Sun, Sun and More Sun!

That was the weather report for this weekend and Mr. Weatherman did NOT disappoint little momma! I am not much of winter person, I don't mind it over the holidays and as long as the sun is out, I just don't care much for gloomy days. Connor was a little cranky on Saturday afternoon and I could tell he was a little bored, so we decided to venture outside!
I was pretty much crying we were having so much fun! I mean...have I mentioned yet that I am in love with being a momma? I just had the best day with my little boy - the little walker pushed his car up and down the driveway twice and was screaming with delight when I pushed him up and down the driveway while the doggies chased up. He just looked so incredibly sweet and wonderful just toddling/walking up and down the driveway. He is just getting so big before our eyes and each day is better than the next - I love watching him grow and change and all that it comes with. We are just having a great time loving on our little sweet pea! We are thankful for warmer weather and sunshine and can't wait for the spring!

Oh, and can you guess what we are doing tonight?

City Garden

G, Bobby and Patrick came over to visit us on Thursday so we could have dinner and head down to the CityGarden and walk around. It is a new "walking park" downtown with different artist sculptures and these really cool "light balls" over what will be the fountains in the summer. They were so neat - they changed color and looked so pretty all lit up with the arch in the background! I did my best to capture it, aren't the colors so pretty? I think the Arch looks so nice in the background, I can't wait until Connor is big enough to ride in the Arch! It was a little chilly out so we were only able to walk around for a few minutes, but it was really fun. We said that we would definitely make a trip back in the summer to see it during the day and let C play in the fountains!

I couldn't get everyone to smile at the same time...ie: I couldn't get Connor to smile for the picture :) He was having too much fun with his cousins and I can't say I blame him! We are so lucky to have a great G and co who come over and play with us, we love it!
I just had to include the picture of Connor and buddy, they are best buds and looked pretty cute all bundled up in the stroller!

So things have been quite busy around these parts and I am trying to catch up a little! You have to imagine my surprise when I was checking my comments on the blog and noticed that someone said I had an award...award?! Me?! So of course I ran over and checked it out! Thank you for my sweet award, I don't know that I am deserving, but I love to play games...so here goes!

The rules for accepting this award:
1.Thank the person that gave you the award
2.Pass this award on to 13 bloggers you've recently discovered and whom you think are fantastic!
3.Contact the Bloggers you pick to let them know they've won
4.State 7 Things about yourself!

Okay...here goes! I keep thinking I want to do one of those "ask me questions" posts so here will be the start of it! :)

1. When I was little my mom was picking me up from Preschool and I was walking down the steps and fell...ouch! My mom said my mouth was bleeding and she didn't see any of my teeth, after looking around for a minute she put me in the car and drove me to the E.R. where they realized that I had knocked all my baby teeth back up in my gums and now I have a fake front tooth! Ha! I hope that didn't scare anyone, but most people don't know that I have a fake tooth!

2. I have known Bj since I was 15 though I haven't always known I was going to marry him. I knew there was something special about him, but I just thought we were really good friends! One day we were standing in our office in Colorado and noticed that he was wearing the same shirt he was in a picture on the desk...from 10 years ago! Ha! :) He doesn't like to throw things away and says the more holes a shirt has, the more comfortable it is :)

3. I have always wanted to be a wife and momma, but I never knew how much I would love Connor. Also, we didn't know until the day we had him what his name would be. We had our girls name picked out, but were between Connor and Aidan. I thought he was going to have dark hair (which he did when he was born) so I thought Aiden for the dark hair. BUT, I am so glad we liked Connor better because his hair lightened up and he is a Connor Francis, the name is perfect :) I think I could have 10 kids, if my body could do it and our finances would support it!

4. I was an intern for NewsChannel 5 after I graduated from college and did an undercover piece on whether or not oil change places can short change you if you of the female gender. I even had a hidden listening device! Ha!

5. When I was younger I wanted to be Katie Couric and I was convinced it would happen, right out of college!

6. I love my family. When I was younger I always thought I would move away from St. Louis and never come back - there were too many places for me to explore (and I LOVE to travel). I was really surprised when my heart led me back to St. Louis after college and I am so thankful that it did, as it was (unbeknowst to any of us) the last nine months we would have with my dad. I am so thankful for that time and I would not trade it for the world. Moving back to St. Louis is also what brought Bj back into my life.

7. We had a "winter term" at Elon, where I went to school (and met my best friends!!), and I studied abroad in Costa Rica for the month of January. It was really fun, and really scary! I stayed with a "host" family who didn't speak a word of English - I ended up eating cow tongue when I tried in my broken Spanish to tell her we ate corn beef and cabbage on my birthday! Speaking of - I love birthdays. I think they are so fun and I can't wait to continue making Connor's special every year!

Okay...I don't know 13 other bloggers to pass this too, but I do have a few in mind...

Tag, you're it....

1. Reagan Mae
2. Long Gone in Hong Kong
3. Sugar and Spice

Want to know what C was doing in this picture?

Here momma, let me put my toy back on the fridge....
So I can walk over and give you a kiss! Yep, melted my heart into a million tiny pieces - he put his toy away and walked over to give his momma a kiss! Oh, he is too sweet for me to handle! He has been handing the kisses out lately and it's way too sweet - I am going to try and get a video tonight!

All day Monday was the first day he walked more than he crawled...we think the moose if officially loose! I bought him Mike the Mower yesterday at Kohl's and he LOVED it! He looked so cute cutting the grass in the kitchen!

Connor-Man Fireman!

C loves his new shirt from Uncle Bubba, can't you tell? He also loves his firehat - he wears it all the time and we go "Connor, where is your hat?" "can you be Connor Man Firemn?" and he goes over and puts his little hat on, too sweet! It is so fun to send him on "errands" to see what he understands! The other day we had him put a tupperware back in the cabinet, we are working on our cleaning up skills! I have finally started putting C in more t-shirts and not onesies and he looks so cute! I was worried he would always be bunchy, but I think he looks pretty precious.

Weekend Recap!

Just wanted to share the cute pictures of Mister Mister from this weekend. Doesn't he look so handsome in his little sweater? This same sweater that he was wearing at the store the other day when a kind lady told me what a beautiful little GIRL I had! I smiled and said "yes, I do think HE is awfully beautiful, but he is my son". I was really nice and she just laughed - I mean, his hair is long but it's still not going to make me cut it quite yet :) Maybe I am leaning toward a trim, but not cute quite yet!
We had a nice little weekend at our house - Granny D gave Bj and I two free nights of babysitting for Valentine's day and we cashed them in this weekend to see one of our favorite bands at the Pageant. The shows were great AND I survived going out (past midnight!!) both nights, I was very proud of my old self :) It was really good to get out and hang out with each other for a little while, thanks Granny! Oh, there is also the POSSIBILITY that I wore the same thing both nights - just because I wouldn't stink up two outfit, though I was excited to find out that there was no smoking inside,woo hoo! Other than that we just hung around, cleaned, read books and sent out some orders! It was a nice weekend, I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Resident of the Year!

I just had to take a moment to brag on my pretty awesome little brother, aka Uncle Bubba! He called us this weekend to let us know that he had been named "Resident of the Year" at the Firehouse banquet on Saturday! I mean...we think he is pretty awesome, but when all of the firefighters you look up to have voted YOU the Resident of the Year, I think that is something pretty cool! He is finishing up his program at the firehouse in Montana and then hopefully he will be back in the Lou with us after the summer! We are so proud of him and he is pretty incredible for wanting to be one of those amazing people who runs INTO the burning buildings to save people. He is such a giving guy and we feel pretty blessed that he is ours!!! Congrats Uncle Awesome (as I told him we are now going to refer to him) we are so proud of you!!

