Let it Snow!

The weather outside is frightful, but it has nothing to do with the snow, it has to do with the temperature. This morning when I woke up it was -39 degrees outside with the wind chill. Brrr!!! This weekend we had our first real snow of the winter.
From the picture below you can tell what Alan's feelings about the storm were.
Alan has been asking me for over a month "When is it going to snow?". We bought him a snow shovel that is his size and I think that is the greatest toy he could have. He was SO excited to go and shovel our driveway.
As I watched him get so excited about snow this year I remembered his first reaction to snow when he was about 22 months old. He walked to the window and after surveying the snow covering everything and said "A mess". He didn't love snow then but he sure does now!

Pre Thanksgiving visit

Alan was playing the piano and after he played the lowest note he said "What is that grumpy note for?"

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bassett the week before Thanksgiving. We had fun doing projects and just hanging out. We also went to their ward Thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious, although our kids had had it by the middle of the meal.
Below Grandma and Grandpa are playing Jenga with Alan. Alan caught on to the game quickly and he was pretty good at it.Alan helped Grandma make some pie crust snacks with cinnamon and sugar on them.
Conner was so tired before church that he fell asleep while Grandma read him and Alan a story

Thanksgiving

Before Thanksgiving this year we had a Family Home Evening lesson about being thankful. Then we all made feathers to put on our turkey of things we were thankful for (these lists are not all inclusive).
I am thankful for: Mountains, A loving husband who works so hard to provide for our family, Indoor plumbing, Magic kisses from Alan and closed mouth kisses from Conner.

Alan is thankful for: Health and Strength, My 2 grandmas and grandpas, Scones, Day time

Conner is thankful for: Yogurt, Big trucks, Marshmallows, Mom and Dad (I helped him with his)

Reed is thankful for: Treats, Friends, Our house, Alan and Conner and I

For Thanksgiving this year we went over to the church and had dinner with 2 other couples. It was so nice to not have to cook everything and after we ate we let the kids run around in the gym while the adults played the Farming Game. My brother Reed met us there after dinner. That night we examined the black Friday adds and planned out where to go. Conner gave Reed and I an early start on the day by waking up at 2 am and staying awake until 4 am. Then my husband and brother went out to get in on all the crazy action. They got some good deals and came home so that Reed could get ready for work. Then Reed (my brother) and I did a little shopping - Reed was a huge help with the boys. That night we went to eat at the Golden Corral. Luckily my brother got there before a huge bus arrived and saved us a place in line. Here we are spending the night together.

It was really fun to have Reed come and visit - the boys loved it and so did we!

Conner's well child check up

I took Conner in for his 18 month check up last week. Here are his stats:
Weight: 23lbs 23rd percentile
Height: 33 1/2 inches 80th percentile
Head: 50 1/2 cm 98th percentile

Besides an ear infection that they discovered he is a healthy, active little boy. Here are some facts about Conner:
--Words he can say: mama, dada, uh-oh, all-done, hi, truck, ball, dog
--Words he can sign: all-done, more, milk, please, thank-you
So his speech is very normal for his age. I have to keep reminding myself of that because Alan spoke so much earlier and more at this age. Sometimes it is hard to remember that Alan was the unusual one, not Conner.
--Conner is very affectionate. Earlier this week Reed came home after a rough day at work. When Conner saw him he ran over to Reed and when Reed picked him up he gave him a big kiss and then he snuggled his head on Reed's shoulder and gave him a hug. It was very cute.
--Conner is fairly brave around animals, especially dogs. He doesn't mind being licked and he likes to pet dogs.
--When Conner is done eating something he dumps his plate on the floor...every time.
--Conner loves nursery. There was no crying when we dropped him off. I had opened the door a crack and then stopped to talk to someone...well, Conner didn't want to wait. He yanked the door open so that he could get in and then he grabbed the first toy that he saw and never looked back to see if I was still there. We have taken him a few times before this and he did great. About a month ago we were walking the halls with him and when he came to the nursery door he started banging on it and crying (I interpreted that as "Let me in!")
--He has the cutest laugh ever and it is easy to make him laugh.
--He loves to do anything that his brother is doing.
--He loves to hide things. I often find his toy dog stuffed in the compartment of his push toy. One day Reed let Conner play with his keys and then when we went to find them the next day they had disappeared. I looked and looked for an hour and a half. I was so frustrated. Then I had the idea to look in the garbage and there they were, at the bottom of the bin. Crazy boy.
Conner showing off his dance moves.

New Windows

The windows in our house are very old and drafty. The window in the boys room was especially bad - when the wind blew it rattled noisily and you could see the curtains move in the breeze, even though the window was closed. So we replaced 3 upstairs windows and one downstairs window. They look so much better now. The top picture is a sample of the windows before and the one below is one of the new windows. The pictures don't do it justice.

Alan was SO excited to have the guys come and fix the windows. He looked like he had springs attached to the bottom of his feet because he kept bouncing all over. Two of the guys were very friendly and understanding and they answered all of Alan questions (which was a lot) and they even let him help throw the old wood pieces out the window.

Delayed Pictures

Here are a few pictures that we took a while ago but haven't posted.

While my parents were here a while ago we all went bowling. We haven't been for a while so that was a lot of fun.

Alan rolling the ball.

Here is my dad helping Conner roll the ball.

He got so excited when he rolled the ball.

Also when my parents were here we went to a corn maze. It was kind of cold but they had a lot of fun activities. They had a few small mazes, a big slide, duck races, a cow ride and 2 big corn mazes.

My dad and Alan coming down the big slide.

Conner and I on the cow ride. A tractor pulled some barrels that they had turned into cows.

We also went to a buffalo jump. Here is Alan inside one of the teepees.

Here is a picture of the day we officially got our house.
Reed carrying me across the threshold of our brand new house.

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween. The weekend that we moved into our house my parents stayed with us and while they were here they made a Halloween gingerbread house with Alan. Alan LOVED decorating it. That kind of started our new house off with the feel of Halloween in the air.

Here is Mom and Alan with their masterpiece.

This year we almost forgot about carving a pumpkin. We didn't do it until late on Halloween afternoon.

Alan showing what he thought of scooping out the pumpkin guts. He didn't want to get his hands dirty. Conner touched a seed and then made a disgusted face and wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin after that.

Alan and Conner standing next to the finished product. Alan wanted a happy face pumpkin again this year so that is what he got.

This year Alan wanted to be a race car so I taped together some boxes. Alan really wanted to be a pink race car but we told him we couldn't find any pink spray paint so he had to choose another color. He finally told me he wanted to be the mean car that knocks the other cars off the race track on the movie Cars. So he is a green car. The spray paint wasn't really working so I covered the boxes in green duck tape. It turned out pretty good.

Conner was a turtle (a friend gave us the costume). He didn't mind wearing it but he didn't like the hood.

Alan with his friend Alex. I thought Alex's robot costume was pretty cool - it had glowing lights and everything.

We went trick-or-treating downtown at all the stores on Friday afternoon. Then that night Alan and I went to our ward trunk or treat (Conner had a melt down before we left so he stayed home with Reed and went to bed early). On Saturday night we took the boys around the block with Alex and his parents. Then we went home and watched a movie and handed out candy to all the other trick or treaters.

Alan showing off his loot.

Conner loved the suckers - he is happy with one in each hand

Now I am debating whether to give them all the candy at once and be done with it or just give them a few pieces per day.