Father's Day take II

 I love being a dad.  Almost daily I catch myself looking at Connor thinking that things can’t get much better.  Over the past few weeks, Connor has really started to develop into an amazing little boy.  His vocabulary and comprehension seems to expand daily.  I really do find myself thanking God for blessing me with such an incredible little family. 

 This past Sunday was Fathers day and I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  Kristin and Connor made home made Fathers Day presents and they were so excited to share them with me.  Kristin loves to give gifts and often doesn’t want to wait until the designated day to give them.  I know this, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy making her wait.  Well, we volunteered at our church Sunday so we have to be there early (like, way early) so Connor gave me my presents before church.  As you can see in the post below, Kristin and Connor made me the most amazing home-made t-shirts that I was more than happy to sport immediately.  I love how creative Kristin is.

 After church, we went to Waffle Works with Glenda and Kaitlyn, which seems to be our tradition with every holiday (not that I am complaining).  As usual, I ate too much. Don’t judge, it was my day!  After we finished our brunch, we parted ways and went home.  Connor fell asleep and I took a brief nap while watching baseball on TV. That's pure bliss to me!  When everyone awoke, we went down to Glenda’s for some relaxing time around the pool mixed with steak on the grill. 

 All in all, I could not have asked for a better day.  Sometimes it is easy to lose focus of the things around you. This past Sunday, I was reminded that I have a great wife, son and in-laws that love me and care for me no matter what, and to this, I am thankful! 

Father's Day Fun

Being a product of the 80s and growing up in the 90s we created many projects using puff paints. Even today I still use them. There was one project in particular that was a special go-to most Father's Days. I remember the feeling of squishing my hands in puff paint to make sure my hand (or foot) was completely covered, and then my mom would guide my hand to the perfect spot and ::smash:: my hand was forever emblazoned in bright green on my dad's newly created shirt. All of us kids got our own special location on these shirts, and my dad would wear them with pride. I remember how cherished they were and how special I felt when I saw him wear our creations.

This year for Father's Day I gave myself an objective. I wanted to create an updated version of this idea. At some point this past year, my brother's roommates created interesting designs on their shirts using bleach, and it just got the wheels in my head turning. I wondered how I could use that idea. Grandma Glenda and I put our heads together and we created Constellation Hand Prints.

Here it is in a nutshell, but I'll break it down for you.

You will need:

spray adhesive

a spray bottle containing half bleach and half water

a hanger with an upside down plastic bag on it

a shirt

cardstock

First we traced Connor's hand prints onto pretty substantial cardstock, and then cut them out.

We hung the shirt on the hanger that had the plastic bag already attached. We put the bag inside to protect the back of the shirt since we didn't want the bleach to bleed through. Then we LIGHTLY sprayed the adhesive on the hands and placed them in the location we wanted on the shirt. Be sure not to spray too much because you don't want any of the sticky residue to adhere to the shirt itself.

We then headed outside. We placed the shirt on some newspapers just to protect the back from getting dirty on the ground. Time to spray! Now be careful not to go overboard with the spraying. Our first "test" shirt came out almost white from Grandma's exuberant spraying. Now that I had the bottle in hand I sprayed a little at a time. Not too close to the shirt, and trying to get an even spray.

Be patient because as the bleach processes it will begin to show up. If you see that there is a place you want to add more, than do it as it appears and it will keep you from over spraying.

After it processed/dried for a few minutes I peeled back the prints and was able to reuse them for my second shirt/design. I then hung this medium blue shirt up to dry a little more as I worked on the next one.

The second shirt I was able to use the exact same prints since I used a pretty heavy cardstock (think file folder) and I didn't go crazy with the spray adhesive. Remember you're adhering it just to keep the edges down, not to make it permanent. Again, put it on a hanger with a plastic bag, took it outside, and created a different design.

This time I put the hand prints in the center and sprayed even less. The bleach spots on the dark blue shirt turned a pinkish/brown and I loved the way it looked.

It truly reminded me of the Milky Way and I was thrilled. I hung this one up to dry for a few minutes and then promptly took them into the bathroom for a water rinse in the sink. Though we didn't use straight bleach, we were afraid it might eat through the shirt if we let it sit for too long. We rinsed until we couldn't smell bleach anymore and then sent them off to the dryer, and voila! A perfect Father's Day present! I still can't get believe how easy it was, and that a little idea turned into something so perfect and special. I wish I could have made one for Grandpa Gary, because I know he would have sported it the same way he did our puff paint creations. 

I feel like Tim had the same reaction to his shirt that dad always had to ours. It meant so much to him. Here is the one he decided to sport on Father's Day! He was so thrilled and touched by how special it was.  He can't decide which one he likes more and is packing both of them for our vacation!

Photo Book

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A Midsummer Mother's Day

 Wow, wow, wow! It has been a very stressful and busy few weeks, but I have to say Mother's Day couldn't have been any more perfect. Tim and Connor woke me up with my presents and the rest of the day was just as special. All Grandma Glenda and I wanted was a little bit of rest in an otherwise crazy week. After church we had brunch complete with pancakes at a local waffle shop, and the rest of the day was devoted to being outside in the pool.

