Still here with snow and rain!

Carter sitting in the cockpit of the plain. The pilot took the picture on his phone and sent it to Ryan. They let Carter push buttons and speak into the intercom (before the plane took off of course).

Sorry it has been awhile since my last blog. We spent a long weekend in Florida with Ryan's parents. I can't upload my pictures yet, so they will be up soon. We went to Sea World, spent a day at the beach, and went to a baseball game! We ENJOYED the warm weather. Now back a week, we have had snow and are set for rain most this week. YUCK! They tell us this will not be the last snow for us - more YUCK. I will try and work on the pictures and more stories.

Quick Update

It has been very cold the past few days, so we are getting a little stir crazy indoors. Luckily this weekend it is supposed to warm up a little, so we should be able to spend time outside. We are hoping to go into the city on Saturday for the St. Patrick's Day parade. I guess I didn't realize how much this holiday is celebrated, or maybe this area celebrates everything! We are excited about visiting Ryan's parent in Florida next week. Finally some decent warm weather, we will not know what to do if we are not wearing our jackets. People up here tell us that March is the worst month because you expect and want it to start warming up, but it still stays pretty cool. The boys have such a great personality these days. They still love to dress up in old Halloween costumes. They have such an imagination, it is so funny to hear them talk and pretend play.

Outings, Fun and More

Don't worry we are just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman and Lion out for ice cream! Tonight when Ryan got home from his meetings, we (mainly I) talked him in to taking us for ice cream. The boys had been in costumes all day, so of course they wanted to wear them out too.
Benjamin loved being his lion costume, he would look around the place to see if the 3 people in the store noticed he was in costume.

The middle picture I took before "sports" class today. This weeks sport was T-ball, so of course we had the gear for that. Each boy got to pick their favorite jersey to wear to class with baseball pants. The boys had to take this picture first (a silly picture) before they would let me take a serious picture - I will try and upload those tomorrow.

Napping - I think not!

The above pictures of Carter were taken after his nap. Or the fact that he should have been napping instead of finding a marker on the top of his dresser and coloring his face, legs, and bed - YIKES! I scrubbed him down in the tub, but he will be blue and green for awhile until it all wears off. I was afraid to get the soap too close to his eyes! The boys had a great day at Mother's Day out today, good reports on both, yea! I enjoyed spending some alone time at the house today too. Keep your fingers crossed we are supposed to have forty degree weather the next couple of days. It will be the warmest it has been in 4 1/2 months!

Life Lessons

Poor little Benjamin, he has a hard time learning those simple life lessons. We went to McDonald's today for our normal Thursday routine, the boys love the Mickey's Ds by our house because it has a basketball goal in it. Benjamin has a very sweet side to him, and sometimes because of that sweetness, bigger (older) kids pick on him. Remember 2 years ago when he was "pants -ed" at Chick-fi-la, well today another lesson. Benjamin was playing basketball and 2 older kids came and took his basketball right out of his hands. I didn't see it, but I did get the end results of a crying boy. I wanted to teach my sweet little boy how to be nice but still take up for himself. So here is my advice - "Did it hurt your feelings when the boys took the basketball away from you?" = "yes", "Well remember how you felt and you shouldn't ever do that to anybody else because you don't want to hurt someone feelings." - "Okay" "BUT next time bigger kids try to take something away from you, you yell "NO" very loud and take it back." Don't know if that was the best advice, but I said it. Carter on the other hand, never worry about him. In fact, when I told my mother this story, she asked, "Where was Carter, he didn't handle it?" Laughing I said no, he was on the other side of them room. Carter is usually the one looking out for big brother, he doesn't mind taking on the world especially if he is defending his brother.

Funny Pictures

The boys are in dress up mode lately. They want their blankets around their neck for a "cape". They are going around the house as Batman I and II. Carter loves acting silly for the camera. In the last picture he wanted his foot in the picture, go figure. Oh and mom, don't worry the underwear were clean.

In the Forties and never felt better!

It is February and we have had 40 degree weather today! This is a miracle for this part of the world. The 2 above pictures are today. The top three are from this past weekend. When we are able to get outside with a little colder temp. We try and take advantage of the "warm" weather when we can. Outside play is rare opportunity for us. The boys are enjoying playing inside. One good thing about inside play is that most to all the toys get used everyday.

