...and baby makes six

New things

2011-08-25T13:26:00.002-06:00

Well...God is good!

We have served at Solid Life Church for about 6 years now and have loved every minute of it. We moved to Colorado to be the Youth Pastors at the church and most recently moved into the Worship Pastor position. Through every turn of the road we have felt God had ordained each step and allowed our ministry to flourish under His plan.

All of that being said, we are very excited about the next assignment God has for us.

About 7 weeks ago we sat down before a work trip and discussed with each other our current ministry assignment and if we felt God was changing any of it. We both felt strongly God was speaking to us about a change coming and were very excited, but also very hesitant, as we know change is not always easy. We knew we needed to first make sure it was God speaking and then second talk to our Pastors about our feelings.

For those of you that know us well, you know that moving here meant we were able to be just up the road from most of Melissa's family. You may also know that we have formed amazing friendships...lifelong friendships...and have always felt this is where we would be the rest of our lives. That is what makes these "feelings" we were feeling so difficult. One of the things we asked each other is if we felt we were being moved locally or out of the state. We both felt that a local move was not what was going to happen.

With all of this "feeling" going on we met with our Pastors (Russ and Becky) and shared with them that we felt God was working on our hearts regarding a new assignment. We told them we had no idea where, when, or how but that we needed them to be the first to know.

We then proceeded to do all the things you would normally do when you know where you are moving....we listed our house...started packing...and told our family. All of this without knowing what God had planned but knowing we simply needed to trust that He had it under control.

About a week after speaking with Russ and Becky we spoke to a friend of ours that had a large church and who was losing their Worship Pastor of 8 years due to her getting married and moving out of state. Coincidentally, we found this church through the person their resigning worship pastor was marrying. We began talking to this pastor and his wife about their vision for their church and how we would possibly fit. There is a much bigger more elaborate story about how our conversations went...but our blog would be too long if we went that detail...but trust us...God has a perfect plan!!!

This past weekend we were invited to visit with this pastor and their staff as well as lead worship for their 3 weekend services. The weekend went amazingly and seems to be a perfect fit.

So...we are excited to say that we will be packing up all of our stuff, four kids, two dogs, two cars...and tons of memories and moving to L.A....that is...Lower Alabama!

I know you're thinkin...what??? But after visiting this church and the city where they are planted (Mobile, Al) you would get it. They have such a burden for un-churched people and have done some amazing things to change their world. Check out their website: http://myriver.tv and make sure you check out their most recent project called "Generations".

I know you will all have tons of questions, so feel free to call us anytime. We love all of you and are very excited about this next assignment! Please pray for us for a couple things:

1. Easy transition for the kids
2. House to sell quickly
3. Melissa's business
4. New home purchase
5. Continual trust in Him

Again, God is good!

Cary and Melissa

Carson's 6th Birthday & Mother's Day

2011-05-25T12:36:00.001-06:00

Carson is OBSESSED with dinosaurs and all thing paleontology related, so we, of course planned a dinosaur party complete with a dinosaur dig in the new play set's sandbox...but alas, we were rained out. Thankfully, a friend of mine came to our rescue, and helped us secure a local church's play park, which is, by the way, amazing, and the dinosaur party was on...I changed the planned dig to fossil making with crayola clay and plastic dinosaurs. It was so much fun! Totally going to plan a party here on purpose. :)

So I missed Nathaniel & Lo on Easter...but isn't this a cute pic of them? LOVE that they live here now! :)

this picture cracks me up :)

Love this sweet girl :)

Mother's Day this year was really nice! We met up at my mom's for dinner and hung out all together. Cary asked what I wanted to do for lunch, and I said either eat out or eat in our backyard, so we combined the two...got take out and ate on our deck. :) I loved it! Here's a pic that I love from Mother's Day. :)

Easter & Other Things

2011-05-24T22:20:00.000-06:00

We had our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt. The boys had so much fun, and it was fun to see the three older boys totally get the egg hunt thing, have a great time, and then tell me "but it's really about Jesus, Mom." :)

We decided to combine the boys birthday money and get the boys a play set for the back yard, so Cary worked on that for a week or two.... I need to take a finished picture, but the boys LOVE IT. Best idea... And our trees were especially pretty around this time too.

Cary's mom came to spend a few days with us around Easter! It was such a great visit!

We finally got an updated family picture... yay for being dressed up for Easter. :)

pretty sure I'll be seeing a smile like this in his senior photos...

We then tried to get a picture of my mom with the boys too...as you can see...we missed our nice picture taking window... out of 15 shots this is probably the best one... lol!

Also took some pics of my parents and siblings...minus Lo & Nathaniel :( next time :) Aren't they some cuties...
Austin (Tina) & Ali...

Kels & Scott...they're having a baby! (in October) :) YAY!!!!

Natalie & Ricky...getting married in Sept.

Mom & Dad :)

now to catch up...

2011-05-24T22:17:00.000-06:00

Yeah...I've been slacking... something about the ease of facebook makes me quick to post pictures there and slow to post stories here... But Cary reminded me this weekend that I wanted this blog so that our boys would remember...little things...important things...you know...times in our life... so, now I need to catch up... at least on the highlights. :) Here goes nothing... I'll probably break this up into a few posts over the next few days.

We had Caleb dedicated in an intimate ceremony at my parents home with our Pastors, family and close friends. We stole this idea from a friend of ours. They had an intimate ceremony for their daughter's dedication, and we loved the special-ness of it. All of our boys have been dedicated in our church in a more traditional manner, but we decided to change the location for Caleb's. It was really nice! Just like with our older boys, Caleb wore the same outfit, and our pastor and my dad dedicated him together. I love that this tradition has carried on with each of them. Sweet boy that he is, slept through the whole thing and lunch after. :)

We also took a trip to Napa for our 8th anniversary. Caleb came with us, but the boys stayed with my fam...they took turns and it worked out really well! Despite a few hiccups and drama it was an AWESOME trip. I'm so thankful that Cary planned it and that we went. AMAZING...and he says we definitely need to make it a tradition! YAY! For those of you who know how much Cary travels...any place he says we need to repeat must be truly great! Our friends Brad & Megan joined us, and it made it even more fun! :) Plus, they had been to Napa before and new great places to check out. SO FUN...can't say that enough!!

We went to V. Sattui Winery and had lunch on their lawn. Their property is beautiful! the last pic in the one below is kind of funny because Brad and Cary say "go big" ALL THE TIME.

Then we went to Mondavi Vineyards for a traditional tour. Very cool and the property was so very pretty! ...are you sensing a theme here? Napa is beautiful!

There were weird statues throughout the property and Cary and Brad posed with them....we were making fun of them, and then on the tour, the guide said that the artist created the figures hoping that people would interact with them. hahahaha! :)

ignore how awful I look in the pics below...the drama I mentioned had happened the day before and I obviously was still carrying the stress. ;) I'm so thankful it didn't ruin our trip though!

They had room after room of wine barrels...couldn't believe how many....

Caleb was such a sweet baby. :)

Then we headed to our AMAZING B&B... which we found out you get fantastic rates on if you book last minute... The Farmhouse Inn. I've stayed in a lot of places, but I was in awe over every little detail of this place, and the customer service was more like a resort than a B&B....we are so going back!! Brad & Megan honeymooned here, and they raved about it, but it far exceeded my expectations! For example...when you check in, they have homemade soaps and bath salts/powders that you can take your pick of and stuff to make s'mores over their fire pit. (I made Cary get me some soap to take home...it's in a drawer in my bathroom so every time I open it I'm reminded of the amazing-ness that was this trip! :) ) There's also an on location spa, which Cary decided would serve me well to reduce the stress I was feeling, so upon our arrival, I had a surprise massage waiting! It was the most amazing massage ever.... the massage table had a water bed type surface that was heated...so, so awesome! We also had dinner at their restaurant, that definitely ranked in the top 3 meals I've ever had. If you ever have a chance to stay here...DO IT. :)

Their property was super pretty too with gardens here and there, and the rooms were amazing We stayed in the barn. I'll admit, Cary was making fun of all of my oohs and aahs over the room details.

Such an amazing time!!

Two Teeth

2011-03-25T22:32:00.003-06:00

The first came in on March 11, and the second one which is just barely visible in this picture came in Wednesday. :)

A Last First

2011-03-09T11:47:00.003-07:00

Caleb being our last baby is bittersweet for me. Truth be told, if money were not necessary and I could get Cary to sign up, I would have another baby...or two...but we live in the real world. :) Part of me is a little sad this is our last go around. But another part of me, a bigger part, is very excited for things to come...for growing up together, for knowing Jesus, for school and sports and friends and...and...and. :) So I'm savoring the moments and trying to live in them and not focus quite so much on the last part that makes me feel a bit weapy.

Caleb is nearing 5 1/2 months now and he has started waking a bit more at night, so I decided it's time to start baby food to help him be a little more satisfied. I wanted to wait because I'm just not ready for him to be this big, but it just didn't make sense to be selfish about it. So this morning we did our last first baby cereal. Since I was trying to live in the moment, you get some picture overload! :) I just adore this boy.

He did pretty well all things considered. I would guess he probably swallowed about half of what I spooned in. The toughest part was getting the spoon in. He just didn't know what to do with it and would make a face like "WHY are you putting that thing IN.MY.MOUTH???" Funny. :)

See...so many pictures, it's like you were there! :)

4 Months / 4 Years

2011-02-25T14:40:00.002-07:00

Caleb is four months old...almost 5 now. He's doing great and its so fun to see his personality coming out. He is a happy, happy baby. Probably my happiest yet. All of my babies were good happy babies, but Caleb is a smiley, giggly, extroverted happy baby. And I love it. On my most stressful of days, he is happy and easy going, and I am so so thankful for him. Oh, and just for my records, he was 14 pounds, 2 ounces and 25.5 inches long at his 4 month check up. He barely whimpered during his shots, which I was SO thankful for since Caden got his right before. He runs a fever within hours of his shots for 2 days or so and sleeps a lot and is a little more fussy...I say that not really for all of your benefit, but for mine, since I forgot that he did that at his 2 month check up as well and was surprised at his reaction...Maybe I'll remember to expect this and be more preemptive for his 6 month check up. Here's Mr. Caleb enjoying his Jumperoo...he loves this thing and talks and squeals while playing in it. :)

These boys are going to be buddies...I can already tell :)

Caden just turned four years old! With my four boys, it's probably going to feel like we're a wheel of milestones...it feels like that lately...in a good way. :) He handled his check up really well! He cried hard during his shots which was hard on this Mommy, and kept talking about how it hurt. This was the first time he really was old enough to think about what was/had happened. Breaks my heart. He's a thinker too, which may surprise some. But he does. He's busy, busy, and constantly going, but then he'll speak up with some running thought or discovery which lets you know he's been mulling over something for a long, long time. I love this about him. He's a sensitive soul and my wild child all wrapped into one. He loves people, anyone really, and thinks about them constantly...regularly bringing someone up that we haven't seen in a while, or someone I had no idea he even noticed. Love my Caden. At his check up, he was 3'4" and 36.5 pounds. He's being treated for mild asthma for chronic coughing, which I was very stressed about because when he received breathing treatments as a baby, it made him (and this momma) agitated and CRAZY. It was a very long and hard 6 months, but it has been awesome. He doesn't seem at all illy effected. He's sleeping better and hasn't coughed ONCE since we started the twice daily treatment.

We had a Chuck E Cheese party at Caden's request, which is funny because although he WANTS to like Chuck, he is completely terrified (like physically shaking in fear, terrified) of him. But, he requested the party, and for Chuck E. to visit his friends. He had SO MUCH FUN and even handled it well, only sinking back in to Cary, when Chuck tried to give him a high five. The next day he told me, "Chuck E Cheese thought I wanted a high five. But I didn't...I didn't, Mama." It was really funny because I could tell he'd been mulling that thought over for a long time. :) Here are TONS of pics from Caden's party.

My 4 year old boy...I snapped this in our street as we were loading the car to head to CEC's

This picture so clearly shows how Caden feels about Chuck...see how he wants to like him...so funny. :)

Caden's Uncles and Aunties tried to outdo each other in the ticket winning...Caden scored!!

Caden didn't know what to think of this ticket grabbing machine...but he had fun eventually :)

He did not like it when the voice of CEC told him what to do! Ha!!

The next days the boys had fun helping/watching Caden open his gifts...Caden insisted on wearing his birthday crown and medal :)

Caleb really enjoyed it ;)

My Grammy & Papa gave Caden his birthday money in $1 bills... he thought it was pretty awesome! :)

2 Months Old...better late than never

2010-12-21T11:46:00.002-07:00

Caleb will be 12 weeks old tomorrow; three months next week. I'm loving getting to know this little guy. He's quite the conversationalist. :) And has already learned to flirt pretty well. He still pretty little in appearance, but he is solid! Everyone who's held him recently responds with something along the lines of "Boy! He's heavy!" At his two month check-up, he was 24" long and weighed 11 lbs., 7.5 oz. and his head was 15.94" Carter also had his 2 year appointment on the same day (about 3 months late). He is 2 ft, 10 inches and 26.5 lbs., his head, just for comparison sake is 19.88". I did this appointment alone (!!), just me, Caden, Carter and Caleb (Carson had kindergarten) and it went surprisingly well. I was amazed, really!

Anyway, here are the many faces of Caleb, taken on his two month birthday.

Picture time!

2010-10-30T18:14:00.001-06:00

Took some portraits of our boys the other day...check it out... :)

SugarBowl Photography

Berry Patch Farm

2010-10-24T20:19:00.003-06:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall! I love the colors in the trees, the crisp air, the chili for dinner, all of the fun fall/holiday things...I just love it!! Each year we try to go to a pumpkin patch to get pumpkins, and this year, I discovered Berry Patch Farm. Coolest farm ever! Think like the Roloff farm. Beautiful and lots to do, and even pick your own of whatever is in season! So fun. We headed up there this Saturday, and my mom and dad and Kelsey and Scott joined us. We all deemed it worthy of a repeat for next year. Can't wait to make this a tradition worth repeating! Here is a play by play. :)

When we got there, there were all sorts of places worthy of picture taking, so we jumped right in!

Caleb had a good time too. :)

In their barn they have all sorts of produce and things that have been made from the produce on the farm. They also had animals that were around the property, one of which was the HUGEST pig any of us had ever seen! The boys loved getting to take a few swings at a pinata that they had in honor of Halloween, and we all had a good time watching.

Then we took a hayride out to a field of pumpkins and a hay maze for the kids.

The breeze was a little cold when the hayride got moving :)

Cary found a grasshopper, and Carter seemed to think it was pretty cool.

Caleb did show us his eyes every once in a while. :)

We rounded out our time on the farm picking raspberries that are so ripe, and so, so good!

Carter ate about 3 times what he saved. :)

And he would donate to someone's carton every once in a while.

It was so much fun, I'm going to be watching their website for what's available for harvest throughout next year. Awesome, awesome day!!

3 Weeks In

2010-10-21T15:17:00.004-06:00

Alternately titled "Around Here"

We have lots of this

Some fits now and then:

Some 2 year old sillyness:

Just a bit of newborn awake time,

A whole lot of newborn sleepiness,

Some 3 year old knock-knock jokes,

More fits,

Some 5 year old strangeness,

And the very best buddies.

A Nursery, A Check Up, Bathing & Belated Birthday Pictures & A Reception

2010-10-14T16:49:00.002-06:00

Lots of important milestones...some current...some from a month ago, but all things I'll want to remember in 20 or so years. :) SO, here we go...oldest to newest...

At the end of August, my mom threw Lauren and my brother Nathaniel a wedding shower/reception for all of our local friends and family. Their wedding is in November, and I'm so excited to get to shoot it! It will be so fun to be a part of their day and get to do what I love at the same time! Here are just a few pictures from their reception:

Grammy, my mom and Carter:

Natalie & Caden:

Natalie & Carter:

That same weekend, we celebrated Carter's 2nd birthday since my siblings were in town. It was just a small family party, but lots of fun all the same. The highlight of the party was the 3 dozen balloons we got for our sweet 2 year old who is CRAZY for balloons! Here are just a few pics...

And finally to the present.... two nights ago, we gave Caleb his very first bath. He loved it and he hated it...poor little guy couldn't make up his mind. Truthfully, the only thing that makes him upset is being cold, so I half expected a cry fest, but he did well considering everything. Carter was in the bathtub while Caden got his bath in the sink. Carter's been dodging in front of my camera every time I have it out, so he was sure to get in the picture game (although he didn't want to LOOK at the camera) while we were getting everything ready for Caleb's bath. :) He's a funny kid, that Carter!

These are in chronological order. :)

Caleb also had his 2 week check up yesterday, and all looks good! He's up to 6 lbs. 13 ounces, so he's gained 13 ounces since leaving the hospital 10 days ago!! Woot!! He's also 20 inches long now. :)

And finally, Caleb's float wraps for his room arrived today, and I couldn't wait to get them hung! His nursery is finally finished, and I just had to share! :)

Caleb Emory Yocum

2010-10-11T13:27:00.002-06:00

Our sweet baby, Caleb, made his debut on September 29, 2010 at 3 weeks early. He was born at 11:24 a.m. and was 6 pounds, 5.4 ounces, 19 inches long.

The story of Caleb's birth is below, so if you don't want to know...feel free not to read on! :)

I suspected my water was leaking the night before, so we headed to Labor & Delivery to get checked out after having dinner with some friends. They ran several tests that turned up inconclusive, but then they ran one final test before sending me home, and it was definitely positive for amniotic fluid. I was so excited that this was the real deal and I wasn't going to have to tell everyone I'd just imagined it. :) They got us checked in and hooked me up to an IV and antibiotics since I'm a group b strep carrier. We spent the evening trying to rest, and my dad, mom and sister Kelsey joined us a bit later. (Dad only hung out for the completely non-invasive parts. :)) They started pitocin to get things rolling around 4 a.m., but nothing really happened until around 7 when they got the pitocin high enough.