14 Months Old!

Oh sweet Connor, happy 14 month birthday to you! Your little personality is coming out in full force lately and you are constantly cracking us up! You are almost totally walking - you can walk just fine (you don't walk sideways anymore!) and you are starting to walk more and more places without us coaxing you but sometimes you like to stick to your good old crawling skills. You LOVE to read - I think saying LOVE is an understatement, you LOVE to read! We on occasion have sat for an hour just reading books. One day we read a half hour past your 2:00 nap time! If you have a toddling toddler you know that doing anything for longer than 15 minutes is a huge feat! You love your doggies and your new favorite thing is to feed them treats. I think you would feed them treats all day if we let you!

I did not get a great shot of you on your 14 month birthday, but I tried! You can climb on and off the couch, bed and chairs. It is so sweet you get a wide circle going, turn around and plop down! I have to get a video of it, because it's a little too sweet for me! You love to give kisses now and you love to say "da-da"! I am pretty sure you are saying "momma" too and your sounds are starting to change! We know any day you are going to be talking up a storm, lord help us! If you take after me this house will cease to ever be quiet. You love to wave "hi and bye", you love to "sniff" the flowers in your books. You will go and "get" things for us. We can tell you to get a book or bunny and you will toddle on over and get it! I keep forgetting to mention that you have been drinking whole milk since about a week after your one year birthday. You love it and just like with anything else you transitioned great! You still eat almost anything we give you, you just don't eat a lot. Except at breakfast where you eat a TON! You eat waffles, eggs (this morning it was an egg,cheese and Canadian bacon omelet) oatmeal and a banana! Whew!

I love sleeping pictures, can you tell? I have maybe posted one or two on the blog :) I came in to get you this morning to see if you were awake, I missed you and wanted a snuggle...and this is what I found! You are too sweet for words and I could watch you sleep all day long. When you wake up though you are ready to go! You have a strong will and a bit of a stubborn streak we are starting to see! You definitely make it known when there is something you do not like!!
You are an absolute blessing and we love you to the moon and back! You amaze us everyday with the things you are learning - no exaggeration when I say that you learn something new every single day. I have seriously loved every stage of watching you grow thus far and this age has not disappointed. You have changed our lives as we watch you grow, learn and take in the world around you. I love watching you, learning from you and loving you little man! You are sweet as can be and we love you!!!

Chow Time

Apparently Connor felt that the doggies were unable to eat on there own, so he needed to show them just how it's done. Here guys, let me feed you your food by hand, just like Momma and Daddy to for me! That's much better, isn't it?!

Okay, now that you are all done...do you want a treat? Let me grab them, they are over here.

Good doggies, you love your puppy treats dont' you?! We probably fed the dogs 10 puppy treats each last night - I thought it was a little too cute and Connor thought it was a little too fun! He loves responding to/doing anything that involves the phrase "do you want to help momma...." He is so sweet and he loves his doggies!

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

We had a nice little Valentine's Day in the Lou, I hope you did to! We have never really been a go out and do something on Valentine's day kind of family so we enjoyed our usual day at home! Bj had to work so we got everything ready and had a nice little dinner when he got home! We don't really do gifts for each other, but we had to spoil the little man! He got three books, a monkey, a valentine's day plate and the dog's toys in his basket too :) Ha! He loves the Biscuit books, so we HAD to get him the "Where is Love" book! We had a yummy dinner of homemade heart-shaped pizza, salad and a little heart shaped cake! I am such a dork, but it was really fun and delicious! By delicious I mean the pizza and the salad, what was not so delicious was the cake! I thought I would be all healthy schmelthy and make the cake using a Weight Watchers tip I heard a while back. They said the use the cake mix and a can of diet soda and that was it, it was moist and delicious! Well, moist it was, delicious it was not - we cooked it but it tasted like we had not even put it in the oven. My mom and Bj looked at me like what are you feeding us?! It was pretty funny - I had to share! Connor man wanted to sport his new "C' shirt that Aunt Steph made him! Thanks Aunt Steph, I LOVE it!!! :) :)

Last weekend Connor and I set out to paint his Valentine's and take pictures in his heart shirt so that we could deliver Valentine's and goodies to all of our family. Well, we made all the Valentine's (and if you live out of town you received them!) we even made the cookie bars and brownies, however we never made our rounds to deliver them! Oops! The weather just was too yucky to bring the little man out in so we opted for the warmth of home instead of the cold and delivering Valentine's. The thought was there, that has to count - right? Be on the look-out because maybe we will stop by this week! We had a really nice day, and hope you did to! Now that Valentine's day is over it is time to gear up for that great holiday...St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy Saturday!

