Library

I don't have class on Wednesday's, so we have started going to Story Time at the library every Wednesday again.  The kids sit on the center rug and listen to 3 books with a song/dance/game between each book.  This is followed with 30 minutes of playing.  After Story Time we pick out 20 new books and a few movies to bring home.  At least half the books he picks out are animal/bug books.  His current favorite are spider books, cheetah's, bats, snakes, frogs, octopus, robots and dinosaur's. Jason and I have learned so much about different kinds of bugs.  Connor is our bug expert!  Another family night activity that we all enjoy a few times a week is to watch one of the library movies.  Most of which are interesting nature movies that teach us more about animals.

Connor won his first domino's game

Connor's rings... spider, spider, spider, bat, snake.  His favorite creatures

Games

Game night at the Charette house!

Part of our New Years resolution is to have more family game nights.  We all enjoy playing games and spending quality time bonding.  At least 4 nights a week we end the day playing games as a family.  Our favorite games include Connect Four, Domino's, Uno, Checkers, Backgammon and Angry Birds.

We put Connors huge 3D puzzle together

Uno night!  Connor is amazingly good at Uno.

Victory dance.  One of Connor's many Uno wins.  After a win he dances around the room yelling "Ya Baby! Ya Baby! I won!"

Art

Connor is quiet the budding artist!  We decided to write his own story book.  Connor drew all the pictures and told me what to write for his story.
"Once upon a time there was a peregrine falcon with Connor on him.  A cheetah was trapped.  He was locked up.  They had to save him."  (center pictures is a cheetah with a grey net trapping him. Lower pictures is the peregrine falcon)

"The peregrine falcon saved the cheetah and unlocked the cage, but he was froze in a net."

"Anita and Dobio were in their car and they drove away with the cheetah." (Anita and Dobio are characters off his favorite cartoon Wild Krats)

"Connor gave the cheetah a big hug and kiss and unfroze the cheetah.  The end."

We made both Grandma's, aunt Staci and aunt Laura all Valentine cards.  Connor drew his famous people pictures for them.  I love his pictures of people.  The arms and legs are attached to the head.  The circle in the middle of the lower lines is the stomach.  Most of his people have spiky hair.  I love how well he writes his name too.
This is his picture of Tony (left) and Staci (right)

His picture for Nana and Grandpa Kortus.  Grandpa is red (with big ears), Nana is on the right and Connor is on the top.

A drawing of a Peregrine falcon

Dad in the middle with lots of little people around dad and a brown spider

This kid is hilarious!  Some of the things he says crack us up.  Here are a few things he's said recently out of the blue that made us smile...

"Keep your eyes pealed" to Jason when they were searching for a toy

"that's a bum deal, dad"

To me when I told him he could combine his rice and veggies at dinner "that doesn't make any sense, mom"

"your a genius!"

"dinner is delicious, mom"

Some of his favorite animals and his favorite facts about them: basilisk lizard that walks on water, peregrine falcon the worlds fastest animal with sharp talons, golden silk spider makes an orb web, rattle snakes, mimic octopus that mimics the colors, shapes and characteristics of other animals and bats that use echo technology to find their way in the dark.

favorite color: purple, brown and "all the colors of the rainbow"

favorite plush animal: purple frog, pink valentines turtle, Nemo, huge puppy and ostrich.

song: the Leap Frog Alphabet Song... "The K says kkkk, the K says kkkk, every letter makes a sound, the K says kkkk"

movie: How to Train Your Dragon.

Super hero: Batman

What do you want to be when you grow up? "a Doctor."  Why? "because I like Doctor's because they help people"

best friend: Rachael, Mason and Sarah from preschool

Books: spiders

Connor and my hands

Monaco dinner

Connor took a few pictures of Jason and I before his company dinner party.

Sharp Shooters

Jason and I had a date night at Sharp Shooters.  We shot a Ruger 22, which was fun and easy to shoot.  Next we shot two 9mm's:  a Beretta Nano, which had a kick and neither of us liked.  And a Glock mini (short grip), which also had some recoil, but we liked this gun.  We used the same target.  The body shots are mine.  Jason aimed for the head and two mini targets on the top left and right.  After my first few shots Jason made a comment that he could tell I grew up in a small hick town because my aim is pretty good.  I'm left eye dominant, but fire right handed.  I only had a couple shots outside of the 8 and a few of those are because I was adjusting my grip on the Nano and wasn't lining up my sights. 

Start of 2013

I always wait until after the New Year to take all my Christmas decorations down.  I pulled out all the boxes to put stuff away and decided to follow my friend Tina's advise and start the year off by purging.  So, I spent the first day of 2013 doing Spring Cleaning like never before!  Jason jokes around about me being a hoarder, which I am far from (this coming from the guy who had a bottle of ketchup and loaf of bread in his frig when I met him), but I do have several "keepsake" boxes that I have drug from house to house over the last 20+ years.  Some of the boxes haven't even been opened in years.  YEARS!  So, as part of my purging I opened and sorted through every single box.  I even managed to reduce the amount of storage, which was difficult since everything I put in the toss box Connor had to check out... and wonder off with and play with... it was like Christmas all over.  Discovering fun new finds and reminiscing on old memories.  I found a bag full of notes from 5th grade to high school.  After laughing at a few I decided to just keep 2 of the bunch... one from my mother and one from my first boyfriend, Mike Ryan in the 5th grade.

The boys having fun looking at the treasures from my past

My brownies uniform.  I loved Brownies and Girl Scouts!

Some of the patches I earned in Brownies/ Girl Scouts.  I later found another envelope stuffed with more patches that apparently never got sewn onto my pink sash.

I used to love writing poetry and short stories.  I took a creative writing class in high school and college and had several things published.  "Monsters of the Night" was one of the short stories I had published.  I also won a National essay contest in middle school.

A box full of wedding keepsakes.  I'm not sure what I had planned on doing with all this stuff.  I saved an invitation and wedding program and tossed the rest.

the wrapping paper from my engagement ring box... maybe Jason's right... I am WAS a hoarder!  Not anymore though!  I am purging and keeping only the wonderful memories... and pictures.

My mother made this when she was in high school and it hung in my room as a little girl.

A card to my father from my brother and I when we were little

After a few days of purging this is the pile I have accumulated in the garage to donate to our local food bank.  This picture doesn't even show everything... there are several boxes not shown full of every VHS movie we own.  Plus I'm still purging out rooms (and waiting for Jason to fill at least 1 garbage bag)!  Clutter be GONE!