3!

Connor, I am not quite sure how it happened, but you turned three this year! I don't know if I will ever be able to get over how fast you are growing, you just amaze me everyday. The night before your birthday we put you to bed and were talking about the day you were born, and how we didn't even know if you were a boy or a girl! You were the best Christmas I have ever had and I love you to the moon and back! We snuck into your room after you were sleeping and filled it with balloons as a fun surprise for you to wake up to! It was SO fun and something I hope to do again. You just loved playing with the balloons and you had everyone playing with them at your party later that night. We had lots more than this, you had just throw half of them down the stairs by the time I took the picture :)

(don't worry, he has a rail up, I had taken it down to put the sheets back on :) )

 We opened up your presents from us in the morning before we had breakfast. We gave you a mack (you love it) and a gas pump and trailer for your cozy coupe. To say that you love it would be an understatement - you just didn't know what to do with yourself, you had SO much fun throwing everything you own in the back and trailing it around the house. We bought you that cozy coupe on your first birthday and it is by far the best investment we have ever made. You have used that thing every single day since, for at least a few hours.

 It's party time! After breakfast, lunch and a little rest on your part it was time for all of your family to come over to celebrate you and your three years! We had the nicest little time and I had fun decorating just a little for your party - I just love doing it!

 We had your chalkboard waiting outside of your door wishing you a "happy birthday" in the morning when you woke up and you said "look momma, it says Connor!" You love that chalkboard - its the best PBK knock-off Mommy and Daddy have made! :)

 You had so much fun opening your presents - by the end of Christmas you were a pro, it was hilarious! We are so blessed with such a wonderful family who spoils you rotten!

 I decided to *attempt* the cake this year and it was kind of a bust - I think I will leave the cake decorating and baking to Auntie G next time! I was seriously sweating up a storm in the kitchen, and it took me two days. I don't know if you can tell but the dirt road is supposed to be a "3" :) It tasted good though so that is all that matters!

 Happy Birthday to you!!

 Once everyone started to leave and you had some more room it was time to haul your goodies around in the trailer - I am sorry, but is that not the cutest little thing?! He HAD to have it as soon as I saw it. He is so funny with the gas pump too - he loves to fill it up with gas :)

 Our little family - someone was not wanting to pose for a picture, I think we waited until the very end which wasn't the best idea, but that's okay :) It's just a picture of how he is at 3!

 There is a good cheese for me :)

 That's all she wrote folks, I am 3!!!! It was a great two days of celebrating and now we are on to Christmas Eve and Christmas!!

One last spin in the cozy before bed time :)

Cookie Party!

Even though I am still a little in shock, life continues to move forward and my baby turned THREE! I still just can't believe it, how did my 4lb little sugar turn into a 32lb sugar so fast?! As usual I couldn't let his big day go by without celebrating and celebrated to the max! He had a few of his little friends over on Friday the 16th for some cookie decorating, a pinata and lunch! It was SUCH a fun little day and I am so glad we did this extra little thing for our sweet boy!

He was modeling the aprons we made as the party favor - he actually loved it and all of the kiddos (except the youngest) put on their aprons and had the best time decorating cookies - it was way too sweet!! I love that the apron can double as an art smock and anything else after the cookie decorating, the girlies got pink and green cars :)

 I found via Williams Sonoma on ebay this set of CARS 2 cookie cutters, they were precious! We had Finn, Lighting, Mater and Franceso cookies to decorate - the kiddos loved them! Bj and I made them the night before and the kiddos were all set to go to town with the sprinkles! They were just adorable, they decorated and then went upstairs to play and the Momma's chatted :)

 R and C having fun decorating! After this we had a little lunch and the "binyata" as Connor calls it!

 Look at all those sprinkles - I seriously went through 6 containers of sprinkles, it was hilarious!

They were just precious with the pinata - they pulled the strings and screamed in delight at the fruit snacks that fell out (C's pick!). It was just such a wonderful little day and Connor had the best time. The smile on his face was SOOO SWEET and just made my day - I don't think I stopped smiling all day. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friend, family and neighbors who come over and celebrate our sweet little Christmas baby!

