Trick or Treat! I can't believe it is already Halloween time! Ah, that means Connor only have one more first holiday! We had a great and very busy Halloween this year, how about you? Bj and I snuck away on Friday and went to Lawrence, KS to see a show. It was really fun and so nice to get away for a night, as Bj has been working SO hard lately. He has been putting in 12-15 hour days for weeks now, so we were really happy to get away and enjoy ourselves. We had to laugh though, we are NOT 20 anymore and it is really tough to "party" like a 20-year old these days! We got home Saturday afternoon in time to rake the leaves and get Connor all dressed up for his very first Halloween! If I do say so myself, he was the cutest little dinosaur out there!
We had such a nice night, we went to The Diehr's neighborhood for a little parade and some trick or treating! Connor apparently takes after his mom as he positioned himself next to the candy bowl! We let him gnaw on a few of the candy wrappers, poor bugger has 3 teeth coming in- and he was pretty content with that! He and Frankie had fun hanging out, isn't Frankie the cutest little owl?! After the parade, we had some dinner and hung out for a bit. Then the old fogies, Bj and I, had to head home and hit the hay! We were EXHAUSTED! We packed the little dinosaur up (he grroowwlleed the whole way home, it was pretty funny!) and hit the hay! We took a little trip over to Nana and Grandpa's the next day to say hi too! All in all it was a great first Halloween! We hope everyone had a great night :) We can't wait for the trick or treating next year already!!
I just love these two pictures of my sweet boys - I love them both more than I ever could have imagined. When life is crazy in the future with hockey practice, baseball games and soccer practice, I will always have these sweet pictures to look back on and remember this beautiful fall day with my boys.
The incredibly talented and generous with her time, MP took some pictures of our little family this past weekend at Forest Park. She is so good to me and I just love all of our pictures! She loves natural light and working with kiddos - and I am happy to be a loyal subject, as I love the natural, candid pictures she takes too! There are quite a few, but I just couldn't narrow down my favorites by any means - so I am sure you will see more sprinkled throughout future posts!I just love that little smile... I think Connor had just gotten finished "growwwling" like a dinosaur in the one on the left!
These four are some of my favorites. I know Connor isn't looking straight at the camera or smiling in all of them, but they capture Connor, my sweet boy. All the facial expressions are just the essence of him - and him at 10.5 months old. I know I will always treasure these pictures.
Our sweet angel - he is going to take off walking any day - I just know it! We found the sweetest little bridge and the background could not have been prettier! I know I sacrifice a little of them when I put them in a collage, but don't worry I will send out the originals to all who want to see! Thanks MP, you are so wonderful and talented! We love you!!
Hello World - Scout and Sedona here! Momma hasn't given us much time to write on the blog, but we just couldn't resist telling you about our little gold mine. Momma and daddy seem to think that the occasional treat and food is enough for us, but Connor has realized that we need more than that so we don't starve to death! He has started sharing his food with us and man, are we excited! We just wait oh-so-patiently while he eats and HOPE that he passes us a scrap or two! We would NEVER stick our noses right in his high chair or jump up on the couch and try and eat directly off his high chair! Ha! We just wanted to show you how much fun mealtime has become for us - we sure do love cheerios and cheese! Momma was grumbling about how Connor keeps eluding the video camera and being all shy - but you should hear him laughing when he gets going - he thinks feeding us is the funniest thing ever!!! Enjoy!
Welcome to Thies Farm! Daddy had the morning off on Friday, so we decided to hit up the pumpkin patch! It is the cutest little place, Thies Farm, and we had such a good time! It was a really chilly day, but we still had a great time. We saw all the animals, went down the slide, climbed on the spider web, and picked out a big pumpkin! Connor really enjoyed the whole day - he was just laughing at all the pumpkins like they were the funniest things he had ever seen!
We picked out the cutest small pumpkin at the patch!
He loved his new friends, Betty and Billy, and they loved him! They kept coming over, I think they wanted to nibble on his fingers, but they were good and just smelled him :)
Connor and Granny were such brave explorers going through the dark tunnels!
Connor found his pumpkin and we were ready to hit the road! He picked out the perfect pumpkin and it looks great on the front step next to the pumpkin from The Rice's!
We had such a nice afternoon at the pumpkin patch - it is so fun to take Connor all these places and see his reaction. We kept saying he was going to be in seventh heaven next year running around to all the great things to do! Petting the animals, going down the slide, riding on the pirate ship and going through the corn maze! All in all a great first trip to the pumpkin patch!