Labor was going along fine, they checked Caleb's position with an ultrasound machine and declared it perfect, and they broke my water around 9 and said they bet he was born within an hour. About 40 minutes later, I was feeling a lot of pressure so the doctor came to check me. I was fully effaced, but only dilated to a 6, and the pressure I was feeling was because Caleb had turned his head the wrong way. In past deliveries, once I become fully effaced and dilated to around a 6, we only have a few minutes left, so this was what I expected.... this however is SO not what happened! The doctor suggested that I get up in the bed on my side to encourage Caleb to turn, and turn he did, but he turned completely the wrong way and ended up sunny side up. FUN!

Then things got a little hairy. We spent the next hour or so with the doctor trying to physically turn Caleb during my contractions. This was so painful and since I didn't have pain meds or an epidural, all I could focus on was relaxing through the contractions an ignoring everything they were doing at the end of the bed! Then the doctor asked again which baby this was for me. Someone told him it was my 4th, and he sat back and said, well, this baby is going to have to turn on his own. After a few contractions, I ended up at a 9, and he said I could start pushing if I pushed easy, so I did because it helped. I got through several contractions that way, and then I remember the doctor saying "check this out" and everyone swarmed to the foot of my bed...that was a very surreal moment. I was pretty focused on what I was doing but I remember thinking how weird it was that everyone moved so quickly. Turns out Caleb was turning like a corkscrew while I pushed, and a few moments later he was born! His poor face was pretty bruised, but he seemed to be doing okay. Then, because of Caleb's position during his birth, I started hemorrhaging pretty badly. Thankfully, my delivery doctor acted fast and inserted a catheter to empty my bladder... OUCH!!! Seriously, I didn't yell or anything during Caleb's delivery, but I screamed when he did this! I'll bet the other women on the hall were thinking "what is her problem???" And then, by reflex, I kicked my doctor in the shoulder!! LOL!! He didn't even flinch and kept on fixing me. As soon as he was done with the catheter, my bleeding slowed significantly, so I'm very thankful he acted so fast.

By this point, they'd gotten Caleb cleaned up for the most part, but he had started grunting. They had me do kangaroo care with him for an hour or so, but his grunting never slowed, so they took him to the NICU for observation. I was a little worried, but really believed his poor little body was just in shock from how quickly he had been delivered and from being a 37 week baby. After about an hour, they had me try to nurse him because his glucose levels were pretty low, but he was so worn out, he just kept falling asleep, so then they squeezed formula into his mouth from a bottle. This didn't wake him up either, but he spit up about half of what they were directed to give him. I got to stay with him nearly the whole time he was in the NICU, holding him and observing all they were doing. Even with all of the poking, prodding and x-raying, he never really cried. He would just suck on his pacifier and let them work. He is just the sweetest baby. Thankfully, the tests revealed that he just had a bit of moisture on his lungs, and after the bit of formula, his glucose levels came back up and he nursed perfectly each feeding after the first one. Later that night, they brought him back to my room. His hospital stay didn't get much better from that point though... The next day, I pointed out to a nurse that I thought he might be tongue-tied, and sure enough, he was! So they sent over an ENT and clipped his frenulum ...the piece of skin that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. He didn't even whimper! The next day, I mentioned to a nurse that he still hadn't had a bowel movement... not even one! After checking him out, circumcising him (because we had that scheduled already) and trying to stimulate him to go without success, the pediatrician decided they needed to do a barium x-ray, where they put barium into his bottom up to his colon and do an x-ray to check that his organs were formed correctly. Poor little guy was perfectly formed, but they found meconium plugs...basically the meconium was thick like play-dough and he couldn't physically pass it. Thankfully, the barium and another solution they used were enough to get him cleaned out, and that seems to be the end of the insanity of his first few days of life. Through it all, I was amazed at his relaxed nature. No matter what they had to do, he was easy going and rarely fussed about any of it! We are so blessed with this little guy.

All of this bought us an extra day in the hospital, but once we got home, things seem to be adjusting pretty well! His brothers absolutely adore him, and Carter seems to be doing better with each passing day. We are blessed beyond measure!!

Here is our sweet boy at 8 days old:

This picture is going to hang above his crib:

I'm so excited to see this little boy grow along side his big brothers. I know that God has such amazing things in store for our little men. I pray that they are world changers for Him!!

Kindergarten & A Big Boy Bed

2010-08-06T12:51:00.002-06:00

We're starting to get settled back in our house again since our fire nearly 2 months ago. It's feeling good getting to organize and get things settled, although I admit it is often a daunting task and my body isn't as forgiving as it normally is. I'm doing my best to balance unpacking and such with resting a bit ... contractions are a good cue for that! :)

Life hasn't slowed down one bit in the meantime! I'm not sure it ever will at this point, but I think I'm okay with that. When we moved back in, we figured the less transition the better, so we immediately got Carson and Caden shifted into their new shared room with AWESOME bunk beds. Once I have their room decorated I plan to take pics, because seriously, I just love it. Like really. They have done amazingly well with this adjustment. They love their rooms and are actually getting up less than normal at bedtime...I suppose I have our hotel stint to thank for that, or perhaps it's that they are so thankful to have their backyard back they are wiped out by bedtime. Caden has gone back to his normal routine of asking for nap time. :) We also moved Carter directly into a big boy bed so that all of the furniture was moved back into our house into it's permanent location. I was nervous about this, even though it was only about 6 weeks earlier than I'd planned on anyway, but he has done SO WELL! I don't think he's gotten up one time for nap or night time. I'm so thankful to have kids who know sleeping is a good thing! I sure hope Caleb follows suit! :)

Then to add to our major events, Carson had his first day of Kindergarten today. He has been counting down the days, which has helped me to be super excited for him. We went yesterday and got all of his school supplies and got to take them to his new class to meet his teacher and get familiar with his room. He settled right in, found his name on the round tables and worked on a puzzle while his teacher discussed how things would go from here on out. It turns out he got assigned to a teacher, Mrs. Lamoreaux, who used to be our neighbor. Her oldest daughter used to beg to walk our dogs for free during summers, so we were super excited when we found out Jennifer would be his teacher.

Today, me and my dad (Poppi) took Carson up to the school for his first day as a big Kindergartner. He seemed to be feeling a little nervous, specifically about meeting all of the new kids, while he was getting dressed this morning, but he got over it as soon as we were heading to the car and excitement won over. :) SO MY SON! :) We went with him and lined up with his class, and then when it was time for school to start Mrs. Lamoreaux walked the class in single file. Carson never looked back, and told me all about making crafts (he said he drew a picture of me :)) and meeting new kids.

Please ignore the fingerprinted glass door...we're just trying to get settled, so some things have become unimportant! :)

I just love this kid! The blue thing on his shirt is a pocket with his name on it. Mrs. Lamoreaux made them for each student to help them get acquainted the first few weeks.

Waiting at school:

Carson and Poppi:

Standing in line:

And heading on in...he hand picked his backpack and is quite proud of it. Poppi said if he got tired he could climb in for a nap. :)

Houston Trip

2010-07-09T12:05:00.004-06:00

We got to spend the week around the 4th of July in Houston with Cary's mom's side of the family. We had such a great time getting to see everyone and make such fun memories while we were there! It had been much too long! Beware, picture overload below! :)

Friday, we went to NASA where I planned to take tons of pictures...only to realize that I'd left the card for my camera at home... I know...bad photographer/mommy! We did grab a disposable, but obviously I don't have those yet. We also took the funniest picture in front of a green screen that looks like we are all floating in a spaceship. Seriously funny!! We all had a great time there, and it was the perfect reprieve from the crazy tropical storm outside! Then we went to Joe's Crab Shack in Kemah for dinner. YUM!!

Saturday, we laid pretty low as we were all worn out from the week we'd had up until then:

It was nice to have a day to kind of try to recuperate. Then we met up with our good friends Natalie & Joey and Lindsey & BJ at Carrabba's for dinner. It was so much fun to see these four again!! Every time we get together, I feel like no time has passed at all (aside from the fact that we all add additional children between visits!!) and the nights are always full of laughter. :)

On Sunday, we attended church as a family with Cary's parents, siblings and their families. We were a crowd!! :) It was a great time, and the church had a bbq after service with jump houses and balloons for the kids.

Carter was SO funny in the jump houses! I guess he was feeling a bit brave that day! :)

Our niece, Caralyne:

And her big sister Kynadee:

Carson said these were baseball hats because he thought you were supposed to hit the balloons hanging in front of your face. :)

That night, since it was the 4th of July, everyone went down to the dock (minus me and Carter...because he was ready for bed EARLY and I was tired too) to watch fireworks.

On Monday, we decided to rent a pontoon boat and spend the day on Lake Conroe. It was a gorgeous day out; one of the only ones the tropical storm wasn't active, and we had SO MUCH FUN!!!! It was really an awesome day! :) Oh, for all of my mom friends, we've traded in our traditional water wings or floaties for the boys for puddle jumpers... you can get them at Wal-Mart or Target, and they are the BEST floaties/swimming devices I've found yet. All of our boys were loving the water, and we didn't have to worry about them getting flipped over or over tired from trying to keep their heads out of water. Seriously awesome things. :) Oh, and Carter is wearing a pink one because we borrowed his from their cousins. :) He didn't mind one bit! ha!!

Carter LOVED riding in the boat, and even fell asleep a few times with the lull of the waves and motor.

Caden helped Cary drive a bit:

Carson loved riding at the very front in one of the two captains chairs:

Mom...will you get that thing out of my FACE?? LOL!! Isn't he too young to look at me like this??

Tubing with Auntie Emily:

DeeDee & Carter

Then, to round out the fun week, Auntie Stephanie watched Carter so we could spend Tuesday evening with DeAnne and Tommy having dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and then at the Houston Astro's game with Carson and Caden. We had THE BEST seats, about 20 rows up, right between home and first base, and their stadium is air conditioned! :) And they won! Which I'm told doesn't happen all that much! It was a great night!

The view from our seats. See...told you they were awesome!

Somehow, I didn't get any pics of the boys with Papa Tom, Auntie Stephanie or Uncle Mason and Aunt Danielle, though I think Emily might have gotten a few with some of them... I'll have to check. Anyway, we had a great trip!

June 2010

2010-07-05T18:45:00.004-06:00

In June, we got to have our 20 week ultrasound... it was really at 21 weeks, and we got to find out that our sweet baby #4 is a boy! We are super excited about our brood, and can't wait to welcome Caleb Emory into the world come October.

Carson graduated from preschool. It was a cute little ceremony, and the kids recited the pledge of allegiance and the pledge to the Bible. They sang a few songs and gave out diplomas. Then they celebrated with a picnic and ice cream sundaes. Carson had so much fun!

My parents came out to celebrate with Carson:

Carson and his preschool teacher, Miss Rebecca:

We also had a small house fire towards the end of June. It was a little crazy. Caden went upstairs to watch a show around 9 one morning. Evidently, he found a set of matches in Cary's night stand that were from our honeymoon, because he lit one. As far as we can tell, when the match got hot, he must have dropped it and it caught a small suit case that I had started packing for youth camp which was coming up. Once that burned up, the carpet caught, and thankfully, nothing else was nearby and the carpet was flame retardant, so the carpet smoldered for a few hours. We have lots of smoke damage in the upstairs portion of our house from the smoldering, but most of it will be reparable, and I am super thankful for good insurance!! We smelled fire for much of the morning, but couldn't find it in the house, and we didn't go look upstairs until right about the time we found it since no one had really been up there since early morning. Our alarms never went off since the door of our room held most of the smoke inside. At one point Cary even went and asked the neighbors about it and said the smell was worse outside, so we figured it must be a street or two over. Cary ended up finding the fire when he went upstairs to change clothes for a meeting he had. By that point, our bedroom door was beginning to turn black from the fire, and the burning portion of the carpet in our room was about a foot from our bed and about a foot from our curtains, so he really found it in the nick of time! It could have been so much worse. The firemen had to come and everything, and it was an insanely stressful day. We will be staying in a hotel for a month or so while the repair work is done, but it's worked out okay aside from things being a little out of whack. Caden was pretty traumatized from it all, so we took him with us for the first few days of camp. He's still having a hard time now and again, and keeps telling us things like how he wants to go home, but his room isn't pretty anymore (since they are cleaning everything in the house right now), and he also keeps pointing out sadly that they have to throw our bed away. We just keep reassuring him that we will get new things for stuff that's messed up, and we'll be home before he knows it. It has been somewhat convenient that we already had an insanely busy schedule this month that was going to have us gone or busy at least for much of the month, we're just having to change it up a bit. We had youth camp just a few days after the fire, and Cary's Mom and step-dad Tommy flew in to keep the boys for the week. Then 4 days later, we headed to Houston to celebrate the 4th of July with them. I'll have another post about that, including pictures shortly, but so far our stay away from our house hasn't been too bad. Hopefully, it will continue to be just as okay while the repairs are finished!

May 2010

2010-07-05T18:13:00.004-06:00

I'm so far behind in blogging that I decided it would be best to blog about the highlights to catch up. Maybe that will put me back on track so I can feel like blogging is easy again! :) We'll see...

We've had incredibly busy months lately. I mean, we are always busy, but the last few months have really been ridiculous! I thought that we were busy when I was pregnant with Carter, but this pregnancy, our schedule has about twice as many huge events as his did. It sure is making things go quickly though!!

In May, Carson got to play on his very first soccer team and he also turned 5 years old!! Crazy to think that he starts kindergarten in a few short months. He is so, so excited. He asks me on a regular basis how much time he has left before he gets to go, and it's also a regular request to visit (drive by) his new school. It makes it much easier for me that he is so excited. I think it will really help it to be an awesome experience rather than one that makes me sad.

Our plan for his birthday party was to have a big birthday bash following one of his last soccer games, which happened to be on his birthday. Unfortunately, we got rained out for the party, but he did score a goal and had 2 assists during his game, so he was thrilled!! We moved the party indoors, and it was lots of fun as well! Here are some pictures from Carson's fifth birthday:

Carson and his sweetheart, Alexa:

DeeDee (Cary's mom) bought Carson his first bike, and he was SO excited, especially about his super sweet helmet.

And of course, since it finally began to warm up, we've been spending lots of time outside in the kiddie pool.

I also got to fly out to take engagement pictures for my brother and future sister-in-law during May. I cannot wait to shoot their wedding in November. Aside from the fact that it will be gorgeous, I'm super honored that they like my work enough to want me to do it! :)

Carter, the Big Boy

2010-05-13T12:45:00.002-06:00

This past month or so, Carter has decided he is as big and as capable as his brothers. He's giving his momma a heart attack. He's started going up and down the slide in the backyard fearlessly. He's climbing EVERYTHING. Yesterday, he climbed into his high chair by himself, and then yelled at me to get him some food. He's started trying to buckle his seatbelt, and nearly has it figured out. This morning, he climbed out of his crib. Awesome. Here are some pictures of our cute big boy.

He's funny. Like really. He's full of personality. And he makes this face all the time, and then he laughs at himself.

Yep, he got up on this trike by himself too...

He sure is a cute little daredevil, though. :)

Easter

2010-05-13T12:21:00.004-06:00

Today is Carson's birthday. He's 5. He starts kindergarten this year. How is that possible??? We're having a party for him later, so I'll have a new post but, I had better catch up first, since I have yet to post about Easter! :)

We had a great Easter, and lots of chances for egg hunting. Our church had an Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter, and it was cold during that, but the rest of the weekend was actually warm, which was so nice out! The boys had so much fun, and each of them was old enough to understand what we were doing. Carson kept reminding everyone that Jesus was on the cross for Easter, but not any more. It was really cool to see their preschool understanding of what Easter means.

B-Rad and Caden talking about how the Easter Bunny is scary...

Cary and I at the end of the hunt, a little worse for wear :)

These ones are from Easter Sunday:
Open mouthed kisses...he doesn't do this any more :(

The baskets have been spotted!

Hunting:

The Happenings.

2010-03-31T16:10:00.002-06:00

1. I've felt the baby move for about a week now. Seems crazy, but definitely true... at least a few times a day.

2. Carter has many new words all of a sudden, and is repeating his brothers frequently. His latest word is "downstairs," but that may change by tomorrow. He loves to go downstairs to play with his brothers like a big boy.

3. Caden and Carson have been playing soccer like crazy lately. That could possibly be because Carson started practicing with his very first soccer team this week. He is #4. He picked his own number. I wonder if he'll keep it or if he'll want to switch to #5 next year. :)

4. When they are not playing soccer, they are playing pirates in full costume, and Carson makes Caden walk the plank (a lawn chair). SO FUNNY!! Especially because Caden LOVES it.

5. Our 7 Year Anniversary is next Monday. Is it possible we've been married that long? Sometimes it feels like we've been married WAY longer since we dated for nearly 5 years. In others, it has absolutely flown. But I suppose it's good we've been married for a good while since #4 is on it's way. :) It's been an awfully fun and adventurous 7 years, that's for sure! :) We rarely have a dull moment around here! HA! :)

6. 12 days until our (me and Cary's) trip to the Bahamas. IT CANNOT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH!!!!! :) I'm super excited. It's all I can do to keep myself from packing now. :) I've already picked out a solid list of books to read on the sand while sipping a cool drink.

