Handy Manny

I have to explain what he's wearing and the bucket next to him in the previous washing machine/"tv" post. He's dressed up like Handy Manny. As soon as we read his Handy Manny book, he went to change his clothes and get his "tools." For the hat, he stacked up some stools and clothes to get daddy's hat from the top of his shelf. He was quiet for a few minutes so I went to find him. I couldn't believe he could reach it and not fall! He was so cute going around the house "fixing" things. He'd saw and hammer and measure things as he was fixing. So cute. In the Handy Manny book we read, Manny spoke on the phone to someone needing his help. Here's Connor "taking a service call." He had a whole conversation with them; much of it was the dialogue from the book. I tell you, he's an actor! He knows lines to things he's read and seen better than anyone.
I just love how his little butt looks in these Levis jeans! I love how little the jeans are and how cute he looks when he's in them. :)

Look what's on "tv"

I was doing laundry the other day and Connor said "mommy, do you want to come over here and watch a scary movie with me?" He was referring to watching our washing machine! We have a front-loading washer that he thinks looks and sounds scary when it gets to the spin cycles. He's hilarious! He just sat on down and ooh-ed and aah-ed at every sound the machine made! And then there were the boring parts.

He's pretty engrossed in this movie. (Check out the cute underwear hanging out).
What, who's back there?
He'd also make funny comments like "mommy, my ball jammies are on tv!", "there's a snake in there!- oh never mind, it's a belt."

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

'Tis the Season

We decorated for Christmas last Monday for FHE. We had a great time. Connor is at such a fun age where he loves everything holiday. His pictures usually reflect this. He's been drawing lots of pictures of the nativity, a book about "the baby" meaning baby Jesus, and Christmas trees. We set up our new pre-lit artificial tree. Connor wanted to make it look just like the picture on the box complete with presents. We didn't (and still don't) have any wrapped presents to put under the tree so Connor improvised. He was cute "wrapping" up presents and bringing them to me to open. He would find various tins and decorative Christmas boxes and put found items in them (ex: his piggy bank coins in a box with sequins on it in the shape of a tree, his stuffed animals inside clear bags (hmmm, wonder what that is)). I'm glad he's in the giving spirit rather than the "I want" mentality (I think we can credit that to not having tv- we only watch movies or tv shows we like on DVD that we buy or check out from the library).

At the end of the week, we went to our ward Christmas party. I arrived early to help my YW set up the Santa room then rushed home to get the ham and homemade rolls we signed up to bring. Once there, we could finally relax after a crazy long day- this was the day Ammon installed the new door and in the morning, Connor and I went to a kids' symphony performance and out to lunch with his friend Scott and his mother. We had a good time.
Both Ammon and Connor had parts in the Christmas program. Connor sang "Away in a Manger" with the other Primary children. He loves this song. He's been singing it all week.

Ammon also had a part singing with the choir. (Back left).

Then Sunday after Church, our ward did a service project for the Giving Tree. This is an organization that receives no government funding (refused actually because they want to integrate God in helping people). Many ward members brought food and the rest of us served it, helped sort donated clothes and canned goods that were distributed to the homeless that came for the meal. The sweet old lady (she's gotta be 90 years old) that organizes this has done so for 19 years!! She provides a meal to the homeless every Thursday and Sunday evening never knowing where the food will come from but the food always comes- isn't that awesome?! Our Church recently found out about this organization and has been doing many service projects on ward and stake levels to help out. Serving there will be something ongoing that I can have my YW help out with too. For those of you in Tucson, this is a great way to help out and get in the giving spirit. It will probably also help calm the "I wants" from your kids because of the need they will see around them. It was good for us to bring Connor as he and Ammon mingled amongst the homeless seeing kids and families that didn't have enough for their needs. What better gift can you give your kids than a compassionate heart?

A window becomes a door

After dropping off the babysitter last Thursday night, I came outside to be near Ammon as he set up the tent for his weekend backyard campout with Connor. I pulled the sliding glass door closed behind me and it LOCKED! We couldn't believe it! We tried all the doors and windows, even those upstairs. Ammon said our house was very secure (comforting but not what you want to hear when you're locked out). We had no luck getting in so Ammon asked "so is it cheaper to get a locksmith or to break a window?" I had him try a little more and then finally we decided to break a window. Ammon broke the one into our bedroom that is just above our covered porch. This window he had eventually planned to turn into a door for a balcony off our room. He just hadn't planned to do it so soon. But, "necessity is the mother of"...home projects that your wife has been nagging you to do...So that was Ammon and my project for Friday and Saturday. He had me go to the store to get the door and supplies (for some reason, he hates doing this and I love to shop so it works out) while he cleaned up the glass that shattered everywhere in our room. He also went to get some free firewood for our fireplace. The "free" part usually involves lots of labor which he says he loves.What's on the tarp is the new addition to our woodpile.
Glass everywhere. Later there will be dust everywhere from all the cutting to get the window out and the door in.
Starting the project with the reciprocating saw we rented from Home Depot. The one we got actually stopped working so we didn't have to pay for the rental and ended up borrowing one from a friend.

