Happy Easter!

We had a really nice Easter weekend! On Easter morning Josh got to see what the Easter bunny left him and find a few eggs that were hidden around the front room. Later on in the day he got to go on an Easter Egg hunt the Grammy Easter bunny sent. He was quite excited.

Josh was quite thrilled with his new Thomas the train he's wanted for several weeks. He's been playing with it non stop since he got it. Connor was content to play with Josh's tractor. I think he gets that from Grandpa Glen! Over the past month he mastered the art of rolling all over the place. He starts at one end of the room and continues to roll until he gets to the other end of the room. He's figured out how to move around to get anything he wants to get into. The past few days we've noticed he is starting to scootch and not just roll!

Josh had so much fun coloring Easter eggs. I thought it was pretty funny when he couldn't wash all the dye off his fingers since he hates having them dirty so much!

Our little preschool Easter bunnies. Preschool normally consists of Josh and his cousins Jordan and Carley and we take turns teaching. They have really enjoyed their little preschool. I've started babysitting two kids twice a week, so they got to join in the fun.

Gary made a cute Easter bunny too!

Over the weekend, Josh had fun cruising around with a friend.

Meanwhile, Connor was inside being tortured. He does not want to eat cereal whether I mix it with water, formula, or my milk. He does not want to take a bottle whether it is formula or my milk. He was not interested in baby food either. I even tried feeding him some of my milk in a spoon to see what would happen and he didn't appreciate that either. He wants my milk straight from me and nothing else. I'm not sure how I'm going to convince him to eat something other than his fingers. At his six month check up he weighed in at a whopping 13.3 pounds and was 25.2 inches long. He's a light weight for his age, so I'm hoping to convince him sometime soon that he likes to eat something other than me!

Gary got the brakes on the car fixed this weekend and he had lots of help!

I finally got the walker out of the basement and Connor loves it, though you can't tell from the picture. Josh likes to push him around in it. He looks so grown up sitting up in it.

We woke up to snow outside Easter morning and it has been snowing off and on ever since. Josh and Sydney both love playing in the snow, but we're ready for warmer weather so Connor can play outside too!

Spring Fever

It's been a while since I've posted anything because I haven't had much to post! The past couple weeks it has been warm enough outside to melt all the snow and for Josh to play outside, but it's still been too cold for Connor to be outside. The past couple days it started snowing again a little bit, but not enough to play in so we're really getting spring fever. We're tired of being inside! As much as we've had to stay inside the past couple months, I certainly have not been bored with these boys to keep me going! I'd lose my mind if I was still working full time since I'm home all day and still can't get anything done!

Connor's hair likes to stick straight up in the back. I have a really hard time getting it to stay down all day, and his hair got so long that when he'd sit on my lap it would go up my nose! Grandma Karen gave him another hair cut. The picture above was taken after the hair cut and the picture below shows how long it got before it got trimmed! His hair is now starting to thin out a lot.

Napping with Daddy! Gary started working swing shift (3 p.m. to midnight) a month or so ago. It was kind of a tiring adjustment for both of us. I usually wake up when he gets home from work, then get up once or twice with Connor, and if Josh isn't feeling good I'm up once or twice with him as well. Being a stay home mom is by far the most demanding and exhausting job I've ever had, but I love it and it is well worth it! The swing shift is hard on Gary when he has to work late, then be to class in the morning, but overall it is working out better for his school schedule. Oddly enough, we've been able to spend more time together as a family this way and it is easier for him to get his homework done.

Josh absolutely loves to read stories. We visit the library on a regular basis. We usually bring home about 15 books and will have read them all within two days. Josh will read to Connor, the dog, his cousins, or whoever else happens to be around. Sitting on the couch in the laundry basket wearing goggles while reading must make the stories that much better.

Our cute little Connor.

Josh is such a helpful big brother. It is so fun to watch them together. Connor gets such a kick out of Josh. Josh is still the one to make him laugh and giggle better than anyone else. Sometimes when Connor wakes up from his nap if I'm in the middle of something, I send Josh in his room to entertain him for a few minutes. One day Josh even put his cars in the crib and climbed in to play with him while I was finishing what I was doing. Connor is such a good natured baby. When it's time for a nap or to go to bed at night, he still likes to be swaddled, but I have to make sure I leave his arm out so he can suck on his fingers. I swaddle him, lay him down, and automatically his two fingers go in his mouth. He loves his fingers and if he ever gets tired of sucking on them, he seems to think his toes taste just as good. After I lay him in his crib and leave the room and won't hear anything until he wakes up. Sometimes after he wakes up he'll play in his crib for 15 or 20 minutes before he starts to fuss.

