Happy Times / Sad Times

Has anyone ever noticed that life will give you some the happiest times right along side the saddest times.

Right before I had Lacie - we lost a very important family member. Uncle Donald (Dad's brother) decided that it was time to move on. While it was shocking to the entire family and we were all blind sided - some very special moments came from it. I often think that our sadest moments end up with some of the most special moments in our lives.

Uncle Donald lived in OK so we barely ever saw him but there are people in this world who are just special and he was one of them. Maybe it is because he reminds me of my father in the quiet mannerisms that always made him dear to us. From his death - my cousin Alison and her husband Tony came to visit us in Virginia before going to New Jersey for the service. It was so great to spend time and get to know them.

Grayson was in love with Tony and his Oklahoma handshake. We sat at Ihop and shared stories and we learned that Oklahoma is considered the south.. Who knew? So what became a very sad event for all of the Curtis family - it also allowed many of the cousins to reach out and keep in touch. I have many new friends on facebook and it is nice to keep in touch once again.

Do you think that people know how much they were loved when they pass on or is this something we all figure out once they are gone?

Anyhow - I am not one for deep and heavy blogging but I don't want to forget how special Uncle Donald was to everyone in the family.

Reflection for 2010

So I know that I haven't written much but I would like to reflect some of the special 2010 moments. This was my favorite part of the books that I printed last year and I will do it again this year even if it is a much smaller version.

I want our kids to have memories and have something to pass along to their families. I will post as much as possible until the New Year. Not every moment has been picture perfect or blissful times but it has been life.

Major happenings in the Conner family for 2010....
1) Lacie was born on Sept 10th.
2) Grayson turned 2 on July 24th (hottest day of the summer)
3) Blake turned 4 on Jan. 25th
4) Spent a long weekend at Smith Mountain Lake with my parents, Mary, and Jerry. (What a relaxing and enjoyable weekend)
5) A terrific week at the beach with Billy and Dianne over July 4th. My favorite part of the beach is bundling up and watching fireworks!
6) Billy and I have celebrated 6 yrs of marriage and we met 10 years ago at Cary PD. Look how far we have come!
7) We brought a 2nd Kids Closet Franchise (Fairfax County) and we will have our first sale in Spring 2011.
8) Billy and I got to see Brett Favre play one more time when the Vikings came to play the Redskins (Vikings won!)
10) My mom and dad came back from Vienna, Austria and we are glad to call them our neighbors

The list could go on and I will have some more in future posts!

6 months!

I am sad that I haven't blogged very much this year. We have had a lot happen in the past year starting with Lacie Elizabeth. Lacie was born on September 10th early in the morning. She is such an angel and I truly am thankful for her each and every day.

So many people say that she is "perfect". She barely ever cries, fusses, or complains about anything. Maybe it is a girl thing or we are just the luckiest parents out there.

Words can't describe what it was like when she finally arrived. Although with the birth of Lacie - Billy and I made a major life decision. We have decided that we have 3 blessings and that is all that we will have. We are thankful for Blake, Grayson, and Lacie.

Bob!!!!

Grayson has come a very long way and talks all the time now. Grayson only said "ugghh" for the longest time but now he has a huge vocabulary. Granted his words are very different than Blake's first words.

Grayson most common used words are:
Mommom, Bob, No (mostly used), Mine, Come On, Wee Wee, Bake (meaning Blake), Dog, etc....

Grayson's uses words that he needs and he uses them all the time. He has many more but he likes action words. Although I have to say that Grayson is the best behaved child in public because he is shy compared to Blake. Grayson is cautious and stands nearby. It is very sweet and endearing but the minute we get home or into the car - the real Grayson is out in full force. Full of fire!!!!

I love my boys because they are so different. I am thankful and appreciate the differences of my two sweet boys!

Holy TaNoodle

Kids say the cutest things! Blake is very aware of everything that goes on around him and puts a lot of things together.

So my parents have been staying with us and have been a huge help. The laundry list is long with how helpful they have been especially since Billy has been gone alot.

So the other day - Blake was playing Parcheesi with my parents and he always say the cutest things but this tops the cake. Blake said "Holy TaNoodle" to my parents while they were playing and my parents have loved telling everyone.

Blake's 4th Birthday Party

So as you can tell - I am back tracking on this entry. Blake turned 4 on Jan. 25th, 2010. It is so hard to imagine our little baby is now 4 going on 14. Blake is growing up and pretty smart (if I say so myself) too quickly.

Blake is a great big brother and is super loving which makes me proud. His laugh is so sweet and we are lucky to hear it often. Grayson and baby girl will be lucky to have Big Brother Blake look out for them.

So I am going to share some pictures from Blake's birthday party. I have to say myself that I came up with a great idea. We had a magician come to the house and perform a show for the kids. We had seen Mr. Culler in Md one day randomly and Blake was blown away by the magic tricks.

Since Blake's birthday is in January - our options are limited for ideas but this was a huge success. The kids came over while Mr. Culler set up the magic show in the basement and then the kids all went downstairs and enjoyed the show. The parents were able to sit back and enjoy it as well which was important to me. After the magic show, petting the rabbit, and balloon art then it was time for cake.

It was important for Blake to have his friends over for his birthday and everyone had a great time. I am always able to find a bargain (better than most people would know) and it worked out great.

Soccer Party Crashers

We have had a great weekend doing lots of fun things before Billy heads back out of town for one last trip before "baby girl" arrives. We started out with strawberry picking, lunch at Lawry's, planting flowers with Mommom and Bob and so the weekend went by.

However we went to get ice cream at a local place in Leesburg and it was absolutely packed. Granted - I have never seen this place ever be packed before but there was a soccer party taking place that night. Well Blake decided that he needed to sit in the big part of the room to eat his ice cream so he could be a part of the soccer party.

The boys clapped for each young girls as she received her trophy from the coach. Grayson even threw in a "yeah" each time. The ice cream was great and it was very endearing to listen to this father/coach who really loved coaching. This coach said such nice things about each player and you could tell that he must be a great coach. My mom said that he reminded her of Mr Duis who was my soccer coach growing up.

It was a great weekend just getting the necessary things done around the house. We made 2 trips to Home Depot to add some items to the boy's closet systems that we put in 2 years ago. I am always thankful that Billy is handy and willing to go along with what I think would work.

Tonight - Billy and I enjoyed a nice dinner at Sweetwaters tonight by ourselves. We had not been there in over 4 years and we enjoyed our dinner very much.