this is three

You're honest, brilliant, and beautiful from the top of your head to the tip of your toes.

You're strong-willed, emotional, and a spatial thinker.

You're amazingly funny, you love to pretend, and you're beyond animated.

You're a singer, a snuggler, and a farm equipment extraordinaire.

You're a talker.  You want to know why and how.  You want answers.

"Why are stones gray?"

"Are restaurants red like tongues?"

"Where does medicine come from?"

When we don't know the answer, you say I guess that's the way God made it.

You care about your brother in a way I could never have imagined.  You mimic my words & actions with such ease and genuinity that he calms down with just the sound of your voice.  You also tease/bother/annoy/frustrate him to no end.  It's a brother thing, right?

You like your yogurt smooth, your milk in a mason jar, and your pasta loaded with parmesan cheese.

Your best friend is Lukas and your worst enemy is Millie (the dog).

You're scared of octopuses and the garbage man.

You want to do everything by yourself, from putting on your shoes to pouring your juice.

That being said, you make more messes than any kid in America.

You make me insane crack up when you do things like...

a.) take all the change out of my wallet and put it in the freezer.

b.) drink your milk with a fork.

c.) pull the sheets & comforter off our bed.

d.) spray the dust spray all over everything.

e.) on our way out to the car, insist on running into the field and digging your hands in the mud.

f.) stretch my clothes down off the hangar.

g.) swallow your toothpaste on purpose.

You also make me the proudest Mommy in the world when you tell me I miss you, Mom.  You're the best mom in the whole world. 

I love you more than life itself.  Thank you for making me a Mama, punky!
And Happy Official 3rd Birthday!

connor @ 11 months

weight:  21 lbs

height:  29 inches

12-18 clothes

size 5 diapers

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you love:  pulling cords out of walls, bath time, tomatoes, yellow watermelon, standing up in your high chair, and cookies.

you hate:  having a runny nose, having your face & hands wiped, and when we take things out of your vice grip that you aren't allowed to have.

~~

Double digits, dude?  Ain't happenin.

You're becoming such a smarty pants - putting toys into buckets and sticking letters on the shower wall.  You're starting to see how fun things can really be!  You're a visual learner...if you see someone doing it, you can do it too.  (Your brother always liked to figure it out on his own first!)

Even though you've still got a pretty wide palette, if there's something you don't like you just stick your tongue out and pull it off.  Then you get restless in the ten seconds it takes me to find you something else so you twist around and stand up, sometimes sticking your foot over the edge of your high chair like you're just going to pounce out.  Nuts, I tell ya.

There aren't any words in the world of Connor Isaac at this point.  You prefer to point and grunt and have someone else tell you the word.  You're most perplexed by my kitchen aid mixer.  And sweet corn.  I had some corn all shucked on the counter yesterday.  Later when I had it in the pot steaming away you pointed to it then pointed back to the counter like Mom, wasn't that corn over there earlier?

On a sadder note, you started weaning from breastfeeding around the time I went back to school.  Now we only nurse 1x a night and even then you hesitate, probably because there's nothing left in there?  It makes your Mommy so so so sad.  It was inevitable, but the end is near and I could cry.  Instead of formula, we've switched you to whole milk in your bottle.  You're obsessed.  Stupid cows and all their yumminess.

The sickness thing still sucks.  What is it about those websites that told me a breastfed baby would be healthier?  You come down with anything your brother has.  Every time.  No doubt about it.  Last week the babysitter called saying you were having a hard time swallowing/breathing.  It scared the living daylights out of me, so I jumped ship at school early and scrambled to get you to the Emergency Room.  On the way there we were of course awarded our very own speeding ticket.  I'm kidding, the policeman was so gracious and even followed us to the hospital to give me back my license and written warning make sure you were alright.  While we were there (the ever-long two and a half hours), you snuggled like you hadn't seen me in weeks and eventually fell asleep peacefully in my arms.  All the nurses were talking about how cute we were, laying there asleep together.  Well, they should've been.  The only time you're like that is when you have a high fever, it's the most pitiful and wonderful thing ever.

Welp, I suppose the countdown is on to the big O-N-E.  

You're birthday party planning is in full swing - a chili bar is going to be the highlight of it all.  Oh, and lots of orange!  And you, our little pumpkin.

xoxo, Happy Eleven Months.

what we've been up to lately

School Started.  The school I work at was better than others brilliant this year in having a later start date; we didn't begin until after Labor Day.  It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g.  Some of the area schools were heading back two weeks prior to us.  Boo yah!  On the flip side, having those extra days didn't make it any easier leaving the boys.  It was definitely an adjustment for everyone.  And by everyone I mean myself and my breast pump.

