Carter Turns 6

Carter turned 6 on September 22nd. He's getting so tall. I can't get over how much he grew this summer so I was relieved when the grandparents all bought him pants! He's got more camo pants than any kid I know. We had cake on his birthday with the grandparents and then had a cousins/friends party over the weekend. This was our first destination birthday party. I loved the fact that the house didn't need to be cleaned only for it to get trashed by little dirty feet, not that I mind all the little feet. It just gets to be a lot of work. So, we hit the bowling alley. The kids had a super fun time, even Paul and Elliot. They set up a metal rack in one of the lanes so they didn't have to carry around the ball. It simply rolled right off. No wonder they had the best scores, a straight shot every time.

Let's see...Carter updates. He's now a big Kindergartener. Jeremy and I had teacher conferences this past week. I gotta say she was straight with us. Sometimes I have a glorified view of Carter ;-) , thinking he rarely gets into mischief (I'm thinking this is a first born thing). Anyhow, she said he's empathetic with others and very nice to the kids. She called him Happy Carter, makes friends easily. However....(this is when you know it's not all good news) he also likes to join in when someone is getting out of line. She said he's curious and gets distracted by things that look fun, even though it's not what they're supposed to be doing. She of course said it in a nice way, but we got the message. So, we'll have to work on the leadership skills. :-) All in all, the reading and writing skills are fine, but she doesn't want him to fall behind. It definitely was a helpful conference, but I left thinking, what about "Carter is my favorite kid in class!" b/c obviously he's mine. Every mom thinks so.

He's been a little different at home, a little more rough housing going on, which I gather he's picking up playing football on the playground. He still loves to ride his bike and go on the swings. He recently made it across the monkey bars, one at a time. He's working on alternating. Carter's starting to read a bit. Her philosophy is using fundamentals and phonics (I almost spelled that wrong!), so sort of old school since I had been hearing so much about sight words. I don't know which is better. Any thoughts out there, school teachers? He does seem to be picking it up. He's very interested in science and how things work. He likes the shows "Factory Made" and "How Do They Do It?" on the Science Channel. We make him fast-forward the commercials, since they're not always kid friendly.

He wanted a fishing cake so this is my lame attempt, once again. I used a lego man and made a blue pond out of frosting, a fishing line out of kitchen twine.

Here are Leah, Elliot and Carter warming up before the other kids arrived.

Showing off his "6" candle

All the kiddos from left, Crawford, Hayden Bridget, Lane, Carter, Madeleine, Leah, Kate, James, Trenton and Molly
Right from the party, we headed to Middle Bass to spend the rest of the weekend with Jeremy's parents. We hadn't been all summer. Mike was so good about the cold weather since the kids really wanted to get in the water. He improvised and instead of tubing behind the jetski, he tied a board to the back of the golf cart. Good times!!

Even Ginger had to try it

Here they are in the loft, which they can not wait to sleep in someday.

Sunday afternoon before we headed back, Carter begged Pop-pop to put the skis in water. It was freezing, but they did it! Here they are backing off the trailer.

Carter had a great birthday and great birthday weekend. We enjoyed it too. It's fun watching him have fun. He can be kind of serious at times, but also knows how to have a good time. Happy 6th birthday Carter!!! We love you.

Brooks - 8 Months

Brooks is 8 months old (back on Sept 24th)!! Big changes recently....he's been getting up on his hands and knees, rocking and crawling backwards. He hasn't quite figured out how to go forwards yet, but I think he's close. He rolls all over the place too and is eating all sorts of finger foods. He'd much prefer them over the jarred food, but I'm still trying to use up the ones I already bought. His favorite is sweet potatoes and turkey (jar). His favorite finger food so far is cheerios. This morning I gave him some cinamon toast (wheat, so it was somewhat healthy :-) He loved it!!!! He likes the jarred bananas, but when I give him the real thing, he smashes them all up and just plays with the mush.

