15 Months Go by SO Fast!

This is Connell today - he's 15 months old! I took him to the doctor today for his checkup and he had to get 2 shots. He did great! He weighs 23 lbs and 12 oz and is 31.5 inches tall! In the doctor's words - "he's perfect!" Ok, I am not bragging, but I agree with her! Connell is such a good and sweet boy, we are so blessed!

More Fun in the Fountain!

This time with our friend Jackson. He is a year older than Connell, but they sure have fun together!

A Fun Month (part 2)

Reagan and Taylor turned 6 and had a Hannah Montana party!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

And finally, Connell took his very first ride on a golf cart with Daddy and is also enjoying his new motorcycle! (This used to belong to those grown up 6 year olds previously pictured:))

Now, with the exception of slideshows from our June beach trip and my nephew Chandler's first birthday, I am all caught up! I guess that means I am really not caught up. Oh well!

A Fun Month...

I am going to catch up really quick...We have had a very busy month. I have taken lots and lots of pictures but haven't been organized enough to keep up with the blog. My excuse...well there are several. The main thing is that I have been working on several 'projects' around the house. The big one, that I wanted to have done before Connell was born (hahaha) - he's 15 months now, is going thru years and years of files, paperwork, bills, etc. I even bought the file cabinet about 5 months ago. The junk was piling up and driving me crazy! So this week, I did it! I have a few minor things left, but I have organized the files & cleaned out a bunch of junk. I just feel like I will be a more efficient 'household manager' :) if some things around here are better organized. So, it's been one of those "if it's not nailed down it goes in the garbage" kind of weeks. Other than that, we've done more traveling and had guests, so just busy busy busy. In addition, this laptop that I am working on is on it's last leg (I think it needs a new hard drive???) so I might be without a computer for a while and that's a horrible thought. YES, we have copied all the pics and important stuff to an external hard drive. So I have got to get caught up before I get even further behind due to technical problems. Ok, enough of that! On to the fun stuff...this will be all over the place. I hope you can follow.

A little redneck fun in Gallatin

We went to Memphis for a wedding and to visit my friend Rachel and her new baby girl! She is precious and as you can see, Connell wanted to be a baby again too!

Can you tell we were 'kidless' for the night?! This was Connell's first overnight away. He spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa. As you can tell, he was really having fun and would've probably stayed a while.

While we were there, we had fun swimming at Meme and Papa's!




Back home, fun with Connell's new water table!

Let's Go to the Movies!

Let me just start by saying I am way behind on blogging and posting pictures of all the fun we've been having the past few weeks. In my next post, I'll make excuses! This post is all about the fun we had today!

We have a new outdoor mall about 10 minutes from where we live. There is a movie theater, and they have been doing free movies for kids during the summer. Today, Connell went to his FIRST movie! We've been waiting all summer for this one...the Veggie Tales - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything! Before I get scolded for my child watching movies, he doesn't watch much! However, he loves the DVD of the Veggie Tales Ultimate Silly Songs. I mean, LOVES it! The Silly Songs are even on my ipod for the car! Tim and I, like any good parent, know ALL the words! So anyway, a bunch of mommies/kids from our MOPS group (Mothers of pre-schoolers) were going to the movie today. We met Kristy and Taylor and Reagan at the theater shortly before 10am for showtime. Let me just say, Connell still takes 2 naps and one is usually at 9:30. I was worried how the movie time would work with that, but he did great! He took turns sitting in between the girls, and in my lap or Kristy's. Juice, Teddy grahams...he loved the whole thing! And made it thru the whole movie, no nap, all smiles! Here are pictures of Connell and his very cute 'dates'!



Afterward, we visited the fountain for some water time! We've strolled by several times, but this was the first time Connell got to play IN the water...He had a blast!

HOW does this thing work???!!!!

Reagan

Taylor

Catching a 5 minute nap on the way home!

Later, Connell took almost a 3 hour nap - a combination of exhaustion from his big day (and a skipped nap), and these shades that his Daddy hung over his windows last night to make it cooler and darker in his room!

Just in time...

