My Train Boy

Choo Choo! Carter wanted all of his trains set up this day. So we spread them out and had "All Aboard" heaven for a morning.

Slip N' Slide

I am desperately needing to get caught up on my blog, so this post is going back to the end of May for the combined birthday party of Carter's friends Oliver and Allie. Oliver received a Slip N' Slide for his birthday so we decided to put it straight to use. The kids were really funny at first and just wanted to run down it or along the side of it. But once they got the hang of it, it was a huge blast. Carter really got into it and couldn't get his legs to run fast enough to get back to the front of the line. I say front of the line because he refused to wait behind anyone, he was next no matter what. I don't know if it is a good or bad thing that his friends allow Carter to get away with so much.

Carter's tongue is hanging out, just like his Daddy.

What was hilarious is when the Dad's felt they had to get involved and see who could throw their kid down the hardest and make them go the farthest. So we had kids flying out of the end pool and skidding across the grass. But none of the kids who did it seemed to mind.

This was pretty funny. As you can the Oliver's house is on a corner lot and the front of their yard in on a "busier" street. Some driver came by and yelled out his window that there was a naked child in the front. Yeah, that was my kid and not only that but when I got closer I saw that he had taken off his poopy diaper and had sat in some grass. You can't really see the poop and grass in this picture, but Heather said it Carter gave a whole knew meaning to "gracias" / "Grassy- A.." I thought it was pretty funny anyways.

Our Religious Harmonica Player

For Carter's birthday, the family I nanny for gave him lots of musical instruments. By far his favorite is the harmonica. He loves to play it and plays it often.

In our church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," every Monday night is dedicated to Family Home Evening. Family Home Evening consists of a time you get together as a family and have a spiritual lesson, play games, and/ or have a treat together. It isn't always all three but it is usually a mixture of. We have found a lot of joy out of having "FHE" in our family. Sometimes they can be quite successful thanks to the new Nursery Manuals and other times they can go like this (or worse):

One last thing. Carter is starting to get to that age where we are having those "kids say the darnedest things" moments. The other night went like this:

Matt puts Carter to bed every night that he is home. Right as he is laying him in his crib Matt usually says things like this,

"Carter you are so wonderful. You are my angel. I love you so much."

Last night Matt added to his repertoire, "Carter, you are my treasure."

To which Carter quickly turned and said, "No Daddy, treasure is for pirates."

"I'm Gonna be a ..."

That's right, Carter is going to be a Big Brother. I am due January 12, 2010. And to answer some questions proactively:

1. I am 12 weeks along as of yesterday.
2. Yes, I have been quite sick. Not to the extreme that I've needed to be drugged up like I was with Carter, but having the "flu" 24/7 is NO FUN!! And gets quite tiring.
3. We tried for about 1 1/2 years and did end up using a fertility drug, Fermera. It was a miracle worker and was successful the first month. Thank Heavens for modern day medicine. And even though it took us a while to get pregnant, as with Carter I am so glad that it didn't happen until now. The timing will be great in that we will only have a few months left living in Pennsylvania before we move to KC and live close to family.

We are thrilled to have this next little one come into our family. I am nervous about having two and trying to work around two schedules, but I keep telling myself millions of women do this everyday so I will be able to as well.

The Best Thing a Momma Can Hear

This morning Carter and I were washing the kitchen floor (this is one of our favorite activities to do together) and Carter out of the blue said, "I love you!" Which is in and of itself a pretty awesome thing to hear, but did not compare to what he said next, "I love me!" Now that is the best thing that I could ever dream to hear and I hope and pray that he will continue to say it throughout his life! I love you too my Carter Boy!!

The Great Smokey Mountains

May 15- May 19 2009

Matt was very lucky his freshman year in college to find his male soul mates. He had a lot of freshman buddies that he was very close to, but two of them have literally been his soul mates. They are as thick as brothers. Through the years we have tried to stay close through vacations and this year we decided to meet Joe and family from Florida at a halfway point and go to the Smokey Mountain National Park. Justin and family flew in from Canada.

Here is a view from our cabin showing just how the Great Smokies got their name. They are gorgeous!! Here are some more pictures of our cabin:The view from the hot tub.

The back "wall" was pure windows showing off the view from above.

The kitchen where many delicious meals were made.