Holidays

We really enjoyed the holidays. Gary had a couple weeks between semesters, so it was really nice to spend time with him and he enjoyed being stress free. We spent Christmas in Richfield.

Josh was good to help Connor open his presents. He is such a cute big brother and can always get Connor to smile and giggle when nobody else can.

Andrea and Jordan flew in from Philadelphia for Christmas. They had a rough time getting here because of bad weather, and we were glad they were able to make it!

Connor opening his gift from Grandma Karen. He was content to play with the wrapping paper.

Grandma Karen made Josh a new bed spread for Christmas. It matches the curtains she made him for his birthday. Some day I hope to inherit Mom's sewing skills! Josh's room looks so cute!

Josh got some new swords for Christmas. I think Gary was more excited for them than Josh! Josh and Jordan had fun sword fighting, and Josh likes to carry his swords the way Sinbad does on the cartoon. It's funny to watch him try to walk with a sword down his pants and another down his back. For New Year's we were invited to spend the weekend with Randy and Erin Vail at a cabin owned by Erin's parents in Afton, WY. It was really nice to soak in the hot tub and play on the four wheelers and relax!

Josh will never get tired of four wheeler rides!

Josh enjoyed watching cartoons from the loft!

Josh had a good time in the jetted tub. Gary forgot that you don't need very much bubble bath in the water when you're in a jetted tub!

Fun in the Snow

Josh and Sydney have been having a good time in the snow! Josh asks me all day every day if he can go outside and play.

They really are like brother and sister. Sydney follows Josh around the yard, and he gets annoyed. He does stuff to harass her too. Mowing the lawn with the two of them around is always a challenge to me because I always have to stop multiple times to get after Sydney for pestering Josh and Josh for pestering Sydney. They are entertaining to watch.

Sydney and Josh had a great wrestling match in the snow. Sydney had Josh pinned and then she kept licking his face.

Then Josh pinned Sydney. As many times as Josh has wrestled her to the ground she has never once even growled at him. She's very good natured to put up with him.

This is a good shot of how deep the snow was after last week's storm. The faucet for the irrigation water was almost buried.

The snow was so deep that Josh kept falling down when he tried to walk in it. Sydney kept bumping into him as she followed him around and kept knocking him down. While I was shoveling the sidewalks, Josh came walking up to me saying, "Mommy, I lost my boot!" With as much snow as we had in the yard I started to panic, thinking I'd never find it until the snow melted but thankfully he remembered where he was when it came off.

Who needs a hill to tube down when you can do it in the front yard!

While we're outside playing in the snow, Connor stays nice and warm bundled up snoozing in his swing with his hair sticking straight up. I keep the baby monitor in my coat pocket so I can hear him when he wakes up and it sure is handy.

Happy warm baby!

He loves munching on his fingers. Every now and then he sticks them in his mouth too far and gags himself.

Sleeping on Daddy's lap.

Traffic in Payson

This is what you call a traffic jam in Payson!

We got hit pretty hard with snow with Monday's storm. It snowed all day. Tuesday morning, not realizing just how much snow was on the ground, I was going to take Josh to his cousin's house. I went outside and turned on the van to warm it up, went back inside and started getting Connor strapped in his car seat when I looked out the window and this is what I saw. A van was stuck right in the middle of the road. There was another van behind it that tried to go around the van that was stuck until it started getting stuck and ended up having to drive down the street in reverse and find another route to take. After the van had been stuck for a while, her husband showed up to help, but by then other cars were getting stuck. After seeing the van stuck in the middle of the road I decided it was highly unlikely that I'd even make it out of my driveway and even if I did I probably wouldn't get very far! The cars that were stuck were blocking me in my driveway anyway. I didn't think this guy would even be able to open his car door. I sat in my window for probably an hour watching various cars get stuck right outside my house. It was rather entertaining. I felt bad I couldn't do much to help, and instead I sat in my nice warm house and took pictures of the various vehicles that kept getting stuck. Josh and I went outside and had a good time playing in the snow. I'll have to post those pictures later!

Halloween/Blessing

We had a busy weekend with Halloween and Connor's baby blessing. It was a lot of fun.

Josh had a good time trick or treating with his cousins. My knight in shining armor. It was kind of funny that his good buddy, cousin Jordan happened to be a dragon!

Our cute little Mickey Mouse. Josh picked out his costume.

Pictures after Connor's blessing.

Connor with his grandpa Glen and great grandpa Wood. These are the grandpa's he gets his middle name from.