We have had a nice little Saturday over here at Casa de Granny! I wanted to post the picture of my little man and I to show the world that we do in fact occasionally change him out of his pajamas! :) We went to Annie's for a Ragland party and Granny bought Connor the cutest shorts! They are little seersucker critter shorts and he is going to look so cute in them in Michigan this summer! We bought him a size 2, I can't believe my little sweet pea is going to be wearing a size 2! Ah, I can't wait for summer!!! Other than that, we ran some errands and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a really nice day - we are getting excited for Valentine's day tomorrow. I have our dinner all picked out along with our desert, it should be a fun little day. That is about all I have going on here! Connor is starting to fit into all of the clothes I bought him at Gymboree last winter and he looks precious - I love all the little sweaters. He even wore his red barn jacket this afternoon - so cute! I was entertaining the thought of getting him a little haircut, but I just can't do it. I am not there yet and it's okay. We MAY consider trimming the little rat tail in the back, but other than that no scissors near my sweet pea's head quite yet!

Sweet Pea

I really, really, really love this boy and his bunny :)

Once Upon A Child

I love to read, I really, really, really love to read. Growing up my parents said I always had my nose in a book sometimes I would read by the light of the street light out my window after "lights out" - I know that's really dorky, but I just really love reading! So, reading was definitely something that I wanted to pass on to Connor. From the time he was in the womb I have been reading to him (poor kid had to suffer through the twilight series with me!) and everyday we read as many books as we can. In addition to reading, I love a good bargain! I have scoured "Neiman Marcus North" as my Granny calls the the junk store for the 10 for $1 deals and Once Upon A Child. I love that place for children's books! The other day they had buy 3 books get 1 free! Woo-hoo! I got the little man 6 hardcover books and a stuffed animal for $10! One of our favorite deals was this book - we love "Tails" and now "Dog" has become a favorite! You should see the boy's bookshelf, it's overflowing! Connor's FAVORITE book I found was a circa 1982 "Baby Faces" book. He seriously can't get enough of it. When I say that we read it 78 times a day I am serious, I could be UNDERestimating the number of times we read it! Look at the joy on his face in pictures 1 and 3...how could you not read the book so many times in a row? He was so excited to read it, he couldn't even wait to get dressed after his bath the other night! For a nerdy bookworm like my self that is a site of beauty to my eyes! I love that he has taken an interest in reading and I hope it is something that sticks with him. For now, we will read "Baby Faces" as many times a day as we can! Oh, Borders also has some great deals on books - I found quite a few books for $2.99!

Firefighter Stair Climb

You might remember my post last year about my awesome brother David, or as we know refer to him...Uncle Bubba. He likes it, he told me :) He is in school training to become a firefighter. He is finishing up his program and graduating this summer - there are a few of us flying out and attending, we can't wait! Then he will hopefully have a job fighting fires in a very safe part of St. Louis :) Anywhere would be lucky to have him, but we really have our fingers crossed that he choose St. Louis as we can't wait to have the whole family back together in the fine state of Missouri. Well, he is doing the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb again this year and he would be pleased as punch if anyone wanted to help support him in this endeavor! He has already raised $600 ($100 over his goal of $500!) but every little bit helps raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. For those of you who don't know - Leukemia hits very close to home for us, as our Dad kicked Leukemia in the butt.

I should have started with this, but here is a little background on the event...

"At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center (formerly Bank of America Tower) in downtown Seattle stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,311 steps to reach the highly acclaimed observation deck overlooking the city.
The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees. In 2009, the event featured over 1,500 firefighters from 244 different departments and brought in a record $640,000 for blood-cancer research and patient services."

