Connor's School Halloween party

Connor's class had their Halloween party on Friday (October 30th). Everyone got dressed up in their costumes and after story time they had a little parade through the school and got candy from the different teachers. After the parade the toddlers sat in the kitchen and had some goodies. We changed Connor out of his costume since it had a lot of white in it, and it was a good idea because he's not a very neat eater. Especially when there's lots of frosting and sweets involved.

Silly boy

We wanted to have a post that was all about Connor's funny personality. He's got a great sense of humor and he's been so much fun lately. He really loves to be surprised and scared, and loves when we hide and jump out at him. He's got such a happy disposition and we really haven't had a problem with the "terrible two's". Connor's usually a very good listener and gets along well with other kids.

The other night while he was playing with Daddy, Daddy pulled Connor's shirt up over his head and Connor thought it was hilarious. He pulled his pants down and walked around acting silly and we luckily got a few pictures of him. He spontaneously climbed up on the ottoman we keep his toys in and posed for us.

We love our silly little guy.

First trip to the dentist

Connor had his first trip to the dentist on Monday, October 26th. Mommy set up an appointment with a dentist that specializes in children (Shoal Creek Pediatric Dentistry), and Connor did a great job.

We took him because he's got quite a few teeth now and it was about time to check them out. Also, he's been really whiny when we brush his teeth and sometimes his gums bleed.

There were lots of neat toys in the waiting area and the whole place was really kid friendly. At first Connor was hesitant and shy and wouldn't open his mouth. After a little reassurance, he cooperated and they counted his teeth, cleaned them, and did a full dental exam. Everything looked great, all his 2 year molars were coming in, and everything looked like it was developing correctly.

1st Trimester DONE!!

Today is the 1/3rd mark for the pregnancy. Andrea is officially moving into the second trimester of her pregnancy. She's done a great job staying in shape and so far the pregnancy has been fairly smooth. She had no morning sickness the first trimester, and we hope that the rest of the pregnancy goes this well.

Go mommy go!

Cameron and Julianne's Unbreakable Spirit Run

Andrea and Connor ran in a 5k yesterday: Cameron and Julianne's Unbreakable Spirit Run (Hosted by Positivity Gym). They finished first in the category of: Pregnant Women Walk/Running while pushing toddlers in jogging strollers. Andrea actually finished faster than many of the people that participated. Most of the runners/walkers with strollers turned around before the halfway point because of the huge hill, but Andrea was determined to tackle the huge hill and finish the entire race.

Great job guys!


Daddy was looking forwards to defending his title yesterday, however he went back to class for his MBA. Daddy transferred in 3 classes he'd taken at Rockhurst, so he had all summer off while the other NorthWest students were taking those classes. Yesterday was the first class back, and he would have rather been running with his cute family instead of listening to Human Resources mumbo jumbo.

Playing with Mickey Mouse

Connor really likes reading with little Mickey and playing with big Mickey. Connor tries to drag the big Mickey around and loves it when Daddy and Mickey chase Connor around the house. He really gets a kick out of it and I think he believes that Mickey actually comes to life to play with him.

Back to school

Connor's been back to school now for a week. He hasn't been too excited about it, he'd been out of school for six weeks. The first day, when Daddy pulled in to the parking lot, Connor threw a huge fit and kept saying "NO NO NO". Miss Leah said he cried for about twenty minutes after Daddy left, and it broke Daddy's heart to leave him.

Each day, Connor gets upset earlier in the ride. The second and third morning he threw a fit when we turned off of on to the road the school was on. This morning Connor started throwing a fit as soon as Daddy exited the highway.

It's good for Connor to get back to learning, we've spoiled him quite a bit at home for the last couple months. At home he got to play with cars and watch DVD's all day, now he's on a schedule again.

It's less fun, and Daddy knows exactly how he feels, he starts his MBA classes again this Saturday. He'll be throwing a fit as well!

New baby heartbeat

Andrea and Shawn went to the doctor this past Friday (October 16th) and we heard the new baby's heartbeat for the first time. Andrea is 11 weeks pregnant now and is doing pretty great so far. She's done a great job adjusting to it and she's still running and doing a great job taking care of herself.

We're really excited to meet the new baby soon. We've talked to Connor about it, but he doesn't really seem to get it although he will tell you he understands if you ask.

Mickey reads to Connor

Recently Mickey's been joining us at story time and when we play. Ever since the Grandmas took Connor to see the Mickey Mouse decorations in the neighbor's yard, he's really liked Mickey. Daddy can do a pretty decent Mickey impression and Connor loves when Mickey reads the stories with him. We're looking forward to visiting Mickey in February at Disney World.

