Christmas

Conner has finally made a full recovery and ejoying all his new toys. We decided to have Christmas on Christmas Eve morning at our house. Conner had just a few small presents to open from Santa. He still doesn't quite understand the gift thing and we had to help him open most of his presents. As soon as he saw what they were though, he stood there and said "open, open, open" until we had got it out of the container. I thought he was really going to have a melt down a couple of times when Mom and Dad couldn't work fast enough opening the gifts. We spent Christmas Eve afternoon over at Aimee's with Aaron's dad. Conner had a ton of fun running around with Aimee's kids. Nicholas and Bri each got a nerf gun so Noah and Conner joined in. Conner mostly ran around picking up the darts, he also tried to play the same things they were like football and soccer. He was so tired when we made it home but we decided to go ahead and set up his new Hot Wheels track from Papa Boatwright. About the same time Aaron had it set up and was showing Conner what to do we decided that it was time for bed. Christmas morning we woke up and headed to Denton and spent the day with my Mom, Dad and Aunt Glenda. Conner got a new tricylce that can be converted from a rocker to a bike he can ride outside. It didn't take him long to figure out what to do and how much fun it was. He also got a new t-ball set that we are holding on to until it's a little warmer outside. We've taken the tricycle out a couple of times since Christmas and Conner still refuses to use the pedals and insists on just pushing it with his feet. We headed to Alvarado to spend Christmas night with Aaron's mom and stepdad, Monica & John. Monica had made dinner including lefsa that Aaron was so looking forward to. After dinner we all opened our gifts and Conner was super excited that he had a train. We went ahead and set the train up for Conner to play with and he loves it. We finally made it back to our house around 11 pm that night. When we woke up the next morning, Conner went straight for the train, then the "cycle" as he calls it.

With so many new toys entering the house I couldn't take looking at them in my living room any more and decided to get rid of the guest bed in the spare room. Since Conner's bed has a trundle and we have a full size blow up mattress we decided we could rearrange to accommodate any guests we might have in the future. So for now, the bed in the spare room is gone and all of Conner's toys have been moved to this room. Conner now has his own play room and mommy doesn't have to hurdle various hot wheels and such.

To all the Moms out there

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Feeling Better

Conner is finally starting to feel and act much better. Late Friday afternoon Conner started running a fever so we made a call to the doctor and she told us as long as his temperature stayed right around 100 degrees that was his body's way of fighting off the virus. As nervous parents, okay really just me, Aaron always assures me everything is alright. We checked on him through out the night and at one point I was ready to haul us all to the emergency room. Aaron convinced me to wait it out and we stayed home instead. Conner started crying around 4 am and since we've moved him to a big boy twin size bed I was able to climb in bed and hold him for the next couple of hours, while at the same time getting a little more shut eye. My parents came by on Saturday to babysit so Aaron and I could finish up some Christmas shopping. Conner has a thing for my dad and if he's around wants nothing to do with any one else - it's all about papa. My dad held him most of the time we were gone, he didn't much feel like doing anything. My parents left about 4 and pretty soon after they left his temperature finally broke and he started to play. We struggled to get him to drink and eat but finally after a couple of days he has resumed to normal. We will be spending Christmas Eve at Aimee's and then Saturday we will be in Denton for the day and have dinner in Alvarado. We are very much looking forward to this christmas and will have some pictures to share soon! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sick Mr. Conner

Conner has had a runny nose and cough the last couple of weeks. Our initial visit to the peditrician a couple weeks ago diagnosed him as having a sinus infection so we treated it by giving him Bendryl and an antibotic. His cough and runny nose have lingered so I decided to call the doctor yesterday to see if we should come back. They wanted us to come and his peditrician tested him for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) which he determined Conner had. It's basically a viral respitatory infection and very contagious and can cause bronchitis and pneumonia. Aaron and I rearranged our schedules the remainder of the week since Conner is unable to attend day care. I stayed home today, Aaron's stays home Thursday and then I'm on Conner duty Friday. Unfortunately we will not be attending any Christmas events this weekend and next week is still up in the air as we certainly don't want anyone getting this. Conner's current treatment consists of breathing treatments three times a day for a week. The virus is nonreceptive to antibotics so we just have to wait this out. Conner will be going back to the doctor next week and we hope to have a much better diagnosis and a much happier, healthier Conner.