I wanted to share the details with you in case you would like to donate! Thank you in advance for helping support Uncle Bubba and blood and cancer research!

Want to Donate? Click Here! and then...

1. click on donate now

2. type in dave lawton

3. click on my name highlighted in blue and then you can donate.

Super Bowl Sunday/Weekend

We had a really nice little weekend at Casa de Granny D. We had some snow so we hung around the house and as a bit of a homebody, that suits me just fine! My mom and I ran a few errands, I filled some orders and we lounged. I had some fun taking pictures of Connor in his new favorite spot, the windowsill. I couldn't help but post this because I thought he looked a little too precious in his tie onesie :) He was just sitting in the windowsill sipping on his sippy cup! We went over to the Johnson's to watch the super bowl on Sunday night. It was really nice and I loved getting out of preparing the food, ha! I love to cook, but I also enjoy the occasional night off. This just made me chuckle, Connor and Koda man begging Aunt Jen for food. Are we sensing a theme here with us not feeding Connor enough!? The poor neglected little soul...
Watching the game with Dada, drinking a brewski! I mean...is this the picture I am going to see 20 years from now? Minus C sitting in Bj's lap! Ha! I kind of think my boys are precious. Do you love Connor's little football fleece jacket? It was a gift from Aunt Steph for Christmas, thanks for making me cute on super bowl Sunday Aunt Steph! Overall it was just a really nice weekend, I love all the time spent with my sweet family. We don't really have anything exciting on the agenda this weekend and that is just fine with us :) Does anyone have any fun plans for Valentine's day?

How Big is Connor?!

One of our new favorite toys are our stack able nesting blocks (Melissa and Doug, are you shocked?!) and we think they are pretty great! I am such a kid myself as I make Connor wait until I have counted and stacked all ten blocks before I will let him knock them over! Ha! He just gets so excited and then he will squat down and knock each one off individually that doesn't knock down with his initial hit. It is a little too funny! He is just at such a fun age, I love it. I love more than anything experiencing life through his eyes again, it is so precious. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday and it's warmer where you are than it is here!

Have You Seen Me?

*Update: Thank you Cortney - I am an idiot it is from the "just one year" line by Carters! I want to introduce you to Bunny, one of Connor's very, very best friends. I am not sure if you have noticed sweet bunny in recent pictures, but bunny is always around. Sweet Connor just loves his bunny and we think that it's pretty sweet. Bunny had been sitting on top of his dresser for no reason since he was born. One day C pointed to him so we gave him bunny and the rest is history! We are not sure who gave us bunny, but we would like to thank them! Bunny started out a really beautiful white color but with many months of love has turned a little dingy - but we think that makes him all the more appealing :) Since bunny is so loved, we have started to search for a new one (you can never have too many lovies!) and we are coming up empty! Bj found a blog dedicated to bunny and one on ebay for $100...

So, my friends I am asking you if you could keep an eye out for a white and brown the first years bunny. We want to get C another one should anything ever happen to bunny, but we can't find them anywhere! So, with Easter approaching if you see this sweet little bunny, would you mind picking up one or two? I will happily send you all the money it costs to buy and ship! Thanks in advance for keeping your eyes peeled! :)

Winner, Winner!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone for commenting on my first "real" giveaway! I had so much fun reading all the comments and visiting your blogs :) I had so much fun doing this giveaway, I think I have another one up my sleeve! So, without further ado. My random number generator chose comment number 58...

Debbie Jackson!!

She said..." cute site........hi!"

Debbie, I will email you this afternoon for you address, congrats! Thanks again and be sure to check back for my next little giveaway :)

The Butterfly House!

Daddy and Connor took a field trip to the butterfly house last week and I am so behind, I am just posting it! Bj said Connor was a little unsure and liked the magic house better, but still had fun! We were saying we were thankful he didn't try to "catch" any of the butterfly's!
I thought this face was so funny - Bj said it was so hot and humid in there he had to take his coat off! They are pretty cute together, I really like watching my boys hang out together - I kind of like both of them :) Hope everyone had a great day, I am so glad tomorrow is Wednesday!