Spring Break!

Before I forget - I added a link to the "link" section of this blog (it's down on the right side) where you can go and view any pictures that are on here (including the ones to the Easter slideshow). I think you can download them to your computer if you'd like, too.

It's been a quick week - but isn't it always when you want the days to last?! I'll see if I can remember what all we did....

Sunday, we had Conner's Easter Egg hunt outside after his nap. It was chilly, so we didn't dawdle! I hid 25 eggs out in the front yard, and he did his best to run around and find them all. He actually did a great job, and seemed to have a lot of fun. The last time we'd done an egg hunt in the front yard was two years ago, and at that time he was too scared to try and go down the hills at all - that didn't leave too many places to hide the eggs! Audrey slept through this year's, which was fine because of the weather, but we'll definitely have to get her out there next year.

Audrey did enjoy playing with her Easter basket, though she wasn't too sure about the grass.

After a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's on Monday to have lunch with our friends, we didn't do too much for the next few days. Conner went to school on Tuesday and Wednesday; Audrey and I just hung out at the house and enjoyed the quiet (which was soon to end!).

On Thursday, Austin (6), Abby (5), and Ella (1.5) Hartley came over to play for the afternoon while their mom, Jess, coached a softball game. These pictures are Conner and Audrey waiting for them to arrive - they were so excited! The kids played all afternoon (the littlest girls took naps, thank goodness), then we all went to church for our regular Thursday-evening small group. Eric asked me if I'd changed my mind about not having any more kids... no way! Of course, going from 2 to 5 is a huuuge difference!

Eric was off on Friday, so we started out our day with some haircuts. Eric's been needing one badly, but then I asked Conner if he wanted his cut, too, and he did. It's pretty short now, just like it was last summer, but what's the most different is the color - all of the blonde was cut off! It's amazing how much darker it looks. I'm sure once it warms up and he starts spending all of his time outside that it'll lighten up again. Then we went to Papa and Weyla's in Milford (they're finally home from Florida!), where the kids spent the afternoon. Eric and I went to 3 different stores looking at fireplaces - he wants to replace ours with one that will actually help heat the house next winter. Audrey's come down with a cold (and a nasty cough) so we came home after that.

I (finally) realized this week that Aud really isn't a baby anymore. We took dinner to some friends on Monday evening that just had a baby a couple of weeks ago. Not only was this baby teeny tiny (she was 6 lbs, 3 oz at birth) which made me realize how big Audrey is, but Aud was all over the place! She crawled downstairs with the boys, then would come back up and pull up and pull stuff off of tables... she really is a toddler (albeit a non-walking one) now!

This is what she's like at home now.... getting into everything!

Happy Easter!

I just saw this one someone else's blog and thought it looked pretty cool! These are pictures from this morning, both before and after church. Both kids looked adorable! Audrey wore the bunny ears for quite a while at church (it was my day in the nursery with her) and Conner actually wore his tie all through his class - he took it off as soon as he left his classroom.

I need to get outside now (I think Conner's finally asleep!) and hide some eggs. It's a beautiful, but chilly, day! At least it's not raining!

St. Patty's Day

The little leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day. It's an "authentic" Irish onesie - Mom and Dad got it for Conner (or the baby that turned out to be Conner) on their first trip to Ireland in 2003.

Just for kicks: this is a picture of Conner wearing the onesie when he was about the same age as Audrey is now. It's amazing to me how much they look alike! (Except for the teeth thing - Conner had a mouthful!)

Another difference - he was walking!

Here's Audrey "walking":

Papa, Weyla, and the Zoo

Mom and Dad (aka Papa and Weyla) came down Friday night for a visit - Conner was sitting in a little rocking chair in the dining room waiting for them to pull up! Conner and Weyla spent Saturday morning playing Play-Doh, making cookies, and reading books (Audrey slept all morning) while I was at a baby shower. After I got home, we decided to make a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo.

It was a gray day, but we didn't have any rain (except for a few drops) until we made it back to the car at the end of our trip. It was a great day to go - there was almost no one there! We saw all kinds of animals; I think the favorites were the swimming polar bear and the penguins. We got to ride on the Merry-go-round and the train without any lines! We were at the zoo for about 2 hours, which is the perfect amount of time when you're with a sleepy 13-month old and a 4-year old (who hadn't had a nap until he slept for a few minutes on the way to dinner).

On the way home, we stopped to eat at a restaurant that's located in an antique mall on Kellogg Avenue. There's a neat room where they have a fireplace, a big leather couch, a pool table, some video games, and a flat screen TV (oh, and some tables to eat, too!). We were the only ones there, so Conner was able to run around without bothering anyone. He'd decided that he wasn't hungry and wanted to play some pool. The owner of the joint actually put some money in the pool table for him so he could play with all of the balls, which we thought was awfully nice. Dinner was good, too!

