Bon Voyage, Friends!

Our good friends Shannon and Jason and their daughters Rhyann and Savannah are moving to Oregon. Shannon grew up there and Jason has been there for the last several months getting a job and trying to get settled. He flew back to Colorado and they're driving all their stuff to Oregon starting tomorrow morning. We went to a going away party for them last night and it was hard to say goodbye...

Shannon and I worked together about 8 years ago at the same company I still work for. She only worked there a year or so I think but we remained friends after she left. Jeremy and I went to her and Jason's wedding in Mexico in 2002. We were pregnant with our first babies together. Rhyann was born in the same exact hospital room and was delivered by same midwife as Connor just 4 weeks before Connor was born. Rhyann and Connor have played together from the very beginning and are very much alike. They've done so much together in their lives - playdates, birthday parties, swim class, holidays (especially Halloween for some reason!), even went to preschool together last year.

There will definitely be emails and phone calls back and forth and hopefully even visits but things will never quite be the same, of course. They had fun playing together at Thompson Park last night, though...
I love this picture of Rhyann running! I took it as I was running too and didn't even look to make sure she was in the shot - it was a happy accident picture :)


Connor and Rhyann


Connor, Tara and Rhyann playing in the mud


Shannon, Jason and baby Savannah


Getting ready to go down the slide


Connor, Rhyann, Logan and Brettly


Maddie, Connor, Rhyann


Rhyann, Maddie, Connor, Tara


One last kiss and hug


We'll miss you, Butler family!!!!

Last weekend

On Saturday night Connor and I went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks play at the Longmont Outdoor Cinema. Before the movie started some gymnasts from Airborne Gymnastics performed and Connor got to be part of one of their tricks! He's in the blue shirt below - the girls jumped over them and then did somersaults :) Connor thought it was great!

On Sunday we celebrated Logan's birthday with a barbeque and water play in the backyard. It was a hot but fun day!






The wagon/baseball cake complete with two baseball candles


Logan got a gigantic present from Grandma and Papa! What's inside?


Logan did a great job unwrapping it...


...and Daddy and Papa did a great job putting it together!

Connor calls it the "teacup house" because "it's the perfect size for a teacup." Logan loves it! It was hard to get him to come inside for a bath and he wanted to go play in it as soon as he woke up this morning!

Tonight was Connor's last t-ball game! We got his team pictures back so as soon as we scan them I'll post them here. He had a great time playing on his first team and is looking forward to the team picnic this weekend!

Logan's 2 year appointment

Logan had his 2 year checkup this morning. He weighs 29 lbs 4 oz (70th percentile) and is a whopping 37 1/4" tall (97th percentile)!! We knew he was on the tall side since he's taller than most two year olds and even some three year olds that we know but seeing the 97th percentile made it more real! She was happy that we'd gone ahead and had tubes put in and glad to hear that his speech is improving. He was actually happy to be poked and prodded and did everything she asked of him. He had to have one shot and his only reaction was a meek "ow, ow, ow" and then he sat up and was ready to go as if nothing had happened. I haven't looked up Connor's 2 year appointment stats but I have easy access here to his 3 year appointment info and at 3 he weighed less than Logan does at 2 and was only a bit more than an inch taller! Wow! Logan is so going to beat up his "big" brother soon :)

Logan's birthday!

Logan is 2 today! TWO! Can you believe it? I can't! :)

He woke up this morning to streamers hanging in his doorway which were super fun to run back and forth through with Connor! Jeremy and I went to the boys' summer camp class this morning to celebrate Logan's birthday with his friends but Logan was not that into it. He liked that we sang to him but didn't touch his cupcake and just wanted to snuggle with Daddy. I guess it's his party and he can snuggle if he wants to :) After a nap and a bike ride to the park with Daddy and Connor he was in a better mood. He was excited to see his huge balloon bouquet with a giant mylar number 2 at the top. He just kept pointing and saying "TWO! TWO!" over and over! We went to Red Robin for dinner and he was beaming while the waitstaff sang to him. :)

I was reading through what I posted for his first birthday - it was fun to see what has changed and what has remained the same in the last year! He's walking and running and dancing and jumping now. He is still as cuddly as can be. Every time he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he gathers up everything in his crib (blanket and stuffed animals) and has to be taken in to our bed to snuggle for at least a few minutes. If we try to rush things along on a busy morning and don't have that snuggle time he gets really upset! He is very attached to several stuffed animals - two ducks and a bear - mostly because of their super soft tags. Whenever he sees one of them he holds it in his left hand by the tag and sucks his right thumb. It's strange, he only sucks his thumb when he's holding one of them! One of the ducks in particular has a looped tag so he sucks his thumb and then pokes his right pinky finger through the tag. I don't think Logan's found a food he doesn't like but his favorites are berries, grapes, pancakes, cereal bars, hamburgers, spaghetti and gerber ravioli. He still idolizes Connor, of course, and copies everything Connor does. He carries both his and Connor's lunch boxes into their summer camp school and tries to carry Connor's t-ball bag for him whenever he can. If he gets hurt he looks to Connor for comfort first before us! Logan loves babies and is really caring toward them. Since getting his ear tubes he loves to dance. His speech is improving every day! He combines two words together now and I'm sure made my Dad really happy when he said "Hi Bapa!" on the phone tonight! Another new favorite since the tubes is airplanes - he apparently couldn't hear them before but now searches the sky for them anytime he can hear one! He likes to color and look at books. His favorite story right now is the Giving Tree. Sesame Street is his favorite tv show, with the Wiggles a close second, though he'll watch anything Connor watches just so he can sit or lay next to him! He prefers to be barefoot and doesn't really like to get dirty. He loves to be in the car and have the window down while we're driving. He still sleeps in his crib though those days seem to be numbered since he has climbed IN to the crib twice now and seems to be aware of how to climb out as well (we've caught him with a leg up on the side in the morning - he giggles and puts it down right away!).

