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. 

Birthdays bring presents, cake and ... doctor visits

Last week was my busiest week as a stay-at-home mom.  We had two birthdays, two dentist appointments, two well checks (on different days), a field trip, a doctor visit for me, a dentist appointment for me, an overnight business trip for Brian, a trip to the airport to pick up my in-laws and birthday party for the boys.  I'm exhausted!

We've been celebrating Carter's birthday since before his birthday.  My friend Julie and her kids were unable to make it to the party on the 15th so we met her at Chuck E Cheese the week before to celebrate.  We got there at 9:30 and pretty much had the place to ourselves - very nice.  Here are the boys on the roller coaster video ride - their absolute favorite

On Carter's actual birthday, we went to iHop for breakfast and they sang him Happy Birthday and gave him some ice cream.  Ice cream for breakfast is probably a high ranking birthday wish for a 4 year old.

That evening we went to Pei Wei, Carter's favorite restaurant because he can watch them cook with fire, with Mom & Dad.  He got a kids camera from them as a gift.  Such a great idea since he is always stealing mine.  Cole likes it but thinks it's a view finder.

On Monday I went to the dentist and the doctor.  Most of you probably have heard by now, we are expecting our third child in August.  Everything went well and we have ONE strong heartbeat.  There was some speculation that I might have two since I seem to be having more side effects this go around.  I just say it's because Brian's tolerance for my complaining has waned. 

On Tuesday we had our usual swim lessons and the boys are doing wonderful.  Cole is officially floating all by himself and will hopefully move up to the Golfish class soon.  That will be a cause of celebration because I will no longer have to get in the pool with him.  Carter has completed all his tasks except learning a basic shallow dive.  He's a great swimmer.

After swimming I took the boys to their dentist appointments.  This was Cole's first time, since he just turned two.  He was a handful, but did good.  Dr. Zummo said that he has good strong enamel and thankfully, much more room in his mouth for all teeth.  Carter isn't so lucky.  His poor mouth is just to small for those pearly whites.  He warned me again about saving for braces.  Carter did have a small cavity in a deep pit on the side of his back molar.  The dentist said those are very difficult to prevent in children (mouthwash is your best defense and he's just too young).  So I didn't beat myself up too much about it.  Though I'll be honest I did feel guilty and still do.  Dr. Zummo is the same pediatric dentist I went to when I was a child.  And he still has the SAME arcade games in the waiting area for the kids to play.  Cole loved it!

On Wednesday Carter had a field trip to the local fire station.  They've been learning about fire safety at school.  You should see him stop, drop and roll.  It was a cold day in Houston.  Here are all the kids in his class.

After school I picked him up and took him to Dr. Hayes for his four year well check appointment.  He was 41" and 39 pounds.  That's the 80% in height (so he's tall) and the 60% for weight.  She said that was a good proportion.  He had to have 5 shots and I did tell him ahead of time he would be getting "some."  He didn't fight the nurse and did well.  I took him out for ice cream afterwards.  He was doing well for about 4 hours and then BOOM - he wasn't. He couldn't walk and he was so fussy.  I let him sleep in bed with me since Brian was out of town on business.  Poor kid wouldn't let me look at his shots, it's like he was embarrassed.  Fortunately after some ibuprofen and some sleep he was a new kid by Thursday.  Here he is talking on my phone in the exam room.  He loves to steal my phone and scroll through my recent call logs to find Grandma or Uncle Matt. 

Thursday was Cole's actual birthday and we went back to iHop with Mom & Dad for breakfast, but after really slow service we skipped out on the ice cream.  Sorry Cole!  That afternoon, we picked up Nan and Pee Paw at the airport.  They flew in from Indiana for the boys' birthday party.  We had a nice visit.  Carter showed them all his games and toys, particularly the Batman Cave they gave him for his birthday. Here's Cole opening a gift at iHop. 

Friday was Cole's turn at the doctor.  He was in the upper 95% of height, he was 37" tall.  And weighed 28 pounds, that's roughly the 55% for weight. It would appear that both my boys will be on the tall side as the get older.  I can tell it in their pants, they're actually needing new ones before the ruin them with mud, food, markers, and holes. 

Earlier that morning Nan and I took Cole to the mall while Carter was at school.  Cole enjoyed riding the carousel with Nan. 