Fun weekend with Allison - Happy birthday Ryan!

Allison came up this weekend to stay with us. We wanted to thank her for spending time with Connor right after he broke his leg so we took her out to the Legends shopping area to get some clothes and then to dinner. We got her a few things at the Gap, but she was really intent on getting some ear muffs. We found her some at Justice, and she was very cute about them.

Connor enjoyed shopping at first, but didn't like to stay in the stroller. He was getting more and more brave with his walking and we got a little bit of it on video.

Connor walking.




For dinner we'd planned to go to the dinosaur restaurant. We'd never been and it really seemed neat for kids. Unfortunately the moving and roaring dinosaurs absolutely terrified Connor.

Andrea and Allison outside the dinosaur restaurant.


Getting ready to go into the dino restaurant. Connor was excited, but not because he wanted to go in.


We went inside, and right inside the front doors is a huge T-Rex that is moving, growling, and roaring. The wait to get in was over an hour, and Connor was going into a panic attack about the T-Rex. He was absolutely frantic about getting away from it. Allison really wanted to go to Applebees, so it was an easy decision to switch.

Allison and Shawn at Applebees.


Connor at Applebees with Mommy.


Applebees ended up being very good, and there was no wait. Also, instead of huge lizards that were clearly hungry for little boys, the Applebees was decorated with race car stuff. Connor liked it much better as well.

Allison was pretty tired after our shopping and dinner.


Today we went to Odessa to celebrate Ryan's birthday.

Happy birthday Ryan! Ryan eating birthday cake:


Snacking on some birthday goodies:


Connor and Daddy

First steps without the cast

Today was Connor's first day at home without the cast on. We were worried he'd be in a lot of pain and would be uncomfortable for a while, but since the cast's come off he's improved constantly. He definitely babies the leg and is extremely cautious with it, but he's been dragging himself around pretty well and will even take some steps if you really help him.

When he drags himself around, he's using all his limbs except the left leg. He's gone up on his hands and knees, but you can tell it makes him uncomfortable to bend the left leg, so he just drags it around behind him when he crawls.


It was a little tough to think of a good way to entice him to take some steps, but with Ga Ga's taking the video we told him that if he walked over to her he could see himself on video. That was enough to convince him to try walking. He's actually putting a lot of weight on his leg in this video. Daddy's just barely holding him up here.

McAlister's closes

Today is a very sad day for us. Yesterday was the last day we went to McAlister's Deli, and as of today they're officially closed in Kansas City. We were going to go today too, but we called and it looks like they're already closed for good.

When Andrea and I went to college in Springfield, we fell in love with McAlister's Deli. It's a nice restaurant with a lot of variety that we both really love for a lot of little reasons. We both love the sweet tea, I love that you can get lots of different sides instead of just chips or fries, Andrea likes their baked potatoes, Connor loves the macaroni. It's one of the few places that we all really like and don't need any convincing to go to.

I moved to Kansas City in 2002 and while Andrea was getting her Master's degree in Springfield, we'd eat there every weekend I visited. When Andrea moved to Kansas City in early 2004, we weren't able to go to McAlister's any more unless we visited Springfield. We checked their website from time to time and one day we were surprised to see that a McAlister's was opening in Kansas City. We went the day they opened in fall of 2005 and for the last four years we've gone every week, usually two to three times per week. It's not close to our house, but we enjoy it enough to make the drive and the drive gives us an excuse to chat, so we don't mind it.

When Connor was born in 2007, we were worried we'd have to cut back on McAlister's, but we brought him along and he's grown up eating their macaroni and it's just a part of our weekly routine.

We really got to know the people that work there and look forward to talking with Ali, Greg, and everyone who's worked there over the years.

We got a picture of Connor with Ali this past weekend, and were going to take pictures with everyone else today, but unfortunately they closed earlier than we expected.


We've really developed a routine and it's going to be tough to replace. Andrea would usually pick me up from work for lunch once during the week, and then we'd go for dinner on Friday and lunch on Sunday. For the past few months we've also been meeting the Millers there on Sundays.

On the weekend days, we'd eat and then we'd do our little routine.

First, we'd walk down to the "Money Slide" and Connor would put a few pennies on the ramp and we'd watch them spin down.


Next we'd go ride the bus or jeep rides by Target. I think we've posted pictures of this in the past, we don't have a recent picture.

Lastly, we've been going to Target to "see cars" and "see trucks". While Connor was in his cast, this was his favorite thing to get out and do. We'd root through the cars and trucks in the store and Connor would usually be allowed to pick out a Hotwheels car or a car from the movie Cars.