So far, three teeth. Teething hasn't gone so great. He likes to wake up at night and come into our bed for a bottle. I guess I'm assuming it's due to the teething. Who knows? We need to help him break the habit, but easier said than done these days. I keep waiting for the perfect 3 day period where there's nothing going on. Well, at this rate, he'll be sleeping with us till he hits Kindergarten. No, it will be soon.

Let's see..other updates. He is starting to interact more with the kids, even Elliot and now knows the "Daddy's home!" routine. That's when Jer opens the garage door and all the kids stop what they're doing, run and scream that Daddy's home. He now lights up too and starts bouncing around. It's like Pavlov's dog, I tell you. Door opens, kids run and happily scream. Jeremy's a rockstar!

This was taken Labor Day weekend. Jeremy's parents hosted a breakfast at their house the morning after his sister, Heather got married ( I need to post on that too!)

Uncle David came home for a quick visit recently and stopped by for coffee on his way to the OSU game. The kids love when Uncle David visits! We don't see him too often these days.

Brooks with Aunt Heather at Carter's birthday bowling party, which was a blast! (I'll try to post on that too..who doesn't love bowling!?)Brooks grabbing the camera.

Happy 8 Months Brooks!!!

First Day of Pre-school

Leah and Elliot started pre-school on the 13th. This is officially Elliot's first time away from mom and dad in any organized setting. The first day went great b/c I stayed part of the time. They asked us to do so in order to help the kids get settled. The second day I just dropped him off with a quick "goodbye" hug at the door. He was not so happy. They called me a few minutes later and told me he stopped crying shortly after I left. I think it will just take a few weeks for him to get used to it. Elliot is having fun playing with the trucks and coloring so far. His cousin Paul is in his class, which is great since he has a familiar friend to play with!

Leah's upstairs in Miss Jane's class. She was so excited to go back to school especially since Carter started a few weeks ago. She loves school. They have ponies, a kitchen & sing lots of song, all her favorite things. Her friend Mary is there and her cousin Trent is in the same class, so she gets to play with some good buddies each morning. It should be a good year!

I Miss Carter

Boo hoo, right! I drove away from his school today almost in tears. He runs to the school so joyfully. That part really makes me happy. It's the 7 hours in between that are a bummer. And when I pick him up, the same smile. Every day so far has been a good one, great ones really. Each night he tells me about his day after we put him to bed, a big difference from the first day. It's like a little secret meeting we have. It's so cool how much he enjoys school. He's off to a great start.

I told Leah that I miss Carter this morning and she said, "Me too" in a sad voice. She doesn't have pre-school on Fridays which makes for a long day without her buddy. Hopefully she and Elliot will become better pals. We've been playing a lot of Zingo in the afternoons and cooking together, trying to stay busy during naptime. It is nice having some one-on-one with Leah.

Other good news is we're getting into a routine and I'm finally getting some stuff organized at home. It seems like since Brooks' birth, I have been procrastinating heavily. I weined him over the last few weeks. Now that he can hold a bottle, I'm a little more hands free throughout the day making me more productive. For a while there, Brooks would only nurse lying down in my bed, so every feeding I was going upstairs. He was so distracted otherwise. The bottle gives him the chance to look around. I'm thinking part of my sadness about Carter being at school is secondary to me being done nursing. Hormones are powerful things!

A cute story.....last night we had a pretty big thunderstorm. Elliot was really scared and followed me around the house telling me that there were dinosaurs outside. I kept reassuring him that there aren't dinosaurs anymore and I tried to explain thunder, yes, to a two year old. Carter, the wiser one, came over to Elliot and crouched down. He then said, "don't worry Elliot, God's just bowling".

Chainsaw Demo

Leah and Elliot had their open house for pre-school last night. I was talking to another mom when I had to turn around b/c Elliot was cutting up trees. The funny part was Jeremy cleared some low branches a few weeks ago, making it easier to mow. Elliot was terrified of the noise and hung near the house or by my side. I guess he was paying attention!

