Can't believe it's been three years so far. Well I guess, two years, but three egg hunts! The girls and I were commenting how fast the four years of us all being friends has just flown by. I'm speaking of a small group of gals that I've known since Carter was a few months old. Joanna has us all (and several more of her/our friends) out to Rancho Alvarado (her place in Hockley) for her annual Easter Egg Hunt.
We always have fun at her place, and this was no exception. I was excited about Cole finally being old enough to really participate. And he did, except for the Easter bunny - not a huge fan yet :)
A few of the kids with the Bunny. And yes, Carter - as usual, is surround by girls. Lord help me as this beautiful child grows up.
Cole was having a great time hunting for eggs until he accidentally broke one open and realized there was candy inside. Then he could care less about how many eggs he found, he just wanted to eat the candy. And here he picked chocolate and it was all over his hands.
There were 6 Golden Eggs that were especially hidden amoung the 5 acre ranch. Carter's friend Luke and his sister, Caroline, both found one. So Carter (and Brian) went on a mission. Carter was so excited to find one. Here he is showing it off. He even slept with it that night, I'm not kidding! And we've hid it around our house and yard several times recreating the fun.
Then the unthinkable happened. Carter and Cole both came across another golden egg in the bird feeder.
Cole came out the victor since Carter already had one.
Here are the guys emptying their loot. Joanna recycles the eggs from year to year. I'd hope so - there were almost 1000.
The Golden Egg winners waiting to get their prizes. Carter got a whirly sprinkler (which we love) and Cole got some bubbles, sidewalk chalk, silly putty, and a jump rope. Lots of fun outdoor toys. Thanks Ms. Joanna!!
I think I have a picture of Carter doing this with Brian somewhere. I need to find it and post it ...
Here's a picture of me with the girls, minus Joanna who was behind the camera. It's a little blurry because I hijacked the picture from Joanna's Shutterfly account and then cropped it a bit.
Here's our family shot. I've given up on all of us looking at the camera and smiling. The only other pic I have is actually much better of Brian and I, but Carter has a weird smerk on his face, not that this is much better of him.
While we're definitely in a drought down here and several thousand acres are burning wildfires, we've actually had nice weather in Houston. Several cool fronts make for cool/cold mornings and afternoons in the upper 70s and low 80s. So we take advantage while we can.
Here are some pictures from a birthday party in Tomball. This is one huge slide. Cole did it on his tummy, feet first and you could hear him slide all the way down - his skin was squeaking.
If boys were allowed to have "besties" I'm pretty sure Luke would qualify. They have a great time together. Here they are acting silly for the camera. Every time I tried to get them to smile, Carter would flash one his silly faces.
And what would a trip to the park with boys be like if there wasn't a stick finding contest.
This past weekend we had some good friends over to hang out in the backyard. It was a gorgeous day. The adults moved all the patio furniture into the shade (and away from the line of water fire) while the kiddos played in the baby pools and shot each other with water guns. We enjoyed some good company, good brats and hotdogs, good music and lots of entertainment from the kids. Plus, my girlfriends helped me clean up the mess so I didn't have a bunch to do the next morning. Though Kelly, I think I've reconsidered my position on confetti eggs - I'll be cleaning up my patio for weeks :)
Kevin is 19 months old and did a great job of staying out of the way of the 3 four year old boys that were having a water canon war.
And the only girl, Caroline, survived the evening as well.
The big boys on my bed watching Monster Jam trucks on the TV. Grant, Carter and Luke all have a strong affinity for all things monster trucks. They know almost all the names and can't wait until the next show at Reliant Stadium returns. I check their website weekly for an update, but I think it'll be at least the fall or winter before that happens again.
Luke was getting a good shot with the water gun on Cole. I'll admit, it was kinda nice to see Cole being the underdog for a change. I swear, except for the size issue you'd think Cole was the big brother. He picks on Carter all the time.
Here's a video of the kids playing together. They played pretty well together considering there was lots of face shots with the guns. And I mean a lot. They gave and they took some pretty tough shots. At one point Carter and Luke had the big squirters and Cole had a little measly water gun. They were teaming up on him and Cole ran out of water so he just threw the gun at Luke. Luke was okay, it didn't hurt him so everyone laughed (otherwise he would have ended up in time out). It just seemed like a James Bond move or something. Run out of bullets, no problem. I'll hurt you with my pistol. I wish I had THAT on video. Though, you'll catch him throwing the soccer ball at the boys a few times...
Here's Carter one afternoon in our backyard. He looks goofy to me in this picture, but he really liked it and asked that I put it on here.
Daddy playing soccer with the boys.
