Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Halloween party at School


This Thursday was Connor's school Halloween party. He was very excited to wear his Spiderman costume out of the house and for more than a few minutes of just "trying it on". 


 After Ms Cindy passed out their Trick-or-Treat bags, the kids put on their masks and got ready to go door to door at the school for Trick-or-Treating. Mommy and Daddy both wanted a picture with our cool guy.



Connor did a good job knocking when it was his turn. We need to work on him saying "Trick-or-Treat!" loud enough for people to hear.


After Trick-or-Treating, we went back to the classroom and put together some cookies. Mommy and Daddy both helped him pick out sprinkles and frosting for the yummy art project. We meant to snap a picture when it was done, but Connor was too fast for us and stuffed it in his mouth before I got a picture.



After cookies, it was time for games. They did a ring toss game where they threw a pumpkin shaped ring into a pile of candy. They got to keep whatever was inside the ring.


Soon, it was time to go, and the kids all sang their Halloween songs for us.

Thanks Ms Cindy for a great party!


Paige turns 18 months old!


Paige turns 18 months old this weekend! She had her doctor's appointment this past Wednesday and her stats are below.

Weight: 23 lbs 4 oz - 45th percentile
Height: 32.5" - 70th percentile


Connor wanted us to take a picture of him too and he was too cute to resist.


Teenager in training


After haircuts this past week, we stopped by McDonald's to get a Happy Meal for Connor, then were on the way home. I wanted to make sure he understood that he needed to take a shower and wash off all the hair on his body before we sat down to eat. I was explaining what we were going to do when we got home and he cut me off, very irritated with me.

In a very angry tone, he said: "Stop it Daddy! I... KNOW... EVERYTHING!"

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Football with Connor and Logan


This past Sunday Logan came over and the boys played quite a bit of football in the backyard. They loved rough housing and after a little while we switched to tag football since the tackling got a little too rough at times. They both had a bunch of fun and I took some pictures and videos. I cut them all together like I did the soccer videos and Connor loves watching it. He liked the music better this time around.



It was much too rough for baby sister, but she liked to watch.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

My darling Clementine



We've been listening to a kid's CD in the car a lot lately since it settles Paige down. We listened to it when Connor was a baby and hadn't listened to it for a year or two. Recently, he really enjoys listening to it, possibly more than Paige does. He was listening to the words to "Oh my darling Clementine" today and really was wondering about the story. He kept asking questions about the song and wanted an explanation about who Clementine was, who was missing her, where she went, etc.

From the words in the song, it sounds like she got a splinter in her toe and fell into some water. Connor decided that she sank to the bottom in her long blue dress but sharks and alligators didn't eat her. She was wearing a blue dress (like one Paige has) and she was married to a guy named James, who is singing the song. We had a long conversation about the song and he was very concerned about every detail he could think of. We got a long video of him discussing the song, but compared to the entire conversation it is actually pretty short.

Balance boy... just like Daddy!


On Saturday night, during story time, Connor said "Hey Daddy, watch this". He put his arms out to his sides and crossed one leg over and balanced for me. Obviously it was an amazing trick and I was astounded at his balancing abilities, but it also reminded me of a goofy picture of myself that I had in an old photo album. I dug it out last night and scanned the picture.


I don't remember any details about the picture, except what's obvious. First off, I was clearly a stylish guy. Two blue stripes on each sock? Heck yeah. Brown shoes with velcro straps? You got it. Hawaii T-Shirt tucked in to my shorts? Sweet.

I remember looking at that picture a few years ago and thinking: "What the heck am I doing there?". Now it's obvious that I was just showing off my amazing balance abilities. I'm glad my little man's got the same innate skills. It's in his DNA!

This morning he was doing it again so I got some better pictures.


Baby sister really wanted to get in the game too. She got her leg up with some effort.


They loved working on their balance and then looking at the pictures. I took a bunch and then a quick video of them goofing off. Connor loves to boss Paige around.

Paige and her buckles


Paige loves buckles lately. She will argue with us if we want to buckle them for her and loves to fiddle and fiddle with them endlessly. Recently we'll take her high chair down and let her strap her baby in. It keeps her busy for a long time and it's good practice!


Daddy at home with the guys


This past weekend was Mommy's weekend to go down to Springfield with her sisters and mother so Daddy was home with the kids on Friday night and part of the day Saturday. We had a pretty relaxing time playing in the yard mostly. Connor was supposed to go to soccer on Saturday morning but his leg had been hurting and he wasn't able to run well when we were playing in the yard. He decided he didn't want to go and I didn't want him to make it worse so we stayed home Saturday morning and just went to Target to get some toys.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Paige's fun weekend


Paige had a pretty fun weekend too although she was a little under the weather at first. She was pretty cute a few times and we got some random videos of her.

