Happy Valentines Day

Last week we celebrated Valentines in our house, with good friends, and at school.  We never seem to miss the opportunity to have a party around here.  Even on what is generally looked upon as a "Lovers Holiday."  We totally kid-ed it up. 

A few days before the 14th, we met some good friends at Chuck-E-Cheese and all the kids made Valentine cards for their friends to exchange.  They ate pizza, cupcakes and had a blast.  And I'm ashamed to say I didn't take a single photo of it.  Julie did - and I hope she sends some over.  I just keep forgetting to ask her. 

On Valentines day, the kids opened cards and a small gift from Brian and I.  They each got singing Hallmark cards (their favorite) and a bath toy set.  Cole got Toy Story bath soaps and a sponge,  and Carter got a Spiderman pretend Shaving Set.  He was so excited to shave like Daddy.  He was counting down the hours until bathtime that evening. 

They had a party at school where the kids exchange cards and candy.  Man did he bring home a big loot.  Cole was in heaven and for some reason they felt the need to polish it off in one sitting.  I of course refused, but they tried!  I went to Carter's party and pulled out my pocket camera only to realize the battery was dead.  Ugh, I'm 0 for 2 now.  His teacher got some cute ones, and she'll put them in his photo book for the end of the year. But for now you'll have to imagine a cute photo of he and I smiling together :)  They made candy necklaces and I was proud of Carter.  The thin elastic string was floppy and hard to thread with the small hole in the candy.  But he got all 50 candy pieces on his necklace without my help.  I helped several other kids whose parents couldn't come and was glad to see Carter being so capable. 

Upon coming home from school Mom had dropped off some Valentine surprises for all the kids.  And I say "All" because Carter and Cole got one AND the baby in my belly :)  They were great cupcakes from a bakery in Katy.  Carter loved how his had wrapped candy on it.

That evening Carter finally got to shave.  He must have done that 5 or 6 times that night.  He loves it.  One evening last week, he and Cole were playing after just getting out of the bath and Cole scratched Carter's face.  Carter got upset and whined, "Mommy, Cole scratched my face and I JUST SHAVED!"  It was hilarious. 

Another party they had last week was a pajama party and it couldn't have come at a better time.  Mom and Dad took Carter out to the land in Marble Falls where they are building their retirement home.  They were meeting with the well guy that weekend so Carter tagged along and had a blast running around the land and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.  There was a pool at the hotel, so they picked up a swimsuit while in town.  Carter also saw some pajamas on the sale rack he just HAD to have.  These are fleece football pajamas that he has worn every night since returning home AND during the day at times.  So when a Pajama Party was on the schedule for school, Carter insisted on wearing his new favortie pjs.  They read "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" and made pancakes for their snack that day.  Even the teachers came dressed in bedtime attire.  They really do make learning fun.

Speaking of learning, we enrolled both the boys for school next year.  Carter will be in the 4 day 4 year old preschool class and Cole will be in the 2 day 2 1/2 year old class.  It is the same class Carter was in 2 years ago, I'm so excited.  It will be really helpful since I'll have a 2 week old when school starts!  Baby and I will get some quiet time and the boys will have fun playing and learning.

And speaking of baby - I'm doing well.  About 3 1/2 months now, and mostly over all the morning sickness.  I'm still plagued with being tired at times, but I think that's because I chase two boys around all day.  We told Carter about the baby and he is very excited.  He has a couple of "demands" though.  We have to have the baby at a big hospital, on the 11th floor, and the doctor who gives me a shot must be a man.  But the biggest request is that this has be a baby sister.  He keeps telling everyone he already has a baby brother and he NEEDS a baby sister.  Oh and she better be tiny, like teeny tiny he says.  He's adorable.
We actually had quite a few outings last week, I just didn't get many on "record" with the camera.  We went to the zoo with some girl friends (they are the only boys quite frequently) and the Butterfly Exhibit another day.  Carter loved carrying around the identifier sheet and trying to match up what he saw flying around.  I highly recommend that place to anyone with kids intrigued with bugs.

While I didn't take alot of pictures last week, I did get a cute one of Cole hugging a tree after he and I had lunch together one afternoon. 

And here is Cole trying to play Curious George games on the computer with Carter.  Carter knows how to open Internet Explorer, go to My Favorites and choose his PBS games.  It's amazing.  And he's quite adept at an iPhone as well.  Just ask anyone in my favorites list on my phone, you get calls all the time:)

And here are my two rock stars playing Guitar Hero.  Carter can actually play it successfully on Beginner.  Cole just pretends, but don't tell him that.

I've charged up my camera and plan to take more pictures this week.   We'll see if my plans coincide with my schedule :)

Portrait Time

With all the hussle of birthdays, parties and doctor visits.  I forgot to get the boys annual photos taken.  So last week (during the ridiculously cold weather) I took the boys back to the same old place we always go.  They always seem to get a decent amount shots of the boys and I don't have to pay too much for them.  Well this time it was like pulling teeth.  Cole just wouldn't cooperate.  And while that made it much easier to go through the proofs and pick out which ones I wanted to buy, I was also put in the position of NOT buying all the good ones of Carter because I didn't have enough of Cole to even out my purchase. And I just couldn't buy more of Carter and feel "good" about it.  I gotta be fair!

