Busy

Hi all,

We've had a busy few weeks around here! It all started a few weeks ago when the three of us drove out to Sauvie Island to go berry picking. We only got the tail end of the strawberries but had perfect timing for the blueberries and raspberries. Conor had such fun running in between the bushes and stuffing himself full of berries. I think he easily ate 6 pounds of berries that afternoon. Then, he kindly returned at least three pounds, if ya know what I'm sayin'!

We got home and I made two batches of strawberry jam, two batches of raspberry and froze enough blueberries so we'll have blueberry pancakes for life if we want them. There is something so soothing for me about making jam. Its like this old timey tradition of picking food and storing it away for the winter. Not that our jam will last into the winter. I give it until end of fall, tops.

And speaking of picking...the peas in our garden are going crazy! Conor loves to wander over to the garden and say "pea? pea? pea?". Usually he takes one bite and feeds the rest to Tucker. At least he gets a few vitamins. We are having a lot of fun with our garden this year and, for first time gardners, I'd say we're doing pretty well. We just ate one of our carrots earlier this week in a salad, our peas are going crazy and we've got one yellow squash just about ready for picking. We're really looking forward to our pumpkins though which have all but taken over the garden. Perhaps its a good thing so many of our other veggies were carried off by birds and squirrels.

The week before 4th of July, Conor and I spent four days up at Niki's family's cabin just outside of Madras. Its in a beautiful spot overlooking the canyon which more than makes up for the lack of plumbing or electricity. I've been going for years with Niki and other assorted friends but this is the first time we ever took the kiddos. We spent the first day down at the lake and, while Conor normally loves any water, he was a little uneasy in the lake. Maybe its because the water was just above freezing cold, or maybe it was the slope or maybe the sand. At any rate, he preferred sitting near the shore and splashing. He looked so grown up to me in his little swimtrunks cruising along the shoreline. The second day we drove down through Bend and into Sisters for a picnic in the park. On our way, we passed a beautiful new building that turned out to be the local fire department. Rob, Niki's husband, asked for a tour and we were able to see all the firetrucks, the pole (whoo hoo!) and the whole fires tation. Such fun! I only wish Conor was a little older so he could have enjoyed it more. He sure did love sitting in the fire truck and "driving" it though! (Unfortunately, we all forgot our cameras that day so no pictures to document the fun.)

Conor and Addi and a lakeside snack.

After the fire station, we made it to the park. For a while the kiddos played on the toys and then we started a marathon game of freeze tag. I forgot how much fun it is to just run around while being chased by a five year old. Its strangely liberating.

Addi feeding Conor some freshly picked blueberries. Aren't they so cute together?

Morgan had July 3rd off from work and since the weather was absolutely gorgeous, we headed down to Jamison Square in the Pearl District. Jamison Square is the quintessential urban park. It occupies one city block and is surrounded by cute shops and fancy restaurants. And Starbucks. Of course.Look how busy this place gets. Don't you love the guy in the foreground with the video camera? And the lady near the center of picture who is fully clothed yet soaking wet sitting in the water?

Just thought this one was cute.

Look at the little man. It looks like he's modeling for J. Crew or something.
Making new friends
Look at the way I'm holding his arm. You better stand still for this picture, kid.
Kisses!Daddy is slightly more tolerable to be photographed with than Mommy.

On the 4th of July we had a barbeque with Kristen and Keenan and Mom and Art. Morgan and Keenan went out and bought yard games so we played several games of Baggo and a realllllllly long game of croquet. Yeah, croquet is hard. About 8:30 Conor was expressing his tiredness so I put him to bed while Morgan and Keenan set up the (illegal) fireworks they had bought on a trip to Washington. Being the nervous Nellie I am, I was super uneasy about having (illegal) fireworks in our front yard. I could just picture the police storming down our street and arresting Morgan while Conor and I hid in the backyard. Well, the police must have had bigger fish to fry that night because they left us alone and we had quite the show. All the neighbors were out and fireworks were everywhere. Just one more reason why I love our neighborhood.