The porch where I loved to sit in the morning and read my scriptures and take in the morning fog.

The back of the cabin.


The Scottish Festival:

On our first full day there we decided to hit up a local Scottish festival. It actually ended up being kind of a bust, but we were still able to get some laughs in.

A real live yak. I personally have never come into contact with a yak before. They seem to only be in Carter's books for "Y is for Yak."

The manly axe throw. Justin actually got his axe to stay on his first throw, what a man!!

Laurel Falls:

Our first hike of the trip.

Double Trouble: Carter HATES to wear his shoes! In fact his right big toe is a never-ending bloody mess because he refuses to wear shoes and scraps it up every day. So here Milly is helping Carter get ready for the big hike by taking his shoes off for him.

The water was really cold but still intriguing to the boys who wanted to put their feet in.

Evan was the bravest of the boys, I believe he got completely soaked in the waterfall.

The soul mates showing off how tough and good looking they are.

Matt far right, Joe middle, Justin left.

I know this looks like some team building exercise but no it's just Justin and Matt being themselves.

Justin has this affect on Matt, whenever Justin is around Matt is always doing crazy things. Though let's be honest it doesn't take a lot of pushing. And believe me, that water was Freezing!

The Boys

On Sunday we went for a drive to hit the tallest point in the park. It was freezing and I was the only one prepared. What can I say scouting was always a part of my family's life even though I wasn't officially involved.

The Squirrels, I mean Girls.

And can I say , Woo Woo!!

Action shot of how these boys are 24-7 when they are with each other.

This was our second hike we took in Cade's Cove to another waterfall. Carter loved hiking and was doing a fantastic job. I think he went for at least a mile. I was pretty proud of him and wished my family could see him. Hiking is a big deal in my family and it is almost a rite of passage when you start hiking on your own.



For the rest of it, he got to ride in his comfy backpack. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Again, Craziness! Matt and I were both wishing my brothers could have been here for this one. This is right up their alley!

Freezing!

Go Carts:

For the last day, the boys decided to go go-carting. It was really fun for them until Matt had a serious allergic reaction afterwards and his face swelled up and he had hives all over.

The best action shot I could get. Carter was a little nervous.
They had some kiddie rides there as well, so we took advantage. And of course Carter always loves a good Choo Choo train.

Matt and I are so blessed to have had some once in a lifetime friendships with some exceptional people. Family is very important, but there is something so crucial as well to friends that are as close as family. We are so grateful to those friends who we love so dearly!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

No Longer a Binky Baby...

Now he is a Big Boy Bike Rider!!



So this last Monday we were at Walmart doing the dreaded grocery shopping and while back in the dairy section, Carter messing around took his binky out and threw it. It landed in a grated area where we could see it but not get to it. Previous to this, I had been getting my fill of little old ladies telling me that my son was too old for a binky (one of these actually made him cry last weekend) and people dropping "hints" to me on "this is how I got my child off of his binky." I really did appreciate everyone's great and creative ideas and I even asked for a few of them, but I was just fed up. So I saw this imprisonment of Carter's binky as divine intervention. I think Heavenly Father knew Matt and I didn't have the guts to take it away. So back to the story. After seeing our predicament with the binky I knew we needed to act fast. I told Carter to wave and say goodbye to his binky. His eyes welled up with tears and you could see in his little face that his heart was broken. In between sobs he said goodbye to his binky and waved as well. In the past, I had poorly attempted to limit the binky but after not receiving a lot of support from Matt all of my attempts were thwarted. Thus, I knew I needed to get Matt on board so I called him right away. I explained the situation and told him what I wanted to do. Matt got emotional (yes he cried) and said that he couldn't do that to his boy. This comes from a guy who has a major oral fixation problem himself. But he finally agreed when I told him that Carter really understood that this was it, there was no more binky. Matt was afraid we might traumatize him so we agreed to give Carter a choice. I asked Carter if he wanted a Carter's Bink (that is Carter's name for it to differentiate it from a Baby's binky, yes we tried the shame tactic) or a Big Boy Bike. He chose the bike and stopped crying. Matt wanted to be there with us when we picked out the bike and I thought that it was good to wait to make sure Carter was serious about this. So everytime he asked for his Carter's Bink I gave him the choice and again everytime he would stop whining and say in a big boy voice that he wanted a Big Boy Bike. He went about two days, a nap and a night without his binky and he stayed true the whole time to his bike so last night we went to Target and got his Big Boy Bike. Our little boy is growing up...now on to potty training.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Evolution of "Mine"

Carter:

Mine

That's Mine

I had it first!