The boys at the Bay waterpark in Broomfield last weekend


Eating cake and opening cards and gifts tonight


I'm not quite sure why but Logan wanted to keep his fork in his shirt pocket in between bites!


Terrific 2 year old Logan

I said LA LA!

Last Saturday we went to Rhythm on the River, a festival here in Longmont where they have lots of hands on art activities, music, and lots of fun (and free!) stuff for the kids to do. We got there early and enjoyed a pancake breakfast followed by hours of fun in the sun. Here are some of the fun things Connor chose to do!

He drove a 4 wheeler through an obstacle course


Climbed a rock wall (as you might expect of Connor, his favorite part was rappelling down)


Kayaking in a big pool - he was actually pretty good at it!


Crawling all over city trucks like trash trucks, street sweepers, bulldozers and snow plows


Logan also got in on the fun - he especially liked the trucks!


Here are two short videos of Connor from Rhythm on the River!

The first one is from the bike course. To most people this video would seem fairly boring but remember, he just learned to ride without training wheels two months ago!


This one is from a bungee jumping sort of thing (I'm not sure what you call it!). If you listen closely just after the guy bounces him for the second time, you can hear him saying "Hello everybody!" twice :) It was really cute!



Here are a few pictures from earlier today, just beore t-ball practice.
Such a cool guy


Logan really wants to learn how to ride Connor's scooter


The boys' hugs these days are funny to watch - they squeeze each other as hard as they can and Connor usually lifts Logan off the ground. Logan loves it!


Oh, and you're probably wondering about the title of this post - I said LA LA! Well, Logan's speech is gradually improving and he's trying new sounds all the time. He's been calling water "la la" for a while now and each time we try to model it correctly, "Oh, you want WA-TER? Ok, let's get some WA-TER." We really emphasize the WA and try to get him to look at our lips to see how we're forming the sounds. Tonight I was looking at him and saying "WA-TER" and he just kept repeating, "Yeah, la la." After the third time he copied my emphasis exactly - I said "WA (pause) TER." He said "LA (pause) LA" and looked at me like I was crazy :)

4th recap

It's been a while since I've posted! We've been busy enjoying every second of summer by hanging out at the pool, playing at various parks, eating as many meals outside as possible and shuffling between t-ball games, practices, summer camps, farm school and more! Here's a recap of the holiday/Jeremy's birthday weekend with lots of pictures!! :)

We got to the parade in Allenspark just as it was starting but the boys and Jeremy still managed to ride in a fire truck! Even Logan threw candy out the window! Here's Connor on the back of the truck they were in after the parade...


I'm not sure what the look on Logan's face is all about here...


Connor got to be in a water fight using a fire hose!


Logan climbing around in one of the trucks


Afterwards we went to a community picnic. Here are Jeremy, Papa and Logan waiting for Connor's horse ride to finish


Connor on the horse


Papa and Logan playing with their hats


Logan got to pet the horse and kept saying "neigh, neigh, neigh"


Jeremy and Connor even competed in a three-legged race! I think they came in second to last but there was some interference when Logan ran out to them in the middle of the race :) It was fun to watch!


Logan loves to play with all of Papa's pagers! Here they are enjoying the sunshine while Connor got his face painted


After a nap for us all (and a good scrubbing for Connor's paint covered face) we picked up Rhyann and went to the Home Depot parking lot to claim our spot for watching fireworks. We had Wendy's for dinner - it's silly but it's become a bit of a tradition for dinner on the 4th! We also had birthday cake to celebrate Jeremy's 36th birthday!


The kids played in the parking lot and watched other people set off fireworks as it started to get dark


Just a nice shot of Connor :)


There were lots of police around trying to control the fireworks but it was a futile effort! Rhyann and Connor did get to talk to one of the officers for a few minutes though!


Hanging out before the show started


The fireworks were a bit strange since they had to stop twice to put out brush fires but overall it was a good show! It was a long day, as usual, but filled with fun.

The next day we had breakfast with Grandma and Papa in Ward and then went back to their house to try fishing in the creek. Connor has asked many times to go fishing but he doesn't really have the attention span for it yet! Sue tried really hard though and I think Connor will enjoy it if we keep trying. They ended up playing with the fire hose - an all time favorite activity for Connor!



July is a great time to be in Longmont as there are many festivals and free outdoor movies and concerts! We're looking forward to a fun month and will share pictures along the way :)