These saws are such great tools; they can cut through anything. Proof: cutting through the window pane.
My man doing some manly cutting down the stucco (read "concrete"). He tells me he actually loves these sorts of projects.
The door is IN!! I'm amazed he was able to get from window to door so quickly. Good job honey!
From the outside. We obviously still have some work to do including the trim, door knobs and locks, railing and the balcony flooring but it's taking shape. Can't wait!

Playhouse

Connor loved this huge dishwasher box from getting our new appliances . As soon as I had the dishwasher out, he grabbed a butter knife and started cutting out the windows and door. He has enjoyed moving the little house all throughout our house.

(note: when you get new appliances, your delivery guy only "installs" the range and fridge-- that means they just plug them in! uh, thanks guy. They don't install the dishwasher or microwave so, I installed the dishwasher and Ammon and I together installed the microwave, a 2-person job after I installed an outlet for the microwave. The old one had bare wires and the new one, a plug. Projects, projects.).

Wildlife Museum

For our playgroup this week, we went to the International Wildlife Museum. This place always intrigued me with its castle-like exterior and ivy-covered walls but in the time we've lived here, we have never visited. We went with another friend and her son that also had never been, although they live nearby and have lived here all their lives! The mom said she worried about the stuffed (taxidermy) animals scaring her son. In reality, the kids loved them! Connor even asked to go back again to "the place with the stuffed animals and the bridge."Here he is on the bridge outside.

We went there for their kids' program. They read a story, do a craft and have a real creature encounter. This month they brought in a lizard. I think it's called a bearded lizard (the same used in the movies "Holes" and "Nim's Island").
Aw, my cute little lion.

Going into the "ferret hole." This became a favorite spot to return to again and again. You can see Connor's "tail" tied around his waist. He was still pretending to be the dog.The legs of this life-size (not sure if it was real) giraffe are a little bridge that the kids can walk under.
Touching the cool giraffe legs. This place was all fairly kid-friendly.

Can you see where Connor is hiding in this picture?Connor using the alligator as a balance-beam. The Bengal tiger behind him was hunted down after it killed and ate some 60 humans!!

The boys playing a big drum.

Lost dogs

One night this last week, we found this cute doggie out in the middle of the road in front of our house. It looked like it belonged to someone, since it was wearing a sweater and tag, but we saw no one looking for him. I attempted to call the number listed on the tag to find out who is owner was but the place was closed. So, we had to keep him overnight. Connor was absolutely delighted. He loved this adorable little dog. In fact, the next morning, he said he wanted to put his sweater on just like the doggies'. I told him he didn't have one but he surprised me by putting on a sweater I had forgotten he had.

Look, now he matches the dog!! So cute.

This pooch was too hungry to notice his two-legged imitator.

Moments before going outside to see the dog, Connor climbed head-first into the ice chest I had out ready to put the fridge contents in when the new appliances came later that day. Thought it was too cute to pass up capturing that moment!

The rest of the story about the dog... We called the next afternoon after we took him in (and after the appliances came and we went to our playgroup- such a busy morning!!) and found the owners. They lived the next street over and came right away to meet us. The father said his kids were sick about losing the dog. They had been out the night before putting up Christmas lights and the dog got out but being occupied with the lights, they didn't notice the dog was missing until he had wandered away. We were glad to get Nonnie (dog's name) back to his family. Connor kept asking about the dog all the rest of the week. At Preschool, he even insisted on being DOGI (how he spelled doggie). Once we knew the dog's name, Connor wanted to be called Nonnie. Too cute. Then on Saturday, Ammon took him by to see the dog and his family. The dog ran right over to him happy to see his sweater-buddy. Happy ending.

Ok, but that was not the end of our dog-sitting. Two nights after the Nonnie-insident, Ammon found another lost dog wandering in the street. This one didn't have a tag so Ammon tied him up in the front yard so anyone looking for him could find him. Our nice neighbors, knowing we don't have any dogs, brought us some dog food to feed him. The next morning, the dog was gone (the rope was untied) so we're hoping he too was reunited with his family.