10 Weeks

2010-03-24T14:02:00.004-06:00

We're 10 weeks now, and I'm beginning to feel at least a bit of relief from first trimester woes.... read puke-iness.... This pregnancy has kind of hit me like a ton of bricks in comparison with my others....it's much more similar to my first trimester with Carson. That being said, it doesn't really make me very hopeful for a girl, because all of my pregnancies have been easy, but very different in regard to symptoms. I have a theory though, and it's that I feel more symptoms based on how long it's been since my body has experienced pregnancy hormones. This is our biggest gap, and it has left me much more puke-y feeling and much more tired than I was with either Caden or Carter. Thankfully, Cary has been super understanding! :) I do feel like it's letting up a little... at least I've had a few okay days this week, and that is an improvement!

We saw the doc last week, and had an ultrasound. We're measuring right on target, and the heartbeat was strong, and we could see both the yolk sack and the umbilical cord, which they said was a fantastic sign that all is well. We're officially due on October 20 (crazy that we will have a new baby before Christmas!). Because I stopped producing amniotic fluid towards the end with Carter, they will start monitoring me for that around 34-35 weeks or so...evidently that can happen again, which I didn't know... Also, because my labors get increasingly faster, it is likely that I will have an induction scheduled around 39 weeks, and I'm great with that... don't want to be on the evening news after all. :) We don't go back in until 16 weeks (that's the norm around here for uneventful pregnancies...always seems long to me) and I think everything will fly by from that point!

Here's one of the ultrasound pics (taken of the original with my iphone). The baby is head down. If you look super close, there is a faint ring above the head, which is the yolk sack, and a squiggly line around the bottom and feet which is the umbilical cord.

There IS a Reason

2010-03-17T16:21:00.003-06:00

why I waited so long to post these pictures from Caden's 3rd Birthday Party.... Can you figure it out?

The party was at a place called My Gym. It was so much fun, and Caden was very funny in that he was trying to act super cool and unfazed when the attention was on him...which is totally out of character for him. All of the kiddos had such a fun time.

Lots of playing pics here...but pay attention! :)

They gave us a chance to take pics of all the kids together... ha!

Did you see the reason?

Happy 3rd Birthday to My Sweet Fruit Cake!!

2010-02-15T11:15:00.002-07:00

I love you so, and am so very thankful for you, my fun-loving, energetic, sweet boy!!!

Party pics to come!

String of Thoughts

2010-01-28T13:36:00.002-07:00

Carter is a busy boy. And he thinks he's funny. He is funny. A crack up...yet all in body language and expression. He's a boy of few words so far, yet he has major comprehension. He handed me the tv remote this morning with one battery that he'd pulled out. I asked him where the other one was and told him to go get it. He grinned at me, walked away, and then came back with the battery. Funny kid. He does say a few words here and there, just not tons. He started walking (how bad is it that I never recorded this...) at about 15 1/2 months. I am still so thankful that I was kind of getting around before he was on his feet! Although he still toddles a bit, he is all over the place and even races the house with his brothers. As of this moment, he is working on 4 molars and all of his eye teeth. 2 of the molars have started to break the skin. It's made him crabby at times, but he is so much happier than I think I would be in that situation! He is just SUCH a laid back boy. Love him so.

Caden seems as old as Carson these days... aside from the education side maybe. Seriously, they seem so close in age. They are always up to something and acting out some sort of elaborate story...though he still loves sleeping and nap time and all that involves cuddling and holding on to whoever is closest. He's the sweetest cuddle-bug. Right now Carson and Caden are having a "concert" in Carson's room.

Carson keeps asking when he and Caden can have bunk beds... I don't know if this will happen or not... I suppose it depends on where we live when the next baby comes along... speaking of which, we actually made it past our goal of distance between children for once!! WOOT! :) Don't hyperventilate... I'm not announcing anything... but it's been the topic of conversation for Carson lately... that and "when I'm married..." conversations. That boy is a romantic all the way. Today when he asked me about the bunk beds, I asked him if he wanted us to have another baby, and he immediately said yes. I asked if he wanted a brother or sister, and he said both. You want twins? I asked him, and he said yep! That would be AWESOME! (Hear that, Daddy??) Then he proceeded to tell me, "When I'm married, I'm gonna have twins TWICE! Boys and girls." Way to plan that out, buddy. The other day, he said, "Mommy, when I'm married, will you teach me how to drive?" I suppose if he wants to wait to drive until he's 30 (because that's when he's getting married), that would be fine with me! :) He also told me that when he gets married, I can come visit him at his house. Nice to know.

I Heart Faces, Week 2: Photo Challenge - “Best Face Phot

2010-01-11T22:49:00.002-07:00

I heart faces is having a birthday! (YAY!) Which means all kinds of fantastic gifts for their fans. :) For this month, their photo challenges are all around the "best face" theme, and this little face is my favorite this week. This little guy, and his adorable brothers brighten my life. :)

Anyway, for those of you who know me, you'll know I truly heart faces.... and I love visiting and being a part of iheartfaces.com, so swing on over there and check out some other participants best faces and enter your own if you're so inclined! It's a great place to be! :)

A Christmas Update

2010-01-06T11:45:00.002-07:00

Picture Overload Coming. :)

We had Christmas at home this year because of my accident. We had originally planned to spend the holidays with some of Cary's family in Houston, but since I'm really just now walking on my own (albeit still in a walking boot), it just wasn't in the cards. We missed getting to see everyone, but it was nice to be home. That hasn't happened very often for Christmas. We had a Christmas Eve service at our church, and spent Christmas Eve evening at our house. It was laid back, and normal, and I loved it! :) My favorite part of Christmas was having the boys wake up here to have Christmas at our house and breakfast together. The boys had more presents than they knew what to do with, I think, but Carson and Caden kept up with it all and were super excited over everything they opened. It didn't matter if it was an awesome new toy or underpants, they were thrilled! :) Carter was just happy to be here. He opened a few things and messed with the toys in their packages and drank his milk, while everything happened around him. :) After that, we went to my Mom and Dad's for lunch/brunch and had Christmas with them. Then that evening we went to Grandma Lola's house for Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. It was a great day, and we were pooped by the end! :) This morning, Carson wanted to know if it was going to be Christmas tomorrow. I told him that Christmas was over, but that it would come again next year, and he got so excited! It's good to know that it made an impression. :)

Now for pictures...

Discovering stockings... Carson and Caden's super cool pjs are from DeeDee & Papa Tom....they even have capes!

Both of the boys got new underpants in their stockings, and Caden has since potty trained himself! Woo-hoo!!! :)

I love this tid *(Caden doesn't say the hard C sound at the beginning of words...so anything starting with a hard C is said with a T... Tarson, Taden and Tarter.... )

Carson with his juggling set.

like I said... this kid can CHUG his milk!

Checking out the new car collection:

See how excited Caden is??? This is approach to life! I hope he never changes. :)

Superman!!

Na-na na-na na-na na-na Batman!!

So, if any of you blog friends have boys, these playskool *I believe* helmet toys are the coolest! The boys love them, and they are by far the favorite new thing at our house... tied only with the super cool costumes they received from DeeDee & Papa Tom as well... seriously, coolest costumes.... I'll have to remember to pull out my camera when the boys are in one of their many get-ups. :)

Carter already has his cheesy camera grin down.... I didn't even ask him to smile, silly boy. :)

"hugs for brothers!" - this usually ends with them hugging each other so tightly that they fall over, at which time the wrestling match begins.

Once again, cheesy grin....

This is my brother and his girlfriend, Lo (Lauren)...isn't she a doll???

Dad & Carson...

Hope you all had a merry Christmas too, and that you are enjoying January!! It is FRIGID here!!! Like crazy cold. I'm SO ready for a normal Colorado winter...this is NOT it. :)

New Years Eve

2009-12-31T15:27:00.001-07:00

We've had such a wonderful Christmas and holiday season! We are so incredibly blessed. It has been awesome spending time with my family while my siblings are here, although we miss our family that we couldn't be with this year. We've had an awesome 2009...the best year yet, I think, even in spite of my accident. God is always sufficient. I have lots of pictures from Christmas that I need to share, but I have yet to pull them off of my camera, so until then, this one will have to suffice, and I suppose it's fitting. :) It is from the back of our Christmas card this year. I hope you all have lots of fun ringing in the new year tonight!

From Our Family to Yours,

2009-12-24T19:16:00.001-07:00

Christmas is coming....

2009-12-21T00:15:00.002-07:00

And I am SO not ready!! In fact, I haven't really purchased any of the gifts on my list, give or take an odd thing I've picked up here and there. SO BAD! I know it's because I can't drive, and am dependent on Cary to get around that I have yet to even begin, but it is driving me crazy! So, tomorrow, we begin...and I plan to finish too! Then, I will wrap my heart out, probably just in time for the wrapping paper to be removed. I'm so thankful for Christmas gifts that arrived this week from Cary's family so our tree could serve it's purpose. :) It's allowed it to really feel like Christmas around here, in spite of my lack of preparation. In light of all of the holiday-ness, or lack there of... I am ever grateful for my life, and my boys, Cary especially....for the blessing of salvation and a life worth living that Jesus provided for us. I'm so blessed to have our family surrounding us, and so lucky to share the abounding blessing in Jesus with our boys. This year especially, even with my remaining gimpy-ness, I am aware of my thankfulness.

My brother and sister (and my brother's gorgeous and sweet girlfriend) arrive tomorrow, and I can't wait to spend the week with them! It will be so nice! We have many Christmas celebrations in store, so I know this week will fly, but I plan on treasuring every minute! Okay, off to bed for me, and it's far too late, but because a post is always better with a picture, here is a sweet quiet moment (they don't show up very frequently!) of Caden from Christmas pictures I took with the boys yesterday for our cards. I know...last minute like everything else this year. :)

Bowling with the Boys

2009-11-23T18:39:00.002-07:00

We wanted to get out of the house on Saturday night, so we decided to take the boys bowling. Our friends Chad and Erica joined us, and it was such a fun night! We're all total pros, you know...especially me on my crutches. :) Bad mommy forgot my camera, but Erica had hers and came to the rescue. It really was fun. Carson was ultra competitive and wasn't quite pleased unless he got a strike or a spare, which he actually did a few times! Caden was clueless and just happy to be there. He even tried the "kicking" bowling method a few times. So funny. I don't think he even cared if the ball made it to the end of the lane as long as he got to participate. That is SO Caden! We had so much fun.

Not Quite Yet

2009-11-17T11:11:00.002-07:00

I'm not quite back on my feet, umm...foot... but I'm heading that direction. The doc gave me clearance as of tomorrow (yeah, so I'm cheating...) to start baring 25 pounds on my foot, and then I can add an additional 25 pounds every 3 days until I'm walking without the need of crutches. I get a walking boot on December 10th, so hopefully I'll be getting around well by that point.

I realized the other day that in the wake of all of this, I have neglected to take Carter's 1 year pictures...bad Mommy. He's nearly 15 months old now...so bad...poor third child. So...I attempted to take pictures of him a few days ago...I knew that since I can't walk, they probably wouldn't turn out how I wanted, and I was right...I spent much of my time seeing the backside of him as he sped away, but it was fun to try anyway, and I have hope that as I can bare weight on my leg, I'll be heading back to client sessions and chasing my kids around in no time. (I know Cary, for one, is VERY ready for that!) :)

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T20:30:00.002-07:00

Since dress up is a big thing around here, I knew Halloween would be a ton of fun this year. I was so excited about the boys costumes, and they were too...well except for Carter...but he warmed up to the idea. The first three times I put Carters head piece on he worked with all his might to tear it off until he found success...very funny to watch. Our tradition each year is to trick-or-treat at my parents house and then around their neighborhood before heading to Chuck E. Cheese with our church. We take over the place each year, and it's really fun. Competition is always big, and the kids have so much fun they all but forget about the candy.

Here are some pictures ... lots of pictures ... from this year's Halloween fun.

The Knight, The Pirate, and The Little Green Monster.

I LOVE this picture that so accurately shows how little Caden is.... and how independent and BIG he wants to be.

You might remember the story from a while back where my dad had the conversation with Carson about him wanting to be a knight for Halloween....well, when we showed up to trick-or-treat at my parents house, we found out that he followed through...

Day & Knight:

We tried to explain to Carson that knights don't traditionally wear their eye/face guards down as chin guards, but there was no convincing him. :)

AAARGGGGHHHH!

Caden is such a cute little pirate....this is his serious face.

He was excited about something....probably pumpkins....

The gorgeous sunset as we were heading back to the car:

Snow Day, Take 2

2009-10-29T15:21:00.003-06:00

It started snowing yesterday morning, and hasn't stopped yet! We have about 2 1/2 feet of snow in our yard right now. It's crazy...and so early for such a huge storm here. Needless to say, schools are closed and everyone is enjoying the weather. We're enjoying it too...from our living room...with hot chocolate...and baked goods, because snow days illicit baking and cooking.......and hot chocolate.

Cary's been on a business trip this week, so I've had friends and family with me during the days to help with the boys. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a loving support team! My mom stayed last night because of the snow, and the boys LOVED getting to spend some extra time with Bella. Because of the snow and all of the complications it has caused, Cary got to come home from his business trip a whole day early! Yay for that! :)

Carter is this close to walking. He stands up with no hands and cruises the house barely touching anything, but when it comes to out and out walking, he squats down and crawls as fast as he can. I have a feeling when he finally gives walking a go, he will try running on the same day. Personally, I would like it if I could walk again before he does, but I'm not so sure that will happen. He's also discovering lots of things around here lately and it's so funny to watch his mind work as he tries to figure things out. It took him all of 4 days to figure out how to open our baby gate if it's not in the locked position. It has a closed position, and then a locked position, and because I was sure I had a few months before he even took interest in figuring it out, we hadn't been locking the door. Well, he proved me wrong. Also, we got a new trash can to replace the one that we've had and hate since the step for the lid had broken. We got an electronic lid trash can. It's great, and I love that the kids don't need to touch the can...they think it's pretty cool too. Anyway, Carter figured out right away that if he stood up near it, he was just tall enough that the sensor sees him and opens the lid. Over and over again, he would stand there until the lid opened, and then he would squat down low until it closed again. Such a funny kid. He's also figured out how to illicit laughter from his ever willing audiences. I'm loving seeing his little personality bloom.

Carson and Caden are doing well, and are VERY excited about Halloween this year. I've been hiding their costumes so that they might actually make it to trick-or-treating without damage, but I pulled them out today because I knew that Carson's needed a bit of altering. They are so incredibly excited about their costumes and spent a few hours already trying to master their characters. FU-NNY!!!!! They were cracking me up. Carson was going all out with his character development, struck a pose and whispered (I'm sure so no one would hear) trick-or-treat! Funny, funny stuff!!! I'll save the surprise of what they are going to be for a later post... Pictures as well, of course! It's been too long since I've held a camera. It's weird, but the perspective from our couch is only so interesting.

As far as my leg goes, I'm doing well. I'm losing my mind a little, but I'm trying to take everything in stride and a day at a time. It's hard for this incredibly independent girl to be forced into being SO dependent for nearly every little thing. I don't know exactly how much longer it will be before I can bare weight on my ankle. I have an appointment next week for a new cast. The ortho wants to take x-rays of my ankle in different positions to make sure it's healing like he wants, and hopefully he can give me a more definitive time line at that appointment. I think it will be a slow process even once I can put weight on it though, so I'm not getting too excited. Baring weight is only the first step (pun definitely intended) in a line of many I'm afraid.

Cary's doing well too, and is handling things around here really well, considering how much he has had to take on! I'm so thankful for him! We have couples' retreat for our church a week from today. We are leading worship at it, and I CANNOT WAIT!! Couples' Retreat is definitely always a highlight of our year. It is nice to get away from the day to day and focus on us instead of everything else in our lives. Anyway, that's what's going on in our neck of the snowy woods. :) If I'd just trusted my instinct back in September to buy Caden that snowsuit we could be enjoying the snow outside, but for now it's awfully toasty and white from our living room view!

My Accident

2009-10-17T10:11:00.004-06:00

First, I want to thank you all for your prayers for me and our family, and your understanding in my lack of blogging these past few weeks. I truthfully had planned on blogging an account of my accident much sooner than now, but the pain meds - any good pain meds to be honest - make me sick to my stomach, and the computer screen seems to aggravate that a great deal. Yeah, that's a bummer, but God has been good in covering me, because from what I'm told, I should be in a lot more pain than I have been. Okay, now on to the story, and what's been going on since...this is going to be long...mainly because 5 years from now, I don't want to forget. There are so many obvious ways of God's hand on every detail of my situation.