Then yesterday he pulled this one out as Matt was trying to put Carter's toliet seat cover on, "Hey, I had it my turn!"

It is so funny to hear how kid's internalize certain phrases as "Who had it first?" or "We need to take turns." Ultimately, to Carter it all means one thing: "MINE!"

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Grandma, Grandpa, Buddies, and Puddles...

...These are a few of Carter's favorite things. (This is our April Wrap-Up):

We went to the Children's museum at the beginning of the month. They had a new tree house exhibit where you could try on a whole bunch of different bird costumes. Below Carter is an owl (one of his favorite animals he pretends to be thanks to Little Bear, see the last video at the bottom of the post). Speaking of Little Bear, it may not be the most educational show as far as letters and numbers but it has been fantastic for his imagination. He loves to pretend he is his little animal friends from the show, not to mention his trips to the moon.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a big one for us because Matt turned 30, Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen came into town, I taught the Easter Relief Society lesson and it was Easter.

We had to take Grandma and Grandpa to the zoo.




I love this picture of Grandpa and Carter checking out Carter's most fascinating animal at the zoo, the snake. It is quite a love/ hate relationship. It terrifies him but he can't look away.

You can't tell in this picture, but Carter's hands looked like a sea monster's (after insisting on dunking and pulling out the eggs with his fingers), which Carter thought was awesome since a monster is probably his favorite imaginary thing he likes to be, especially when it involves scaring girls.





Carter and Oliver did a great job in helping this older gentleman blow out his candles. :)




Skippy Jon Jones is a favorite story at our house, especially when Matt reads it with his great Antonio Banderas accent. Below is some video of it, though it is hard to hear his voice in some places. Thanks Lexi and Emi for giving it to us!

Paling Around

Carter has really enjoyed the bike trailer this year. Last year between the wearing of the helmet and having the helmet always fall in his face he wasn't a huge fan. But since none of that is a problem this year, he loves speeding down the road behind his daddy.

This is Siddharth, the boy I watch, and Carter swinging on the tire swing at their house. The boys love doing this and the two of them fit nicely. Siddharth and his sister Tanvi always try to make things work so that Carter can be included in most activities.




I have talked a lot to family and some friends about their dog Caesar so I thought I would post a picture here. He is a Golden Doodle (Golden Retriever and Poodle mix). He is a big dog but is sweet as a teddy bear. He and Carter are great buddies and love to watch for the garbage man together on Thursday mornings.

Carter is definitely hitting that independent and wants to help with everything stage. In fact, the other day Carter was complaining about it being his turn to clean the toilet bowl as I was scrubbing it. But two Saturdays ago, we had some yard work to do and Carter was right there with Matt helping every step of the way.

He loves the watering part!!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Last week we had a ton of rain, but Carter and I were very itchy to get out of the house. So we did and we had a ball. By the way, this is the back alley way from our house.

I only wish I had a better camera and more skill because some of these pictures could have been awesome!
We found this umbrella at the Goodwill for a $1.50, SCORE!!

There's nothing better than the joy of a child!

In the second video below, it isn't too obvious but Carter loves to label puddles: "Baby Puddles" and "Daddy Puddles."

Temple Day

I had the honor of escorting a sister from our ward through the DC temple this last Saturday. It was a remarkable day. Matt and Carter came down with us, Matt dropped Carter off at my cousin Adrienne's house and joined us at the temple. I am so excited for this wonderful sister who had so much faith and dedication to make it to this day. And of course the DC temple and it's grounds were looking as beautiful as ever.

Spring Time!!

Last fall, Matt planted a bunch of bulbs and it has been so exciting to watch them come up and look so beautiful. Matt goes out there every day and looks at them. He loves to garden. But with that said, we have really struggled with our flower beds and vegetable garden in the past. Some areas are successes and other areas we really fail. But this is the first time, where each plant looks beautiful and survived. I guess we are making progress, lets just hope it lasts.

The picture above was from our side flower bed and this is the bed right in front of our drive strip.

An owl, a duck, a dog, a snake oh my....

And that was our month of April, phew!

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