Carter is my little ham.  He poses and smiles so well for the camera.  He is a model in the making.

 Look how red Cole's hair looks.  I swear it's not that red in person.  It does have red in it, like a strawberry blondish color.  But it isn't this red :)  Not that red is bad - he's adorable in this picture!

 Only pose of them both looking at the camera and smiling.

 I call this the "ought oh!" moment.  It looks like you caught them doing something they shouldn't be.

I love this picture.  Cole is just DONE with taking photos.  Carter looks as if he's telling him, "just one more picture Cole".  And Cole is refusing.  This indeed was the last shot of the day :)

Guys Night

Carter had a Dad's Night at his preschool last week.  He is all about his Daddy lately.  But instead of Dad's Night, he kept calling it Guys Night.  We have those periodically at home, on nights when I go out with the girls and it's just the "guys" at home.  They'll stay up watching movies and eating junk food; cliche yet very special.  So when Carter found out he was having a Dad's Night at school, he just couldn't wait. 

He made him an invitation at school and wrote his own name on it.  Can't seem to find a picture of that, better go take one.  He also made a tie at school that Brian wore for the evening.  He kept telling Brian he gave him two purple hearts.  Brian chucked, but Carter didn't understand why.

Then they had pizza and juice with all the other dads in the Fellowship Hall.  Brian said that Carter's classmates have weird and boring Dads. Well honey, they can't all be as awesome and funny as you!  Then they came back to the classroom and made some "things" with recycled items, i.e. paper towel rolls, pipe cleaners, small boxes or jars.  Brian said Carter was the hit of the party after he made him a sword.  Everyone wanted Carter's craft.  They also made a pine cone bird feeder that made a huge mess on my kitchen floor, but that's okay.  Here is a picture of the "lobster" they made. 

Carter drew a picture of his Daddy and answered some questions.  I took a picture, but here is the run down in case you can't read it:
"My name is Carter.  My Daddy's name is Brian."
"My Daddy is 24 years old."
What does your Daddy do?
"Goes on the elevator" - Note, that is Carter's favorite thing to do when he goes to Brian's office.
What is your favorite thing you and your Daddy do together?
"Play toys"
What is your Daddy's favorite thing to eat?
"Pizza"
What makes your Daddy happy?
"Watching the news" - Note, he said this because every morning we have to negotiate who gets to watch what on the TV.  And we always tell him we get to watch the news first :)
"My Daddy is special because he is happy" - Well that's the truth Carter!!

Recovery

Note - this blog was meant to be posted over a week ago.  I thought it posted, but apparently was just in my drafts folder ...  We'll see what the "post date" is.

After a big week of birthday parties, family visits and lots of doctor visits we recouperated the following week.  We were lucky to have some nice weather so we went to the park, out for ice cream, got haircuts, just normal every day fun stuff :)

Cole can finally make it up the inclined tube at the park in our neighborhood.  This is a big deal since now he won't scream in jealousy as Carter goes up it and then down the big twisty slide.

 And what would a trip to the park be without a visit in the "Cheese Tree", if you recall, everytime Carter sees this tree he poses and says cheese, a sign I should take his picture.

 They also like to walk over to the tennis courts. Here they are trying to steal balls through the fence.

We went over to Grandmama's apartment and watched a movie.  Cole was a snuggler that day and sat next to her for quite a while.  She was quite happy to snuggle.

And I can't take a picture of Cole without Carter posing as well.

I took the boys to get their haircut at the same time at Cool Cuts.  I normally take Carter to Sport Clips because they're cheaper and he doesn't need to sit and watch a movie.  Cole on the other hand requires lots of distraction.  I just killed two birds with one stone and they did great.  You might not be able to tell, but they each get to watch their own TV. 

Brian and I like to go to Wings N More for wings, beer and sports watching alot.  Yes the food is good, the prices are good, and their beer comes in large draft tubes, but they have a little game room that we sit next too and the kids play games all night.  So Brian and I can have a more enjoyable eating-out experience. Cole knows how to pretend with the car and shooting games, but Carter has figured out the candy claw and can reach the change machine.  He's quite proficient at both.

I spent most of the day cleaning one day and getting caught up on laundry.  The boys were doing such a good job of picking up after themselves and playing by themselves so I could be productive.  So I took them down for a late afternoon treat at Marble Slab for some ice cream.  Carter ordered the usual - strawberry ice cream with sprinkles in a sprinkle coated cone.  Yuck.  I was going to order something for Cole that I would enjoy eating because I knew he couldn't/wouldn't eat it all.  However, when he saw Carter's sprinkle coated cone - he had to have one too. 

Carter just loves games and when Cole takes a nap every afternoon, Carter and pull out games to play together.  Right now his favorite is Yahtzee - the Toy Story version that a friend gave to him for his birthday.  This is a picture of him scoring his 4th yahtzee in a row - I kid you not.  Seriously - I promise, no cheating.  The kid rolled 4 in a row.