I Love You.

 Happy 18 Months Handsome

I love...

the way your face jiggles when you run because your cheeks are so chubby

the way you say "yeah!" and "yes!" to anything I say

the way you only want me when you are hurting or sick

that you snuggle with me and lay your head on my chest even though you are getting bigger

how excited you get when we pull up to the park

staying at home with you and teaching you new things

experiencing new things with you

that you get so excited when Daddy comes home

that you try so hard to jump, don't quite make it off the ground, but are proud of yourself anyways

looking in the back seat of my car and seeing you there

how much you love Daddy and how much Daddy loves you

that the Lord gave me a little boy

to hear you talk in your own language

checking on you 5 times before Daddy and I go to bed and covering you up

how you study things

the way you are startled and jump when I catch you with something you know you aren't supposed to have

that you love golf clubs

how you smack your lips right before I give you your sippy cup of milk

that you carry around 2 blankets

You.

Happy 18 months beautiful baby

Thank you Lord for giving him to me.

Father's Day

Carter made Daddy a fun Father's Day gift. Since Chad doesn't drink coffee I had to come up with something different...and he loves drinking out of tall cups so I thought this would work :) I found this little kit at Michael's for $3, can't beat that!
Funny thing...I was reading a yahoo article of the worst Father's Day gifts and one was homemade crafts. C'MON! Well at least I didn't JUST give him this, he also got a gift card :) But he loved it and is taking it to work to drink out of, yay!

Last weekend we celebrated Father's Day for my Dad at the lake. We went straight from church, had lunch with Kev and Liz and the kiddos at Jacks and then were on our way for some fun in the sun. Mom and Dad recently built a large sun deck down by the lake with an iron fence around it for baby proofing :) Also, the deck is sturdy enough for us to have a pretty big pool on it (meaning, one that all the mamas and babies can sit in at once). And, of course we took a nice boat ride...hot, but nice. Here are some pictures below...

*Newer post below as well.

Avery helping Grandpa drive the boat

Avery and Carter on the sundeck "drinking" cokes

Carter in the pool

Cooling off

Me and little Leah :)

VBS Saddle Ridge Ranch

VBS was so much fun this year. Last year I worked in the big kid crafts, but this year I did pre-school crafts. We ended up doing one craft that was week long, and it turned out really cute, despite the messiness! The ultimate outcome was a hanging mobile that was made of clay. There was a top piece that said Saddle Ridge 2010 and then 3 clay cowboy shapes hanging from it. The kids got to cut out the shapes and paint them and then we strung them up for them. They were all SO proud of their creations, and rightfully so :) I cannot wait to see all the wonderful crafts Carter will proudly present to me over the next years!
Since I was working VBS, I of course had Carter in tow and he had his own VBS classroom. And this is just what he thought about it....

Yes, he hated it...well, let me come up with a stronger word than hate...despise...that's about right. He DESPISED every moment. Majority of the time he was crying, if he wasn't crying he was snubbing and being brought to me with red eyes. Every morning when I would drop him off at his door (my classroom was only down the hall...but of course he didn't know that) he would pitch an absolute fit and act as if I was feeding him to alligators. What's weird is he has been fine going in the nursery on Sunday mornings..but maybe he knew it was during the week and he was supposed to be at home with Mommy, or maybe it's just a phase, who knows. Either way he only made it Monday through Wednesday and then Chad's Mom kept him the remaining 2 days. I did end up with 3 sweet crafts he made while he was there though...did I mention I love crafts? One was the picture above that is actually a magnet to go on the fridge, another picture that is framed in foam and says "VBS", and the third is a canvas with his footprint on it (which could only cause a mother's heart to melt...what is it about footprints and hand prints, I could wallpaper my whole house in them and be fine).

Since VBS, at the beginning of June, I have apparently scarred my child. Every time Chad and I remotely even start to get ready to leave the house, he will catch on to the "getting ready" signs and cling for dear life to our legs saying bye bye and crying. He will continue to follow us around the house crying until we pick him up and assure him he is going with us. Bless the poor little thing! Maybe next year he will actually enjoy VBS!

