First Iowa State Game

Last Saturday Mark and Jane took Sarah, Layla, and I to the Iowa State basketball game. It was Layla's first one and she even got her picture with Cy. I now have all three of my girls, as infants, with Cy at their first basketball game. Layla had a great time watching everything and even taking a little nap. She wasn't so fond of all the screaming and yelling by the end of the game. Another in a long line of Cyclone McConnells.

Happy Thanksgiving

I know, I know it has been a VERY long time since I have been on here. Hopefully things have calmed down where I can update this a little more regularly. Yesterday we took all the girls to see Santa for the first time. I have never seen to excited little girls. It didn't matter who we saw Ava and Ella told them where we were going and what they wanted from him. Sarah and I weren't to sure about Ella since last year she didn't want to get close to him, not the case this year. Ella ran right up to him and started talking and didn't want to stop. Ella even brought the Target Ad that had the gift she wanted in case Santa wasn't sure what she was talking about. Ava did a great job as always, she has never been shy around Santa. Layla loved him and smiled throughout the pictures. Santa loved Layla so much he didn't want to give her up. I am pretty sure he would of held her the rest of the night and Layla seemed OK with that. We are headed up to Ogden today to spend Thanksgiving with the Truebloods, and McConnells. Everyone have a wonderful and thankful holiday.

Here is a picture of the 3 girls with Santa.

1st Day of School

Ava had her first day of school as a big Kindergartner. I had my first day of school also so it was up to Sarah to get her there. She had been looking forward to the first day since about a month ago. The big day came to us and Ava was so excited she could hardly go to sleep. I thought, being the sappy person that I am, that there would be tears from both Ava and Sarah. Not the case. Sarah, with two others in tow and Ava who was so excited she couldn't contain herself didn't have time to shed a tear. Sarah even had to remind Ava to give her a hug before leaving to go to the classroom. At the end of the day Ava had another big first. She got on the bus to come home (actually to Mel's house). Needless to say she loves every minute of school. I thought that getting up and going to school for 8 hours would wear her out. No way, she has more energy then ever, we will see what Friday brings.


Ava ready for her first day.


Waiting outside of school.


Ava sitting at her seat.


Getting off the bus. She loved it and couldn't wait to get back on the next day.

Better Late Then Never

By looking back at my blog it has been almost a month since my last post. It seems that our days just go by so fast and as I look at the calendar it is almost August and time to start thinking about school. We have been busy with Miss Layla. She is AWESOME!! She has not gotten us up more then once a night since being home. When she does get up it is usually around 5 or 6 in the morning. Ava and Ella have been busy playing and going to Mel's to just swim it seems like. Last week they went to Vacation Bible School at Lutheran Church of Hope. They had a wonderful time and sing their Bible School songs all the time. Saturday they got to sing at church service and then afterwords we had supper and played games at Church of Hope. Both sets of Grandparents came down and watched. They are both all ready talking about going next year.


1 month old!!


Ava going down the slide at Taste of Hope.


The girls up on stage.


Ava and Ella singing. (Love Ella's smile.)

Layla Jane

We are finally home and beginning to settle into a routine. I can't say that nights have been difficult. The first few nights we had to actually wake her up after 6 hours to feed her and then she would sleep till about 8 am. The girls got here last night and it is nice to have everybody here. The girls love Layla so much. I am sure that I will never change a diaper by myself ever again. Ava and Ella always want to know where she is at and what she is doing. Sarah is doing great and getting around easier everyday. Sarah and I forgot how quiet the house can be without the 2 older girls here. It was nice but we both missed them very much and would rather take the loud then the quiet.



Ava the proud big sister.


Ella the other proud big sister.

Layla is never going to be alone.

Me and my ladies. I wouldn't want it any other way.

She's Here

Last night at 11:48 our beautiful third daughter, Layla Jane, came into this world. She weighed in at 8lbs. 9 oz. and she and mother are doing great. It was a good labor and Sarah was a ROCKSTAR!! Be ready for the pictures.

Dance Recital

Our rule this year was that baby could not come into this world until after June 19th. Well that day has come and gone and still no baby. We do have a deadline and that is June 30th (induction date). Whether she likes it or not she is coming into this world kicking and screaming.

We picked the 19th because that was the day of Ava's dance recital. She performed two dances at CY Stephens in Ames. The whole family was in attendance to watch her perform. After watching Ava on the soccer field and on the dance stage it is amazing to see the difference. She is more confident on the dance floor then anything else. That big stage does nothing to slow her down and with other dancers just standing there she is smiling and dancing. Afterwards we went to Hickory Park for a celebratory dinner. It made for a very long day with rehearsal at 10 and the recital at 12. At 7:00 that night both girls looked at Sarah and I and said they wanted to go to bed. We put them to bed and they slept 13 hours straight. Ava did a wonderful job in both of her dances and loved being all dolled up with her costume and her make-up.

Baby Watch 2010 continues....

Summer is Finally Here!!

First off I apologize for the lack of posts on here recently. With getting the babies room ready to go and finishing school it has been quite hectic around here. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel and that light is a kicking and screaming newborn. Everybody here is excited and anxiously waiting for Baby Girl McConnell's arrival. The girls are constantly asking us when she is going to be here and when they are going to Grandma Jane's to spend the night.
Sarah and I recently celebrated our birthday. She 29 and me a young-feeling 30!! It was a good time out with family at On the Border on Tuesday and yesterday spent with the family.
We are really hoping that the new little one will stay put until after next Saturday. That is Ava's dance recital in Ames and I think we will be cutting it close. Sarah and I really don't want to miss Ava's recital. Anytime after that is OK with us and we will be ready. Here are a few pictures to start the summer off. The girls love being outside. There are days that I know they spend more time outside then they do inside. If you don't here from me in the next couple of weeks you will know why. Stay tuned for pictures of the new arrival.


Probably the last family picture of 4.

Ella running through the sprinkler.

Ava eating watermelon. Her and I ate an entire one in one day.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

My goal is to always post as much as possible but it has been very hard to have time. I am not sure our lives can get any busier (oh wait, it IS going to get busier). I am looking at the last 10 days of school for the year. As always it has been a busy year, but a good one. Next year is going to be a challenge with construction, and a new schedule of me just teaching Language Arts. Ava finished Preschool and is all ready looking forward to Kindergarten. She had her last day where Sarah got to go watch. They sang songs and played games. It is amazing that she is done with Preschool and our little girl will be going to school all day next year. It is pretty scary how fast she is growing up. Ella had her 3rd birthday party and I took that day off to spend with her and Sarah. We had a great day; we went bowling, to the mall to play at the play place, Build-a-Bear, and out to lunch. Sarah is finishing up pictures and is going to take some time off for the baby. Because of this she has been having pictures almost every night with people getting in before she takes off. I think she is really looking forward to a break and relax before the little one gets here. As always we are trying to find some time to finish the baby's room and get it ready for whenever she decided to make her apperance. My mom has been coming down a few night a week to help go through everything and get it in order. Well, there you have it. I hope to post a little more frequently up to the birth and to show off the baby's room. The pictures are of Ava's last day of Preschool. Enjoy the summer like weather this week.

Ava singing with her class.

Ava sitting with one of her teachers.

Playing the Bear Hunt.

The Bear Hunt.

Little Ella is 3 Years Old

Tuesday was Ella's birthday and I took a personal day and spent the day with her and Sarah. We had a wonderful time. We started off by going to McDonald's for breakfast and then we went out to Waukee to take Ella bowling. She had a wonderful time pushing the bowl the lane and she did end up beating both Sarah and I. We then went to Jordan Creek to the play place for her to run around for a little while. It was amazing watching her play. She is one that could care less about what others are doing and loved just running around having the time of her life. Next we took her to Build-a-Bear to make her first bear. She picked out a nice bear and some clothes and named her Mya. We ended our afternoon with lunch and Champps and then home for a nap. Finally her birthday dinner was CiCi's pizza with her favorite, cinnamon rolls. It was a busy day, but extremely fun.

