Happy Birthday Harrison!

Today Harrison turned 3. This morning he was singing "Happy Birthday, Dear Me." It was very cute. He got a phone call from Geoffrey the Giraffe (from Toys R Us) and when we went to Toys R Us, they gave him a birthday hat and balloon and announced his name and birthday over the loudspeaker. He had a chocolate cake with lots of frosting and got lots of cool toys. There was definitely a truck theme. We gave him a safari truck to go with the jungle playset he got for Christmas. David's parents gave him a huge Tonka dump truck (Harrison sat in it and Veronica pushed him around). My dad gave him a remote control monster truck. David is going to take Harrison to a monster truck show here in Montgomery next month. He also got a Venom (Spiderman villain) action figure that he had coveted when he gave it to his friend Lucas for his birthday a week ago and a neat book. And of course, lots of underwear! Maybe that will encourage him to get out of diapers. Veronica asked if tomorrow will be her birthday. When I explained that her birthday won't be for 5 months, she said, "How about 5 weeks?" Then when I told her that my birthday is coming up in about 7 weeks, she got excited and started asking me what kind of cake I wanted. She started listing every kind she could think of--kind of like that guy in Forrest Gump who lists all of the things you can make with shrimp.

Christmas Catch-Up

Long time no blog, eh? I hadn't realized how long it had been until I looked at the date of the last post. We've been busy here for Christmas. David and I were up until about 2 AM on Christmas Eve getting ready, and then for some reason, Violet decided that it would be a great time to have a sleepless night. She woke up about every 30 minutes, until I finally kept her in bed with us around 5:30. Then, of course, Veronica and Harrison were so excited that they came racing into our room before 7 AM to tell us that Santa had come and left us presents--including a bike for Veronica! She also got a Squawkers McCaw (animatronic parrot) among many other things. Harrison's big present was a jungle playset, but he also really enjoyed the Batman and Spiderman things he got. Violet, of course, enjoyed any speck of paper she could get her hands on. Harrison got a tool set and a Scooby Doo DVD and was getting slightly confused as he sang "Bob the Builder, we got some work to do now" to the tune of Scooby Doo (Scooby Doobie Doo, we got some work to do now). Veronica picked out a card for her cousin Elizabeth that had a pop-up Nativity scene in it. David asked her who the people next to baby Jesus were and she said, "Mary and . . . Jerry?"

A Southern Ice Scraper

It's finally been colder here--only in the 50s during the day and into the 20s at night. So that means there's frost on the car windows in the morning. And since that's pretty rare, I don't have an ice scraper in the car. So I had to settle for the southern version--a cat litter scoop. It was clean--it was an older one that we don't use anymore. Actually, I think David first gave me the idea to use it as a scraper. So I guess he's really charmingly ingenious and not naive at all. I was just kidding about him being naive anyway--but he is charming. Today was Harrison's Christmas Program at his preschool, followed by his Christmas party. He was hard to see from where we were sitting because of the angle and he sucked his thumb for most of it, but he was still adorable. He sang the song for me later today at home. Last week he was singing a song "Mary Have a Baby" (kind of like Mary Had a Little Lamb). I asked him what the baby's name was and he said, "Her name is Baby!" Later tonight we all went to an Italian restaurant where one of Harrison's classmates was having a birthday party. It feels like everyone should be on Christmas break now that Harrison is, but David still has to work through Friday and Veronica goes to school through Thursday. Speaking of Veronica, last night she got up from the table during supper and I asked where she was going and she said "to heaven." At least she has her priorities straight.

O Christmas Tree

We got our tree today! Now we need to find our decorations so we can decorate it. One of the "challenges" of not having a basement is that we have to use the area above our garage for storage. It just has beams and not a real floor and also has lots of exposed nails. David is the only one who dares to go up there. So it's always a joy to try to find anything up there! David took Veronica to see Alvin and the Chipmunks tonight. They're at the movie right now so I don't know if they liked it yet or not. Violet is in bed for the night and Harrison is asleep too! And what am I doing? I'm writing in this blog! David says that if I spent the time I use writing in this blog to work on my thesis, I'd be done with my thesis by now. But of course, I know which one is more important ;-) So have no fear, The Conely Chatter will not be silenced--besides, David likes to read it too--even when I call him "charmingly naive."

Viva Las Christmas

In preparation for Christmas, I moved all of our living room furniture around to make room for a tree. The past few years we've put the tree in our dining room (that we don't use as a dining room, but rather a piano/bookcase/futon room), but this year decided to try it in the living room. And for those of you who think we're getting a late start, well, we typically get our tree around December 23! No one else was home when I rearranged the furniture (except for Violet, but she was sleeping), so when each person came home, all were pleasantly surprised. Harrison asked why everything was moved and I told him it was to make room for our Christmas tree. He then said, "Oh boy!" Later he asked if Santa helped Daddy move everything and I told that no, I did it! Veronica was equally excited and wanted to put the tree right in the middle of the room. David was also impressed that I moved everything myself. Tonight was Veronica's Daisy Scout troup's Christmas get-together at a Mexican restaurant. I had to get Veronica, Harrison, and Violet there all by myself because David was still at work (he met us there). Fortunately I got a parking space right next to the door. David said that still couldn't have been as bad as last night--he took Veronica and Harrison to Waffle House (all by himself). He said the staff there were very entertained by the utter chaos and mayhem that ensued.

Baby, it's hot outside

It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the temperature is in the 80s. We set a record high yesterday with 82 degrees. Tonight Veronica said that she wanted to see some snow. Well, she's going to have to wait a while for that! Our backyard would be great for sledding. David is so charmingly naive when it comes to anything snow related. He wondered how you get to the top of a hill to go sled riding without sliding down while you're walking up. It is supposed to get cooler this weekend (50s daytime/30s night), but I still doubt we'll be going sledding any time soon.

Just Peachy

Violet tried peaches for the first time tonight and seemed to enjoy them. She's also had squash, applesauce, peas, pears, bananas, prunes, and sweet potatoes. So far I haven't found anything that she doesn't like. Harrison made his own "creation" today for a snack. He dipped carrot sticks into cottage cheese. He loved it! And Veronica had a sad face on her hand today, which means she lost all of her smiley faces at school. She just couldn't stop talking today (at school). At least that's better than last Friday when they had Polar Express Day and all the kindergarteners wore their pajamas to school and Veronica lost a smiley face for mooning people to make them laugh.

The Nutcracker

David took Veronica to see the Montgomery Ballet's production of The Nutcracker today. He also took her last year--so maybe this will be an annual tradition for them. Anyway, this year, Veronica was disappointed that the story wasn't the same as the Barbie version she saw on DVD. She kept saying they were leaving parts out and getting the story wrong! So Santa will bring her the Barbie version for Christmas. I asked Harrison what he wanted Santa to bring him and he said, "A present." At least he's easy to please!

More Fun than Going to the Dentist

Veronica had her first trip to the dentist yesterday. She really did have a good time. So good that she didn't want to leave. She'll do anything to get pampered! Her teeth were really good--no cavities. She also had had a loose tooth, so they pulled it since the new one was already growing in. So now she has lost both of her bottom front teeth. Violet is getting her two top front teeth in (she already has her bottom two). And Harrison is using his teeth to bite Violet! Actually, he just prefers to body slam her. I think we need to come up with a professional wrestling name for them. Maybe they could work out a routine.

Not so . . . um . . . bright

Tonight David was reading a Bob the Builder book to Harrison and on the last page it said that Bob had one last job to do. David couldn't figure out what it was (I looked at the book and saw that Bob had to hang up a picture). Then David said, "Well, I'm not that um uh sma um--bright!" Actually, he really is--he just passed all of his comprehensive exams for his Master's degree. He had to take 5 tests covering all of the core classes in the program--and he passed them all. Now he "just" needs to write a paper and do a project.

Hot Balloon

This morning as Veronica opened the door to leave for school, we saw a hot air balloon in the sky directly in front of our house. It was completely unexpected and pretty cool. Veronica kept calling it a "hot balloon." Meanwhile, Violet is mastering the art of the "guilty look." She can creep along pretty well and loves to pick up little pieces of paper or any other treasure she can find on the floor. When I come up behind her and say, "Violet, what are you doing?" she immediately tries to hide what's in her hand and looks up at me like I just caught her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. David had a great birthday. He got a shirt and pants, a banjo ornament, a fiddle ornament, a coat, and Star Wars Battlefront II (a computer game).

