Sunday afternoon Brian and I took the boys to a little WWII aircraft show at the West Houston airport. It's a little airshow on our side of town that we go to every year and have fun looking at the planes up close. They also have several take offs and landings, which Carter loves to watch. They get really close. Here are some pics
Yesterday Carter had a field trip to the zoo with all his classmates. I went along and we had a blast. It was weird for me though, I'm so used to following around two little boys that all day while I followed Carter, I would intermittently look for Cole. Just ingrained in my brain I guess :)
Carter's class with the reptile house manager. She was more comfortable with the snakes than the kids. She really didn't understand why they wanted her picture.
Here is Carter petting the chuckwalla lizard. Thankfully there wasn't a picture of me cringing and freaking when it almost jumped out the lady's hands and onto me. Another mother and I were crazy uncomfortable around that thing. I don't do reptiles!
Carter loves being the "king of the castle" around all his "princesses." His class has 9 girls and 3 boys. Nice odds!
Today was Carter's first T-ball game. It was also his first practice (before the game). The best way to sum up the events was organized chaos. Well, maybe even disorganized chaos at times. It's absolutely what we expected. A bunch of 3 year olds in huge jerseys and ballcaps with oversized gloves running from home, to first, to home and then third and then out to the bleachers to say hi to their parents. It was so cute.
Carters' team is the Reds. Which is perfect since we have tons of red in our wardrobes to show our support. Plus his jersey is white so it won't be so hot come June. Thankfully Mom and Dad came to show their support, as I needed the help. Mom had the camera most of the time, I had the video camera, Brian had Carter, and the best assignment of all was that Dad had Cole. Cole is such an explorer, they were everywhere and having Dad entertain him allowed me to get footage of it all. So without further ado ...
During practice before the game Cole kept trying to get in on the action. It won't be long and he'll be out there too.
Here is Carter learning to "trap" a ball with his glove.
Carter takes the infield. They never hit to the third base side during this inning. So we moved next time.
And here he is at his first "at bat." He's actually a decent hitter with his bat and tee at home. The YMCA officials were showing the kids how to hit the ball, and I thought it was totally ridiculous that they would line up the ball to the bat for them. Because 2 seconds afterwards, the kids would pull the bat down and swing it. We only played two full innings during our 45 minute game. The individual instruction took awhile. Hopefully the actual coaches will do more of that in the future :)
We all thought the boys (and a few girls) looked like Bobble Heads. Those helmets were ginormous!
After Carter made it to first from his hit, he waited for the next player to get a hit. He subsquently ran towards the ball at the pitchers circle instead of second base. It was hilarious. You can see Brian jumping in the backgroud trying to get him to run to second. I caught it on video. And yes, the footage you will see isn't all that great. It was looking at Carter instead of the LCD screen on the camcorder and got a bunch of legs and kids I don't know.
Brian and I switched up in the second inning. I played chaperone to Carter while he was defending the pitchers circle. He actually fielded the ball well, he just was so confused as to who to throw it to. Here he is running towards the ball.
We're in our Battle Red after the game. Cole was literally in left field at this moment with Grandpa. Maybe a family shot next game.
And now that you've basically had a play by play of the game. Here's the footage of Carter's first at bat. To be fair, I did cut out his first two swings (and tee hits) not because he missed, but because I was complaining about the officials trying to "help" Carter swing. I didn't want to post that :)
I just can't believe that Cole is 15 months already. It seems like Carter was that old last summer, but that was two summers ago. Time is flying by. He is walking everywhere and has great balance. He hardly ever falls, and if he does he picks himself right back up and keeps on going. I recall Carter always having scrapes, bumps and bruises on his head or legs. But Cole (except on one occasion) has had a good run of it so far.
While Carter was at school yesterday I took some video of Cole playing with me and some trucks in the playroom. We love our one-on-one time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cole is also really good about playing by himself. He toddles off on his own and most always ends up in Carter's room. There is a bucket of books on the floor by Carter's bed that Cole helps himself too. He'll sit in there for 20+ minutes all alone, just paging through books. Most of the ones he chooses are Dora, but anything with a flap will catch his eye as well.