Mopper

Here's my cute little Connor helping out with the mopping. He saw me sweeping the floor and getting it ready to mop so he just grabbed the mop and said "I help you, I do the mopping." He just started doing it, albeit a bit sloppily but, ever so lovingly. What a good helper! It makes me so happy to see him automatically just pitch in.

Give Thanks!

This Thanksgiving, we had many reasons to do so...

Surviving layoffs- So Ammon works at a place where he doesn't automatically get Thanksgiving and the day after off so he worked those days. As a family, we were planning to go to his work for our Thanksgiving meal because they have excellent chefs that make all the fixings. Well, the afternoon before (Wednesday), HR sent an email around uninviting the families. I think this falls on the heels of the layoffs they made on Monday. Five people were laid off including Ammon's supervisor. That was a total shock. Thankfully (let us count our many blessings), Ammon was not laid off. That makes 3 layoffs that he's averted in the nearly 2 years he's been there. Doesn't make us feel too secure, especially if they can lay you off the week of Thanksgiving! Needless to say, some of you know we have been checking into some other more stable and fulfilling options. We'll keep you posted.

No Thanksgiving?- Since the work option was out, I was kinda feeling bummed about having no Thanksgiving. After reading an email from my sister where she's hosting her husbands' family, I decided (at 11am Thanksgiving morning), to do Thanksgiving after all just for our family. I rummaged around in the deep freezer and found our turkey that Ammon's work had given us last year (they were handing them out this year too but, silly us, we didn't think we needed one because we were going there to eat). I set to thawing it out and figured we'd be ready to eat by 7pm. A little late but that was ok because Ammon worked a full day. Thankfully (see, I have lots of things to be thankful for), I had sweet potatoes, stuffing fixings, roll stuff and pie stuff on hand. I say 'stuff' because I made everything from scratch-- the stuffing, rolls, apple pie including crust and lemonade. Connor was a cute little helper helping me mix up the rolls, cut up the apples (he actually ate more than he cut up but who's counting...), and make the pie crust (which he loved eating the scraps from). I had Ammon carve the turkey and we ate just after 7pm. Here we are sitting down to eat. Connor insisted on being a dragon...for Thanksgiving. He's always insisting on being some character. He usually says "I want to be ____ for Halloween" but this time he decided to dress up for Thanksgiving. Cute.Fun with the fam- Black Friday..."smells like Teen Spirit?!" Ammon says I look like Kurt Cobain here. Kinda do. This is what my hair looked like after my boys "attacked" me with a staticy fleece blanket that they rubbed on my head. They kept doing it and cracking up. Sticking my tongue out showed what I thought of that!

Good husband and father- My boys camped out again this weekend. This has become a weekend tradition. Ammon pulls the tent and air mattress out after work at the end of the week and they have a campout all weekend. Connor just loves it. He'd do it every night if he could. Ammon just allows it on the weekend when he doesn't need to get a good night's sleep for work. I slept out once but it was just too cold for me (and a bit uncomfortable--I mean, why sleep in a tent when you have a nice warm bed?). Ammon says he's willing to do this since Connor loves it so much and he'll only be small wanting to do stuff like this for so long. I just love Ammon for this. He's such a good dad. :)

New Appliances- Our last event of the weekend- buying new appliances! I'm actually kindof excited about this. For awhile now we've known our appliances were crap but we put up with them until they've really started to fail lately. The fridge and freezer don't keep things cold enough anymore (spoiling food in fridge, thawed food and ice in the freezer), the stovetop has sparked on me and caught fire once (yeah, a bit scary- makes us afraid the house will burn down), the dishwasher usually doesn't get things very clean and the microwave is an ancient beast (wood grain, it doesn't always work and the light's out). We decided to take advantage of the Black Friday sales and go get the whole set. We were able to get a pretty good deal so we're happy. Now I want to redo the whole kitchen... Ammon said "I was afraid of that."

Sprinklers in November?

Who would believe it but it's been quite warm lately. In fact, it was so warm yesterday that Connor and I had a water fight!! Connor pulled out the hose and fire hosed me. I yelped because it was so cold. I turned the setting to mist and that was much more comfortable. We played for about an hour. Once we got warm baths and dressed again, he wanted to play "mist" again. I put him off telling him he could play today after preschool.

So today, he didn't forget, as soon as we were home he wanted to play. It turned a little chillier today so I declined. That's when Connor settled to go in the sprinkler by himself. He went in 3 times- changing his clothes in between (I thought he was done each time but oh no). When Ammon got home he asked if it rained here. Uh, no. Just lots of water fun going on.


Looks almost like there's frost on his chin! I wouldn't be surprised if there was!What a sweet smile.