Happy 4th Birthday Grant!

On Saturday, we helped celebrate Grant's 4th Birthday! His party was at a local fire station. It was so much fun! Carson enjoyed dressing up in Grant and Hayden's firemen costumes. We enjoyed a nice lunch, had delicious cake, took a ride on a fire truck, and participated in an obstacle course race! Carson had a BLAST! Ella enjoyed sitting on the fire truck herself! It was GREAT to be able to spend time with the Goode family again! :)

Friday Night FUN!

Carson had a special "play date" on Friday with Vance and Brianna. Vance came home with Carson after school on Friday afternoon. As soon as we got home, the boys suited up in their racing costumes and were ready for a race! Vance LOVES Car's Jimmie Johnson race car. I had to convince the boys that they needed to eat before racing, so they wouldn't run out of "fuel"! As they were eating, I decided to invite Brianna over to play. The boys were excited, especially Vance being that Brianna is his "girlfriend"! Brianna was really shy when she first got here. She didn't have any interest at all in racing with the boys. She said her tummy was too big for her to fit in the tractor. After a little while of racing, everyone began playing together. Ella enjoyed sitting in her stroller and watching the "BIG KIDS" play. Carson, Brianna, and Vance enjoyed racing, playing hide-and-go-seek, Red Rover, playing super heroes, and of course having their pictures taken! :) Carson's next FRIDAY NIGHT FUN will take place at his Bobbie's house with his two cousins and baby sister! :)

Thursday Thirteen #?

It has been a couple of weeks I think since I posted a Thursday Thirteen! It may be a few more before I have the time to post another one. So, I find it very fitting, but sad to post...

13 Reasons Carson and Ella will be Mommyless Over the Next Week or So
1. It is REPORT CARD time. Our district uses a very lengthy computerized standards-based report card that takes me WAY TOO MUCH time to complete (especially since I teach forty children)!
2. I MUST go to work at my school on Saturday to finish preparing for next week's conferences.
3. My first night of student-led conferences is on Monday until 6:00. Well, they are set to end at six, so who knows when I will get out of there. The room must be transformed back into its norm before I leave. Twenty children will be waiting by my door bright and early to get in. If you are a teacher, you know that you don't want to upset the norm!
4. It takes at least 30 minutes to drive home from work after a L-O-N-G twelve hours.
5. My second night of student-led conferences is Tuesday until 6:00.
6. Immediately following conferences, our PTO meeting begins!
7. Working at least 14 hours a day won't allow much time for anything else but crashing in the bed!
8. Our school's Fall Festival is on Thursday from 4-7. Once again, another 12 hour workday.
9. Late afternoon planning sessions will occur since all of my other time at the beginning of the week will be consumed with preparing for conferences.
10. My tired body will begin wearing down, so I am sure I will catch some sickness going around!
11. My husband will probably kick me out of town because I will be so grumpy! Of course, he will keep my children with him!
12. My mom, dad, and sister will probably kick me out of the country because they have had to keep my children all week!
13. A mandatory after school meeting was called for next MONDAY afternoon from 3-6! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO TEACHES WHO HAS SMALL CHILDREN WHO NEED THEIR MOMMY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(As I finish this quick post, Carson comes and places his head on my arm and in the sweetest voice says, "Why can't you spend time with me?")
Little does he know what next week holds in store... :(

A Singer in the Making!

This picture makes me chuckle!!!!!!!

Ella's Eight Months Old!

Wow! It seems like I just posted that Ella was seven months old. I cannot believe how time is just flying by with her. This month hasn't really brought a lot of "milestones"! I am kind of glad about that. I am wanting to hold on to the "baby" time as long as I possibly can! I remember with Carson, I couldn't wait to have him rolling over, sitting up by himself, crawling, walking, talking, etc. While I am very excited when Roo achieves all of these tasks, I don't count down to the time when they will occur. She is sitting up very well by herself now. She is in the beginning stages of crawling. She has mastered the scooting backward part! :) She becomes a little frustrated with herself though. She is rolling all over the place and able to push herself back into a crawling position if she rolls on her back. As far as eating goes, she still enjoys squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, and pears. I would have to say her favorite food would be blueberry and pears mixed together! :) She continues to only eat four ounces at a time. I don't think we will ever graduate to the larger bottles! I haven't seen any signs of little white things emerging from her gums. I am really shocked at this being that Carson received his first two teeth at four months!