Both kids fell asleep on the way home and went straight to bed (by that time it was around 7:00). After Mom & Dad left, Eric passed out on the couch until I woke him up around 10... what an exciting evening it was in the Fouss home!

Donkeys and a Crazy Day

The annual AHS Donkey Basketball game was Wednesday night. I've played several times, but wasn't selected to play this year (which is really ok!), so the four of us went to watch. Conner absolutely loves seeing the donkeys; every time we come to school for an event, he asks if the donkeys will be there. It was a lot of fun. Between the student half (juniors vs. seniors) and the faculty half (AHS vs. Nagel Middle School) they always "park" the donkeys in the middle of the court so people can go up and sit on them or pet them. I think we were the first ones out there - Conner and Audrey shared a donkey. I forgot to take the camera, but I got a picture on my phone.... now I just need to figure out how to get it off of my phone! My favorite comment from Conner: "When are they going to poop?"

Yesterday was a crazy day. Conner's rescheduled doctor's appointment was at 8:00, so we took Audrey to Shannan's, then went to the doctor. I'll try to summarize:

• 35 lbs, 39 1/4 " (up 3 lbs and 2" in the last year)
• eyesight and hearing was perfect (which means he's just ignoring us when he doesn't hear us!)
• the doctor was happy with him drinking 1% milk (said he doesn't need the fat) and wearing a helmet on his bike
• there are some small pimply-looking things on Conner's chest that the dr. said is from some sort of virus, related to warts; they should go away in the next year or so on their own
• the stuttering has returned (again)... dr. said to just ignore it, don't tell him to slow down, don't bring attention to it

After a run through the McDonald's drive-thru, I took Conner to school (where he proceeded to tell everyone we were late because we'd gone to McDonald's!). Then I headed to school.

I had 2 meetings after school that lasted until 4:30 (yuck), then had to run to Kroger's, then get gas before I headed to Shannan's to get Audrey (who again messed up an outfit by pooping up the back! She does it almost every day now). We had group last night at church at 6:30 (we didn't get there until 7) and left right after dinner so we could get home and get little people in bed!

Conner's taken to sleeping in the spare bedroom this week - we're not sure why. He just says he wants to! Mom and Dad are coming down tonight to visit, so I warned him that he's not going to be able to do that tonight. He told me he'd just jump on their bellies in the morning to wake them up. Lucky them!

Videos

Took a couple cute videos today....

Heading up the steps. . .

Blowing kisses!

The Blizzard of '08

It started snowing yesterday morning around 8:00. The weather guys on TV had said we could have 4 - 6".... boy, were they wrong! Aside from an hour or two last night, it hasn't stopped snowing yet. They let us out of school at 12:20 yesterday (we had to stay long enough for it to count for a whole day, otherwise we'd be making it up in May) and it took me over an hour to do a normal 20-minute drive home. Traffic was just crazy!

As I got home, Eric was leaving - he was driving to Columbus for the weekend to watch the state girls basketball games. It's something he does with some buddies every year. I hadn't planned on going because Conner was scheduled for a doctor's appointment this morning. So he left, and the kids and I were on our own. Everything was fine until a few minutes before 7:00 when the electricity went out. Conner and I found some candles and lit them, got the kerosene heater running (thank goodness for that!), and had decided to sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags (I would've brought Audrey down, too, if it came to that point). Luckily, around 8:00 it came back on... it was enough time for us to have an adventure but not be too inconvenienced. After it came back on, Audrey woke up and I brought her downstairs to hang out for a few minutes before both little people went back to bed.

This morning we woke up to more snow.... and it's still coming at a good pace! I'd rescheduled the doctor's appointment (just a checkup) for Thursday morning so we wouldn't have to leave the house. The three of us got all bundled up and headed outside for a bit to play. Audrey wasn't a big fan of the snow, but I think the biggest problem was that she didn't want to keep mittens on. So when she put her hand in the snow, it got cold. Conner was out for quite a while, but then after we took a trip to the mailbox, he was tired and ready to come in. It definitely will be interesting to see how much we get!

That's the 10-inch mark on the ruler by Conner's leg. That was around 9:00 AM Saturday.

A couple of random thoughts:

• Conner is sitting at the table with me right now playing with his Play-Doh. It's amazing how the smell of the stuff is so familiar even after so many years!
• He's very proud of the fact that he's worn underwear to bed for the past two nights... and woken up dry! It's a miracle!

The Field Trip

As soon as I picked Conner up from school yesterday, he was talking about the field trip they'd gone on. The bus they rode on the field trip was the first thing he talked about (it was yellow!). Conner told me several times yesterday evening how much he enjoys riding the bus. Funny kid. He actually sat with Cody's mom on the bus (Eric asked later who Cody sat with, and Conner said "By himself"); he asked later if we could invite Cody's mom to come to our house sometime (and Cody too) to play. I said we'd see. Guess he liked her! It turns out that he sat by her at lunch, too (so why didn't she make him eat his chicken fingers instead of just eating his french fries?!).

