Hurricane Ike Party!

We had all the cousins in the same town due to Hurricane Ike. Uncle John (Joe's son), Aunt Colleen, and Ainsley, along with Carolyn came in from Houston and so we had a big party for all the cousins to play this morning instead of hanging out at a loud and dirty Chucky Cheese!!! Addie - almost 4 months, Ainsley is 10 months, Carter - 21 months, Marshall - 4, and Macy is 5!

Best Friends!

I turn to walk in Addison's class today to pick her up and this is exactly what I find when I turn in the room... Addie and Ella on the way out the door for a walk. The cutest thing I saw all day... so I had to take a pic on my camera phone and send it to Megan and Mike Perkins and Blake!

Carter Learning and Liking to Take Pictures (so he can look at himself in the view-finder!)

This is Carter after I taught him to say "CHEEESE," in efforts to get him to start looking at the camera and smiling... it is working some!

This is Carter's first picture he took by himself with the camera! He likes to snap the picture and then look at it in the view finder!

Addie thinks The Bumbo is Highly Over-rated Right Now...

...however Carter still thinks it is cool. This is the 2 of them trying it out with Addie for the first time last night. She did fine for a few minutes and then got a little restless! Good thing Carter still enjoys getting in and out of it!

Grandparents Celebration at School

This was our first Grandparents Celebration at school and like every other celebration at our wonderful daycare... I underestimate it and am blown away by how special and big of an event it is when I get there. This was no different - a couple of hundred parents and grandparents it seemed like! Well, thank goodness, last Friday, I remembered to email my mom and see if she wanted to come and of course she did. Last minute... Grandpa Joe decided to change his flight leaving San Antonio on Monday morning till Tuesday so he could partake in the Grandparent's Celebrations occurring all over town for all their grandchildren... they were off to Hidden Forest and lunch with Macy right afterwards!

How special it was. Here is Carter and his class walking over to the chapel on the "Bug Rope." They go on walks several times during the day and this is what they have to hold on to. It is amazing how well they all do it.
















I submitted some pictures for the slide show and they ended up doing "Grandy Awards" for some of them and Ya-Ya won the category of "Hippest Grandy" for the picture of her and Carter on the Sea-Doo! Who knew... we would have a celebrity in our family! This is a picture of them on the big screen!


Here is Carter on stage... I know it is very blurry (I didn't bring my good camera), but he did so good. He pointed and yelled "Ya-Ya and Grandpa" while they sang songs! Looks like fun with all the kids! (Carter in in the bottom center of 3 boys... all 3 are looking to the right, he is to the left of the boy in the green and white striped shirt.)

Who is Who? Can you tell they are related?

Girl Power!

2008... the year we have our sweet daughter and the same year we may have our first elected woman vice president! And she is a mom! Go Sarah! What a memorable year!

Drum Roll Please... We Have Lift Off!

3 1/2 months later and Addie (right on time... her time that is!!) has decided to lift her head clearly off the floor during "tummy time!"

This is Addison in one of Carter's outfits!

Labor Day

We had a great weekend up at the lake with Grandpa Joe and Ya Ya and Mema. We also were so lucky to have "Pa Pa" (Lance - Blake's dad) come spend the weekend with us as well! This was the first time he had seen the kids since Addison was a week old! The weather was wonderful and it was so relaxing. I love getting away to the lake because there is nothing else to take your time away from the kids and family - no cleaning, work or things to do around the house! It is just tons of quality time together!

This was Carter's first fun experience with a Rolly Polly... too bad the Rolly Polly didn't have too good of chances with a 20 month old!


It showered for 15 minutes one afternoon and then this beautiful rainbow appeared and Carter got to see it! The past couple of weeks Carter has gotten very used to storms and thunder. It doesn't scare him at all... we talk about it all the time and at school one afternoon when I was picking him up and it was pouring, they had the door to the classroom open and were talking about what "rain" is and "thunder" so I think that is why he has no problem with the loud noises!

This is Addison's FAVORITE spot at the lake... on the porch in the swing! She can't get enough!

What a beautiful girl!

Lance and Carter and all the grandparents (and look everyone is SMILING!)

A big kiss from "Pa Pa." We have 3 Grandpa's and so this weekend, Carter made an executive decision as Lance's first born grandson and started referring to him as "Pa Pa" and Lance said he approved of the name! Hope that is OK with Carson and Addison!


Fun times with Pa-Pa!

Addie in Buggy at School!

Here are some pictures of Miss Addison at school on her first buggy ride! I am so glad that they have this little adapter for younger children so she gets to go spend time outside during the day!

"My 2 Hours Everyday To Be Like An Only Child!"

From 7:30-9:30 every night at this age is going to be Addie's best chance at simulating having her mom and dad all to herself. We try to make the most out of this precious time when Carter is passed out in bed. Tonight the 3 of us just hung out in bed and toggled between the Democratic National Convention and Surviorman!

Trip to Grandpa and Lolli's House

On Sunday, we went to my dad's house for dinner. It was so much fun spending time with them. Danielle, my half-sister is 16 years old and the best basketball player in the city, as far as I am concerned. As a freshman she started on the Varsity basketball team at Smithson Valley. She is only a sophomore and has received over 35 letters from colleges interested in her! This summer she played all over the country including Vegas, North and South Carolina and just got asked to play in another tournament in New Jersey. OK... so I am done bragging on her for a while... but it makes sense when you see a picture of her signing a basketball hoop so I can sell it when she is famous playing for the WNBA! On top of all that.. she is super smart and makes straight A's in mostly honors and AP classes!

Aunt Danielle was so good with Carter - running all around with him. I think we found a natural babysitter (and she is getting her new car next month with her license) even better - a babysitter with a car!

Carter Caught on Video!

Carter's has the sweetest little voice. One of his newest and most used phrases is "I don't know." He uses it where appropriate like when we ask him "Where is Addie?" or "Where's a ball?" He says it right at the beginning here so you have to listen for it right away.

MeMe's Here, Cooking, First Swim, Teething and Date Nights...

... and this was a pretty relaxing weekend! Diane (Me-Me) came in on Friday and Blake and I got 2 whole nights on the town without kids! Friday called for a shorter Marble Slab evening where we then stopped in and hung out with Mike and Megan and watched Michael Phelps come from behind and win his 7th gold!

She still has her blue eyes... we will see how long they stay! So beautiful!




Saturday we went and saw Dark Knight, the first movie we had seen together in seriously.... we can't even remember how long ago! I slept through the first 20 minutes of the movie and then woke up for the rest!

Saturday we took Addie for her first swim although she has been to the pool several times to watch her brother swim. We had to borrow one of Ella's bathing suits since I haven't been able to find Addie one this late in the season! Thanks Ella... I am sure that won't be the first outfits we share in the future!

All weekend, Mr. Carter has been VERY VERY fussy while getting his (what we hope are his last) 2 teeth for a while! Poor guy... he got away with a ton of whining and Popsicle eating this weekend!

Then Sunday, Diane helped me continue on my massive cooking goal. 2 weeks ago I made 8 dinners to freeze so we could have quick tasty homemade meals when we get home after work... they were all Mexican food themed. Today we headed to Italy and made several trays of homemade lasagna and cheese and meat filled pasta shells! As Carter would imitate "Cookie Monster" and say, "Yum yum yum yum yum!" Thanks Diane for all the help cooking and the really fun part of cleaning up! The whole house still smells like Little Italy! Addie even helped out in the kitchen and kept us company!