T Minus 6 Days

10 weeks in the making and I'm finally ready (or not) to run my Surf City Half.  Training has not gone as smoothly as it has when I was training for the Moab half (chalking it up to the fact that I'll be the big 3-0 this year) so I'm hoping that being at sea level and a flat course will carry me through.  If not, you'll probably see a picture of me being dragged across the finish line. Ha!

 Lately the kids have been fighting off some sniffly noses so we've been chilling at home.  Brooke wanted me to take some pictures so obliged.  (Do you notice how much lighter Connor's hair is compared to Brooke's?  Kind of looks like there's a little bit of blonde mixed in with the brown.  One can only hope.)

 Connor is, once again, a drooling machine.  In a matter of a week he has popped out his top 2 teeth.

 Brooke doing what she does best...dragging all her blankets and stuffed animals down so she can sleep in the front room.

Gung hay fat choi!!!

Couple of big events over the last couple of weeks. First, Tracie hosted a Chinese New Year party last night that was fantastic. The food was amazing and plentiful, the company was great, and the evening was a lot of fun. She made fried rice, spare ribs, shrimp and celery, romaine lettuce, potstickers, almond jello, plus we picked up bbq pork buns and don tat from the local Chinese restaurant. Delicious, and with leftovers a plenty for the next few days.

By the way, did I mention that she did all this after running a 10 mile race on Saturday morning? Rockstar.

Also, last week, we finished up the basement. It turned out even better and quicker than we expected, and obviously the kids enjoy it.

Especially Brooke.

The basement has a play room, storage, bedroom and bathroom fit for any visitor.

Also a media room wired for future dreams, not current reality. :)

Most importantly, it has plenty of room for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who want to come spend a little quality time with these two.

Also, our little Connor is growing up faster than we anticipated. We noticed this morning at church, not one, but both of his top front teeth poking through. Before we know it he'll be borrowing the car keys.

8 months

In looking past posts I realize that I was far more on top of things when documenting Brooke's month to month life during her first year.  In attempts to catch up I thought I'd do an 8 month post on Connor.

If you can't tell already Connor is probably one of the most mellow, easy going, even keeled baby I know.  Even more than Brooke was.  Within the past month he's been sick more times than not and you would never know except of the constant drip from his nose.

 Connor has finally started to be aware of the kitties.  Lexie's smart and keeps her distance from Connor but Squishy, on the other hand, remains always in the line of fire.

 Since before 7 months Connor was already crawling all over the place.  I thought, for sure, it would be a while before he tried to pull himself up but once again, he decided to surprise me.  Just today I saw him cruising along the furniture.  Any guesses as to when he'll be taking his first step????

 Loves, loves, loves his big sister.  Anywhere she is he is also.  Hopefully this love/love relationship continues for a while.

 Connor's still sporting the cutest dimples ever.  Hopefully they stay too.

 Has decided to take up exercising at an early age and loves doing the slide n' glide.

Haven't weighed Connor in a while but, as you can tell, he's a chunk.  Definitely the opposite of Brooke but who can't love a little chub.  :) 

Monday, One Day

Quick...can you name where the title comes from?????

Last week felt like the longest week ever...at least for this year. Ha!  I don't know if it had to do with Christmas and getting back into the swing of things but man oh man am I glad to begin a new week.

The kids are still enjoying their Christmas presents.

 The front room is strewn with toys but I'm too lazy to pick it up for it to be a mess in less than 2.2 seconds.

Brooke likes to pretend to read...maybe that means I should start teaching her the basics.  Can anyone guess what movie she's quoting????

 Connor is all over the place these days.  You can usually find him next to some closed door (in this case, waiting for Brooke to get out of the bathroom) or next to the stairs.  I finally had to pull out that baby gate because he can't get enough of the stairs.

Connor has found a new way of crawling.  Amazingly enough he's actually pretty quick.

The dust is finally starting to settle in the basement.  We are pretty much complete except for the carpet.  We should hopefully be getting that in the next couple of weeks.  I don't know if I'm more excited to put the toys down there or to have the kids down there!

Oh, and lastly, did anyone see the sweet ending to the Broncos game yesterday?  If not, here's a replay...

One White Christmas

The week leading in Christmas reassured us that we were in the winter season.  Monday night we were welcomed with 6 inches of snow followed by another foot Wednesday.

Luckily the kids didn't mind staying indoors and kept each other entertained.

Connor has become quite the crawler these days and the best way to keep him put is to block him in.

As you can tell, he's already looking for a way out and has already begun pulling himself up.  I know that I'm totally in for it having a boy!

Christmas eve, Brooke and Connor were able to open their Christmas eve presents.  Brooke has become quite the expert present unwrapper.

She has become very fond of her new Tinkerbell pjs and I think she's worn them at least 4 times within the week.  I'm sure if we let her, she'd wear them everyday everywhere.

Christmas morning was a bit of a change up since we have church at 8.  We were hoping to slip out before unwrapping presents but Brooke found her new couch hidden underneath a blanket.  Don't Brooke and Connor look so snazzy in their Christmas gettup?

First family pic in front of the tree.  (If you look closely, you'll notice that there aren't any ornaments below our head level due to the rearranging of ornaments by Brooke and trying to keep them out of reach of Squishy)

Who cares about changing out of church clothes!  Let's get to the presents.

Brooke and Connor scored by getting a train set.  Troy and I will score when the basement is completed and the train set is moved down there.

Brooke was a fan of her new couch and wanted to break it in.

After presents at home we flew to UT to spend the rest of the holidays with both sides of the family.  Brooke loved spending time with her grandparents and cousins.

Connor did too.  So much so that he fell asleep sitting. 

Does that remind you of this picture of Brooke...

Brooke was spoiled with all the fun she had with her cousins.  She went to Kangaroo Zoo with Jason, Sierra, and Elena.

Followed the next day with a trip to Lows Airsport something or other.

The last day we were there I got to meet up with some good friends from my childhood.  I think we've been friends for at least 18 years+.  Kind of crazy to see how much we've all grown up.

We celebrated the new year by heading to our friends, the Cowans.  They were so nice to set up a pinata for the kids although Brooke didn't seem to be a fan.

She was perfectly content to plant herself on Stacie's lap and watch.

In looking back at 2011 we have had a wonderful year.  We can't wait to see what 2012 will bring us.

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!