Saturday, September 26th was a really good day for me. I had a senior photography session with a family friend, and then a meeting with some other clients to place their picture order. Between the two, I had a couple hours to spare, so I went and used a gift certificate for a pedicure that Cary had given me earlier in the week. That turned out to be a really good use of an hour or so, as I would later find out. :) After my last meeting, I stopped at the grocery store for some fabulous homemade - without the work - chicken noodle soup. Seriously, it is so incredibly good. It was late - 8:30 or so, and I'd had little more than coffee and a muffin for most of the day. I was excited about that soup. I was only two exits from home, and was driving Cary's jeep. The speed limit on our interstate is 75, but I was only going around 70 because it takes work to make the jeep go much faster than that. There are four lanes on the interstate. For sake of understanding, lets label the lanes 1-4, 1 being the fast lane, 4 being the slowest. I was in lane 3, and was about half way home when I saw a guy flying in lane 1, about a 1/4 mile behind me. About the time he was coming next to me, he flew over into the lane between us. I remember thinking that I should get over because I didn't think he was going to stop, but he did, so I stayed in my lane. Well, right when I decided to stay, the other driver decided to move...fast. He changed lanes into my lane, I tried to miss him, and don't think that I did, but everything started going very fast from that point. I spun, and about the time I regained control and began going straight again, I was facing the concrete median/barrier, still going around 70. The thought crossed my mind that there was no way that I was going to live through this accident, and I should quit trying to avoid an accident, so I did. I let go of the steering wheel, put my hands in the air like I do when I'm worshipping, closed my eyes, and I began praying, audibly, in tongues, because to be honest, I had no words to pray and was believing that the Holy Spirit would intercede on my behalf. I remember the sound of the first impact, and very little of the rest of the accident, except that I knew I was airborne. I guessed that I had cleared the barrier and crossed into oncoming traffic. When I landed, The jeep was turned over with the passenger side door on the ground. All of the windows were busted out, and the hard top of the jeep was gone. The wheels of the vehicle were facing the cars behind me. I was in the passenger seat, still with my hands in the air and still praying. Then the thought crossed my mind that if the first person to find me wasn't a believer, they might guess I had head trauma if they found me still with my hands in the air praying. Out of instinct, I guess, I quickly lowered myself to the ground in a squatting position to get out of the jeep, and about the time I was going to put my right foot on the ground, I began to feel excruciating pain, which was perfect timing, because I probably would have pushed my foot into my leg had I bared weight on it. Then I realized that I could see headlights from behind me, but I couldn't tell if they were stopped or still coming, so I stayed where I was and desperately started praying that no one would hit me. Shortly after, a lady appeared, and I saw her jump at the site of me. I think she expected to see a mangled body instead of a person trying to get out. She said she was a nurse, and that they needed to get me out of the vehicle. She asked if I could walk, and I told her no, so she went to get help. While she went, I began to worry that I would be charged with reckless driving, because I saw the other vehicle keep going when I started spinning. Then the nurse and another guy came and carried me from the vehicle to the side of the road. The whole time they carried me, the man said repeatedly, "I saw that guy run you off the road, I saw him change lanes into you! I will tell the police." That was such an immediate relief to my mind. As I sat there on the road, TONS of people began surrounding me. The next person I remember on the scene just happened to be a trauma surgeon with the army - how good is GOD! He had what I guessed was his teenage son brace my ankle because it was hurting me so bad I couldn't focus on the questions they were asking me. The surgeon braced my neck and asked me lots of questions about if I had children with me or anyone else, and where I was and what day it was and things like that, and he asked them frequently. He also checked for other injuries, and from what they could tell on the road, I only had hurt my ankle, and had some lacerations on my right shoulder where I road the ground after the flipping stopped. I remembered that my computer and camera and lenses were all in the jeep, and asked the nurse if she could get them out. I kept saying, "My camera is in the car! Someone please get my camera from the car..." And she kept patting my shoulder and saying, "Oh honey, it's just a camera, you don't need to worry about that right now." We both repeated ourselves a few times before I heard what she was saying, and I looked right at her and said, "You don't understand, I'm a photographer. My camera and lenses and computer are in the jeep, and I have to get them out. Can you get them." She responded with, "OH! I'll go look right now." She went back and forth to the jeep showing me what she had found, and miracle of miracles, every bit of it was still there. I figured much of it was damaged somehow, but at least I had it all. Then I remembered my iPhone, so she looked for that, but couldn't find it. It had been in my lap, so I assumed it had likely flown out during all of the flipping.

The EMT's showed up at about that time, and the trauma surgeon began telling them all kinds of medical jargon about my condition. They checked me out and cut my jeans, which were new, to my rear, and cut my dress off. I said, "Oh, I like this dress!" And the nurse said, "Oh, honey, it's all torn in the back anyway." They checked for injuries and then strapped me to a back board with a neck brace. During all of this, I kept saying how sad Cary was going to be about his jeep. And that we had just put new speakers and a new stereo in it the week before. Then I remembered the chicken noodle soup, so I said, "I just wanted to go home and eat my chicken noodle soup!" Then I immediately thought how funny that must sound. Someone asked me if I knew where the keys to the car were, and I said no. The nurse asked me if there was anyone she could call, and I told her to call Cary, and I swear she was more shaken than I was because I had to repeat the number 8 times before she could remember it to punch it into her phone. I told her to tell him I was okay. Well, Cary later relayed to me that she called him and told him that his wife had been in a bad accident and that he needed to come, and then she hung up! She didn't even tell him where to go! Cary called some friends of ours and had one of them come over to stay with the boys, who were thankfully sleeping. Then she called back and told him they were taking me to SkyRidge hospital, and that he should come there, and hung up again. I can't begin to imagine how terrified Cary must have been, especially because he beat me and the ambulance to the ER and had to drive past the accident to get to the hospital, and it looked BAD.

In the ambulance, they continued checking me out and gave me an IV and commented on how good my blood pressure was. I asked for drugs, and they gave me something that did nothing. I was hurting more with each passing minute and shaking all over from what I'm sure was shock. The drive seemed to take forever, even though it was probably only 5 minutes. When we got to the ER, Cary and my mom (probably my dad too, but I didn't hear him) met us at the ambulance doors, and Cary looked scared out of his mind. I'm sure I was quite a site all banged up with my clothes all cut off and strapped to a board. Not to mention that I was shaking so much. They were really quick to check me out in the ER, and ran all sorts of tests. Xrays and CTs and everything. They pushed on me all over to see if I had internal injuries, and then ran more tests. They even did a specific cervical CT because there was a shadow on the normal one. Turns out I probably just caused a shadow because of my shaking, and all was well. Then they ran more tests. I think they figured they must be missing something because I should have been so much more hurt than I was based on witness testimony and the way the vehicle ended up. Between tests, Cary told me that he checked out all of my camera equipment and my computer, and they were all perfectly fine! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!! How good is God, that aside from just covering me, he took care of my equipment because it is important to me. A police woman came and talked to me between tests, and I told her what I remembered. She asked me if I had my seatbelt on, and I couldn't remember, but that I normally do, especially in the jeep. (A few days later when Cary went to get our stuff from the jeep at the wrecker, he told me that the metal clip on the seatbelt was bent, so they determined that I must have been buckled and the crash caused it to bend and come apart). By the grace of God, I stayed in the vehicle. I asked her if I crossed into oncoming traffic, and she said, "You sure tried." Then she told me that where we were on the highway was curved (the road that is), and on curves the barrier walls double in height. That in itself is a miracle, because I would have cleared the normal wall easily. She said that witnesses said that I flipped at least 3 times after hitting the wall, and that I looked like a rag doll flying all over the inside of the vehicle. She told me I was incredibly lucky to be laying their and talking.

During all of this time, they tried several different pain killers for my leg, but none really worked all that well, and when they finally did, they made me incredibly nauseous. They finally discharged me with instructions to see an ortho surgeon on Monday, because I definitely needed surgery to repair my ankle. My shoulder had significant road rash, but didn't require stitches. It is truly a miracle that I am okay with only moderate, reparable injuries. They gave me scrubs to change into since my pants looked like underwear with a weird skirt, and when my mom cleaned out my pockets, she found the car keys. Evidently in my state of shock, I had taken them out of the ignition and put them in my pocket. Weird. We got home early in the morning on Sunday, and laid low the next day. Our church, and so many other friends and family have surrounded us, bringing meals, and even setting up house cleaning for us until I am able to get around again. I am so incredibly thankful to you all, as is my family!

That Monday, I saw the orthopedic surgeon's office. They confirmed my need for surgery, and said that I had severed the inside ankle bone on my right foot. They put a new brace/temporary cast on my foot and set my surgery for Wednesday morning as outpatient. On Tuesday morning, the nurse called to say that the surgeon who would be operating on me wanted me to get a CT that day, and wanted to talk with me before my surgery. So we got a babysitter and headed up for the CT. Basically the surgeon saw something on the xray that the other two doctors who had looked at my screens missed. I am so very thankful I got Dr. Kim as my surgeon. He is awesome, and so thorough. When I went for the CT, every tech and nurse that I saw said that he was the absolute best in the area - even received an award stating such - and that his specialty happens to be ankles! The CT showed that not only had I severed my inside ankle, but I broke off a bit of a bone called the talus (the bone at the top of the foot where the leg bones connect), and crumbled a small portion of my heel. He said that it was going to require an additional incision and that because of the talus being one of the bones I injured, he can't really predict how I might heal long term. That specific bone is evidently hard to injure, and difficult to heal, because it has continuous friction when walking and standing. He said that I would likely have to keep off of my foot completely for a minimum of 8 weeks. He apologized, and then suggested that my surgery be inpatient, and that he wanted to keep me for 3 or more days to manage my pain. I should have been scared by this point, but felt quite at peace about it all. Cary felt that inpatient would be better as well, because he was concerned about being able to adequately care for me while caring for the boys as well.

On Wednesday morning, we arrived at 5:30 at the hospital for pre-op, where they informed me that because of H1N1, I could have 1 person in pre-op, and that no one would be able to see me in post-op. That was a little sad because I knew that my mom and dad and pastors were coming to pray with me and wait out the surgery. My awesome surgeon snuck our pastors in to pray with me while the nurses glared on - love him. My anesthesiologist, who is equally as awesome, came in and explained that he wanted to give me a pain pump in addition to IV meds to control my pain in a way that would keep me from getting sick to my stomach. He told me that because of the way the nerves in the leg run, it would only control the top and outside portions of my foot, but that it would make a big difference, and normal narcotics should be able to help with the inside nerves at relatively low doses. He also said that when I was discharged, he would give me a portable one that would last 2 1/2 days, and that the further out he could get me from surgery with the pain pump, the better my pain management and thus healing would be. Of course I was all in. They gave me the meds that make you loopy before you're completely sedated and wheeled me to the OR. In the OR, they had me turn over to install the pain pump. It was painful. Not as painful as my ankle, but painful enough to make me gasp, and Dr. Kim to rub my shoulder and ask if I was okay. I don't remember anything after that...not rolling back onto my back...not being told to count down from 10...nothing...until I woke up in recovery in incredible pain. I was still very loopy, but I woke up crying out. It felt like they were sawing off my inside ankle bone. Awful. Then the anesthesiologist came and gave me a nerve block for the nerves on the inside of my foot. It was heaven. I felt like I had been given Novocain from my hip down. The nerve block would last for 12 hours!

Once in my room, Cary and my mom and dad came in to see me. I was pretty loopy, and still a bit out of it, but they said that my surgery was twice as long as expected, and my injuries were even worse than Dr. Kim had expected, but that it went well. It turns out that I didn't just break off some pieces of my talus, but a whole section off of the top including cartilage, so instead of having to just clean out some pieces, he had to reattach the portion with 3 bio pins. I also tore all of the tendons on the outside of my foot/ankle, so he stitched those all back together. In a later visit, Dr. Kim said that he hopes that I will heal well, but can't be sure because cartilage is unpredictable. At best, it will be one of those aggravating injuries that bothers me sometimes but is controlled with ibuprofen once in a while, at worst, it may be chronic, or require a cartilage transplant. He also said that because of the deeper extent of my injuries, I am likely looking at 10-12 weeks before being able to bare weight on my foot, and then a walking boot and physical therapy for a good while. I really want to recover as well as possible, so I am following all of his instructions to a T!

Just during that week following my accident (not to mention during the upcoming months), I had to cancel several photography appointments, including a wedding I was supposed to shoot the following Saturday. I was so sad, but everyone has been so gracious. It stinks that this all happened now, but God is good, and I know I'll be able to pick up where I left off with my photography as soon as I can get around again. They ruled the accident "no fault" for me, and my insurance is considering it an uninsured motorist claim. We have very good insurance, so chances are this will turn out better financially than if the guy had stopped. I can't imagine how that guys conscience must be doing though. There is no doubt that he knows that the accident happened.

My hospital stay lasted 4 days, and I was glad. I had a kookie roomie, who was very funny, and very lonely, and I think my stay was as much for her as it was for my recovery. She needed a friend. The week after my surgery, we (Cary and I) were to go to a conference with our church staff in St. Louis. At first, Dr. Kim nixed the idea, but after realizing that I either went and endured the flights and only got involved as my energy level allowed, or I stayed home with our three energetic children and a sitter. He decided that going was the best idea, and we concurred. It was hard on us, and our kids, but I can't imagine how difficult my first week home would have been if I had actually been at home. The airline on the way to St. Louis lost our luggage, and we were beginning to feel like we couldn't take one more thing. I was feeling grungy, and was drawing extra attention to myself since I was in a wheelchair with my leg sticking out for everyone to see...not to mention that my temporary cast was HUGE. No joke, it was like an additional 4 inches of padding and plaster on all sides of my foot. Plus, I had a lovely medical pump and cord hanging from my neck. Then we found out that the airline was going to cover $100 of our loss even after they found it, so we went shopping. I got cute clothes, and my mom gave my hair a much needed trim in the hotel room. It's amazing what a bath (because I can't shower), new clothes and a haircut will do for your self-esteem! :) We enjoyed the conference, and I laid low for the most part. I'm glad we went, even though it was hard on the boys. I still think it would have been harder on them if I'd been home and incoherent a lot or even there, but unable to help them.

Things have been getting better each day, and we're beginning to get into a routine for now. Cary has been truly amazing, and is handling having to do everything with much more grace and excellence than I had even hoped for. It's hard, because I have never felt so incapable, but I know that even in this there is learning. If you think of us, pray for Cary and the boys and their patience specifically, and of course for continued and swift healing for my ankle, and generosity from the insurance company. This to shall pass, and in the end I'm sure God will use it to teach us something. I won't lie...a lot of this just stinks and seems incredibly unnecessary in life, but God uses all things for good, and he will use this too.

If you read this far, thanks for caring...and now I will warn you that pictures are coming, so scroll down at your own risk. I don't have pictures of my initial injury, but I did take pictures of my ankle on Tuesday when they took off the temporary cast to put on the permanent one. The incisions (and my leg hair) are nasty, so feel free not to look.

Last warning....

First the car, so that if you scrolled by mistake you're not shocked...aren't I nice :)

It's hard to tell how bad it is because the picture was taken from a distance, but under the hood, the engine is shoved into the cab quite a bit, and the front axel is broken and the tires are busted out. Cary said he cried when he saw it...pretty sure at that moment his tears weren't for me. :)

Now my ankle, 2 weeks post surgery. I'm going to have some crazy, ugly scars. Dr. Kim has apologized profusely for them, but they couldn't be helped. :(

Inside:

Outside:

Butterflies vs. Petunias

2009-09-24T20:15:00.003-06:00

Cary was dreading his 30th birthday. For those of you who know Cary well, you will know that he HATES his birthday. He told me under no circumstances did he want a party...truthfully, I think he would have preferred a wake or for everyone to ignore his birthday completely, so I came up with a fantastic plan. I decided we were going to have a kick ball party with a bunch of our adult friends, act crazy, and have fun...in uniforms, and with lots of competitiveness. Well, the weather had other plans. :( Our kickball game got severely rained out. Thankfully, Cary said we should go to a local wing place and have dinner and hang out anyway...in our uniforms. :) So we did. We ate, drank, and were merry, played charades and had an absolutely awesome time. Even Cary regarded his birthday as a really fun night. :)

Cary has wanted a grand piano cake ever since we got married (and our bakery said they couldn't do it), so our friend Dan, who makes awesome cakes, made him one for his 30th.

Charades was a last minute addition when I decided we couldn't just sit around and visit, and it was even funner than I hoped!

My plan with kickball was to take some league styled team pictures. We decided to take some anyway. :)

I think we're in for a harsh winter here. We've had a really mild summer, nearly spring-like with lots of rain, and then the last day of summer it SNOWED! I don't think that has happened, at least not as long as I've lived here (off and on since I was 8). It's just insane. We've had cold weather all week, and then this weekend it will be in the 80s! As long as we have a few more warm days, I guess! I know one thing...I will be getting a snow suit for Caden, because cold or not, they will be playing outside! :) Anyway, we are getting to go up to the mountains this weekend to see all of the leaves that have changed. I love that, and think it may become a family tradition! :) Yay for fall!!!

Labor Day in Arkansas

2009-09-24T20:00:00.003-06:00

We got to spend a few days with Cary's Dad's side of the family in Arkansas over labor day. We had a great time! We got to have a barbecue with almost everyone there for Labor Day. It's always nice to see everyone and get to spend time together, I just wish it could be more frequently. The boys have cousins, on this side whom they love, and it was fun to get to have them hang out together. We borrowed a speed boat and took all of the cousins tubing one day and it was awesome! Carson and Caden had so much fun, and it was funny to see their little bodies flopping on the tube under Cary's and my arms as they got pulled around the lake. I even got to do a photo session with a friend of Cary's sister while we were there! How cool is that?? Here are some pictures of our time in Arkansas.

Colin & Jude

How cute is Jude???

Jude with his Poppi....he has him wound around that little finger! :)

Jackson

Parker and Carson discussing the quality of popsicles :)

Chandler

Cary's Nanny

Cary, PaPaw & Nanny

PaPaw, Cary's Dad, and Nanny

Carson being silly:

Carter David is 1!!!

2009-09-07T09:43:00.002-06:00

I can hardly believe it! I'm not sure any of the boys' first year has passed as quickly as Carter's has. I truly feel like he should still be about 9 months old. How did this happen?

Carter is the sweetest of boys. He is cuddly and loving and generally happy and good natured. There is not much that gets him riled. As the boys get older, I think he will be the most laid back of them all. He's not very talkative yet, but says mama and dada in relation to Cary and I. He understands and follows instructions and questions such as sit down, do you want to eat? (milk, go night-night, down, etc.) He also raises his arms when I tell him to "Praise the Lord." Love that. :) He is not walking yet, but is cruising furniture quite well. I will be one happy mama if walking waits a bit. :) He rarely fusses and still LOVES to sleep. But maybe because of his laid back nature, if he misses a nap, he's still content, just a bit more cuddly. He is such a good baby. His eyes are obviously still the bluest of blues, and his hair is beginning to get a bit of curl to it like Carson's does. Because of immunization schedules, we won't get his first year check up until November, but if I had to guess, I would say he is still just a 'little bit' at around 18 pounds or so. If you saw him eat, you would think he should be a chunker though! That boy can put away some food! I am still his favorite by far, and although he likes spending time with other people, he gets super excited whenever he sees me. You know that never gets old! :) Love this boy. He adores his brothers and LOVES playing along side them. He also loves our dogs, and they are sweet enough to let him climb on them and mess with their tags. I just adore my Carter boy and his easy going nature.

We had his 1st birthday party last weekend, because we are in Arkansas with Cary's dad's family this week...having a great time by the way, more on that in a later post... Anyway, the party was super fun, and we had a great turnout of friends and loved ones. Here are some pictures from the day.

The cake:

Carter's cake:

Bella (my mom) & the birthday boy:

Some party friends...
Little Miss Samantha and her Daddy:

Sweet Jameson:

Sweet Atlee:

Pretty girl, Emmarie...for some reason, I didn't get a picture of her brother CJ....he and Carson were pretty busy most of the day.

The Birthday Boy...this face cracks me up. It's a new one he's been making when he gets excited about something.

Carter didn't know what to think about everyone singing at him.

Caden helped blow out the candles.

Carter was pretty delicate with his cake, but he enjoyed it so much that he was upset with me when I decided he was done.

Caden being silly:

Carson enjoying cake. (This boy had his very first school pictures taken this last week at preschool. How is that possible?):

Opening presents:

One of Carter's presents was a Broncos jersey, and when Caden saw it he started stripping so he could put it on. FU - NNY!

Sweet baby.

Lots to talk about...

2009-08-15T10:49:00.003-06:00

Cary was in Europe with several of our youth for a missions trip for two weeks. They had a great time and accomplished a lot. Cary has lots of pictures on his facebook if you'd like to see. While he was gone, the boys and I stayed busy to help the time pass quicker. It was a long trip, and at times my house was a bit crazy, but we survived. :) Cary's been home for 5 days now, but now he is on a trip with his company for the weekend, and then he leaves on Monday for another 3 day trip. I'll be glad when things slow down a bit for him. I think he will be too. :)

So here are a few of the happenings from the last few weeks...

Pool Time
With all of the rain we've had this summer, this was the first time we've been to the pool all season! The boys had so much fun, and even Carter loved it. As soon as I started to lower him into his floatie, he was kicking his legs a mile a minute.
This year is Caden's first year to be out of a baby ring. He liked the freedom as long as he could touch, so we spent most of our time in the baby pool.

Sweet baby:

Carson LOVES to swim. Loves it!

Walk, boys...

Every day pass times...
We've also spent a lot of time in the backyard, and Otter Pops are an every day occurance. :)

Carter has 7 teeth now...and boy are they a mess... poor boy definitely has braces in his future...

Pre-K
Carson started preschool this week. Thankfully, Cary was here for it. We took him on Monday for a bit of a meet and greet. The kids got to have a bit of school for an hour, while the parents met the teacher and saw how things would work. Then Carson's first real day of pre-k was on Wednesday. HE LOVES IT! He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30-1:00. It's a great amount of time. On Friday when I took him to class, one of his classmates was hysterical about his mom leaving. Carson just kind of walked past the scene with a sideways glance as if to say "it's not that big a deal." When I went to pick him up that day, his teacher told me she had to share something that Carson had said that day... he told her "God made me not miss my mommy, so I should get to be the line leader." Ha!! Well who can argue with that? :)

Spaghetti
Carter has also been moving to more solid foods lately. We're trying to move completely away from baby food, but he more stuffs and swallows than chews...

Anyway, a few nights ago we gave Carter spaghetti, and he ate two whole plates of it! A few fun pictures...

"This is GOOOODDD..."

"No REALLY it IS"

A few pics of Carter's first "piano time" with Cary:

Playing with my lens wide open

2009-08-01T11:07:00.002-06:00

Carter was SO tired when I was taking these, but he LOVED being in the grass. He kept examining the grass and leaves around him tasting them and looking at them, and tasting them again, and I took pictures. :) More of these later...

Milestones

2009-07-17T21:23:00.003-06:00

Two milestones I want to post really quick before I forget...

Carter pulled himself into a standing for the first time today. He's been pulling up onto his knees all week, so I knew it was just a matter of time. It was really sweet. He pulled up because he was trying to see me hiding behind his crib rails. When he succeeded, he got the biggest scrunchy grin and shook his head back and forth, which is a true sign of glee for Carter. Every time I've put him in his bed since has been a bit rough though... Normally at bedtime, I lay him down and cover him and walk out and he goes right to sleep, but today, each time, he's crawled to the end of his crib and stood up...then he doesn't know what to do. Hopefully he'll figure it out quickly and it will lose a bit of it's novelty. :)

Carson just left to go on his very first campout...a Father-Son campout. He is SO excited. He's been talking about wanting to camp outside for a year now, and he is just thrilled that he's going. I'm so excited for him and can't wait to hear all about it and see pictures. I'm hoping to be able to put some pictures up here....if I can scrounge the files from anyone. :)

Lately...

2009-07-07T21:16:00.003-06:00

We've had a lot of fun lately...I've been busy with SugarBowl Photography, and thankfully, keep booking new appointments. I just posted a sneak peek from my latest session on the SugarBowl Photography Blog

Last week we got to celebrate my Great Grandma's 90th birthday. With so many of my extended family in town, we took the opportunity of taking family and generational photos, and I felt so special when I was asked to capture photos that I hope will form memories for a lifetime. My Great Grandma is a woman worth honoring, and her children have and continue to rise up and call her blessed.

This week, Cary's mom, DeAnne, is visiting, and we've been having a great time. We had a community 4th of July celebration on the 3rd, and then we got to go to an Outlaws (pro lacrosse) game on the 4th, and witnessed a spectacular fireworks show. Carson didn't like it at first, but dealt with it as long as his ears were covered. After the show, he told me, "Mommy, i didn't like fireworks before, but now I do!" So I guess the show was up to par. :) Caden of course was mesmerized. I was concerned about what Carter might think because he was just so done by the time the show started, but he LOVED it! He would quite down and just stare at every firework and then when there was a transition in the show, he would cry again, only to become absolutely silent and wide-eyed with interest when the fireworks would start again. So funny! We have picnics and fun things like that planned for the rest of the week. It should be fun! Other than that, we have been doing this nearly every day:

TA-DA!!! (It's moment's like this that make me call Caden a "fruit-cake." These moments happen a lot, because he's started coming up to me when he thinks he's funny saying, "I a fruit-take, Mommy? FRUIT-TAKE?? :))))) " This kid cracks me up. :)

"ROAAAAAARRRRRR"

A Good Night

2009-06-24T20:38:00.005-06:00

The boys played outside tonight while I was giving Carter a bath. Carter loves bath time. He does the same low excited giggle for bath time and meal time. It's like he's so happy he can hardly stand it. Love that kid. He just sits in the bath content as can be and splashes so much he gets even the person tending to him soaking wet.

When I went to check on the boys and bring them a snack, they were both sliding down their Fisher Price slide with orange soccer cones on their right feet. According to Carson, they were pirates with peg legs, and the slide was their pirate ship. Silly boys. The pirates enjoyed their chocolate chip cookies.

I Heart Faces, Week 24: Let's Here It for the Boys

2009-06-22T14:13:00.005-06:00

Haven't entered one of these for a while, but when I saw the category, I new exactly which pictures I would enter, so here goes. :)

Kid's Entry
This is my fave right now from my brood... I think because it makes me laugh every time I see it, and Caden was so proud of himself, and even held the pose for me. That kid is hilarious...

Adult Entry
This is my favorite from the last senior session I did, which happened to be a guy. I probably love it more than I should...but that's okay. :)

Feel free to click on either of the pictures to make them larger.

Come check out the other entries at iHeartFaces.com. The entries get better every week!

An Engagement Session and A Trip to the ER

2009-06-20T10:22:00.007-06:00

First, I had an engagement session on Thursday, and I just put the sneak peak up on my website...

http://SugarBowlPhotography.com, click on Blog... If anyone is interested in these things, on the right side of my SugarBowl Photography blog, there is a button to subscribe for updates.

I know my last several posts have been about my photo sessions...I suppose that is because that is the most exciting thing going on right now for me. I've had lots of business lately, and I'm loving every minute of it! I'm loving feeling challenged.

We're doing well around here... Summer is in full swing crazy. Cary's been gone all week at our jr. high youth camp. He was the speaker this year. I got to go up for Monday night's service, and he did so well! There were at least 50 kids that responded for salvation or rededication, and I've heard equally awesome reports from each night. He comes home today, and will be at camp each night next week for sr. high camp, and that's just the start of our summer. I'm buckling down for the long haul. :) The boys are doing good, and are enjoying the mild summer weather, although I'm looking forward to warmer temperatures so we can visit the pool. Carson and Caden are as funny and imaginative as ever. Carter's finally cut 3 of his top 4 teeth all in one foul swoop...and I expect the fourth one any time now. He's so easy going...love that boy.

We had our first emergency room visit about 3 weeks ago. Carson had been playing outside, I was getting Caden ready to join him, and feeding Carter all at the same time...that's pretty normal. Caden was looking out of one of our kitchen windows, and I heard banging on the windows. I thought it was Caden, so I told him to stop. I heard more banging, and told him to stop again, and that was the end of the banging. A few moments later I heard a kind of panicked cry. I wasn't too concerned because it stopped pretty quickly, and Carson cries like that sometimes when he's frustrated. A few minutes passed, and I hear banging and Carson yells, "MOMMA!!! Let me in!" So I walked towards the door and told him to come on in, and he told me he had locked himself outside. He said he didn't want Caden to come out. LOL! So I open the door, and the first thing I see is blood - horror movie style - smeared all over our back door. Then I look at Carson, and he has blood all over his hands and face, and I can't tell where it's coming from. I'm trying to find the source of bleeding, and wiping him up and yelling for Cary to come upstairs and asking Carson what happened, and Carson calmly says...."Welllll....I hate to say it...." Which basically means he's been up to no good and doesn't want to get in trouble. I ask him again, and tell him that I need to know how he hurt his finger. and here's how the conversation went:

Carson: Well...I was playing with an ant... and it bit my finger.
Mommy: Carson, ants can't cut your finger like that.
Carson: But I was really mean to it, and it bit me really big.
Mommy: Even if you get a really big ant bite, it doesn't look like that. Tell me what happened, Carson. I won't get mad, but I
need to know what you did.
Carson: But it was an ant!
Mommy: Carson...tell me the truth.

During this conversation, Cary has joined us, seen all of the blood, and has started scanning the yard where Carson insisted he was bit for anything that could have cut him. Then I happened to turn my head, and saw the broken window.

Mommy: Carson, did you break the window?
Carson: SIGH Yes.
Mommy: How?
Carson: Well...I through a rock at Caden (he was looking out that very window) and the glass broke.
Mommy: Why were you throwing a rock at Caden?
Carson: I wanted it to bounce back at me.

humm.

As best as we can deduce... we think the rock sat in the broken part of the window, and Carson, not wanting to get in trouble, pulled the rock out of the window and cut himself. He cut the padded part nearly clean off of his middle finger. We tried to get the bleeding to stop, but after an hour, Cary ran him to the emergency room where they gave it an ice bath - evidently that helps with clotting, and glued it shut. Carson was a trooper and never cried. He must have been nervous though, because when the doctor came to see him, Carson rattled off,

"Hi! I'm Carson! I'm 4! I threw a rock and broke a window and cut my finger, but the ant didn't bite it." LOL!

When the doctor had Carson all cleaned up, he instructed him to stay away from those ants. :)

Here are a couple of pictures that Cary took on his phone of our emergency room initiation... with 3 boys, I'm sure we'll become regulars.

Senior Photo Session

2009-06-11T19:40:00.002-06:00

I had the coolest senior photo session ever a few days ago. So fun! Check out the sneak peek:

SugarBowl Photography

Just in case the link doesn't work for some, go to SugarBowlPhotography.com and click on the blog link.

Bridal Portrait

2009-06-09T11:30:00.002-06:00

I got to do a Bridal Shoot for a sweet friend of mine on Sunday... Go check out the sneak peak! :)

SugarBowl Photography

CONGRATULATIONS TINA BINA!!!!

2009-06-02T15:37:00.005-06:00

I'm so behind. My baby brother Austin graduated from High School 10 days ago, and I'm just now blogging about it!

Tina, I'm super proud of you, and am so thankful that I've gotten to be closer to you these last 4 years! I'm so glad you're staying in state for college and we'll get to watch you play lacrosse for years to come! You should be so proud of yourself and all of the honors you have accomplished. I can't wait to see what all God has in store for you! You are changing your world! Love you, Tina Bina!

A few fun pictures from the day... *I also need to get the ones from my dad...he has all of the ones from the actual ceremony.

Tina and his awesome friend Kacy (this pic is SO them!)

Tina's other awesome friend, Tyler and Caden...they are best buds. Caden ADORES Tina and his friends...I pray that my boys have friend's like Tina's...that they will be as much of an encouragement and be just as uplifting to each other. Good friends provide good accountability. They are awesome!

Mom and Carter:

Tina and Carson playing the slap game:

LOL! This picture CRACKS ME UP!!! "Caden, show me your sword."

Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: To my brother graduating with honors, and all of the unseasonable rain we've been having that is making everything so green.

Jeers: To me being old enough that my brother (who is a DECADE younger than me) could be a high school grad, and all of this unseasonable rain that caused me to have to cancel a senior photo shoot today. bleh.

Check Ups and Progress

2009-05-22T23:17:00.002-06:00

I took Carter and Caden for their 6 month and 2 year check up a few weeks ago... yeah, they were a little behind. Carter was just 8 months, and Caden was 26 months, at any rate, I wanted to make sure to record their growth. Carter was 17 pounds, 5 ounces (16%) and 27 1/2 inches long (48%). Caden was 27 pounds (29%) and 34.5 inches tall (33%) Caden has cut almost all of his teeth and the very last of his molars is mostly through now.

Carter is currently working on his 4 front top teeth all at the same time, and truthfully, he's being quite the trooper about it. He only seems truly miserable around bedtime. He's covered in drool and snot though and gnawing on anything available. The outside ones of the four (the bilaterals?) have cut the gums but you can only feel them, and the front two should cut through any day now. I'll be glad when these teeth are totally through. At my women's retreat a month or so ago, he got up on his hands and feet. It was hilarious, and he's been doing it ever since. He has since been getting up on his hands and knees and then diving forward in any direction. I think he's going to be on the go in no time. He also just learned to play peek-a-boo by himself. It's super cute and he cracks himself up! LOVE IT! :) Here are some pics of Carter doing some of these things...

Peek-a-boo

I got this Fisher Price Jumperoo for $5 at a garage sale a few weeks ago. I was so excited, and it looks nearly new.

Carter has been giving us these little smirky fake smiles lately that are so funny...he also makes this squinty eyed full on grin when he's trying to flirt with you, but I haven't caught that one on camera...yet. :)

His feet in this pic make me smile. He's just so content to be chewing on Carson's tools.

Carson's Birthday Party and Slip-n-Sliding

2009-05-19T22:13:00.004-06:00

Carson's Birthday Party
We had a soccer party for Carson this past Saturday with a few family and friends. It was laid back and the weather was awesome. We barbecued and played a few games as well as a soccer game of sorts. We even had prizes and goody bags. It was really fun. Carson LOVED his gifts this year. He says his favorite was his hockey sticks that he got from Uncle Scott and Auntie K. My faves were his 2 weeks at "Adventure Camp" from my folks and some AWESOME new clothes from DeeDee and Uncle Tom. For Adventure Camp, Carson will go for 2 1/2 hours each week day for 2 weeks, and the activities include music, arts, crafts, games, drama, and science among a few other things. I think Carson is going to have so much fun! I can't wait to hear about each of his days.

One of our friends is working on starting a cake business and made us this awesome cake...aside from how awesome it looked, it was SO good!

This is their sweet baby, Jameson. Isn't he a cutie!

Here are some pics from the party:

Miss Emmarie:

Caden on the move:

The birthday boy:

My mom...isn't she a pretty lady? :)

Grandma Lola...love this picture of her!:

Sweet Naten...I'm SO glad his parents moved back so we could love on their little guy! LOVE this family! (I get to do a photo shoot with them soon, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!)

Little Miss (Samantha):

She tuckered out right after this and it was hilarious!

Gearing up for the games:

Carson dribbling the soccer ball around the cones:

This pic was taken after Carson scored during our soccer game... Uncle Scott told him this was how you did a victory dance... you pull your shirt over your head and beat your chest. :)

Blowing out candles:

Opening presents...you can tell by Carson's hair that he'd been playing HARD!

It was such a fun evening!

Slip-n-Sliding
Carson got a 3 track slip-n-slide for his birthday. We pulled it out yesterday so the boys could play. It was so funny to watch them try to figure out how to dive down the slide. I suppose that's a pretty tough concept to run and jump into the ground. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Carson James!!!

