We've been busy...

We have been busy lately renovating and moving into our new home. We get our kitchen sink tomorrow, and we will sleep there for the first time soon...very soon! 

Because of all the renovations we have done (more to come on that later) we have had various subcontractors working on our house. Carter calls them "working men." He calls them this to their face which is embarrassing for mommy- oh well.

He wakes up every morning and wants to put on his shorts with pockets "cause he's a working man." Needless to say, he has been loving watching them work!

I am excited about being back soon with a big house reveal post, but until then, it's back to work we go...

Three Year Portraits

Aunt Bamie took Carter's three year portraits the other day in the tiny "downtown" area where my parents live. I love them! She really captured his personality at the fun age of 3! He seems like such a big boy sometimes, but he is still such a little kid :) Here are my favorites:

...and if those didn't bring a smile to your face...

Carter is 3!

I can't believe our boy is 3 years old. That's more than half way to... shhhhhhhh - kindergarten (insert tear). I can honestly say that every year he gets to be more and more and more fun! Yes, discipline / fits / etc... will always be a part of life with a toddler, but this is a super fun age! I'm trying to treasure it because I know it will be gone so fast!

Carter LOVES birthdays, so the week before his birthday, we talked about his birthday coming up. I told him we would have a birthday party, and he said "I eat cake? I have birthday candles? I sing Happ Birday to You?" Everyday he would wake up and ask if it was his birthday, we would talk about the fact that it was still a few days away, and he would keep patiently waiting. I wanted to do something big so that he would KNOW when he woke up that it was his birthday, so we did this...

...we crepe papered him in and filled his room with balloons. That morning, he woke up and I heard him saying "help, mommy, help!" He could see the balloons in the dark, but didn't know what was going on....I snuck my way into his room and turned on the light for him. He looked around, got out of bed, and said "Wow mommy! Wook at all these balloons!!! This my balloon birthday!" :) Success. He was thrilled with his birthday balloons. We probably played in there for about 45 minutes! 

Since we are living at Nana and Papa J's house right now, we had a pool party with a few friends and family. It was a beautiful day, and Carter had such a fun time playing with his family/cousins/friends! I found some Toy Story decor at Party City since our birthday party decor was in storage! 

He got a fishing pole from Grandmama and Granddaddy, and he was a pro by the end of the day!

Of course, we had cake and sang "Happy Birthday to Carter" one of his all time favorite songs :) He was beaming with joy the whole time we sang to him! We swam, ate, opened presents, and had such a fun day! 

Yes, that is his finger in the cake - just couldn't wait...

I love that Carter is 3! The growing up part is bittersweet, but I just love that he can tell us what he's thinking!!! At the end of his birthday, I was lying in bed talking to him about the day. We always sing a song at night, and he requested that we sing "Happy Birthday to Carter" again :) Then I told him that 3 years ago he was the special gift that God gave to his daddy and me, so that's why we celebrate with gifts. I told him that God made him so very special, and handsome, and funny, and kind....he looked at me and said, "Yep, Mommy, and God made me tired." 

Ha! It was a good day, and we were all tired and ready for bed that night...

For the record, here are some more funny things you've said lately that I don't want to forget...

1. We were playing army men ("Uncle Jason"), and you wanted the men to hit at each other, and you said "he has a float!" I realized that you thought all the army men were holding fun noodles. We then had a fun noodle / army man war :)

2. You gobbled up the zucchini on your plate...turns out you thought it was "Zoo Candy" 

3. You made a mess at supper. Daddy told you "We'll clean it up." You thought your friend Will was going to come clean it up. 

4. I was trying to talk about something at supper with Daddy, Nana, Papa J, and "Uncle" Matt. I stuttered and said "o-o-obligation" and you thought that was hilarious! You started poking fun at me and repeating my stuttered word! You are your father's child :) 

5. We were swimming in the pool. Daddy and I always come up to you with our hand out of the water like we are a shark and say "Duh-nuh, duh-nuh, duh-nuh" like the Jaws music....a little while after I did that one time, you started swimming around with your hand out of the water saying "donut, donut, donut." You're such a funny kid!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Carter! 

I love you, and I love that you love birthdays and parties as much as I do!

