Our Budding Photographer

Connor has figured out how to work our camera. He was snapping pictures like crazy last night. Here are a few that he took. I left them exactly the way he took them-no rotations or anything. Not bad for a nearly 17 month old.

Some of my toys

The fire station

The wall

My feet

My arm

Wow look at that...That's me!

Millenium Falcon

So Peter has been wanting one of these for awhile. He looked online and in stores and the going rate is about $140. So his dreams of owning one was put on hold. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he couldn't come up with anything. He had made up his mind that this was too expensive and he wouldn't get much out of it to make it worth it. So for his birthday he got some of his favorite candies, a shirt and a book.

Friday evening there was a big box at the door. He told me he went ahead and bought it from Amazon for slightly cheaper. Friday evening he set to work putting it together and he finished it up during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. Then he started flying it around the house while humming/singing the theme song. I told him to wait so I could grab the camera. He then put his toy down and said he wouldn't play with it if I was going to video tape him. Later he was playing with it again so I took some pictures. Then while he thought I was taking pictures I switched to video mode and got a short video. He said I couldn't post it, it would be too embarrassing. I reminded him that Fred Leavitt (my friend's dad) has a Star Trek ornament collection. And I wouldn't be surprised if he gets them out and plays with them at Christmas time.

Here's my big kid playing with his toys. Video posted with permission after convincing him it wasn't too embarrassing. Peter says if I ever video him flying the Falcon around the house, THAT for sure will not be posted. Today Connor was laughing at his daddy while this giant ship took flight in our family room.

Gracie popped my ball!

Connor was out playing with a favorite ball on the grass. He was kicking it and running after it and it was so cute. I thought for sure I would title the post "Our little soccer player" but as I went inside to grab the camera I let Gracie outside. She ran after Connor's ball and started playing with it. And then this happened:

Connor would not stop crying. I picked up the ball and him and told him we would go buy another one. Every time he looked at his ball he would let out a louder cry. I finally threw it in the trash, hoping that out of sight out of mind would kick in. He went on for a bit longer and then whenever Gracie would come near he would cry some more. He remembered what she did to his ball.

Disneyland day 3

King Triton's Carousel

A Bug's Life- Ladybug Spinners

We went to Disneyland again yesterday. We needed to use up the last day of our three day park hopper pass by September and both Peter and I had yesterday off work so we headed there. We had a great time. We went to CA Adventure first and went on all the rides that Connor could go on and then we stopped for lunch at a picnic bench and enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches. This was about the time that Connor was melting down and really needed a nap. Our goal was to make it to Pirates of the Caribbean and let him have a nice nap there. We headed over to Disneyland and right as we're about to drop the stroller off in stroller parking,we noticed our little guy was sound asleep. Hmm now what to do? We strolled around, picked up a Dole Whip for each of us and thoroughly enjoyed our own. Though Peter had to help me finish as it was a bit chilly yesterday (very overcast).

Dole Whip-a must have at Disneyland!

All tuckered out

We walked around a bit and Connor got in a good hour nap(way shorter than normal, but about as good as it gets at Disneyland). Then we went on Pirate's of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, The Story Book boats, Peter Pan and a few others. Connor really enjoyed his time at the Disney Parks. We grabbed dinner in the park, strolled around in the shops a little bit and then headed home.

Peter can hardly wait until Connor is older so they can go on the big rides together.

Happy Happy Birthday Peter Dear

Happy happy birthday Peter dear,
Happy days will come to you all year.
If I had a wish then it would be
a happy happy birthday to you from me.

Peter is one year older and wiser too!

Connor bought his daddy the funniest card we thought we'd share:

"Dad, I'd just like to say you're a great farter! Oops...I meant 'father.' You're a real gassy fellow! Oops...I meant 'classy.' No man alive has a bigger fart! Oops...I meant 'heart.' I'd continue, but it's only gonna get worse. Happy Birthday." The last part has a picture of a cat wearing a gas mask. Connor signed the card, "Happy Birthday Dadda pffttt, Dadda pffttt! Love, Connor."

The funny thing is that Connor often blows raspberries after saying Dadda. Peter loved the card!

I made him a train cake, but missed the optimal time frame for taking the cake out of the pan so it would stay together. I was able to successfully pull out 4 out of 9 train parts, but when I frosted them they totally fell apart. It was a bit of a disaster, but it still tasted good.

Disneyland and a Party

Thursday morning we drove up to Disneyland. There were three families: Chris and Mary and their four kids, Amy and her two kids, and Peter, Connor and I. We stayed in a condo that was a 20 minute walk away from the front gates of the park. Staying in a condo was a great idea. Once the kids were asleep us adults could stay up and chat.

The Winnie the Pooh ride

Meeting Tigger and Pooh

Riding the rockets...surprisingly enough it was actually bright out still. Daddy, Connor and Ellie are in the back rocket, Mary and Claire are in the front rocket.

This is right before the rockets took off.

Friday morning we headed back to Disneyland and Peter's dad came up to spend the day with us as well.

Claire, Connor and David on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Daddy and Connor

Connor loved Tarzan's Treehouse, especially the bridge as the people behind him were jumping up and down. When they realized there was a baby in front of them they stopped. Connor thought it was hilarious. We told them they could keep jumping, he was loving it.
Making music and enjoying a waterfall
Taking a ride on the merry go round
Playing with the water ball
And Connor's favorite part: Enjoying his first lollipop while waiting in line to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride.