When we went to the doctor for C's 9 month check-up, Dr. Calfee said that they now recommend babies stay rear-facing for as long as possible, thus confirming my suspicion that our big boy car seat would need to be convertible. So began my search! Connor still fits in his infant seat, but his little legs are starting to get long and since he was going to stay rear-facing, I thought we would get him something bigger and more suitable for a big man! We are pretty sure he loves his new seat and he looks pretty handsome sitting in there. The seat sits so high up on the back seat that he can see out the back window and we think that's his favorite part! He loves it though and I it is so comfortable it almost instantly puts him to sleep! Ah, when did our little boy get so big!? It is kind of crazy though to think this is the car seat he will be in for what seems like the next ten years!
As a bonus, not only was the car seat a hit, the box it came in was a hit too!
Granny D is getting a new driveway and to cut down on labor costs decided to put Connor to work. As she said, there is no such thing as a free ride around these parts! He has been hard at work lately, working 'round the clock pulling up the asphalt, laying the rock and concrete, and digging the new walkway. He has barely had time to hang out and play with the doggies, let along change out of his pajamas!
We think all of his hard work is going to pay off though, and the driveway will look beautiful though and we sure are thankful we could exploit the raw talent of our ten month old to save Granny some money!
Connor wanted to always remember his first concrete job, and left his mark on the walkway! So, anyone out there looking for a new driveway, just give Connor-Man a call!
Caution: World's Dorkiest Momma is about to emerge.
Connor Francis got his FIRST invitation to a birthday party this weekend! I mean...the perks of this parenthood thing are ENDLESS! I was so excited, I couldn't contain myself - I got Connor excited about it all week! Ha! I am SUCH A DORK!
Sandra and Kurt's son, Eli, is turning 3 at the end of November! They are expecting baby number 2 at the end of November as well, so they decided to have his little party early. It was at Stuckmeyer's, a cute little pumpkin patch about 30 minutes away. It was so cute!
The kiddos could pick pumpkins, went on a hayride, played in the haunted house, decorated pumpkins, and had cupcakes! Whew - it was a good time! The weather could not have been better, it has been raining here for about two weeks, but yesterday was the perfect fall day. Connor had such a good time! He was getting dirty in the mud and playing with/trying to eat the pumpkins! He enjoyed his first hayride and hanging out with Will, Ella, Eli and Ray!
Eli LOVES "Baby Coco" as he calls Connor, so it was really fun to see them interact. It was such a great party, but got me so excited for C's party and all the birthday parties to come. Thanks for having us Sandy, Kurt, Eli and Little Man on the way! You know what else was really exciting? CFJ was still excited to have his old momma hang around the birthday with his friends!
My sweet, precious Connor - this month hit your momma harder than previous months. I seriously cannot believe that you are ten months old today, and only two more months from now daddy and I will be remembering the moment we laid eyes on you. I say all the time that I knew I would love you, but I didn't think I could love you this much - you have been an absolutely amazing gift these past 10 months. I don't think we could love you anymore if we tried, our eyes light up every time we see you. You have this effect on most people who see you especially your parents, doggies, grandparents and great-grandparents! You have been SO busy this month and I am amazed everyday at the development we see in you. Your Uncle Steve, Aunt Pamela, and cousins (Ian, Vanessa and Morgan) were just in town from California and it was the first time they had met you. You were a hit - you were the best little boy BOTH nights at dinner - and everyone just couldn't get over what a sweet boy and little flirt you were! You were such a trooper as you were waaayyy off schedule both nights AND growing two more teeth, but your demeanor was nothing less than perfect. You coyly flirted and waved hi and bye to everyone, and were the hit of the party! I was just so proud of you, my son, so proud of your sweet personality and your ability to adapt to the new people and places around you. It is just going to be so much fun watching you grow up, I know I will enjoy every minute.
Okay - what have you been up to this month Connor-Man? You are still into everything! You are getting so fast with your crawling and you pull yourself up on every sturdy and not-so-sturdy object! We bought you a "walker/rider" per Angela's suggestion and you seem to like it so far. You like to pull yourself up on it, and you like that it moves, but you haven't coordinated all of the steps yet. It's still pretty fun to watch you! Every single thing you can find goes in your mouth and I mean every single thing. We spend a good portion of the day pulling paper, dog hair, and fabric scraps out of your mouth. We laugh that if we ever lose something on the floor, we only need to set you down and you will find it! This month you learned where the fan is and every time we walk into a room (or you wake up) your little face goes right up to the fan and the lights! It's pretty stinkin cute. You have decided that you want to eat with your fingers these days and I feel the days of pureed foods are going to become a distant memory! You started eating cheerios, banana chunks, and cheese with your fingers! You also tried cranberries, apples and turkey this month! You have so far been a fan of all of them :) You went to your first birthday party this month and had so much fun! You love to watch kiddos around you, I can't wait to watch you interact in the future. You are crawling over things now and you can crawl from the floor, onto a cushion on the floor, onto the couch! We didn't realize how quickly your skills were developing until one day I looked down and you had crawled on top of the dishwasher lid while I was putting the dishes away! I have a feeling you will keep us on our toes always and we will continue to be amazed by all of the things you do. You still love Scout and Sedona, now more than ever, your favorite thing to do is feed them! They just wait by your high chair knowing that the scraps and your fingers will soon be coming over the side! You are an absolutely wonderful little man with an awesome personality and we are so honored you are our! We love you, you little stink pot!