Saturday was the big day for the birthday party.  It started out cool and rainy.  Not a good day for an outside birthday party - but thankfully the rain cleared enough for all 15 kids to play outside in the SpiderMan bounce house.  It was a dual party, half Toy Story decorations and half SpiderMan decorations.  Lots of balloons and cupcakes.  I made the cupcakes myself and was pretty proud of them.  We have such good friends with beautiful sweet kids.  That makes for a fun party.  Plus having Nan & PeePaw AND Grandpa & Grandma there made it extra special for them (and me since they helped clean up!)

 Carter blowing out his 4 candles.  Next year I'll probably have to do a cake, I'm running out of room on the tiny cupcake for how many candles we need!

 Cole ate icing all day long.  Every time I turned around he snagged another cupcake and had licked the icing off of it. 

Picture of Niki, me and Joanna

Family shot in front of the jumper.

Sunday was another rainy day so Nan and I took the boys to the movies.  You see that BIG bucket of popcorn between the boys? It was gone at the end of the movie.  The boys went to town on that thing, it's probably why they last the whole movie.  But man, that's alot of popcorn!

Monday morning we had to say goodbye to Nan and PeePaw, but not before I got a shot of them with the boys. 

So as you can tell we had a crazy busy week.  And I now have a healthy 4 year old, a healthy 2 year old, lots of clean teeth, a healthy mommy with a baby in-utero, a great visit with grandparents and many more toys to organize!  I don't mind being busy if it means I get to have all these things to be thankful for.

Divide and Conquer

I've been enjoying some one-on-one time with each of the kiddos lately.  Brian and I will split up the day and the kids so he has one and I have one.  Then we'll split it up so he has some alone time and I have some alone time.  It has been working out well.  Of course we still do lots of things as a family of four.  But every now and then, just a simple meal with one of my boys or a routine trip to the mall can make some very fond memories.

Here is Cole enjoying his favorite breakfast food - a taco.

On Sunday afternoon, Cole and Brian stayed in during the cold rain to watch a movie while Carter and I ventured out at the mall.  I had plans to get some clothes for myself and finally make a dent in some of the gift cards I received over Christmas.  But I opted for some fun memories with just Carter and I. 

Here he is at Olive Garden being cheesy for the camera. He was so well behaved.

And eating ice cream at the mall.

Now that he's four (birthday pics to come on seperate post) he said he could ride the carousel alone.  He was proud and I was thankful I no longer had to endure the spinning t-cups.  Can you say nauseating!

Boys are Messy!

Like you didn't already know that, right?  We make messes in this house all the time.  And, as a whole, I don't mind cleaning up after them.  Cole has recently learned it can be fun to pick up after yourself, but he still finds making the mess much more fun.  And well, Carter, he'll make a huge mess and tell me "I'm just too tired to clean it up." "Well then go take a nap and I'll clean it up" is my response, and that will genenrally get him to pick up some of it. 

Carter's new favorite mess is drawing on himself.  A few days ago Mom came over and saw he had drawn a perfectly straight line in ink from the top of his forehead to the top of his nose.  I told her that was just what she could see.  I pulled down his shorts and underwear and showed her the many lines on his butt cheeks.  Seriously, he stuck a pen down his pants and wrote on himself.  I just couldn't understand the reasoning behind it, it's not like he can even admire his artwork!

This is washable marker all over his face. 

  And mud all over Cole's.  He and Carter played in the rain and mud last week and made a huge mess. 

We do lots of art projects.  Here they are stamping.  Carter thought he should give me some stamps on my hands and arms like his teachers do at school after music and motor class.  I didn't take a picture of my tattooed arms. 

Here is Cole squishing jelly out the container with his mouth at iHop on New Years.  Brian and I were starving the next day after being out all night.  I barely had a half cup of coffee before we threw the kids in the car to run up and get something to eat.  I told Brian "for a woman who didn't have anything to drink last night (I was the designated driver) I sure do feel hungover!  Food made it better :)

Speaking of New Years.  We had a great time at my friend Niki's house.  Mom and Dad graciously watched the boys until the wee hours of the morning.  I couldn't imagine what a babysitter would have cost that evening!

While sitting on the couch with my girlfriends I noticed a great photo op.  So I hollered at Brian "hey honey, come over here so I can get a group shot of the girls." He came over and stuck his head in the picture, as if I wanted him IN the shot, not TAKING the shot."  In the end I'm glad he was in the picture, my friends like him and vice versa. He's a great guy :)

And here is the one he took with me in it.

Well this concludes my first post of the year.  I hope to update once a week.  My friend Phoebe made that her goal last year and she achieved it with three kids running around her feet all day.  I guess I can try and keep up with her.  We'll see ...