Connor on his feet

Connor's First Fourth

Aren't we a festive family. :)

Brian claims he just grabbed that shirt, not even thinking about the fact that it is red/white/blue. I don't dispute his honesty, but merely suggest that subconsciously he knew it would make me happy. :)
Connor's outfit is an Aiden McGonigal special. Aiden is just over 1 year older than C and lives a few houses down. His mom, Julie is my friend and she was selling a TON of his clothes in our neighborhood garage sale. Since both boys are summer babies, the sizing works our PERFECTLY! So, the total for the shirt and shorts.....$1.00! score! (He also got a monster Halloween costume, sweet snow suit, pjs, shoes, and tons of other clothes! YAY!!!

Look who can stand up!!!
He had a little help from Brian's legs, but he is well on his way to a few steps!

Ok, back to the 4th festivities. We had originally planned on going to the National Cherry Festival.....yes, cherries, not cherry blossoms, up in Traverse City, Michigan. However, all the hotels were booked and it would make for a long day trip for the muchkin. So, we are going to go up to Traverse after Connor and I get back from Georgia so we can stay in a hotel for the night. In lieu of our trip up north, we went to Max and Erma's for a late lunch, rode bikes until Brian's pedal fell off (he is going to have to get a whole new pedal.....many attempts with Gorilla Glue have not been successful), and then headed down the street for some neighborhood fun at the Kruse house. The big kids ("big" means over age 3...) played in the water and on the beach while the little kids crawled around on the grass, and ate watermelon. Brian and the other daddies played a beer game with pvc, frisbees, and empty beer bottles.....I'm sure we'll have to create this little game for fun in our own backyard!

I took more than a few pictures of Connor eating watermelon off the rind....it was just too cute. :)


So, I guess Michigan is a lot like Ohio in that almost all of the fireworks sold here don't go into the air, but they just spray sparks. That was the case for our little fireworks show, but the kids had a blast with the sparklers that we picked up and the little snap things.....throw on the ground and they pop?? Brian was definitely the neighborhood pyro and was the source of fire for the event. :)
We just made a few trips back to the house during the night, and as it got dark C got changed into his jammies and got his night-time bottle. I switched out his stroller seat and he watched the fireworks all lounged and comfy.

Sunday, happened to be our 6th Anniversary! (Love you, B!) Gone are the days of elaborate date nights out (okay, not terribly elaborate...). We celebrated by playing in the backyard with Connor and ordered a pizza. Nothing says "I love you" like pepperoni, right. :)

We got Connor a lifejacket, but it is so huge....maybe next summer.

I like this one. :)

Paetyn Tramper (14 months old) and her parents, Mike & Holly live a down the street and the kids really enjoy playing with each other. Paetyn LOVES the sand and although they hadn't planned on her getting in the water, both babies had a blast!

Cutie pie, Paetyn with her dad, Mike.

Connor playing a little beach football.

This gives a little glimpse of our beach wall.....Connor tries to climb it everywhere. Holly (pregnant, due in January!) and Paetyn too.

Connor and Paetyn play a little football. Connor actually tackled her once, but no tears....all fun. :)

C insisted on crawling in the water. (I guess that is what I get for letting him crawl and stand in the bathtub). The kid has no fear and kept going back for more. Here he's got a face full of water!

I mentioned the kid climbs everything...he got into this chair by himself. (I put the camera down quickly and grabbed him before he fell through.)

Two shots of the determined little guy crawling on the beach. He isn't a big fan of his baby float, so I'm anxious to see how much he likes an actual pool where he can't be as free...

Connor, Mr. Cool

While Brian was still playing with the baby killdeers, Connor and I were hanging out on the deck so we had an aerial view and could keep tabs on all the babies. I stood by the stairs and let Connor have free reign all over the deck. He had so much fun and was delighted to find his reflection in the glass.

Oh, and in typical Connor fashion, he is filthy. Look hard and you can see the extent of his dirtiness on his socks! (thanks to crawling in the garage and through wet grass)

Connor is ready to go outside for a little bit.

crawling onto the deck from the dining room

cute little butt...

under the grill

he thinks he can crawl down anything if he crouches down first....this could be dangerous.

"there's a baby!"

he gave himself a little lecture. :)

and....back inside.

After I uploaded the pictures it occurred to me that he looks like a little mini teenager in his jeans and hoodie....ridiculously cute (if I do say so myself). His blonde, rooster hair refuses to be tamed and will have to be cut sometime soon. I think the kid has been cursed with 3-4 cowlicks that make styling incredibly difficult....plus the curls.... (; Believe it or not, his hair was all combed (with water) about an hour before these pictures).

The Killdeer Babies have Hatched!!!

New pics....taken July 1, 2009.

We can't seem to manage to get a picture of all 4 babies together. As Brian says, the 4th one is just dopey! He actually reunited it with the rest of the family twice and once the little guy tried to "fly" out of Brian's hands....glad he is okay!

Connor and the dopey baby killdeer. :)

"Get under there!!!"
We did discover today that both mommy and daddy killdeer "sit" on the babies, so we could have been mistakingly calling the dad "Kyleen". So, Brian named the dad "Ken". (I love my cute husband.)

Once again, the dopey one is off on its own....no doubt the dad is trying to round him/her up! I can't even imagine having quads!

———

The babies hatched yesterday and were on the move today! Brian and I both checked on them in the morning and there were 4 little babies, but by about 1:30 this afternoon the nest was empty.

I was very afraid we'd never get to see them. I looked around nearby for a little bit without any luck of seeing them. After dinner (and Connor's longer than usual nap), all three of us went out to look. Brian spotted them and we were able to get some decent footage and pictures. I didn't have my good zoom lens on my camera, so I hope to get some more pictures tomorrow. I'll upload more movies too, but here is one of me taking the little guy back to his family.

Connor "Picks" Strawberries

Connor and I went with one of our neighbors and her kids to a nearby strawberry patch to pick a few strawberries. I wasn't sure how it was going to go with Connor because he can't walk yet and I wouldn't exactly be able to pick many if I was holding him...but would the stroller smash all the berries??? Anyway, it worked out well. I had him in the stroller most of the time and we stayed on the last row so the stroller could stay on the edge and not harm any berries. Then I was worried about C's attention span and willingness to sit tight in the stroller. Well, I should have brought a bib, but he was just fine sucking down strawberries and getting the juice ALL OVER him! Here are some pictures of our outing.

Ian, Liam, Connor & Alison (Tammy's niece)

After we got home, he had a few more. :)

I LOVE this one.

The Great Outdoors

In the past 5 days, we've gotten an insta-yard (sod in the front....soon to have sod in the back), been to the zoo, and Connor helped me plant a few more perennials. We got a HUGE rain on Friday night (after the sod) but since then it has been HOT HOT HOT. For Michigan, upper 80s, lower 90s is HOT.

Here are a few yard pictures. I'll add some of our beach, wall, and backyard as soon as that sod is done. (hopefully later this week)

On Saturday, while Pat and Leslie were still here, we went to the John Ball Zoo, here in Grand Rapids. It is a small zoo, but perfect for someone Connor's age! It was fun and I'd love to go back!

And lastly, here are the dirt pictures. Connor was an amazing "helper" and just had to play in the dirt. I was very surprised he wasn't hesitant to crawl in the mulch at all...heck, it hurts my knees!He got in every hole I dug.