Fun Stuff

What did we do before the days of cell phone cameras?  I always keep my phone close by so I don't miss a thing!  I feel like I'm constantly snapping pictures of even the smallest little things that the kids do.  I want to remember everything about them because they change so quickly!

We put up our tree the other day, and Miss Maeve was all too curious about it.  She crawled right up to the tree and started grabbing the branches and pulling the tree skirt off.  She's also started pulling herself up on the furniture.  I'm so not ready for her to be "independent".  She always seems to have a mischievous look on her face like she's planning something.  I'm keeping my eye on that one.  I'm going to turn around one day and she'll be walking!

Oh... Hi Mommy!  I'm not up to anything...

This tree skirt's not for me?

Hammertime!

Connor has been quite the character lately.  He'll put on his Angry Birds blanket and just walk around with it on his head.  He's very much into playing with Daddy - especially lightsabers and hot wheels.  I can't believe how fast he's growing up and changing.  He talks our ears off, even if sometimes I'm not quite sure what he's talking about.  He's actually excited for Christmas this year, but he told me he doesn't have to like Santa.  He wants presents, but I think Santa still creeps him out a little bit.  I don't blame him.  It's a little scary to think about a man coming into your house in the middle of the night!  He also seems to be having fun with our Elf on the Shelf, Chip.  Chip has actually helped Connor get started in the morning.  He'll wake up just to look for Chip!  

Tuckered out from a long day at school

Connor's first gingerbread house!

Fun with Gummy Worms

My little Angry Bird!

Oh, Chip!

Obi Wan Connor

Work it Girl! And Boy... and Dog...

As Christmas is fast approaching, I was determined to get a good picture for a Christmas card.  I had the style of card picked out, I just needed some good pictures to go with it.  Luckily, I had three littles who didn't mind having their pictures taken at all.  Bailey knew exactly what was going on, and he was first on the couch with hardly a wince at having to wear a Santa hat!  Maeve was just happy to be next to Bailey.  She absolutely adores him.  They are BFFs.  Connor needed a little bribing, so we told him he could play his video game if he took some pictures.  It worked!  Now, this is not to say that there weren't some bad pictures.  Three very active little people make for some blurry pictures, but sometimes seeing the outtakes are just as much fun as getting the perfect picture!

We hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!

I'll just chew on my foot while I wait.

This one is a little R rated, thanks to Bailey!

Seven Months!

It's hard to believe Maeve is already seven months.  She's growing so fast and desperately trying to keep up with her big brother.  She's been crawling for over a month and just this past week she started sitting up on her own.  She even got up on her knees to play with a toy on her vibrating chair.  I have a feeling she's going to be walking early.  You can just tell she wants to do whatever the "big people" are doing.  I love watching her grow and learn, but I wish she'd slow down.  She doesn't have to grow up quite so fast!

We are so blessed to have this happy girl in our lives.  Happy seven months, little girl!

The Best Decisions

It's been two and a half months since Connor started Kindergarten.  And I have to admit, when he first started, I kept wondering if we had made the right decision.  In Stoughton, he wouldn't have been eligible for Kindergarten until next year, but I really felt he needed it - not only the structure, but the socialization.  I knew it would be difficult for him, especially when the months preceding his start of Kindergarten his behavior at daycare was less than perfect.  But Joey and I both felt that he needed a challenge, and that meant sending him to Kindergarten in Brockton (because I work for the school system, we're allowed to send our students to Brockton schools).

The first few weeks of school were rough.  His teacher told me that he would wander, just leaving the classroom, or the line, or the lunch table, whenever he felt the urge.  He ended up at a peanut-free table at lunch and he most likely had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with him.  In class, he wouldn't respond to his name, and when he spoke it was barely audible.  Connor wasn't following directions very well, and this had his teacher concerned.  I was concerned, too.  I had knots in my chest every day that I dropped him off, hoping that he would be alright, and they wouldn't go away until I picked him up at 3.  I questioned whether we made the right choice, but always knew that because of his younger age that all of these things were going to be an issue.

Skip to November and parent-teacher conferences.  His teacher said in her twelve years of teaching, she's never seen a kid start where Connor started and be where he is now in such a short period of time.  He's actively involved in his learning, he raises his hand, participates in class, stays in line, stays at the lunch table, listens to his teachers, and follows directions.  He's great at Math and ELA, and always does his work.  It's amazing.  To say it was a relief is an understatement, but I'm also extremely proud of him.  We've worked very hard at all of these skills, and to see him flourish makes me one proud Momma!

