San Francisco

Thanks Jase for letting us tag along on your trip to San Fran! When Jason found out he had a business trip- we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go visit his sister Brittany and her family. We had a blast! Thanks to their constant shuttling to and from the city- to make sure Jase could be included in the fun, and babysitting Carter for a night so we could stay in the City. It was great. The best part was hanging out with the Kurtz's! What a fun family- and the boys were the best. Keaton and Carter played hard every day, and Luke and Mikey were so awesome to take care of Carter and make sure he had everything he wanted- I just wish I had gotten some pics of them!. Here's a few highlights from our trip.

Carter's 1st trip to the beach! Can't you tell how much he loved it?!
Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. So Beautiful! I've been to San Francisco twice now, and have lucked out with sunny weather both times!

Kissing Cousins Carter and Keaton! OK- so it was totally staged, but I couldn't resist. They just looked too cute playing in the wagon together!

Thanks to Keaton, Carter learned a few new tricks this trip! He LOVED (can't emphasize this enough) Keaton! He's still talking about him.

And you probably can't tell from these, but every single picture I have of Carter from this trip includes a little "Lightning McQueen" in his hand. He found this little car the first day we were there- and we couldn't go anywhere without it. Brittany was nice enough to let us steal it- and it still goes everywhere with us. I guess I'll have to add to the collection now.

Loved our trip. Happy we didn't have a baby while we were there. Can't wait to go back!

A "Carter" Walk

This was a fun walk. My little devil before his nap woke up well rested and happy as can be. So we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather, and take a walk. This walk was no more than a quarter mile outside our front door, no scenery, and took at least 1 hour- and was one of the funnest walks I've been on in a long time. In no hurry, no where to go, I just followed along for the ride- and a few pics. ( I know- I took a lot of pictures for 1 walk.) So, here's a recap.

We Walked in the gutter

And rested in the street

Walked up a storm drain (behind our house)

climbed a few walls

Played with some rocks (he could have done this all day)

gave kisses through the gate

And got the mail! Guess who got a package?! As soon as I told him he had a present from E.Ma (grandma) the next word out of his mouth was "candy!" Does he know her well or what?!

He decided it made a pretty good drum.

And I guess he didn't notice that the chocolate already came out of the box.

The End.

I'm Not Ready

Yesterday, was a little dramatic.

It started out with Carter being very excited about the new Bedrails on his big boy bed. He immediately knew that it meant "night night" and loved pretending to go to sleep in it. Well, after a whole morning of playtime, I figured he had forgotten all about it. Much to my surprise, after we finished lunch I said "Guess what time it is?" usually the answer is "night night", but yesterday he immediately said "Bed!" and headed for the stairs. I followed him all the way up to his big bed! Well, since he was excited about it, I thought it wouldn't do any harm to give it a shot. BIG MISTAKE! Without giving you all the details we spent about an hour and a half trying to get him to go to sleep- and it ended with him falling asleep in his crib, standing up, head on the railing. ( and didn't last longer than 5 minutes.) So- no nap.

Since we started this madness- I figured we'd just keep it going, so Jason put him down in the big bed when it was time to go to bed. It went much smoother (probably because he was SO exhausted.) He went right to sleep and only ended up in our room once at 2am and then again at 6:30.

And now that we've done just One day of this... I realized... I'm. Not. Ready.
Not ready to fight nap time every day. Not ready for 2am wake up calls. Not ready for him to be awake any time before 7am. And most of all- Not ready for my little baby to grow up!

I feel a little guilty taking away his fun with the big bed after just 1 day, and it was hard putting him in his crib when he was begging for the Bed, BUT- I just need a little more time.

Our Latest Project

With #2 on the way, we thought we may try to switch Carter into his own bed. Sound Crazy??! Yeah, we know. But- I must say I'm pretty proud of myself for scoring this free headboard and footboard that our old neighbors were getting rid of. With a little paint, a mattress we've had for a while, and some really cheap bedding we found at Home Goods I think it turned out pretty cute... and best of all, cheap.

Before

After

Daddy's Boy

OK- so anyone who knows Carter, knows he is Definitely a Mama's boy! But, on the weekends he's ALL about Dad! So, this past weekend we thought we'd put him to work on a motorcycle that Jase needed some help on. He loved it!

Some of his other favorite things he's learned from his Dad:

"Oh Stinky!" (so watch out if you pass gas- he'll point it out!)

"Oh Nice!" or "Go!" (Yelled randomly anytime a football or basketball game is on)

"Geeze!" (If he's frustrated)

He's also got a pretty mean tackle, and a great touchdown dance!

We're working on his passing game- still needs a little work.

Don't know what we'd do without Daddy!

Christmas

We're well, We're organized, and Carter's asleep- so I have a few minutes to update. I don't know how to put my pictures in the right order- so it starts at the bottom. I'll get it right one of these days.! We had a blast in Utah for Christmas and New Years! Here's a little bit of what we did.

And we went sledding at Midway. OK- Carter and I only lasted about 10 minutes. The littles (Carter and Keaton) couldn't do the big hill- and he really didn't want anything to do with the tube, so we headed back and played at the Cabin while Keaton snuck in a few runs on the big hill. They passed him off as a 3 yr old! Way to go Keaters!

What's not to love about that cute face?

I think he lived in this snowsuit for a few days.

After Christmas- we spent some time at the Cabin in Midway. The kids loved playing in the snow- and there was SOOoooo. much of it! It was great!

Carter and Jase opening up his new Cars. I think we all heard "Cars" repeated over and over until we just couldn't stand it anymore. He loves anything with wheels!

Christmas morning- What can I say? It was pure Christmas Chaos- and we loved every second of it! This is Keaton showing Carter how his new motorcycle works. with all the other boys around Carter had plenty of toys to snatch!

After the Nativity presentations from the kids- they all opened up these cute pillows from Grandma Peela or "Eema" as some of them call her. This is Ellie and Carter enjoying their new pillows. He LOVES Ellie! He still talks about her and loves to look at these pics!

Later Carter got to experience the snow in this sweet snowsuit that Paula got from DI. Thank you DI! We had a tough time finding anything for the snow here in Vegas. And while he looks like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story"- it worked perfect and kept his little bod warm.

Started out Christmas Eve by going to the cemetery to visit Jason's Dad, and baby Michael. Always a tearful experience- but one we wouldn't miss.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! It feels like we've been out of town for a long time. Carter made it almost a whole 2 weeks without getting Sick! We made it through colds, and strep, and ear infections and just when we thought we were safe- woke up Sunday morning with throw up in the bed! Yuck!

So we have had a fun filled few days trying to get our little sickie better. We had a blast with our family up in Utah and can't wait to tell you all about it... another time once my house is somewhat put back together and my little buddy is Ok.

Hope everyone's Christmas and New Year was fabulous! We've missed our friends here in Vegas and can't wait to get back to our routine.