Paige is 11 months old!

Paige is almost one whole year old! Today she is 11 months old. We can't believe it's only one more month until her birthday!

Adult night out

On Saturday, the Anders sisters and their husbands got together for a fun night out. Theresa and Michael came over to watch the kids and we all went out to eat at Outback and then play some games and have some fun at Dave and Busters.

Playing teacher

Connor is an expert with all his words and their sounds. The "Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD" has been amazing at teaching him. He always loved to play teacher and lately he's writing his letters and doing a great job with his whiteboard. Mommy and Daddy are usually the students and he looks at an alphabet that's on Paige's little table and then writes the letters and tells us the sounds.

Feeding Paige

We've been feeding Paige more advanced baby food lately. She's eating things like "Turkey Dinner" that are real meals all blended up into a disgusting looking pulp. They look terrible, but she loves them. When we're out to eat, Connor has been insisting on sitting at the end of the table, so we thought we'd put him in charge of feeding Paige. He was a little resistant at first but came around and did a really great job. He liked doing it and Paige loved some attention from big brother.

Head bonks... the worst thing in the world...

We were eating the other day and happened to be taking a video of Paige when she bonked her mouth. Any time she bonks her head, even slightly, it's more than enough cause for a meltdown. She's been teething lately and when she bonked her mouth she instantly fell apart. Poor girl.



Connor is pretty used to the routine any more.

The bike!

Connor's been trying to ride his bike lately. He really struggles with the continuous task of keeping the pedals rotating in the right direction. He'll often get them part way around and then stomp on the wrong side and will come to a screeching halt. He's starting to get the hang of it and we went partway down the sidewalk tonight. It's a tiring chore for him still, but I think he's starting to like it.

Ignore the house in the background! More on that in a future post.

HOT LAVA!

We pretend that hot lava is everywhere. Especially at the bottom of the slide! Connor loves to "accidentally" fall down the slide and it's up to me to try and rescue him. I'm seldom successful and for some reason Connor's very happy with the fact that his father is a terrible rescuer.

Aaaaah!!

Swinging!

The weather's getting pretty decent and we decided to swing tonight. Andrea got Paige a cute pink baby swing so both kids could swing together. Paige isn't crazy about it, but tolerates it.

Connor the artist

Connor's been doing a lot of writing and drawing lately at school and on his whiteboard at home. He drew Mommy and Daddy tonight and we took some pictures so we could always remember how he sees us.

Daddy.


Mommy.

Springtime!

Paige is pretty excited for Spring to get here so she can show off some of her cute outfits that Mommy's been getting for her. She looked adorable today so we had to snap a couple pics.

The teeth

Paige has been a bit of a mess lately. She's been cutting some teeth like crazy and it's been driving her nuts. She has cried more at night lately than she did as a newborn and she's been a bit cranky as well. The top two teeth finally broke through and hopefully she'll stop being in quite so much pain. She's definitely ready to chow down on more substantial foods, so it's good timing to get these teeth!

She definitely did not want to show us her teeth!

Fun at the park

It warmed up a little and we went to the park for the first time this year. Connor had fun goofing around on the equipment and didn't remember falling and breaking his leg.

He posed, showing his muscles in the spot where he fell.


Paige enjoyed watching the kids, but didn't really seem to enjoy going down the slide.

Megan Wookie??

We had to take Paige to the doctor today because she was having some loose stools and her poor bottom was hurting her. While we were in the waiting room, Connor said he wanted to sit in one of the little chairs. We told him he could go get one and bring it over to where we were sitting. On his way back, the nurse came out and called for a woman named "Megan". We couldn't make out the last name, but as the Megan and Connor crossed paths, Connor said loudly: "Megan Wookie that's a funny name!"

We tried not to, but it was impossible not to crack up.

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Momma got the kids some cute St. Patrick's day shirts and they modeled them for Daddy in the morning. Paige BARELY cooperated for the picture. The bows were driving her crazy and she was pulling off both constantly. Most of her pictures she's holding her bear because it was occupying her hands.

We did get one cute picture of here where you could read her shirt.


Connor looked cute in his shirt too.

Connor and his tissue

Connor's had a runny nose lately, and as usual he's carrying around a tissue in his pocket so it's handy if he needs to wipe his nose. When he has his pajamas on, he doesn't have a pocket and he decided that stuffing the tissue down his pants was a satisfactory solution.

I took a little video of him demonstrating where he keeps it.


The next video was actually more entertaining. Connor wanted to take a video of me doing the same thing.

Swim lessons in Gladstone

Andrea signed Connor up for swim lessons at the Gladstone pool. We really want to get him going on swimming this year and started early at the indoor pool to get him a head start for summer. The facilities were really nice and in his age range it was a nice small class with just three other kids. We all went to watch his first lesson and were very impressed with the facility and the instruction. Connor was a good listener as always and did a great job.



Connor doing a funny walk with the ring.


Connor fetching a ring.




Connor and his instructor Katelyn.


Paige liked watching big brother.



Mommy and Paigie Pie.

Cool Connor

We were driving in the car the other day and Andrea looked back and saw just how cool our little guy is growing up to be. He was in his big boy booster seat and was rocking some cool Buzz Lightyear sunglasses and a hat since it was sunny outside. But the best part, he has headphones he wears in the car to listen to his DVD player, and he must have decided that one pair just wasn't enough.

Brunsman's Visit

On Saturday, the Brunsman family came over for a visit. We ate pizza, talked, and played together. Paige really liked having a buddy that was her age, into the same toys, and up to the same mischief. Langston and Paige both pushed around the Lightning McQueen car and had a great time.

Connor liked playing with Brandon, who is a soccer star. Connor had just been to soccer practice the night before, so liked having someone who enjoyed kicking around the Dino ball with him.

Connor's first soccer practice

Tonight was Connor's first soccer practice at the indoor gym. We've been goofing around in the front yard playing soccer, but this was the first structured class he's been to. Connor was in no mood for soccer today when he got home from school. The first thing he wanted to do was put on play clothes and chill out. We had to hurry up and eat and there was no time to dilly dally, and Connor threw a little fit. He complained the whole way to soccer practice and wasn't too pleased he had to go right up until the moment he met Coach Shawn.



When they got to soccer practice, they all sat down with Coach Shawn on a parachute and got their dino soccer balls. Connor was very pleased with the new ball and right off the bat he thought Coach was very funny. He was grinning from the moment practice started until it ended. Most of soccer practice tonight consisted of drills and games and Connor did a wonderful job listening and following directions. He did awesome and we were very proud of him for being such a big boy and a good guy.

In one drill they chased Coach around with noodles.

Connor was a great listener.
In one drill, the kids had "tails" and Coach Shawn tried to catch them.


In another, the kids had to get Coach's tails. Connor got two!


In another drill, the kids kicked soccer balls at Coach. If they missed, they got tickled! RUN!




Connor doing a jumping drill.


At the end of practice, they practiced teamwork with the parachute.

Playing with the parachute.


Paige and Mommy liked to watch all the kids.


Daddy was very impressed with his little man.



Connor had a great time with Coach Shawn! He can't wait until next practice!