Gingerbread House

With all the commotion surrounding Christmas, we didn't make our gingerbread train that Mom picked up. So last night she and Dad came over and let Carter decorate a gingerbread train. Here's the outcome ...

Merry Christmas

We would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas! Ours was wonderful to say the least. It started off a little rocky, Carter woke up with a 102.3 temperature - check out our first photo.

A little Motrin and some great distraction by Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Aunt Alli, and Carter was ready to go. Here's a picture of his kitchen that Santa (Grandma and Grandpa) left out for him.

Here he is with his shopping cart and play food.

And here's a picture of him with his new mixer - he no longer will need to play with mine!

And to prove that he did get some manly toys as well, here's a video of him with his blower.

Earlier last week I caught Carter on camera counting. Yes he's messing with the Christmas lights but I really wanted to get him counting on camera. He can go from 1 to 10, but the video only captures the end. He didn't know I was watching and just repeats himself. As soon as I asked him to count, he ran off.

He's feeling better today and doesn't have a fever, thankfully. He and Daddy are flying Brian's new Air Hog remote control helicopter right now. I'll have to post some video of the two "kids" playing.

I'm 30 and not upset about it

Yep - it's official. I'm 30. And I'm not sure if it's the distraction of Christmas or the upcoming baby, but I'm not at all upset about turning 30. I think even without those I things I'd be happy about my new digits. I have so much to be thankful for and I'm grateful I've led a wonderful 30 years thus far.

Mom and Dad took us all out to Taste of Texas for dinner last night and surprised me with inviting Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lois as well as my cousin Scottie and his wife Kate ( who by the way is expecting a little boy in April!). Matthew and Allison were there as well. We had a fantastic time. Of course we all ate too much though and have a steak hangover today.

Here's a picture of the three of us in front of the Christmas tree this year. I don't have any good ones from dinner because my camera is having some issues. Fortunately Allison had her camera so I'm hoping for more pictures, we'll see.

Today we are going to relax I think and maybe make some chili and finish putting some bows on gifts and put a few Santa gifts together. Nothing too crazy, we'll save that for tomorrow!

I'm an aunt!

And Brian is an uncle! We couldn't be happier. Brian's brother Brendon and his girlfriend Stacy welcomed their little boy into the world on Thursday night. Brady Keith Shelton was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long. We were sent a few pictures last night that appear to be from a camera phone, so they aren't high quality, but you get the idea. I'm not sure when Carter will get to see his cousin, but we'll get to planning that. Brian's parents are leaving Indiana tomorrow to get to Oklahoma and spend some time with the newly expanded family. I'm sure they'll send more pictures too.

Welcome to the Shelton Family, Brady! We can't wait to meet you!!

Christmas Playdate

Some of Carter's friends got together today for a Christmas playdate. They exchanged presents - Carter came home with a new book about animals and loves it. They attempted to make an arts & crafts project, but were more interested in "sharing" toys with each other.

Here is Carter with Bella. Man is that a fiesty smile or what. He loves to yell CHEESE at the camera now.

Here is the group shot. I took 55 pictures of all the kids on the couch and couldn't come up with one where they are all smiling and/or looking at the camera. So in true mom style, I picked one where at least MY kid was smiling at the camera.

And lastly, here is Carter with Emma. Man did she have a firm hold of him. He seems to be quite the ladies man :)

Let it snow

Yep - Houston got snow last week. It snowed for several hours, but only stuck for a couple hours afterwards. Here are a couple pictures of when it just started snowing, around 3:30. I was thoughtful enough to get the video camera out - BUT, apparently forgot to actually hit the record button until 5 minutes later. By then, the wet cold air was overshadowing the newness of snow for Carter. So pictures will have to do, you'll probably need to click on them to enlarge the photo and actually see the snowflakes ...

On Sunday, my girlfriends threw me a great baby shower. Though, I'd rather call it a "Baby Celebration." We sat around Joanna's large table and drank mimosas (well, I had OJ), chit chatted, decorated cookies and painted ornaments. It was such a wonderful time. I got lots of great things for our upcoming arrival, including TONS of diapers.

Today Carter visited Santa at the mall and enjoyed himself. He told Santa he wanted a sucker for Christmas - they were in a bowl next to him. Good thing he didn't see the corvette parked in the mall at the time. This was a marked improvement from last years visit. Check out the then and now pictures ...