More pictures!

London, it is hard to believe she is in school now. We don't get to see her as much now, and we miss her! I call her my sweet red hair angel! I love it because every now and then (and I mean very little) she gives a sweet little pouty lip that reminds me so much of myself. I knew she had some of her GeGe in her, that's my baby!
3 cousins after church at Mum's

Carter wanted this picture posted because he loves basketball! Zane and Carter at his party. Carter keeps asking to see his basketball pictures over and over again. The boys start a basketball class next week at the Y. We are all looking forward to that class. The boys can't wait, they keep talking about what uniform they will wear. They keep the wrist bands close. I will try and get a picture before class.

Carter before his first day of school (Mother's Day out) - 2 weeks away! He was really proud of his lunch box, I think he is more excited about what was in there - juice and chips (which he really gets).

Benjamin's picture - he picked out his outfit. He wanted to wear is aggie jersey for the first day, grandad is very proud! Ben is my little sweetie! The teacher bragged about his manners, especially at lunchtime around the table!

Family Pictures

Here are more family pictures from our weekend in Texas. This is Vaughn enjoying ice cream. She is the sweetest little girl ever and so adorable. Her and Carter are big buddies. I am looking forward to all the girl activities we can do when she is bigger. Since I am the only girl in my family, I am going to have enjoy those times with my sweet nieces!
Ben, London, and Carter

Uncle Rich, Uncle Eric, Wesley, and Dylan playing games at CEC.

Kate, Uncle Kyle, and Aunt Robin at the party

My sweet little travelers, this was early on Thursday morning leaving Chicago. They were such troopers on the airplane.

Where does the time go?

We celebrated Carter's 3rd birthday over the weekend back in Texas. We had such a great time (very quick) visiting family and a few friends. I don't know why 3 is the magic number for really getting the "birthday party". Carter talked about his party for weeks, he had such a great time with everyone. Each year when another birthday hits, I wondered how did we get here so fast. I know some days tick by very slow, but when I look back, I can't believe it has already been 1 year. Lots of things have happened and Carter has grown in so many ways.
We ordered his "football" cake back in January before we left. He asked for over a month when he was getting his football cake. He was so proud of it. He even put the candles in it by himself.

Zane is his buddy. A big "thanks" to Zaney for taking C around and playing games with him. Zane and Brittany were good friends of ours back in TC. Carter goes for Zane and Ben goes for Brittany.

Uncle Doug and Carter. Uncle Doug is a very hands on uncle, he plays with all the nieces and nephews whenever he is with them. Uncle Doug took the first shift with Carter at Chuck E Cheese. Jackson wasn't able to make the party, so Uncle Doug came in his place.

On Wednesday night before the boys and I flew to Texas, we went to eat pizza, yum! Carter opened his gifts from us. Benjamin gave him his Chicago Bears jersey and Ryan and I gave him a magnetic book. He was excited to get both!

Sweet information about Carter

1. He is very loveable. He loves to be held tight. He will kiss you for no reason!

2. He loves to laugh! Especially if other people (mainly Ben) join in and laugh too.

3. He loves reading books.

4. He loves playing with Ben, but he also enjoys playing by himself. He is okay being alone.

5. He loves animals, and he loves to lick and kiss these strange animals!

Weekend Fun!

Boys taking cover while daddy is building the base for the snowman and throwing snowballs at them.
Boys walking out in front yard to play.

Our finished product. Thanks to E & R for the snowman kit. We had such a blast making the snowman. This was the first day is was actually up in thirties so we could spend some time outside in the snow.

Carter playing in the snow. Ben said he didn't want in the picture, but as you can see he is sneaking around to get in the pic.

Carter posing with his Frosty.

After exploring some of the area on Saturday morning, we spent the afternoon playing outside. It is amazing that we get so excited when the temperature is in the 30s. It was great weather to play outside. After building a snowman and throwing snowballs at each other, we went to the hill by our house to go sledding. It is tons of fun watching the boys sled down the small hill. They have such a blast. As you can tell from the pictures, we are still covered in snow. This is actually the snow that landed the weekend we got back from Texas (about 4 weeks ago). There is just no place for it to go, crazy!

Sledding Fun!