fun. Even though it has been about 15 years or so it felt like time had not passed at all. I am so glad we are back in touch! I have missed her! Here we are with all of our kids, she has 4 girls (one set of twins) and of course I have my 2 boys. Who knew all those years ago that we would have ended up with this crazy crew? We are hoping to keep in closer touch and not let 15 years go between visits. ;-)

Daryle's mom got this rocking horse YEARS ago.. I remember seeing it when Daryle and I were dating. Travis has had years of fun rocking on it... but now he is getting a bit too big for it! Now it is Connor's turn to have all the fun. (I tried getting Connor's picture on the horse with no success!)

Here is Charles, letting both of my boys pet him. Travis misses him terribly, good thing he had a nice big dog to come home too. As you can see we had a wonderful time. We did lots of other things too, I just didn't always have the camera handy. I was having too much fun. Mid week Connor got to take a trip to the doctor's office. He had a fever for three days and just wasn't himself. The doctor said he was getting the croup. We got some medicine and were on our way. Good thing we now have a doctor in Santa Rosa. Only my kids would need a doctor while on vacation! Thank goodness we have friends in all the right places.

Now I have to get back to the housework that has been neglected for far too long! Until next time....