Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with all your family and friends! We are headed off to Portland on Christmas Day (I know...but it was $400 cheaper to fly out that day) to spend time with Jason's side of the family! I am so excited, it has been 2 years since we've seen them (well, excluding Dan, Donna, and Cassie). We won't be back until after the New Year, so be safe and be blessed!

He's getting so big!

Can you guess what it is?

Alex's first real drawing. He told me it was a school bus, and proceeded to sing "The wheels on the bus...", actions and all ;) I am so proud of him! :)

It was just one of those days!

It started off perfectly normal...great, in fact! Both of the boys woke up happy and we headed off to Bible Study on time. But things started going down hill when we got home. Carter fought naps all day, and Alex didn't take one at all. Then, any spare energy I had left got sucked out of me when I started making dinner. I put on Alex's favorite cartoon (Backyardigans) and set about my business. I walk back in there to check on him, it had only been a couple minutes, and this is what I found:

So I spent the next 25 minutes washing Desitins off Alex, and trying to get it out of the carpet. The good thing is he didn't put any on Carter who was right next to him. I told Jason he missed the 'party' when he got home (10 minutes after I got Alex out of the bath)...and he just laughed at me. So sorry to all of our Life Group friends...I was just too tired to make it last night!

Happy Half Birthday, Carter!!

Carter is 6 months old today! We went to see the doctor for his well-baby visit and he is 16lbs 10oz and 26.5" long. Looks like we are finally slowing down in the growth department. And with the way he is moving and bouncing around, I wouldn't expect anything else!

I gave him his first taste of food today, pureed butternut squash made by yours truly:

Carter is getting really good at getting to wherever his little heart desires...thankfully he isn't full blown crawling, because I am not sure I can handle chasing two quite yet. But I do have to start picking up all the little toys that Alex likes to play with. Sleeping was going great, until I decided to wean him from the swaddle...so now most naps and nights are a struggle. We'll get back to the good old times some day!

I must say though, this is the moment I had been waiting for, the magical 6 month mark. I knew things would get easier having two if I just made it to this point, and it's everything I had hoped and prayed it would be!

Look who wasn't afraid of Santa this year!

That's right, my baby is growing up. He is telling Santa all about the choo-choo train he wants this year. And, of course, Carter loves everyone:After seeing Santa we walked around Christmas in the Park, checking out all the pretty lights:

Alex is saying "shhh" because he wants to be able to hear the train..not Mommy telling him to turn around and smile

Thanksgiving 2008

Jason's parents, Dan and Donna, and his sister, Cassie, came to visit us for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time Cassie and Dan got to meet Carter, and it's been about a year and a half since they saw Alex last! They only got to stay a couple of days, but every minute was worth it. They even got to celebrate Jason's 31st birthday with us!
Here are some fun pictures from their visit:

Thank you for coming out to visit...see you again in a month! :)

Aaaaahhh

It's finally my favorite time of year! We put up our lights and tree today while we listened to my favorite Christmas tunes. Jason doesn't quite enjoy it as much as I do, he even makes me wait until after Thanksgiving until we pull out the Christmas stuff! So as I sit down and enjoy my second cup of hot cocoa, I thought I'd post some pictures of the festivities today:

Alex helping me open the box

Fluffing the branches

Alex hung the first ornament...he did a great job, even if it is backwards!

Jason showing Carter the tree

tree topping time!

I don't have a picture of the finished product yet, we have to buy a new tree topper first. The one we have just doesn't sit nicely on this tree. I think it's time for an angel topper :) Alex really got into it this year and loved helping me pick out spots on the tree to hang all the ornaments. This year was the first year we didn't have to hang any 'generic' ornaments. Every single one is one that we either bought each other or that was given to us by family and friends. One of our Christmas traditions is buying a new ornament and writing the year on the bottom. I love having an ecclectic assortment!