O' Christmas Tree!

 We went the Saturday after Thanksgiving to pick out our perfect little Christmas tree for 2011! We went back to the same place we went last year and loved it. It was just as fun this year too! We got there nice and early so we had our pick of the best Christmas tree out there :)

 Connor loved being pulled all over the place in the sled, he was cracking us up! He kept screaming at us to go faster, faster, haha! After searching we found the best tree on the lot!

 Connor and Daddy cut down the tree and did a great job. They cut off the stem for our mantle and we were good to go.

 He is such a cheese ball and was actually being really cooperative when it came to getting his picture taken - I was a little on the surprised side :)

After getting the tree on the car it was time to head home and get it decorated! I took a picture of it up, I just haven't loaded it up yet, oops! 

Catch Up!

 Is anyone tired of looking at my pumpkin patch pictures?! Hehe, I am! Life has just been, life lately - we have been super busy and enjoying every minute of it! I have been SO busy this holiday season with my little monogramming business and I am so thankful but I was really overwhelmed for a few weeks there :) So, I thought I would do a little bullet list to get everyone up to date - I wanted to make sure I got all of our Christmas/Birthday pictures up in 2011, haha!

1. We started buying lots of goodies for a REAALLYY fun project we started around the house after Thanksgiving. This one loved picking out our new tile :) He has been a huge helper throughout the remodel! Pictures to come! Can anyone guess what was remodeled?! :)

2. We baked Christmas cookies with Nonny - we had a whole day set aside and only got one batch actually in the oven, haha! Our cookie baking day was a huge fail, but that's okay we will try again next year!

3. We spent lots, and lots, and lots of time at Nonny's house while I sewed holiday goodies! I am SO blessed and my business was a booming this year! I counted it up and I did somewhere between 275 and 300 things this holiday season - it was crazy, madness, busy! I was proud of myself because I only had two breakdowns in there, and everything got done :) Thanks to the help of my wonderful momma and this sleeping lumberjack :) I was so fortunate for a busy holiday season, especially when you see bullet number 4...

4. The second week of December (I was already on my holiday break) I got a call to come into work for a mandatory meeting - and I knew that could only mean one thing. I cried the whole way in, but knew things would work out the way they are supposed to. I, along with 599 of my fellow friends at McGraw-Hill were let go. I was really sad, but looking forward to whatever life has in store in the next few months in terms of a new job. I am loving being at home with my Connor though and hope to drag it out as long as possible, just don't tell Bj :)

5. After being antibiotic and mostly sick-free for nearly three years it finally caught up with this boy. In the span of two weeks (after getting the stomach flu in the beginning of November) Connor was up ALL night one night coughing, I called the doctor and they said whooping cough was going around so in we went. He thankfully didn't have whooping cough, but he had double ear infections! My poor little guy, we were given amoxicillan and sent home. Over the weekend (about 2 days on the antibiotics) I cheked on Connor about 10:00 and he was on fire. I mean, red as could be, 103.3 degree fever, talking gibberish. He had told me earlier that day that his neck hurt so I was SOBBING on the phone to my mom afraid he had meningitis. I called the urgent care line and they calmed me down, telling me he was most likely okay. His fever broke Sunday night and he was fine until Tuesday morning when I noticed a rash all over his body. A call to the doctor said roseola. Well, his rash continued to get WORSE and WORSE for the next two days until another call revealed he was most likely REALLY allergic to penicillan - just like his momma. This rash was 2 full days after we stopped the medecine, I am not kidding you when this looks great, he was seriously covered from head to toe - it was rash upon rash upon rash. He totally cleared up about 3 days later and is never allowed near penicillan again :)

Whew! I think that about catches us up, I can't think of anything else terrible exciting! Up next, getting our Christmas tree :)

Happy Halloween!

