Carter's Birthday(s)

Carter ended up having 2 birthday celebrations this year because I kind of let his party planning get lost in the Christmas time shuffle.  Poor Carter!  I'm afraid his plight in life will be that he was born 2 weeks after Christmas.  I vow next year to start planning his party in Nov.

We had planned to have his party on his actual birthday but because I waited to the last minute to 1. decide where we were having it and 2. make the call to reserve our spot we had to have it on the Sat. after his birthday. To make up for it we took him and Parker to the Exploreum and then out to lunch. Here are some pictures from our morning.

He had a great time!  I even scored him some free desert at lunch.  I know our waiter probably thought I was lying when I said "its his birthday today!" and pointed to Carter but oh well!

The next weekend we had his party at the Watermelon Patch.  He had all of his favorite friends there minus a few that couldn't make it.  We frequent the Watermelon Patch for playdates a good bit and Carter always has a blast so I knew it would be the perfect place for his party and boy was I right!  He had a GREAT time!

Happy Birthday Carter Evan!  We love you so much and can't wait to celebrate many more years with you!

Rub-a-dub-dub

So, I told myself I wouldn't post these pictures before Carter's party pics but I just got done editing them and I'm so stinkin' excited about how they turned out I just couldn't wait to post them.  I'm planning on doing some sort of collage on the boy's bathroom of a selection of these but I haven't decided on which ones yet.

Happy Birthday Carter!

I can't believe that in just two short years Carter has gone from this sweet cuddly newborn to...

...this precious little boy!





There aren't enough words to express the joy and love he's brought to our family!  Over the last two years its been so fun to watch him grow into the sweet, funny and smart little guy that he's become.  Even though he was a little slow to start talking you wouldn't know that now.  He's vocabulary grows more and more every day (especially within in the last few months) and he's really starting to copy words we want him to try to say.  It won't be long before he's talking our ears off!  He even knows several letters (B, D, E and O) and will point them out on signs as we drive around town.  Within the last week I've even noticed him starting to work on recognizing different colors, yellow seems to be his favorite (just like Parker).  Smart little boy!

Its also been fun to see his and Parker's relationship grow over the last 2 years.  They know how to push each others buttons (they are brothers after all) but sometimes I'm amazed at how well they get along.  I love to hear Parker ask Carter if he wants him to play something with him and Carter will almost always give a very enthusiastic "YEAH"!

We've been blessed beyond anything we ever dreamed or deserve when God sent us this sweet little boy!  Happy Birthday Carter Evan!!!  We love you more than you will ever know! 

You've got a Friend in Me...

We've been doing some major Toy Story watching around here lately!  And now thanks to Uncle Joey we don't have to just watch it on tv anymore!  Instead we can have "reenactments" right here in our very own living room!  Now to introduce the cast of characters

Buzz Lightyear!

He's known as one of the coolest toys ever and best friend to our second major character.

Woody!

He's the rootinist' tootinist' cowboy in the wild, wild west!

See what good friends they are!

Oh, no!  It looks like Buzz has caught wind of some danger!

Look at Woody go!  The Evil Genius isn't going to get him this time!



I'm proud to say they both lived to fight another day and remain friends til the end!

Christmas Portraits

When I do a planned portrait session with the boys I really try to be very easy going about the whole thing which I must confess is rather difficult for me.  I keep telling myself sometimes the silliness in the pictures at this age will only help me remember later in life what they're little personalities were really like.

I even got Callie in on the Christmas portrait action!  She's so good about letting me do anything to her.   I think she's quickly beginning to be my favorite subject!

The pictures of her were taken with my Christmas present from Bobby and the boys!!! I can't say enough about how great it is! I loved my old camera and it was perfect for getting started in the digital SLR world but I think the canon 60D is going to be just what I need to take my photography to the next level!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Parade

When I lived in Auburn we went to the City's Christmas Parade every year. I was even in it a time or two if I remember correctly. Anyway, since being in Mobile I'd hadn't made it to a single Christmas Parade. That is until this weekend! I loaded up the boys and we made our way downtown despite the rather chilly temperatures. Here's a peak at what we saw!

Enjoying a little lunch before the parade started rolling.

If you're wondering why Parker has such a concerned look on his face its because he didn't like that I was standing in the street while taking the picture. The whole time he was telling me "Mommy you not soppse to be in da road. A car might hit you!" My sweet cautious boy!

I think Carter was a little overwhelmed by everything. He kept a very straight face most of the time but I did see him bouncing a little to the beat as the marching bands passed by.

To say the boys loved the parade is an understatement! We will definitely be adding Mobile's Christmas parade to the list of our yearly Christmas traditions!