Santa Visit

So we finally made it to see Santa. I think the picture says it all!

Trip to the Rainforest

We decided to take a trip to Grapevine on Saturday to eat at the Rainforest Cafe and visit the Gaylord Texan. This was our first time to the Rainforest Cafe and we enjoyed watching Conner check everything out and he was amazed at everything going on. He also adopted a new little buddy, his giraffe "Melman". He carried that giraffe all day and night and still hasn't let go of it. We hoped to visit Santa while at the Gaylord, but he was on a break while we were there and we gave up. Conner did get see a reindeer and lots of trains. Here are some pictures from the visit.

Kinda of back in business

I went to the doctor again today and they removed my lovely eye patch. My vision is very very blurry but it is much better than having that patch on my eye. I hope to have my full sight in a week or so. I am going to go to work tommorrow and will see how things go. I have another doctors appointment Friday and if all keeps going I will once again be able to see. You don't realize how much you rely on your sight until its gone. Aaron has been a real trouper with helping around the house and taking care of Conner. Conner won't be calling mommy a pirate tonight though. Here are a couple pictures we snapped of Conner playing last night.

Where did my eye go?

We had a great Thanksgiving until Sunday afternoon when I had to go to the emergency clinic. Sunday we worked on getting the christmas lights put up outside. After working for about an hour we took a break to come inside and have lunch. As I reached up to get the dishes out of the cabinet I felt something in my eye and couldn't seem to get any relief after rinsing and tearing. So about an hour later we decided it was time to seek professional help. Turns out I had a cornial abrasion. Or as the doctor said, "took a chunck out". We still are not quite sure what happened but I must have got something in my eye while outside or something was on my hat and came off in my eye when I was inside. My eye has been patched since Sunday night and I've gone to the optamologist everyday since. I hope to have the patch removed tommorrow since the doctor said it was about 75% healed. It's been a very painful experience and I won't be working outside without safety glasses from now own. Here is a picture of my pirate costume!

Amazing Pictures

Aaron and I took Conner to have his picture taken last Saturday. The lady did an amazing job! I can't show all, as some will be used for christmas but here are a few.

Battle of the Hats

Conner is back home and we are getting back into the swing of things. From what I can tell, I don't think he was too traumitized by the battle of the hats. When Conner was with Monica and John he wore his oragne UT hat and worked on learning to say "hook em horns". Then while in Corpus he switched to his new "lil red raider" Texas Tech hat and worked on making his gun sign and saying "guns up". Now Conner will show us the gun sign and say "horns". We may have to wait until he's at least three to make a firm decision on which way he is pulling. Good luck to both sides!

We met my parents in San Marcos on Saturday. We had a great lunch at Mamacita's and caught up on all the grandparent/Conner activities for the week. They kept Conner really busy and entertained. One day they took Conner to the aquarium where he said "fish" about 500 times and had fun playing outside on the jungle gym. Conner went to Chuck E Cheeses for the first time, he didn't like that all so much - the noise was a little much and he didn't care too much for the Chuck E Cheese mascot walking around. Here are a few pictures from last week. My parents pulled out my old rocking horse and he really enjoyed bouncing around on that making horse noises.

Making History

I like most of you have been watching the election results this evening and we now have a new president. This day will be added to the history books for so many reasons and I'm looking forward to picking up the paper tommorrow to save and show Conner one day, so that he can see that America elected the first African American president in 2008.