First of all, I can't believe that halloween has come and gone?! How fast the month of October flew by, we were busy and it seems like it was over in a week. I am so excited that it is November, I love the start of the holiday season - I kind of want to start decorating for Christmas right now :) My sweet boy had the best Halloween, he was a pretty cute little fireman in my totally unbiased opinion :)

We went over to the neighbors, they had a big party with pizza for dinner and hanging out before the trick or treating began! Some of the momma's stayed behind, but I couldn't miss out on the trick or treating :) I am a dork like that! I totally bribed Connor with a piece of candy to keep his hat on so I could take a picture, just the kind of momma I am!

He was going "Momma, all of my friends are leaving" I told him if he just said "cheese" for a picture we could leave, hahaha! He was funny, he smiled and then ran down the steps to catch up with his buddies.

How cute are all of these kiddos?! We just have such a fun neighborhood and I love it. All of the kiddos went trick or treating together (we had to break it up, they were swarming the houses, haha!) and had the best time. Connor LOVED running up to the houses and being pulled in the wagon, he caught on really quickly.

We had a beautiful night and made it about and hour, we decided to quit while we were ahead and finish passing out candy at home. He LOVED it, it was hilarious. Everytime he saw a kiddo come up on the porch he would scream "I've got it Momma, let me give them the candy". He is hilarious and was cracking us up!! We hope you all had a great halloween too!

The Pumpkin Patch, 2011

We had the most beautiful fall weekend here in the Lou last week, just perfect! We spent so much time outside and it was just lovely, our weekend rounded out with a trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. We went with some friends and had a great time. It was a new place and I think we will definately go back. We got to pick the pumpkins off the vine and it was way too much fun. It got me so exciting for Christmas tree shopping!!! I seriously think I could decorate the house tomorrow for Christmas and be totally content :)

My little stinker, I totally made him pose at the entrance with the pumpkins, he was actually somewhat compliant, haha!

We rode on the wagon over to the field where we picked out our pumpkins and waited to drive back. It was just such a pretty day and we found some good looking pumpkins!

He was totally over the smiling and posing for pictures, he wanted to run around with his friends. But, paparazzi Momma couldn't resist taking a few more pictures of my sugar :)

We couldn't leave without a little "tiny" pumpkin for Connor to carry around. He wants that one to go in his room to match the pumpkin lights we put up. I am pretty sure he is the sweetest thing in town.

Our sweet little family, we had such a nice day! After the pumpkin patch it was time for naps and powerwashing the porch! It was a great weekend and we are just so thankful for this gorgeous fall weather!

Brookdale Farms

We have been blessed with some great neighbors and I just love them! We all have kiddos around the same age, like to be at home and have fun - it works out perfect! I love being able to have a great time with Bj and Connor - have both of them have a great time, and not have to go anywhere - haha! Friday was a beautiful day so we decided to head to Brookdale Farms for a little fun with the kiddos! None of us had been, but it was really cute. It was just the right size for the kids to have fun and the Momma's not to panic about losing a child :)

This was a hit for everyone - the corn box. We were so lucky and got there at the perfect time, we almost had everything to ourselves! I seriously must have put Connor's shoes back on about a 115 times this day :) It was so entertaining in fact, we said someone needed to put one in the backyard! I believe I was elected, we shall see if it happens!

 The cow train was pretty fun, so fun in fact the Momma's got to ride too! The kids were laughing, they kept going - it's fun and bumpy!

 Connor was fixing me a delicous breakfast of corn - what can I say, he is pretty good to his Momma!

They were so sweet on the hayride, they loved it! It was just such a fun day and the perfect little fall outing. Have I mentioned that I love the fall? I seriously can't get enough of it. We are going to hit up the pumpkin patch tomorrow, woo-hoo! When I was putting Connor to bed we were talking about the best parts of our day (this is usually the best part of my day, I LOVE hearing what he says!) - here is Connor's best part of the day:

"Driving in Miss. Jess's mini-van because the doors open and I can help Reese out" Hahaha! Maybe a mini van is in my future?! :)