First Day of Kindergarten

Carter had his first day of Kindergarten on Friday August 27th. The class was divided into three groups each attending one full day that week beginning on Wed. The following Monday the whole class was together. I really liked that they were in a small group to start out. Supposedly, they had a scavenger hunt through the school showing the kids all around and ending with a sucker hidden in their classroom.

A few weeks earlier, Jeremy and I took Carter out to buy school supplies. Afterwards, the three of us went to dinner and when we got home, he packed his bag right away. As you can see by the picture, he was really happy even toting around a heavy bag! We had such an awesome time with him. His favorite thing were the gym shoes, which have laces and stay at school!
The morning of his first day, he asked for homemade waffles with powdered sugar. I wouldn't let him put his shirt on until we were about to walk out the door for fear of him getting dirty.
The famous family banana shot. I've probably told this story already, but my mom has a picture from her first day of college holding bananas. For some reason, it's become a tradition on the first day of school. I had to run out the night before b/c we were out of bananas!
Leah gave him a big hug. She has a big adjustment ahead of her too. They usually play together all afternoon while Brooks and Elliot nap. So, now I'm hoping to give her more one on one Mommy time, which also means less time to get things done. Hopefully she can be my helper.

Here we are on the ride to school. Jeremy followed us so we could drop him off together.

Unloading...
yes, you're getting the play by play

Running up the steps..as you can see, he was pretty excited. He continues to run every day since.

Leah wanted to be in the picture. She already can't wait till next year.

In the doorway of his classroom. Leah and Elliot wanted to run in too.

One last hug from teary Mom. I actually held it together pretty well. I think had he ridden the bus, it would have been harder.

Leah and I had a tea-party in the afternoon with Brooks. We missed Carter so much and we were counting down the hours till 3. I couldn't wait to hear about his first day. Little did I know, boys give very little feedback!


We picked him up after school and he was all smiles. He said he had fun, but mostly only mentioned the playground and lunch time, two of the highlights apparantly. I kept asking him questions and he was so quiet and so tired. I finally gave up and realized he'll talk when he's ready. The first thing he did when we got home was change his clothes. Here he is at dinner with the red plate. We could tell he was excited, but really wanted to hear about his day. Carter's teacher said she would email us with suggested questions to ask about their day. I'm looking forward to those emails!


A few nights later, he came downstairs after we put them to bed and said he wanted to tell me about school. So, I of course dropped everything thinking this may never happen again. :-) We sat on the couch and he told me all kinds of things like where he sits, who he plays with, the computers, how he loves his locker, free choice, the library and the smart board. That was the best, hearing him explain what he likes and why. He seemed older. I know it's the beginning of many new experiences for him, adventures for sure. We're excited and look forward to all that's ahead.

Jeremy came inside later and I told him how Carter had come downstairs to talk about school. His response was, "he just wanted to stay up later!" Probably true, but I'll take what I can get. Quiet time with Carter is rare these days.

Brooks - 7 Months

Brooks, now 7 months old, is rapidly changing. He sits up really well and is getting bored with the exersaucer. He sits and plays for a while and then reaches forward landing on his tummy. He's starting to push up and get his hips slightly off the ground and can rotate around to reach different toys.

Brooks is a big drooler, which I'm thinking means more teeth. I usually change him a few times each day b/c his shirt is soaked. Bibs don't work great b/c he pulls them off. We gave him another haircut this week. I think it was his fourth one. I wish he'd use the calories towards chunking up rather than growing hair!! He's long and lean at the moment and super cute! :-)

He's starting to "talk" more and lights up when the other kids are around. I gave him crackers one night and he loved them! After asking my doctor about food at his 6 ms visit, he said hold off for a bit on the solids till 7-8 months. So, this week we introduced Puffs and cheerios. He thought both were delicious.

Sleeping is inconsistent. He mostly does about 8 hours, occasionally 10 or 11. A few times a week he still gets up at 2 or 3. I'm attributing it to teeth, him being sick and me getting mastitis (again!). We're all healthy now, so hopefully things will get better and better on that front. It's amazing what a difference uninterrupted sleep makes.

Happy 7 months Brooks!!!

