Friday, August 13, 2010

Missing...

The last few weeks have been so crazy between the endless hours we have spent working on our beautiful little home, to losing Bj's grandpa and helping/going through the grieveing process with him and his family I have really been missing my dad. I have found that lately it goes in spurts and this is one of those spurts where I just miss him so much. I was running around with Connor the other day and Paw-Paw's tree was calling my name. My dad's co-workers at Laura McCarthy planted this tree at the Carmelite monestary where my dad went almost every morning for 7am mass. He also took the cloistered nuns to their doctor appointments :) The Carmies (as we say around here) have a beautiful piece of property on the way to our new house, it's so peaceful and I knew it was just what my heart needed the other day. I told Connor we were going to visit Paw-Paw and he said "Pa-Pa?!" and got really excited. I started talking all about him as we were walking up to the tree and little bench and just cried and cried. I think Connor thought I was crazy but he was just sweet as could be and held my hand while I talked and cried in front of a tree :) I cried for all that he has missed out on, I cried because the tree was too big and that meant the years were piling up that he has been gone. It was the perfect thing for us to do and we had such a nice time enjoying the beautiful day, I felt much better as our little stop and then we were on our way to our house to get some work done!
I realized while I was there just how much this beautiful, energetic, astounding, perfect curly haired little boy has healed my heart. He has made me feel like myself again and I don't know that I will ever be able to tell him just how much Daddy and I love him.

I know my dad would be pretty proud of his little grandbaby. I know how much he delights in the fact that Connor Francis had filled a hole in all of our hearts and brought our family even closer together (if that was possible).

I am so thankful everyday for this little goofball and my sweet hubby, family and friends and doggies. I feel so blessed to have beautiful days like this where I hang out with my boy. Sorry for the missing post, it was on my heart and I wanted to be sure I always remember this day.

Funny Man...


This little character was cracking us up the other day! This laundry basket (and blanket and bunny and monkey) entertained him for like an hour! He was in and out, up and down and pushing it all over the place. He is such a ham and the sweetest little man I know!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Magic House

Uncle Bubba and I took C to the Magic House the other day. It was SO hot outside and we wanted to do something fun indoors (AND Nonny had bought a great Groupon Deal to the Magic House)...well we and the rest of St. Louis thought it was also a good idea :) We played inside for a while but were all a little overwhelmed with all of the people so we headed outside. I laughed though and said that Connor preferred being outside anyway! The Magic House has come a LONG way since we went as kiddo's and it is just the neatest place, we love it! They have this little "garden" outside and that is where we spend most of our time. It wasn't two seconds before C was in the water playing with the boats and RUNNING all over. It was a riot, he was literally running in circles around this bridge and moat.

"Hey! This looks like my chair at home!"

We also did a little grocery shopping, driving and playing in the water inside! Though my boy was the only one who refused to keep his "smock" on at the water table!

The construction zone was one of my favorites though, and C's! I had to laugh though because his eyes lit up when he saw the paint rollers and paint brushes! The poor guy has spent way too much time at the house where we have paint rollers and brushes out in every single room. Overall it was a great day...thanks for sharing it with us Uncle Bubba!

Thankful...

for WONDERFUL friends and family and MESSY little boys :)
We have a pretty amazing family and we know it! We have just felt so blessed and thankful the last few weeks. We bought our wonderful little 96 year old - in need of lots of love home and have had tons of friends and family helping ever since. This is just a portion of the aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sister, friends and parents who have been spending their precious days/nights/weekends off helping us get our little home live in ready. We really would not be as far as we are without all the help we have received!
We are getting closer and have picked a move in date of August 27th, regardless of the state of the house :) Ha! I have been taking pictures the whole way through and decided I would dedicate my posts as we finish everything up room by room, start to finish :) I don't know how excited you all will be, but I am excited to show you!

Camp Taum Sauk

You may not know this, but Bj and I met at this fun little place called Camp Taum Sauk, many, many years ago. I have known him for so long, it's kind of funny. We had a family trip to Colorado planned the second to last week in July and were ready to head out of the door when we got some bad news. Bj's grandpa had passed away. We were so sad and knew there was no way we could leave the family and go out of town. We are so thankful we stayed around and helped his mom out and spend some sweet family time together. We did decide to do one thing we had been talking about during the week...take a little trip to good old CTS! We are a HUGE camping family but between the business of moving last summer and preparing to move again this summer we haven't been able to fit any trips in! We are SO happy we took this little trip, we had the best time!! Connor LOVED the water, the dogs LOVED the water and we LOVED spending some time with friends and memories from the past :)
Saying "cheese" on the drive down :) Goofy little man! The doggies were so excited for their adventure in the car too!



Peek-A-Boo! We just had the best time and can't wait to go back again soon! It was so nice to get out of town for the day and not think about anything, just have fun with our sweet little family. We were so excited to realize that we arrived just in time to enjoy some chicken and dumplings with Leesa and the kitchen crew as well!! It was also fun to see Bj's name still on the table and stall door at the barn where he worked with the horses. We are already looking forward to sending Connor to camp and hoping he loves it as much as we did!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fudgesicles!

Are ya'll shocked? TWO posts in one day?! Ha, after my months of bloggie slacking I am trying to get back into the swing of things. I have had so much going on and my poor little blog was one of those things that had to take the backseat for awhile. But, hopefully as things wind down in the next few weeks I will be back on track :) I bought some skinny cow fudgesicles at the store the other day because it has been hot, hot, hot here lately! And, what summer is complete without popsicles?!This is pretty much a given around these parts lately - a truck of some sort in Connor's hands! He has been so into his trucks and cars and everything lately, it is so fun! He is such a sweet, sweet boy!

I love those sweet little crossed legs!! I think he just noticed that I had finished my popsicle before him and he was afraid I was going to steal it from him, haha! :)

Alaska!

Bj and I were lucky enough to go on a cruise to Alaska with The Johnson's - we had an amazing time and just enjoyed every single minute! It was sad to leave Connor Man, but we knew he was in great hands (thanks Mom, Aunt Jen, NeNe, Clete and Patrick!). In face, we knew he was enjoying his vacaion as much as we were! Bj and I took advantage of being able to sleep in, relax and sleep in! We just had an amazing time and are so thankful for wonderful family who take us on vacation with them and those that look after our sweet boy!

The whale watching was incredible! We were just squealing everytime we saw one of these majestic creatures :)
We celebrated three sweet years of marriage on our trip!


We had such an amazing and relaxing time - we were definately excited to get back to our sweet boy though!