Connell has been a little challenging the past few days...I mean, I am sure he is being a normal almost-15-month-old little boy. Throwing food, his sippy cup, and our most not favorite, hitting at us when we tell him 'no.' :( I am sure a seasoned parent would probably crack up at Tim and I...looking at eachother like "what do we do now???!!!!" I am sure we will probably have that look for 18+ more years. But this afternoon, when I put Connell down for his nap, he BLEW ME A KISS!!!!! Little does he know, that automatically erases all the rest of the stuff he sent my way today! Could he be any sweeter??!?!?!

Connell's NEWest thing that I love...

Connell LOVES books...and we love that he loves books! We have books upstairs, in his room, our room, in the car - everywhere! A few days ago he started bringing us a book to read to him. Here is what he does...selects the book, hands you the book, claps his hands twice (I guess this means "READ TO ME") and then turns around so he can take a seat in your lap. We got some reading time in this morning before his nap. Have a great day!

Fun on the 4th of July!!!

We had a fun-filled long weekend...where to begin...We kicked off the weekend out on the Rose's boat Thursday night to go and watch fireworks. Here is a shot of Taylor and Reagan. They are about to turn 6 and as you can see, have recently been visited by the tooth fairy.


Here is Connell with his Daddy on the boat.
And here is the 3 of us, just hanging out waiting on the show to start!

Aunt Kristy and Reagan...

Connell LOVED the fireworks! He was laying on my lap (thumb-in, of course!) and watched the entire show...didn't move for 15 minutes. I can't remember the last time he sat still for that long!

On the 4th, we went swimming at the Rose's...Taylor and Reagan's Grandaddy was giving mini-scuba lessons, so Tim learned right along with the girls!



At the end of the day, Connell and Daddy were goofing off at bathtime and look what happened...
We also spent time swimming/cooking out with the Nurse Practitioner that works with Tim. Her name is Kelly and she has 3 girls...and they are all blonde...we all know Connell loves blondes so he was surely enjoying every minute! They even let him rest on their Disney princess couch! Look out, we'll need to get that in Spiderman or Batman or something else...

Today we wrapped up the weekend with a short swim next door at the Wilson's (we have MANY friends with pools :) ). Connell got stung on the thumb (of all places) by a sweat bee. He cried a bit (mainly when we put ice on it) and just as this happened, the icecream truck was going by. I thought a popsicle would help!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Too bad every weekend can't be 3 days...Connell is very much into following his Daddy around these days, and we would love it if Tim could go back to his 4 day work-week and be off every Friday. Maybe sometime soon...It's just amazing to watch Connell lately and see how much he is learning and the new things he is doing. He amazes us daily. What a difference a year makes...this was Connell last year on the 4th of July...what a sweet baby boy!

Catching up...

Well, we are finally home from our travels! I am trying to catch up on everything...laundry, rest (ha!) mail, blogging, etc and looking forward to a holiday weekend with my boys!!! I have lots of pics to share from the beach and from Austin, but I have to get organized first. In the meantime, I just have to share these 2 videos. Connell was great all week. He was the best boy we could have asked for...good in the car and on the plane! I flew to Milwaukee with Connell last fall when he was 4 months old, but this is a MUCH different child, so needless to say, I was a little nervous about flying with a 14 month old...but he was amazing! Whew! The funny thing is that on Southwest, since there are no assigned seats, everyone just picks a seat and it's kind of a mess. Well, the flight home was full, but guess where the one empty seat on the whole plane was??? There were 3 seats on each side, and NO ONE chose to sit with us, I am sure because of Connell. Who wants to sit with a toddler on a plane BY CHOICE??!!!! Well, it was so funny! Connell scored us an empty seat, so we could spread out toys, books, etc and it worked beautifully! And he giggled and played the whole time until he fell asleep in his Daddy's arms about 10 minutes before we landed in Nashville.
Check out his giggle in these videos! It's truly contagious! In the first one, he is burning off some energy in the Austin airport while we waited to board our plane. The other is as the plane was taking off. Apparently these days, everything is funny to Connell!