My best attempt to wrangle a picture of Conor in his super cute 4th of July outfit.

Oh, and in the midst of the fireworks, Keenan proposed to Kristen! Whoo hoo!


So, while we've been busy playing, Morgan has been busy working. He built a series of wine racks for my Mom's wine room of a steel frame and wood pegs to support the wine bottles. All together it will hold just under 400 bottles of wine. All together there are 768 wooden pegs. All together there are nearly 1600 screws. On top of it all, once Morgan began to assemble to whole thing, he realized that it would look so much better if each wooden peg was sanded. So, go back to those 768 pegs and sand. ALL OF THEM. It was a massive project and it looks absolutely stunning now that it is finished.

The finished product.

Close up of interior.

Close up of top row.

As soon as he was done with the wine racks, he got to work making a chandelier for a local salon. Its nearly impossible for me to explain what it looks like so you'll just have to wait for pictures. All this to say that my husband is rad and I love him. Seriously? How cool is that stuff? Made with his own two hands?

So, as I've said, we've been busy. And the summer has barely started. We'll be off to San Diego in about a week and a half for the annual Walsh Family Reunion. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone again. We've been doing lots of video chats with Papa and Gaga and Conor easily recognizes them now. He walks around the house with his cell phone going "hi, papa. hi, gaga." over and over and over again. We also put together a slide show of pictures from our AZ trip in May and he loves to watch the pictures of TT (JT) and Nana (Anna). I'm excited that he knows who his cousins are. He'll have so much fun playing with them.

Alright folks, my fingers are going numb from all this typing and most likely you've either tuned out or stopped reading altogether. If you're still here, I thank you. Hope you're having an awesome summer too!

Long Overdue Pictures

In no particular order...our trip to Arizona.

Look at those boys.  Do they look tired or what?

I love him.

I love them.

Random.  But have I mentioned?  Look at those eyes!

JT helping Conor.

Ready?  Set?

Tired.

Cousins playin' in a fountain.

Look how excited he is!

Umm, speaking of excited!

JT, covered in the red dirt of his t-ball field.  The great thing is, none of the other kids were this dirty.  Also, his uniform was pretty clean considering the state of his face.  I wonder he he just rubbed the dirt on his face for fun?  You can't see it in this picture, but man, did it make those baby blue eyes pop!

Look at this adorable girl.  She is such a sweetie.

Anna being silly.

He loved this little moving car thing at Peter Piper Pizza.  Seriously, before you go there, put on your patience hat.  You'll need it.

Fly!

Splashes!

Sleep.

Meeting Stephanie for the first time

Meeting Kraig for the first time.  Kraig is an ASU fan and, as you can see, Conor doesn't understand that.

On the flight down to AZ.  We all look tired.

Conor, say "cheese!"

And this one?  Well cowboy boots and puppy jammies are just cute!

Conor-isms

I recently read a blog (I love blogs, I read them like novels. I think I'm following 30-something blogs right now) where the writer just wrote down all the things she loved about her kids. All those little adorable things they did that she swears she'll never forget but, inevitably, will.

Since this blog functions as Conor's Baby Book, or actually, our Life Book, I decided to write down all the little, adorable, things that I love about my boy.



I love Conor's fake laugh. Heh, heh, heh... He does it when he feels he isn't getting enough attention, like the other day he directed it at some lady at the grocery store. I think she was a little offended until I explained he just wanted her to pay attention to him. I love that he (fake) laughs whenever anyone else is laughing. He just wants to be included in the fun.



I love that when I walk into a room his eyes light up and he goes "Mama!" with all the love and enthusiasm in the world. It doesn't matter if I've been gone all day or for five minutes.



I love that he loves our animals. Every morning, when Tucker and I go in to get him up, he says first, "Mama!" then "Ta-ta (Tucker)" and "pet, pet, pet?" and gives Tucker a good thump on the head. I love how when he is on the couch Luna, he invariably tries to rest his head on her body. No matter how many times she has scratched him.



I love that he blows kisses and waves to young dark haired, dark eyed women he sees out and about. No interest in blondes yet!



I love how he says "mrow, mrow" when he sees Baby Jaguar on Go, Diego, Go! and how he calls Diego Dee-doh.



I love how he loves Tupperware and old plastic cups. He could have $1000 in toys sitting in front of him but he'll pass them all up to play with Tupperware.



I love the way he says two. I can't describe it, you just have to hear it.



I love how he is so big and smart and strong.

I love how when he runs he pitches his whole body forward and just goes for it.

I love that he loves water. Bath tub, pool, puddles, spilled water on the table, it doesn't matter. And then, how when the water cascades over his face, his beautiful long dark lashes clump together and then he looks up and its like a little piece of heaven.

I'll post a whole bunch of pictures soon, promise!

Just some wet shennanigans

A morning in the backyard

Spring is here!

Haircut

I caved.

And In Flash He Was Gone

So Conor is my baby. And I think I forget sometimes that he his not actually a baby anymore. Since Morgan was laid off and has been staying home with Conor I've been noticing more and more what a big boy he is getting to be. I guess I just keep thinking of Conor as a baby and so I don't push him to do the things that he is apparently capable of. In the last four weeks Morgan has taught him at least six new words, and he has learned motor skills that I thought were at least four months off. He, both of them, are just so amazing to me. The way they do things together is so different from how I would do them and honestly, Conor is learning so much from spending time with his daddy. It sucks big time that Morgan was laid off, yes. But, the last five weeks that Morgan has been home with Conor (far more time than I've spent at home in the last five weeks) have shown me not only what a dedicated and devoted father Morgan is, but also just how beneficial it is to Conor that his dear old dad is so involved.

Another sign of growth in our little one is his assortment of bumps and bruises. We were playing over at our friends Wyatt and Michelle's last Friday and before I knew it, Conor took off running down the driveway toward the street. It was a small residential street so he wasn't in imminent danger of being run over or anything and I was chasing him and he fell. And smacked the hell out of his little face. You can see the three places of impact. First, the initial bump on the forehead, then the scrape across the pavement and finally the skid to a stop. Poor guy. But, like the little trooper he is, he cried for a minute and then it was back to playing in the dirt with Wyatt. Oh my baby. Where have you gone?

Later that night Morgan and I were sitting, talking and Conor came running over to us (wait, I see a pattern here), slipped and smacked his head on the corner of the stool I was sitting on. At first I didn't notice anything beyond the ear piercing screams, because my goodness, that boy has a set of lungs! About five minutes later the goose egg appeared. YIKES! Quite literally, it stuck off his head about half an inch. Oy.

So that is the bumps and bruises portion of this blog. Now, onto the "WHAT is that in his MOUTH?". (SIDEBAR: does anyone really understand how to use quotation marks? Inside the punctuation? Outside? For this question I freely open the comments section.) In the course of 16 hours my son (notice I didn't say baby...babies eat only what you put in their mouths) ate dirt from the garden and...wait for it...dog food. Not one little kibble but a whole freaking mouthful of dog food. What a good boy Tucker is to just let him take it. I was wondering why Tucker kept eating the cat food. Now we know, Conor eats most of his food. Its just the food chain in action. Seriously, so gross. I was too horrified to snap a picture of this particular escapade, you'll just have to take my word for it.

And, in other news...listen to fun animal sounds! For those of you who don't know Go, Diego, Go, there is this completely random character called Baby Jaguar and when Diego says Baby Jaguar, everyone is supposed to say meow, MEOW! So that's what that is in the video...

And finally, how much does he look like his Uncle Alex here? And yes, I know I should probably cut his hair, but whatever, I'm the Mommy so what I say goes.

And oh the giggles! The GIIIIIGGGGLES! they kill me. Morgan is fake sneezing here which is apparently the funniest. thing. EVER!



Happy Spring everyone! Thank you for all your love and suppport, prayers and words of encouragement over the last few weeks.