 Though it was slightly chilly in the pool from all of the rain we have had recently, everyone had so much fun! Connor took right back to the pool with no problem, and even knew how to manipulate the float and kick his little legs to propel himself. Tim and Aunt Kaitlyn had a lot of fun filling up water balloons and bombing each other, and Connor benefited by getting his very own balloon to throw around.

 We grilled up some hamburgers and hot dogs to complete such a special day. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend Mother's Day. A relaxed fun day, focused only on the things that matter; our loved ones.

 After Mother's Day our rehearsal schedule only became more intense. Daddy was picking up Connor from Grandma Glenda's house because I wasn't leaving the school until after 6pm. Connor adjusted well, and it only made me cherish my little time with him in the evenings even more. I can't believe how much he is changing, and how he is developing words daily. As we neared opening night Connor started participating in our rehearsals because Grandma Glenda was running my sound. He has no stage fright that is for sure! He doesn't mind putting himself right in the middle of the stage while actors are rehearsing around him. Give him a microphone and he is set to go. He is a ham, and I love it! I cannot wait to see what he develops into!

 Opening and Closing night came and went. It is a little bittersweet because of how much time we put into it, how much I enjoyed my time with these special students, and how quickly it has come to an end. I am so proud of them, and I am in awe of what a wonderful job they did. We had pretty good sized audiences each night, and with our ticket sales we will only grow our department. Everyone who came to see our production was so impressed, and I am honored to be a little part in these students' theatre experience. Hopefully we have opened up a passion for them that they can pursue as they grow. There is a magic that takes place when you take the stage for the first time, and my actor's felt it. More than half of my cast had never performed on stage before in their lives. What a privilege it is to give them this experience!

Words

We are beside ourselves with the amount of knowledge that Connor gains daily. There are so many moments where Tim and I look at each other in shock with what Connor says and does. Our little boy has very clear words and other times it is the most adorable babble that includes snippets of intelligible language. Of course he still signs please and thank you, but I'm loving hearing his voice. It is the sweetest sound in the word. I giggle when he says "Hi kitty-cat" when we get to Grandma Glenda's house every morning. We're working on the sounds that animals make, and his "woof woof" is too precious for words. "Quack quack" is another favorite. He called himself "Onnor" this past weekend when Great Grandma Harriet pointed to a  picture of him and asked who it was. Self awareness...check!

We have so much going on around our home right now. I'm so glad summer is right around the corner, I can see some down time in my near future. Though with the rate Connor is growing and exploring, I might have trouble keeping up with him. We took a trip this past weekend to the University of Florida to watch cousin Dale graduate. We are all so proud of him, and it's always touching to watch the joy on students faces as they are about to embark on the rest of their lives. The expectations and dreams they want to achieve are right there. It gave me time to reflect upon how fast time goes by, and how important each moment I have with Connor is. We captured his 18 month phase of life a few weeks ago, and below are some of my favorites from the shoot. It's a moment to pause and enjoy how incredible he is. Savoring the moment....check!

Here is one of the reason's life has been so crazy. My spring play is right around the corner and we are up to rehearsing every single day. There have been countless brick walls we've come up against, but hopefully we are at the home stretch. I am so proud of my students, and am so thankful to Mr. Brown and Grandma Glenda for all of their hard work as well. A show is always a group effort, and that is very true with this one. I will never forget painting sets with G.G. while Aunt Kaitlyn and Connor run around the stage to keep themselves busy. Now if all of the students remember their lines I will be thrilled! Stressed out director...check! (but so proud!)

Easter and 18 Months Old

"Okay, now I get it. The Easter Bunny is okay, and Easter eggs are fun. But Easter's not about that stuff...It's all about God's son."

Happy Easter from the Petersen's!
This year Easter was all new! Connor woke up to goodies galore! A bouncy ball with Chuggington, a Mickey Mouse plush in a zippered egg, and a great basket. As he picked through his goodies he found his favorite. The Easter Bunny brought him fruit bites!!! Haha! Better than any candy, this little boy goes gaga for fruit bites. Clever, clever bunny! How did he know?


The most anticipated part of the day was the Easter Egg hunt. Of course there were eggs in perfect places for Connor and we wanted to see just what he would do with them. As the door opened and Connor-boy ran out, basket in hand, he went straight for the eggs.....and chucked them! Granted a few went in the basket, but it was much more fun to throw them on top of the trampoline. When we finally convinced him to put them in the basket, he found a thrill in dumping the lot wherever he could. It was hysterical. I can't get enough of this little boy. Grandma Glenda gave him a basket with goodies, but hers included chocolate. Boy does she spoil him, and let's not forget the new Fisher-Price lawn mower that didn't quite fit in the basket.