They went to see Robin Hood - from what I understand from Conner, it's about some soldiers, and some have red things and some have black things. It was really good. It was at the same theater they went to, and it was performed by big kids.

I asked Conner if it would be ok if I tried to go to the next field trip they have this year (if there is one - I need to check on that). He got pretty excited, which is a nice feeling! Even told me I could sit by him on the bus.

Audrey had a rough night last night - she went to bed easy around 7:00 after I dragged her out of the bathtub (she looooves baths!). Then around 8:00 she woke up crying, so I brought her downstairs to be with me & Eric. Audrey drank some water, played a little bit, then went back to bed. I could hear her talking for a while, but she settled down and had passed out when I went to bed at 10:00. Around 1:15 she woke me up crying agin.... I couldn't get her to stop crying in her crib, so I brought her back to my bed and we laid down. Eventually she settled down and fell asleep and I put her back in her bed around 1:45. At 5:15, Aud woke up crying again - Eric brought her to me in bed where we fell back asleep. When my alarm went off at 6 she was totally out of it; I thought about leaving her in my bed surrounded by pillows, but if she'd woken up there is no way they would have contained her! I tried to get her back in her crib, but she woke up and would have nothing of it. She ended up playing in the exersaucer in the bathroom while I showered and got ready. It was a crazy morning (and I lost a button to my pants while I was getting dressed....).

I came to school this morning and the kids were all talking about snow. I'd heard a quick mention of it on the news, but nothing about accumulation... so I checked online (weather.com) and saw they're predicting 4 - 6" tomorrow! What a crazy winter. It was 75 degrees on Tuesday, and now they're talking major storm. What stinks is that we'll have to start making up any snow days....

A funny Conner-ism before I finish up: Eric made some macaroni and cheese on Tuesday for lunch when he was home (because of the rain). It was in the shape of dinosaurs. When I asked later what he'd had for lunch, he said "macaroni and dinosaurs!". It was cute.

A trip to Oxford

Sarah Boston called Wednesday night (as Eric and I were watching American Idol, of course) asking if we wanted to meet in Oxford Saturday and watch the Miami/OU basketball game. Seeing as we didn't have any other plans, it sounded like a fun thing to do on a Saturday evening.
We ended up meeting the Bostons at the Brick Street Something (used to be First Run) for dinner. Everything was good, but it took quite a while to get our food - it's tough keeping 2 4-year old boys busy for that long! Brian and Conner did a little dancing on the stage while we waited...
After dinner, we all headed down to Millett Hall to watch the game. It was Alumni night, so there were quite a few of the older players there. They introduced them all at halftime, and it was kinda neat to recognize some names and faces! Brian was traveling with Corduroy - as part of a class project, they pass the bear around and take pictures of all of his adventures. Luckily, he got to see a good basketball game (check out the score on the center court scoreboard!).

If you can't tell, it was 45 - 16 (2nd half). OU caught up a little at the end, but Miami still won easily - quite a surprise!

We didn't leave Oxford until around 10:00.. Audrey was asleep before we were out of town, and Conner followed soon thereafter. They both slept the rest of the way home, though Audrey didn't sleep well once we got here. She woke up several times and ended up in bed with me & Eric early this morning. Both kids are upstairs now taking (hopefully looong) naps.

A funny thing happened this week at Conner's preschool. To preface this, it will be helpful to know that a few weeks ago, the owner of the preschool asked me if it would be ok if she gave another little boy's mom my name and number so we could arrange a playdate. For some reason, the staff just loves Conner and thinks he is the sweetest little boy. If only they knew the truth! (Just kidding!) I said sure, no problem. Then Thursday, when I was there to pick him up, Beth told me that she'd gotten 4 tickets for a play called "Too Many Frogs" at the Playhouse in the Park later this month. Two tickets for me and Conner, two tickets for Nathan and his mom.... would we want to go? Her treat. I thought that was pretty funny. So now I guess we'll go see this play! Conner was pretty excited - he asked if it would be ok if he sat by Nathan.

Big week this week... We've switched his days from Tues/Thurs to Mon/Weds this week at school because Shannan is out of town tomorrow. So Audrey is going to play with Ella and Abby and Austin Hartley (thanks to Jess!) and Conner's going to school tomorrow. Tuesday is the day he's been waiting for for months - swimming lessons start again at New Richmond High School! Yay! Then Wednesday, Conner has a field trip for school... I think they're going to see a play, then lunch at Frisch's. What's the most exciting thing about a field trip? Riding the bus, of course!