Aaron and I had a very busy weekend with my annual Teddy Bear Ride for work. Saturday night we hosted a bike night party at Joe's Crab Shack and then Sunday morning 900 bikes with an estimated 1,500 participants helped to raise an estimated $35,000 and collect over 1,000 bears for the Center. Here is a link to some pictures from the event.

http://wallackandsmith.com/Gallery/2008_cccac_tbr

It's been very quiet since Friday at our house. Conner stayed with Monica and John Friday and Saturday night and then they met my mom and dad in Austin so Conner could go stay in Corpus for the week. All grandparents are enjoying their visits and have lots of fun stories to share. I know he's having fun and staying busy but I can't wait to hear him running around the house again, it sure has been strange.

Up, Up and Away

Today we went to a Halloween carnival at my gym and Conner was Superman! Conner will be staying with Granny B and Papa John next weekend and then Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's for the week so we decided to celebrate Halloween early. He was pretty scared when we got there and would not let go of Aaron. We took some time to sit and have some popcorn and cotton candy in the hopes that Conner would warm up to the carnival. Turns out Conner didn't like the looks of the cotton candy so Daddy stepped in to help out and ate it all. After some popcorn munching we decorated a pumpkin and played a few games. He didn't care to much for what was going on and it was a small carnival but I do have to say Conner was by far the best dressed!

After the carnival we went by Toys R Us to look at some things we are considering for Christmas and while there picked up a Hot Wheels ramp thing for him to play with. Conner wakes up and goes to bed saying "car" "truck" and doesn't play with anything else in his toy box. I just don't understand how some one can be so intrigued by cars and I'm wondering when the car obsession will end - oh yeah, he's a boy, so never. None the less I love watching Conner have fun playing and he played and played all day with his cars.

Red River Rivalry

If you don't know what the Red River Rivalry is then I'm guessing you're probably not from Texas. Texas hasn't had the best season and Aaron and I weren't sure if they were going to pull it off, but they did!

"Fifth-ranked Texas scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and rallied for a 45-35 victory over top-ranked Oklahoma in a classic Red River Rivalry shootout at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns overcame two 11-point deficits against the favored Sooners." - courtesy of the Dallas Morning News

State Fair Fun

We had a really fun time at the State Fair today. We didn't know if we'd make it since it was pouring rain when we woke this morning. The rain let up and we enjoyed a nice afternoon at the Fair. Conner saw lots of animals, touched a few, flew in a plane, ate some ice cream and of course a corny dog.

Anniversary Weekend

My friend Erin made a quick visit for work this weekend and we had the chance to visit Friday night. She enjoyed seeing Conner and he can now say "Erin" where as last time he was only able to say "E". She is about 20 months pregnant and this will probably be the last time we will see each other before the baby arrives. Aaron and I both think she's having a boy so we'll find out in a couple of weeks. Saturday she drove to Stacy's to spend the night so Aaron and I could have a anniversary celebration.

Aaron and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary at the W Hotel Saturday. The past Gala chair gave everyone gift cards to use for the spa, restaraunt and hotel last April. We checked in around 3 and headed to our massages at 4:30 then went to dinner at craft at 7:30. It was a very fancy place where we selected our dinner which included: buffalo tenderloin with blueberries, yukon gold puree, carmalized onion gruyere risotto and for dessert, chocolate terrine with banana fritters and hazelnut ice cream - yummy. After dinner we went to the very exclusive "ghost bar" on the 33rd floor that you can only go to if you are staying at the hotel or if you are "somebody". It has an amazing view of the city of Dallas - it has a neat little patio ledge you can go on and makes it feel like you are on top of the city. We hoped to see some famous people or at least maybe some Cowboy players, maybe if we had stayed past 10:30 but we had to turn it in early as we just don't have the stamina to stay out late like we have in the past.

Tommorrow is GISD Fair Day so I'm off work so we can go take in all the fair goodies. This will be Conner's first Corny Dog! If he truly shares the same DNA as me, then there's no doubt he'll need more than one.