Destin

We got back from Destin about a week ago. It was a really nice trip, long, but nice :)
We had a little bit of a rough start at the beginning though...we arrive on Saturday and our room is supposed to be ready no later than 2:00pm; the office tells us it will be 2:20 before we can get in. At 2:20 they still refuse to give us the key because it is still not ready...Chad said he was not coming back again and that they were to give us the key immediately (we had a toddler in the car that had been riding since 5:30AM and we were not interested in holding him off any longer...). They complied and gave us the key. As soon as we walk in the door, the cleaning lady is still there and only has 40% of the condo actually cleaned and she asks for one more hour. Nope sorry, you will have to clean around us, we're here to stay.
I noticed the condo was very hot, but I figured it had just been turned up since the last group left and the cleaning crew had all the doors open. By that evening it was still 77 degrees, so the realty company moves us to another condo at midnight.....that is on the bay, mind you, NOT across the street from the beach as we intended to be. Also, the condo we are moved to only has 2 bedrooms, not three, and that doesn't work well with 8 people. The next morning, they say that they have a unit big enough for us in Bay Town Village...still on the bay. We did not drive 5 1/2 hours to go to the pool, stare at the bay, and watch people play golf. We tell them no and ask for our money back, they comply.
Chad's parents knew a lady that they always rent from in Destin, so we hunt her down and she happens to have a townhouse unit across the street from the beach that we can have for the week. It was kind of in a neighborhood, so it was a little further than we like to walk to get to the beach, but they had a specific parking lot that we could drive to that was right across the street from the beach, and the pools there were really nice. After all we had been through I was just glad to be done packing and moving....3 times, yes, we packed and moved 3 times.
The rest of the trip went really well, Carter was a trooper, loved to sit on the beach (on a towel of course) and took naps on the beach and at the pool on the lounge chairs.
We did have one come-apart the last night at dinner and I had to do mommy duty and leave and take him back to the condo. I think he was just done.
We are supposed to go back to the beach in September with my family. Hopefully the oil won't spoil that trip because we will have all the babies, and it will be so fun...and probably a little wild.
I only have one picture posted at the top..I'm sure most of you who read my blog are also my friend on facebook so I figured I'd spare you the doubles...if you haven't seen them yet, I have about 100 posted and there is no way I could choose which ones to put on here!
I have tried my best to correct grammar and run-on sentences on this post, but there was just so much info I was trying to give, it may be a rough read...sorry!

"Cheeee!"

It was so nice today, so we played in the water on the back porch. Whenever a camera is in sight C will say "Cheeee"! The first video is of Carter saying cheese and the second is of him saying ball ("ba") and bye bye. I love hearing him talk, it is my favorite thing right now.

16 Months

Carter is 16 months old and it has been a while since I updated on all his new tricks. First off, he is such a joy to watch and he is a very happy baby. He babbles constantly in his own language but we are beginning to pin-point actual words here and there. So far, here is a list of his words: Mama, Dada/daddy, yay, bye-bye, ball, cheese, bubbles, and I'm pretty sure he tries to say thank you but it sounds nothing like it just yet.

He has been walking since about 13 months and he is now starting to run pretty well. He claps all the time and says "yay", especially when he knows he has done something good. He can kick a ball around the house like he's playing soccer. He got a set of play golf clubs from Mom and Pop and he LOVES them...Chad teaches him how to hit and then caddies for him and tells him what clubs to use next, it's really cute!

He loves books, he looks at them all day long. I have most of his favorite books in a little plastic wheel barrow by his bed and he drags all of them out. The majority of the day he prefers his books to toys. We also have bathtub books that he looks at in the bathtub. He is learning to get off the couch feet first although sometimes he goes head first, but we're getting there! Anytime he gets a hold of his comb or brush he brushes his hair and then puts it in his mouth.

He has 4 bottom teeth and is about to have 4 (or more) top teeth, we are fighting the teething battle currently.

He loves playing outside and has a meltdown when someone goes out and won't take him along. When he gets excited about anything he turns into an absolute chatter box and when he wakes up from a nap he wants to be cuddled for a few minutes. I could go on and on :) He is getting to be a big boy and we are enjoying every minute of him.

*Newer post below

Mother's Day

I had a great second Mother's Day. I am more thankful for Carter everyday, he is such a joy. I am blessed that the Lord has chosen us to raise this beautiful child.
We spent Friday and Saturday at the lake to celebrate my Mom's Mother's Day, and then we spent Sunday with Chad's Mom. Below is the picture Carter made me in Sunday School, I love hand print pictures!!
Earlier in the week, Carter and I also made Mother's Day cards for his Grandmothers. They also had his hand prints on them...and let's just say that it didn't go quite as I expected. You know, as a Mom, you picture in your head how a "special" moment is going to go and then it usually turns out a disaster...you'd think I'd learn by now that a 15 month old is unpredictable! So we get out all the supplies to do the cards and I first have him color a "picture" inside the card with crayons; well, he scribbles for a moment and then wants to take off around the house with the crayons in hand. We all know this is a recipe for disaster, so I run after him (this happens several times) and he becomes a noodle and lays on the ground crying. Somehow we finish coloring both cards and I strap him in his high chair to do the hand prints. Every kid likes getting their hands in paint, right? Nope. Not mine. Screamed the entire time, fists clinched; and I'm not really sure how I got the hand prints but I did and they looked pretty decent, I wish I had a picture! Our mother's loved them, and that's all that matters, even if the experience of making them wasn't quite as wonderful as I pictured it, ha!
When we got Carter from the nursery on Sunday, they said he also hated making this picture below, oh well, at least it wasn't just me!

Here are some lake pictures from the weekend:

Carter in Owen's bouncy

Boat ride

Grandma and Owen

Avery and Carter on their new seesaw

Avery and Carter and their new watches, Hello Kitty and Spiderman. They think they are big stuff ;)