swimming lessons

we started swimming lessons last friday but we were running late and i didn't get a picture of the kids together before class. mason and dahlia are in the same class. they are taking school age level 3. connor is in preschool level 3. the lessons are at the rose bowl aquatic center. i really like it there. this will be our fifth year of lessons for mason and dahlia. connor started last year. mason and dahlia can swim pretty well but i would like them to learn the correct way to do their strokes. i really wish we had a pool at home so we could all practice.

when our lessons were over we drove over to my sister's house in santa monica. the kids wanted to hang out with their cousins. we walked to menchies and got frozen yogurt. we stayed for dinner and jen and rays friend scarlett joined us. she is really fun. i had a great time talking to her. i think i am starting to relax and realize that summer is here.

the bug collectors

connor and dahlia have been collecting bugs. mostly ants and roly polies. they got these plastic bug containers from kira's birthday party to keep their bugs in. they go outside and check under rocks to find the largest roly polies.

i don't love the bug collecting as much as the bird watching but it is cute to have them playing outside and exploring. connor is especially excited about his roly polies. he has named them joey, chloe, and zoe.

pirate park

connor and i went to his friends birthday party at brookside park. it is a park right behind the rose bowl aquatic center. we take swimming lessons at the aquatic center and i have seen kids swinging in the playground but i have never actually been to the park.

it was really cute. they have a playset that looks like a pirate ship. the kids loved it. connor was hard to keep track of. he kept running around everywhere. his best friend finnley from preschool was turning 5. all of his preschool friends were there. one of connors friends said she is going to marry connor and she has picked out her wedding dress. how adorable. what a lady killer this little boy is. another mom emailed me to say her daughter wants to marry connor, so i guess they will have to fight over him. in the meantime he is all mine and i adore him.

the party was short and sweet. it was nice that it started early. today was hot. i am feeling a bit sad today. i don't want preschool to end. i am going to miss all the moms.

the king

connor is so crazy adorable. he has been dressing up everyday as a new character. some days he is spiderman or indiana jones. today he was the king. he loves to wear his costumes to school when we pick up dahlia and mason. my friend michele said he reminded her of harold from harold's fairy tale. all he needs is a purple crayon.

bring your daddy to school

connor got to bring his daddy to school today to show off all of his work. it was very sweet. he was especially proud of his spiderman picture. his teacher said he did such a great job on it that she hung it up for everyone to see.

they gave the dads a paper tie and did some crafts together. it was nice for miles to spend some time with connor. they don't get much alone time.

gym class for connor

i enrolled connor at the little gym. i have been wanting to do this for a while now and was so happy to have a chance. they just changed dahlia's class to a combined class with four year olds. since he just turned four it was the perfect opportunity. the best part is that they can take the class together and i don't have to come to the gym three days a week. our schedule is already so busy i just didn't want to add anything else.

he loved the class. he had so much fun with dahlia. she was also super excited to have him in the class with her. i love their teacher. she is great. it is nice for connor to have an activity.

connor is four

how can this be? my baby boy is now four years old. time has just flown by. i cannot tell you enough about how much i adore my sweet little angel. he is definitely a mommy's boy and i don't mind a bit. he is crazy cute and so bursting with personality. he loves to dress up in costumes: spiderman, indiana jones, a king... everyday he is a new character. he is also crazy about ninjago. kai is his favorite. he really wanted a ninjago birthday party but i convinced him to share the castle party with mason.

he grew up so much this last year. he is now completely potty trained, he gave up his bottle, and he gets himself dressed. he is a big boy now. he still sleeps in our bed with us, and will only let mommy get him out of bed. that is fine. one step at a time. he loves preschool. i was so worried when he started but he loves it. he tells me, "i don't like preschool, i love it!" so funny.

he plays with dahlia and mason and is equally entertained by both. he loves to play minecraft and x-box games with mason almost as much as he loves playing mermaid and baby dolls with dahlia. his favorite color is red. he is still on the small side. 15-25% in height and weight, but i don't worry. he will catch up.

happy fourth birthday to my beautiful baby boy.

ready for halloween

we had lots of halloween activites today. everyone is getting excited for the big day. connor decorated pumpkins at his preschool. they covered them with different colors of glitter. he loved his little pumpkin. they had a huge display with all the different pumpkins and then he got to take his home.

later at dance class dahlia's teacher told them they could dress up in a costume if they wanted to. she dressed up as snow white. connor didn't want to miss out on the fun so he dressed up as indiana jones. there are a couple of little boys that wait outside the class with us and their mom. connor always plays with them. it has become a mini play date. they were dressed up too.

only two more days until halloween. yay. we can't wait.

preschool started

connor started preschool today. the first day is really just an introductory class and the parents stay with the kids the whole time. it is only for an hour. they get to meet their teachers and see the classroom. they have the opportunity to meet some of their classmates.

connor is in the red door classroom just like dahlia last year. he has the same teacher she had. i am so happy that he was familiar with the classroom and it didn't seem scary at all for him. we will see how he does on thursday when i just drop him off and leave.

