Venice, Italy

     We had a wonderful visit with Aaron's dad and his wife a couple weekends ago when they came to visit us. Aaron just happened to have a four day weekend, so he was off the entire time they were here. It worked out perfectly! The first day {9/18} was pretty relaxed. We signed them in on base and then ate dinner at a local restaurant. We were a little bummed that our favorite pizzeria was closed, but made the best of it and tried some place new.

Bubbles and Boots

   Aaron has been back home for a few days now, and we are enjoying every minute with him. He got back on Saturday afternoon and boy were we happy to see him. Connor couldn't wait for me to open the gate, so he started trying to climb the fence. Silly boy. When we came inside, he gave his daddy the picture he drew for him. It was so sweet how happy he was.

All Smiles

...because my honey comes home today!

      Aaron has been training in Germany for the last 3 weeks. We have talked some, but since I broke my phone it has been hard to text and even answer the phone at times. We have missed him a ton! I have loved every minute I have spent with my little guy, but I am so happy his daddy is coming back!

Italy House: Kitchen

    The kitchen is open to the living room, which is why I freaked out when we saw that it had BLUE cabinets. None of our stuff is blue, so how were we going to make it work? Well, we really didn't have a choice but to use what we already had. I wasn't going to buy all new stuff for a kitchen that I am only going to have to live in for 3 years. Other then the blue cabinets, it's not too bad. Since there is hardly any counter top space, I have to use the table as my prep area. Good thing we have a bar height table!

Why they couldn't make them all like the white ones on the top, I have no idea!

Connor: Seventeen Months Old

*Favorite foods: Bananas, blueberries, grapes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches {without crust}, and pancakes. I have started letting you eat your snacks either on the stairs or at your small table in the living room.

Brody's Virtual 1st Birthday

    We had the honor of celebrating a very special little boy today, Brody. He is the son of a family friend and he turned one today! Brody was diagnosed with Pfeiffer Syndrome (Type 2) when he was just a few days old. He also has what is known as a trachea sleeve. It is very uncommon, so uncommon that he is only the 13th person documented with it in the world! He is a tough little man and has been through several surgeries, but pulled through them like a champ. His mom and dad had to cancel his first birthday party because his most recent surgery was just a couple weeks ago. Because of that, she came up with the brilliant idea to throw him a virtual birthday party. She asked all her friends and family to celebrate however they wished in honor of her little man. We decided we wanted to celebrate with him all the way from Italy, so here are some pictures from our day...

 Getting ready to go celebrate Brody turning 1!

Moms trip to Nove

    In August, Aaron and I went to Nove and ordered a wedding gift for a friend. Because in August most Italians go on vacation, a lot of places are closed. Well this store was open, however, they weren't going to be able to complete my order until the beginning of September when the rest of the employees got back from their holiday. I told my friend Laura that I needed to make a trip back to Nove, so we decided to go today. We didn't want to take the babies because there was way too many things for them to break, plus it would be fun for just us moms to go! That meant Connor was going to have to go to daycare... for the first time in his life. {A couple weeks ago I signed him up for hourly care, which means he will not be going full time, but I can pay by the hour if I need to run errands or have him go for a few hours here and there.} I was nervous, but excited for him to play with new kids and make friends. We packed his new little backpack and did a little photo shoot before leaving the house. How cute does he look?!?

Grandparent's Day 2014

Happy Grandparent's Day to the best grandparents a boy could ask for! That's you Grandma, Grandpa, MiMi, Grandpappy, Big Grandpa, Great Grandma Sunshine, Great Grandma Olson, and Great Grandpa Olson! I am also thinking of you Nana, Wela, and Welo. Hope you all have a wonderful day! Love you and miss you all!

XOXO, 

Connor

Messy Fingers

   Connor loves to snack throughout the day, so I try and give him healthy snacks as much as possible. Lately he has been eating a lot of bananas and blueberries. I think that's great, but the blueberries here cost more than $3 for a teeny tiny container. One of my friends asked me why I didn't buy frozen ones. After thinking about it, I wasn't really sure why I didn't. I guess I thought they would taste different, maybe. Well on Friday when I went to the grocery store I picked up a bag of frozen blueberries and raspberries. They were a fraction of the cost and there were a lot more in each bag. We tried them out today, and Connor seemed to like them. The only thing I don't like about them is they are extra juicy, which means extra messy! Connor didn't seem to mind though...

A Picture For Daddy

  This afternoon I thought Connor would have fun if it let him color something for his daddy. It keeps him happy and we get special artwork to display.

 Aren't these the most adorable colored pencils?

{Thank you Kelsey!}

Growth Spurt

    My poor little guy had a rough night. After the annoying fireworks that woke him up at 11:30, he finally fell back asleep at 1. I could tell he was having a hard time breathing because he kept loosing his paci from having to breath through his mouth. He woke up happy, but with a runny nose.

I think he may have grown over night because I don't think his pj's were this short last night. HAHA!

One Thing After Another

*Negative Nancy here* The last few days have been pretty lousy. Between breaking my phone and hardly being able to talk to people, the power going out for 6 hours, spending hours on the magic jack trying to figure things out with people in the states, finishing my 20 CEU's to renew my nursing license, and filing our claim for our items that were damaged during the move.... I am just over it! This is how the last few days have gone...

Thursday: 

I had to make a trip to post, so we stopped by the park for a little while.