100th Post - Maternity

Never did I think I would be at post 100, yet here I am. Looking back it has been fun updating for family and friends. We always love hearing from everybody and we love reading the comments. Thanks for all the support on this and we will continue to update.

Here are some pictures of Sarah, the girls, and I taking maternity photos. It was challenging to say the least. I guess the only challenging part was me trying to take the picture and getting upset that they weren't turing out good. I hate to brag but Sarah took some wonderful pictures and she is a very beautiful mother. Some of the pictures we took were the artistic ones and they turned out amazing.

4-D Ultrasound

Saturday we took the girls and Sarah's parents to Prenatal Vision for a 4D Ultrasound. It is really amazing to see our little girl almost in perfect detail. We could see everything from her ears and nose to even the hair on her head. The girls loved seeing their sister and Mark thought it was pretty cool since he had never seen an ultrasound before. Seeing the pictures really got everybody excited for the new arrival. If we ever have a down weekend we hope to make a good dent in the baby's room. But those quiet weekends look a long way off. On Sunday we took the girls downstairs to the photo studio to take maternity pictures. I even had the privilege to take some of the pictures since Sarah was in them. It made me appreciate how hard Sarah works on her pictures because it took a long time to get used to taking pictures and I still am not comfortable doing it. Here are a few of the ultrasound pictures and I hope to post some of the maternity pictures in a few days.
Enjoy the lovely weather that makes Spring a wonderful season.

Sarah's Own Photo shoot

Sarah sat up the tri-pod and took a few pictures of her belly and they turned at really great. We are eventually going to take pictures of girls and myself and see how a family photo shoot for the baby is going to go. Stay tuned for more pictures.

Soccer and Ears

Saturday was a day of firsts. Ava had her very first soccer game and Ella got her ears pierced. Ava did a wonderful job at soccer. She had fun and loved running around and being with her teammates. The best thing about the end was that Ava told me she couldn't tell who the best was, they were all good. Ella, on the other hand did a great job until they pressed the button. She had that delay cry and then she wanted nothing to do with anybody. The lady that pierced her ears offered her a sucker and Ella looked at her like she was Death!! It took her about 10 minutes and then she was fine and now she loves to show off her new earrings.

28 Weeks and Counting

We have reached 28 weeks and when I say we I mean Sarah. She is looking beautiful and usual and keeping up her busy schedule of work and taking pictures. On a great note she learned that she passed her Gestational Diabetes test. That means no poking for blood sugars and every now and then she can eat some desert!! Maybe we should start thinking about the babies room. We know what it is going to look like we just have to find some time that we are not super busy to work on it. With birthdays, soccer, and pictures there is hardly enough hours in the day to get things done. Oh well.

Ava's Birthday

Yesterday Sarah and Grandma Sue took Ava out for a day of pampering. They got lunch at On the Border, manicures and pedicures, and then came home to eat pizza and brownie malts (Ava's choice). Ava then opened up her presents from Sarah and I. The first present was a Princess Tiana barbie. She is in love with "The Princess and the Frog" so she loved that. The next gift was her big one. We got her tickets to Taylor Swift. She opened the box and in it was a picture and the tickets. The video below is her figuring out what they were.

My Little 5 Year Old

It is hard to imagine that 5 years ago tomorrow Ava Grace was brought into our lives. Now she is turning 5 and she is not our little girl. Ava is a one of a kind. To watch her now is always amazing. She is an outgoing, ambitious, and wonderful child. She is so full of life and enjoys many, many things. People have told me it is different when you have girls. Of course I wouldn't know because that is all I have had or will ever have. I wouldn't want it any other way. Happy Birthday to our wonderful Ava you have blessed our life and we are just along for the ride.
Here are some pictures of Ava when she was just a couple of months old. Hard to imagine that she was every this tiny and probably that quiet!!