Life after Taxes

Since April 15th life as we know it has been back to normal. No more crazy working hours for daddy, no more (well slightly less) crazy mamma
so without further ado, here are a million pictures of what we have been up to for the past few weeks!

Conner got a swing set for his birthday and the Thursday after the 15th, so the 17, we finally  set it up! Conner had lots of fun helping daddy! We thought he would help for maybe 30 mi  and get bored but he stuck it out for the whole 4 hours (probably adding at least an hour and a half of helpfulness!)



if you look closely Rusty kept a nasty mustache from his non-shaving last week of craziness. yuck. good thing that didn't last long!

Easter

One of the major things on my Honey do list was paint my bedroom!  As manyof you know I HATE white walls. Hate em hate em hate em. And as you know my whole house was white when we moved In. I have never really decorated my bedroom because I was waiting to  paint. I just never knew that it would take almost 3 years to do it! I was actually planning on making painting a tax season project to keep me company those long lonely nights after kiddos went to bed, but then I found out I was pregnant and , well, that was no longer such a great idea. So I waited and waited and about 2 weeks ago we got it done! Well almost. We did the main bedroom and the bathroom but we have a little office thing connected that we're hoping to get done sometime soon. I haven't had time to put it all back together yet so I'll post after pics soon! or someday at least. can't really promise soon...

Our yearly zoo expedition. We went on Friday May 2.

 

 

 

Then the next day after the zoo I threw a baby shower for my good friend in my ward. She was so kind to wait until about 16 hours after the shower to have her baby! (3 weeks early I might add. I'm not a last minute shower thrower)

I can't take credit for this cuteness. Her mom did it. but I had to share!

this one is for my mom. Sophie got 2 Easter dresses because I couldn't decide so here is her in her other one. And this is Conner being Johnny Cache.

And that has been our busy month! Lots of fun things (well busy if not all fun :) )

28's all around

This last week was the week of 28's! On Friday April 11 my baby turned 28 weeks old in my big old belly. We're getting closer!!

 28 weeks preggo=the glucose test, the orange (or red if you are my sister living in Vegas) drink thing...which I haven't heard back from yet. let's hope I passed! I had to do the 3 hour with Sophie and that was no good. Lots of people cry about it when they have to take it, and yeah I don't love it, but it's not THAT bad. But I am glad it's done with :) Everything else is going pretty good. I've developed lovely comfy varicose veins...pretty much everywhere you can get varicose veins this time around which is really nice. Makes it kind of hard (well harder than a normal pregnancy ;) ) to walk/stand and pick anything heavier than Sophie up. But good news! It should all go away after I deliver! only 2 1/2 more months of no walking!! That should be pretty easy right? at least maxi dresses are in  so nobody has to ever see my legs! Also at 28 weeks this lil babe has zero prospects for a name. Suggestions are welcome! Because we've got nothin! Well, nothin that doesn't get vetoed by daddy that Is...

Then the next day I myself the Mom turned 28 years old!

On Friday, the day before, Rusty's mom and sis came down and we went to lunch (mmmm cafe rio) and got me a pair of lamps for my bedroom, since, ya know, for the last almost 8 years we have only had one  and it was the one I had growing up. Thanks for coming down girls! It was SO nice! Then on the big day (the next day) since not only do I have a tax season b-day, it just happens to be 3 days before THE deadline so there is no chance I can ever have a husband on it (except next year it's on a Sunday! so maybe then!) My largely pregnant self may or may not have cried at the thought of spending it all alone so my lovely nice wonderful daddy drove up to Layton from Orem and picked me and the kiddos up (so that we didn't have to drive separately home when Rusty met up with us in Orem) and we party hardied at my parents and spent the weekend. It was fantastic!! Thanks mom and daddy for giving me my birthday!



That's a lot of candles on that cake!

and apparently 28 candles makes a LOT of smoke.

Masters of the Daddy Stalls

As most of you who read this old bloggity blog know, my husband Rusty is a tax accountant. Aside from the crazy long hours during this time of year he LOVES it! why? you ask. I have no idea. But I'm glad he loves his job! That being said, as stated above the hours kind of sort of a little bit suck this time of year. He leaves around 7:30/8 every morning and gets home around midnight or 1 for about 2 1/2 months straight. Usually it has just been me and him who suffer through it and live for that lovely April 15 deadline when we can have a more meaningful conversation than a "mmmmfffhey" as I try to pry my eyes open for more than 3 seconds at 1am. In years past, the kids have had an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude towards dear old dad, but this year they (Conner) have started realizing that something's up. Conner has often told me this past season "I not got a daddy anymore" :( or ask me "where's my dad?" Oh man this sounds so sad when I type it all out! We are really really grateful for his job and this is not supposed to be a sad post. It is supposed to be a funny one! So I'll get to the funny part!

