Connor Chronicles

WE LOVE THE ZOO!! :)

2009-07-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

This morning Miss M and I went to the zoo with my brother Ben and my sister Laura's girls. Miss M was as uncooperative in front of a camera as ever (I really need a faster camera to get better shots at a smile from her :), Ben was cooperative on his own terms (he refused to take a group picture), and as always, my sister's girls were very fun to shoot (with a camera of course!!). We had a great time feeding Budgies today. Mckenna was content to watch everyone else feed them. She would not go near the birds for a picture.

We went early, well, I think 10 a.m. is early, just so we could try to catch the polar bears in action, but alas, the polar bears are active at 9-9:30ish a.m. The only one on exhibit today was sleeping on a rock when we got there. Next time!! We did catch the walruses while they were being fed! Besides the Budgies, I think that was the animal highlight of our trip. I love having a zoo membership - no pressure to do/see it all in one day!! :)

We came home for lunch and now the girls are playing happily upstairs in Miss M's room. Ben wanted to go home right after the trip - He ended up not being very happy with me at the end of our trip; true signs we are siblings despite our age difference!

SHOPPING TRIP WITH NEICES

2009-07-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Char and I went shopping with our neices today and these girls are super fun to shop for! We had fun dressing them up like rock stars; aren't they cute?! Girls are way too much fun to shop for!! :)

Who is this girl related to?

2009-07-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

You know, they say looking at your child is like looking in a mirror ... :)

About this point, my husband told me that he knows exactly whose daughter this is and he is not sure it is his. I have completely embraced my insanity and their names are Mr. C and Miss M. :)

Monkey See, Monkey Do :)

2009-07-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

Miss M saw a video of her cousin Audrey doing this and wanted to do one of her own. This is something I say to her when she whines. :)

Boom Boom Pow

2009-07-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Miss M watch music videos of her cousin Audrey and decided she wanted make one of her own. She loves this song and makes me turn it up when it comes on in the car. :) So, here you go Audrey! This one's for you!

2009-07-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

We just enjoyed another fun summer day at the zoo with cousins! My sister Laura's girls were striking poses for me all over the place, but Miss M would only pause for the camera to give me her "stink face." She is not very cooperative in front of a camera so I was loving my well-trained neices! We had a great time! My husband is even featured in this collage. He was not at the zoo with us, but ... if you look to the right you will see a pink starfish, which the girls said was Patrick Star, one of Miss M's nicknames for her daddy (we like to watch Spongebob :). Don't you think the resemblance is amazing?! Just kidding! :)

...and the living is easy :)

2009-07-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here is Miss M relaxing in her little pool in our "needs a lot of work" backyard. We have been enjoying lovely weather! :)

Puppy Fun!

2009-07-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

We went to Seaside, OR again this year for the 4th of July with our friends. Mckenna stayed with her cousins (pictured in the zoo trip) because we thought we'd spare her the extra 3 1/2 hour car ride to Cottage Grove, OR, where we purchased the most recent member of our family, Bianca - our cute Bichon Frise puppy.

Char and Ry couldn't resist purchasing one of their own while we were there so we walked away from Ry's great aunt and uncle's home with two puppies! :) They named their dog Cooper. Pictured to the far left are Ry's great aunt and uncle; they breed Bichons. His aunt is holding Bianca and Cooper's parents.

Other notes about our trip: I finished a book called The Historian (my sister Bonnie gave it to me for my b-day; great book!), I also read the first book and started the second of the Mortal Instruments trilogy, learned how to knit a cell phone sock, and relaxed on the beach. Side note: I am now finished with the trilogy and have a lot of housework, etc. to catch up on as a result. :)

Zoo Trip

2009-07-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

I recently took Miss M and her cousins to the zoo. They weren't sure how they felt about being eaten by a shark (see shark teeth background), but they sure enjoyed pretending to be otters on the slide, spiders on a web (I thought they more closely ressembled spider monkeys:), and even a snail! The zoo is so much fun! Tip: Click on the collage to make it bigger!

