May 3rd

Connor, at the new house, helping...
Future Napolean Dynamite's??

Going down the "Fed Ex" slide together.

Glasses they got from a party they went to at Chuck E Cheese. We cleaned the entry porch out, so now that is their favorite place to hang.

A party at Chuck E Cheese for Connor's friend, Sujit. This is his buddy Jackson - who is quite the socialite.

Racing cars with mom.

Skee balls didnt exactly end up where they should have...

Fun at the mall on a Thursday night.

The fake Wiggles at Six Flags.

Racing with cousin Alexis.

Alexis, Cameron, Carter and Connor.

Making a fool out of yourself so your son will go on a ride at Six Flags (and yes, the ride held up to two ADULTS....and no, mohawk boy was not with us).

April 13th - Photos Photos Photos

Been awhile - two out of town funerals and other visitors/travels left little time for blogging...


Stopping at BK on the way back from Noah's b-day party during a big boys afternoon out...as Connor calls them "hamburgerburger"

A lot of little ones at Great G'Pa Fitz's funeral.


The three Chicago "boys" in Cleveland.


Making eggs...
Visiting friends Kathy and Paul in Cleveland...


Geocaching and having success in Cleveland (uncle Scott is into Geocaching - which is taking a garmin GPS and finding stuff people have hidden around the country - it is quite popular and there are likely tons around your house - this one was a fake bird in a tree stump. There are tons of websites on it.)

Connor helping geocache with Uncle Scott.

Connor and his "idol" - Cameron. (and yes, we know, they look like they could be brothers).

Hunting eggs in grandpas basement.

Victory in finding easter baskets.

Cousin Erin loves picking up Connor and Carter - and Connor loves tackling Cameron. Carter just follows along.

Surprised to find Easter baskets from Grandma Cook and Aunt Carolyn upon return from the Cleveland road trip.

Unfortunately, Connor is becoming just like me...stubborn, overdetermined, too independent and unwilling to admit something isnt possible. As despite going up a hill and the fact Carter is quickly catching him in size, he still was adamant on pulling his brother all the way home from the park. He proceeded to have a tantrum when I took it away...and then proceeded to run the equivalent of three blocks to catch back up to Bridget and Carter to continue pulling him home. (Carter was more than willing to kick back and polish off his juice).




Connor really likes going to the house now whenver I go...

He calls it the jungle...somehow he associates the open walls with a jungle...go figure...

St. Pattys Parade & Other Things...

Carter was very "in to" the parade - he watched the entire thing...


Firetrucks are always popular -


Connor got a few pieces of candy - although he is not aggressive enough yet, as the big kids get the most.


Horsing around at the parade...


Connor and Dad's journey to the park - I made him walk - to see if he could do it - as I made Connor do it at his age = there will be no whiney kids always wanting to "ride" everywhere in this household ;) To my surprise - he made the 7 blocks all on foot with no "ups". Although he liked to pick all the utility flags and political signs out of the ground.


The next day - we tried again - he did it, but was much more distracted with all 4 of us there.

Connor loves manufacturing those smiles...

Fun in the community sand box...


Soccer star...
The 2nd bubble machine - the one from last summer got left out in the rain and rusted out...oops.



Connor and Carter both got there first trip to the house. Both were pretty mesmerized...Connor called it his house.

Carter was not too happy to be on foot in the dark basement...

Winter is Over...

...or at least thats what Tom Skilling pronounced in the Saturday Trib as "meteorlogical" winter ended at midnight on Saturday. Only to wake up this morning with a dusting of snow on the grass. Oh well. 60 by Friday sounds good to me.

Given it was all of 30 on Sunday, we made a journey to the Chuck E Cheese 1 mile down the road to play games for an hour or so to get the kids out of the house for a bit. Yes, we are those folks that go to Chuck E Cheese and dont actually eat. Anyways, it was just enough for them, as after an hour they were ready to go. Looking forward to starting to get outside on weekends again and heading to the park.

Big news on the potty front - last night Connor finally agreed that wearing "pull-ups" was cool, so he is now off diapers - or thats at least what he says. He says "I no wear diapers - diapers for babies - Carter wear diapers." Little does he realilze its still a diaper. Will see how it goes at school today - where he occassionaly goes potty on the potty.

And after over 2.5 years of absoluting banning the Wiggles from ever being present in our household, somehow, someway, Connor saw them somewhere and now asks for it TV. At least it is in HD now...but my god, what an absolute waste of 25 minutes that show is. I just dont get it. Every other show on PBS or Disney at least has some sort of story or learning element. This Wiggles stuff is just awful - no story, no learning (other than dancing), and the same "schtick" every single show. I'll take Thomas Train, Handy Manny, Mickey, or Imagination Movers anyday over the Wiggles crap - ughhh. And I get that its an "Australian" import - but some of those dudes are a wee bit creepy.

Fun at the museum...

What Connor and Carter did with the $3 each they got from G'Ma for Valentines...split a Portillo's "ham-burger-burger" as Connor calls them.



Drawing at the museum.


Riding with Chuck E...

Cruising with Bob...

Calling G'Ma...

Riding the ponies...
267 prize tickets later (thanks to Carter hitting the jackpot on some game) - 10 Laffy Taffy pieces and a silly straw.