Park Time

We spent another weekend enjoying the outdoors. Aaron and I both had errands to take care of Saturday but Sunday we had a picnic at a park in Plano and then let Conner run around for a while. We are headed to the W Hotel this weekend to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. My friend Erin will be in town Friday for work, so she is spending Friday night with us before we head to the hotel on Saturday. Monday is GISD's fair day, so I decided to take the day off so we could all go to the fair and eat lots of corn dogs! This will be Conner's first time to the Fair!

An Outside Weekend

We enjoyed the nice weather this weekend by staying outside most of the time. Saturday, Conner and I started at the gym with my water aerobics class and Conner played in the day care with kids his age. Saturday afternoon, Aaron mowed the lawn and Conner and I stayed outside to watch. About half way through one of the wheels on the lawn mower fell off - gives a whole new meaning to "used it til the wheels fell off". After a quick trip to the lawn repair store we came home and watched Aaron finish the lawn. The Plano balloon festival was this weekend. We didn't want to mess with the crowds but it is really close to my office so we went to the park close by my office to see if we could watch the balloons. We saw a few and gave up around 7:30 and headed back home. Today we took it easy and ran some errands and went to the park to let Conner run around. One of the other kids at the park brought a ball, which Conner quickly claimed "mine" and would not let the kids play or get it back. Luckily the other kid was older and was very good at grabbing it when he wasn't looking and took off. It will be hot this week and then hopefully we will be moving into 80 degree days after that.

Animal Crackers

We had a very quiet weekend compared to all the folks in Houston/Galveston. Click on Erin McNemar's or the McCumber link to see some pictures from Houston. We stayed at the house on Saturday, we had a steady rain all day but not too much wind, etc. The weather was gorgeous yesterday so we went to the park for a little while. I had a Gala party last night at the NYLO hotel in Plano. This was the first pre-party and we announced our theme "Safari Soiree" and our entertainer - Howie Mandel. This year will be a great event again. Because of the theme this year - I've ended up with lots of Animal Crackers that we have been using as little gifts for committee members, etc. I snapped this picture of Conner this past week having Animal Crackers for the first time.

Broken Things

Last Sunday, Conner got into my purse and decided to play with my glasses. We ran to Lens Crafters but they suggested I get an eye exam since it had been a couple of years. Monday I went to the eye doctor and my new glasses are on their way. In the meantime, I've been sporting my prescription sunglasses at work and when I need to read. Needless to say, I am ready for them to get here. If that wasn't enough. My boss and I had a meeting at Ben E. Keith on Wednesday and when I stepped out of the car, I forgot my blackberry was in my lap. As soon as we parked a visitor's space opened and my boss decided to move the car. As she was doing that I was digging in my purse to turn my phone off before the meeting. When I couldn't find it, I looked back at the parking space and there lay my blackberry. As I walked to pick it up, I was hoping that it did not get run over. Not so lucky, it was totally cracked. When they ask if you want insurance for your phone, let me be ther first to say - get it! The verizon folks were really nice and even though I did not have insurance, allowed me to pay as if I did and replaced my phone.

I rejoined the gym last weekend so Saturday morning I went to a waters aerobics class which was a ton of fun. Aaron and I went to Central Market to pick up a few things. I wish I could say we went to pick up the healthy organic food but in fact they have home made tortillas on Saturdays and that was the real reason. We picked up a few more items including a beer someone reccommended it, Pumpkin Ale by Buffalo Bills Brewery. It's a good beer but will probably taste even better when the weather cools off. Yesterday Aaron and I went to Target to pick out a potty chair. Conner has been showing signs of being ready to use the potty.