At one point, she was saying "Uh Oh" so perfectly again and again.

At lunch, she was really enjoying playing peek-a-boo.

 Today, on the way home from lunch she was doing her silly sassy dance. Daddy had made up a fun food song and when Connor and Daddy were singing it Paige would do her dance. Mommy managed to get it on video although it was a little bumpy since we were in a moving car.

Connor's fun Saturday

This was Connor's fourth week of outdoor soccer and he is still loving it and enjoying it a bunch. He got really lucky and is definitely on one of the best teams. The kids all seem to understand the basics of soccer and are good together. Connor was a little out of it this week and didn't do quite as well as previous weeks, but still scored a goal for his team and did a great job during scrimmage.


Connor did well with the drills. He was the first one to score on the coach.



He had no mercy for the girls either.
 

 

Grandma Genie and Grandpa Garry came to watch soccer this week too. After soccer we went to eat at Olive Garden. Connor did some very impressive coloring on the kid's menu.


Amazing detail!

After lunch, Connor went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for an overnight visit. They took Connor fishing and he caught his first fish!

Paige home sick

Paige threw up at Ms Rachel's on Friday and Daddy picked her up in the morning and took her home. She was definitely a little out of sorts and although she didn't barf again she was not herself.


Surprisingly, she was very content to relax with Daddy and eventually fell asleep.


She was pretty good the rest of the weekend.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Connor the artist


Connor's art has really developed recently. He's been bringing home some great stuff and we've been hanging it up in the kitchen. He brought home a picture for Mom and Dad and then on Thursday morning he told me he was going to make one with his name on it on blue paper. Sure enough, when he got home he pulled out a blue piece of paper with his name on it! His teacher said he wrote his name on it all by himself. He's been writing his first and last name in all capitals lately and he's going to start working on it in lowercase too.

On Friday he made two new pictures at Ms Rachel's house that were pretty impressive (both at the bottom of the photo). The one on the left is a pumpkin in orange with a face. The right one is a boat with a rainbow and the sun. It's hard to see since it's in light green, but he wrote his name on the pumpkin picture. It looks like he started to on the boat picture too but got the letters mixed up.

Neat stuff all around! His art has suddenly become recognizable in the last few weeks. Prior to this it was more abstract and only the people he drew were somewhat recognizable. I was particularly impressed with all the colors in the rainbow and all the light coming from the sun. Good stuff!

Our pal Lilli


Recently, Connor and Paige have been playing a bunch with Lilli. She's a neighbor girl that lives across the street and for the last few weeks has been coming over to play with our guys most days after school. She likes to play soccer with Connor and she's really sweet with Paige too, helping her climb up the playset in the backyard and helping her down the slide. She's been a lot of fun and Connor is always looking for her and yelling for her when he goes outside. He'll stand in the front yard and yell "Liiiiilli! Come play Lilli!"

He probably bugs her sometimes when he tries to boss her around, but she goes along with all of his games and they're good buddies.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Carolyn's Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch 2011 visit


Today was our third visit to Carolyn's Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch and we were excited to go with Grandma Genie, the Gobles and the Rudolphs this year. We've gone in 2008, 2010 and now 2011. We missed 2009 due to the unfortunate timing of Connor's broken femur, not that there's ever a good time for that.

The weather was nice today but a bit hot and the area is super dusty. Connor loved watching the pigs race, all the slides and things to climb on, and all the silly things to pose with. He really seemed to like poking his head through all the stations and Daddy was more than happy to snap some silly pictures of the little guy.


Getting tall!





Connor liked looking at the animals but didn't want to touch them or get too close. I reached in to one of the pens to touch a goat's horn and Connor freaked out and thought the goat was going to bite my hand off.


Connor liked the little slide outside the petting zoo.




Going down one of the slides.


Nobody's as tall as big Nate!

We got some cute pictures of our little family as well as the rest of our group.






Paige mostly relaxed in the stroller and walked around with Allison and Abby. It was a bit chaotic out there and Paige was about a year too young to really do most of the rides and slides.




Allison pushed Connor around on the trike since Connor was a bit too short to reach the pedals.




Finally, our classic Pumpkin patch picture with Connor.

2011


2010

2008