Carter had his own ball for the soccer season and Cole just had to have his own. Thats kinda how we handle the sharing issue at home, just buy another and don't deal with it! Yea, bad lesson to teach - but whatever - I've got my hands full with other teaching lessons :)
I took this video a week or so ago at A Bunch of Fun, a play center nearby. It's of Carter doing hopscotch. It cracks me up. He knows he supposed to hop on one leg on the one sqaure sections, but can't. So he uses two and then lifts up a leg. He definitely tries everything.
On April 6th Carter's class had a field trip to Dewberry Farms. It was a gorgeous day. Thanks to my mom for watching Cole all day so I could go. I'm not sure I'd really call it a farm though, we only saw a few animals but had a ton of fun on all the activity centers.
Carter and a few of his classmates ...
Carter and his best bud in class, Shiv, on the hay ride.
They had a dairy exhibit there and this old couple was such a hoot. They were speaking to four year olds, but using big words like oxytocin hitting the bloodstream and helping convert food and water to milk. It was hilarious. Of course, there were several moms there that were either pregnant, nursing a newborn, or recently stopped nursing and we all could totally relate to how this poor cow felt being hooked up to a milk machine. What was actually pretty cool was the amount of milk they could extract in seconds. If you look at the big glass milk container to the upper left of the lady's head, you'll see some milk in there. It took 5 seconds for that much milk to come out. Totally impressive and as I'm sure any mother of young kids would say, "Dang, wish I could feed my baby that fast!"
This kid goat was born just hours earlier that day. So cute!
Duck races with the water pump. And no, Carter is not standing on a stool - he is actually much taller than most of his classmates. Particularly the cute little boy next to him. To be fair, David won't turn four until August. But still - Carter is pretty darn tall.
Barrell train was lots of fun. I rode it as well, though Carter wanted to sit at the front with his friend Madison. I think he later wished he would have let her sit right up front. The tractor (and high wind) kept throwing dirt and sand in his eyes. Hey, that's what you get for not being a gentleman in the first place :)
I also rode the pedal cars, though fortunately a photo was not taken. I even took Carter with me on one of the larger ones. Needless to say I was sore from the workout the next day.
The hit of the day was the rope swings from the hay stacks. It took him a few tries to figure it out, but once he did it was hard to get him to stop and go play with something else.
A video of him swinging on the ropes.
We had a blast together. They also had some bouncy ball swings that I did with Carter, a jumping pillow, a zip line - which I would later come to regret that I did. And a few other things we enjoyed together. I look forward to going with Cole when he's three.
March 31st was a big, busy day in our family. The boys and I went with my Grandma to Kings Orchard in Plantersville to do some strawberry picking. It was a chilly morning, hence the jackets, but beautiful and sunny. Perfect picking weather. I've wanted to go for a couple years now, but never made the time. Now that we've gone I'm definitely going back. They are the MOST delicious berries I've ever eaten. The boys picked quite alot and we ate them every day for over a week, at almost every meal. I hesitate buying any at the grocery now, they'll just taste so bland!
Carter showing off the beginning of his loot. He filled that box up - about 7ish pounds worth.
Cole ran everywhere and finally wanted in the wagon, he became a lazy picker but at least I didn't have to chase him like usual.
Here's a video of Cole babbling to Grandmama while picking berries. Some of them were really stuck to the plant and you couldn't get it off. If you listen closely you can hear him grunt and say "Uh Oh." He's so cute.
That afternoon Brian and I took Carter with us to our big ultrasound at the doctor's office to check on the baby. By now I'm sure you all know we are having a boy. We are very excited. I've heard several cute replies like "those Sheltons must be working on a basketball team" (Brian's brother has two sons under the age of 2), or "now you'll never have to do yard work again, the boys will do it". But my favorite has definitely been that I'll remain the "Queen of the Castle" That is definitely true. Though, the title of Queen sounds a little prissy. I'm definitely a down and dirty Mother of Boys and I pride myself on that. I'm very excited about doing this a third time. I think the only person a little disappointed was Carter. He really wanted a baby sister. I think it's because he terrified of having another handful like Cole :) Cole gives him a run for his money! But it's been 3 weeks now and he hasn't mentioned it since that first day. So I think we'll be okay. He does want to know what the name is going to be. As does everyone else. The big question now is will I pick another C name. Or rather, will Brian and I pick another C name :) I like to wait and name my babies once they're born but my girlfriends who are throwing me a shower are BEGGING me to tell them ahead of time. Hmm, we'll see :)
Carter was so excited about going to the ultrasound, or as we explained it to him - an xray of the baby. The tech was showing us all the body parts - "here's a leg, here's the head, here's an arm" And when she played the heart beat and showed us the heart, Carter wanted to know where God was. He was concerned that God wasn't in the baby's heart. We always talk about how God is in our hearts and when they showed a picture of the heart, he really thought he'd see God. It was the sweetest moment. I wish I had it on video. I told him that when the baby was born he'd have to tell him all about God, how much we love God and how much God loves us. And then we'll know that God was in his heart. Oh, the thoughts of four year olds.
