Where's Waldo (aka Ben)?

Well the season of the tree work is off to a start as well. These pictures are from the second tree job that Ben decided to do and it was a lot of work. I even got to help. It is really amazing to watch him climb up in the tree and calculate where to cut the branch so it will land in the exact spot he wanted. He is truly talented at it which calms my fears of him falling out of the tree. I know he is very careful and wouldn't do a job if it was too dangerous. Connor loves to watch his daddy climb the tree and see the tree fall down. He has his own toy chainsaw that he takes with to the tree jobs and he "helps" daddy cut down the trees too. He'll do anything to be like his daddy, it's so sweet.

Carpin'

Well it has officially started, the season of the carp fishing. I have yet to understand the fun in fishing for something you are going to just throw away, but Ben and his friends seem to think it is a great pasttime. This year they have found a spot to go to where they shot 600 carp in four hours. Filled up two 5 yard manure spreaders and the farmer used them for fertilizer. He says that carp are harmful to a lakes ecosystem. When they eat, carp suck in a bunch of mud or sand off the bottom, then they spit it out and digest all of the food that remains. Spitting it out makes the water cloudy and blocks out the suns rays, plants need the sun to grow so they can provide oxygen for the lake. (The first 3 sentences of this blog were written by Nicole, then Ben stuck in the last half).

fun friday

Friday I didn't have to work, so Connor and I got to spend the whole day together. However, we ended up having a pretty busy, but fun day. It started off with a doctor's appointment for me right away at 8:00 in the morning. All went well at the apt. we'll just have to wait for the results to come back. Then we got back home and had some breakfast (that's when these pictures were taken.) After breakfast we went to look at a house that Ben's dad is interested in buying, and then we headed to Ben's aunts house to visit with her for the afternoon.


We had a lot of fun visiting with Monica. Connor loved the orange yogurt she gave him. He was very serious as he ate it and tried to get all the yogurt out of the container, which is even hard for me to do, but he was determined. Connor wasn't too excited about the fortune cookie he tried, he had more fun looking through the hole at Monica while she talked in funny voices back to him. Lots of laughs and stories were passed and then it was time for us to go so Connor could still get a nap in before bed time. Thanks Monica, Feel free to come visit us anytime as well!

Is it done yet??

In December we started our big project on the house, finishing the basement. Since we moved in, I have been waiting for the day that the basement would be finished and we would have more living space. Ben kept telling me that we had to wait until the winter to start it, and then after hunting season as well. Then the time finally came when we could start it. Here are some pictures of the work in progress, and of course, Connor helping out as much as he could.






Yesterday we finally were able to stain the cabinets for the office and get them hung and in place, they still aren't completly finished, but at least we have a spot to put the computer now. Once the carpet was finally put it, we were able to move our bedroom furniture downstairs. Our bedroom is pretty much finished, just some trim in the bathroom needs to be put up, and if you can see in the picture, we still need to do something with the stripper pole! Our family room downstairs has become the new hang out for us. We are always downstairs now, it is so nice to have space in the house that is carpeted.

Family Pictures

Here are our Christmas pictures. Since I don't take Connor to get his pictures taken, we try to take our own pictures. It was about a week before Christmas when I decided we better get some Christmas pictures taken and sent out. This was a Saturday morning and it was about zero degrees outside. Connor was very mad that we made him go outside without his jacket on. So in between pictures we had a blanket and covered him up. I was really surprised to see how well the pictures actually turned out. You can see in the family picture that Connor used his "fake & cheesy" smile for us, but it is still pretty cute.

These are some pictures of Connor playing outside with me and one of Connor's first ice fishing trip with daddy.

And a couple of Daddy and Connor up at the cabin doing their work, and one of daddy and Connor while watching a packers game.

Connor and I had some fun this year with our Easter eggs. We made and colored the Easter eggs on Friday night, and then Saturday we dropped one on the floor, so I thought Connor might want to see what the egg looked like inside so I squished it open for him and he got to feel it, then we had to squish open the rest of the eggs and play with them. We sat there for a few hours playing with the squished eggs, he loved it, but my house smelled like rotten eggs for the rest of the weekend. The other picture is of Uncle Dane's new puppy Cooper.

Pictures of Connor

Well I thought I would add a bunch of pictures of Connor to start with. He is now 2 1/2 and will be 3 at the end of August. He loves playing outside, riding his bike, flying his kite, playing in the sand box, and just doing "jobs" with dad. He loves to be given a job to do when dad is out working in the garage, that we he doesn't get in the way and he feels proud of himself when he gets his job done and gets to help dad at the same time!

This is Connor all dressed up on Easter getting ready to go to grandma and grandpa Davis' house. The Easter bunny brought him the new backpack that came with a spiderman fishing pole, the cool shades he has on, as well as a tackle box. The spiderman fishing pole is now his favorite toy, and dad is proud to say that he has taught Connor how to cast the fishing pole, and I have to say, he is probably better at casting than I am already. It was actually very amazing to see him learn to cast the fishing pole so fast. Now we are just ready for some nice weather so we can actually go try to catch some fish with the fishing pole.

These are the pictures that were taken right before Christmas at daycare. Every six months the day care that Connor goes to has Lifetouch photography come in and take the kids pictures, and it is amazing that the pictures actually turned out somewhat decent as there are some 100 kids at the day care center, and not one of them wanted to sit in front of the camera to get their picture taken. If you look closely at the close up picture of Connor, you will see that he was lucky enough to inherit my crooked smile. It's so cute to me, this picture reminds me so much of my kindergarten picture it's crazy. I'll have to find that picture and post it.

And some more random pictures of Connor playing and being silly.