I'm almost done Christmas shopping. Not too much to buy this year - which is nice and strange at the same time. Now I just need to make the dreaded trip to the post office to mail off a couple gifts. I did drop the Christmas cards in the mail though, so that is finally off my chest. With Thanksgiving so late this year, it was one less week of Christmas preperation. I can tell I'm not the only though - this time last year I had at least 20 Christmas cards hanging on my pantry door. Today I have two. Well, three - I put ours up there!

Oh, my doctors appointment on Monday went well. The baby is head down, but still sitting pretty high. So fortunately, baby boy won't be arriving before the New Year. I go back the Monday after Christmas. While I'd like the tax deduction for the year, he'd be a little small still. Hopefully we can make it until after Carter's birthday on Jan 8th. Ooh, I need to get planning that.

Emma's Birthday Party

One of Carter's girlfriends had her second birthday party today. The kiddos decorated Christmas cookies, though they seemed to enjoy putting the candy in their mouths instead of on the cookie. But who are we to tell them what's more fun, right!

Here's the birthday girl enjoying her yummy cupcake.

And Carter is being cleaned up by Emma and Awbrey. They thought the frosting on his shirt was a bit much. He enjoyed the attention.

Thanksgiving and a Wedding Shower

Besides the post of the video, I hadn't posted in awhile. We had a great Thanksgiving. Sissy, Ruppert and Erica came down. Carter loved having them visit. He still says "Roo Tert" when he sees the back gate he fixed at Mom and Dad's. Here's a photo of our Thanksgiving table, minus a few items (and people). For some reason I never got dressed for dinner. I was wearing the same pink tank top I had on while cooking. It was hot that day here.

This past weekend we (and our friends Kelly and Greg, and my parents) hosted a shower for Danny and his fiance, Sarah, at our house. We had a nice time. They make a great couple and we are so happy they are joining us in the married department - they are going to love it. Here's a picture of them opening their gifts. Don't mind the weird chick in turquoise with her mouth open in the background, yeah - that's me, talking as usual.

In preparation for the event the day before, Carter helped Mom and I make some brownies. Here he is sticking his fingers in the batter.

And afterwards, Mom got us some tacos for lunch and Carter was too wiped out to finish his. He actually fell asleep (with his coat on) in his highchair WITH his taco in his hand. Guess he didn't get the memo that you siesta after your mexican food ...

And here is Carter and Grant posing for the camera during the party. Carter is just like I was when I was a kid, you see a camera and you scream "CHEESE"!! Oh, and in the background is Danny taking his gifts off his tree. Mom and Dad made him a kitchen utensil Christmas tree with all kinds of neat gadgets. It was super cute and had all their napkins and dishtowels as the tree skirt. I am wishing I had a picture of it before it was disassembled. Danny loves his "matching mixer tools" aka whisks and his Mr. Stove Hand, aka an oven mitt. Gotta love bachelors, they just don't know their utensils yet :)

Brag post

Yep - this is a brag post. And you know I'm a pround momma when I would actually upload video of me 8 months pregnant in a swimsuit. This is the end of class when the instructor (Ms. Kara) pushes him to the bottom of the pool (3 1/2 feet) to get rings. He then swims to the top and floats. Normally she gives him right back to me, but he was doing so well she let him keep floating while another boy did his dive. The video is just shy of 2 minutes, and she only cut him off because class was over and I was feeling guilty hearing him say "Mommy, Mommy." He never cried or anything. Just wanted to make sure I would eventually come and get him I guess.

"More Tickle"

I took some great video this afternoon and couldn't wait to put it up here for everyone. One of Carter's most favorite things is jumping in his crib. He never tries to climb out (thankfully), but absolutely loves jumping around. We'll today he found something he enjoys more - getting tickled in his crib. The first clip is of him laughing hysterically. The second clip is of him asking for "More Tickles." And yes, his clothes are off. He asked me to do that too ...

31 weeks down, 9 to go

Yep - just 9 more weeks until Baby Shelton's due date. This is just a quick post to say everything is going really well and we are thankful for that. I went to the doctor today and found out I passed my 3 hour gestational diabetes test with "flying colors" - those were the doctors exact words. So, that's good. Not that I was worried though. The baby is measuring perfectly and my blood pressure is great too. I go back in two weeks, just after Thanksgiving.

