Connor's First Communion

Yesterday was Connor's First Communion Day! Jeff's mom Virginia (Grandma Ginny) came up from Chicago, and my sister Molly (Connor's godmother) came up from Iowa to celebrate his big day with him. Finally we have some beautiful spring weather to enjoy! It was a very special day for Connor. It's hard to believe he's getting so old already.

Connor & Porter:

Jeff, Nancy & Connor

Grandma Joanie, Papa Dan & Connor

Grandma Ginny, Jeff, Nancy, Connor & Porter:

Aunt Molly & Connor:

Connor, Aunt Molly & Porter:

Aunt Molly & Connor:

Aunt Peggy, Peter, Katie, Uncle Steve & Connor:

Connor's Banner:

April (SNOW) Showers...

bring frozen flowers???


Not sure that's how it's supposed to go, but that's how it is! Luckily most of it has melted by dinnertime. I'm not sure I could handle any snow that stuck for any length of time. This has been such (ok...I accidentally typed suck there!! too true) a horrible winter I am just more than ready to move on. I have this fear that we are going to have a less than stellar summer this year, and I really, really hope that's not the case. My SIL in Dallas said it was 90 degrees there today. Last I checked it was 35 here and so windy it feels like 20. It's just NOT right!!

The boys enjoying the April snow:

We are happy to have Grandma & Papa back from Florida (though I wish they brought the weather home with them!). We had a delicious home-cooked breakfast with them this morning & Connor got an opportunity to pick up a few pointers from Papa in their checkers game!

Connor & Papa playing checkers:

St Pat's 2011

Ok, I know it's been a long time since I've posted...but we've been busy, and I've probably been posting more photos on Facebook these days.

Connor just turned 8 on March 4th. Porter is 3 1/2 and very feisty. Connor finished his hockey season last weekend and scored 2 goals during their jamboree. Porter had 2 skating lessons which did NOT go well, so we decided to pull him out for now and try swimming lessons instead. I'm hoping they are less painful for everyone involved!

Here are some photos of the kids on St Pat's with our friends the McCartys:

Jack, Connor, Maggie & Porter:

Jack & Connor:

Connor:

Porter:

Connor & Porter:

I'd like to promise that I'm going to do more updates, but I'm not sure I can keep my promise. I'll try though!

Halloween & Fall

Catching up with fall, though it doesn't really feel like we've had one yet! I think we skipped over summer and had it in September and now we've skipped over fall. I'm still waiting! I really love fall, but it just hasn't been that enjoyable this year. I've had a hard time getting into the season. Both boys were sidelined with H1N1 a couple of weeks ago too. They have completely recovered now, but it wasn't much fun. Poor Porter had a temp of 105.1 one night!

It's not good when you have snow 4 times in October! Though the boys enjoyed it!



We did have a fun bonfire at my brother Steve's farm near Afton Alps. He brings dead trees over to the bonfire with his bobcat, drops them on and whoa baby, it's a BIG fire!

Porter with cousin Katie:

Mmmm...Giant toasted Marshmallow:

Connor and Porter had their pediatrician's check-ups together this year. 2 year check-up for Porter. He weighed in a 30 lbs, which I think is around the 75th%. Connor weighed in at 47.5 lbs which is around 50th% and he was 25th% for height. They both had to get shots. I didn't think Connor had to get shots, so it came as an unpleasant surprise to him! He was a very good big brother though, and read to Porter as we were waiting.


The boys had fun on Halloween. Connor dressed up as Obi Wan Kenobi and Porter was DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba. He refused to wear his hat or glasses on Halloween night, so it's a good thing I got a photo of him with it on the day it arrived in the mail! They got lots of candy, and I've had to exercise great restraint to not raid their candy too much! We paid a visit to the Oakdale Fire Station on Halloween too, and our neighbor Bill who is a volunteer firefighter was kind enough to let us in to look at the trucks!

Connor is Obi Wan:

Porter as DJ Lance Rock:

Random Connor stuff. He's been trying to earn some extra money to buy a lego kit that he really wants. He's been extra helpful, but always at a cost! He even wanted to do some jobs when he was sick with H1N1, but I informed him he wouldn't be doing any jobs besides getting better. Here he is helping to empty the dishwasher:

Finally, he brought this over to Jeff and I, and we both said, "Is that Jesus??" He was so proud of himself, he said "Yep!". Hmmm...Lego Jesus...now I think I've seen everything!!



Here is a video of Porter singing Twinkle Twinkle:

Redwoods and Wineries

We started out our morning with coffee and pastries at The Flying Goat coffee shop in downtown Santa Rosa, and then we headed northwest to the Armstrong Woods where the big Redwoods are. It was really beautiful and peaceful to walk around in the midst of such majestic trees.










After that we headed to a small vineyard called Porter Creek (which I really only wanted to go to because of the name!), but we ended up buying a couple bottles there. Then we headed to Healdsburg to buy lunch which we planned on eating at the next vineyard, Truett-Hurst. It was really nice and had a lovely spot to eat lunch by a babbling creek. We bought another bottle there. Next we stopped at Dutcher Crossing which had amazing views, and really good Sauvignon Blanc. We signed up for a club which.includes only 2 shipments of 6 bottles each, so we picked out the first six and will get another 6 in 6 mos. We next went to a really beautiful winery called Ferrari-C(something). It looked like a Tuscan Villa and had the most amazing surroundings. Just one bottle there with a pretty label! Next was Sbargia Family and we got 2 bottles there.

One lane bridge on the way to Porter Creek Vineyard:

Creekside lunch at Truett-Hurst Vineyard:

Ferrari-Carano Vineyard:

Beautiful View from Sbragia Family Vineyard:

Lake Sonoma:

Bella Wine Cave:

Grapes at Coppola Winery:

After that we made plans to meet up for dinner in Geyserville with Kate, the anesthesiologist I met yesterday, and her husband Dave. We had a little time to kill before we met them, so we drove up to Lake Sonoma which is a big reservoir. It was really pretty. We briefly stopped at a vineyard called Bella where they do their tastings in a cave. We didn't taste or buy, just looked around in the cave. Last stop before dinner was Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard where we bought one bottle.

We had dinner in Geyserville at Diavola, a great wood-fire oven pizza restaurant which was great. We had a nice time with Kate and Dave, and hopefully will continue that friendship.

We have had a wonderful trip and packed a lot of stuff into just a few days. I would LOVE to come back to this stunning part of the country again. Hopefully we can do that!

Home tomorrow. We might get to do a tiny bit of sightseeing in San Francisco before our flight in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys and getting back home!