Monday, November 22, 2010

Carter's 1st Birthday!

The Cake.




The birthday boy and his dad.


The guests.
*note - Sydney took most of these pictures....you tell me if people took her seriously...

Uncle Bryan

Uncle Jared

Aunt Kelly

Roy and Kelly

Aunt Jacee

Grandma Gifford

Aunt Becky (and baby Levi)

Grandma and Grandpa Whitney

The birthday boy and Mommy


CAKE TIME!!











When Sydney found out I was going to make The Hungry Caterpillar for Carter's cake she made it her personal project to color pictures for decorations.  She worked very hard all week on them.




And I had to take a picture of Carter drinking his very last bottle.  
For anyone that has seen this boy eat, you know what a big deal this was!
The End!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Phew.

That's how I feel when I look back at this past year.
Our sweet little Carter was born a whole year ago. 
So much has happened in his first year of life and it seems like we've been going non-stop since he was born.
He's been a trooper and the perfect fit into our crazy family.
Happy Birthday Carter, Mr. Carter, Charter, Carter Sauce, Carterson, Carty, Mr. Son.
We sure love you!

3 days old, ready to leave the hospital.


Three months old.


6 months old.

9 months old.


1 year old (almost).

Carter is working on his 8th tooth.  Sydney and Jackson only had 2 at one year.
He says Mom and Dad, flips his tongue around in his mouth to make a sound for drink, and has the most shrill scream to get the other things he wants...stinker!
He started walking about a month ago, but still prefers to cruise the walls and furniture to get where he wants to go.
He started crawling right after he took his first steps.  Before then he scooted.
He can hold up one finger if you ask him how old he is.
He waves bye and is starting to blow kisses.
He loves to push buttons (tv, dvd player, printer, keyboard, etc.)
Because of the above, he has learned what "no" means and makes the saddest face even when you say it in the nicest tone....but he listens.
He does a scrunchy face smile when you get the camera out.
He sucks his index finger with anything silky including tags (like the tag on clothes).
He likes to do whatever Sydney and Jackson are doing, and they let him.
He makes us smile.
We love you, Carter!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Kids said

It has been forever - but I still have a few of these I save. Here's the best from the last several months. -mk

Sydney said,"Dad will you hunt someday?" I said ok, what do you want me to hunt? She said "maybe fish?" Jackson said "maybe butterflies?"

Jackson said he had a mint drink. Keresa asked him what that means. He said, "well, first I got a mint in my cheek, then, I got some spit in my cheek, then after a while I drink the spit, then I do it one more time so I can have two mint drinks!"

Sydney told me she learned about a new kind of book today. "it's called a magazine. It is kind of smooth and wobbly."

After a few days of playing on the beach, Sydney was walking in the sand. She complained to Keresa, "My feet are so swollen I have to walk like an old person."

We made cookies. Some didn't look so good, so I told the kids the plate of this kind were ugly, and they were for the kids to eat (rather than eating the pretty ones that we might give away). A little while later, a sad Jackson asked me, "Dad, can I have an ugly kid cookie?" I told him yes and I didn't mean they were for ugly kids. I hope he understood.

The kids were playing some bug-card game. I heard Jackson say, "I drew a matress card!" I went to check it out and saw it was a picture of a praying mantis. ("Mantis" kind of sounds like matress?)

Jackson asked Keresa if he could get a fire, then roast a penguin on it. She said no. He said, "Well how about if we poke a tiger or seahorse and cook them?"

Jackson said, "Can we make a candy bracelet but with popcorn instead and hang it on the Christmas Tree?"

Carter knocked over the garbage can, so we went running. By the time we got there, he had already pulled out a bunch of stuff and had a banana peel in his mouth. It happened again the next day and Keresa grabbed him while he had two strawberry stems in his mouth.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A Few More

Halloween Pictures, that is.

Carving pumpkins.







Passing out candy at my parent's house.
Sherri and Sydney.

Sydney, Jackson, Sherri, and Bryan on the porch waiting to terrify poor little children.


Sydney, Grandma, and Jackson making peanut butter eyeballs.


There you have it!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Halloween!

Before I get to the Halloween post let me introduce you to the newest addition of our family.
Mr. Computer.
I got a laptop 3 years ago for dirt cheap on Ebay and it's been on it's last leg for
oh...
about three years.
Since we moved back to Las Vegas 6 months ago
(I know...what?...6 months already?)
it's been demoted to a stationary desktop computer....every time I moved/unplugged it, something bad would happen, so on the desk it's stayed.
Sunday it took it's last breath.
Dead.
Sad.
BUT...no worries,
introducing
Mr. Computer!

I couldn't decide how to introduce him...
Attmept #1:
Happy me with Mr. Computer.
 Sadly, I look a little scared and although I'm facing the camera, it appears that I'm facing the computer and have elasta-neck.  Weird. 

Attempt #2
Thumbs up for Mr. Computer.
 Kinda lame don't you think?

Attmept #3:
 "Yesss! I got a new computer!"
 Eh.

Forth and final attempt:
"YEAH!  I got a new computer and I'm gonna punch you in the face!"
Ok, that's enough.
This is what happens when Sydney and Jackson are at school, Carter's taking a nap, and the house is actually clean for the first time in a week.
Good thing this doesn't happen often.

ANYWAY.
Halloween.
I did a poor job of getting pictures this year.  Every time I thought about getting my camera out someone else had their camera out and was snapping pictures and I thought
"Oh, I'll just have them email those to me."
Ya, how often does that actually happen?
Well, I did ask my sisters to send me the pictures they took, so there may be an update to this post.
NOW, here we go.

Jackson was a pirate.  Again.  Hooray for little kids who don't outgrow their costumes from last year!

Sydney switched off between being a 50's girl and a witch (her costumes from the past 2 years...sweet!)

Our ward trunk-or-treat was on Wednesday night.  Lots of fun.  I handed out about 200 pieces of candy.  Crazy.




On Saturday my sisters Sherri and Kelly came over and helped us carve pumpkins.
I didn't take any pictures, but McKay must have snapped these sometime.





On Friday we went to my parent's trunk-or-treat.
No pictures. Lame.

On Sunday we went over to my parents to hand out candy and have dinner.
We had 
Creepy eyeball tacos,
Cheesy mummies,
Witch Fingers,
and more eyeballs for dessert.
No pictures of that night either.  Double lame.

So, that was our Halloween week.
Now it's November and we have lots to look forward to.
Carter's 1st birthday!
My 26th birthday!
I teach preschool again!
Thanksgiving with McKay's family!
Bring it on, November!