the sweetest thing

On Wednesday nights we go eat dinner at our church.  It’s great for everyone.  I don’t have to cook and the kitchen stays clean (okay, assuming it got cleaned in the first place which was not so much the case last night which is why I have a sink full of dishes this morning…), the food is great, the company is great, the kids love going, and it’s affordable at only $12 for our entire family to eat.  Last night, we were all getting ready to go, putting on shoes and jackets.  Like most of the country, it’s been cold here.  Well, cold for Houston with highs only in the 40s or 50s.  Everyone needs to wear a jacket, especially if your a 7 year old boy who will only wear short sleeve shirts.

“Connor, come get your jacket on.  It’s time to go to dinner.”

“Mom, I don’t need a jacket.” said Connor.

“Yes you do.  It’s 40 degrees outside and you have on short sleeves.”

“It’s not cold!  I won’t be cold!  I don’t need my jacket.”

“Connor, we know what we’re talking about.  You need your jacket!” Derek said.

“Daaaaddd….it’s NOT even cold!”

I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

“Fine, Connor.  Don’t wear your jacket.  But you better not complain that it’s cold.  We’ve tried to warn you, but if you really want to go out there in short sleeves, then fine.  Just go get in the car.”

It takes me another minute or two to get Camryn all situated with a fresh cup of milk, and Connor was obediently waiting outside by the car.  Derek locked up the house while I buckled Cami into her carseat.

I heard a little voice from coming from the backseat.

“Mom?  Can you go inside and get my jacket?”

The answer was of course, no, you chose to go without your jacket and the consequence is you are going to be cold for a few minutes.

This morning, we almost had the same conversation as last night.

“Connor, come get your jacket.  It’s time to go to the bus stop.”

“Mom, I don’t need my….oh, nevermind.”

I love when this whole parenting thing works out like that.  Lesson learned.

I think it was a miracle that I got them to all sit in the same spot and look my general direction for a second!  And do you like Connor’s pants?  Every single pair except two have holes in the knees.  The temptation so skid across the industrial carpet in p.e. proves to be too much for Connor.  Maybe he’ll learn another lesson when it’s shorts weather again and he does his little skid move.  I have a feeling that it won’t be nearly as fun with shorts on.  He also might learn a lesson if he rips his last 2 pairs of pants and has to use his own money to buy  a new pair…

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On an unrelated note, I’ve been blogging on my photography blog lately, so if you’re interested in keeping up with that new side of my life, here is the link. (and if you subscribe with a reader, the link you need to use is /feed instead of /blog) I’m sure there will be some photography stuff on here, but for the most part, the photography blog will be where I share my sessions, and this blog will still be just how it’s always been.

Connor just gave me the sweetest birthday note ever. I know that I am going to treasure it and keep forever. In fact, I might just tape it up on my bathroom mirror so I can read it whenever C and I have one of those days. You know the ones…frustration levels are high, tempers flare, patience runs thin…that’s the kind of day we are having today.

He wanted to play on the computer, but this time, instead of going right to Nick Jr. or Webkinz, he typed me a note. And this is what is said:

we love mom!!
from Connor

My favorite thing about mom is that she is the best cook I know, and I like to go to the park with you, and Logan (like my school playground.) I love mom all the way to Pluto. I like to give mom hugs and kisses at night. I like how she let me buy that stop sign.

Melt my heart!  Love that boy.  He has such a sweet spirit under all that intensity and emotion.

And the stop sign?  He’s talking about a real stop sign that we found at a garage sale today for 50 cents.   It’s now hanging proudly on his bedroom door, and he thinks it’s pretty much the coolest thing ever.  I have to admit that it is pretty cool.

I had a great 30th birthday yesterday, and I’m working on a post about it.  But Connor’s sweet note deserved a post of it’s own.

First, if you use google ready, you’ve got to check out the “next” feature.  It’s awesome!

The second thing is a story about Connor.  Last night, I went to the back to school parent night at C’s school.  His teacher was telling us all about the reward system that she uses in her classroom.  The kids earn fake pennies, which they can then trade in for nickels, dimes, and quarters, and then they can “buy” different prizes.  There are all different price ranges for the prizes.  Ms. C. was telling us how excited the kids are about this, and they were asking about $1 prizes, $1.50 prizes, and $2 prizes.   Connor proceeds to inform Ms. C and the class that it will be hard to earn $2.00 because they would need 200 pennies for that and there are only 169 days of school.   I was cracking up when Ms. C was telling us this story, because although she did not mention the child’s name, I know it was Connor.   I asked him about it this morning, specifically how he knew there were 169 days of school.  He said he remembered it from kindergarten, but actually there should be about 180 this year if there are no hurricanes.  The kid remembers everything about numbers!

