SURPRISE

For those of you that don't already know, Brian's 40th birthday is this Wednesday. And because of that, I decided (with tons of help from my parents) to throw a surprise party for him. And surprises there were.

Brendon, Stacy and their little boy Brady drove in from Oklahoma to surprise Brian. And Becky flew in from Indiana to surprise Brian AND Brendon. And Matthew and Allison flew in from Denver to surprise all of us (well, except Dad - he knew they were coming). Brian was floored - he didn't have a clue.

Several of our friends and family gathered at Mom and Dad's and awaited Brian's arrival. And wouldn't you know, Brian had a little car trouble. He NEVER has car trouble with his Honda - go figure. But after getting off to a late start, we ended up partying until late in the evening. Well, late for a mom of two :)

Here are some pictures of all that attended. Never did get one of the hosts - they were busy making margaritas and fajitas. Thanks so much Mom and Dad - you made Brian's 40th unforgettable.

Brian walking in - he really was surprised.


Brian with his Mom.



Allison making Cole smile



Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lois with Cole

Brian opening his "gift" of Senior Vitamins from Damon and Carlin. Joke was on them though, he actually thought it was a decent gift!!

The boys with their boys

Cousins: Brady and Cole

Scottie and Kate - she's expecting a little boy in just a few weeks. Add another boy to the bunch ...

Brad and Dana

Grant and Carter played all day together and shared quite nicely. Though it was funny at one time, Carter told Grant to go inside with him. So Grant when inside and then Carter stole the bike back and decided to stay outside. Can you say "Sucker?" Sorry Grant :)

Louiza and Kelly. Kelly is due in September, but doesn't yet know what she's having.

Damon and Carlin Putman. She too is pregnant - and with a boy! Man are little boys popular. Congrats to all my preggo friends.

"Old Friends" - pun not intended. Oh who am I kidding - pun was intended.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Alli. Man was I shocked and excited to see them. They made Carter so happy - they are great playmates. Plus they really helped at the party and did alot of clean up.

Brendon and Stacy

Brady was a little hung over from the night before.



Nan with her three grandsons, it's just too hard to get them all to look at the camera, much less smile :)

Thanks to all of you that came - we had a fantastic time!

Cole is Two Months!

Today is Cole's two month "birthday." Hard to believe, I know. He's starting to fill out and look more like an infant than a newborn. He's a cutie. Every where we go he (and Carter) turn heads. Mom and I took them to the Livestock show again on Thursday. Dad bought us a double stroller, which made it MUCH easier to manuever around with two kids. But it was definitely an eye catcher with those cutie pie boys in it.

Here they are not really smiling because it's the end of a really long day.

And here is Carter on the Pony Ride

I took some pictures of Cole today; I need a good one for his 2 month slot on his First Year Frame. It's hard to make him smile and put the camera in front of your eye to get the shot. But if you keep clicking enough, you'll get the smile. See here:

But you'll also get this ...

We love our friends

I just wanted to post a few pictures I had of Carter playing with his friends over the last couple weeks.

Carter and Awbrey eating the candy that Joanna and I were stuffing into Easter eggs for her "First Ever, Soon to be Annual, Easter Egg Hunt." She's going to hide 600 eggs on her 5 acre property. She's expecting roughly 25 kids - should be fun.

Carter and Jacob hiding in the play house in the backyard. It was upside down and they are peeking through the cracks in the floor.

Carter, Bella and Awbrey via camera phone on the tire swing at the park.

Carter and Cooper "climbing" trees; Jen put them up there.

And I'll close the post with a pic of Cole laughing the other day at Grandma. It was his first real big laugh, coo and smile at once. It was taken with my camera phone as well.

Milk and Cookies

This afternoon (well pretty much the whole day) has been cold and rainy. So when Carter woke up from his nap we snuggled on the couch for some milk and cookies. He was being so cute and I actually could capture it on video. Check it out...

It's Rodeo Time!

Today the boys and I met up with some friends and headed down to Reliant Park for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. There were a few hiccups (think two kids and only one stroller), but we had a great time. Carter enjoyed seeing and petting all the animals, but LOVED the John Deere exhibit the most. Here are some pictures from our outing ...

I suspended the "no pulling animal tails" just this one time. The wallabee was just too irresistable for him.

Here is Emma and the Llama

Joanna, Awbrey and Claire get their turn with the Llama.

Yeah, they put the baby goats behind a fence so you DONT pet them. Carter didn't care.

Here are the three of us and our "official" rodeo picture

And now on to Carter's favorite pictures. He had to sit in every single vehicle. Fortunately for you all, I didn't take and/or post every single tractor picture.

Carter and the girls

Carter says "My turn!"

Cole is tired of all the action

Carter on the Front Loader, it's almost identical to the one that Awbrey and Emma gave him for his birthday.

And Carter on the Z-Track (I think it's like a mower)

I'm going to get a double stroller this week. Then I'll head back to the Livestock Show again - Carter had a blast. Plus I didn't end up eating any Fair Food - isn't that a sin ...

Time for yardwork ...

Well with March weather comes yard duty and outside playtime. The temperature has been in the upper 70s lately, maybe even 80 today. Though there is a pretty strong breeze that tricks your mind into thinking it's much cooler. So we went out and started some yard work this morning and yesterday Brian beat the sun home so we played in the water hose.

Carter and Daddy putting the finishing touches by blowing away the debris.

"Carter - you should blow the grass, not your brother"

Cole says "Boy this yard work is tough, I'm exhausted."

My three boys after playing in the hose

Cole telling us "Hey, why are you dangling me?"

Cole says "Hey, stop rolling your excavator on my head." Carter loves construction vehicles, he can name lots of different types and can tell the difference between excavators, backhoes, rollers, front loaders, etc.

Carter posing for the camera

Cole with his first documented smile. He's been smiling on and off for almost a month now, but this is the first one where I could grab the camera in time.

Carter visits the dentist

Now that Carter is two and getting his last few baby teeth, it was time for us to take him to the dentist. But not just any dentist - it was Dr. Zummo - the same dentist I went to when I was his age. And the place still looks the same. Lots of painted Toothbrush Cowboys riding horses on the walls, and plenty of toys in the waiting room. There was even a Galaga video game in the waiting room - maybe Brian will want to go next time :)

Carter did wonderful at his visit. The hygenist really cleaned his teeth and gave him a goody bag with a Lightening McQueen toothbrush. He just sat there while she scrubbed away. She even flossed his teeth and he didn't even move. I asked her if I could bring him in every day - but that would get quite expensive ...

We did get a good news/bad news report though. Good news was that he has very strong enamel on his teeth which should help prevent cavaties, of which he had none (yeah Carter). BUT - the bad news was that he has pretty small mouth. Which means his teeth will eventually run out of room and need braces around 11 or 12 to correct overcrowding. So better start saving!!

Carter was actually excited to go the dentist this morning. He was running around the house dancing and yelling, "Dr Zummo - TEETH." I pulled out the video camera, and of course, he stopped. But I did get a little vide of telling me who is dentist is. He gets a little camera shy and forgets what he was doing 5 seconds prior. But you get the jist.