• On the subject of school, I mentioned I had an embarrassing moment on the very first day. With freshman staring at me.  I'm in the middle of my spiel about having fun and not having any time for foolish decision-making and instead of saying "screwing off" I said "jacking off."  That's right, Jacking. Off.  I actually didn't catch it until like 3.6 seconds later but just kept on rambling.  After thinking it over I decided to put it all out there the next day.  Turning it into a joke really helped - I was all I bet you were looking forward to science today.  It's like, what might Mrs. Rowland blurt out today?!  
• It was terribly embarrassing, however, I'd call last year's trip in the middle of the main hall the winner.  I'm talking high heel whipped up four feet in front of me, falling flat on my back in a dress.  Gosh, teaching sucks.

Down Time.  Take down, that is.  What is it with boys and wrestling/touching/messing?  At least Connor doesn't usually have a problem with it - he squirms his way out every time.

Hitting up the parties.  Some friends of our have this meat smoking/gun shooting/food snarfing party every year.  Earlier that morning, Jeff suggested that we go and I quickly hesitated.  I really can't leave the boys.  These two days are all I get now.  Then he said the words Well let's take the boys!  What?  Our children?  At a party?  Okay let's do it.

this kid is always talking.  "Mama, look!  There's a toad, he's jumping out of the water.  Come show me!"

• We don't take the boys too many places just because a.) they really suck at letting us enjoy ourselves and b.) they really don't want to be there to begin with.  But this time we took their toys, bundled them up and took off.  Turns out there were a lot of other kids and plenty of things for them to do.  Patrick's also finally reached the stage where we don't have to watch him like a hawk.  He was like a poster child (something we're not used to) - he chowed his prime rib, shared his tractor (!!), never once disobeyed us.  And Connor  - well that kid can have fun anywhere.  Especially when there are rocks to eat play with. 

It's been an awesome (and overwhelming) past few weeks.  Now to begin planning Connor's first birthday party.  Invitations just arrived in the mail and his First Year Video is being worked on.  Bittersweet.

patrick's 3rd (john deere) birthday party

Gah!  Three years old.  The day he was born seems like ten years ago and five days ago all at the same time.  

So, my kid's parties always start with an inspiring invitation... 

Come on!  Minted has got it going on.  Thank goodness because I am so over Shutterfly and Tiny Prints.  Talk about putting a whole in your pocket.  Now Minted isn't cheap by any means, but I would say they have a larger selection of cheaper options.  I was able to use the postcard option for Patrick's party and I'll definitely be using it in the future.  Not only did they have a farm invite with an airplane on it (score!  see how I am still trying to make him a pilot?) but it also cost much less for postage.

I got this idea from Pinterest.  We happen to come by large straw bales easily.

I bought mums galore but steered away from the pumpkins for now.  They'll be loaded up for Connor's party next month.

After searching through dozens and dozens of cakes, Patrick told me this was the one he wanted.  Obviously my tractor is a little large for my field. ;)  I just made this as Patrick's own personal cake using a box mix and whipped frosting.  For everyone else I used the Pioneer Woman's sheet cake recipe.  The reviews were all really positive - people were raving about it.  It was very easy to make but after taking a bite at the party I could hardly swallow more than a couple bites.  It was so rich.  I found it to be much better the next day.  Just an FYI.

Even though they didn't really get eaten at the party, I'm glad I had these cookies made by our local bakery.  They were delicious and the teachers at school didn't stop talking about them.  (They had the leftovers!)

Other items on our menu were:  Tortilla soup served with sour cream & tortilla chips, homemade sloppy joes, veggies & dip, cucumber salad, cheesy potatoes and jello salad.  Kind of a basic party menu, I know, but with school starting and cleaning up behind two house-destroyers, BASIC gets the job done.  As a matter of fact, my father-in-law loved the soup so much that he ate three bowls.  Just seeing how much he enjoyed it made the menu a success in my eyes.

This was the first thing everyone saw when they came in.  They'd say Oh WOW, you've been busy!  And I say yeah right, the lady on Etsy has been.  I borrowed this from my friend, who bought it from Etsy.  BAM.  (P.S.  Can you believe people do that stuff for a living?  Oh, the patience!)

This face makes my heart ache.  Love every inch of him.

Connor got some lovin' from his Grandma's.

My beautiful sister and Dale.  Do you think they might have red-haired babies?

I happen to be married to a stud.  He's also a certified Baby Holder.  Which makes him even more studly.

So much love!  And craziness!

We had an awesome day spent with awesome family and friends.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Patrick! <3


//patrick's 2nd birthday party
//patrick's 1st birthday party