End of the School Year

I can't believe the summer is here! I have several posts up my sleeves (yes, one of those is the long-overdue Miles's One Year Blog:) However, I only have time for a short and sweet post today, so here you go!

Carter has really enjoyed going to the Master's Way UMC Mother's Day Out program for the past year. It has been such a blessing for him to have something to do just 1 day a week while I get my shopping done with only 1 baby in tow! 

On the last day of school, they had their Summer program, and Carter did so well! He stood on stage for the entire program (4 songs), he sang 1 whole song and a few other lines, and he didn't cry at all! That is HUGE progress! After the show, his teacher told us that if he stood on the blue line and didn't get off, she would give him a sucker :) Either way, we were so proud of our lil' monkey! 

He sang the whole "5 Little Monkies" Song

After the program, we had a family picnic at the school and gave his teacher's their end of the year gifts. I got the idea from this blog. Such a fun summer gift!!!

We said our goodbyes, and headed home for the summer! 

Carter @ 33 Months

Funny Conversations We've Had Lately

Scene: Carter and Miles playing in playroom while we get ready to go somewhere.
Miles: starts crying
Me: Did you hit Miles?
Carter: Yes
Me: Where did you hit Miles?
Carter: Right in the face
Ha! At least he's honest...now we just need to work on kindness.

Scene: Hiking at the state park about to go play on playground.
Me: Do you want to go play on the see-saw?
Carter: No, I like see screwdriver
Boys and their tools...he didn't want to see a saw...he wanted to see a screwdriver. A man's gotta have his preferences...

Scene: Boys and daddy in playroom shooting basketball. I go do some videotaping. After a few minutes of videotaping, Carter walks toward the camera....
Carter: Mommy, go back and cook my supper.
HAHA! Kevin did NOT tell him to say this nor does he speak to me like that :) So glad we have this on video. We had just eaten dinner - this was Carter's way of saying to me that this was daddy time and girls weren't allowed...

Scene: Dying Easter Eggs, Carter peeled an egg and was eating it.
Me: Is that egg yummy?
Carter: Yes. I not like the cheese (yolk).

Background: I have a good friend named Erin.
Scene: Getting ready to go a few places.
Me: Carter, let's get dressed, we need to run some errands today.
Carter: Looks around for a few minutes...looking very puzzled. 
Carter: Where, Erin? I not see Erin.
The English language is tricky!

Scene: Getting ready to go to church.
Me: It's time to get in the car.
Carter: TUM on Miles. TUM on Miles. Doe-ing to church.
Miles: Sitting in playroom not moving.
Carter: TUM on Miles. RIGHT NOW.
Miles: still not going anywhere
Carter: Miles need a panking. Slaps Miles on the arm. 
Me: Picks Carter up and has a long conversation about how I am the only one allowed to spank Miles....

Scene: Driving to church.
Me: We are going to church.
Carter: Yes my am. Doe-ing church - eat pizza.
Me: Yes we will eat pizza at church (they serve pizza for kids on Wed nights).
Me: Do you learn about Jesus at church.
Carter: No. Just play toys and ride trucks.
Ha! I am told that they have lessons, but I guess they haven't started to sink in yet :)

Scene: Babysitter (Eden) arrives - we are still trying to get boys bathed and get dressed upstairs...Carter is bathed and dressed...
Kevin: Why don't you go downstairs and play with Miss Eden?
Carter: reluctantly walks downstairs...a few minutes later walks back upstairs
Carter (to Kevin): I not like Miss Eden.
Carter (to me): Mommy, I doe with you.
He totally knew we were about to leave him. It turned out that Miss Eden wasn't so bad afterall he had fun :)

Carter-isms:

He LOVES to give me and Miles our goodnight kiss. I am always nursing Miles while Kevin is putting Carter to bed. At different points (after bath, after brushing teeth, after reading his book, etc...) he will say "Doe give Mommy and Miles tiss." Then he will ruuuuuun in Miles's room and give us our kisses. This happens up to 3-4 times a night, but never less than once! They might be on the cheek, shoulder, lips, knee, foot.... I love all my kisses :) Kevin, however, is not comfortable with the mouth kisses...he will turn his head at the last second :)

Yes, my am / Yes, my do / Yes, my is / Yes my can = he pretty much always says "my" for "I"
Where our doe-ing? / Our doe-ing to church / Our doe-ing Greemama's house/Nana's house = he uses "our" for "we"
*Needless to say we are still working on our pronouns...