Conner is so much fun right now. He learns so much and the girls at Sherry's taught him "Ready, Set, Go" one day. He thinks it is a lot of fun to say that and then take off running around the house. I've been trying to figure out how to take video so we can post him making his animal noises. He loves animals and can tell you what they are and what noises he makes. We tried to teach him what the UT Longhorn is on his hat and he calls it a cow and then says "moo". It's really funny.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson are coming in town this weekend. Saturday night they are babysitting so Aaron and I can go to the Texas State vs. SMU football game.

Up Close

Conner and I enjoyed our trip to Houston last weekend. It rained off and on Friday during the drive so Conner now knows how to say rain. I had some baby stuff for Erin so Friday afternoon I spent time putting the things together since I no longer had the assembly instructions. Friday we visited Erin's parents and Conner had so much fun playing with them. Saturday morning we decided to go to the community pool and Conner had fun playing in the kids pool which was 1 foot deep. We brought him to the adult side to jump off and then he thought he wanted to jump in the deep end. Erin said she had never seen me move so fast when Conner made a b-line to the 10 foot section to jump off. We had a good swim for about an hour and then made our way home to rest. It was a good decision to go to the pool early because then it rained the rest of the day. I played a wii for the 1st time at Erin's and that was a ton of fun. Saturday night Jimmy and Heidi came over for dinner and Conner had a lot of fun playing with Erin's brother Jimmy. It was too quick of a visit but I'm glad Conner and I had a chance to visit, catch up and see the new house.

Yesterday, Monica called and offered us some Rangers tickets that Aaron's aunt Deanna had from someone they knew. We were told they were really great tickets, but we had no idea how awesome they would be. The game was scheduled to start at 7:05 pm and wouldn't you know it started to rain at 7:04 pm. We waited out the rain and Dr. Mike, Deanna's friend gave me a tour. Dr. Mike was the Rangers surgeon at one time and now his son is. We went in the private club and then Dr. Mike said "let's go this way". I followed him to the elevator and right before we got on he said to me, "I've never been kicked out before, we'll see what happens". None the less, I had no idea what I was in store for. We went up a couple of floors and I had a personal tour of the press box. While up there we enjoyed a hot dog. The rain finally ended around 8 pm and Aaron and I headed back to our 1st row seats. We were up close and personal - right by the batters. If you were watching the game on TV you probably saw us. Nolan Ryan was presented a check for his foundation and then took a seat on the same row as us for the game. My favorite player was Josh Hamilton (click on the name to see the story). I just read a story about in him in D Magazine - not too hard on the eyes either. I tried to get him to turn around but he just would not, so I had to settle for some back side shots. The game finally started around 8 pm and ended close to midnight. Unfortunately the Rangers lost, it was 7 to 1 in the 4th inning and then things went down hill. The Cleveland Indians won 8 to 7.

Conner in the car yesterday.

Quick Update

Conner's surgery was successful and recovering great. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am and they started getting him ready and was taken to surgery promptly at 7:30. The surgery took about 2 hours and we spent an hour in recovery and were home by 11 am. He has two incisions and should be completely healed in the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Aaron's dad called Monday morning to let us know that Lucille Boatwright (Aaron's Grandmother) had passed away early Monday morning. Aaron is handling the news well and will serve as a Pallbearer Thursday at the funeral. His cousin Stefanie wrote a great memorial for her on her blog. See the link on the side.

Grandmothers are very special and having lost my grandmother last year I understand the heartache. Here is a picture that we had taken with all of our wonderful grandmas.

