The PTA at Connor's school put on a great Mother-Son Event last week. It was Casino-themed. I was a little wary at first but it was innocent- fun games for the kids. They served dinner then on to the games and karaoke!
Connor with a classmate, Jacob, peeking through the gate waiting to get in for dinner.
Ammon volunteered to be one of the "dealers". He had a great time getting the boys and moms involved.
Connor paying attention to the High Roller game. Ammon was running a similar table.
The Roulette table was definitely a favorite. Someone put a lot of work into this making the boards by hand.
Connor leaning in with a classmate, Parker, trying to see who would win.
Posing by a fun "Las Vegas" style sign.
What Vegas night would be complete without a special visit from the king himself- Elvis?!!
Dr Abrams, the principal, did an amazing lip-synch performance. He had great stage presence and was so hilarious!
Look at him go! Connor didn't believe it was his principal. That's the best kind of costume when no one recognizes you.
There was a photographer there taking Vegas-esque pics.
Well, our trip to CA was quite eventful last week. We started out very early on our drive. Everyone was asleep (except me, thank goodness) when I smelled something. I knew Miss Amelia must have had another poopy diaper. She has had diarrhea for a couple weeks now- finally cut two more teeth to let us know what that was about. All I had on my mind was getting to the next rest area to change her. Turned out it was a total blowout. I had to give her a bath in the sink, wash her clothes out and clean out the seat - DISGUSTING!! So, my focus wasn't really on how much gas we had- minor detail, right?... Well, I remember seeing the "last services" sign before the rest stop but naturally wasn't on my mind once the blowout happened. I kept driving and realized the gas station wasn't the 50 or so miles away I thought I remembered the sign saying. So, you guessed it, we ran out of gas. Thankfully it was early (about 7 am) so not hot yet. I immediately called AAA to come help us. While I was on the phone, Ammon started walking with the kids to the next sign to see where we were. Before I knew it, someone had pulled over offering to take Ammon to get gas and bring him back. While still on the phone, he took off. I was like "should I cancel AAA" and he said "yes" as he was leaving. So, I trusted our fate to some strangers I didn't even know or had even seen and off they took Ammon.
[Hmmmm, this was strangely reminiscent of our trip TO Arizona for a job interview over Thanksgiving 4 years before when our transmission went out. Ammon hopped in the car with some strangers then too who took him to the airport to rent a car so he could make it to his interviews (good because he got one of those jobs) AND leaving myself, Connor and my brother Jason, who was traveling with us- and vies never to do so again, can't blame him, - to fend for ourselves (very bad because we were stranded).]
I still am irritated at Ammon about that situation to this day. But, that's my man--he's got to "DO" something about our problem and darn the consequences to the waiting family. Thankfully, this time, we weren't stranded all day. We were very lucky the people that picked him up weren't murderers or crazies. In fact, they were quite nice (I did meet them once they brought Ammon back 30 minutes later). They said they saw Ammon walking along the road with his kids and knew he was safe (they had 5 kids in the car themselves). So, we got gas--2 little 1-gallon each cans at $11 each (yeah, these middle-of-nowhere gas stations can get away with robbing you when you're desperate) and filled up the tank enough to get us to that same very expensive gas station to fill up the rest of the way.
Thankfully, because we left so early, this mishap didn't put us too far behind schedule and we made it to grandpa's house just after lunch.
Ammon's grandpa lives out in Palos Verdes Estates in the same house for the past 50 years. Such a beautiful location right near the beach and smack dab at the top of the mountain with a perfect view of the beach, ocean and city lights. We love being there and especially enjoy visiting with grandpa. He is 88 years old and we keep dreading each visit may be our last. We would love and hope to have him around for many years to come.
Out to dinner
First, third and fourth generations
Shopping for Sunday dinner. We had a yummy pot roast.
In the living room where, through that wall of windows behind Ammon, you can see the gorgeous view.
Over Connor's shoulder you can kindof make out the ocean, beach and city.
Little builder
Stack master
Walking out of Church with grandpa (great-grandpa)
Take 2
All together now
Times 2
Cold ocean early Monday morning. We were out there with the surfers. Ammon went running.
Thankfully I had my sweater in the car and put Connor's sweatshirt on Amelia. Connor is like his daddy- doesn't get cold.
The kids and I went to the Phoenix Children's Museum once in January and again last night. Because Phoenix is 90 minutes away, we are sure to make a day of it by also visiting Abigail's grave and IKEA- Connor loves the play area. It''s always a full day but the museum is definitely our new favorite place.
...is silly. Here's a sampling of his latest silliness:
I wrote several favorite quotes on a whiteboard where I could see them and be inspired. Connor came along and erased what I wrote and rewrote them in his own handwriting (he obviously can write better than me, he is in first gradeafter all). The funniest part was that he incorrectly rewrote one quote. It was supposed to read:
Life is not a dress rehearsal.
What did Connor write?
Life is not a dress at all.
Ammon and I can't stop laughing about it. We'll often tell each other
"hey, remember, life is not a dress at all- get it right!"
For the last week or so, Connor has been correcting me to call him "Con-Air" when I call him regular "Connor", even getting a little huffy with me when I mess up. He says since everyone spells his name wrong (with an -er rather than the more common -or) that that's his name now.
[In mine and Ammon's defense, we made sure to spell his name the most common way but it often gets misspelled]
He gets "Conner Larson" a lot and he is usually so put out by it that he would often grunt and make an angry face and has been known to shed tears over the error. If it's in written form, he would draw the correction in with a heavy-handed marker- as if the person who wrote it would immediately be made aware of their error and be put on notice. So, usually he flips out but not now . It's surprising because for him to just "go with it" and to in fact go the complete opposite way of insisting on being called "Con-Air" is not normal. (Can you tell Connor is usually given to extremes and an all-or-nothing approach?)
Have you all seen Despicable Me? Of course you have- right? Well, Connor is in love with the character Vector so much that he has copied much of what he does- yes, we have lots of miniature paper ball "moons" around the house and he has a uniform or "warm-ups" he likes to wear- his once cast off "I-hate-this-orange-sweatshirt" has become the top paired with bluejeans for the bottoms. He has made his own 'C' sign (see his chalkboard and flag)
Can you see the 'C' on his carpet? He also made a white 'C' rug next to it.
much like the 'V' seen around Vector's home. Connor has a 'C' on his bathroom toilet, his hand towel, toilet paper, carved into a white bar of soap, orange liquid soap at his sink, rug with his logo, and even a 'C' written in orange highlighter onto his bedroom floor- yeah, he's cleaning that up!
He repeats scenes from the show and likes to go around the house saying "oh yeah, oh yeah!". His favorite clip from the movie is Vector defending his warm-ups- "they are not pajamas!"