Mckenna Sweet

2008-09-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

These pictures of Miss M were taken February 2008. I frequently ask her questions like, "Are you my cute? Sweet? Lovely? Precious? Gorgeous? Adorable? Intelligent? Polite? Cute? Fun?" Depending on her mood, she will either shake her head no or answer with a resounding yes! If she shakes her head no, she will usually admit that she is "being a silly." It goes without saying that I think she is all of the above, and more. What a lucky mom I am!!

Summer Highlights - Beach Pictures Included :)

2008-08-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

I FOUND MY CAMERA BURIED IN THE GARAGE!! :)

Here is Miss M and her beautifully windblown curls at the beach in Seaside, Oregon this summer. She had a blast going camping and frequently asks if we can go again. We camped at a KOA campsite, which was a 20 minute drive away from the beach, but do not be deceived by the word camping... While we did sleep in tents and roast marshmallows over the fire, our campsite had heated bathrooms nearby with private showers, an indoor swimming pool, miniature golf, a jumping pillow, free wireless Internet access, and electricity at the campsite.

These pictures mark the beginning of probably the worst sunburn I've ever seen in my life. Patrick's back and shoulders were blistered and stayed pink for over a month. Being the "I told you so" wife that I am, I will say that I told him more than once to wear sunscreen. :) He did have a lot of fun in the sand before the burn though!!

"I DON'T BELIEVE IN SUNSCREEN!"

Our friends Ryan and Char on the beach - Aren't they super cute?! :) We are so blessed to have such great friends (they even helped us paint in our house and I do not know what we would do without them - we live right down the street from each other now!!). Char and I were just called to teach Sunbeams together at church and we are also visiting teaching companions.

...because sometimes it's fun to bury your husband alive... :)

Seriously though, we had a great time at the beach and next time, Patrick promises to wear his sunscreen! :)

Besides moving into a new house and going to the beach, this past summer we enjoyed celebrating Mckenna's 3rd birthday, going to other birthday parties, park and zoo trips. Friends, family and I obsessed over reading Stephenie Meyer books and I also did some much needed relaxing.

Laura's Interference

2008-06-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

This is Laura posting for Kelley.
Kelley titled this post when I offered to update her blog with a picture of their new home. They moved in this weekend! She will post interior pics when she has internet access again. : )

The Green Crayon

2008-06-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

"Who is going to write down these memorable moments," I asked myself after feeling utterly defeated by the green crayon. I decided it was time to blog. It is June, after all, and blogging was part of my New Year's resolution to start some form of journaling. Scrap booking has been a bust so far (two pages in 6 years...it may be a record low ;)

It was a typical morning. No clean laundry except the clothes in the washer. I checked the clock and there was just enough time to dry my clothes, hop in the shower, and if all went according to plan, I would be out of the door on-time to go teach lovely teenagers how to speak Spanish (me and my lofty goals...). I was in a rush, as usual, wrapped in a towel while checking emails and brushing my teeth and hair. Mr. C was, in the meantime, helping our 2-year-old daughter "M" with her breakfast. She reminds us every day that she will be 3 in July :)

Still scrambling to get ready for work, I opened the dryer to grab my only clean and dry pair of pants out of the dryer and to my utter astonishment and horror, they were covered with waxy green spots. There in the dryer sat the villainous, twisted, and melted green crayon that had fallen out of "M"'s pants pocket. She has recently discovered and become proficient at the art of putting things in those tiny pockets of hers that from this moment on, I will never forget to check before washing. I almost started bawling, but I remembered that teachers do not arrive to school with blotchy faces. The only option I had was to suck it up, squeeze my out of shape and somewhat chubbier from two car accidents in less than a year body into some older lucky brand jeans (the irony kills me), put on a sweater because it is cold and cloudy in WA (even though it is Spring and it was recently sunny), and rush out the door ... oh, only after looking for and finding my keys, of course. I made it into my classroom at work that day with 30 seconds to spare before the bell rang for students to start piling into my room (just enough time to put on my mascara :).