Last night Granny, Connor, MP, Gerard, Annie, George, Frankie and I went to test out Bj's new restaurant! We have an "in" with the GM and thought we better make sure he was running the place up to Five Guys standards! :) It was so fun to see Bj hard at work in HIS restaurant, he has been working so hard lately and we are so proud of him. It was so fun to have everyone there, we had such a nice time! Bj was busy as could be, but was able to sneak over for a quick picture! He said they finished up their opening week with a little under $60,000 in business! He said it is the best opening that they have ever had! It was no surprise to us though, we just knew his restaurant would be a huge success!
Connor has taken up dancing lately - it is THE most precious thing I have ever seen! He will be crawling and - STOP- to dance. We love it, we usually are howling with laughter, he is a little bit on the cute side. He is covered in breakfast and not totally amused with me this morning, but it was a little too cute not to share! He can't help it, you go "Connor can you dance?" and he just starts grooving away! Hopefully the little man's dance skills will be better than momma and daddy's! Hope you enjoy :) Oh, and please note the dogs patrolling the edge of the high chair - it's their new favorite spot. They just wait for Connor to throw out a hand to lick, or food to gobble up, it's a riot! Connor just laughs and they can't wait for him to get out so they can really dig their noses in for any discarded cheerios! Crazy little dogs!! :)
Now that the little man is on the move - we have been letting him crawl free in the hallway! My granny had the idea the other day, as it's a good place large area for him to roam without having to be redirected. He is so cute, he loves it! We put toys on the floor and he just crawls from one end to the other - it's a great rainy day activity too! He is getting so fast, it's crazy! We laugh sometimes at how fast he can get around the place. He is sometimes distracted by things on the floor - most recently the dog bowls - but for the most part he finds himself on a mission!
After weeks and weeks of hard work, Bj's restaurant opened today! From what I have heard (he still isn't home, it's 8:45, bless his heart!) it was a HUGE success! He said they did more business today than the other store has ever done! Whoo, Hoo! We are so proud of him! He has been working so incredibly hard the last few weeks getting everything perfect. He has been a hiring fool too, everyday we can't wait to see how many people he has hired. I think he was a little nervous this morning, but ready to get the show on the road. We know he is going to be a great GM and we are so proud of everything he has done. Great job Daddy - we love you!
Nothing exciting to report around here, I am excited that the weekend has started! We are busy this weekend - Bj's restaurant opens on Monday, so he has been a working fool and we have the usual fun stuff to get into! Just a little hello, and some pictures of the little sweet pea! I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!
We have been busy making decisions around the homestead these last few days and I think we have come to some good conclusions. We have been looking for houses for the last few months and we were pretty excited about it! It has been pretty easy living with my mom since May - I mean, who can beat having a babysitter that lives downstairs?! So, we found a house and were pretty excited about it, well - this weekend we decided no way, we can't do it! Ah! Our weekend was a whirlwind of making decisions and figuring out what was best for our family at this time. After a few day long discussions, we decided we are going to continue living upstairs at Case de Granny's for the next few months, pay off our remaining debt and save a little more before venturing out into the home front again. I never thought we would be excited about staying in limbo and not having our own place yet - but I think we are both really excited about this decision. We said never again will we have the opportunity to not have a mortgage where all of our money can go towards savings or debt consolidation. It was just so crazy and so different from the decision to buy our first house. We liked the house, we could afford it and that was it! Now we are factoring in things like buying on one salary, when we plan on expanding our family, how much we want to spend on a mortgage, what school districts we like and the list goes on! I am feeling oh so grown up lately :) I was laughing that in the course of two months I have cried at work in the middle of a meeting (we had just found out that we are getting benefits!!!!!! oh, I am tearing up right now - we are talking, medical, maternity and vacation! We were going to have to spend $600 a month on Bj's plan to insure the three of us, but now, as of September 21 - Bj is free and I will be spending $34 a month to insure CFJ and I! Oh the sweet relief - and for the record a few other people cried in the meeting too!!) and made the decision to stay at my mom's house - with my husband, son and two dogs! I was joking about how it's the little things in life that get me excited these days, like benefits and paying off debt! So, that is our big news - it will be a few more months until I am hopefully posting about a new home!