He also prays for the sweetest and funniest things at bedtime. He starts of thanking God for the "WONDERFUL" day - he emphasizes wonderful. Then moves on to telling God his favorite part of the day, he'll throw in a please make "fill in the blank" person better, and then end with a thank you for making his Mommy, or his Daddy, or the baby in Mommy's tummy. Then, because Cole doesn't really talk, he asks me what Cole wants to pray for. I'll give him an idea but he ALWAYS says 'NO, he doesn't want to pray for that." He wants to tell God, "Thank you God for his milk, thank you for his pacifiers, and thank you for his crib." In that order. Every night. And if I suggest that that is what he wants to pray for, he'll still say no and just change up the order. Super sweetie!
Back to the big day - we went out that evening and celebrated with Matthew and Allison. They were in town for a wedding shower that Alli was co-hosting. That was the first time we'd seen them since they'd announced that she was pregnant too. She is 4 weeks behind me. And is having a completely different pregnancy than me. Hey, maybe she'll finally give the Wilcoxsons a girl - who knows. The poor thing has been sick the entire time. And can't eat anything spicy. Holy cow am I the opposite. If it isn't packed with flavor, don't even give it to me. I order everything extra spicy, or extra onions, etc. And even will admit to eating a jalapeno cheeseburger for breakfast on more than one occasion.
I go back for another ultrasound on 4/28. This little guy was moving around so much they couldn't get all their measurements. So we need another one just to be safe, although they assured me they saw nothing abnormal - it's just a check list of measurements.
In the 7 and a half years that Brian and I have been married, the longest period of time we've spent apart is 2 nights. Yea, you read that right - 2 nights. My friends can't believe it and some even laugh at me. We've been very blessed that Brian's job just doesn't take him out of town all that often. And since we've had the kids his guy weekends are just that - only a night or two away for the weekend. And that rarely happens. Oh man, did I just put that in writing? It's okay, he doesn't read the blog anyway :)
Anyhow, this past week Brian had a trial in Henderson, TX - roughly 4 hours northeast of here. He left Sunday morning and came home late Wednesday night. We have now doubled our longest time away. And yea, I know that's still not that long but we REALLY missed him. He was working or in court from before dawn til after dusk and the cell phone reception in the hotel was crummy. So we barely spoke, or even texted. That was the hard part. The kids were wonderful, I kept them busy. They stayed mostly out of trouble and slept well for me. I just really missed talking with my husband.
He came home just in time to celebrate his birthday. And we definitely had a great weekend and celebrated his birthday the way he wanted too. While he was gone he was talking to Carter on the phone one morning and I could only hear Carter's side of the conversation. Here's how I assume the conversation went on Brian's side.
Carter - "I'm going to make a cake for you for your birthday"
Brian - "Can we put candles on it?"
Carter - "How many candles do we put on it?"
Brian - "Well I'm going to be 42"
Carter - "But Daddy, there's not enough room for 42 candles"
He wasn't being silly or sarcastic like I would have been. He was generally concerned there wouldn't be enough room. I laughed all day about that.
I spent the Thursday chasing down a good deal at Best Buy for a new HDTV for our bedroom as part of Brian's birthday present. I had to go to the Woodlands to get it. I did save more than I spent on gas, so it was worth it. I told the kids I'd take them to the mall to play and ride the carousel. Well the play area was being cleaned so we rode the carousel instead. It was a boondoggle to say the least. I get up to the carousel thinking I had cash to buy tokens, I didn't. So I go to the ATM right there and get $20 cash plus a $3 fee. But it didn't dispense my money or print a receipt. So I did it again and made sure to press "Give a Receipt." So another $20 request plus ANOTHER $3 fee and I realize, it doesn't spit out your money like the one I'm used too. You have to open a door and get it. Great. I just spent $6 and we haven't even bought tokens yet (which are only $1 a piece). SO - then I get to the token machine and it says it only takes credit cards, no cash (which is the opposite of the one at Memorial City that we usually go to). Just my luck. All that ATM nonsense for nothing.
Here are the kids riding the (essentially) $8 carousel.
On Friday Brian took the much deserved day off and shot his new gun at the shooting range. Then came home for lunch and headed back out and went disc golfing with some friends. Then Mom, Dad, the boys and I met him at Pappasitto's for some yummy mexican food - Brian's favorite.
Here are the boys showing him the superhero card that sings that Carter picked out for Brian. Carter still doesn't understand you're supposed to get a card the RECIPIENT would like, not necessarily what YOU would like.
And this is of the boys making yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing, Daddy's favorite.
Carter's new favorite game is a "show me your silly face." He and Brian were goofing off at dinner.
And Cole was eating some quesadillas while Grandpa held the iPhone for him to watch a show. Those phones are a saving grace for a decent meal out to eat. It keeps the boys quiet and entertained.
On Saturday we did some yard work and I spent the rest of the morning on the hunt for the larger plastic pool with the slide like we had last year. Two Walmarts and one Academy later, I settled for the smaller one with the slide. I didn't think there was going to be that big of a difference. Uh, yea, there was. The slide kept collapsing and the boys could barely fit there hips down it. So we improvised. Here's a video of the boys playing.
Mom and Dad came over Saturday night after to watch the boys so Brian and I could have a date night. But we were all so tired that we cut it a little short and went up to Buffalo Wild Wings for some basketball, wings and beer. I actually ordered an O'Douls non-alchoholic beer. Do you want to know what tastes worse than Miller Lite? This would be it. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. It was like watered down Miller Lite. Waste of $4. And I won't be doing that. I'll just wait another 20 weeks and get a real one!
Part of Brian's birthday wish was to go to the beach sometime that weekend. So we got up and left by 8 on Sunday morning and headed to Galveston. The kids love it and Brian even more so. I don't like getting in the water, I'm too afraid of fish and sharks. Particularly at Galveston because you can't see your feet. But we brought a bunch of sand toys, Monster Jam trucks and other things to keep us busy on shore. Brian and Carter headed out to jump in the waves and Cole and I walked the beach.
We weren't there but maybe an hour when we all took a walk and spotted several jellyfish washed on shore. It must have been high tide or something because it brought in lots of seaweed as well. While we were walking a bigger than usual wave came in and washed a jellyfish right on Cole's foot that got stuck on him because he was standing in seaweed. It stung him pretty bad on his foot. I've never heard him cry and grunt like that. I carried him and ran up to the Lifeguard station only to find no one there (we were at Stewart Beach which was a manned public beach park). I banged and banged and couldn't get anyone. 20ish minutes later I finally found someone to help. He sprayed some vinegar on it to neutralize the sting and said he should be better in 30 minutes but not to get any sand on it. Uh, kinda hard to do at a beach. So we packed up and came home. He was better after sleeping the whole way home and today only has what looks like a rash on his foot, but it isn't bothering him.
We just spent the rest of the afternoon playing in our makeshift water slide and pool. And Carter convinced Brian and I to fix the hole in the Slip 'N Slide and they played in it. Although the don't understand the concept of running then sliding. So it became a "Shove 'N Slide" with Brian shoving the kids down the plastic. They loved it. Though Brian might be sore today :)
We always seem to be having a great time in our house. We don't always need holidays, parties and special things to have a celebration. Sometimes it's the every day, what some would call "mundane" things we do that can be lots of fun.
Case in point - a library trip. The weather has been so great around here that I've been taking them outside or to the park instead of the library. But last week during Spring Break we had a thunderstorm kinda day that just screamed "Go to the library" and we did. Once the rain had passed (or so I thought), we headed out. The Cy-Fair college library got new kid computers with touch screens. Cole was so excited that he could play now too; Carter loves to play on their computers and Cole just has to watch. Not anymore!
I think the checkout terminal is now Carter's favorite part. He's a master at that thing. He knows what buttons to push, where to place the book, and how to scan the bar code.
The rain did come back. Just as we were walking to the car, a deluge of rain poured on is. The kids thought it was hilarious. Me, not so much. It's not easy buckling two kids into car seats, plus a stroller and 40 pounds of library books. I was drenched. My socks and bra were wet - absolutely ridiculous.
This was at lunch afterwards, he was trying to put his crayon behind his ear like my Dad does but it wouldn't stick. So he thought he'd just stick it in his teeth.
I hesitated putting this picture on the blog, but I blacked out the private portions. The boys were laying down in the bath tub as is shown, and it looked so posed - which it wasn't. So I had to snap a shot. They look so tall. Or maybe we just need a bigger bath tub! I can't imagine what we'll do when we have three!
Speaking of the third. This poor little thing barely gets mentioned. I sure hope that isn't going to be the case when he/she is born! Our ultrasound is on April 5th (Mom's birthday), and we're hoping to find out the gender. Part of me would like to keep it secret, but Carter is insisting I give him a baby sister. Specificly, a "teeny tiny baby sister." So I need to know ahead of time to prepare him in case it's a boy. I probably need to prepare ALOT of people in case it's a boy :)
Here's a photo of Carter showing off his Lego zoo he made with Sissy when she was in town a few weeks ago. She refused to be in the shot - but I promise her creativity was at hand.
And lastly, our neighbor Johnny is starting up his own photography business and took a few pictures of the boys. It was in December, hence the brown grass and dead flowers, and I wasn't even home. The kids were playing in the backyard with Brian and Johnny peeked over the fence and asked if he could snap a few shots of the boys. Their hair wasn't combed and the weren't "dressed up" but they are still the cutest little boys ever. He gave me a copy of the few good ones he got ... finally :)
