Meanest mom ever.

School is evidently way more cool than it was when I went. I know this because Connor came home from school today talking about how much fun playing with an Touch iPod is. When I went to school the coolest thing we ever did was watch a movie in the classroom. Connor however is playing with smart boards and iPods.

Then we got to have this conversation.

Connor: "Mom, I really want a Touch iPod for my birthday."
Me: "It is called an iPod Touch and I would love to have one too buddy."
Connor: "But can I have one?"
Me: "Nope."
Connor: "How old do you have to be to get one?"
Me: "I don't know."
Connor: "Is it because we don't have enough money."
Me: "Well, they are kind of really expensive."
Connor: "But can I please have one."
Me: "No."
Connor: "Pretty please."
Me: "No."
Connor: "You're just saying no because you don't want me to have one. Aren't you?"
Me: "Pretty much. And this conversation is now over."
Connor: "You just want to be mean."
Me: "Connor...Conversation. Over."

My proudest mother moment ever.

I've had a lot of moments as a mother that I am not proud of. There's the eleven million times that I've lost my temper with my child, the times when I did absolutely the wrong thing at the wrong time, and countless other mistakes. 

Connor and I were having reading time tonight and I realized that at least I have done something right as a parent. 

We were reading a Curious George book entitled The Kite. Connor was not pleased with the cover of this book and promptly decreed it to be grammatically incorrect. 

Connor: "Mom, this book doesn't even make any sense!"

Me: "Why not?"

Connor: "Look at the cover. What? Is Curious George a Kite?" 

Me: "I see what you mean."

Connor: "We should tell them that it should say Curious George and The Kite. That would make way more sense."

Me: "Yeah, my kid knows grammar. Jealous?"

Then we reenacted the whole conversation on film for blogging purposes. 

And so it begins.

Today we began a long ritual that should wield a high school diploma in about twelve years. 

Today Connor started Kindergarten at St. Peter's Lutheran School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

We decided to take a picture at home before we left. It was a good thing too, the school was a total mad house. It would have been difficult to get a picture in front of the building.  

Ben and I both thought it was great that Connor's teacher put him right next to her desk. It is like she already knows him. 

Here is to Connor Ockree. May this year be more successful than last year, and may you always be as happy as you were this morning to go to school. 

We never get sick of the zoo.

We used some of my vacation time this week to go to the Fort Wayne children's zoo. My kids never get sick of going to the zoo and we never get sick of taking them since it helps us get the most bang for our yearly membership buck.

Our most recent zoo experience was remarkable in two ways. First of all, I remembered my camera, and second of all, I got some good pictures of my kiddos.

Take a look.

Sophia was showing me her cup. 

Connor took a pony ride. 

Connor and Sophia posed together. 

Pretty serious for a kid that is sitting on a lizard. 

Feeding the goats. 

Still feeding the goats, but Sophia is watching in the background. 

You say bison, I say buffalo.

We took a little family trip to Cook's Bison Ranch which is about 40 minutes away from Fort Wayne in a little town called Wolcottville.

We were told by our tour guide that in Indiana they call them bison because "that is what they are." In Kansas, we call them buffalo because it's our state we can do what we want. The lady on the ranch did acknowledge that because nobody eats bison burgers, they raise bison, but sell buffalo. 

The ranch was really fun. For a nominal fee they loaded you up on a wagon and took you out into the middle of the bison grazing area.  Then they let you feed them special treats. 

Sophia had just woken up from a little nap when we arrived, so it took her a while to warm up to the idea of being out in the middle of a field. 

Connor warmed up a little more quickly and was especially interested in the baby bison that you can see here.  

Although, he did feed some of the grown up bison, Connor seemed a little less intimidated by the baby bison. This one was born in March. They start to get their horns pretty early. 

If you are ever in the Fort Wayne area and looking to get slobbered on by a bunch of dirty buffalo, I highly recommend Cook's Bison Ranch. They were really nice, let us stay out in the grazing area for about half an hour, answered a ton of questions, and didn't mock us too much for repeatedly calling the bison buffalos. 

Haircut Time

Sophia was in major need of a haircut, so I decided to let our stylist, Terra, have a go with her. I took some before and after pictures, but since I was holding her during the actual haircut, there are no during pictures.

Terra has a little styling salon inside her husband's tanning salon. (That's the more part).

Before: The back of her hair was getting pretty long and her bangs needed trimmed up. 

After: clean bangs and shorter in back. 

Back of hair - I love that it started to get a little bit flippy after the cut. 

