Connor's 8th Birthday

Connor is another year older. He celebrated his birthday at Next Level Sports Center with several of his friends. They played a great game of kickball among other games before blowing out the candles and chowing down on cake!

Connor has been wanting a hermit crab for a long time. His grandmother and Gene got him TWO for his birthday (yes, they cleared it with the parents first!). He named them Henry and Herman. It's been interesting learning about them. I had no idea that they were so demanding. There is so much to keep up with.  The humidity in their crabitat must stay around 80%, the temperature has to remain around 76 degrees, they require things to hide under and things to climb on. They can actually get depressed. Yes, you read that right! That's why he got two of them. Despite being HERMIT crabs, they actually prefer the company of another. Let's just hope that we can keep up with all of their demands!

 Connor telling Grandma thank you for his new pets:

Herman is hiding in the white shell under the bark at the front of the tank and Henry is in the black shell at the right corner.

Halloween 2012

My children are usually dressed as the popular Super Hero of the year every Halloween.   Not this year!  I was very proud of Tyler for stepping outside of his box and going as an iPod!  Connor was an Angry Bird bomb, which for him, was a little outside of his box as well.  They both received so many cool comments!  Of course, everyone tried to push Tyler's buttons...haha!  But, most importantly they brought home lots of good candy for me and Bo! ;)

Fairy Tale Ball

Every year the 2nd graders at Carrollton Elementary School learn about fairy tales.  To conclude their study, they are invited to participate in the Fairy Tale Ball.  Each child dresses up as a fairy tale character and danced at the ball, participates in craft activities, and has a special fairy tale snack.

Connor chose to be The Big Bad Wolf.  The pictures don't show it, but he also has a wolf tail.  Isn't he the cutest...I mean, meanest wolf you have ever seen??

Fall = Football

Connor tried his hand at tackle football this year.  With this being his first year on tackle, he didn't get a lot of playing time.  When he did, however, he did great!  I am very proud of him for never once complaining about not playing as much as others.  He supported his team every step of the way.  They were undefeated this season and earned a place at the Kiwanis Bowl!  Unfortunately, they lost the first game.  It is important to note, however, that the other team's players were double the size of Connor's team, Trojan Blue, and they gave it their all with a final score of 12 to 20.



Below is one of his great plays.  He is normally # 33, but they had to wear alternate jerseys for this game, so he is #5 in black.  He leaped at # 36 and took him DOWN! Way to go Connor!

Connor is a smart cookie!

We learned today that Connor tested into the Gifted Program.  This will be a great thing for him.  He will be more challenged in the areas of Language Arts and Math.  Carrollton schools began a STEM initiative last year and he will be pulled out of his normal weekly STEM class and clustered with other gifted students to participate in more challenging STEM related projects. You can learn more about STEM here.

Way to go Connor!

2011-2012 School Year Has Come To An End

School has been out for 2 weeks now.  Sarah, Tyler, and Connor all had a great year!  

Sarah walked away from her junior year with 7 A's and 1 B.  She earned her 3rd academic letter this year! We are so proud of her!  This was by far the toughest year she has had in high school.  She participated in an internship at a Carrollton Orthopaedics and really enjoyed it.  She left school early every other day to learn the ropes of a doctor's office.  While the experience was something that she enjoyed, she did learn that she does not want to be an orthopaedic doctor! Our baby girl is now a SENIOR!!  

Tyler made all A's and B's this year and is moving on up to the 5th grade.  He was accepted into the gifted program this year, which we hope will challenge him more in the years to come.  He was awarded the following awards on the last day of school:

• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Reading
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Social Studies
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Science
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Language Arts
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of an Awesome Achiever - A's & B's during the entire 2011-2012 School Year

Connor is zooming to 2nd grade next year.  He was tested for the gifted program this school year as well.  More testing will take place over the course of the summer and we will know more at the start of the next school year.  Connor received the following awards:

• Music Award for outstanding participation and performance in music class
• Best Attitude Award for always having a positive attitude
• Mathematics Award for outstanding performance on the CRCT

Both of the boys took the CRCT  this year and excelled in every area.  A score of 800-849 meets expectations. A score of 850 and above exceeds expectations. 

Connor's scores:
Reading :854
Language Arts: 879
Math: 903

Tyler's scores:
Reading: 873
Language Arts: 930 (a perfect score!!)
Math: 876
Science: 890
Social Studies: 852

We are so proud of all of them!

Connor's 7th Birthday

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since we brought him home. He had a wonderful birthday celebration with some of his closest friends from our subdivision. They celebrated with a few games of bowling. Of course, he had to have a baseball cake!!

It's Baseball Season!

About 2 months ago, Connor began telling people that he was playing baseball in the spring. This was news to me, so I quickly signed him up to prevent his disappointment. I barely made the cut off. Shew! We headed out to the store to purchase all the necessary equipment. Boy, I had no idea he needed so much stuff ($$$$...ouch!). He has been playing for about a month now and is doing great! He had no idea how to bat, catch, or even the rules of the game when he began. He was pumped for his first game and went up to bat twice. He struck out twice. He has made so many improvements since then and you can count on him hitting the ball every time he comes to the plate now, thanks to his AWESOME dad. This picture was taken before the first game.

Bo was asked to help coach the team. He was reluctant at first, but has really enjoyed it and looks forward to the games now. You can find Connor and Bo in the front yard everyday after school practicing hitting and catching. Tyler has even gone out to practice with them several times and has picked up a lot of skill from it. He is saying that he may try to play next year, too. Here are a few highlights from the games. I love the one where he makes his first hit ever and Bo is at first base directing him in. Priceless! The next one is the high five in the dugout after the run home.

I have enjoyed watching Connor play baseball more than any other sport he has played, but more importantly HE has enjoyed it more as well. I can already hear them announcing "Connor Richardson #10" at the Carrollton High School games!!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day isn't normally something that we celebrate around our house. However, this year, Connor came down with strep throat on the day that his class planned to make Leprechaun traps. When he learned that he would miss the activity, his chin began to quiver and the tears started rolling. Sooo....I told him that we would make one at home. And we did!

This isn't your ordinary cake. There are 2 bundt cakes underneath all that icing. You see, the Leprechaun will climb the pretzel ladder thinking that he has found a pot of gold on the other side. When he crosses the "field" of grass, he will plummet into the middle of the cake. Connor was concerned that he may outsmart us and walk the edges of the cake, so we came up with plan B. If he doesn't fall into the first pit, he will surely fall into the second pit where the pot of gold awaits him.

We brought this into his class room once he was feeling better and everyone loved it. Of course, we had to taste test the cake, so we will never know if it worked or not!

Snaggle Tooth!

Connor's last tooth was removed by attaching it to one end of a string and the door knob attached to the other end. He liked it so much, that he requested this one be pulled with the same method. I love the way that he grabs the seat right before the SLAM! See for yourself: