Butterflies vs. Petunias

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

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!!!

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...

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: