Christmas Recap 2009

We had our usual and busy Christmas celebration. We visited Great Grandma and all of the Grandparents over a span of five days.

Great Grandma with her Great Grandkids.

Olivia asked Santa for a picture of Rudolph. Amazingly, Rudolph not only left a picture of himself but he also left gifts for the kids.

A set of horses from Grandma.

Santa left Caedan a remote control Fire Truck.

Olivia really wanted a horse for Christmas. Instead she got several horse things. Caedan gave her this horse snow globe. This was Olivia's favorite gift. She carried it around all day and even slept with it next to her. She said that this was her most special present.

New pajamas for Caedan.

Everyone loved Caedan's new train table.

I am pretty sure that this was one of Caedan's favorite gifts - flashing fire truck shoes. What could be better?

A new mountain bike for Olivia from Grandma and Grandpa.

If you are really good Santa fills your stocking at home and then again when you go to Orcas to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa.
Stockings are not just for Santa to fill up with gifts.

Heading home after celebrating Christmas on Orcas.

Sadly, this is what happens when your little brother finds your snow globe. There were many tears shed after this accident. We tried to reattach the legs with superglue but the horse still did not survive this horrible accident.

Guess what Caedan is buying with his Christmas money? Anyone know where we can get a snow globe with a horse in it that plays music?

We are officially ready for Christmas at our house. The shopping is done and most of the baking is complete. Just one batch of cookies are left to make for Santa's visit and then we are ready.

The Christmas lights are up on the house.

The Christmas cards have been addressed and mailed.

The Christmas tree is decorated and the presents are wrapped. So far all of the ornaments are safe from little fingers.

We had a visit with Santa where we gave him the Christmas lists. Hopefully Santa will come through with that picture of Rudolph. Santa if you are reading this PLEASE do not get Olivia a horse. Even thought it is on her Christmas list we really do not have room for one.

Just in case the Christmas list that we gave to Santa did not make it to the North Pole we also had a visit with Mrs. Claus were she was taking down requests to pass along to Santa.

The kids have 'happily' sat in the front of the tree for the annual pictures.

For some reason this present has not stayed wrapped. After wrapping it three times I have conceded defeat.

Bring on the chaos of the holidays. The Connors are ready.

The Christmas Card...

that wasn't.

Everyone wants the perfect picture for their Christmas cards. Everyone in coordinating outfits sitting in a perfect pose and all with the perfect smile. The card that when some one opens it you know they will gush about cute everyone looks. So far we have taken 116 pictures on four different occasions and three different locations and we still do not have a Christmas card photo. We have visited Santa, gone to the park and posed in front of the Christmas tree. Caedan has fallen while running from the pictures and cut his hands and gotten a large bump on his forehead. Olivia got the giggles and she couldn't stop laughing. We decided that getting four people to look good in a picture was too difficult and so we tried to get just the kids. I am now thinking that maybe a picture of Robert and I just might be the ticket. Besides what people really want to see are the parents and not the kids, right?

Caedan was not impressed by Santa.

Caedan come back...

"The sun is TOOOOOO bright!"

This ended with a handful of Olivia's hair in Caedan's hands.

And so tomorrow we will try again because I also want people to gush at how cute my kids are when they open our Christmas card.

Happy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

from my Turkeys
to yours!!

Trick or Treat

Olivia is a big fan of Halloween. Not only does she get to dress up but she also gets tons of candy. Caedan on the other hand really did not understand all of the excitement. Olivia was really into decorating this year. She wanted scary decorations but not to scary. Bats and skeletons fall into the to scary category. So we had to make our pumpkins scary instead.
At first I was convinced that this was the only thing that Caedan was going to wear. He does make a cute spider.

It took several tries to actually get Caedan into his costume. He was not a fan of the costume until he realized that people were going to give him candy for wearing the costume. He did enjoy yelling Trick or treat.

Of course Olivia was Cinderella this year. I know that you are all surprised by this choice! At one point she wanted to be a unicorn and a hot dog but once it was time to actually get something the princess won.

I was finally able to get a picture of the two kids together although it did take some bribes, I mean incentives!

First Hair Cut

Last week Caedan finally had his first haircut. Now I know what you are already thinking. He is 2 how can this be his first haircut? But for some reason I just could not cut those cute little curls from the back of his head. I recently noticed that his hair had grown below his shirt collar so I decided that it was time to finally give him a haircut. One of us held his head while the other did the cutting and the whole time Ceadan was saying no hair cut, no hair cut.

