Sam's 4th Birthday

For Sam's 4th birthday we had a Minnesota Gopher themed party and it was fabulous!  He had all of his friends over, we painted faces and Goldy himself came to throw candy and lead a cheer!  It was perfect.

Jess and Goldy

We had the lots of options for decor

My crafty moment

The birthday boy!  We love you!!!

Ready for the candle toss

Goldy throwing out the goods

With his trusty sidekick, Cory

Perfection.

Sam, you are welcome!

Sweet Lauren in her Gopher gear

Cousins (and mouths of candy!)

The perfect fort

Goldy and the gang!

Sam and Lo | Updates

Updates on our fabulous children...
They are perfect and we are absolutely blessed!

We had an awesome 4th of July at Auntie Cris' house.

Sam loves to dance...Lauren is quickly learning 

We had several birthday's at Pump it Up this year.  Awesome place!

LAUREN

• Lauren is now on the move in a major way!  She can walk so quickly and is gone in 60 seconds....keeps us on our toes
• She can say "eye you" in response to "I love you!"  (Sam said the same thing when he was her age)
• She is still so happy and laughs all the time
• She has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on the bottom)



Awesome outfit for Rochester Country Club....love her in leopard!  (this may also be her Pebbles costume for Halloween this year...stay tuned)



Getting brave in the sprinkler (but still have to keep her sheltered from the shade - us Connell's don't do so well in the elements)

SAM

• Still is into dressing up - jerseys, superheros, animals...anything!  But when he does he needs ALL the accessories with every outfit.  Sports - he needs the authentic jersey and all the equipment (including matching underwear); Superheros - he needs matching undies (yes, I did get them for him...again) and the masks, capes and swords; Animals - he rarely gets out of character (at the zoo when he went in a cheetah costume he went the entire time waiting for us to find the animals that looked like him and then was thrilled when we finally say the cats in the cage
• He has pretty good manners, "talks sweet", and still puts on his "listening ears."
• He loves his sister, but is still learning how to be gentle with her....it's a process

"Here Granny, wear this.  You be Setoguchi and I will be Koivu.  Now, stand here and look tough."

"You have to celebrate into the boards."

Patiently waiting for dad to come home so we can go swimming.  He was there for 40 minutes.

Loves reading....and loves sports.

We play baseball for hours a day!

We love the Twins and have so much fun going as a family.  This photo was from Sam and Pat's Father/Son game!

Sam's first time swimming alone

We got Sam his first pair of water wings and....boom....we have a swimmer!

Lauren's first pedicure

Lauren's first pedicure was lovingly given by Gracie and Jenna with compliments.  And though it didn't seem like it, she was having a fabulous time!

"Mom, stop having all these photos taken...I am, like, so over it!"

The pedicure crew

Fourth of July 2013

We had a great Fourth!  Pat took Sam to the Twins game in the afternoon and then we headed to Jensen's house for our traditional celebration.  The weather was beautiful, there were tons of kids and life is good!

Mini Lauren photoshoot

Sweet patriotic girl

I mean, seriously, could she get cuter?

Ok....last one!

Sam loved 'fishing' in the pool with the tennis ball thrower

"Tackling Daddy!"

I wanted one photo with the kids together....this is perfect!  And took 2 minutes to get (which is about all I had!)

Checking out the fireworks next door

Sam and Tao on the tramp....they were buds!

I think this photo is so cute...the best part - Lauren is fussing, not really smiling!

Sam was not a huge fan of the fireworks.  He was scared and didn't like them.  I was telling him that they are my favorite - they are beautiful when it is dark and it just isn't the "pop" sounds he was hearing all day.
So when we got home from Cristin's house we got in our pjs and brushed our teeth;  I told him that I wanted to take him to see the beautiful fireworks on a "firework adventure".  We got in the car and drove in the direction of the fireworks until we had a great view from Bachmans.  We got out, sat on the trunk and watched the display.  His eyes got big and you knew that he was enjoying them.
Then he turns to me and says "Mom, thank you so much for taking me on the 'firework adventure'.  It is beautiful and I really like it.  This is great."   It was one of the sweetest moments of my life.

Moments later....
"Oooh, Sam. I like that one. It is white and sparkles and it's my favorite. What's your favorite?"

Um.... Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. THAT ONE! I like THAT one!!!
"That's pretty. Why is that your favorite?"
Because its green and red..... Just like the Minnesota Wild. 

Sam is so great!  God bless the USA!

Happy Father's Day 2013