All done and ready to go home. Too bad she still had to wait for Ben and Connor to finish their cuts. 

Cousins, sniffles, and cuddles.

Ben's parents came up for a visit this weekend and brought along three of our nieces and one of our nephews. They came into town on Friday night and are leaving Monday morning. It has a been a bit hectic (we aren't used to having so many people around) and a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I have had the sniffles this whole weekend which has probably not improved my overall hostess abilities. Despite my cold, we did do some fun things, none of which I took pictures of. You're just going to have to trust me when I say that everyone was enjoying themselves.

Having his cousins around has not been a humbling experience for Connor. His cousins think he is very funny, so when he says things like I'm so funny and I'm too cute, they mostly just laugh at him. This does not encourage him to stop saying these things. Having big kids around has given Connor a chance to talk incessantly to someone other than me and Ben. For this we are most grateful. Having his Grandpa and Grandma around has also made Connor really happy. He just likes having them around and is already talking about how much he will miss them after tomorrow.

Sophia has also enjoyed having so many cousins around. She has numerous laps to sit in and has taken to just throwing herself at whichever cousin (mostly Mercy) she wants to hold her at the time. Sophia has also proven my theory, that it would take her less than an afternoon to have Grandpa completely wrapped around her finger, correct. I realized that she had succeeded when I found him outside pulling her around the yard in our wagon again and again. What I didn't realize is that three of her cousins would also take turns pulling her around until her little heart was content.

It is always good to get to see family and we can't wait until we are able to go back to Topeka and spend some time with everyone.

Watch out ladies.

Connor really wanted to step it up a notch tonight and told me he was going to put on something really fancy. His exact words were "You will be so amazed."

The bad news is that.

1. Connor will still be living with us when he is 35. 
2. I'll still be picking out his clothes at this time. 
3. I told him to try to look cool and this is what he came up with. 

The good news is that...

1. I no longer worry about what kind of girlfriend he will bring home someday. 
2. I am extra thankful that St. Peter's has a uniform policy. 
3. He decided to put this outfit on at 7:00 pm and not 7:00 am.

One of these things is not like the other.

We took the kids to the zoo on Friday afternoon. I have a zoo philosophy that has served our family well. It is the buy a membership and never stay there more than an hour philosophy. If you have a membership, you don't have to feel bad if you leave after just an hour. You can come back the next day and spend an hour in a different part of the zoo. This philosophy has served our family very well for the two years we've lived in Fort Wayne.

The problem with this philosophy is that I often forget to bring my camera. Only planning on spending an hour at the zoo makes it very easy to have impulse zoo trips. No big commitment, no coolers required, we don't even have to have enough money for drinks. Not having to think about these things means that I also don't think about throwing a camera in our bag. Therefore, about a week ago, I decided to keep my camera in my purse. That way I could capture all those precious zoo memories.

This picture is one we will treasure for years to come.  

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

When Ben and I found out that we were going to have a girl, everyone told us how different it would be. She'll be into different things, need you in a different way, and just be well...different. I assumed they were correct, after all, they all had girls.

Then we had Sophia, and it was...different. But, it wasn't different in a she's a girl kind of way. It was different in a here is a child that doesn't cry for hours on end, and here is a baby that craves your affection, she wants you to hold her kind of way. We were pleased by these differences and decided that Sophia was going to have a much better temperament than her challenging, but wonderful brother.

Then Sophia hit 16 months and we noticed some different, as in this child is definitely a girl, kind of things. I had an Aha! moment when I realized this is probably what all my friends with girls were telling me about. For those of you who have daughter, you might be able to relate, and for those of you who don't, well....maybe your day will come.

Sophia is girly. She walks around the house carrying bags or, if she can find it, my purse. She pushes babies around in a stroller constantly, she kisses all her dolls in her crib before she gets out of bed in the morning, she brings me dresses to put on instead of the shorts and a t-shirt she is wearing. I think back to my childhood and wonder if I ever was this girly.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I will consider myself highly praised, because now when I tell Sophia it is time to go bye bye she runs to her room, grabs a "purse", puts something in it (a book, a necklace, a cracker that she has been hiding in there for two days), grabs my old Cabbage Patch Kid, blows me a kiss, and walks out the door.

Oh...and as for the better temperament thing, that isn't what my friends meant when they said girls are different. I figured that out when in the car yesterday. I told her to stop yelling at Connor, she looked at me, pointed a finger in my direction, and firmly said "No!". I guess that is some more of that flattery stuff.