This year Rusty has tried to leave a little later in the mornings (like 9) a few times a week so he can see the kids a little bit. (and so C knows he still has a daddy :) ) The funny thing is these little people have come up with some pretty ingenious ways to get daddy to stay home just a little bit longer. So without further ado, I give you the stalls...

#1 Block the path They started out with the obvious ones like locking the garage door so he couldn't leave. or just simply standing in front of the door with arms spread. When that didn't work C tried opening the pantry doors to block the way. more obstacles to get past = more time!


"Dis is my stop sign. It means daddy can't go to work!"

#2 Hold me Daddy Sophie has even gotten in on the action. She sees him getting ready and she wants only him to hold her. (if I try to take her she throws a fit) he's gotten really good at getting dressed and ready with one arm. And then she points around the room and trying to give him a tour of the cool things in our house...like fans and stuff.

 

#3 If the shoe don't fit...We have found numerous times toys in his shoes...so he can't put them on? Pretty logical thinking for a 4 year old! I might be a little proud.

 

Pretty sure she didn't do it, but she sure took the fall by being caught with them.

#4 Classic Guilt

 "Daddy, don't you want to play a game with me??" what do you say "no I don't"?

#5 Plain old talking C also has come up with his "I have to tell you something" stall. Where just as you're about to leave he says "Wait! I'm saying something!" then he says he has 4 (or 6 or 10 or whatever) things to say and they're usually bogus thought up at that second things like "I think you're really nice. That's #1! #2 is...um...think, think, think...I really really yike you..." and so on.

#6 Don't ever let go "Daddy I got you! I holding on and now you can't weave!" I like how he's holding onto his toy garage thing as an anchor. haha.

#7 Kill him with Kindness And sometimes, when all else fails, simply hugging is a good last resort.

 

"I promise if you stay I won't wipe all this cream cheese on my lips all over your shirt..."

When it's over it really is like turning a switch. When April 15 passes all is 100% back to normal. Thankfully we have only 6 days and counting left until we can drop these little shenanigans!  (even though they are pretty funny)

Operations: FATTY Double Whammy

The nice thing about kids being EXACTLY 2 1/2 years apart (well 2 days away from exactly, to be exact) is that we get to piggy back well check visits (for a little while anyway) Conner had hs 4 year check-up an Soph her 18 month on Wed. the 2.

Everyone ready for some stats??? Here we go!

Conner's 4 Year Stats

Height: 38 Inches= 15%
Weight 29.6 Lbs= 5%
BMI 14.06= 5%
Last year he was 11% height and 5% in weight. So...we're pretty much the same. Which is great! He's just chugging along just the way he's supposed to I guess!
Dr went pretty good for him except that Sunday he started to get a little cough and by the time we got to the docs on Wed it was pretty bad (good timing for an already scheduled check up! I'm good at planning things like that) He was wheezing pretty bad so Doc had him do this breathing thing called a nebulizer. It's basically a machine that turns medicine into a vapor form and inhaling the medicine reduces inflammation in his lungs and stops the wheezing. Usually people with bad asthma need it. what?! asthma! He doesn't have asthma! or does he? They sent us home with our very own nebulizer stuff and have to do it every 4 hours to get rid of this cold (which by the way me and Soph caught to...so we're all sickleys here. fun!) Anyway we're hoping that it's just a cough and not a lovely appearance of asthma settling in this little guy. Cross your fingers for us! Otherwise we might have to do this every day for forever! Picture time!

But more fun, non medical things about C, at 4 years old Conner is such a little ham! He says funny things every single day that make any day a little bit better. Example: out of nowhere "Mom did you know that bats sometimes poop?" or "Mom, you and me is uppercase people and Sophie is a wowercase person" (because she's little? I guess?) fun little things like that. He's fully, and has been for over a year, day time potty trained and as of today has gone 10 consecutive nights going to the potty at night and being dry in morning! yay! Except for the part where he yells at 2:30am from the potty "Mooom I'm done!" "Awesome. Go to bed"

He loves to learn and can say all of his ABC's (recognizing all of them is another story), can count to 20 (as long as he's singing his numbers song) and can write his name! That last development is only about 3 weeks old but it makes for one proud mama! He's really into dinosaur fossils right now and likes to "go find me some fossils" (aka rocks) outside then lay them out in the shape of a dinosaur. I use "shape of a dinosaur" very loosley :)

He also really likes to eat black cookies (oreos) and "new kind of cookies" (girl scout cookies) and will negotiate very well with me until he gets a good amount in any sitting. Although now I feel less like a horrible lots of cookie giving mom because C is such an awful eater that she said "Cookies are better than no food at all" so there ya go...
and here's some more pics of Conner!

classic taking a picture of Conner look. He's starting to smile a little more though...

Photo bombing my last preggo pic. (since we're talking about being fatty here's me at 24 weeks! although I'm 27 right now...)