He LOVES going to church!!! He likes school too, but he LOVES church. He tells everyone and everything "See you tomorrow at church." Seeing as how we are at church 3 days a week - most of the time he's fairly accurate :)

When he gets hungry in the evening, he runs to the kitchen and starts raiding my pantry saying "Mommy, I hungry. Cook my dinner/supper."

He is very observant - especially in the car. He can spot a tractor/truck/fire truck from a mile away!

He loves bugs. He gets down close to them and checks them out. On our walk the other day he sprawled out on the sidewalk to look at a bug and said "Hey, lil' guy." H also plays with/tortures worms - he makes them swim, swings them around like a helicopter, rides them in his dump truck, etc... poor worms.

A Few Favorites

Favorite Food: Candy (if I'm honest), but Pizza is probably still his favorite supper - he will ALWAYS eat pizza - everything else has it's days. Fruit - he loves apples, Veggies - he likes broccoli.

Favorite Show: still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - he calls it "Mickey Mouse Tah-house Tum Inside Tah-House." If you watch the show you'll know that he is adding part of the theme song to the title :) He also loves Monster Truck Adventures.

Favorite Book: Dear Polar Bear
*He has started really "reading" his books. This activity includes him taking one book flipping through every single page and setting it aside, getting another and doing the same, making a GIANT stack of all of his books. He will clean out a bookshelf doing this, but I am not allowed to help him read during this time.

Favorite Activity: Playing with Matchbox cars (or any cars for that matter) and going to the playground and on walks. He has started to ride his motorcycle some on our walks. It ends up in the stroller by the end of the walk though.

I love this boy more than words can say. I'm blessed to be his mama! 

A Visit to the Dentist

Carter had his first experience at the dentist yesterday. He was such a big, brave boy! He did great :) Daddy had, of course, prepared him the night before by practicing saying "ahhhhh" and then sticking his hands in his mouth and tickling his teeth. Carter thought this was hilarious! The real dentist wasn't quite so funny though. He was so serious the whole time, but he did everything they asked him to perfectly. Here are some of the memories from his first dentist visit...

The train table in the lobby was a hit.

This is Ms. Angela, she's the dentist's helper. She is a "sugar bug catcher!" Check out the TV's on the ceilings! Cartoons while you get your teeth cleaned - not a bad deal :)

Miles came along for the ride too! He was pretty impressed...

Looking at the Pirate toothbrush he will get if he listens and obeys.

He got to feel the toothbrush tickle his finger before she put it in his mouth. He did think that was funny.

Ms. Angela cleaned Carter's teeth with strawberry toothpaste. 

Then she "lassoed all the sugar-bugs" in his mouth (flossed). 

Dr. Moffet is the dentist. He counted his teeth and then "painted pictures" of Mickey Mouse and his friends on Carter's teeth (it was actually a clear flouride treatment:) 

At the end of the visit Carter got a treat bag and balloon! 

Then we went to Chick-fil-A for a celebration lunch because we got an A++ from the dentist! 

NO CAVITIES :)

We go to Madison Pediatric Dentistry and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area!!! 

Carter-isms this Christmas

Carter is now 28 months old (2 years and 4 months). He is a talker - all day long. We love to hear what's going on in that little head :) Here are some of the things he's been doing and saying:

*My mom was visiting and we started putting up the Christmas decorations. We have some small lit trees that go by our front door. We put these up at night after Carter was in bed. When he woke up this is what I heard, "Oh, wook mommy, wittle Christmas treats." Yes, they are little Christmas treats :)

*He picks an alternate personality for me and Kevin to take on each day. We are assigned our character, and we have to talk to him and interact with him through this thing - Cow, Botdee (his giant sock monkey), Grinch, and Santa Taus are the favorites! We must do voices, we must animate the stuffed thing as we are talking, and if we EVER put the thing down, he will stop what he is doing, pick it up, hand it to us, and say "Doe, Mommy/Daddy." As if to say, "Here you go mommy, you must have forgotten that you are cow today." Ahhhhhh life with a very imaginative toddler! I love seeing his creative brain at work! 