Easter is always such a wonderful holiday. As Pastor Thompson said at church it's like the Superbowl or World Series for Christians. It is so much more than the baskets, chocolate, and eggs it is the reason that we can have hope for a tomorrow. Because of the resurrection we know that our Messiah lives, and He offers everyone the same.
We went to WDW over Spring Break and purchased three day passes, but only used 2 of the days. This brings us to our spontaneous-middle-of-the-week-why-not trip of 2012. We had to use the tickets before they expired, it's only getting hotter, and Connor turned 18 months old. PERFECT reasons, I tell you! Perfect! We started our day at Animal Kingdom, and Connor loved it. We did the safari first, saw the bird show and Nemo, and even had lunch with the characters at Tusker's!
We were a little apprehensive about how Connor would react to the characters. He has had a few meltdowns in the past around them, but this time was different. He was in awe the moment he saw them. He would point at them and try talking to them as they were visiting other tables, and when they approached ours his eyes would get really big and he'd just stare. It was as if "wow, are you really here?". Mickey happened to put his hand on Connor's head, and it was precious because he didn't know what to do. I tried to take pictures but he wouldn't move his head, only his eyes to the camera. Like he didn't want to move or else Mickey might move his hand. Now upon showing the pictures to Connor, he is still just as excited about seeing them. He even waves and says "Hi Mickey" to the picture.
He decided to sit right down in the middle of Main Street USA to enjoy his view of the balloons. It was just so sweet, and I just snapped away!

What was so special about this trip was the amount of rides we got to go on with him. This was a Disney trip that was truly all about him. There wasn't a single big kid ride to be ridden. He soaked it all up and loved every bit of it. We did the Carousel, Small World, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups, and Dumbo....just to name a few. The squeals of delight that rang out from him will forever be in my heart. Tim said that this ranks up with one of his favorite trips to Disney....ever!

Spring has brought such fun into this household. We had a trip to the zoo with Grandma Glenda where Connor became the desire for lunch for a very energetic female lion. That was a very fun trip, he's finally able to enjoy it. He also got to play some soccer on the UM soccer field. We went down to watch a game because of Aunt Ashley and Uncle Jason. Uncle Jason gets to coach the team, and Connor had fun scoring some goals. Like always, life keeps moving forward. I cannot believe he is a year and a half already. We are in awe of him, and he really is wonderful.

"I taw tuck"

The day after the last entry Tim and I took our first overnight trip away from Connor. Deep breaths, tears, and courage were a definite part of this endeavor. It was hard to leave him. He was of course in the very capable hands of Grandma Glenda, but we so enjoy every moment we have with him, that it is hard to be apart. Tim and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in New York City. We did and saw so much. Two Broadway shows (Newsies & Anything Goes), the Intrepid, and the St. Patrick's Day Parade just to name a few of the new sights for us while we were there. Of course this wasn't our first trip to the Big Apple, but I truly feel you can come up with entirely new things to do each trip. A major part of our trip was exchanging picture mail between us and Grandma Glenda. I felt connected with Connor the entire time. We even tried to send video at different special spots. The video Connor wanted to watch the most was us with the "bairblanes" on top of the Intrepid. The trip was wonderful for Tim and I, we even managed to sleep in, but the renewed and refreshed parents that came back to Miami couldn't wait to get their arms around their baby. The day we left, Connor developed a very scary bout with croup, and it was terrible to not be home to take care of him. He graciously shared his sickness with Uncle Casey and Leo, who are still trying to shake the germs. He has been on antibiotics and yet the runny nose still hasn't gone away, though the tightness in his chest has. Of course this trip and his croup knocked us off of our sleeping through the night, but I know one day we'll get back there.
April brings spring into our lives, and we have been very active. We have had great playtime recently and Connor is loving every minute. My favorite is watching him play with other little kids, and the Collins' housewarming party was the perfect place to watch the their joyous interaction. It was so sweet to see him with all of my friends' children. I love that they are growing up together, now we will see what youth group they will all end up in.
Part of his favorite playtime is outside in our backyard with his playset. After putting it together we didn't hang up the swings knowing he was still too small for them. As a wonderful surprise Grandma Glenda shipped two perfect swings to our house, and ::poof:: swing time in our backyard!
Here he is showing his Liberty pride and we get ready for an alumni function for the CFAW students leaving from South Florida. Of course when he plays it's a production, and it ends up everywhere. I say this points to a creative brain!!!
Here Connor is meeting a beautiful horse, and loving being able to pet him and love on him. He is so gentle with animals, and I am always impressed how there always seems to be a connection.
We had playtime the other day in Hunter's splash pool and it truly felt like summer. I guess we have entered bathing suit season, and Connor is thrilled....mommy will just have to get on board. The stretchmarks have to tan out someday!

Connor has been babbling up a storm. He loves to talk. Now we clearly don't always understand him, but he certainly tries all.the.time. I love his voice, and he is so willing to say yes to everything. We have yet to enter the "no" stage, and I don't think it's too naive to hope that it doesn't start until he's a teenager. Ha! He has moments of speech sometimes that just make our mouths fall open. He's said "thank you" to daddy opening the door for him, he's said "sorry" to mommy for having hurt her, and today he told me "I saw truck" after watching the garbage truck drive by. A sentence!! Woot woot! Of course, maybe it sounded a little more like "I taw tuck" and maybe only mommy heard it, but to me, he's a master orator!