Fun Weekend of Birthday Party, Intense Potty Training & Tennis

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I got a fun girls' night and Blake, a perfect round of golf and in the midst of that.... we had our dear friend Barrett's 2nd birthday. "Balls" to Carter is what "Choo-choo trains" are to Barrett, so his mom did a terrific job planning the cutest choo choo train birthday party!

She hand-made the perfect cake! Happy Birthday Barrett!

Poor Addie has now been sick for 6 full days, but she can still let a smile out!This weekend was all about "potty training" for Carter. We can't believe the amount of interest and dedication he has shown. (Blake keeps saying he is his mother's son because it is somewhat ridiculous!) He stayed dry all day today, even during his nap... he really has #1 down well going 6-8 times during the day! However... number 2 has been a different story. We missed the opportunity Saturday while at the party so we tried and tried all day Sunday!
To make the #2 happen, we were popping Prunes like candy... here is Carter showing me his prune! His normal time of the day came and went and nothing came! But he would not give up OR GET OFF THE POTTY!!!!
Carter has "Aggie" the Bear that is learning to use the Potty with him... notice Aggie even got a sticker for using the potty!

This house-hold, the past week, could be on a commercial for Lysol products! Forget the "Gerber" baby, Addie has an audition for the "Lysol" baby!

Notice... her hair is starting to grow and definitely have some curl to it as well!

We always potty in the bathroom, however, today we spent so much time on the potty (2 hours STRAIGHT) this afternoon, that I had to have a change of scenery & Addie wanted to move around!!

This afternoon, it was so beautiful, that we spent the entire evening on the tennis courts next door. Carter loves the racket Me-me gave him last year!

But Maverick probably had the most fun!

Carter insisted on playing with daddy's full size racket!

Who knows... tennis maybe in his future!

Even Addie was showing a strong interest!

But of course, as always, her main interest his her 4-legged brother, Maverick!

Since we have let Carter's hair grow out some, we discovered that he definitely has some curl!

A Two-Year Old Rock Star Who Loves His "Wiggles" sleep shirt...

...and he has never even seen the TV show! Weird... I know, what a 2 year old old will take a strong liking to?!? Cousin Marshall gave Carter a ton of PJ's and every night for the last week, Carter has insisted on wearing this "Wiggles" shirt. Since it is short-sleeve and it has been quite cold, I make him wear it over his other PJ's!

Little Addie has been horribly sick since Tuesday with what the doctor thinks is "Roto-virus." She has had severe problems on both ends and unfortunately this has been a week full of travel for Blake, however, Carter has been the stellar big brother listening to mommy so well and being such a loving and kind big brother! Thanks Carter-man!

Friday afternoon at daycare...

Blake & I decided Friday morning to take off out of town (of course the kids came too!) We packed up after he got home from work and went to pick up the kids and these are some of the wonderful sites we saw when we got there...

Look at this duo just 4 months ago!

Addie was out in the stroller enjoying the absolutly beautiful weather!

Inside, when we walked in to Carter's room, he was just finishing up in the bathroom. He had gone potty for the very first time at school!

To celebrate he got a stamp AND and a sticker from Miss Yazmine and Miss Rachel!

Then he gave daddy a big hug! What a great day!

Playing.

This morning we had 4 little friends of Carter's over to play on the bounce house and outside before it gets cold again tonight. It was lots of fun!

"Playing" seems to be the main objective of our time with the kids! I love it... it makes life simpler and reminds me of when I was young and the only thing that mattered was what I was going to play with next! I love this picture of the 3 boys this morning and how they were interacting together. They are all less than 6 weeks different in age!

Carter has started to get a little more aggressive - rough housing in a playful way at school! I think 'dada' maybe the instigator of that. So we are working hard on being very gentle with our friends. :)
This was the sky during our walk on Wednesday evening... very cool!

Our evening routine consists of a walk around our wonderful neighborhood and then we hit the playground hard!!!!

Night out at the ballpark.

Friday night was so beautiful outside that we BBQ'd and gave Carter his one last Christmas present. With all the commotion of Christmas, he didn't even get to open the one gift he had from us! So we made a night of it.