*I am trying to teach Carter the true meaning of Christmas - slowly but surely, year by year. Last year, he could identify "Jee Jee" (Baby Jesus). This year, I'm reading him the story in his Bible and other books about Christmas, and he and Miles got the Little People Nativity to play with. He can identify all the characters this year. So sweet to hear him say "Mary, Joe-sis or Joe-fis, and Baby Jesush." He knows that Mary is Jesus's mommy and Joseph is Jesus's daddy. We are also really focusing on the fact that Christmas is Jesus's birthday - Carter LOVES birthdays!!!! We sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus (cake)" several times a day! And, yes, Carter inserts the word cake there :) We light and blow out the candle on our dinner table over and over and over again - it really never gets old :)

*He has a stuffed "Santa Taus" - well he has several. He identifies them as "big santa taus" and "wittle santa taus." Kevin sat Big Santa Taus on Carter's lap the other night, and he asked Carter what he wanted for Christmas. A little backwards, but ok :) We haven't really been asking him this question, so I was interested to see what he would say... well, he asked him for pizza and tookies (cookies). That's my boy - hungry all the time! He's been consistent though. Every time since then that he has been asked what he wants for Christmas it is ALWAYS a food item - pizza, tookies, turkey, chicken, cake, etc... The other day when I asked him if he wanted any toys, he said "Not toys, Mommy (and started picking up his toys and naming them), monster truck, tars, tractor, etc..." as if to tell me that he has all the toys he needs, the thing that he doesn't have (at all times) is cookies and pizza :) Haha! So cute!!!

*He has started using pronouns when referring to himself (me, my, I, etc...) The days that he refers to himself as "Tarter" are fading. This is sad to me even though I didn't really want him going to kindergarten telling his teachers "Tarter needs to use the bathroom." I'd probably get summoned for more conferences than I cared to attend should that be the case. So pronouns are essential - and he has started using them. He does not really quite have the hang of it fully yet. For example, he says "my" instead of "me" a lot. He will say "Scoot my up" (to the table). He also confuses I and it's contractions like I / I'm / I've.  He says things like "I hungry" or "I've done."

*He's more attentive to Miles now. He will say things like "Mommy, Miles frying (crying)! " This really, really bothers him.... or "Here doe, Miles" as he hands him things. He will go up to Miles and say "I right here, Miles" to comfort his brother.  He will "show" Miles how to play with things. They also "fight." Carter will lean close to Miles until Miles randomly smacks him and then Carter will fall over saying "Miles hit me." Here it goes - sibling interaction/rivalry :)

*Carter likes to pick different stuffed animals to go to bed with him for naps and at night. His favorites are the Grinch, Tigger, and Santa Taus - they take turns....the ones that stay in his bed are his dog, his train, and his football. He is very good about going to bed. We ask him to get in bed, and (usually) he will crawl up in there and lay down on his pillow. He likes to be tucked in now. If you forget, he will remind you. The other night he looked at Kevin and said, "Zip my up, Daddy" :) Adorable.

*As you can see by his Christmas list, he likes to eat. I think his Mother's Day Out teachers know this as well :) I picked him up the other day, and he had made something out of salt dough. He was holding it in his hand, and he looked up at me and pointed at the thing in his had and said, "Not a tookie, mommy, not a tookie." Haha! You think he had heard that more than once?

*Carter calls all groups of people "boys." I guess that's what he hears people saying about him and Miles. He walked into the room and look and Kevin and me and said, "Hey, boys!" I let him know that I am not a boy. He said the same thing to my mom and me when she was here visiting. When he is ready to go somewhere he will say, "Tum on boys!" (Come on boys). I guess being the only girl in this home, I'll just get thrown in there with the boys :) I'm ok with that...

*Carter says "yere" ("there" with a y at the front) instead of "there." This is one of the cutest words - it makes me smile everytime I ask him where something is and he says "right yere" or "over yere" or "out yere." It's one of the ones I'm going to miss :)

I am going to add stories to this as I think of them. I know there's more that I want to remember from this stage, but those are some of my favorites :)

Merry Christmas!

Carter Is Carter

Here are some conversations that we have had recently with Carter. He's 26 months old now. We know that he's awake when we hear him talking, and we know he's asleep when we don't hear him talking anymore :) I will add more as I can...

