Now I know my A B C's.....

Since I opted not to put Connor into preschool at the age of 3 (like most parents around here do nowadays) we decided to do a little "school time" together. We started in September and we've been doing preschool workbooks as well as learning the letters and their sounds. We made a book of letters together where for each letter I wrote it out in bubble letters, tried to draw pictures that started with that letter and then wrote the words that corresponded with the pictures. We learned all their sounds one by one and Connor is proud to report that he finished today. We only had X..Y..and Z left and he wanted to do them all because he wants to "know how to read!" When we closed the book he said, "Mommy, I can read now!" He actually can read small, easy words too! We are so proud of this BIG boy! Better yet, he is SOOO proud of himself. Great job Connor!

Haydn 9 months old

My baby is growing up! Haydn is 9 months old already! For his 9 month WCC he weighed 19lbs 10 oz and he's 28 1/2 in tall (about 50 percentile for both). He's a mover and a climber! He's just barely starting to be able to walk with a baby walker (he's not too good yet, but give him a week!)! He can climb up onto the lovesacs to get us! He learned how to climb out of the exersaucer and he even lands smoothly. I got it on video but our camera is being dumb at the moment. He just figured out how to say my name and now it's non-stop "mama mama mama mama" but really only when he needs something or wants me. When he plays he just babbles "ba ba ba"! His favorite game is peekaboo. If is say, "Where's Mommy?" he'll stop whatever it is he's doing and look at me with a big grin. Right now it even works nicely to distract him from doing something he shouldn't be! If I have a blanket over my face he'll crawl over and take it off. He's a bit of a "mama's boy"! If I hand him over to Daddy and walk straight out of the room he will cry. He loves his big brother. He'll follow him everywhere! His favorite place in the whole house is the bathroom. If he sees the door open he'll make a run for it. He's sure there is something in there that must be awesome since we try not to let him play in there. He LOVES food. He can have food on his tray and still complain that he doesn't get to eat what we big folk are having. We often let him try it and he is then in heaven. He is such a sweetheart! We can't imagine life without him. One bright smile will melt your heart!

Fall Pics

So I found the perfect place to take these fall pics of the boys at the park. There were some weed berries growing near it so I just tramped them down into the leaves so they weren't in the way. Haydn was so excited to be in the leaves but all he wanted to do was eat them. It was a struggle to get him to look up. If I patted the leaves in front of me so it made a crunching noise he would laugh hysterically(as you can see in some of the pics)! As I was taking pictures I noticed there was something purple on Haydn's arm and I look down to realize I was kneeling in the berries. AHHH! So I jumped up to start cleaning up Haydn and what happens next...I step in dog poop! Yeah! Needless to say, this was kind of a frustrating photo shoot but I love how cute these boys are.

Imagination...

Connor and I were reading a book and all the sudden he looks at my wedding ring and says, "I like your choo choo train ring Mommy!" I questioned him about what he meant and he says to me, as he turns the ring round and round my finger, "See, choo choo." What a great imagination. Now my wedding ring not only is a symbol of love but it doubles as a "choo choo train" for my toddler to play with.

Halloween Adventures!

I know I haven't posted any Halloween pics even though we have done tons of Halloween activities. Here they are all in one place. Included are pics of our Ward Halloween party, Playgroups Halloween Party, Trick-or-Treating, Carving Pumpkins and a few other related outings. It's so fun to have a toddler and be able to really get into these holidays. Connor didn't really get into the trick-or-treating as much as I wanted him to. We took the boys trick-or-treating down main street to all the stores and Connor went to the first few and then announced, "I'm done, I have enough candy." I was like, " WHAT!!??" No way buddy! I made him keep going. He hasn't really been asking for his candy either! He must not be related to me! Haydn, on the other hand, wants everything to do with the candy and he shouldn't even have it yet! I was holding a bowl of candy at the trunk-or-treat and Haydn, sneaky little guy, got a hold of a York Peppermint Patty and had it in his mouth wrapper and all! We actually got Connor to help us clean out the pumpkins this year. He didn't really want to but liked it afterwards! It was a fun Halloween!