Clifford and Fountains

At the beginning of the month, Carter, Hayden, some old friends of ours and myself went to a local Clifford exhibit. It featured different parts of Birdwell Island and of course had our pal Clifford.

I love how TINY Hayden looks sitting underneath Clifford.

Then we went to play in some fountains.

Carter is so excited about it he is floating on air.

Where did that water go?

There it is!

Cleaning his toushy.

Lucy, Carter, Ty and a little builder bum watching the fountain show.

First Day of Preschool

Earlier this week Carter started his 2nd year of preschool. He couldn't wait to get in the doors and get started. I, on the other hand, was getting quite misty eyed. I asked for a kiss and apparently he is too old for that, because he firmly told me no. Are you kidding me? You can't be old enough to be embarrassed to kiss your Mom goodbye! I'll get a kiss one of these days!!

All settled down with his name tag on and playing with the red playdoh that Dad and Carter made the day before. Each month a child and parent takes a turn making playdoh for the classroom.

His class is making an All About Me Book that is a memory book for them to look back and see themselves as they were this first week of preschool. The parent's have been asked to write a letter to their child that will be included in this book. I thought for memory sake I would also include the letter on this blog post:

August 27, 2010

Dear Carter,

Hello there my Love. Ever since you were in the womb and a tiny new born I never could picture you as the delicate, fragile baby that you looked like from the outside. I always knew that inside you were a boisterous, bigger than life little man trapped inside a tiny body. And every day you continue to prove me right. From day one you have always kept me hopping and I am expecting that is how it will always be. But for now here is a letter to help you remember who you are right now at 3 ½ years old.

You are one determined, bold little kid. When you want something, it is very rare for you to ever back down. It doesn’t matter if a kid that is twice your age has or is doing something you want or is making you mad. You tell him what you think and not even care that he could knock you down. You always stand up for what you believe in and this gives me great hope for your future.

You have always been into music and that just continues to evolve as you get older. Right now you seem to be into Rock music. You get a really serious look on your face and dance around or play air guitar. One reason you really like Rock music – other than liking the sound of it – is that you think it is TOTAL BOY music. You are big into categorizing things into boy things and girl things and you want Nothing to do with Girl things!! So Rock music it is because it is almost always a BOY thing. Lately, you have also been enjoying Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Your favorite part is when Potipher yells out and throws Joseph in Jail. You ask to listen to that part OVER and OVER again. In your mind there is a hippopotamus involved at this point in the story and the hippo is hilarious to you! In Primary (at church) you love to sit up straight and sing nice and loud during singing time.

You are an amazing Big Brother! Hayden follows everything you do. You are so good to her and love to play with her and especially you love to make her laugh. I am always touched when you want to sing songs to her. Watching the two of you together brings me so much JOY!

You are a busy body. You want to be on the go at all times, constantly concerned about what we are doing next. You love to play with buddies. You are a very social kid and depend on that social interaction. For the most part, you are an inclusive kid as well. When you are running around playing, I often notice you stop even if it is for a second and coo at a baby or smile and say something cute to a little toddler. When it comes to your social life one thing that is for sure, is you LOVE older boys. They are the COOLEST! Lately, your strategy with the older kids is to give them a compliment to win their friendship. The other day we went to a house with a 10 year old boy you admire, and as soon as we walked in the door you ran over to the bigger boy, touched his shirt and said, “Cool shirt, James.”

You also have a love of learning. I have been amazed at the desire you have had to learn your letters, sounds, numbers, shapes, etc. The other day, you read two words on a building and I was so impressed. You have an inquisitive mind and want to know about the world around you.

The most important thing to know about you is how much your Dad and I LOVE you!! You are still our baby and have grown to be our little buddy, too. You bring us eternal happiness that we never knew was possible! We are proud of you and are excited to see the boy you become! LOVE, Mommy

Bathing Beauties!

I know every one thinks their babies are the cutest things in town, and I am not saying that their aren't cuter babies because I know there has to be somewhere; but, I can say with out a doubt so often when I look at my babies they take my breath away!! And these pictures of Hayden in the bath are no exception.

I love this picture above because you can catch a glimpse of toddler/ pre-schooler Hayden.


This is a CLASSIC Hayden face with the scrunched up eyes and tongue sticking out. I am predicting that this will be a face we see a lot as she grows up and starts flirting with the boys. But that's never going to happen... then again she is my daughter.

Then for fun I thought I would add in some pictures of Carter in the bath at the same age as Hayden above. You definitely see similarities, but it's cute to see the softer features that makes Hayden more feminine.

Oh my goodness, Carter was Chub-a-lubs!!!

Carter is Waterskiing!!

Last Saturday we had a great evening on the lake! It all started on our way to the lake when Hayden started laughing more and harder than she ever has before:



Then one of our top ten proudest moments of Carter thus far happened when he decided he wanted to get out on the lake and water skii with his Dad.

He has a huge smile on his face and thought he was a pretty cool kid yelling out, "Hit it!" to Grandpa.

His smile tells it all. Matt did great with him out there and Carter loved every minute of it. He is getting so big and grown up and I just can't believe how brave he is. At the time I was just so stinkin proud of him, and now I am getting a little teary-eyed at how big this means he is getting. He is definitely not my baby anymore.

Here is a video of him skiing:

But here are my adorable Baby's toes, peeking out from her sleeping place. She does such a good job on the boat. She complains just a bit to make sure you know that she's uncomfortable in that big bulky life jacket, but mostly she endures with a "I'm putting up with this" demeanor.

Carter just chillin.

Drivin Grandpa who is out slaloming.

It seemed like there was almost magic in the air, because we all achieved if not our personal bests out in the water, close to it. Matt made some great strides with wakeboarding.

The three of us went out on the "tube" and Carter again decided to be ultra daring and wanted to go out of the wake and hit a bunch of bumps. We got thrown off twice by some pretty big bumps and each time he came up out of the water laughing.

These pictures of Grandma and Grandpa are PROOF that Grandpa did indeed go out on the "tube" and enjoyed it (see the smiles), you know you did Grandpa.

They even got daring and got up on their hands and knees and at one point even acting like they were riding a bull.

So in a way, I guess they got what was coming to them when they met their demise. :)

The end of the evening sure was beautiful on the lake.

Carter loves to get out and swim between each skiier/ wakeboarder/ tuber.

Hayden "surviving."

Carter wiped out at the end of one successful day.