Sophie 18 month stats

Height 30.5 Inches= 18% (not too shabby!)
Weight 19 lbs =1% (we're on the charts people!!!! This is exciting!! although 1% explains why she is just barely kind of sort of fitting into 12 month clothes)
Head Circ. 45.25 cm = 16%

Sophie is still just the sweetest little thing that ever was. Ask anyone, she has probably got to be the very best cuddle baby EVER. I'm serious. My mom says that if you're every having a bad day just go see Sophie and she'll make you feel better about everything. Of course sometimes her cuddles are induced by her shyness, like if she is around new people (or even just people she hasn't seen for a while) she cuddles even more! 

She's also such a girl. She LOVES shoes. In fact, "shoes" was her 4th word right after "Mom" "Dad" and "Duck" If she doesn't have shoes on she'll bring me one or two, mostly not matching ones, and say "shooos" then stick her foot out. She loves the color pink. In stores she always spots the pink. I was getting her a little chair for the back yard and was debating on getting a green one, ya know, to last through the years and she saw the pink one and jumped up and ran to it and said "dis, dis!" So....she got the pink one. What can I say? I'm pretty soft. She also loves necklaces, and (finally) bows in her hair. She even sits so still while I actually do her hair which is a HUGE  blessing to a has-no-idea-what-she's-doing, trying-to-learn-how-to-do-little-girls-hair mama.

She also loves to find belly buttons (especially my giant poking out one) and noses. We love "Little One" as conner calls her and are so SO happy to have her in our family!

And some more pics...

Not sure why she just decided to lay down...

She out grew her black sunday shoes (it's been a few weeks since she wore something that needed black shoes to church) so we had to improvise. Pretty cute though!

This is how she looks most days...kind of like an orphan. But at least she's a very cute orphan!

Very first pig tails day! (they lasted about 3 minutes) and that's a library book she just ripped. oops.

Transformation Complete!

We are slightly (and by slightly I mean reeeeally) obsessed with Transformers at our house these days. About a month and a half before the Conner's birthday I asked him if he was excited to turn 4. He started crying and said that he didn't want a birthday party this year because he didn't want to be 4. When I asked him why "because my faborite # is 3! I gotta stay 3" I tried lots of things to make turning 4 sound so cool. Eventually my question "if we have a transformers birthday party would it be ok if you turned 4?" did the trick! ever since that moment he was so excited to transform into a 4 year old.

His birthday was on a Saturday so we had his party ON his birthday this year! Awesome! I will say though planning a giant party during tax season with no husband and being 7 months preggo was a little challenging. I had a giant project every day the week leading up to the big day. I can honestly say that with out my college education this party would not have been possible...or at least it wouldn't have been as super cool.

 

I remember everyone saying that if you majored in elementary education you were a"Mommy Major" Well after this week I officially think that Art is the new mommy major. I graduated in Graphic Design and had to take all sorts of random art classes, some that I never thought would be useful in my life. But oh no. While planning a nearly 4 year old's b-day party I was channeling all sorts of crazy classes. Examples:

 

Graphic Design classes=invitation(well this one's not so random of a class...since it was my major and all...)

 

3D Design/Sculpture= Piñata fun!

 

Conner helped me out with this. yup, he was a huuuge help :) But we had lots of fun working together.

Ceramics and painting= super cute experimental first time Fondant Cake



C helping me make the cake!

The finished Transformers Cake

 It turned out so cute and I only had to call up Rusty once crying! Note to self: Apparently if you try to make gray with black food coloring it turns purple! Yikes! thanks to Google and a little remembering of color mixing rules if you add yellow to purple it makes gray. phew! Although Conner may or may not have thought that it was going to transform into Optimus Prime at some point. He was slightly disappointed.

Party Time!

So anyway the day of the party came and honestly...I was pooped! But C was excited enough for the both of us that it kept me going and made it all worth it! It was a giant party with 21 adults and 12 kiddos! holy cow! That's a lot of people in my house!

"Ocams Prime is in the middle because he's my faborite autobot"



When all the new people started coming Sophie go so shy and scared.

But she eventually warmed up and had lots of fun :)



Energon Cubes (the stuff transformers get their energy from, of course)

 Piñata!
Even though the day wasn't as BEEEAUTIFUL as the weather guys on TV made it sound like it would be, we still were able to go out and take some whacks at the piñata. Either it was very strong to begin with, or a bunch of 4 year olds were hitting it (with really good form like you can see Conner doing) because eventually after every kid went through the line 5 times Rusty had to intervene and it still took him like 4 hits to get to the candy. Guess it's safe to say that if you order something from Amazon.com the box it comes it will keep it safe.

He got lots and lots of presents. What a lucky kid! We, the parents, got him a swing set! which will be set up shortly after April 15th...

Happy Birthday Conner! What a fun little guy you are. You always keep me on my toes and make my smile every single day! Love you so much!

Thanks to everyone who came to help C have an amazing day! He had a blast with you all there!