2009-05-14T10:05:00.008-06:00

You are such a sweetheart, my dear boy! You are a charmer and have most people you know at your beck and call. You already have a way with the ladies, especially little miss Alexa, who you talk about marrying someday nearly every day. You are highly independent, and have always asserted your opinion to anything we tell you with a "no, no, no, no, no....(enter the truth of the matter here). You are funny! Knock Knock jokes are all the rage for you right now, and you are always telling us one thing or another followed by "isn't that SO FUNNY!". You are super creative and love to do any type of craft. You LOVE to help with any project. I think you have a need to be needed, which is something your Daddy and I will need to remember. You especially love to help cook and help daddy with any project around the house or yard. You still have a crazy imagination. Daisy isn't popping up quite as often lately, but she still comes around when you need to blame someone for something...she and Caden tend to get the brunt of that. I still frequently catch you talking to any number of imaginary friends though when you're playing. You are always coming up with a new game to play or story line to act out while you are playing. You are REALLY into sports. I thought you were a fan before, but everything is about competition and one sport or another lately. Yesterday you kept finding dandelions to blow and with each one, you wished that you could play lacrosse with Tina. :) You adore him. You are so quick to offer praise to anyone for anything. You are constantly telling me "great job, Mom!," even for something as simple as changing someone's diaper. You are also pretty mischievous. We're currently trying to teach you that being deceitful is the same as lying, and you are truly having trouble understanding why they are the same. I think you are a bit of a passive aggressive. You tend to think that if you audibly comply and then do what you originally planned anyway, then all will be okay...your Daddy and I are hoping you learn this lesson quickly and easily. :) You are also still pretty laid back. As long as you know the plan, you are pretty much okay with anything. You have suddenly become quite the fashion guru. You are changing your outfit every time I turn around, and the new outfit is always sports related. When I ask you why you changed, you are always telling me this is your soccer (lacrosse, hockey, racing, basketball, etc.) outfit. You also LOVE costumes! If any outfit could possibly look like a hero or an animal or one job or another, you are all about it. You and Caden are the best of friends and the worst of friends. You love to play with him, and then you love to fight with him, and then the very next minute I hear, "Come on, Caden!" You are so good with Carter and other babies. I'm constantly amazed at how you use a soft sweet voice around babies and how gentle you are with them. You also LOVE to run with the big guys. Secretly, I think you believe you are truly a teenager. You are the sweetest boy, Carson James, and I am so proud to be your Mommy!

For you birthday yesterday, we had lunch with your Daddy and brothers at Chik-fil-a before going out for an impromptu photo shoot. Then you played while your brothers napped...I'm afraid your naps are few and far between lately, but you are really good about playing quietly. Preschool starts this fall for you, so I suppose it's okay that you are growing out of your naps. You definitely still need your down time though. Then we had some of our Uturn students over for our weekly planning meeting, and several of them brought you gifts for your birthday! They adore you! I made meatball subs for dinner and cake for dessert. You, in your true form, assured me that you had a "really good birthday." We're having a soccer themed birthday for you this weekend with friends and family, and you are so excited.

Okay, get ready for picture overload... Here are some of my faves from our photo shoot today. I also took pictures of Caden, because I hadn't taken his 2 year old pictures yet. This crazy Momma even attempted to get a picture of all three boys together...I was by myself and trying to get everyone's attention at once without letting Carter fall in the creek water (I found the coolest location under a street bridge), so that was a total joke... Oh, and Caden was much more cooperative than Carson was about having his picture taken, so there are several more of him...you'll see... :)

These first ones were all taken behind a feed store in Castle Rock.

Then we drove around for a bit and I found this gorgeous spot under a bridge. There is even a walkway along the side for easy access. I have to say though, that this part was short lived and a bit stressful. 3 little guys, a cold creek, and one Mommy with a camera is not such an easy combination. :)

SOAPing with Carson

2009-05-01T11:05:00.002-06:00

Our church is doing a Bible reading plan called SOAP. (Scripture, Observe, Apply, Pray) We read a specific set of scriptures each day, and then journal about it. There are tailored plans for each age-group, including kids, so we've been trying to read frequently with Carson. It's really been awesome. Today's SOAP was particularly touching and hilarious, so I decided to share it and document it here.

Carson's reading for today was Matthew 18:10-14, which is the parable of the lost sheep. (The adult version covers the same portion of scripture, but more of it.)

Scripture:
Mommy: So what was your favorite part of the story?
Carson: When he found the sheep.

Observe:
Mommy: Can you tell me about the story?
Carson: He talked to them (the sheep) and found them and it was good.

Apply:
For this part I talked with Carson about how Jesus is like the shepard and we are like the sheep. I told him that when he does things that are naughty and he feels that nervousness in his heart, that is Jesus helping him to remember that he should be good. Then I asked him what he thought about that.
Carson: My heart is happy because Jesus is in it and knights.
Mommy: Knights?
Carson: Yeah.
Mommy: Does Jesus love you as much as the shepard loves the sheep?
Carson: Yeah.

Pray:
Mommy: Carson, can you pray about what we just learned? (Sometimes this is hit or miss, but today, he just rattled off this prayer.)
Carson: Dear Jesus, if my heart is lost and doing bad things talk to it, (I'm totally tearing up by this point.) and if I am lost, find me, (YES, LORD!) and if I'm stuck in a burning bush, put it out, and if there is a fire in our backyard, call the firemen to put it out. Amen.

I was so caught between full on laughter and tears. I was dying with giggles about the burning bush (which was his lesson in Sunday school a few weeks back) and the fire in our backyard, but I was so touched by his insight about Jesus talking to him and finding him, and even though the bush part was hilarious, I feel like I've been in a few burning bushes where I was more than thankful when they were put out. Lord, let it be!!

Backyard Fun

2009-04-30T22:40:00.002-06:00

The other night after dinner, I started doing the dishes while Cary took Carson and Caden to play in the backyard. They were giggling so loudly and having such a good time that I grabbed my camera and decided the dishes could wait... that kind of wisdom only comes to me in a rare moment. :)

Carson had a brief pouty moment when he was reminded that he had to share the soccer ball.

Tackle Daddy:

Playing keep-away with Cary's hat:

Just for Roy and Deb, because they care about seeing our dogs... :) Here's a pic of Fisher and Maggie. This one was taken last week, so the grass wasn't as green yet. We are loving springtime and daylight savings! :)

Oh, Denique: Technically, storyboards are just a photo collage of sorts, but the ones I build are for printing and framing. They can be pretty much any size and can incorporate two or more pictures. Hopefully I'll get to put some together for future clients so I'm practicing now. :)

Caden's Storyboards

2009-04-28T15:56:00.003-06:00

Since I did maternity pictures when I was pregnant with Caden, I built two storyboards for him. I'm not sure if I like the background on this first one for our home...I might change it to match the second one. The first one prints 5x10 and says "A son is one of the most beautiful gifts God can give."

And here is his 10x20 infant board. I have to say that all of these pictures were taken by a dear friend of ours who is starting her own photography business at the moment. When Caden was born, I didn't think I had any business taking pictures for anyone. :) Anyway, don't you love this background? You should be able to click on either of these images to see them larger, but this one says "how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ"

A Storyboard for Carter

2009-04-27T14:23:00.003-06:00

I finally got around to finishing Carter's newborn storyboard. When it's printed, it is 20x10. I've planned on doing this since before he was born, so it's about time. :) Now I just need to start working on Caden's newborn layout..... Hmm...I'm a little behind. :)

It says, "From birth I have relied on You...I will ever praise You. Psalm 71:6"

iHeartFaces Fix-It Friday: Cooing Baby

2009-04-24T10:14:00.004-06:00

Fix-It Friday seems like a fun chance for editing practice, and I had a free moment, so I'm joining in. :) iHeartFaces posts a SOOC (straight out of camera) image, and anyone can join in to show how they would edit it. So, here's my effort...

SOOC:

My edited version:

First I cropped it. Then I brightened it, and cleared up some baby acne, as well as a booger that wasn't noticeable until the picture was brightened. Then I upped the saturation a bit so his cute face wasn't disappearing in the off-white of the blanket. Oh, and I brightened the eyes a bit.

Come join in and check out how other people envisioned this photo at iHeartFaces.com

On a completely different note, the Carter boy and I are heading to Women's Retreat today. CANNOT WAIT! I'm so excited!!! I'm bringing my camera, so hopefully I'll have some fun pics to share on Monday. :)

Meet Stella...

2009-04-20T11:13:00.004-06:00

My mom got a new dog! Stella is a 3.5 pound Shi-poo (Shitzu-Poodle), and she is a doll! She is super playful, and a little fluff-ball of a thing. So cute! The boys and I went to visit the new babe last night and brought her a green puppy purse. I figured you ought to bring a gift when meeting a new addition. :) I was sure she wouldn't know what to do with it. It's about twice her size. She loves it though, and played with it as soon as we gave it to her. She's so good natured. Mom, here are the pics I took of her last night so you can show her off! Love you, and Stella too!

She was hard to take pictures of because she wanted to chase me and be right around my ankles. One time, she was chasing me and fell right off of the curb into a puddle of snow water that was up to her neck. It was SO funny!

Knock-Knock Jokes

2009-04-20T11:04:00.004-06:00

"Knock-Knock! Who's There?" (Caden says all of this himself)

"Who's there?"

"Uummmm...a person...Tarter!! (Carter)

Just a few other pics from yesterday...Half of the snow was gone by 2, and it was pushing 60 degrees here! Colorado weather is crazy! :)

One of our dogs, Maggie:

Spring Storm

2009-04-18T08:54:00.002-06:00

Our Winter was pretty unwinterlike (yeah...I made that up) this year. It seems our Spring is trying to make up for it. This is our third snow storm this month, and by far the worst. Don't get me wrong, I love the snow...I just would like it to be in the right season. Maybe after this storm is over it will stay away. I saw our day lilies peeking out of the ground before the snow began to fall. We did need the moisture though, so I guess for that I will be thankful...I'm also thankful that it's supposed to be in the 50's tomorrow. :) Here are some storm pictures...There is at least 18 inches on our patio table!

These are from last night:

And these are from today:

Easter Weekend

2009-04-15T21:29:00.006-06:00

We had a great Easter this year, and I remembered anew how thankful I am for my Savior. It was a different Easter for us, and a busy one. It started out with our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt that we host for our community each year. In spite of the drizzle and freezing weather, we had an awesome turn out! Here are some pics I took of the boys and my folks:

"Carson! Did you have fun?" "I only got 3 eggs..."

"But did you have fun?"

My cute Dad helping keep Carter warm. I'm not kidding...it was FRIGID!

Sunday, we had two services at our church and they were both AWESOME! We are so blessed. After church, we packed up the car and headed to Pueblo for my Grandma's 90th birthday celebration. I think it's so awesome that a woman as devout as she had her 90th birthday on Easter Sunday. It was such a great time, and so special to get to spend the afternoon with so many of my great aunts and uncles. Then we headed to a hotel in Pueblo to stay the night so that we could attend my Great Uncle Everett's funeral. He died last Thursday. He had been sick for some time. Between Easter, my Great Grandma's birthday, my Great Uncle's funeral, and seeing so many of my family, I was reminded once again of what an awesome heritage I have. I'm so thankful for our history, and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. I am so thankful that I know what the end outcome is for us, regardless of what our future may hold. God is good.

Because of the craziness of Sunday, our typical Easter traditions we have with the boys were put on the back burner a bit. We didn't get to have them find their Easter baskets or eggs until we got to the hotel around 5 p.m. They didn't mind a bit though, and were super excited to search for their goodies around the hotel pool. Unfortunately all but one of the lights in the pool area were broken, so my pictures are awful. Oh well. With all that this weekend held, it's sure to be an Easter we will never forget! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Love this pic...it's probably the best one I have of me and my boys...which is crazy, because by this point in the day, they were SO done! :)

Caden watching a show with Uncle Stott (Scott):

Trying to waste time at the hotel before we had to get ready for the funeral on Monday:

Today Carter seemed like he was finally starting to master sitting up...as long as he had something in his hands. We've been working on sitting up for a while now, but he usually goes diving in one direction or another. He really likes to be upright, so it's exciting that he's getting better at sitting. Funny sidenote...Carter is wearing the very outfit that Carson wore in his first sitting up picture.

This last pic is just a testament to Carter's temper...notice how upset he is, and that there are no tears at all. He's just yelling at me. :)

Piano fun

2009-04-15T11:11:00.003-06:00

Ever since we bought our new piano, sing-alongs have been a regular occurance. By sing-alongs, I mean Cary plays and sings songs the kids know and they come join him. It's very sweet. The other day, I decided to take a few pictures to remember the moments.

I hope to finish a post about our Easter weekend soon, but in the meantime, check out my new blog for SugarBowl Photography! My website is still in the works, but I plan on sharing it soon! :) I just found out I'm going to get to help with one of our school's After Prom's which should help drum up some senior business. I'm so excited!!

iHeartFaces, Week 13: My Friend and I

2009-04-06T11:38:00.005-06:00

Kids Entry:

This week's entry is an oldie but a goodie. This is a picture is of our oldest boys, Carson and Caden, last Halloween. I just love it because it so accurately captures their personalities. They are the best of friends when they choose to be, but they are so very different.

Adult's Entry:

This is my first time to enter the adult's category. When I saw the theme I remembered how much I adore this picture of our friends Joey & Natalie from our trip of a lifetime to NYC. It so perfectly captures their relationship...at least to me.

Come join in the fun and enter a pic of your own at www.iheartfaces.com. Be sure to check out all of the entries!

What have we been up to?

2009-03-31T20:20:00.004-06:00

Today, Cary asked me if I was going to do a blog about us any time soon. I guess I have been focusing on other things on here besides sharing our every day stuff. Sorry I've been neglecting "us." There's been good reason...but I'll get to that in a bit. :)

SO! What have we been up to??? Well, I thought I'd share lots and lots of pics and tell you that way. It's been lots of normal around here since Cary's been back. Somehow, I'm more tired since he's been home... I'm not sleeping well... and I don't mean I'm not sleeping because we're doing other things... I mean I'm just not sleeping well. I jokingly asked Cary if he could go away for a bit so I could sleep WELL. He tosses and turns and I'm a still sleeper. HA! If that isn't a tell-tale sign of our personality differences, I don't know what is! :) We've been having fun though...playing around here, and going to lacrosse games and such. Anyway, here are some pics to share our activities...

hide-and-seek

games

interrupted by "shows"

playdough...LOTS of playdough

Carson and Caden like to talk a lot about old injuries (aka scratches)

cuddle time (Caden got cropped out of this pic because he was throwing an ABSOLUTE FIT! He wanted the camera and didn't understand why Mommy could hold it but he couldn't

Carter is getting SO BIG! I don't know how big, but I do know he is bigger and longer than Carson or Caden were at this age. Here are some kitchen-counter-bathtime pics. Carson and Caden were taking a bath at the same time, so our tub was in use...

He's nearly blinking in this pic, but check out the teeth :)

Carter spends a lot of time in this position lately:

He seems to think it's even better when he can get his toes AND his thumb in his mouth.

When I grow up...I want to be a professional photographer. It looks like I may be growing up sooner than I thought! :) Instead of blogging our everyday-ness I've been working on the preparation for what will be known as "SugarBowl Photography!" I'm in the process of building my portfolio and website, and I found out today that I may already have potential paying customers! SO EXCITED!!! Anyway, if you think about it, be praying for my steps to be guided and doors to be opened! In my dreaming, I was sure this wouldn't happen until my children were all in school, but it looks like it may all come together much sooner than that! When I'm not doing things for the portfolio and all of that, and when the boys are occupied, I'm practicing doing things like this (I fully admit that I got this idea from another photographer...a photographer I dream of being like someday :)) :

OH! Before I forget! HUGE CONGRATS to our friends Roy & Debbie! They're baby boy was born this afternoon! We love you guys and are SO excited for you!!!

iHeartFaces Week 12: Pouting

2009-03-31T11:18:00.003-06:00

Admittedly, this is not my best, but this week, this is what we get. Boy did we have a lot of this yesterday. As much as we need the moisture, I think my kids (and me too) are OVER the snow...more on that later today...

Anyway, here is my entry for this week's iHeartFaces competition. At least it was easy to find subjects. :) As pouting goes, Caden is king around here...at least lately. It's a good thing he's cute.

Come join in the fun and see the other entries over at iHeartFaces.blogspot.com

Fix It Friday #8

2009-03-27T10:07:00.008-06:00

Each Friday, iHeartFaces hosts a Fix it Friday. They post a picture that's not so great, and ask whoever will to fix it and post their fix. I decided to participate this week, because I can use all of the photoshop practice I can get. :)

Before:

After:

Here's what I did...
I cropped the original closer to her face, then I ran "lights on" (about 80%), "Boutwell Magic Glasses" and "Warm It Up, Kris." I used "eye bump" (at 35%) to put some life back into her eyes, and "Green with Envy" (at 15%) on her lips to add some red hue.

I'm really amazed at what can be done with photoshop! I try to use it as little as possible on my photos and strive to improve my shots, but it's nice to know that you really can improve even a big mistake. :)

Head on over to iHeartFaces.com to see other people's fixes. Most of them have how to's also, which is so helpful when you're trying to learn. Thanks for letting me share!

A Giveaway

2009-03-26T09:11:00.003-06:00

The super generous judge of this week's iHeartFaces competition, Teresa Norris has been doing a giveaway a day all week, and today's is especially sweet! She's giving away one copy of "The Big Book of Babies." It is a stinking adorable coffee table book full of baby photos that are tremendous! I really want to win it...so if any of you enter and end up the winner, will you let me peek? Thanks so much...I know you will! :)

Anyway, go enter here: www.artfromtheheartphotography.com/blog. Be sure to look around and check out her work! She's really good! :)

iHeartFaces: Week 11 (No Flash!)

2009-03-23T10:49:00.003-06:00

My entry this week is a teaser for a post I hope to do later this week. Last weekend I had the priviledge of doing a photo session with our dear friends Dan & Stephenie and their sweet baby Samantha. It was the first of many I hope to be able to do. It was so much fun, and I feel like I'm learning more with every click.