The other day I had a conversation with him, and this is how it went:

Me: Are you a big boy or a baby? 
Carter: No, Tarter no baby. 
Me: You're not a baby?
Carter: No
Me: Are you a big boy? 
Carter: Name Tarter
Me: Yes, your name is Carter. Carter, are you a big boy? 
Carter: No, Tarter is Tarter

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A few days later we were at the dinner table. Kevin had given C a bath before dinner bc he was filthy. I had asked Kevin about something and he was explaining something to me. Carter was just sitting there eating his dinner while we talked...

Me: Asked some unmemorable question...
Kevin: I couldn't...I had a naked baby in my arms (talking about Carter)
Carter: Tapping Kevin on the shoulder.... No Daddy, me big boy! 
*Kevin and I just looked at each other in amazement... I guess we didn't know he was listening or would know who we were talking about since we never said his name! He's growing up and understanding everything!!!

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We were on our way to North Carolina the other day, we told Carter that we were going to see Grandmama and Granddaddy when we got there! After our 11 hour drive, we got to our hotel before my parents. We started walking into our hotel, Carter turns around and starts running back to the car. He said "No, Tarter doe Greemama and Granddaddy's HOUSE." He thought we were going to their house. We had to DRAG him (kicking and screaming) into the hotel room. I even called mom for her to talk to him and tell him they were coming. He didn't calm down until they got there - 1 hour later! He was so very dissapointed that we weren't at their house! That night when we were trying to get him to go to sleep, he said "Tarter no sleep. Tarter doe home. Tarter doe Greemama's House." He was giving us two choices, and they didn't include the hotel room. He calmed down and ended up getting a good night's sleep. At the end of the weekend, Carter did indeed get to go to Grandmama and Granddaddy's house, and he's spending a few days there. He loves it!!!

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He answers questions with a Yes or a No, and he restates everything. If I ask him, "Carter, would you like to go play cars?" He will either say, "No, Tarter doe pay tars." or "Yes, Tarter doe pay tars." 

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His favorite place to be is outside. He sounds Chinese when he says the word "outside." He runs to the door and says "Tarter doe pay out-sigh."

Kiss the Cook

Carter got to help in the kitchen the other day!

He got to get his hands, arms, shirt, face, whole self dirty - inside! He got to eat the dough...

We worked really hard to cook something just for daddy!

What do little boys cook? 

Biscuits...

DOG BONE Biscuits!

Getting them all lined up just right.

My little perfectionist :)

YUMMY!

Darn You, Pinterest!

Darn You, Pinterest for giving me a false sense of hope that I could somehow get a cute picture of my boy on his first day of Mother's Day Out.

This was the hope dream vision false advertisement...

This was the reality - here's the play by play...

"Carter, can you hold the sign and smile for Mommy?" - Me

"Wook, Mommy! Pider web...BIG Pider!" - Carter

"Yes, Carter. I see the spider web! Can you hold the sign and smile for Mommy?" - Me

"Darter wush pider." - Carter

(Next picture will give you an idea of what it means to "wush" a "pider")

Yes, "wush" = squish & yes, this was the best picture taken....

"That's gross Carter. Can you hold the sign and smile for Mommy?" - Me

"Darter wipe pider." - Carter

Great...now we have dead piders on our pants for our first day of mother's day out :) 

In hindsight, maybe I should have put him on a four wheeler...he'll pose all day long on that!!!

Carter's 2nd Birthday Party

It was about a month ago, but if you'll excuse my lateness on posting this blog, I think you'll enjoy it :)

Carter loves the back yard and all of it's possibilities! So I thought we'd have a backyard bash for his 2nd Birthday! What better way to celebrate turning 2 than with lots of fun with lots of friends?

We had water balloons!

A shaving cream slide/tarp - SOOOOO MUCH FUN!

He got pretty into this activity :)

Sandbox fun! 

A bouncy house that our friends let us borrow (Thanks, Sheas :)

Watermelon pops were a good way to fill up and cool down!

We had some fun summer snacks in the kitchen...


Since we didn't really have a theme...I got a Mickey Mouse Beach cake at Publix!


He loved his "Mouse Cake"

This boy knows how to eat cake :)

We had such a fun time celebrating this 2 year milestone. Thank you to all our friends and family who made it such a special day!