Of course, getting him to remember to use the bathroom or put his dirty clothes in the basket is a whole different story…I need to attach some sort of number system to his responsibilities and I bet he would never forget.

Our summer officially came to an end today. Good thing, since Connor has declared it the “100% worst summer ever” every single day over the past week. His reasons include a sore neck from sleeping funny, a broken tire swing at the park, a scraped foot from tripping on the patio, and having to go to time out quite frequently over the last few weeks. Ay yi yi. I just don’t know where he get his dramatic tendencies from…

(and anyone who knows me in real life is laughing right now, because lets just say that apple didn’t fall far from the tree.)

Suffice it to say, we were all more than ready to get back into our school routine. Connor was pretty nervous about the new year until we went to meet the teacher yesterday. Once he met his sweet teacher, sat at his desk, and took in the classroom, he was feeling “1000% ready for first grade.” (He likes numbers. A lot.)

What he doesn’t like so much is the obligatory first day of school photo.

I had Logan take one of my baby big boy and I.  I like that he still has his early morning, tired eyes.  He did great waking up early, but he definitely didn’t wake up on his own.

And then we were off.  He didn’t even want me to walk him inside, little Mr. Independent!  But he let me.  And he let me give him a hug and a kiss in his classroom.  I’m not sure how many more years I’ll get away with that!

We found his desk, which he loves because it’s a real desk this year, not just a table.  First grade is big time.

Then he was off and working hard.

And then came my favorite part of the day.  One of the best things about school is I get a chance to miss him while he’s gone.  And that makes when he gets off the bus one of my favorite moments of each and every day.  I love this picture so much!  My happy, sweet, first grader.  You can see all over his face that he had a great day.

Here’s to many more great days, just like today.

On Sunday afternoon, the boys came up to the hospital to meet their baby sister. Their reactions were so them. Logan came in with a big grin on his face. With no hesitation at all, he climbed up on the bed and immediately wanted to touch every part of Camryn and hold her, and he had a million questions about her. The funniest part was when he asked to see her butt. First of all, butt is not a word we like for the boys to say, but anyway, he asked to see her butt. So Derek unwrapped her a little and showed her little diaper. But that wasn’t good enough for Logan. “No, daddy. I want to see her butt. Take her diaper off and turn her upside down. I want to touch her butt.” Um, what is that about?? It cracked us up!

Connor walked into the room and you could see on his face that he wasn’t too sure about this. In any new situation, Connor stands back and takes it all in. He just wants to look and process it all. He didn’t want want to hold her or touch her, he just wanted to look. But you could see how proud he was to be the biggest brother-it was really, really sweet.

Last night, Connor wanted to hold Camryn for the first time. He was so sweet, just staring at her little face, taking it all in. At bedtime last night, both boys wanted Cam to lay in bed with them. I love that the three of them are already starting their little sibling bond. There really is nothing like the relationship between brothers and sisters, and I cannot wait to see it with Connor, Logan, and Camryn.

Since it was a holiday weekend and all, it seems fitting to blog about the events.
–Friday: Connor came down with a fever, and I developed some serious sinus congestion. Nothing too major, but not the best start to a long weekend. Oh, and the kids were awake and in and out of our room three times in between 4 and 6 a.m on Friday night/Saturday morning. Fun times.
–Saturday: Derek’s parents arrived for a visit, and took us out to Chic-Fil-A for lunch. Connor’s fever was gone, and we spent Saturday afternoon swimming and playing this fun marble/card game they brought with them. Saturday night, just as we are sitting down to dinner, Connor’s fever came back. He ended up falling asleep on the couch at 6:15 and Logan crashed at 7:00. We had a nice quiet evening and watched Juno.
–Sunday: Connor and I skipped out on church. We all had a pretty lazy morning and afternoon. Derek and I took a little trip to Best Buy and HEB (exciting stuff, I tell ya!) For dinner, we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, plus had fresh corn on the cob and strawberries-delicious!
–Monday: Reggie and Janelle left really early, and Derek, the boys, and I spent the morning at the pool. Derek went to his Man Store (aka Fry’s) for a few hours in the afternoon, and when he got home, I headed to Babies R Us for a few things. All in all, not a bad weekend! Swimming, relaxing, movies, games, shopping, and good food…it’s a winner in my book!
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Two funny Connor stories…I gotta write these down or I will forget!