The no flash part of this week's entry was easy because I prefer no flash when I'm taking pictures and the back side of our home is all windows, so even indoors, I tend to have a fair amount of light. Love that about our home. The hard part was picking a photo of sweet Samantha. I had so many that I loved, but this one cracks me up every time I see it. She did so good, but I think she was ready to tell me off by this point.

Come join in the fun and check out the other entries at
iHeartFaces.com

My Week as a Road Widow

2009-03-21T20:33:00.003-06:00

Cary's been in Europe this week planning the church's summer missions trip to London/Berlin. I know...rough life. :) He's had a great time, and rumor has it he has a present for me. I'm excited. I'm more excited that he's coming home tomorrow night! Can't wait. I'm worn out from this week by my lonesome, but it's been fun for the most part. I can tell the kids are missing Cary though, their emotions seem to be a little high strung. We've tried to keep busy so the week would pass quickly. Tuesday we went to my brother's lacrosse game and to dinner with my dad, brother and sister afterwards. Wednesday I had my mom's Bible study and our youth internship. Thursday I had a girls night at my house with my sweet friends Stephenie and Brianna and my sis Kels. It was lots of fun! We've also been spending LOTS of time enjoying the sunny outdoors. Carter has learned to roll over, and is rolling, rolling, rolling everywhere! I'm glad because I was just noticing last week that he wasn't rolling and should be by now. They still take into account that he was early, so it wasn't to big of a concern, but I had noticed. Well, no need for any worry, because he rolled from his tummy to his back all day Monday, and started flipping back to tummy on Thursday. Now he's a rolling machine. It's funny how quickly babies master things when they wait to even try. Now the moment he wakes up, he rolls over and babbles to himself...love it. Silly boy.

Speaking of learning things... Caden has mastered dressing himself...and undressing for that matter. He's so funny and wants to do it all himself. He seems way to young to be doing that already, at least to me.

It's been a good week, but I sure am glad and excited for Cary's return! Love you babe, and can't wait to hear all of your stories!!!

i Heart Faces, Week 10: "Green"

2009-03-16T11:55:00.003-06:00

The rules for this week's theme was that green had to be somewhere in the photo... This qualifies...right?? At any rate, I am such a sucker for this face. Love this kid. :)

Come join in the fun and see the other entries at iHeartFaces.com

New Rooms and more photo fun

2009-03-12T23:00:00.003-06:00

Over this last week, I moved the boys rooms around. Caden is now in Carson's old room, and Carson has a new room in our basement. It sounds creepy, but it's not. He really likes having his room down there, and if we can just convince him that it doesn't mean he has extra freedom at bedtime we'll be good! Caden is in a big boy bed and he LOVES it. He's doing really well and I think the timing was perfect. We got them both new bedding and I used this fun guitar printd fabric to make them both pillow shams and I covered Caden's lamp shade. All I have left to do is make their curtains and order the rocker wall laminates for their walls. So fun.

During nap time today I took more pictures of Carter. I'm having lots of fun playing with my camera. I started learning some tricks with photoshop tonight, and that's been fun as well! It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. One thing I thought was cool was that after any effects I tried on Carter's pictures, I would have to use the eraser tool on his eyes, because his eyes were prettier without any effects than with! Go figure! :)

Carter is getting so big! He has his bottom 2 teeth now, and I'm thinking he might get his top incisors next like Caden did instead of his front teeth...so their may be some funny vampirish pics to come in the next month or so. :) He's also been practicing sitting up. He only lasts for a few moments before he dives in one direction or another. I had just enough time for one shutter click, but really liked the shot I got.

I caught this pic of Carson last week. Love his lashes and rosebud lips.

Here are some of my favorite shots from this afternoon (it's so much easier to take pictures of non-mobile children :) ):

Carson wanted to get in the action at the end and I caught this:

Just so he's not left out of this post...While I was taking pictures of Carter, Caden was doing this:

Oh! And don't be surprised if a few of these pop again in a few weeks or so for an iheartphoto contest entry! :) Thanks for letting me share...you know I would be printing these out and showing them to anyone who would look if blogs didn't exist! ;) Learning is so much fun!

I Heart Faces: Week 9, Creative Crop

2009-03-10T12:58:00.002-06:00

Here's my entry for the week:

and the original:

My regulars have seen the original photo before, but I thought it would be fun to do a fun crop on such a silly face. Carson is a ham, and it was fun to capture it on film. I'm sure there are many more silly faces to come.

Come on!! Join in the fun and be sure to check out the other entries at iheartfaces.com

Mommy's Interview with Carson

2009-03-09T10:12:00.002-06:00

What is something mom always says to you?
“Can I go peep.” (peepee)

2. What makes mom happy?
“Poopin’ in the potty”

3. What makes mom sad?
“Poopin in my pants.” We’re in a groove here…

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
“Do funny things…like this… Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Be a.” “Be a, who?” “Chocolate on a syrup!” Gotta love toddler jokes! :)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
“Caden…and Carter…and Carson”

6. How old is your mom?
“48” THANKS BUD!

7. How tall is your mom?
This…(arms extended like the deep in deep and wide)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
“Clean up and do laundry” Hmmm...I need to get out more.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
“Play with Caden”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
“Playing a game…chuckers”

11. What is your mom really good at?
“Helping me…play a game”

12. What is your mom not very good at?
“Picking up poop…daddy’s very good at it” HA!!!

13. What does your mom do for her job?
“I don’t think anything”

14. What's your mom's favorite food?
“Vegetables… I love eating carrots”

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
“Driving fast! Cause you’re a race car driver!” (Just so you all know…if I pass a car…any car…even a parked car…Carson believes we’re winning…He’s not competitive at all! :) )

i Heart Faces: Week 7, B&W

2009-02-24T13:47:00.005-07:00

I decided to join in the fun and enter a weekly contest over at www.iHeartFaces.com. (Go check them out!) I just showed you all the color version of this picture of Carter in the post from last night, and this weeks contest is for black and white photos. It's just for fun, and their site is great for new ideas and tips and tricks. Here is my entry, and be sure to check out all of the other entries! There are some really great pictures!!

Hopefully, this will challenge me to improve my skills and I'll start having something to enter on a regular basis...nothing like a little competition to get you in gear. Anyone else want to join in the fun???

Photography Fun

2009-02-23T22:59:00.003-07:00

I was feeling guilty that we have yet to take Carter for professional pictures and he is nearing 6 months. We are also going to take some pictures for some friends of ours soon, so I decided to try out the lighting and some different things in our kitchen. I love that the back half of our house is all windows. Anyway, I had 15 minutes this afternoon, and decided to see what I could come up with, and then Cary played with my pictures in photoshop a bit. Here are my faves.

First I stuck Carter in a basket, and he HATED IT! Mean Mommy took 10 pictures as fast as I could anyway. :) LOVE THEM.

This one is my favorite.

Thanks for letting me share!

P.S. Before I forget, and for my records...sweet Carter cut his first tooth on Friday like a champ! It's his bottom left tooth and the bottom right isn't far behind.

"I Wanna Be BIG Right Now"

2009-02-20T08:25:00.002-07:00

Carson is a song writer...didn't you know? He is always walking around the house singing songs he has made up. Their funny. If it's a song that he's learned, he puts his own spin on the melody. He's always singing to himself in bed. I think he's trying to come up with new lyrics. "I Wanna Be BIG...", also known as "I wanna be COOL..." has been with us for some time now. It is usually accompanied by air guitar, and is generally sung while wearing a hat backwards... "Tina (my brother Austin) does that" - the backwards hat thing - as Carson would say...

This morning, he got up and got completely dressed all on his own and was walking around singing this song, so I figured I'd capture the moment. I should have cleaned up the stuff behind him in the video... but oh well... it was a moment.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Caden!

2009-02-16T12:26:00.005-07:00

My sweet boy! You are such a blessing to me! You live life to the very fullest! We like to say that you come from "fun country," which means everything should and can be fun. You are always fully ON. You play hard, you love hard, you sleep hard! And you do it all as FAST as you can. In fact, as I write this, you are playing in the backyard with your brother, running as fast as your little legs will carry you, only slowing momentarily to inspect a rock or clump of grass and then throwing them as hard as you can. You are a joy in my life and you remind me to play and to live in the moment. You LOVE to sing, and you are constantly singing. If you don't know the words, you make them up. You have the best giggle in the whole world. It is a deep belly laugh, and we hear it often. You have the biggest grin and I think your chipped tooth only made it cuter. You are our pretty boy with your long lashes and dimples, which is amazing, because you LOVE to get dirty and you are SO rough and tumble by nature. You LOVE to cuddle up with anyone who is willing, and if you are still, you prefer to be touching someone. You also love to read and bring me books by the stack. You are such a smart boy, and seem to crave understanding with all of your questions. You love balloons, and beg for them whenever you site one. You LOVE instruments, especially the da-da-tar (guitar). You are also a guys' guy. You LOVE your mommy, but you prefer to hang with the guys, I think. With all of your communication and "skills" you seem so much older than your 2 years. You do your best to stay right along side your brother. You love to race, and as often as you and Carson run a track through our home, it's amazing the floor doesn't have a permanant groove running through it. We're moving you to a big boy bed in a new room soon, and you cried the other night because you wanted to sleep in a new bed so badly. You have a great desire to be big, but slow down for Mommy, because you are getting their far to quickly. You also LOVE to be outside and always beg to "go" anywhere. You love to sleep when you are ready and still giggle when I meet your request for naptime and bedtime. I love that about you! You always know what you want, and we can meet that request, no matter what it is, it renders a sweet giggle from you. You are pure sunshine for us, Caden! Your mommy and daddy are SO thankful for you, our sweet boy! With your zest for life, we KNOW God has such great plans for you! We pray that you will live as fully and head strong for Him as you do for every moment now. Your joy for life is such a strength, and I know it will carry you through all that you do for our Lord! Happy 2nd Birthday, Caden!! You are so very loved!

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T11:59:00.003-07:00

With all the fun crafty sites I've found recently, I decided to make valentine's from the boys for our family here and babysitters. It was so fun, and the boys were SO excited to hand them out.

I know this looks like a brownie or something, but it's fudge, and it was SO easy! Chocolate for the girls:

Cookies for the boys:

All ready to go! Aren't the tags fun! They were so easy to make, and I was grinning ear to ear the whole time I was making them. Cary made fun, but I was loving them so much, I didn't care. Carson helped me stamp them. The stamps were homemade from that foam paper stuff. You just write on it backwards and brush it with tempura paint and stamp. So easy. Have to admit...I found all of these ideas on other peoples blogs. FUN!

For Valentine's this year, we went and bought the stuff for the boys new rooms. We just ran around together all morning. Then I put the boys down while Cary ran more errands, including going to the craft department at Wal-mart to get a list of stuff for me and buying groceries for dinner. When he came home, he presented a beautiful bouquet of roses and white lilies to me as well as the craft supplies he rounded up for me. :) Cary and I enjoyed a night in. We had our friends Dan & Stephenie over for dinner and the boys played with their train table and watched a movie in the basement so we could have adult time. Cary cooked DELICIOUS fajitas for all of us, and even did the dishes while I put the boys to bed. It was really fun! Love you Cary! You're the very best valentine a girl could ask for!

Shiny Knight

2009-02-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Last Halloween, as I was getting Carson dressed up in his cowboy costume, Carson and I had this conversation:

Carson: Mommy, next year for Halloween, I want to be a shiny knight.
Me: A shiny night? What do you mean?
Carson: You know... (gesturing with an imaginary sword swung at the air) a shiny knight.
Me: You mean a knight in shining armor??
Carson: Yeah! A shiny knight!

Fast-forward to a month later, and Carson has this conversation with Poppi (my dad)...
Carson: Poppi, for Halloween, I'm going to be a shiny Knight.
Poppi: A Shiny Night?
Carson: yeah.
Poppi: Well I'm going to be day.

Carson was confused for a bit, but he's gone with it, and he now tells people that he's going to be a shiny knight, and Poppi is going to be day. Funny.

Fast-forward to Sunday... Carson said this to an adorable little girl, Alexis, that is in his Sunday school class...
"Will you marry me? I'll be your knight in shining armor!"

I laughed so hard when that was relayed to me. At least the boy has good taste. :)

What's Your Parenting Style?

2009-02-10T10:06:00.003-07:00

My children will appreciate this when they're older. :) I found this sort of personality test for parenting styles at parenting.com and it is VERY accurate for me. Here are my results:

Setting Expectations:
Active Whether you're an earth mother or a PTA president (or both!), you're very concerned with setting specific expectations for your kids' behavior. You do this both by telling them what to do and acting as a role model, and, in general, you expect them to follow your careful guidance. As a parent, you think you should be very actively involved in fostering your children's growth, which includes determining what activities they should engage in – sports, tutoring, music, chores, art, yoga, whatever. When it comes to everything from family meals to manners and morals, you know what's best.

Who’s the Boss?

One-Way When it comes to setting rules and expectations with your kids, you're the grownup and you know what's best. And since this is the case, it's not really necessary to always explain the logic or rationale behind your rules and expectations. You're also scrupulously fair: you do your best to apply your standards equally to each child. Parents who take this approach believe that it's important for parents to make decisions for their kids and that, generally, rules and expectations shouldn't be open to discussion.

Tolerance Continuum:

No Monkey Business No doubt about it: You're strict! In your opinion, kids need to be told what to do and how to do it. The approach you take to discipline is firm and direct. That's what's best for your kids, since being firm helps them understand who the boss is, and helps them respect and obey the important rules you establish. When your kids step out of line, you make sure there's an appropriate punishment - not that you enjoy punishing them, and you try never to be too harsh (or too lenient, for that matter). Parents who answered like you indicate that sometimes, spanking is an appropriate form of discipline.

So, what are you're results? Hurry...go take the test and tell me what your results are and if it was accurate for you.
http://www.parenting.com/Mom/signalPatterns.jsp?genID=6#__topDiv

Also, I wanted to share something that was encouraging to me. Parenting has a blog, and this week, they are sharing excerpts from an interview with the Duggars. Now, I don't know what you think of this family. Personally, I think they're crazy, but have somehow raised a ton of kids that seem healthy and happy and caring, so more power to them... Anyway, the article today was especially encouraging to me, so I thought I'd share it with you. You can find this specific article here. This is the part that was a particular light-bulb moment for me:

Michelle: I remember the days Jim Bob would come in, the house was a wreck, dinner might not be on the table, and I hadn't caught up with the laundry or the dishes. I would meet him at the door and say, "I haven't gotten anything done, I don't think! Except that I've been dealing with their little hearts. They were arguing, and one was fussing over this. And I was trying to correct that and make sure they were being sweet to each other and this, that and the other." And he would say, "Michelle, don't worry about it." And he'd give me a big hug, and he'd walk through and kick the toys out of the way and say, "If you were dealing with their hearts, you dealt with the most important thing today. Whether dinner's on the table, we can open up a can or pull something out of the freezer."

Just do the next right thing... Hope it's encouraging to you too!

Carter's Dedication

2009-02-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Poor Carter was SOOOO miserable on Sunday, but I really felt like we should go ahead with his baby dedication as planned. So I held him and he slept and we dedicated his life to the Lord. May he follow hard after You, Lord! Pastor Russ lead our dedication, and my Dad prayed over Carter, as he did over Carson and Caden at their dedications. Dad, I am so thankful for the prayers that you have covered us with. You have no idea how much it means to me.

My Grammy told me that she had been wondering if we should have just rescheduled because of how miserable Carter was, but she shared with me that during the dedication, the Lord spoke to her and said that He had a great plan for Carter's life, and that his illness was an attack on him because of our desire to dedicate him to the Lord. I believe it. Our house has been sick off and on for a month now, and he has remained healthy until this time. Lord, we offer him up to You! Help us to guide him as You lead his heart to follow your will and plans for his life!

By the way...Carter is still pretty miserable, but I think we've turned a corner. He's more fussy now than lethargic, and as miserable as that is for him, I think I'll take it! :)

Caden's 2nd Birthday Party

2009-02-08T21:14:00.006-07:00

Caden's birthday isn't until next Sunday, but we wanted to celebrate early since Grandma DeeDee and Auntie Stephanie were able to come to town for Carter's baby dedication. We had a few of our family and friends over to celebrate our sweet boy, and it was so much fun! Caden loved every second of the party, and he and Carson were quite the little entertainers. Caden showed off his singing skills to the tune of "Backyardigans." He doesn't know many of the words, but he sings his heart out, and if he knows the part, he shout-sings as best he can. funny. funny. stuff.

Here are some pictures that I want to remember the day by. Sweet Caden before the party...I told him we were going to have his Birthday Party, so he was walking around our living room shout-singing Happy Birthday to himself.

The cake...isn't it so fun?

I loved this cake design so much, I based the whole party theme on it. We had construction hats for the party-goers instead of party hats, a pop up dump truck and orange construction style cones leading up to our front door. So fun!

Caden knew EXACTLY what to do when the candle was lit and "happy birthday" was sung...not sure why that surprised me. :)

He was so excited about his cupcake.

Caden & Mommy - you can tell by my face that it's been a LONG week. I look so worn out!

Cary, my dad and some of the other guys thought the frosted dirt mound on the cake looked like a pile of poo, so they used a donkey from Caden's nursery to demonstrate...gross. :)

Caden was so delicate with his cupcake at first, but he sure did enjoy it in the end!

