The Body Shield

Connor has a number of little "phobias." Last week we went to Red Robin, for example, and he cried/clung to me the ENTIRE time we ate because the Robin was there. He also has "stranger danger." This one, I am actually pretty happy about (it makes taking him to the store a bit easier, because he has no intention of running away).

Let's just say that the vacuum and Connor are not exactly friends. When I vacuum he insists on being up on the bed or couch, apparently so the vacuum cannot get him. Last week while Connor's cousin Lauren was here, I decided to do some vacuuming. The kids were following me around and were in Connor's room while I was in there getting ready to vacuum. As soon as I started the vacuum, Connor ran to Lauren, grabbed her hand, and quickly ushered her OUT of the room. Then he shut the door behind them, leaving me alone in Connor's room with the deadly vacuum. As I continued to vacuum down the hall, Connor blocked Lauren from the vacuum with his body as a shield. The real hilarious thing was that Lauren had absolutely NO idea why he was doing this. Apparently she is not scared of the dreaded vacuum.

Dippers

My previously healthy eater (except for a tiny bit of whipped cream on special occasions) has turned on me. He used to prefer fruit to almost ANY other food. His new favorite: "dippers." These so called dippers only come in varieties which are stocked FULL-O-CALORIES (which is why he loves them I'm sure). Case in point: Blue Cheese Dressing...super yummy dipper! Ketchup...might be the all time favorite dipper! Ranch with pizza...how could you go wrong with this combo? He will even eat actual green veggies...dipped in ranch. Does that still count in the "healthy" category???

Connor's Monsters

Connor loves to play with his dolls...er monsters, Elmo & Zoe. He basically takes them everywhere: to the store, to Grandma's, up in his high chair, outside (Elmo is especially in dire need of a bath to rid his fur of bark dust and grass). Connor even insists on sleeping with them. In fact Connor no longer tolerates any rocking before bedtime with Mama or Daddy, because after his bath he is IMMEDIATELY ready to crawl into bed with Elmo & Zoe (tear). They are inseparable. The other day Connor found two bibs and started putting them on his friends. Apparently they were hungry...

...for Daisy's DOG FOOD!!!

"Bee...Ouch!"

Unfortunately Connor got stung by a bee last weekend...on the infamous eyebrow. It seriously impaired his ability to say "Yes." Our tough little guy didn't even cry, but looked pretty miserable. He kept saying, "Bee...Ouch!" It spurred a small-ish fear for the back yard (yes, even the tough guys get scared occasionally), so we had to teach him to say "Daddy fixed it. No more Bees." Here's some evidence of the incident for your very own eyes:

Hired Help

Now that Casey has gone back to work full time and is running a small business on the weekends life is getting hectic to say the least. Lord knows that my "part-time" job is keeping me quite busy too. We just don't have time anymore to keep up with the yard work. With summer rolling around, we wanted our yard to look amazing and be a fun place to play and entertain. So, we have decided to hire a couple gardeners. Our new gardeners come at a REALLY good rate, but the quality is not much to brag about yet. Uh-oh, one of our new gardeners is trying to get out of her work duties while the other one is standing idle...

Now, if only I could find a good maid to do the inside chores...