Here's the video. It's 3ish minutes and just him laughing and playing.
And a pic of him in Carter's room with a book.
And another favorite activity is running/climbing up and down the big "mountain blocks" as we call them. Brian gave those to Carter for Christmas 2007 and we use them all the time.
I actually don't have any pics of Carter today. But I will tell you all that his hearing is getting much better. We went back to the ENT last week and the doctor said his hearing was back in the normal range and the fluid is almost gone, just a little left. He think we should avoid the operating room for now. Both boys have actually been healthy for over a month now. This was a rough winter. We shared runny noses, coughs and ear infections all around this house. But now that spring is here, we are all much better. We're so thankful. So as long as Carter can stay healthy and the fluid stays out of his ears the doctor really thinks he will outgrow the issue. I hope he's right.
One (of many) funny thing he did this morning was make an airplane out of different kid size chairs and other things he sits on (rocking horse, booster seat, etc) in the living room. He insisted he was going to be the pilot and Cole had to ride in the caboose. We have a little plane/train confusion I think. He got in the front and told Brian and I that he was going to go to Outer Space, then Colorado, then Indiana, then the donut shop and then he'll be back. I chuckled. He's so cute.
With all this beautiful weather we're having, we've been spending more time out in the backyard and more money on sunscreen! I put the boys in their swimsuits and pulled out the camera while they played yesterday afternoon.
Eating canteloupe on the couch outside. They crack each other up. I'm so glad they get along, they really are best friends. It's so cute to watch.
Beware, don't read/view this post unless you're prepared to scroll through many many photos. Easter always brings many photo ops and when you have two kids, those opportunities multiply two fold.
Last weekend we went to my friend Joanna's place for the Annual Rancho Alvarado Easter Egg Hunt. The boys had a great time. Carter found one of the special golden eggs and received a prize bag full of bubbles. He was proud. Cole learned how to find eggs and put them in his basket, he got some much needed practice for the "real deal" on Easter when he'd be up against Carter head-to-head. And as usual, they also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline, swinging and playing with all their friends. Here are the first dozen or so pictures ...
Most of the kids before the start of the egg hunt.
Carter liked the Easter bunny. Cole, not so much.
Attempt at a family photo. We all never cooperate. Brian regretted not bringing his sunglasses.
Here is Cole putting eggs in his basket.
Carter looks so grown up in this picture. I'm not sure if it's the big clothes or what, but he looks huge to me!
Cole (just like Carter) liked climbing in the riding mower.
Cole wanted swing like the big kids were.
Carter and Luke really enjoyed the double swing.
It was a long day, Carter and Daddy were pooped out. But gave me one last smiley picture.
Well all that was just the prelude to the actual Easter weekend. Here are photos from Easter.
Carter dying his eggs.
Carter ran to the front porch to see what the Easter Bunny had left in his basket. Grandma and Grandpa had also brought him and Cole Easter baskets. Or should I say Easter buckets. The first thing he saw was his new Chipmunks the Squeakwel DVD. He was excited about that.
Here he is looking at the little water frogs that Grandma and Grandpa gave him. They actually require hardly any care, thankfully. He likes to poke at the glass, we're working on that.
Half of the eggs the Easter Bunny hid were confetti eggs. Carter loved putting them on everyone's head.
But most of all, he loved putting them on his OWN head. I'm not sure why, but he did.
Grandma got in on the action and smashed one on Carter.
And Carter returned the favor
And I'll end the post with some random photos from the past week. I know Carter has done a Mr. Potato family before, but he got some new accessories during Christmas and decided to make an updated family. I thought it was cute that he gave himself the muscle man arms and gave Brian the floaties for swimming. Too cute.
Ever wonder why Cole has bumps on his head? Good this be why? Actually, he's doing the right thing here by crawling out instead of just haphazardly running out.
I like this picture because Carter is so excited that his mouth is SO wide you can actually see those tonsils. He's funny.
And here are a couple photos of Cole playing with some balls in the hallway.
That concludes the picture show. I'm sure there are some funny stories or one-liners from Carter, but I just can't remember anything right now. Uploading all these pictures took it out of me. So maybe I'll blog again this week.