Before

After

2

Today my baby turned 2! In many ways it seems like we have had him forever. But it also seems like he was just born yesterday. Maybe that is because we are so tired. Caedan has developed his own personality and his smile is so cute that it can brighten your day in an instant. There are so many things that I love about this stage. As he has learned to talk we are always amazed by the things that he says.

Some of my favorites include:
Hold you – this means that he would like to be picked up.
Open it – means turn it on
What doing?
Oh tay mommy
Taedan
Go to time out – apparently he hears this a lot at our house. Last night he sent me to time out and then the dog.

One of his favorite people is his sister. He simply cannot get enough of ‘ia’ as he calls her. When he is upset there are times that only Olivia can calm him down and get him to stop crying. He loves to play with her and follow her around. As they get older I am sure that things will change between the two of them but right now I am enjoying their bond.

Caedan loves football, baseball and soccer. He will hold a ball and say ready and then throw it at you even if you are not looking. So if you hear ‘ready’ you better be ready to catch a ball because it is coming your way.

Avion (French for airplane), buses, trucks, bikes, firetrucks – Caedan loves them all. When driving in the car he will point out every one that he sees.

He has a very tender side. If Olivia is crying Caedan will run to her, put his arms around her and give her a hug. I love when I pick him up and he puts his arms around my neck and then put his head on my shoulder. I don't think I will ever get enough of that.

Cadean loves fleece blankets. They have to be a certain size and he has to have one with him when he is sleeping. If we leave the house we have to make sure to take one with us.

Of course there are a few things that I am ready to leave behind.
I am ready to leave the sleepless nights behind. We have struggled for months to get a good night's sleep. If he doesn’t wake up early in the morning then he wakes up during the night. He often won't go to sleep until 9 or 10pm and then he is up around 6am. This just doesn’t seem like enough sleep for someone his age and I know that it is not enough sleep for me!

I am more than ready to be done with diapers! Caedan on the other hand has no interest in using the toilet. He says he wants to, but so far the bag of M&M’s has remained unopened. I know that you are not suppose to rush toilet training but oh how I would love to be done changing diapers and done carrying around extra diapers when we leave the house. On the other hand I have no idea how to toilet train a boy. With Olivia we would sit her on the toilet and paint her toe nails and finger nails. And of course she would have to sit there until the polish dried. I wonder what color of polish would look good on Caedan.

The first one

This morning while getting ready I heard Olivia yell "It came out." Of course I instantly think that Caedan had gotten into something (Sorry Caedan). Olivia came running into the kitchen holding her first tooth; it had finally fallen out. While she was eating her waffle it just popped out. With all of the excitement she was almost late to school.

We brushed her tooth so that it would be clean and shiny for the tooth fairy. She was convinced that the tooth fairy only takes clean teeth. So now her tooth is safely in the pillow waiting for the tooth fairy to come tonight.

Lightening

On Thursday Olivia had her first soccer practice. She is on the lightening team which consists of 6 girls. This is Olivia's first time playing soccer. When I say that it is her first time playing I mean that she has never even kicked a soccer ball. So like any good parents we talked to her on the way to practice in the car about the basics. You know things like not touching the ball with your hands and how to score a goal.

Listening intently to what the coach has to say.

A really cute soccer fan.

After the 30 minute practice there was a game. Nothing like jumping right in and practicing everything that you have just learned! Games consist of 2 ten minutes halves followed by snacks which I believe was the most exciting part for the kids.

Ready to start the game.

What do we do now?

The final play of the game.

The game ended in a 2-2 tie. In the car Olivia said that ending in a tie is actually a good thing. That way everyone goes home happy!

Evergreen State Fair

On Saturday we meet up with the Perry Family at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. This was the first time that we have taken Olivia to the fair. Lets just say that she loved it. She went on several rides and we finally had to drag her home at 10:00pm.

So how do you spend your time at the fair when you are too small to go on any of the rides? You get to watch your sister go on several rides as she is laughing and having a great time. Caedan was completely happy sitting in the stroller watching Olivia and waving at her each time that she would go by us. Hopefully next time he will be big enough to go on some of the rides!