T Minus 2 Days

Just wanted to quickly capture some thoughts as Carter approaches his very first day of Kindergarten, something I've anticipated with mixed emotion for years now. Is it too late to change my mind and keep him home till college? Kidding of course. Well, sort of.

He's very excited and doesn't seem to have any concerns. We've gone through the open house, kindergarten meeting, orientation & met the new teacher. The teacher from last year has decided to be a stay-at-home dad, which is great for his new baby, but what about our kindergarteners! Again, kidding, sort of. I was really excited for Carter to have a male teacher this year, so I'm slightly disappointed with the change. However, we did meet the new teacher Mrs. Herpey, and she seems really nice and very kindergartenish.

I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about him going. He'll hopefully love it. He's done well at pre-school and I'm assuming this will be the same. It's just a long day away from home. Pre-school was 2.5 hrs and home for lunch. Now, he'll be gone for 7 hrs every day. We'll miss him!

On the bright side, he'll be learning so many great things and meeting new friends, playing at recess and running around in gym class. I could say all the cliche things like, "he's gotten so big" and "I can't believe he's already going to kindergarten" and "I wish he'd stay little forever". They'd all be true. So, after many firsts with Carter, we're about to experience another first, the first day of Kindergarten this Friday morning. I better go charge the camera and get the tissues ready.

Elliot Turns Two

Elliot turned 2 on June 26th. Here he is with Dad blowing out their birthday candles. Jeremy turned 31 the same day. We had a party on Sunday for them both. He was so cute while we sang to them.

This is his birthday party cupcake.

"Cheese!"

We actually had a nice afternoon outside. Later, a thunderstorm rolled in and the kids ended up on the deck dancing in the rain. I was a party pooper and brought everyone in...just worried about the lightning.

Here they are opening presents.

A bubble mower!!! We used to have one of these for Carter, but it broke and then I accidentally ran it over with the car. Put your toys away kids! He was so psyched about the new one.

This is Elliot with cousin Jake in our backyard. Aunt Anna and Uncle Steve bought him this giraffe pool for his birthday. With the hot summer we're having, it's been a huge hit.

Here are Gma and Pop-pop with Elliot

Jeremy's Grandpa and wife Betty brought Elliot some new books for his birthday. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, The Lion and the Mouse and a foam car for the bath. Betty read the books to the kids after dinner. They love new books!!

Yes, camo and tie die. We're very fashionable!

Here's Elliot with his twin cousins, Sam and Jake doing one of their favorite things, push trucks!!

Elliot and Jake, playing in Jake's driveway

We visited the Greenville zoo on v/c. Elliot thought the snake was super cool.

Happy Birthday Elliot. You are just the sweetest two-year old! I can't get over how well you are beginning to talk and all the new things you can do.

You love your baby bear from Great Grandma and sleep with him every night. Your favorite toys are the loader truck, the red shovel and the orange wheelbarrow.

Your favorite things to eat are pizza, bananas and oatmeal....chips too if that counts as food. I'm honestly just happy you're eating better. You haven't always enjoyed food, and getting you to eat a meal has been a battle most of the time. About the time you started talking, you also started eating, not sure why there's a correlation.

You've been trying to count and sing your ABC's, which is hilarious to hear. Now if we could just get you potty trained!!! So far, no interest...hopefully before the end of summer.

You just passed level 1 in swimming lessons. Way to go putting your head in the water!! After each class, you look back and wave, shouting, "Bye Claire, Bye Sam!" to your instructors. You like to stand on the edge of the baby pool and yell, "Mom, watch this!" and then jump in. I laugh and you do it again, never gets old.

Recently, you started doing somersaults and we're working on pedaling your little tricycle.

Your personality reminds me so much of your dad. You always like to clown around and laugh. If we yell at you for something, you start to choke up and cry, almost in this sweet apologetic way. You're a big sweetheart for such a little guy. Your name definition suits you.....Elliot means charmer all the way.

It's so much fun to watch you grow and change. We love you to pieces Elliot!