Yummy

Friday evening we went back to the condo, fed the kids and put them to bed. Then Mary, Amy and I went out for a girls' night out. Peter and his dad also went out too. We all went to CA Adventure to find out that it had already closed. So we went back to Disneyland to ride the Indiana Jones ride. We stood in line for 30 minutes. The sign said it had a 45 minute wait time. While in line they announced several times that the wait would likely be longer. After waiting 30 minutes people in the fast pass lane starting walking back and gave us their fast passes and said they still had a 45 minute wait. We decided we didn't want to wait, so we gave the passes to the people behind us and we stepped out of line and went over to Space Mountain. Space Mountain had a 70 minute wait...arg! So we went over to Astro Blasters and went on the ride three times. Peter and his dad went on Star Tours. Apparently when all the families with babies go home, the older people head out and the lines are even longer at night than they are during the day. Before we left we stopped at the Tiki Hut and purchased another Dole Whip (We bought one on Thursday too). It's our traditional treat whenever we are at Disneyland. We headed back to the condo at midnight.

Saturday morning Chris, Mary and their kids headed over to Disneyland right when it opened to go visit the Disney Princesses. We got a call shortly after 9 from them saying that the parks were being evacuated due to a suspicious package. They looked online and it said the park would be closed 4-5 hours. We decided to clean up the condo and then head home. This was the day we were going to go to CA Adventure. We stopped for lunch 15 minutes away at Cafe Rio. After lunch we heard that the park was now open...but we had super crabby kids and decided to call it quits and continue heading home. Tomorrow Mary, Amy and two kids are heading back to CA Adventure (Amy has never been before and she and her kids are heading back to Florida on Tuesday).

It was a fun, exhausting, and draining weekend. We had 7 kids ages 8, 6, 4, 4, 18 months, 15 months and 7 months. Only a few mishaps happened: Connor got startled/rough housed on the stairs and fell down resulting in a nasty bruise on his forehead. Kirk woke up Friday night while most of us were at Disneyland and screamed downstairs and upstairs until he woke up Chris and Heidi and Connor. Chris got the two babies calmed down and back in bed. Kirk continued crying downstairs until we got home about 10-15 minutes later. Heidi and Connor had a love/hate relationship. They would get mad at each other over little things, but then would share food with each other. Saturday morning they embraced in a friendly hug, then lost their balance and Heidi ended up on the bottom.

Saturday when we got home, we took a nice long nap and then headed out to church for a Cinco de Mayo party held on the 3rd of March. It was hilarious, though unfortunately we had to leave before the main entertainment started.

When we walked in all the men were given mustaches to wear. Connor didn't like it when we put it on him.

But this face he's pulling right here just takes the cake!

Look What I Can Do!

This type of skill mastery takes total concentration

TADA!

This evening I wowed my mommy and daddy with my amazing moves.

Look I know how to use a fork now!

I also like to mimic people. Here's something I picked up from my daddy.

Photo shoot bust!

We took Connor in today for his one year old photos. We loved his 6 month photos, so we were excited to get more done today. Well we arrived 10 minutes early for our 3:00 appointment. Then we waited until after 3:20 for them to even talk to us. Then they got the room ready and finally called us in. Connor who is normally really easy to please and make smile, wanted nothing to do with having his picture taken. The photographer couldn't get him to smile for the life of her. He kept running around and looking down. We changed his clothes and put him in a super cute suit. He broke a smile at one point and we got a couple good shots in before he completely melted down and threw a fit. We called it a day quite early.

We listened to the girl give her speech trying to get us to spend $220 for a package deal. I tried hard not to laugh when I said no. We ordered three photo sheets (two were the same pose) and that was it. I'll post them on the 24th after I pick them up. We were terribly disappointed. We liked the photos we got taken at Christmas time much better and the ones that Amy took while we were in Florida.

15 months old

Connor went in on Tuesday for his 15 month appointment and shots. He was a brave boy and didn't cry for the first shot, which surprised daddy (though he gave the nurse "the look" to let her know he wasn't happy). Then he screamed and wailed when the next few shots were given. He quickly calmed down when it was over as he happily drank some milk. His growth stats are: weight-23 pounds (28%), length-31.5 inches (65%), and head-18.75 inches (64%).

Connor is a great eater. He'll try just about anything you put in front of him. He LOVES fruit-cuties, bananas, all berries, melons, basically you name it, he loves it. Except grapefruit, he'll pull a super sour face and spit it out and refuse to take more. He also likes tortellini, ravioli, avocado, meatloaf etc. If we're eating it, he'll want it too.
He has also taken to wanting to feed himself. He's been doing this for quite some time now, but we've always fed him the messy stuff like yogurt. Well today I let him feed himself the yogurt and it went a little as follows. Spoon goes in mouth, spoon goes on tray. Hand goes in yogurt bowl, one finger goes in mouth and suck yogurt off, then hand goes back in yogurt bowl and repeat sucking same finger each time though all are totally messy.
Spoon eventually goes back into bowl and then into mouth, then promptly thrown on floor.
Bowl is picked up and then shaken to get leftover yogurt onto tray and then yogurt bowl gets tossed onto floor. Yogurt on tray makes great finger paint. Connor finishes his snack with some "ooo's" and then blows raspberries.

Living Legends

On Saturday we went and saw BYU's Living Legends. A little blurb from the program: "Brigham Young University's Living Legends captures the essence of ancient and modern culture in a celebration of Latin American, Native American and Polynesian song and dance. Traditions come to life as talented descendents of these cultures blend authentic choreography, intricate costumes, and heart-pounding music into one captivating show."

It was awesome! The costumes were amazing and the dancers were extremely skilled. We really enjoyed the show.

Here's a you tube of a devotional held at BYU. The dance was very similar to one of the ones we saw.