Thursday, July 17, 2014

Connor's Birthday and Father's Day

I'm a little slow with the blogging lately, but Connor turned 4 (over a month ago). When he woke up, we surprised him with his present:  a see-saw that I built for him. He knew I was building something for his birthday in the garage (thanks to a certain child who told him), but he didn't know what it was. He was a bit scared of going too high at first, but I think he is more used to it now. The other kids and the neighbors love it. And I can cross off another project on my long list of "things to build someday".
 
You can see more about the project on my other blog Roadside Rejects.
It was a Saturday so Alex had his last baseball game. He had lots of fun doing baseball. He likes playing all sports and just has a good attitude about learning and playing them. And the good thing about watching them is that they are all way better than they were two years ago. It's fun to see.
 After the game, we all went to the store so that Connor could pick out his own birthday present (besides the see-saw). He was a bit hard to shop for this year because he kept telling me different, but very specific things that I had no idea if I could find, like spider man socks and another spider man glove and other random things. He is very decisive and knows what he wants (it's just that nobody else does). That's why I had him pick it out. He ended up getting a spider man glove that shoots silly string and then water when the silly string runs out. He had so much fun with the silly string and was laughing so hard. He got a ton on our ceiling before we made him take it outside to shoot other people. That lasted about 5 minutes, but it was fun. Oh, and even though he picked it out that very day, we wrapped it and he was so excited when he opened it. Funny kid.
After the game and shopping, we went to the new Discovery Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We love living a minute away from Thanksgiving Point! It's a fun museum with lots to do.
That night we had cake. He wanted a ninja turtle cake and this was my best attempt. The mouth would have been better if I hadn't run out of black, but I think he got the idea. At least it wasn't my worst cake ever (which is still Jared's flyswatter cake).
Connor is a really funny child and always says funny stuff. Too bad I can't remember most of it. He is the child that tans most easily and with his light hair it makes him look even more tan. He likes to tell you and show you how strong he is. But for how strong he is, he is definitely not the most brave. He doesn't like to try new things, especially if he thinks they will be too scary. He stood at the side of the fence watching all the kids jump on the neighbor's trampoline for a year before he finally got on this summer. When we went to the water park, he didn't want to do any of the slides, even the baby ones. We forced him to go on Jared's lap on one slide and he screamed the whole way. I took him to the children's museum on a one on one outing and he wouldn't go on any of the rope bridges or slides. I'm sure he'll grow out of it, but it's funny to see what a strong personality he has but how cautious he is at the same time, especially when the younger girls are almost fearless when trying new things.
Connor loves ninjas, spider man, superheros, and doing karate moves. He dresses up in his spider man costume daily and also asks me to put a ninja headband on a lot. Here's an example of his ninja headband. The kids have been loving the dress-ups lately since they dug them out of storage in the basement. Ah, more messes to clean up.
Connor talks really loudly, which I find very interesting since I am so quiet. His normal voice is just loud, even if I am standing right next to him. The day after his birthday was father's day and it was the first time he went up to sing with the primary kids (he wouldn't do it for mother's day so I was surprised that he did it at all). When he came down he yelled, "I was awesome up there!" Everyone was laughing so hard. I love this boy so much! Our family would not be the same, or as loud without him.

And speaking of father's day, we celebrated it the next day. I always get stressed out the first two weeks of June so father's day is never a big event. I made Jared breakfast in bed. He was coming down right as I was about to bring it up to him so we made him go back to bed to eat it, while the kids sat there watching him. That night he asked for taco pie, his favorite meal and we ate it on the new picnic table that I built, but haven't stained yet. The only thing he got for father's day was a new watch battery. I don't think his watch has worked for over a year. It's like getting a new watch, right?
 Funny faces
 Guess which kid didn't want his picture taken?
 Jared is a great dad and our kids are lucky to have him! (and just look how strong the see-saw is :)




1 comment: