The Kubesch Family

We celebrated Conner's 4th birthday almost a week ago. Things sure have changed in 4 years! Conner and Caroline are best friends and he is very protective of his little sister. They play well together for the most part, so it is easy to be home with them and get things done. I haven't caught any pictures of it yet, but they are very sweet when watching tv - Caroline usually lays down with her head in his lap or he has his arm around her. Hope it stays that way for a long time! For his official birthday Conner wanted to go eat at his favorite restaurant - "the lobster place" (aka Red Lobster), so we went there for dinner. Then we came home and celebrated with cupcakes and presents. Conner received some new legos and a pair of monster trucks from mom and dad. Conner is growing into quite a little man. Sometimes he acts very grown up and mature with almost adult like conversation and then he will turn around and act just like a 4 year old boy! Conner has been reading for about 5 or so months. He is beyond just 3 and 4 letter words and tries to sound out just about anything. A few weeks ago he read "gobbler" on my shirt and asked me what a gobbler was. He also thinks of words in his head and tries to spell them. I think he might also have inherited someone's gift of making up words and BS'ing. Yesterday on the way to the doctor, he was talking about rhyming words when I told him one of his "words" was not really a word. He said, "Well mama, it's sort of a complicated word. It is actually a combination of several words." Sure does sound like someone else I know! In addition to words and letters, Conner is also doing well with adding and subtracting. Conner also just finished up his first t-ball season and has his end of season party this Friday. He definitely enjoyed playing with his teammates, and his hitting skills improved over the 8 week season. He did not however master the skill of stopping a ball without rolling himself on the ground. It did make for an entertaining game though! We went to the doctor yesterday for Conner's 4 year check-up. The five shots were no fun, but he was a brave little boy! He pretty much continued on the same growth path with a height of 41 7/8 inches (80%) and weight of 41 lbs (85%). We can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Halloween was such a fun time for the kids. They have been wearing their costumes for the last two months and were excited to finally get to wear them all day and do some trick or treating. We had a cul de sac party, complete with games and food. This was the first year that both Conner and Caroline really got into trick or treating. They understood that when a porch light was on they could knock on the door and ran with their friends around our little section of the neighborhood. Caroline only made it to about half of the houses and I carried her the rest. I would ask her if she wanted to trick or treat some more and she would tell me, "No thank you, I am fine." The kids are already looking forward to next year!

The day before Halloween we took the kids to the Methodist Church's Harvest Festival here in Sienna. We saw lots of friends and the kids had a blast playing on the bouncies and eating snowcones and popcorn. They did not wear their costumes or participate in the costume parade like the other kids because we were headed to church ourselves.