Connor is three!

I'm finally getting an entry written that is up-to-date.

My spunky little blond boy turned 3 today. We had a lot of fun together. We had eggs for family breakfast, and sent Daddy and Hayden off to school. Then the fun began!

We went to Party City to get some paper plates and wrapping paper and wowwy-poppies (lollipops) because they are his favorite! Then we went next door to Chuck E. Cheese to play. Just so you other moms know, they stopped giving out free tokens and balloons on the child's birthday(stingy!). Just chilling with his peep Chuck! Mike and I like this picture of him.

I took him to Wendy's for lunch and I was prepared to buy him a kid's meal, but all he wanted was fri-fries (cheap date!).

After lunch I had sufficiently worn him out enough to come home and have him take a decent nap before his party. During nap time I had to make the cake, decorate it, and wrap the gifts. I got the cake in the oven before Serena started fussing because she couldn't poop. So I brought her down to fuss while I wrapped Connor's presents. Well, I heard little footsteps coming down the stairs just as I was wrapping the last gift, so I kind of rolled it up and taped it quick. So much for a planned 2 hr. block of time to get everything done! Once the cakes had cooled Grandpa Brandt showed up to occupy Connor and Serena had gone down for another nap by then. So I was able to decorate the cake peacefully. This is the finished product.

I couldn't resist getting this picture of frosting-it's a great picture of Grace, maybe I can Photoshop out the frosting.

Connor had Tyler Ashton, Will and Grace Christensen, Brie Lopez and Brenda, Grandpa Brandt and Gram and Pap at his party.

He got a Thomas railroad crossing

It's not often the second child gets new clothes. He was so excited to have a new Mickey Mouse shirt.

And he got a Mickey Mouse Playhouse-he loves that show, so now he can bring it to life with the characters.

The kids played at the park a lot, but we had them do one craft. Ahead of time I had colored salt in bags with food coloring, and put them into salt shakers. Then the kids made designs on paper with glue sticks, then covered the glue with the colored salt. The older kids and adults liked it more than the younger ones, but it was still cute.

I will include my yearly letter to Connor.

Dear Connor: You are getting to be a bigger boy (although you are still wearing some clothes from last year!) and you tell me that every day, especially when you eat your food. This past year you weren't so good at eating very much which is okay for being a toddler. I hope that in this coming year you can understand a little better the importance of healthy eating habits. You love fri-fries, pretzels, grapes, apples, bread (but not PB & J), eggs, cheese, yogurt smoothies (moosies), and any condiment that gets put on the table!

You have accomplished many extraordinary things this year. The first was that you potty trained yourself, in a little over a week, when you were only 2 1/2 years old! I couldn't have been more excited about that. In fact, I still get excited when I think about it! You also overcame a challenge you had with speaking. We are very proud of the progress you have made just since our trip to Utah in June. Before we left you were barely saying 20 words. When we came back you had over 50, and you were using sentences! (Thank you Ms. Jane for your help!) Another big accomplishment that mommy is thrilled about is that you can buckle yourself in your car seat. With 3 kids and having you in the back seat with Hayden, mommy's life is a lot easier now when we go places.

You seem to enjoy physical activites more than crafts. You are more into running and jumping, and riding your bike. You will be starting an intro. to sports class at the YMCA next week which I am excited about. I hope that you can discover something that you enjoy doing. You do love going swimming with your brother and Daddy once a week, and our numerous trips to the pool this summer. You did not however, like the sand at the beach (just like your brother at this age). Hopefully next year.

You are so sweet in caring for others. You often think of others before yourself and share even if there are only a few things to eat. You are always helpful in whatever we are doing. You love being with your brother and sister.

You are such a goofy little guy and are often the center of the entertainment. You make Serena laugh harder than anyone else can-she loves watching you! I recall recently we went mini-golfing with Gram and Pap and I got on video a clip of you trying to hit your ball up a hill with your golf club. You kept trying for over 2 minutes. We were all laughing hysterically! You were so determined!

You are pretty smart too. Even before you could say them you knew your ABC's. Now you can count to ten and you know all you colors. Your almost ready for preschool, but I'm not ready to let you go yet!

I just love your cute little body and will be sad to see it fade as you grow. But you have a lot of exciting things to learn about this next year and I am looking forward to teaching you and spending lots of time with you during the day. I hope you never feel slighted because you are the second boy. You are so special in so many ways, and quite a different personality from Hayden. I love you very much. Mommy