While it is extremely frustrating to wait at the doctors office for almost 2 hours (with a full bladder by the way) for a 2 minute appointment, we are so thankful that this has been an uneventful pregnancy. We are truly blessed.

So this was just a post about baby #2, since I only seem to blog about baby #1.

I hope everyone else is experiencing as many blessings as we are!!

Bubbles and Blocks

Two of Carter's most favorite things - and Brian's too apparently. Last night Brian and Carter built a big tower of blocks and wanted to show it off for the camera. Also, Carter loved watching Daddy blow big bubble gum bubbles, he even tried to eat them - it was hilarious. I tried to get a video of him laughing, but the battery was dead (I'm not very good at remembering to turn it off). Here are their creations ...

Random Pictures

I downloaded a bunch of photos off my phone today and thought I'd share some impromptu photos with y'all. Keep in mind the shutter speed on my phone is rather poor, so some are blurry. Especially considering he moves all the time :)

Today in the toy store - we were looking at ideas for Christmas gifts. He was jammin' on the little piano.

In the cul-de-sac riding his ATV that Brian got him last month; it goes 2 miles an hour. He doesn't quite have the steering down yet, hence the cul-de-sac and not the sidewalk.

In the car getting into Grandpa's (expensive) golf balls.

At Carrabba's during Grandpa's birthday dinner last week. They had a great time together.

Jumping so fast in his crib that his face is a blur. He loves his crib. Makes me a little nervous about his new big boy furniture that is arriving later this month ...

At the garden nursery. They have little shopping carts for the kiddos. He looks like he's whistling. Too cute!

At Walmart riding the germ machine, uh, I mean the Kermit car. He can't resist these types of things in front of stores. Fortunately, I don't always have to put money in the machine, he's still pretty happy with pretending to ride.

Happy Halloween

What a fun day we had yesterday. In the morning, we had a little Playdate Pumpkin Party with several of Carter's friends. Imagine trying to get 5 toddlers to all smile at once for a picture, virtually impossible. Even with 3 moms using high tech, fast shutter speed cameras. SO - I'll just post the pictures where my son is the cutest, haha!

From left to right - Bella, Luke, Emma, Awbrey and of course, Carter. Caroline and Claire (the infants) weren't in the group shot, we figured we were pushing it with 5 kids already :)

Here they are all stripped down to diapers and painting pumpkins, they had a great time until a bumble bee decided to join in on the fun. It particularly liked Carter, though it never bit him. Carter looks at the pictures of him painting and all he says is "BEE!"

Then in the evening, Mom and Dad came over and gave him a big bag of candy, stickers and musical frog that only sings one song - which of course Carter loves to hear. Something tells me it'll be Christmas and I'll still be hearing "I wonder what'll happen when the witch comes back ..." Anyone else think the lollipop stick hanging out of his mouth actually helps out the costume a little :)

Our friends across the street came over with their little ones, Gwyn and Jacob, for a couple pictures of the kiddos together. Gwyn was a lion and Jacob was a clown, cute bit of info - that was the same costume his daddy wore when he was 2. It made me think - I really need to make Carter a clown next year (or the next boy) before he gets too old to refuse.

Then we went out to dinner and came back for some trick-or-treating. We actually only went to one house because Carter enjoyed passing out candy much more than getting it. He just stood at the door and waited until the next group showed up. It was so cute. We had lots of trick-or-treaters this year. Thanks to my Mom, we had just enough. She gave me most of her stash earlier in the day. Word must have gotten out that we had the good stuff at our house. You can tell from this picture, that the bag is pretty much gone. And oh, yes, that's Shiner trying to escape at every ring of the doorbell. Apparently we didn't notice he was gone before bed time and spent the night on the front porch. Serves him right!

Pumpkin Patch

We went up to the church this afternoon and picked out our pumpkin for the front porch. Of course we got lots of photos of Carter running around deciding which one he wanted. He had a great time, but it was hard to capture all the smiles while dodging the pumpkins and carrying my camera. I had a toenail casualty after tripping over a large one. However, there are some cute ones even though there aren't any "Say Cheese" moments. Check 'em out.

Here are a couple from last year just to give you an idea of how much he's grown!