Our Holly Jolly Christmas

What a week!  Between Carter’s birthday, Christmas and New Year’s it always just seems like one long party.   We are still all recovering from the lost sleep and over-abundance of great food. 

It was a fabulous Christmas for us all.  We all got what we wanted and more. 

We got some sibling love (something Mommy asked for). The light sabers were definitely at the top of the list of favorites.As were the Wii accesories. Our little princess - “purple is my favorite!” And as usual the box wins out in the end.  Ben was just excited to be a part of the party. But really the light saber was his favorite too.  For New Year’s Eve we had our annual fondue dinner.  We kept it small this year, with just a couple of friends.  We decided that as the kids get older we need to include them more and that gets hard with a lot of people.  The food was amazing and the company was great.  I even got a hug from Carter with a “thank you for planning this party.  It’s the best party ever!”.    For it just being bite-sized food, I sure managed to eat a lot.  But look at this.  How could you not?The kids were just thrilled that we let them stay up as late as they wanted.  They surprised us all by staying up well past midnight. But then again, we surprised ourselves by staying up until midnight. Here they are all prepped to go bang their “cymbals” outside at midnight.  Lucky for us, they all slept in the next day. Hopefully the neighbors did too.   

Overall, it was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a great year.  We definitely had our ups and downs, but we are better people because of them.  We have been truly blessed this year and look forward to another great year!

Aunt Michelle

We have been so lucky to have so many visitors since Ben was born!  My sisters Amber and Holly came out right after he was born, then my parents, Mike’s dad, and finally one of my other sisters, Michelle.

We had a great time with her!  We ate some amazing food, explored downtown , and just hung out.  There was lots of hanging around the house as Carter and Mike were sick most of the time she was here.  She was here for 3 weeks, which was probably a little on the long side for her (and her boyfriend), but I really appreciated the help.  It was so nice  to have an extra set of hands to help out with the kids.  We were able to get Ben sleeping better while she was here, which was huge. 

Carter informed me the other day that he was going to go live with the Forsters so he could see Michelle again.  They loved having her here and miss her a lot already!

Unfortunately, when my camera was stolen they also got some pictures from when she was here, and then without a camera for a while we didn’t get many more.  Here are the ones we got:  Thanks for coming to visit!

Happy Birthday!!!

Alright, I know this is late.  Carter’s birthday was on Monday but I have been a serious blog slacker lately.   So, here is a (late) happy birthday to one of the cutest guys I know.  He is incredibly imaginative and keeps us entertained with all of his crazy stories and ideas.  He is super smart and has a great memory (which isn’t always a good thing).  He absolutely loves to learn and learned how to read this past year.  He likes to do school work on his own and is working on spelling now.   He is super sensitive, which can lead to some extra drama, but he is very aware of others’ feelings and he does a great job of making other people feel better when they are sad.  He is a Wii champion and can beat just about anyone at sword fighting or boxing.  He loves cooking and coming up with bizarre food combinations. 

I seriously can’t believe that it has been 5 years since Mike and I laid in bed wondering what we had gotten ourselves into as we prepared ourselves for a C-Section in the morning (stubborn from the get-go he was breach).  It has been an adventurous 5 years to say the least, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  I can’t wait to see what the next 5 years hold for us!  We love you kiddo and are so glad that you decided to be a part of our family!

We went bowling for his birthday party last Saturday.  Carter and Samantha were both a little surprised that real bowling isn’t quite as easy as Wii bowling.  But we still had a great time!

Carter with his buddies:   And it’s a little bit hard to see, but with a score of 121, guess who won the adults game?  That’s right, me!  I have never won at bowling before.  I have to say that with the bumpers up, those are some pretty sad scores.  On Monday, Mike took a half day and we went to the museum for Carter’s actual birthday.  The butterfly exhibit is always the highlight.  We had a great time until we went out to get in the car only to find it being towed away!  Apparently we missed the “No Parking between 3-6” sign.  We walked a few blocks to a hotel where Mike caught a cab and went down to the ghetto to get our car back from the impound.  I haven’t seen Carter so upset – not even when the car got broken into.  He was going on about how he was going to get the police to put the people who stole our car in jail.  Then when he found out it was the police who took our car he started saying that he would find other police to put them in jail.  He was devastated to say the least.  We went into the hotel to wait for Mike and once we got Carter calmed down, kept busy by taking funny pictures.  If you want a funny conversation, ask Carter about our car getting towed.   Needless to say, it was quite the day!  One that will not be quickly forgotten. 

