Spring Time Fun

I can't tell you how happy we are that Spring is finally here! Carter wakes up in the morning and immediately says, "Outside?" We got him a little turtle sandbox that he is growing to like. He for some reason just doesn't like his hands to get dirty. If he gets sand on them, he says "Oh my, Oh no!" We've had to coach him to just brush off the sand on his pants. But now that he has been playing with it all week, he is finally beginning to enjoy the sand. On another note, I don't think he is going to have any problem with making holes in the knees of every pair of pants that he owns. He has recently taken to pushing his Tonka dump truck around the cement patio on his knees. Jeff has informed me that this is apparently in his genes and instructed me to call his mom for ideas for hole prevention. Ah, the joys of boys. Although, now that I think of it my mom claims I was quite the tom boy as a kid. As my eyes widen, I suddenly realize this is one of those moments that your family warns you about. You know how they say, "Just wait until you have kids, they will be just like you and you will understand." Yeah, point taken mom, point taken.

For an early mother's day present, Jeff bought me a bike and a really cool baby seat that attaches on the front. I had mentioned that I was looking for inexspensive entertainment for Carter and I during the day now that the weather was nice. The local park is pretty close but just a little too far to walk with a two year old. The bike with a baby seat sounded like a great way for us to get out, spend less money, and for me to get a little exercise at the same time. We took our first trip to the park on the bike yesterday. We were half way to the park when I suddenly realized as we were coasting downhill, that the ride home might not be as pleasant. Almost the entire trip was downhill. Just slightly downhill. When going back home that small hill felt like a mountain with a baby on the front of the bike. Let's just say, it was a great workout that required lots of tylenol for my sore, out of shape, muscles that night. Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun and look forward to taking bike rides often. With our credit card rewards, we were able to purchase a new Nikon camera. It takes such great pictures, that I couldn't decide which ones to post. So I just made a slideshow of my favorites. Hope you are enjoying the Spring as much as we are.

Construction Day in Port

The town of Port Washington, which is the town next to the town we live in, sponsered a kids construction day. They brought in the actual construction trucks like dump trucks, bulldozers etc. and let the kids climb around in them and gave each child a construction hat. Also, they dropped a pile of sand and let the kids dig and have a blast with their sand toys. There was so much Carter was interested in doing, that I think he had a little bit of a hard time staying focused on one thing at a time. He kind of walked aimlessly to each truck, then back to the sand pile and then back to the trucks. I think it was all a little overwhelming to him but fun nonetheless. Here are some photos of the day. It was so nice that the weather cooperated for once.

Carter Gets His Groove On

"Look at my trains, Grandaddy!"

These days all Carter talks about are his trains. A few weeks back, Grandaddy Lator sent him several boxes filled with Lionel trains, tracks, scenery you name it for Jeff and Carter to set up their very own little model railroad in the basement. They are trains that he had when Jeff was a kid that he had refurbished. Jeff planned a great little set up that is just perfect for Carter. Carter has had great fun many of nights now just watching the trains go round and round. This weekend was special since Grandaddy and Grandma Lator came to visit. Since trains are kind of Grandaddy's specialty, Jeff and Carter were eager to show him the layout they created. They spent all afternoon Saturday just playing with the trains together.

"Life gives us brief moments with another....but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a life time..." (author unknown)

Rainy Day Picture

Today it's rainy and Carter is, shall we say, a little upset that Mommy will not let him play outside. If the temperature was a little warmer and the rain stopped, I would let him go out and splash in the puddles. However, apparently Winter in Wisconsin doesn't end until who knows when. So, in the meantime here is a close-up shot of him. Sometimes I feel like when I get him out of his crib in the morning, he looks so much bigger then he did when I put him down the night before. Today was one of those mornings. What do you think?

Lions, Tigers, and Scissors.....OH MY!!!!!

We took Carter to get his first hair cut the other day. I was a little nervous to take him because he tends to be very unsure about strangers coming near him. I had a feeling that it might not be a pleasant experience for him. But since his hair was falling into his face, I knew I had to just bite the bullet and take him. Well in an effort to try to make the experience a little easier for the both of us, I found a kids hair cutting place. They have really cool chairs for the kids to sit in and videos for the kids to watch while getting their hair cut. Carter sat in a firetruck chair and watched Thomas the Train on the video. He was really excited to arrive at the salon because they had really cool toys in the waiting room. He also really liked the firetruck. However, regardless of the efforts, poor Carter was a wreck. The second he saw the scissors coming at him, he about jumped out of the seat. The barber was very nice and cut it in less then 10 minutes. Throughout those ten minutes Carter said, "All done, all done, all done." Then when the barber said he was finally really done, Carter said, "ok. Tank you." and then sniffled. After all was said and done, the cut turned out cute. He looks like a new child.

Easter 2008

"Tank you Momma, Tank you Papa"

This afternoon, Carter started putting words together. Lately, he has been saying "Tank you" supposed to be thank you, in response to just about everything I do. This evening Jeff poured Carter some milk while I plated the enchiladas I made for dinner. Carter sat patiently in his high chair. Just as we both sat down, Carter looked at us and said "Tank you Momma, Tank you Papa" So sweet I tell ya.