A few weeks ago, Connor was having a time-out. It’s always a pretty big scene…he HATES going to time-out. He was crying and flopping on the ground, trying desperately to make a deal with me. I say (well, sort of yell…let’s just be honest…) “Connor, you do NOT bargain with me!”. In between hiccups and sobs, Connor replies, “mom, I don’t even know what bargain means!” It was hard to hold back the laughter on that one!

Our new car has a voice command system. It’s really cool-well, it will be once I figure out how to work it. You can pretty much control anything (the ac, the navigation system, the radio, etc.). I was showing Connor and Logan how it works, so I asked it, “what time is it?” When it told me the time, Connor’s eyes got really big. I asked Connor what else he thought we should ask it. After taking a moment to think of the perfect question, Connor says, “ask it ‘How far away is Jupiter.’” Much to our disappointment, the voice system did not reply.

Logan is eating cereal straight from the box.

It all started because I needed to sit for a few minutes. After a long morning of laundry, a few hours at NASA, a quick stop at WalMart, an hour spent making new astronaut and space shirts for the kids, and more laundry, I needed a break.

The kids had popsicles this morning for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. Hey, they are the whole fruit kind…it’s just like eating fruit, right? They were so cute sitting side by side in chairs that I had to bust out my camera. Some of the pictures were just screaming for captions. And once I started, I couldn’t stop. I blame my children for my lack of fixing dinner. If they hadn’t been so cute with their breakfast this morning, this never would have happened.

(For the record, I think my kids like when dinner is a free for all.)

It was wacky day for Connor at school on Wednesday. When I showed Derek this picture, he cracked up.

I mean, it’s a pretty funny picture, but Derek was really cracking up.  Well, Derek style cracking up, which is really just a smile and a small chuckle.  “Meg,” he said, “Connor is just like you!”  I wasn’t sure exactly what Derek meant by that, but then he started listing some of the wacky things I’ve worn/done over the years, specifically the time I dressed up in a large sombrero, colorful and authentic Mexican clothing, an ace bandage, and a topped it all off with a sassy ballet pose.  But, despite all of my searching, I cannot find the picture anywhere.

This classic one will have to do.

Yup. Connor comes by his wacky side honestly!

This morning was Connor’s very fist t-ball game, and it was a lot of fun. I was really impressed with the kids-for the most part, they all knew what they were doing and what was going on. At practice, I sometimes wonder if the kids even have a clue as to what the point is. They really surprised me! Connor had a really good time, minus the sitting in the dugout part. It’s hard to wait to bat when you are 10th out of 11 kids. Anyway, here are some pics from his big Little League debut. I know there are a lot, but I just couldn’t decide which ones I liked the best!

During one of the innings, Connor got to play on the pitchers mound. I love his little baseball form in these 3 pictures.

Just a few C stories…these are good ones. I should bookmark this so on the days when he makes me crazy I can remember his sweet heart.

The boys were watching tv, and the shows message was that everyone is special. Connor looks at me and says, “mommy? Do you know what makes me special?”
“Lots of things.” I answered, and listed a few of his special qualities.
“No, do you know what makes me the most special?”
“What?”
“I can draw really good.”

Of course I affirmed this in him. It’s true, he really is quite artistic and creative.

I decided to take our conversation one step farther.
“What makes Logan special?” I asked Connor.
There’s a long pause. I am totally expecting an answer about how Logan can’t run as fast or jump as high or draw as good.
“Logan’s a good friend.” said Connor. “That’s what makes him special.”

I love that the boys are friends right now, and that Connor recognizes this in Logan. Love it.

Story number 2…
Connor was in the bathroom washing his hands yesterday afternoon, and I saw him with his hands folded, eyes closed, and his lips moving. I realized he was praying. He finishes, and I ask him if he was praying. (I know, nosy mama…) He says yes, and since spontaneous praying is a bit out of character for Connor–he really loves his lunchtime school prayer, but gets a little shy and embarrassed about saying a different prayer than that–I asked him what he was praying for.

“I was just asking God to help me have a good nights sleep tonight and also to help me remember to control my hands and not hit people with sticks.”

That’s a good prayer, my boy. And God is faithful and will answer.