We hear that there may be a new McAlister's opening some time in the future in the Lee's Summit area. Probably no closer than the McAlister's in Ward Parkway, but I'm sure we'll try it when and if it does open. Until then we'll only get to eat there if we go to Springfield or St. Louis.

We'll miss our friends at McAlister's, and if you read this Greg, thanks for the nice comment you posted yesterday and send us your email so we can stay in touch! I'm going to post the comment here so we can remember it and find it some day when we go back and read this.

Aha!!! I found you. You thought you could be that kind and then just disappear into thin air. I think not! By the way...neat blog guys. I was so taken aback by your generosity. I know Ali was in tears when he read your card. We were both deeply moved. It goes without saying that what you did was completely unnecessary, but certainly appreciated. You guys WERE McAlister's. I can't think of any guests that were more loyal than you. We're all very sad to see things end the way that they did. But I guess that's life. We'll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and move on. I hope all is well with you and Connor in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll see you in Lee's Summit sometime. Anything's possible.

Thanks again,

Greg, Ali and the gang at McAlister's.

Cast removal day

Connor, calm before the storm...



Today was the big day! After a little over 5 weeks of waiting, it was finally time to take the cast off. We all went to Children's Mercy this morning and Connor knew where we were instantly and was not happy to be back at the hospital. We had to wait a long time for the X-Rays, a long time for the room, a long time for the doctor and then a long time in the cast room before the big moment.





The lady that took the cast off used a cutting tool that seemed to have a vacuum attached to it to suck away the bits of cast that were cut off. It was a fairly clean process, but the machine vibrated the entire cast like crazy as it cut and it was very very loud. Connor is pretty scared of loud things in general, and this machine absolutely terrified him. We brought some ear muffs (great idea Grandpa Garry), which helped, but even with them he was in a state of panic by the time his cast was cut apart.





We kept thinking she was done, but as she pried it apart she'd have to re-cut some areas. Connor would start to settle and then would freak out again when the loud saw came back out. Finally though, the big moment, where she lifted away the big blue cast...


Connor's skin looked pretty good except for some areas down on the sides of his hips. It looked like maybe some crumbs or something had fallen down into the cast in those areas and had irritated the skin a little. There were some very small red bumps in those areas and some brown spots where the crumbs or dirt had stuck to his skin. Besides that, his skin looked pretty good.

His left leg didn't look like it had atrophied too much or anything. It looked a little skinnier than the right leg, but not horrible.


It was very sensitive for him to move anything and he hated us touching his exposed skin. We were given a tub of soapy water and we cleaned him up a bit and got him dressed. He seemed so much taller, but so much littler without the big cast. He is definitely lighter!

We went to eat at McAlister's with our friend Jordan Miller afterward and we bought Connor a little truck to celebrate his big day. We tried putting a little weight on the leg, but he's definitely not comfortable standing on it at all yet.

Daddy's terrified that Connor's going to break something else, and we're going to take everything very slowly and easy for a while. We're really excited to see him out of the cast and on his way back to being a normal toddler again.

We love you Connor!!!

Cast pictures!

Connor gets his cast off on Tuesday, so before it came off we wanted to share some pictures of the cast as it is now. Lots of people have signed it and we wanted to remember how it looked:

Cast pictures:


You can really see how there's an area worn away at the knee area where he drags it on the ground. Olivia signed her name there twice, but it tends to get rubbed off.

Cruise pictures

We've been back from the cruise for a little while now, but wanted to post some of the pictures we took from the vacation. It was a fun vacation, although it was very stressful at times. It was great to get to spend some time with our friends the Rudolphs, Millers and Ramons too.










This is actually how we spent a lot of the vacation! At airports!

Connor's new cousin

Sophia Lynn Goble came home to live with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda on Friday October 2nd!



Connor doesn't really pay much attention to Sophie, he's more interested in cars. Chloe is getting a little old and isn't too interested in playing with Sophie. Andrea and Shawn just love Sophie though. Andrea says she wishes she was going to have a puppy right now instead of a baby! It's hard not to love a puppy and Sophie is cute and easy to like.

We visited Sophie yesterday and had a great time playing with her. Aunt Amanda and Uncle Ryan let us come over and see her, and we think it's neat that all 3 Anders girls have Schoodles (Schnauzer+Poodle mix).



Shawn, Connor, Chloe and Sophie


Andrea with Sophie


Grandpa and Grandma Anders came by to visit with Connor and Sophie, and Connor wore the neat Halloween shirt they got him. He loved playing cars and seeing the fish with the Grandparents.


We had fun yesterday visiting the Gobles and eating chili with them!