Is it summer yet?

Someone's ready to go swimming!

Connor's official birthday day

Connor is so confused. On the day of his birthday party he kept asking us "Am I four now?" and for a while we tried explaining that his actual birthday was later in the week, but we were celebrating it early. That was too complex for him to process and he kept asking throughout the day and we finally relented and told him that he was four. Well, since his party he's sure he's four and was telling his teachers, who corrected him and told him he wasn't four until Wednesday.

Well, today is his actual birthday and Andrea wanted to make it fun for him even though he didn't realize it. They went out for his favorite breakfast and had pancakes and sausage and met Daddy for lunch. Paige went to the sitter, so it was mostly just a special day with Mommy. Connor was a good boy and we hope his actual birthday was enjoyable. We love our Bubba Brown.

Paige is 10 months old!

This post is a little late since February only had 28 days and Paige's official 10 months would have fallen on February 30th.

Hard to believe our little girl is almost a year old already! She's been getting in to everything lately, crawling like crazy and testing our patience. She knows EXACTLY what she isn't supposed to get in to and of course that's what she's most interested in. She thinks it's hilarious to hear you running over to her in a panic and will turn to look right at you as she pulls up on the stairs, opens a drawer, grabs your phone, etc.

She's been a great baby and Mommy's already planning her birthday party!

Chuck E Cheese party with friends

Today, Connor and his two buddies Logan and Connor went to Chuck-E-Cheese for a friends party. It was our first time taking kids to Chuck-E-Cheese, so we started with a small group of only 3 little boys. We decided to try our little adventure on a Sunday, hoping that it would be a relatively quieter time of day than a Friday or Saturday.

It was nice that all the games were only one token. This video shows approximately how long each ride would hold the attention of a little boy.


Connor and Daddy liked the racing games. Daddy worked the pedals and Connor actually did a great job with most of the driving.

Connor R. and his Mommy April.

Connor and Logan playing together.

Logan playing with one of the games.



The little boys drank a ton of fruit punch before opening gifts. They really worked hard playing with all the games.

Paige was very entertained the entire time. She was a good baby as usual, and wanted to just get down and run around with the big kids.

The little boys had some pizza. Connor wasn't too thrilled with having to sit down and eat.
We had a pretty fun time. Mommy and Daddy ended up with a headache from the constant din of the music, entertainment, screeching children and games. It was a good time, but we definitely aren't planning to go back any time soon!

Connor's birthday party with family!

On Saturday we celebrated Connor turning four years old with our family! Connor was super excited about it and we'd been talking about it for weeks. Unfortunately his birthday fell in the middle of next week, so it was fairly confusing for him that we were celebrating early. He kept asking "Mommy, now I four?". At first we corrected him and tried to explain, but eventually we decided it didn't make any difference and just told him yes.

Connor's really been in to Backyardigans, a show on Nick Jr. It's definitely his favorite show, so Mommy went all out to find him awesome Backyardigan themed decorations and goodies. She got him a cake with all the guys, five balloons with the characters, a special custom made shirt with Backyardigans and a big 4, plates, napkins, etc. Connor was super excited to see everything from his show come to life around him.

Connor with his neato cake.



We had Connor take a picture with everyone that came to his party. Of course Mommy, Daddy, Paige and Chloe came.


Connor with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda.

Grandpa and Grandma Vernon

Grandpa and Grandma Anders

Uncle Kiss (Chris) and Aunt Abby

Allison, Abby, Nate and Drew. Surprisingly it was the adults that didn't cooperate in this picture. Nate is doing his "Connor picture smile" impression.

After everyone arrived, Connor opened his presents. Lots of great stuff, thanks everyone!



Paige liked the bunny puppet and Connor was nice enough (and distracted enough with other things) to let her play with it.



The last present Connor got was his bike. He was distracted with finding all five of his "guys" (action figures) and after a quick glance at the bike he told Mommy that he needed to find them. It was probably the most underwhelming reaction to a present in the history of the world.


A little while later we put Connor up on the bike and then he seemed somewhat interested. We're sure he'll like it more once he figures it out and it's finally nice outside.
After all the presents it was time to eat the cake! We all sang happy birthday and Connor blew out the candles (with just a little help).


You can kind of see in the picture of the cake that the poor Backyardigans guys didn't stay on the cake exactly as planned. We had to prop Pablo (the penguin) up because he kept falling backwards. Tyrone (the moose) fell off the side and took a bunch of frosting with him. He also needed to be propped up and the frosting was repaired as well as possible.

After everything, it didn't matter. Everyone on the cake and the cake met their end the same way!

OM NOM NOM NOM! Good bye Uniqua, we'll miss you!



After cake and snacks, most everyone left. Later that night we went to Minsky's for some pizza.


Connor sat next to Uncle Kiss and they had fun playing in the arcade too.

What a great party!

Connor had a great day. Later that night before bed, Mommy asked Connor what his favorite part of the day was. Connor said it was when he found the fifth guy who had been missing all day. When asked what his favorite part of the party was he said it was the cake. We thought the best part was having our great family all come to share Connor's special day together. Thanks everyone, we love you all!

Paige in the bath

Paige's favorite activity has to be bath time. She goes nuts as soon as she hears the water going and is so happy the entire time she's in the bath. It's great that she doesn't have to use the baby bath any more.

February Birthdays in Odessa

We got together in Odessa for February birthdays, Abby and Grandma Genie. We ate some good food, played a lot and had a relaxing day together. Paige loved scooting around on the Lion, which is a lot like our Lightning McQueen car. Connor mostly wanted to play ping pong the whole time.



Paige and Aunt Amanda playing with the lion.