Just Chillaxin'

Ben likes to get his TV time in too. Luckily Daddy lets him watch whatever he wants. Mostly it's Food Network. He's got those teeth, now he wants to use them!

Happy Days!

Things have been going much better around here lately.  Ben’s teeth finally made their appearance – one last Sunday and the next on Tuesday.  He is a much happier baby!  I have never had a baby have such a hard time teething.  I guess part of it is how young he is.  I am just glad that it’s over for now.   On top of that, he slept 8 hours the other night! Not so much last night, but at least now I know it’s possible.  There is a light at the end of  this sleepless tunnel.

Carter is over whatever he had and back to his usual self.  He got a haircut this week and it really hit me how fast he has grown up.  He turns 5 in a few weeks!  I think part of it is that he lost some weight when he was sick, but he is losing his little boyish-ness.  Before I know it he will be moving out!  I need to remember to enjoy these awesome kids while they are still small.   Mike, being the awesome husband that he is, replaced my camera that was stolen last week.  In celebration, me and Ben had a little photo shoot.  There are a bunch, and they are all similar, but I love them all.  So look if you want to, don’t if you don’t.  But really, you should look.  He’s pretty dang cute. 

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What a week!

This week has been pretty rough. We have had lots of ups and downs. Carter woke up Monday morning with a fever. He came down with a bad cold and ended up with an ear infection. That alone hasn't been that bad - he really hasn't done much but sleep all week. He is feeling better now, and hopefully he will be back to school on Tuesday. Ben has been teething lately (his first tooth popped out today!) and on top of that, he got whatever Carter got. No ear infection, just the cold. So he has been cranky all week.

In spite of Carter being sick and Ben being cranky, we had a great Thanksgiving! With Carter being sick all week and we were thinking that we may have to miss out, but he was doing better Wednesday night/Thursday morning so we went over to a friend's house and had a fabulous dinner with some of our best friends. I made a turkey, and it was delicious!

By the time we were done with dinner, Carter was feeling sick again and went to lay down. Samantha wanted to be a part of the party too.

On Friday I finally took Carter to the doctor. While we were in Walgreen's filling his prescription afterwards my car got broken into. They stole my GPS and my camera. I was devastated over the camera. I think that Carter may have been even more upset. I had Mike come and pick him up so he wouldn't have to wait for the cops with me. Mike said it took him 10-15 minutes to calm him down. He was crying and going on about how people should just be honest and how it was just a terrible thing. Samantha offered to give me her camera as a replacement. We are working with the insurance and I have overcome the initial devastation. Mike got my window fixed and hopefully I will have a new camera by Christmas.

Finally, I got to see New Moon yesterday. It was so fun to go out with the girls and leave the kids at home. I can't say that it was my favorite movie ever, but I thought it was good. I have to admit that I think Jacob is pretty dang hot. I also have to admit that it causes some serious internal conflict because he reminds me a bit of my little brother. I think it's mostly the mouth, I don't know. Something to discuss with my therapist I guess.

Hopefully with some medication and rest we will be back to normal this week!

Halloween

I have been meaning to get the kids back into their costumes to get better pictures than this, but it hasn't happened yet. It was so fun to have Grandpa get to go trick or treating with us! Carter informed us that this was "the best Halloween ever!" This was the first year that he really got trick or treating. Samantha thought it was ok, but once a kid in a mask started following us she decided she was done. "I don't like that guy" she kept on saying over and over.
She was a princess under her jacket. Carter was a GI Joe ninja and Ben was a baby. I was a total slacker and didn't even dress him up. Like he will remember, right?