My brother and his friend Joe, has started having their annual Pearl Snaps and Shit Kickers Pig Roast! Sorry for the profanity - this is a baby blog, but that's the name of the party! We were so excited that Uncle Bubba was able to make it in for the festivities and we were so excited to go! Everyone has to wear a pearl snap shirt and cowboy boots. So, I had to be on the lookout and found a pearl snap shirt for Connor a very long time ago and I have been SO excited to dress him in it and get him all ready for the party! I was beside myself he looked so cute! The shirt fit perfectly and he was seriously the hit of the party. He has his pearl snap shirt ($4.39 at Gymboree) new jeans, and cowboy boot socks. Yet the little man has cowboy boot socks! I found them in the NC state with Aunt Steph and Reags!
The little sweet pea getting ready to go - if you look close enough you can see his bottom toofers!
The Lawton/Johnson crew - I think we are a pretty cute little cute, if I do say so myself
Eyeing Uncle Bubba's beer with Granny :)
He loves his daddy! Look at those sweet chubby cheeks with his hat on, I love it!
Everytime I look at this picture I think it is CFJ's arm on the grill!
Hi Guys, Just hanging out with my Granny!
The Chef's! They did such a great job :)
Little Mr. thinking he can drink his Uncle's beer?!
In addition to his cute party attire, I was able to put him in his little vest for the first time (It was a chilly night!!). His little vest was the first thing I ever bought him, it was $3.00 on sale at Old Navy and I remember ordering it from my hospital bed - staring in at the little man who would someday fit into it. It is darling and he looked so handsome. He even had to break out the hat and mittens for him! We all took turns with him in his Baby Bjorn - and it was so funny you could always tell who had him because there was always a huge circle of girls around the little sweet pea! What am I going to do when girls start calling my sweet pea?! We had such a nice time - the whole family was there and it was a good evening. The boys did such a great job with the pig - everything was delicious! I was laughing and said I hadn't been to a pig roast since college - you know we had some pig roasts in good old North Carolina! We already can't wait for the next year - thanks for a great night Uncle Bubba and Joe!
For those who don't know, my wonderful NeNe watches Connor Francis on Monday's and he loves it! I think she loves it too - it's her job as she says! She called last week and asked if she could take a vacation day this Monday to visit with some friends, we agreed :) She is amazing though and we are so thankful that she spends the day taking such great care of our baby.
The other day they decided it was a good day for a bath and not just any bath, a bath in the sink! He looks so cute in there and he loves it! He likes to play with the faucet and loves it when we sprinkle him with the water. It is the perfect little size for him, and he loves to play with his new boats and rubber duckies in the sink!
Rubber duckies are for chewing, right?
Do you love my mohawk? My momma says I look pretty handsome :)
There he is, clean as a whistle and snug as a bug! He looks so cute getting out of the bath tub and I love getting him all cozy in his jammies - especially putting his lotion on. Is there anything more intoxicating but the smell of a clean baby head, tootsies and fingers?
We are so blessed to have our little family, have moved back to St. Louis, and are enjoying "learning" our way through parenting. Check back regularly as we are always on the go and up to something!
Trick or Treat! I can't believe it is already Halloween time! Ah, that means Connor only have one more first holiday! We had a great and very busy Halloween this year, how about you? Bj and I snuck away on Friday and went to Lawrence, KS to see a show. It was really fun and so nice to get away for a night, as Bj has been working SO hard lately. He has been putting in 12-15 hour days for weeks now, so we were really happy to get away and enjoy ourselves. We had to laugh though, we are NOT 20 anymore and it is really tough to "party" like a 20-year old these days! We got home Saturday afternoon in time to rake the leaves and get Connor all dressed up for his very first Halloween! If I do say so myself, he was the cutest little dinosaur out there!
We had such a nice night, we went to The Diehr's neighborhood for a little parade and some trick or treating! Connor apparently takes after his mom as he positioned himself next to the candy bowl! We let him gnaw on a few of the candy wrappers, poor bugger has 3 teeth coming in- and he was pretty content with that! He and Frankie had fun hanging out, isn't Frankie the cutest little owl?! After the parade, we had some dinner and hung out for a bit. Then the old fogies, Bj and I, had to head home and hit the hay! We were EXHAUSTED! We packed the little dinosaur up (he grroowwlleed the whole way home, it was pretty funny!) and hit the hay! We took a little trip over to Nana and Grandpa's the next day to say hi too! All in all it was a great first Halloween! We hope everyone had a great night :) We can't wait for the trick or treating next year already!!
I just love that little smile...