Busy Weekend

We've been busy since New Orleans. I spent the weekend after getting home painting the guest bedroom. I've been working on cleaning out the room. Aaron and I went through the closet and through lots of books to try and clean out and organize. I'm not real sure how I'm going to decorate the room, but it's a good start in the right direction. I've managed to decorate most of the rooms in the house and I'm slowly making my way down the hallway. My next project will be to tackle our main bathroom. I didn't have much free time this past weekend because of work. Saturday we had a benefit event for our Teddy Bear Motorcyle Ride in Plano. Bullwinkles pulled together a bike night to help us raise money. Saturday night we drove to Denton to take my Aunt Glenda to dinner for her birthday. Sunday we held a Back to School Fair at the Center for our clients, mostly foster kids. The event provides all the needed school supplies as well as a new hair cuts to start the year. We also set up games, arts and crafts and food to make the event really fun for the kids and families. Aaron and Conner joined me at the Center for a little while. Conner tried the bounce house for a couple of minutes but didn't like it too much. He kept saying hot and hasn't figured out the jumping thing yet. He did have time to have a red popsicle which he managed to get all over him. After the popsicle, I sent Mr. Sticky right home with Aaron. Work has been really busy as all of the fundraising events I work on are in full swing. It seems that the to do list gets longer and longer and I can't seem to cross the "to do" fast enough. Aaron starts back to school this Friday and the kids start the week of the 25th. Aaron has a new principal at his school and is looking forward to a new administration. Since Aaron goes back to school Friday and our sitter is unvailable, I'm taking Friday off and will be driving to Houston to visit my friend Erin. This will be my first long trip in the car alone with Conner. I've planned on playing some CD's in the car that he enjoys. I may be really sick and tired of kids songs like "If your happy and you know it" by the end of this journey. Wish me luck!

In May at a routine office visit for Conner they discovered that one of his testicles had not descended. We visited a pedriatric urologist in June and it was determined that Conner would need surgery. Since we wanted the surgery at Children's Medical Center an opening was not available until August. His surgery will be Monday, August 18th. From the conversations with the doctors, this tends to be a common problem and a pretty routine procedure. Of course any time someone has anesthia you worry, especially if it's your baby. It is a day surgery so we plan on being back home some time Monday afternoon. I'll update the blog next week to keep everyone updated on the recovery.

Glover Wedding

New Orleans

We arrived at our hotel on Friday about 11 am. We stayed at a really great place, the Holiday Inn in the French Quarter. It had a pool we cooled off in while there and it was close to everything so we were able to walk every where. After we settled at the hotel we headed to the French Quarter to look around and find a place for lunch. We ate at the Central Grocery, the home of the Mufaletta. It was a little bitty place. Your only menu option whole or half mufaletta. Once you have your food you can squeeze into a little place in the back to eat. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking at things in the French Quarter.

The rehersal dinner Friday night was orginially scheduled on a Riverboat Cruise but was cancelled at the last minute becuase of a large oil spill in the Mississippi River. The Coast Guard closed the river to all boats so they could work on clean up. Despite the last minute change we ate at a wonderful historical place called Tujaques. Everyone is served the same thing, 3 appetizers, then a choice of Beef, Veal or Fish and then dessert. The food was amazing! After dinner we had some drinks with people in town for the wedding at the Omni rooftop. Aaron and I thought we would have a drink on Bourbon Street on the way back to our hotel. We quickly realized we were out of our element. Most of the people were college age. We did get to see a person pulled out of one of the bars and we couldn't help but snap his picture since he was so drunk and thought it was super funny. He captured quite a few looks from passerbys. We didn't stay on Bourbon Street very long and headed back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we decided to eat at Cafe Du Monde, the line was out the door and down the sidewalk so we decided to skip that and just eat somewhere else. We walked down the River Front to the downtown area and stopped at Harrah's to cool off since it was incredibly hot. We gambled a little while and walked away with a profit of $5. The street car stop was just right outside of Harrah's so we jumped on and rode for a little while.

Saturday night the wedding was held at the historic Napoleon House. It's a three story building with a bar/cafe on the 1st floor, the 2nd floor was reserved for receptions/parties, and the 3rd floor is an apartment. The Napoleon House is known for their Pimm's drink, which is Pimm's Liquor, Sweet & Sour topped with a cucumber. I thought we would be able to pick up some Pimm's on Sunday at a liquor store to bring home as a souveniour. It turns out you can only purchase that at the Napoleon House.

Our flight didn't leave until 7 pm Sunday night so we had time to catch the Street Car again and ride down St. Charles Street, famous for their houses. Loyola and Tulane are both located on St. Charles as well. We wondered around the French Quarter the rest of the day and then headed back to the airport.

I drove through New Orleans when I was about 12 years old, so it's hard to compare what it looked like pre and post Katrina. I can tell you the French Quarter is rebuilding and lots of construction is taking place. On the outskirts while riding the street car, we saw lots of vacant/abandoned buildings or places for sale.

We enjoyed our New Orleans vacation and of course very happy to see our little Conner again!

Quiet Weekend

I decided to start tracking the words Conner learn's. I'm sure I've missed a few but I will add them as I remember. He knows a lot more than he can say right now. See the list on the side.

Thursday and Friday we went swimming at Big Perry's Pool. He lives about 5 minutes from us and was out of town and told us to feel free to use the pool. His backyard is very, very shady so it was a bit chilly but we still enjoyed swimming for about an hour each day. Thursday we let Conner run up and down the stairs and we took him out to the deep a few times. Friday we decided to buy a little floatie for him, and he wanted nothing to do with it. Every time we put him down in it he threw a fit. We did discover that he loves to jump of the edge to us, which is a good start to his swimming days.

Saturday we drove to Aimee's to drop off a dishwasher that our neighbor gave us. Conner had fun playing with the kids and of course the hot wheels collection they have gathered over the years. We came back to the house and finished a project we have been trying to get done for sometime. Our gate latch in the back has been in need of desperate repair and in the last couple of weeks became totally inoperable. After some finagling, a trip to Aaron's shop to cut some wood and Home Depot we put on a new latch and added a lock to the back gate.

Sunday we cooked hamburgers on the grill and played in the backyard. We thought it would be fun to blow bubbles with Conner but of course he wants to do his way, (I have no idea who he inhereited this from) which means he will hold the stick and you blow, needless to say this technique resorted in lots of spilled bubble liquid, sticky hands and very few bubbles.

Conner heads to Monica's on Thursday for the weekend and we leave for New Orleans on Friday. We hope the tropical storm has passed through the Gulf of Mexico before we leave.

This to That

For some time I've wanted to put a picture like this in Conner's room. I first saw pictures done this way at an art show in Fort Worth. They of course cost more than what I wanted to pay. At a recent baby shower for Aaron's cousin, she had one hanging over the crib and it inspired me to finally make one for Conner.

Saturday, Conner and I went to Hobby Lobby to get a frame and mat for the pictures. The check out lines were ridiculously long and of course only two lines were open. One line had about 8 people, the one I was in had about 4 people ahead of me. Conner had been such an angel the entire time, patiently waiting to see the frame people in back and then in a split second turned crazy. As we stood in line waiting to check out, he spotted a car on one of the shelves, stood up in the cart and started crying hysterically. I picked him up to comfort him, refusing to give in to his wishes. When that didn't work, I decided to put him back in the cart to cry it out a little. He was so upset that he almost came head first over the side of the cart. By this point, every person in line was focused on me and Conner. In a weak and frustated moment, I gave in and gave him the car. Then, Silence! I would like to point out how evil retailers are and the frustration parents have felt for so many years. Lucky for me the car was made in China and cost me only a couple of dollars. This is the new car!

A Special Treat!

While in New York we were introduced to one of the most amazing things and I felt I should share this with my peeps (faithful Boatwright blog readers).

Sophia and Rene introduced this to us and we've been hooked since. You can make a single serving in the microwave, top it with a little vanilla ice cream and you are in chocolate heaven! No fat! Click on the picture to find out where to buy.


I've been meaning to add a link to our New York pictures. Aaron took about 800, so I've edited for your viewing pleasure to a mere 130. Enjoy! Click on the picture below.