I just love the fact that we can be outside cooking out in January! I LOVE TEXAS! And boy does Carter LOVE corn on the cob.... he ate 2 whole ones by himself!
He loved the T-Ball set and got the process down within 10 seconds. You step on the plate and the ball automatically loads! So cool....

My wonderful neighbors Skarra and Diane had been telling me about the NB Children's Museum, so we loaded up and took a trip Saturday morning. It was everything they said and more! Wow... why can't SA have something as good as this?

The problem was we probably only experienced 20% of what it had to offer because Carter just wanted to be outside... so notice I have no pics of him indoors playing with all the amazing creative things they had.... next time perhaps!!!

"It's like we have a 3rd child!"

Those were Blake's words 2 nights ago when we got the best Christmas present charged, up and running! With the Christmas money we received from some of our wonderful family, Blake and I bought a ROOMBA... simply the best invention ever for a family with 2 kids, dogs and wood floors everywhere! Thanks Nancy, Dad & Grandma George!

Blake made that comment because without realizing it, I was following the vacuum from room to room to see where it goes, how much it picked up, how long it stayed in each room, etc... I really feel like "The Jetson's" with this thing. Now, I am not claiming it is perfect or cleans up everything... but if it cleans up as much as it did every night as it did the first couple of days... then my life is definitely changed for the better!

Here are some of the kids favorite toys so far.... Carter had his first ride in what he calls his "new car seat" today and loved it. I just love the fact that one of the best safety & reviewed car seats doesn't cost as much as the last one did! And he loves the cup holders!

This is Addie in one of her favorite toys.... a walker... she absolutely LOVES it and can go through out the entire house and find us all. I was super surprised when she immediately started moving forward! You go girl! You might be walking sooner than we thought! ;)

East Texas + December = LEAVES

As most of our family and close friends know, Blake's dad (Lance) had triple bypass open heart surgery less than 3 weeks ago so we headed up to see him the day after Christmas for almost a week!

One of the first days, I decided to bleach the entire house (bachelor pad) and got a little carried away and literally "burned my lungs" while cleaning the tub and toilet. I had to have almost every window and door opened in the house and we all had to evacuate for a few hours! It was bad... but I guarantee not a germ is alive!

So we went outside and started cleaning up there... we started with the leaves... this is a before and after of just one part of the yard!

Then Blake took on the gutters!
So this meant lots of fun for Carter in the leaves!
Trying to keep Carter in check, we had lots of fun making up fun games for him at at Pa-Pa's house! Here we are with "hat over the head and walk around when you can't see game!"

Then it was "bring the enormous rake inside game!" Lots of "grocery shopping in the driveway game"!

We took a nice break to go and visit Great Grandma George and bring her some Christmas presents!

Lots of time to practice crawling!

We're just so happy that Pa-Pa is feeling as well as he is and hope that rehab goes well, which started yesterday!

Christmas Afternoon and Evening

After Santa's visit at home, it was time for some naps and off to Ya-Ya and Grandpa's house for Christmas Day lunch and more gift opening.

Uncle/Godfather Sean gave mom and dad some time off and kept Addie entertained for a while! Thanks Sean!

Carter giving Mema a big "thank you" hug for his gift!

Addie is doing so well standing up on her legs for long periods at a time! Thanks Aunt Erin for Addie's adorable dress that was perfect for Christmas Day!
Carter had a fascination all afternoon with a grocery food shopping basket he pushed around for hours! Addie just hung out with all the family. It was lots of fun with Ainsley, Macy and Marshall!

Carter loves Grandpa and riding on the golf cart with all his cousins!

Then it was straight over to the Nash's house for an Italian themed Christmas Day dinner. Thanks Paulette and Charlie for all the wonderful food! We got to spend lots more time with Aunt Hey-Hey, Uncle Chris and of course Cousin Carson and Me-Me! Here, Uncle Chris was being the best uncle helping mom and dad burn some Carter energy off!! Thanks!

We love Cousin Carson!

Carter got a Cars Race Track from Me-Me that kept all the little ones entertained for a long time!