Since I pick Connor up every day, I get to see how he is socially.  He's gone from being "very shy" (as he would say), to giving kids hugs and waving goodbye.  I pick him up from extended day and everyone is saying "bye, Connor Estee!"  Teachers and custodians know him by name, and I hear him talking their ear off as they walk him to the cafeteria to start his day.  He makes it a point to chase a kid down at dismissal JUST to say goodbye.  Yesterday he was dismissed at the same time as a girl who had an eye patch.  She gave him a big hug goodbye and said "I love you", and Connor said "I love you, too".  My heart melted.

Joey has even said that he's noticed a difference in how Connor plays at home.  He's more apt to try new ways to play and involve others, rather than just focus on one way to do something and continue to do that over and over.  Needless to say, we feel that even though it was tough at first, that we absolutely made the right decision.  Connor has blossomed.  Even though there are still plenty of things to work on, he has come so far in such a short amount of time.  I'm so very proud of him and how hard he works each and every day!

They Stick Together

While we were in Vermont visiting that cute little nephew of mine, my cousins Becky and Kate stopped by for a visit.  Kate brought her youngest daughter, Sarah, with her so that she and Connor could play.  In typical Connor fashion, he was a little shy at first, but then they started playing together.  They attempted a game of "Hide-and-go-Seek", but Connor doesn't quite get that when you hide, you don't have to count.  So he basically counted while Sarah hid each time.  

At one point, they were playing with a lint roller (oodles of fun for all ages, apparently), and they put their hands on top of each others, put the lint roller on top and said "We stick together!".  It was so stinkin' adorable.  I wish these two could play together more often!

Sweet Baby James

My sweet, beautiful nephew, Eric James Bouvier, was born on October 23, 2012 to my brother, Nate, and his fiance, Erica.  In what is quickly becoming a grand tradition in my family, they are going to call him by his middle name, James.  Both names have quite a significant meaning.  James was the name of our grandfather (my Dad's father), and he passed away when I was in high school.  Known as Pop, he and my brother had a very special relationship.  My brother's morning paper route ended at a house behind Pop's.  Every day they would have breakfast together in the early morning hours.  It was a special time for both of them, and it was devastating when he died.  My Uncle Eric (my Dad's brother), passed away less than a year after Pop. He was way too young, and it was heartbreaking for my family.  Eric was also Nate's Godfather.  It was very difficult for my family to have two great losses within a short period of time.  Apparently my brother has been holding on to these names since then, patiently waiting for the day he could name his son after these two great men.  We are all very proud!

As a very happy Auntie, it was painful to wait a week and a half before I got to meet him.  Seeing pictures is great, but I wanted to meet him in person.  He's an itty bitty thing, and he curls right up into a ball.  I know Maeve was that small just a few months ago, but she's a tank compared to him, and it was so nice to hold a teeny tiny baby once more.  It just melts my heart!  He's got a lot of hair -way more than my 6 month-old- and is full of grunts and squeaks.  I can definitely say I'm a very proud Auntie!

Connor thought the world of his new baby cousin, and wanted to kiss his head and hug him.  Maeve was completely fascinated by him as well.  Whenever he would cry, she would just stare at him as if to say "What's the matter?  Why are you making all that noise?".  It was definitely very cute!

We wish Erica and Nate the best as they settle in with their new bundle of joy.  We can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas.  Yikes - it's right around the corner!

Grampy with his three grandchildren.  

Uncle Andy holding James.

James with his eyes open!

Mommy and her peeps. 

Sweet baby James and Auntie. 

Happy Halloween

This was the cutest Halloween ever.

Connor wanted to be a ghost.  As in old school, sheet over the head, ghost.

It's not as easy as it looks.  For starters, I didn't have an old white sheet in the house, so I had to buy a cheap set of sheets and cut the flat sheet.  Cutting those damn darn eyes out is NOT as easy as one would think.  They looked horrible, but Connor didn't care.

I had to sew the back of the sheet together because a flat sheet has two sides much shorter than the other.  So I sewed them together.  Yes, Mom, I said I SEWED.  I didn't say it was good.  I just said I sewed.  And the sewing of said sheet may have made a very pointy top.  It was definitely NOT the look we were going for, so we were VERY sure that the pointy top was able to be tucked in and under so he looked like a ghost and not something extremely offensive.  As stated earlier, I didn't say my sewing was good.  Moving on....