he enjoyed looking around the classroom and then playing for a little bit on the playground. it was hot so we didn't stay long.

i had a really rough day. mason woke up last night screaming that his ears were hurting. i only got an hour of sleep because i stayed up consoling him. i took him to the doctor today and they told me he must have swimmers ear. miles met us there to take dahlia to dance class and as soon as we got in the car mason threw up all over. it was so gross. it got everywhere. man. i took him home and cleaned the car. miles picked up the ear drops at the pharmacy during dahlia's dance class. they cost us $160.00. i can't believe how expensive they were. it was a long day.

zoo with connor

while mason and dahlia were in school this morning i took connor to the zoo. jen met me there with her two kids. we had a great time. the zoo is so easy with only one little kid to look after.

connor is so cute. he really wanted to ride the carousel. i would have taken him on it but jen said her kids don't like it and i didn't want them to have to wait for us. next time connor. it was so nice to have some fun time with just him.

rainy day

it rained today for about ten minutes but that did not keep connor and dahlia from grabbing their umbrellas and galoshes. these poor deprived kids rarely get to play in the rain here in sunny los angeles.

i think we have all finally recovered from the flu. dahlia was out of school for over a week. we all got it this time. thanks kids! at least we are all well now and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

new chairs

we got new chairs for all three kids this christmas. after moving our tv into the big living room we had to get rid of our comfy couches and now use our nice couches for everyday use. we figured to save the furniture from lots of abuse we would get the kids their own comfy chairs.

i think they are so nice. the kids love them and they have become connor's new favorite napping place. the best part is that the covers are washable. yes!

connor is three

today is connor's real birthday. he is officially three! this crazy cute kid is just bursting with personality. he is so happy. always laughing and smiling. i love that he has become a little boy. i always find little rocks and lego's in his pockets when i go to do laundry. he loves to be barefoot. it is impossible to keep shoes on him for any length of time.

dahlia and connor spend a lot of time playing together. connor loves ninjago and he and dahlia will play the princess and the ninja where connor protects her from evil forces. they also love to cook together on their play stove. they steal vegetables from the refrigerator and make me salads. the salads are really quite good. they are filled with bell pepper, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes. i let them cut the veggies with a butter knife on their little cutting board.

connor is still not potty trained and he still has a bottle at night. i really need to work on these things. it is time for him to be a big boy. he is really smart. he knows all his letters already. he likes to pick out letter shapes from things he finds in nature. he will bring a tree branch to me and say "look a Y." it is really cute.

he also loves to spend time with mason. mostly they will play video games together on the ipad. mason will also help connor build with legos.

happy birthday connor. i love you so much.

first trip to the dentist

i am a super mom. i took all three kids to the dentist all by myself and they didn't have any cavities. yay! i was so relieved. it was connor's first trip to the dentist and i wasn't sure how he would react. he was great though. he got right in the chair and let them clean his teeth. they even took a picture of him brushing the teeth of the office mascot. all my kids were good. i am so happy to be done. yes!

shopping

we took the kids to sport chalet to look for a bike for mason. they didn't have the one he wanted in stock so we ordered it and will pick it up later in the week.

while the guy was helping us pick out a bike connor took it upon himself to do a little shopping. he tried on the helmets, rode a cool tricycle around and tested out the punching bags. we had a super fun and short shopping trip with just enough time to get home before the superbowl started. yay for sundays!

connor

my cutie pie reading a book upside down while we wait for his siblings at gym class.

connor is two

connor is two years old today. he is such a cutie pie. i love him so much. i can't believe how fast these two years have gone by. he still seems little so that makes me happy. he is 24 pounds and 33 inches tall. that puts him at 10% for weight and 25% for height.

he doesn't talk very much. i would say he only knows about 20 words. he has put two words together so that is good. our pediatrician said he should know around 50 words. i am not worried. he is learning more every day.

he is super sweet. i find it facinating how his interests are different from masons. mason was all about trains when he was two. connor is really into dinosaurs and dogs. he loves to line up all the toy dinosaurs in a row. his favorite book is dinosaur roar. so cute. he carries that book everywhere. it is getting pretty thrashed. he loves to play with dahlia. they will play with their baby dolls together. they are so cute. he has a baby doll that is his. he also loves to dance with her. they play music from this baby toy rocking horse and dance for me. he is super thoughtful always sharing his food and helping me clean up. what a doll. happy birthday baby. mommy loves you.

precious

i was being bad today and was shopping online when i should have been putting the kids to sleep. i had a coupon that was going to expire and was being indecisive. to stall for a little more time i put on a max and ruby show for the kids and went back to my computer. when i returned twenty minutes later i found connor snuggled up with his baby doll fast asleep on the couch. oh my gosh. he is just so crazy cute. if only bed time was this easy every night.

staring at the fish

i love this photo of connor from today's trip to the aquarium. he was so completely enthralled with watching the fish swim. it was really sweet to witness. i love how captivated kids are with their surroundings. it makes me stop to look a little longer too.

sleepyhead

oh my gosh. this is just too cute. connor completely sacked out after a day of swimming in the backyard.

it reminds me of this picture of mason when he was two.