Connor and Matt's first Father and Son Campout

Towards the end of my mom and Melissa's visit Matt and Connor went camping.  They went with the ward to the Father and Son Campout near John Bryan State park.  Connor was so excited to go camping with Daddy, he couldn't wait.  They just went Friday night so that was good but there was also a thunderstorm that night - it poured.  Poor guys.  But our new tent worked really well - Yeah!!  :)

 I sent 'light sabers' with them.  I guess all the boys have them and they chase each all over.  Connor told me that the adults (the daddys) were the bad guys!  :)  

 This is Connor's friend Samuel.

 Since our tent was huge they shared with Gary and Samuel Fox, friends from the ward.   

 So cute!!!  Matt said Connor did great.  I think Connor got so worn out by 'fighting off the bad guys' that he just crashed and didn't wake up until people were coming around in the morning announcing breakfast. :) 

Hanging out in the morning.  Matt said it was a lot of fun.  :)  Fun Father and Son bonding!  

Matt's 10K and Grandma Jan & Aunty Mel's Visit

On Sept 15th Matt and his friend Patrick ran the 10K (6.2 miles) at the Air Force Marathon.  They didn't train much at all for it but they did great!!  Just over 1 hour - Good job guys!!!  :)

Great job!!!    

and then.........

Grandma Jan and Aunty Mel came to visit us!!

My mom and sister Melissa came out to Ohio to hang out with us for my birthday and (more importantly) for Connor's first Primary Program.  We had a lot of fun!  We made pottery, had a fun birthday, watched Connor's soccer game, went to Clifton Mill and had a girl's night while Matt and Connor went camping for the Father and Son's campout!    Girl's night was a lot of fun, Briella did awesome!  She even enjoyed shopping with us!  We're teaching her young.  :)

 We went to Build a Bear after my birthday dinner.  My mom was getting Connor a belated birthday present.   It was his first time there.  

 Aunty Mel got one too!  :)

Connor loves his bear and LOVED going to Build a Bear with Grandma and Aunty Mel.

Birthday dinner at Spinoza's!  Delicious pizza place!  :)  Yum!!

 Birthday cake at our house afterwards.  Yummy homemade carrot cake!  :)

 

 Visit to Connor's Preschool

 Connor and his teacher Mrs. Morter.  We LOVE her!  She is fantastic!  :)

Our visit to Clifton Mill

 Grandma and Briella playing dinosaurs!  :)

 The restaurant has the best breakfast there and the BEST pancakes ever!  They are HUGE, as you can tell.  

We got the seasonal pumpkin pancakes with cream cheese icing - oh my goodness - Heaven!!!  :)  

Connor's delicious '2nd breakfast'.  (That's what he calls brunch.)

It was so fun to have them come visit!!  We love you lots Grandma Jan and Aunty Mel!!!

Guess what......Baby Booth #3 on the way!

We're adding another munchkin to the bunch!  I'm 11 weeks pregnant and doing as well as can be expected (sick and tired).  We're really excited to be having another baby and feel so blessed.   When we went to the doctor last week I thought I was 9 weeks along but then she did an ultrasound and said I was actually 10 weeks along.  Surprise!   It wouldn't be that big of a deal but instead of being due April 19th I'm now due April 14th.....we're suppose to move around the end of March so an earlier due date is not necessarily better (in regards to moving).    This will make moving fun!!!  :)  

Firsts......

Connor has had some new adventures lately.  Quite a few firsts!  Here they are:

First Bike!

 He was pretty excited!  He had to earn it by getting 14 stickers (2 weeks) for following his bedtime steps and staying in his room until his clock is yellow (his clock turns yellow when it's 'morning' - 6:50am according to us!)  But it didn't take him 2 weeks like we thought.....it took most of the summer.  (Exhausting)  

But he did it!

 So proud!

First Day of School!

(I can't get this pic to turn the right way - believe me I've tried everything. Sorry you have to turn your head.)
Connor's started preschool this year.  He goes 4 days a week for 2.5 hours each day.  He LOVES it!  His teacher is fantastic!  She said he's doing awesome and that she's going to start teaching him to read 3-letter words!  So exciting!  He wants to read so bad.  Fun, fun!!  

First Soccer Team!

Practice

Connor's the one in the red shirt, green shorts and blue socks.  I promise he dressed himself!  :)  This is at practice - Thursday evenings. 

It is pretty fun watching the kids.  It's 4 and 5 yr olds 'playing' soccer.  :)  

He does a really good job listening to his coach.  Too bad we're not big fans of the coach - I wish they would teach him the basics and the rules, and not just stand there and watch them try to figure it out.  (Matt is going to try and help out if the coach lets him.)

First Game!

Obviously they are the white team.  Connor is #6.  Remember blue socks.  :) (That was my number in high school for volleyball!)  

The game was hilarious!  He started off as defender and didn't move for the first quarter.  They just weren't sure what to do.  

Then after the quarter we told Connor to go after the ball.  We said,  'you can run after the ball, it's ok.'  'Just do what Brock does, follow him.'  Brock is #9 (above) and he's by far the best one on our team - he knows what he's doing.  

So just after the next quarter started Connor was doing a great job standing as defender and then all of the sudden the ball came towards him and he started running after it!  :)  And he never went back to defender he just followed Brock all over the field!  :)  It was hilarious!  But great because I think he was understanding the game better.  

He got to throw it in a couple times. 

There he is following Brock.  

So after being in 3 quarters the coach asked him if he wanted a break.  He said ok and took a seat on the 'bench' and watched.  After 5-10 minutes he got up and just walked on the field and started playing again (I crack up just thinking about it!).  Apparently he was done with his break and wanted to get back in there.  But the coached explained that he needed to wait and let the other kids play.  It was all good, but funny!  Kids are so innocent and it's funny to see how they understand things.  :)

Connor loves playing soccer - but what he LOVES most is playing soccer with his dad in our yard.  :)  

Random pics from August and September

Here are some random pics from the past few weeks.  Briella is exploring so much more.  Oh so much fun!  

 She looks so innocent! 

 Yup, there are her true colors!  She found a Fig Newton. Jackpot!  Apparently she was really hungry and took matters into her own hands. 

 Briella loves being outside so much more now that she can stand and play with something instead of just sitting on a blanket.

 Connor practicing soccer.  He's been practicing 'heading' the ball.  Good thing it's a soft ball.  :)

So we bought this tent back in May for the Father and Son campout, but it got cancelled.  They rescheduled it for the end of September.  Matt thought it would be good to practice setting it up before the campout. :)  

It's HUGE!!  We got an 8-man tent - I know way to big, but our thinking was.... we got a good deal and we'll have it for a long time, so we needed something that would grow with our family.  We don't camp too often so it should last a while.  :)  (crossing our fingers)   

Connor and Briella loved playing in it - it's quite roomy and easy to put up.  Can you tell Briella is having a blast?!  :)  So cute!