Happy 3rd Birthday Carter

My baby won't be a baby much longer.

At three you...
Are potty trained during the day
Are trying to outgrow your nap. but you still need it.
Are still sleeping in a crib
Are still using your binky at night
Ask me to rock you at night
Sleep in until 8 or later on the weekends

ok so you are still enough like a baby to still be my baby :)

you love...
playing trains
playing baseball
playing with the dogs
pretending to shop (you usually buy tools, wonder where you get that)
eating syrup with your pancakes for breakfast
playing with your "buddy" Alex at school

you like to read the books...
Snow by P.D. Eastman (one of my favorite authors - he wrote Big Dog, Little Dog)
The Very Cranky Bear (now my new favorite children's book)
The Sweet Smells of Christmas (this was one of my favorites as a child, with the scratch and sniff stickers)
If I had a Dragon (I think you like this one because it's about playing with a brother and you know you are Anna's brother)

I love it when you...
Hug me for no reason
Grin so big it shows your dimples (still no idea where these came from)
Clap your hands the way you do, just once
Say "Oh Man!" or "Gosh!" (you would probably be hysterical if we let you watch Napoleon Dynamite)

Daddy built you a "big boy" bed which has been in your room for quite awhile. We finally plan to get a mattress and I ordered the bedding which should come soon. You're excited to have your room painted blue with a baseball theme.

I still haven't made your 3 year check up appointment, so no stats. But I'm pretty sure you're tall for your age. Everyone says you look just like me, or at least my side of the family, and either my brothers, or my grandpa or my uncles, if they've met my extended family.

I love you very much and am happy I can still hold and cuddle you, like a baby. Even if you're three and growing up way to fast. Happy birthday!

Three is the New Two

Today was Carter's 3rd birthday. He was a monster.

He started by pooping in his pants this morning. Then he peed on the floor. Then he wrote on walls, doors and furniture with a permanent red sharpie marker while I was taking a shower and Kevin was not here. Then he wet his pants about three more times today. I took him to the grocery store to pick up his cake and get ice cream and he threw a fit for 30 minutes while I tried to get other groceries. I'm pretty sure everyone at Price Chopper wanted to ask us to never come back. Then he threw a fit when I left to take Anna to go buy him a present. He was fine while my brother Ben and parents were here and we celebrated his birthday. Then after everyone left and I was upstairs putting laundry away he found some cleaning spray and made a huge puddle on the kitchen floor and sprayed one of my newly painted walls.

Needless to say I put him to bed around 5:45. Around 8 I realized I didn't feed him dinner. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day because what I thought was going to be a happy day today definitely was not.

Carter's Bedroom Theme

Will be baseball. He loves it.

Blue sheets from Pottery Barn

Quilt from Land of Nod

I also have my eye on this cute $29 bean bag seat we saw at Target.

Curtains TBD. I'll match the paint color to either the light blue in the quilt or the sheets. I'll have to see how they look when they come in.

It's my next home project. Carter is very excited. Anna now wants her room to be blue.

Thanksgiving #1 (and other stuff i've been busy with)

We are back from Thanksgiving #1 in Rolla. It was a good trip, minus the hour of Carter crying on the way down.

I got my fix of Settlers of Catan, even though I didn't win. The turkey was great and so was the breakfast casserole which I think had blueberries and cream cheese. Add to that the chocolate peanut butter pie I stuffed myself with and well... it's time to start running again.

After the half marathon I ran about a month ago I have not run since. The cold weather and long work hours made me want to stay in bed. Tomorrow I have an early meeting so Tuesday I'm hitting a run in the morning. I didn't rejoin my running group this session but plan to in January to train for the Hospital Hill half marathon in June.

I only have to work 2 1/2 days this week so I'm looking forward to Wednesday! I'm getting the kids' pictures taken.

Oh - and I just painted my kitchen to look similar to a Starbucks - While Kevin was away on a hunting trip. Two walls are "thick chocolate" and has a plum hint to it, to match the tile, the wall with the windows I made a slightly brighter green, and the wall with the refrigerator is a coffee/latte color called "Sweet Georgia Brown." My only mistake was washing the curtains. They must have shrank four inches and now look ridiculous. I'm on the lookout for replacements. They are faded anyway.

I keep apologizing for not posting often. I am comitting to a Daily December month. I will post every day. Ali Edwards does a Daily December scrapbook. I can't scrap every day but I can post. And I also hope to get caught up on my days off this week. I have lots of pictures on the camera I would like to document. Since I haven't been uploading the pictures to Kodak Gallery with captions this really is my only documentation of journaling when I want to go back and scrapbook or try to remember when something happened. So I will get caught up! Here is my first step :)

On Monday they build my car! And Sunday Carter will be three!

Elmo, a Cheerleader and Superman

Carter is Elmo, Anna is a cheerleader and Alex is Superman

We taught Anna to say "I like candy yes I do, I like candy how bout you!?"

We were the only ones trick or treating in our neighborhood at first.


This house even had a motion activated flying ghost!

Carter always says "Alex is my buddy"

Carter with a mouth full of candy.

Mommy, I can't have these.

Lake Tahoe Pics

View of our resort from the beach.

Dinner at sunset

After the loudest breakfast buffet ever.

Our pool.

Our main living area in our cottage.

Pretty mountains the day we arrived.

We got up at 3:30 am to make our flight so needless to say I'm in sweats and glasses.


View from our balcony.