We played "pin the cone on the construction site" everyone under 23 participated. :)

Caden ended up winning, because he didn't understand that he had to keep the blindfold on. I suppose cheaters can prosper if they're 2 and it's their birthday party. :) Big brother Carson:

Some of the crowd...notice how interested they were in our party game. :)

In spite of having a house full of sickies all week, the party was a hit. Poor little Carter slept for all but 15 minutes of the party, but I know he was a lot more comfortable in his bed than he would have been amongst all of us. By the way, please keep praying for him. He was doing pretty well, thanks to the steroid shot, and so far we've avoided the ER, but today has been a much harder day for him, and he seems more miserable as the night goes on. I know we'll get through this, but it's been nerve wracking here and there. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Cheers & Jeers

2009-02-06T17:31:00.002-07:00

Cheers: Cary's mom & sister Steph are in town for the weekend. Caden's 2nd birthday party is tomorrow, and Carter is being dedicated at church on Sunday

Jeers: We all have colds & wait...took Carter to the doctor and he has croup and possibly pink eye! Yippee!!!!! The doctor said, and I quote, "He'll get worse from here for three days or so. I'm sorry, but your weekend is going to suck." We're also under strict instructions to take him directly to the ER if his breathing gets even the least bit worse.

5 Months

2009-02-03T12:31:00.004-07:00

Happy 5 months, sweet Carter! Man time is flying with this boy. Unfortunately it's not much of a happy day for him today. I'm not sure if he's caught the cold that the boys have or if he's just snotty from teething, but he's generally uncomfortable. Poor baby. I did manage to get some cute pictures of him though.

I could come up with so many funny captions for this picture:

We started Carter on rice cereal a few days ago. I don't think he knows what to think of it. He lets me spoon it in, and then he just kind of sits there and swallows every once in a while. He'll get it soon enough.

first bite:

Some pictures of Carson and Caden...

I've been wiping faces and noses all day. I wiped Caden's face and sent him outside no more than 3 minutes before I took this picture....eeewwww.

We're finishing up the bedroom and bathroom in our basement right now, and when we were moving stuff around, Carson found this motorcycle policeman helmet. He calls it his racing helmet. He's been wearing it as often as possible all week.

Funny boys.

Tuesday Fiona Whitt

2009-01-31T12:15:00.001-07:00

October 11, 2006 - January 30, 2009

Lord, may you carry this sweet family until they find the strength again. Your will is perfect...even when we don't understand.

DIY Projects 1, 2, 3 & 1/2

2009-01-30T13:03:00.011-07:00

I've been inspired, and I'm not pregnant. Let me clarify...I feel like I've been pregnant for so long (3 times in 4 years) that many times, I would want to start a major project and would feel like it was too much, mostly because I was pregnant, and partly because I thought it would be too expensive, but for less than $100, I've completed 3 big projects (well, big to me) in 1 week! So, here we go...

1. I repainted/painted most of the doors on our main floor. Just the trim color we have in our house already, but we've lived here for a year now, and they needed done. I did most of this during nap time and after the boys went down for the night. I have 2 doors left - the boys room doors, which are the most difficult, because I can't really keep them out of their rooms for a good length of time. I'm still figuring out how I'm going to finish their doors.

2. During Backyardigans and lunch time on Wednesday, I painted our front door! SOOO excited about this. It was such immediate gratification. I should have taken a before picture. It used to be a *lovely* shade of pinky peach and it was VERY poorly painted. In case you can't tell from the pictures, it's now a lovely shade of midnight. And then last night and this morning, I made the wreath for Valentine's day. Love it. Our next step is to replace the door handle and lock. We also have a new porch light to put up that is wrought iron.

3. Also, Wednesday during nap time, and then once the boys went to bed for the night, I painted the LOVELY **dripping sarcasm** original to our 1980's home bathroom cabinets and wood. They were gross and needed replaced, but since I can't replace them right now, I painted them and replaced the old brass hardware with brush nickel hardware. Our next step is to replace the counter top. And I'm looking for fabric to sew a new shower curtain that will go better with the new look.

1/2. Can you tell what this is?

My new project!! SOOOO excited. A sweet friend in our church does interior decorating...specifically curtains and upholstery, and she let me go through her remnants. These are fabric for curtains I'm going to make for our house.

These are the fabrics I'm going to use in our living room...possibly bedroom as well once I figure out how much I have.

The left one is the fabric for my kitchen. Love it. And the right one is for our guest room, and possibly Cary's office. We'll see.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Hopefully this inspiration will continue, and I'll have lots of these fun projects to share with you!

Tuesday, full of grace

2009-01-29T08:51:00.004-07:00

I just came across this sweet family on another blog I peruse. If you click on the image above, it will take you to their blog. Evidently, they live near us in Castle Rock. Please pray. My heart breaks for them. Here is an excerpt from their most recent blog post:

My deepest fears were confirmed. Tomorrow we take our precious daughter home. Her cancer doubled in size in less than a week proving once and for all that it is horribly aggressive and no longer chemo sensitive. We have no idea how to do this but we have no doubt we will be cared for every step of the way. This is all I have in me. Please pray for peace for our children, our parents and our siblings. Tuesday, full of grace, you are our so very loved.

Calling all readers...

2009-01-19T22:47:00.005-07:00

I need some ideas! :)

First... For Caden's second birthday, we are putting him in a big boy bed...possibly bunkbeds (aachh!) in Carson's room (which will technically be his and Carson's room at that point, and we are thinking about doing a rock and roll theme, minus the scary part of the rock and roll...they are only almost 2 and 3 1/2. Think musical rock n roll, not KISS rock n roll. :) I found this fun fabric that I am going to use to cover a lamp shade and possibly make curtains and/or a valance for their window, and probably pillow shams for their beds and maybe decorative pillows too.

I also found some wall decals... one is this electric guitar, and I also found a similar drum set thing. Any other ideas to help make the room feel rock n roll-ish?

Carter's crying, so I'll have to submit my other request later. Thanks for your ideas!

Check her out....

2009-01-09T20:33:00.002-07:00

Found a new blog that I LOVE. Can't wait to try out many of the DIY projects she's blogged about. Check her out...I know many of you will love her ideas as much as I. :)

Thrifty Decor Chick

A New 'Do

2009-01-06T16:21:00.010-07:00

Since I tend to get very bored with my hair, I'm SUPER thankful for my sister Natalie who is such an awesome stylist! She was in town over Christmas and set me up with my new look. I trust other stylists to keep up my look, but not to create it. Natalie is phenomenal at the creation and the upkeep! She really has great vision for what she does.

A few pictures from Christmas

2009-01-05T22:20:00.003-07:00

Thanks Dad for passing these on to me!

Mom & the boys:

Carson discovered (all on his own) that if he pinched his nose and breathed in, his nostrils got stuck. Funny boy.

Meanwhile, Caden was hiding in a box.

Sisters

My brother, Nathaniel, with the boys:

Caden-isms: a list

2009-01-05T06:30:00.003-07:00

Back-ack Doha - Dora the Explorer - which is his VERY favorite show...Comcast, some new or even different episodes would be oh so nice! Caden and I can both quote most of the shows available to us at this time.

el-eph-tent - elephant

uppy - help please/up please

chalk-o muk - chocolate milk

tank do - thank you

bet do - bless you

pea - please

He knows every animal I can think of and the sounds they make and things they do. His memory is amazing to me.

He LOVES to sing, and will sings all day long. It's hilarious to hear him sing and what he thinks the words are to certain songs. I need to get more videos on here!
EIO - Old MacDonald
byeobaby - a song we sing at bedtime to the tune of "Oh the Blood of Jesus"
night night - Another bedtime song
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Twinkle Twinkle
Jingle Bells
We Will Rock You - this one is thanks to Carson and his drumming. :)
Jesus Loves Me
Patty Cake

I also think we are nearing potty training, as Caden has developed a strong interest of "going potty" like "Tarson"

Just trying it out for kicks:

4 Months Old

2009-01-03T15:50:00.002-07:00

I cannot believe it has already been 4 months since Carter joined our world. Maybe it's because of the holidays, but it has flown! I felt like I was relishing each moment of his sweet newborn-ness, but he has turned into a chunkier-by-the-day baby overnight it seems. He is such a sweetheart, and will flash his gummy grin with just a look from anyone. He is still a quite content little guy, and is easily soothed when he does get upset. He also still sleeps quite a bit, which amazes me. This month, he has become quite the drooler, and I'm sure we'll be seeing teeth before we know it. He loves to watch his brothers play. He loves to play patty-cake - in fact this brought out his first true giggle just this morning. He loves music and if I hold him while I'm singing, he sings too. It's hilarious. He's also quite the talker. He babbles much more than Carson or Caden, and might be the most talkative of the bunch in the future. Carter, you are such a joy in my world. I am so thankful that God has given you to us. Oh, and I know that you are itching to be able to run and play with your brothers, but if you could slow down a bit on the whole growing up thing, your mommy would really appreciate it!

I took these next two pictures while he was talking to me. He is so full of expression already, I can't wait to hear the words he has to say.

HAPPY New Year!!!

2009-01-02T15:35:00.003-07:00

We had such a fun New Years Eve this year. We typically have a big bash with our youth group, but this year, we opted to take a break and enjoy the evening with friends. We got together with my brother-in-law and sister, Scott and Kelsey, and went to see "7 Pounds" in the afternoon. It was a great movie, but SO very sad. I nearly sobbed for the last 20 minutes of it. SO SAD! Then the four of us met up with our friends to have a great dinner at a steak house here. Then we all headed over to our house to play Catch Phrase. It was hilarious!! If you need a game to play, it's definitely one I would suggest.

New Years Day, we went to the park for a picnic and hung out and played Catch Phrase again that afternoon with my parents and brother, Austin. And then that night my Dad, brother and I went to see "Bedtime Stories." I loved it. :)

This made me SO nervous, but he hung like this FOREVER!

You can't tell from these pics, but the thing the boys are hanging on to spins...

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T15:07:00.002-07:00

We had such a great Christmas here! It was our first Christmas home in several year, and we enjoyed every minute of making memories at home. It was also Carter's first Christmas, and although, he was totally unaware, it was memories for us. Carson and Caden, on the other hand, loved every minute of Christmas, and lucky for them, we went from Christmas celebration, to Christmas celebration. Carson also made a point of telling everyone that it was Jesus' birthday. I'm sure he wondered why we didn't have cake.

I know this is so not a good shot, and Carson's eyes are closed, but it's the best I got all morning, and their pjs are so cute!

On Christmas eve, we had a service at our church and our choir sang, then we went to my parents house to have dinner and open up a family gift - it was a Wii for the family to enjoy. It was lots of fun to play together, and truth be told, I think it's a ploy to get us to hang out over there more often. ;) Love you, Mom! The boys got to open one gift - their super cute new pj's. Christmas morning, we got up and had Christmas at our house. We opened presents, and the boys were so excited, and then we went to the basement for them to discover their gift from Santa, a new train table. I took lots of pictures of all of this, but the boys were blinking in nearly every picture due to sleepy eyes and the flash...yay for indoor photography.

Then we went to my parents to have brunch and celebrate Christmas with all of my siblings. Dad, I need pictures so I can add them on here. Then we went to my grandparents home in Pueblo to celebrate Christmas with them. Lots of celebrating, but it was an awesome day! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas with their families!

I got a great suprise last Tuesday! Cary had to work, and I went with my family to have breakfast with my sister, Natalie, before she had to fly back out to California. Then we spent the morning shopping. Well, when I got home with the kids, the garage door wouldn't open. I thought maybe the breaker was flipped, so I checked, and it wasn't. Then I went to the front door, and it was locked. I assumed Cary was working in his office downstairs, so I banged on the door so he would be able to hear me knocking. He opened it right away, which seemed strange, and I told him the garage door wasn't working. Then I saw my grandparents sitting on our couch and I asked Cary what he was up to. I knew something was up then, because not only were my grandparents there, but they were filming me. Then I noticed this in our living room:

Of course I totally freaked. :) It was my grandparents piano that we had wanted to buy from them eventually. I certainly didn't think it would be able to be this year. Come to find out, nearly everyone knew but me! Cary's so good at surprises. I'm so excited to have such an awesome piano in our home!

Coffee at our house

2008-12-16T14:02:00.003-07:00

A month or so ago, our FABULOUS coffee pot that we got at Starbucks when Cary worked there 3 years ago broke. :( So sad. So we pulled out our old one that we had put away. It was the one from our wedding registry. It worked fine, we just liked our fancy pot that kept coffee warm in a thermal carafe all day long. Last week, our old coffee pot started leaking. So aggravating. But thanks to my cousin, Allie (and her spectacular discount), we got this fabulous new coffee maker. You can make coffee or espresso drinks or hot water for tea, and it's all automated! So fun, and SUCH GOOD COFFEE!!! So, if anyone would like a cup, come on over! :)

Picture Tag

2008-12-16T13:57:00.003-07:00

I got tagged by a few people... This picture is from April 08. I believe it was our very first chance to run through the sprinklers. Carson was having a ball, and Caden stood at the edge of the sprinklers crying because he wanted to play so bad but the water was cold. Very funny day.

So... anyone who reads my blog, but hasn't played yet, you're it! Go to your pictures file, go to the 4th file in your pictures file and post the 4th picture in that file. No editing, just post as is. Can't wait to see your pictures!! :)

Sleeping at Our House Last Night

2008-12-12T08:32:00.005-07:00

We had some friends over for dinner last night. We fed the kids early so we could somewhat enjoy dinner. It was nice. Caden was ready for bed about the time we started eating. This kid literally asks to go to bed. He LOVES to sleep and gets excited when its time. He's been known to giggle as I lay him in bed. Last night, however, company was more inviting. He climbed out of his crib 6 or so times to come and grin at us. Bedtime still came, it was just a little sillier than normal.

Carson took a bath and got to watch a "Christmas show" before he went to bed. He wanted to leave his door "cracked" and I said no, to which he replied, "no, no no no no no...just crraaaaaacked." He always starts with "no, no no no no no..." when he thinks you may not understand what he's saying and then over enunciates as if maybe you're having trouble hearing. :) I got him in bed, and we said our good nights, and then we went downstairs to visit by the fireplace...I feel so grown up. When we came upstairs to say good-byes, Carson's door was cracked. I looked in his room, sure that he was in bed asleep because he's done that before, I found him on the floor wedged between his "cracked" door and the wall, with his head nearest the door jam, snoring. Too funny.

Carter has been sleeping mostly through the night since Couples' Retreat, when he was 10 weeks old. He generally goes down around 6ish and wakes to eat around 4:30 and goes back down until 7 or so. Last night, he went down at about 6:15 and slept until 7!!!! I couldn't believe it. I, on the other hand, slept very uncomfortably, thanks to nursing. It was promising though.

Caden likes to walk around the house and give ownership to the things he sees....brudder's bed, Mommy's book, etc. This morning, he saw the diet coke box in the fridge and said, "Daddy's water" and then saw me pouring coffee and said "Mommy's water." He's not always very accurate, but that was pretty close!

Things on Carson's Mind

2008-12-10T09:41:00.004-07:00

The other day, Carson and I were talking and he randomly said, "I go peepee out of my dinker. What do you go peepee out of?" It was so random, that I looked at him for a minute, and then asked "What??" He repeated himself. I said, "Well...I...just go..." and he responded with "hmmm..." and walked away. Evidently, that was a satisfactory answer.

We had our church Christmas party Sunday night. It was lots of fun. We had dinner catered by Carrabba's and a variety show featuring some of our church family. Cary and I sang at it. It was a bit hairy for us, because we had just flown in from Cali - from Cary's work Christmas party which was super fun by the way - and had to come straight to the party from the airport and change in the bathroom. I thankfully had help with the boys, but Carson elected to sit with me. I suppose he missed me or something. He sweetly whispered throughout the variety show, commenting on how silly certain acts were and how nicely people were singing. He clapped appropriately and laughed loudly. I could tell he was loving every bit of it. I let him know that Cary and I were going to be singing, and that he had to stay in his chair and be very quiet. So we did our thing and I returned to my seat. Carson leaned over and patted my leg like I do to him sometimes. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Great job, Mom. Great job."

He's been saying lots of funny things lately that have had Cary and I rolling, but I can't remember the specific stories right now... (Bella, or others, if you can remember specific antecdotes, pass them on to me and I'll try to post them). I want to be better about remembering the funny day to day stuff.

Things I forgot to blog about

2008-12-05T11:23:00.002-07:00

That's the best I could come up with for the title...Evidently, with all that was happening the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy with Carter, combined with the fact that the pictures I took were on my point and shoot camera, I completely forgot to blog about some major happenings, so I'm doing it now. :)

First, some pictures from our baby moon when we stayed at Glen Eyrie Castle. We had such a fun and relaxing time, and I'm so thankful to my Grammy and Papa for watching Carson and Caden for us so we could go! All of these pics were taken when Grammy & Papa met us at the castle at the end of our trip.

checking out a butterfly

Sweet Grammy & Papa

Just for Kels!!

I forgot to post pictures that I had from your "wedding week," so these are just for you!!! I hope the things we did that week form awesome memories that you will never forget!! Love you!!

Bachelorette Party
We went to Dave & Buster's for dinner, fun and games and then stayed the night in a hotel for a true girls' night.

The gang:

Kelsey Lou:

Allie & Kels:

Miss Britt-ley and I:

My sweet sis Natalie and Mom - she's pretty sweet too :)

Britt, Allie, Kels & Emma:

The hotel:

Then the next morning, we all headed over to Mom's for the bridesmaid brunch. It was so much fun, and everything was SO yummy.... Mom, do you have any leftovers??? :)

Kels & Emma:

Allie, Kels' Mother-in-Law, Ann, Britt, and Katelyn:

Kels & I:

Getting our nails done later that week:

The Lingerie Shower

Allie, Kristina & Kels:

Natalie & I:

Sisters. Look how HUGE I AM!!! Carter was born about 10 days later.

The only gift picture I'll share on here.... Thanks Uncle Alfred! :)

Toilet Paper Bride:

The winners:

We'll just call this group the "runners up" ;)

The flowers before we made the bouquets: