Piano Recital

Tracie had her piano recital on Saturday. It was our last big event of the holidays, so know we can just turn on ABC Family and do this.

Friends and neighbors, get ready for some sugar cookies, because guess who cranked out 3 batches today? Brooke is excited to deliver some of the treats to her friends as well.

Now the recital. Tracie had paired with another teacher so that there were 18 students in total. Since all the students are relative beginners, it helped to have the recital last a little longer. All the kids did really well.

The basement is coming along. Trim is up.

And that includes the crown molding. Paint coming this week.

Other events that didn't have pictures. Touring the neighborhood Christmas lights. Brooke liked all the Santas, especially the inflatable one that was over one story tall. We listen to Pandora's Christmas music regularly, and today an instrumental version on Angels We Have Heard on High came on. Naturally, as the song ends, Brooke sings, "In excelsis Deo", in rhythm and in key. I guess she's been paying attention during ward choir practice.

Trouble

I spoke too soon about wanting Connor to figure things out.  As of last Wednesday he has been cruising around all over the place and definitely wanting to go places that he's not allowed to go to.  ie)laundry room where the kitty litter is.  Wouldn't that be a fun day for him.

He is way ahead of schedule compared to how Brooke was. I know you're not supposed to compare kids but I wasn't expecting a mobile child until 7 1/2 months at least. Not before 7 months...although he is 7 months today.

It's a good thing that Christmas is right around the corner.  Connor has started looking a bit bored with the toys he has right now.

 Speaking of Santa, we had our ward's Christmas party last Friday.  It was a lot of fun until it was time to meet Santa.  I suppose I should have done a better job in prepping Brooke but I thought she'd do fine.  Even when we were waiting in line to see him she was getting impatient and wanted to see him right then.  When it came time for our turn she would have none of it and even tried to crawl away. 

Connor on the other hand was a champ at the whole thing.  Maybe Brooke can learn a thing or two...

There has been a lot of this going on lately.  It's kind of funny.  Lexie has been dubbed as the mean cat.  Squishy has the nice cat.  But I can definitely say that Lexie is the more obedient cat and Squishy is just plain naughty.  She still hasn't quite figured out to stay away from the Christmas tree.

She has figured out to run for it when the squirt bottle comes out to play.

Now that Connor is moving around he pretty much wants to be wherever Brooke is.  It's cute, I must say, and for the most part Brooke enjoys it...until he tries to grab a toy she's been playing with. 

All in all, I love how they love each other.  Brooke can get Connor to smile and laugh more times than me.

Lastly, for those that want the basement update...we've got textured walls.  If you're never been around newly textured walls I will just tell you that the stuff they spray on smells AWFUL!!!!!!!  My goodness!  And it doesn't help that last week was pretty cold so we couldn't open windows to air out the space.  We also have doors and trim up but I forgot to take a picture of it.  You'll just have to wait until next week!

December?!

The best word to describe this last week is DUSTY.  Insulation went in Monday and then drywall for the rest of the week.  Can you tell that it was dusty? 

It's kind of cool to see the differences once all the dust has settled. 

 We're on to texturing this week.  Can't believe all that has been done is such a quick amount of time.

 Temperatures have dropped within the last week.  I think the high for today is 10 and the low for tonight is -5.  We've gotten a good amount of snow too.  Doesn't make for an easy first week of training for the Surf City Half that I'm doing in February but luckily I've got a treadmill in the bedroom so I can just hop right out of bed and get some mileage behind me.

 Just thought I'd add a pic of my cute family.

If you look closely you can see the new mouth accessory that Connor has been working on. 

 Connor's favorite position as of late.

If only he could figure out that he can move forward.  He has figured out that how to sit up from being on his tummy so that has made him much happier.  Now if only he can kick the cold that he's had for the past week.

Busy, busy bee

Some quick updates on the basement...framing finished about a week ago.

 Monday morning I was welcomed with the electrician ready to go and the dry wall people delivering the dry wall. 

 Steve, our contractor, finished putting up the dry wall in the bathroom and has almost finished tiling the shower.

 Makes you guys want to come visit and try out the shower, eh?

 By Wednesday, all the lights were installed and most of the outlets.

 Insulation and the drywall will be installed this coming week.  Once framing was over, I feel like everything has flown so fast...including the checks.  Yikes!

 In other news, Brooke has been keeping herself entertained with a box. 

 I wish I could make pictures into flip books but she pretty much backs herself into the box and completely disappears. 

 Troy and I took Brooke on a little date to see The Lion King, the Musical.  We started off the day with lunch at The d Bar.  As usual, the food and dessert were delicious.

 We decided to go the matinee showing which was precisely at the time of Brooke's nap.  A little unsure of what we had gotten ourselves into we decided to move forward to see how Brooke would do.

 Before the show started, Brooke thought it was way too loud and kept her hands over her ears.  Once it did start, she was completely mesmerized.  At the end of the show she said that she wanted to see it again.  We told her that she would need to wait.

 Barely out of the parking garage and she was zonked.

 Connor has started to get more and more active.  The other morning he found a stuff truck in his crib that still had the paper tag on it.  He completely slobbered all over it and turned the paper into mush.  When I got him, paper was stuck all over his face and hands.

 Connor has also been working on some teeth.  Totally threw Troy and I for a loop.  He's been drooling up a storm but Brooke did the same thing at 6 months and didn't pop out a tooth until 10 months.  He's got a tooth right at the surface.

For Thanksgiving, we made an unexpected trip to UT for Troy's grandpa's funeral. 

We drove out Thursday and made it to Troy's aunt's house in time for turkey dinner.  The funeral was on Saturday and it was a beautiful service.  Grandpa Ware was a very beloved man and it was great to listen to other people's fond memories of him. 

6 Months!

6 months!!!!  Has it really been 6 months????!!!!!  I feel like the time has gone in a blink of an eye.  Too fast. 

Here are the stats at his 6 month appt:

Weight: 16 lbs. 11 oz.  (45%)

Length: 26 1/2" (45%)

Head: 17 1/2" (75%)

I was actually surprised by his weight.  I was sure that he would have been heavier than that.  I was not so surprised by his head though.  Brooke was in the 50-75% as well for head circumference.

Some of the highlights of what our little guy has been up to in the past 6 months are:

Sleeping like a champ since the very beginning.  Some of you may recall that for the first 5 weeks all he did was ever sleep.  We rarely saw his eyes during that time. 

Thankfully, now, we see them more often.  Don't know if I ever mentioned it but because he has always been a lover of sleep we never had to sleep train him.  He did it all on his own. 

Side note: When I put him down for this nap, his head was on the other side.  Silly boy.

 At first was not a fan of bathtime. 

Glad things have changed.  Since the picture below was taken Connor has been transitioned to the bathtub.  He kicked way to much so the infant tub didn't really contain him.

One of the many great qualities of Connor is his smile.  He has the cutest smile that could melt anyone's heart.  Yes, I'm a sucker.  I'll admit it.  He is so personable and will smile at anyone that will give him the time of day.

Not quite sure when it started but it still continues...he loves his thumb.  He'll take a pacifier sometimes but he definitely prefers his thumb. 

I think he started sucking his thumb around the time my mom was here so maybe starting at 1 1/2 or 2 months.

His second love are his feet. 

Regardless of whether or not there are socks on them he will still go for them and give his toes a nice wash. 

Loves his bouncy and jumper and playing with all the toys on it. 

 If you can't tell already, he's a lover of food as well. 

Compared to how Brooke was/is, he is the absolute opposite.  He loves sweet potatoes and squash and will tolerate green beans, carrots, and peas.  We just started him on pears and we can definitely add that to the love list.

Has mastered sitting up on his own and can do it for a good while.  The other day, he sat through all of story time with only a couple wobbles. 

Now that his back is good and strong, he's just waiting until he can move to where he wants to be instead of moving further away.  Any guesses on when he'll be off and officially crawling?

 All in all these past 6 months have shot right on by but we have loved every part of it.