Nonna, Nonna, Nonna

Last weekend Carter's Nonna came to visit (Jeff's Mom). He got such a kick out of the fact that he would say Nonna and she would respond "Yes, Carter?" that throughout her visit he probably said Nonna 50 times. As soon as she got to our house, he did his usual parade of showing her every toy he has in his possession. He is so proud of his toys that this is his little routine anytime someone comes over. I'm a little disappointed that we neglected to take any pictures while she was here. Next visit we will have to make a point of it. Anyway, here is a picture of Carter earlier this week, prancing through the house avoiding letting me put on his night clothes. He knows the routine is to head off to bed shortly after getting dressed. He is getting faster, and faster I swear. Either that or I'm getting slower and slower. I'm really not sure which.

Let's Party!

Carter attended the birthday party for his friends Ethan and Tyler at the new Key Lime Cove Waterpark in Gurnee Illinois on Monday. He had a blast splashing in the water and playing with all the other kids. I tell ya, he certainly isn't afraid of the water. He got into the two foot deep pool and just took off. He had so much fun, I have decided to put him in swim lessons through the local YMCA this Spring. It will be a nice little outing for us to do together for a half hour once a week until June since the class is meant for the parents to swim with the child. This is a picture of Carter and Tyler after swimming for a few hours. Carter just couldn't find the strengh to hold his head up any longer.

Random Pictures

Helping with the Housework....Maybe

My little helper! Here is how we do the house work.

First, I sort the laundry into piles on the floor in the laundry room.

Carter in an effort to help, realizes the clothes are on the floor. He has realized that when there are clothes on the floor in his room, I pick them up and put them into his laundry basket. Wanting to help mommy, he picked up two piles together at the same time, and reloaded them back into the laundry basket. For a split second I thought in my head, "Why did I bother getting up early this morning. Now I am going to have to resort all the laundry." But then I saw how proud he was to be helping, so I just let him continue mixing the piles as I quickly loaded the first untouched load of whites into the washing machine. When he was done, we dumped out the laundry basket again and I helped him sort them back into piles. Lesson learned. Don't bother waking up early and trying to plan how you are going to get the housework done because doing the chores with Carter is way more entertaining. I reserve the right to change my mind though If I happen to open the washing machine and find my light colored clothes all died pink....:)

Happy Days!

Today Carter went back to the doctor's office to have the second administration of the flu vaccine. As most of you already know, I really worry about Carter getting the flu shot with the research that the mercury in it could be linked to autism. I wouldn't have him get it if his pediatrician didn't absolutely feel it was necessary. But, man oh man, I swear that as bad as Carter screamed, it was just as hard on me to put him through it. This is defintely not one of the joys of parenthood. Anyway, here are a few recent pictures of Carter much happier than he was at 10:45 this morning.

Dump Truck

Now all we need to do is get a snow plow on the front of his truck and we will be in business.

Indoor Fun

I realized today it has been a while since my last blog, so I thought I should at least post a few pictures. Here in Wisconsin according to the news, this year we have had more snow than they have had in the last 10 years. I believe at this moment, we have about 3 feet of snow on the ground. I think about 2 feet actually fell and the rest has drifted in from the farm fields around our neighborhood. As cold as it is, 35 below with the wind chill, we get a lot of people asking us if we regret the move. But, even though we are really sick of digging out our driveway and can't wait for spring, we are still glad we made the move. Already we feel much more connected to our friends and family from the region. Carter has developed quite the relationship with Grandma and Aunt Heather. A couple of weeks ago we were able to go out to our friend Christine's birthday party for the evening and have Grandma and Aunt Heather babysit. We were a little nervous because the last time we tried to go out without him, Carter cried the entire time we were gone. We were pleased when we got back to my mom's house and he was sound asleep. He had so much fun playing with all the toys Grandma had for him, I don't even think he realized we had left. Since that worked out so great, Grandma has offered to babysit again for us in a couple of weeks so that Jeff and I can attend my high school reunion. I'm really excited to see my old friends. Already I have been talking to many of my old high school buddies. With the cold though, we have been getting creative with activities for Carter to do indoors. He likes to go out on outings so much that at least once a day he grabs his shoes and says go bye, bye Momma go bye, bye. We have been limiting our trips outside since it is just so cold. For Christmas Grandma got him a trike. So when he asks to go outside now, I just put him on his trike and push him in circles around the house. This seems to keep him content. Here are some pictures of Jeff putting the trike together and Carter trying it out for the first time. It has a little bell on it that he likes to ring.

Just lookin cute

Just like Daddy

Carter watched intently as Jeff was busy doing minor repairs to some of our belongings that were damaged in the move. He was so impressed with the drill that he just had to figure out how it worked for himself. Oh, and Jeff had to get a picture of the moment. Like father like son.

Best Buds

Carter and Aubrey have found a new way to entertain themselves. Carter sits on Aubrey's bed and Aubrey pulls Carter around the house.

Winter in Wisconsin

A little different scene then Texas, but pretty all the same. The first picture is of our new house and the second just a shot we took while driving down the road the other day. I thought it was pretty.

Welcome to Cheese Country!

We are finally moved into our new house here in Wisconsin and have had tons of snow. No surprise :) Today, Carter was in need of a little fun so we bundled him up in his new snow garb, strapped him in his new sled, and let loose. Here are some of the photos from his first time in the snow.