Pre-Birthday Excitement

Tomorrow is David's 39th birthday. While he's kind of dazed by the concept of being 39, Veronica and Harrison couldn't be more excited. Veronica keeps saying, "It's your birthday, Daddy. Aren't you so excited? You're going to eat chocolate cake and you're going to get presents! I'm so excited!" Then Harrison pipes in "you're going to get presents!" Veronica got a happy face on her hand again today at school (which means she didn't lose any of her smiley faces for breaking the rules). Violet ate bananas for the first time tonight (the baby food version, not the "real thing") and really liked them. I think this was the first time she's really shown an interest in any solid food. Harrison helped me feed her and she didn't even mind when he jammed the spoon in her mouth.

A Clean Room

We spent most of today cleaning and sorting things to take to Goodwill. David made 2 trips to Goodwill. If he had his way, he would just throw away about 90% of Veronica and Harrison's toys. So they need to be very grateful that I'm around to intervene. We did give some away. I spent most of the day cleaning Veronica and Harrison's room. Veronica helped me towards the end and thanked me for doing such a good job. Then she said that I must have been good at cleaning my room when I was a little girl. I didn't have the heart to tell her that my room was probably worse than hers! Okay, I just didn't want to give her an excuse for having a messy room! Of course, Harrison succeeded in messing up a lot of what we accomplished within minutes of waking up from his nap.

Make Way for Sweet Potatoes!

Veronica and Harrison continued to enjoy their vacation today and even managed to sleep in a little later. Then, tonight for the first time I let them feed Violet. They haven't been able to be involved until now because she won't take a bottle. She's been having some solids for about a month, but they don't really make up much of her daily diet. Veronica started feeding Violet some sweet potatoes and Harrison REALLY wanted to be involved so I gave him a spoon too. Violet seemed to enjoy the whole experience--even when both Veronica and Harrison had spoons in her mouth at the same time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we went to Callaway Gardens (in Pine Mountain, Georgia). In addition to the immediate Conely clan, David's parents and my dad were there too. I'm posting some pictures which I took with the camera on my phone and since the lighting wasn't that great, the pictures aren't that great, but at least I have them now instead of 3 months from now--or whenever I would finally get around to getting them developed. We didn't stick around to see the Christmas lights because the kids were crashing and we had all had a pretty long day--plus David has to work tomorrow because he doesn't get any vacation until Dec 17 (and then he gets 1 day).

The Vacation Effect

Today Veronica started her Thanksgiving vacation and, of course, she and Harrison got up on their own 10 minutes earlier than I normally would wake them up on a school day! For some reason, a day with nothing to do but play is the biggest motivator for getting out of bed there is! Since today's weather was pretty mild, they went outside in the backyard a lot and, of course, kept turning on the water! I had to change Harrison's clothes twice. Veronica wanted to put her swimming suit on, but I had to explain that it was too "cold" for that--even though it was fairly warm! She needs to experience a "real" fall, instead of these "wimpy" Alabama falls. Knowing her, though, she'd still want to put her swimming suit on. I wonder if they have a "junior" Polar Bears group somewhere . . .

The Violet Effect

This morning I took Violet into Veronica's room when I went to get her up for school. While Veronica wasn't necessarily eager to get up, she was in a decidedly better mood because of seeing Violet. Unfortunately, Violet isn't usually awake at that time so I don't normally take her in with me.
Later in the day, Harrison, Violet, and I made a trip to Target and Harrison got a small stuffed Curious George for being such a good boy. Needless to say, Veronica wanted to get one too when she found out about it since she had been good at school. Actually, Veronica has been great at school for the past few weeks. So David took Veronica to Target (yes, we're pushovers). He couldn't find Curious George right away so she ended up with one of the Dragon babies from Shrek 3.

Our Little Eskimo

Getting Veronica up for school is never easy and today was no exception. Thinking I would try something new, I told her that if she didn't get up I would put an ice cube on her back. As usual, she called my bluff and I had to go get an ice cube. First I put it on her leg--no reaction. Then, I put it on her back and still no reaction. Then, she said, "Well, that didn't work." Finally, as I heard David get in the shower, I told her that if she wasn't ready before Daddy, she would be in trouble. And that got her moving! Of course, if this was a non-school day she would have been up already on her own, but that's a different story . . .

Welcome to The Conely Chatter!

Hello! I'm glad you could stop by. This is the place to find out everything you've always wanted to know about the mundane goings-on of the Linnea and David Conely clan. I'll try to post daily, but we all know how good I am at writing letters, making phone calls, etc. Besides, some days you may have something even more exciting to do--like watching paint dry.