After two trial runs (one at the Taunton Mall free Trick-or-Treating night, and a mini trick-or-treating at speech therapy), we realized we needed to make the eyes bigger and add arm holes so that the poor kid could hold his bag of candy.  I've never gotten so many compliments on a costume before.  I think people just haven't seen an old fashioned ghost costume in a long time, so they all thought it was pretty cool.  The costume itself wasn't great, but the kid in it was, and that made it an awesome costume.

This was the first year Connor truly "got" Halloween.  He understood it a little last year, but was shy, and when the doors would open, he'd yell "CANDY!" instead of "Trick-or-Treat!".  This year, he had it all planned, and yelled "BOO!" every time someone opened their door.  It was stinkin' adorable.  People would offer him more candy, and he would say "No, that's it", and walk away with one or two lollipops or candy bars.  Of course, this made him even more adorable - that he wasn't greedy.  He also declared he was done after only 8 houses.  Of course, Mom and Dad wanted to hit the house that gives out full candy bars, so once that was done, we went home.

Maeve, of course, went with us as a little peapod.  She was happy as a clam to be held all night and to be out with everyone.  She's my little social butterfly!

By far this was the best Halloween Connor has had so far.  I hope he can stay this adorable for a little while longer before he declares that he wants nothing to do with Mom and Dad on Halloween.  We hope everyone else had a great time, too!

  

What's a Boy To Do?

What does a kid do when Mom is busy taking pictures of a middle school soccer game?  

He stomps on the bleachers:

He climbs up the giant hill to the parking lot:

He balances on the pavement:

He runs back down the hill:

He stops to think about his next move: 

He plays with the chain link fence:

And then climbs back up the hill: 

NOW can we go home, Mom??

Fall Afternoon

As it's nearing Halloween, I told Connor that we could carve pumpkins after we went to the grocery store on Sunday.  Perhaps Mommy should have checked the state of the pumpkins, because they had all started rotting, even before being carved!  I'm not sure why - maybe it was the unseasonably warm weather we've had, or the large amounts of rain, but in any case, there was only one pumpkin suitable to carve.

It seems that every year Connor gets super excited to carve a pumpkin, but Mom ends up doing all the dirty work.

After pumpkin carving, Connor decided to help out with raking the leaves.

We hope to do some more fall activities this weekend.  Hopefully the weather cooperates!

Her Smile

At five months, Maeve has discovered her smile.

Sometimes it's for the dog...

or her big brother....

or for Papa...

or for herself, blowing raspberries.

And she has recently found that two fingers is a great substitute for those icky pacifiers she hates:

She has grown to be a very happy baby.  Mom was a bit worried when she was first born because she was very cranky all the time (unless, of course, she was eating).  But she's "grown up" and really come to love being a baby and all the love and attention she gets.  

Now... if we could just work on sleeping....

One Whole Hand

Connor turned the big 0-5 on October 4th!  He was very excited to turn five right up until a couple days before when he started declaring that he didn't want to turn five.  I told him that five was cool because he was one whole hand old!  When people asked how old he was, all he had to do was hold up his hand!  That seemed to work, and he's been celebrating five ever since.

In case you are all wondering why you weren't invited to a party, don't fret - Connor didn't want a big birthday party.  I think he gets very overwhelmed at birthday parties, especially those for him, and asked for just grandparents, Auntie, and Paige to come down.  He also asked for a "Pigmy" cake from the "Pocket God" app on my phone.  Since my last few attempts at creating such cakes hasn't been great, I decided to just print out a photo and bring it to the Stop & Shop bakery.  Easy peasy!  We weren't allowed to sing "Happy Birthday" because he really hates it, so there was no singing.  So if we're ever at your child's birthday party, don't take offense if he doesn't sing!

Connor has never really shown interest in actually opening presents before.  He always liked what was inside the wrapping paper, but never had the urge to rip the paper off like most kids do.  This year, it was different.  We brought out his presents from Grammy and Grampy and he couldn't wait to open them!  Hopefully he'll still be this excited about opening gifts at Christmas!

At his "party", Connor got a GIANT dart gun from Mimi and Papa.  It can shoot up to twenty darts in just a few seconds.  Needless to say Mom deemed this an outside toy.  And for good reason:
                  (disclaimer:  no babies were hurt in the making of this blog post)

Connor was very excited to eat his cake.  But he needed to blow out his candle first.  Apparently when he said he didn't want a candle, he meant it.  So the "wind" may have blown out the candle.

The cake was a big hit, but very messy.  That was some bright frosting!