TWO!

September 4, 2011 – Connor turns 2! 

We had a fabulous birthday weekend with the grandparents all here and Connor recognizing that something was special about today.  He loves Thomas right now (recently chose Thomas for his big-boy bed)… see separate post. 

Its amazing how much our life has changed over the past two years.  I would never have believed how much you could love one individual.  Connor lights up our days with his smile (luckily has stopped trying to light up our nights as he now sleeps through them).  He is affectionate and openly gives hugs and kisses with the best ones being spontaneous.  He runs to Dan when he gets home from work at night and has truly become quite the helper around here.  He will carry Dan’s shoes to our room, put the shoe-horns into them, and place them in the shoe rack.  He loves putting his shoes with Daddy’s in the garage and helping with anything he can around the house.  Of course, we’ve entered the “independent stage” and are seeing the Terrible 2’s emerge.  Despite having our “days”, we know we are lucky to have such a happy little 2 year old. 

This cake was an experiment from start to finish – made without butter or milk, I tried two new recipes and then had some fun decorating.

Connor’s pile of presents – and the new tent that came from Mommy & Daddy.

Birthday cake fun with Grandma Janet & Grandpa Dan.

Mommy & Daddy

Grandma Betsy, Grandpa Ken & Uncle Matt

LOVE YOU CONNOR!

Home Improvement Projects

Here’s a few pics of our projects around the house (with lots of smaller ones that didn’t make the cut).  We have really made our house feel like home this summer and its taken a lot of hard work and time from Dan (cause I can’t lift anything, or paint or – well the list goes on and on).  Let’s just say I’ve been doing a lot of supervising and Dan has been absolutely amazing!  I’m so lucky to have such a handy and patient man in my life.  Even today, he spent time cleaning the garage, caulking a few things around the house, he fertilized the yard today, put together a couple little things and after all of that, has the patience and energy to be willing to go put Connor to sleep.  He is an amazing Dad and and amazing husband.  Thanks babe for all you do…. here’s a few shots of all he’s done this summer….
Mailbox

Cementing in the mailbox so it doesn’t fall over on the mailman.  When we moved in in November 2010 and by the time we picked out a mailbox in December, Dan was worried the concrete wouldn’t set correctly.  So the mailbox was put in a hole and the ground froze around it – and held our mailbox in place for the winter. 

Our Bedroom

Our bedroom was one classy location when we moved in.  We had dinosaur sheets as window coverings and the room was pretty bare.  One of my goals was to have a grown-up bedroom someday.  It began with paint and I really wanted gray.  Dan was hesitant and also thought I was crazy for wanting to paint freshly painted new walls.  Nonetheless, he was amazing and did as I asked.  Over the next 6 months, Dan painted the whole room, we bought a new bed and found great window coverings.  I was going to build a padded headboard… but then we stumbled across the headboard below.  It finished our grown-up room!

Our little helper moving in the nightstands.

As for my part – I’ve been buying pillows and lamps for 6 months   Glad they actually look good together!

And -- to top it all off, Dan brought me home flowers one day for no reason!  They were beautiful :)

Outdoor Room!
My next project was decorating our deck – which I dreamed of having as another room.  We are really lucky and have a huge deck – enough space for a sitting area that is outside of our bedroom and an eating area outside of the kitchen.  I wanted them to feel connected but have their own character.  This is seriously my second favorite room in the house (I LOVE our bedroom) and we’ve lived out here this summer!  I have taken work out there to read as often as possible.  We eat dinner outside any time its possible.  We’ve added a couple of heaters since these pics as well as a rug to the seating area…. and continue to love spending time out there!

THANK YOU Dan for all your work --- looking forward to more fun projects around our house!

Summertime Fun

This summer has been a blur and a blast.  We have filled our weekends with house projects, trips to Hawaii, Seattle, Portland, San Diego/LA and San Jose, and had a few quiet weekends at home or the lake in between.  Connor somehow has grown in leaps and bounds before our eyes and amazes me with his little imitations of us now.   He is Daddy’s big helper and loves to have a set of tools close by, with a couple of them in his hands.  He helped build chairs for the deck, and toys out of the package and new file cabinets. 

Building a Connor sized Adirondack chair on the deck and Mommy’s new chaise lounge (birthday present).  Loving our new outdoor room!

More pics below:  (1) Helping Mommy wash the lettuce.  He would spin it and stop it over and over for me! (2)  Adirondack chair is one of the new favorites – one inside and one outside.  (3) Building a high tower with Uncle Robert. (4) Sidewalk chalk days – (5) Connor’s had a few recent boo-boo’s and loves the band-aid he gets on his knee for a scrape.  He took an entire sheet of stickers here and decided to decorate his legs on his own (6) Lovin’ the kiddie pool in the front yard.  (7)  Big helper watering the plants.

Quiet Time at the Lake

Right after we got back from LA, Connor & I changed bags and headed up to the lake to visit my Grandma, Uncle Brian, my aunt and uncle and cousins…. and a little relaxing.  Connor got out in the boat and LOVED driving with Grandpa.  He even tried to reel in a fish (which we then lost… but that’s ok!)

This is Connor's newest friend -- who he met about 1 minute before this shot was taken.  We went to breakfast at the Campfire Lodge -- one of the favorites while at the lake.  The pancakes are bigger than the plate... I would dare someone to order more than one.  Just behind the lodge (ok - 1 room cabin) is the beautiful Madison River, with the sun softly shining between the tall trees.  It feels like a little piece of heaven.

More summertime fun to follow