Ella has really fallen in love with her sitter, Rose Marie! She is so cute every morning when Rose Marie gets there. She will be waiting patiently in her swing, and when Rose Marie comes through the door she will get this HUGE smile on her face while her feet are kicking out of control. She begins this little whining until Rose Marie rescues her. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with a private sitter for Ella for the amount of time that He has! She is truly a blessing! This is providing Ella with quality one-on-one time that she otherwise would not have received being that she does have a BIG brother in the house that also needs his mommy and daddy.

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch!

Last Saturday, we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! This year's trip was very special because it was Ella's first trip (outside of Mommy's tummy)! It was way TOO hot to be at a pumpkin patch with fall clothes on, so our trip didn't last too long! Carson enjoyed seeing Bubba and all of the other animals! Each year, I have taken Carson's picture standing at Bubba's fence in the same spot. It is amazing to see how much he grows each year in comparison to the fence! He looks like a giant this year! If you look really closely, you will see that we have started the Bubba picture tradition with Roo! We captured the picture right before she decided to try to fall back on the cement! Her daddy was very fast with that catch! :) Aunt Lizzie met us there, so of course, she joined in on the photo shoot! :)

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch!

Roo loved the wind blowing in her face and hair! This picture makes me laugh! :)

Last Saturday, we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! This year's trip was very special because it was Ella's first trip (outside of Mommy's tummy)! It was way TOO hot to be at a pumpkin patch with fall clothes on, so our trip didn't last too long! Carson enjoyed seeing Bubba and all of the other animals! Each year, I have taken Carson's picture standing at Bubba's fence in the same spot. It is amazing to see how much he grows each year in comparison to the fence! He looks like a giant this year! If you look really closely, you will see that we have started the Bubba picture tradition with Roo! We captured the picture right before she decided to try to fall back on the cement! Her daddy was very fast with that catch! :) Aunt Lizzie met us there, so of course, she joined in on the photo shoot! :)

Themes and Dreams: Carson's First Post

My Aunt Lizzie is an amazingly creative person! (Okay, My mommy helped me with those words!) She has been making all of my birthday invitations since I had my 2nd Birthday! I am now 5, so that has been a lot of work! She has now started her own little "business" making invitations, Thank You cards, Christmas cards, ... She just finished making my Cousin Ian's 2nd birthday invitation! It is so cute! Visit her website to see more!

VIRUS!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who really know me, I am not talking about what I become obsessed about quite easily - - HUMAN VIRUS! I now have a NEW obsession, and that is a COMPUTER VIRUS! Our computer is SICK, SICK, SICK! I have so many things to post, but am scared to do anything in fear that some crazy hacker is in my personal stuff! I am just dying to post some cute pics of my precious ones from the weekend!

I Can Believe This...

This Can't Possibly Be True!!!!!!!

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen or MORE of Carson's Favorite Birthday Gifts! (in random order)

1. Webkinz pet (named Willy from Brianna)

2. "Moon" boots that his Pops gave him (he slept with them the night he received them and insists on wearing them sockless with shorts)

3. Motorcross Racing Suit (from Aunt Lizzie)

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. racing suit and helmet (from Mommy and Daddy)

5. Superman and Batman pajamas with capes that are too cute (from Vance and Cameron)

6. New boxer underwear (from Bobbie)

7. Jeff Gordon racing suit (from Grammy - I think)

8. MONEY (from G.G. and Susan)

9. Superman wallet (from Ella Roo)

10. Dinosaur Hot Wheel Set with cars (from Savannah)

11. New clothes to last awhile (from Tripp, Grammy, Bobbie, Pops)

12. "Warrior" suit (from Phil and Sarita)

13. Buffalo Bills Comfy Blanket (from Cousin Ian and Cousin Cameron)

14. Baseball cleats (from Mommy and Daddy)

15. Mickey Mouse DVD (from Aunt Donna, Uncle Chris, and Cousin Dawson)

16. Power Ranger Sets (from Gavin and Nathan)

17. New truck and dinosaur pajamas (from Aunt Karen and Uncle Charlie)

18. New mechanical dinosaurs (from Ian and Clark)

Happy 5th Birthday Car!

We celebrated Carson's 5th birthday on Saturday!!!!!!! I can't believe my BIG BOY is now 5 years old! I can't type too much about how time is flown by and about how much Car has changed our lives without becoming too sad. I will say that Car is definitely his mommy's world! I have to let him know that daily!

Thanks to Aunt Lizzie and Grammy, we had an AMAZING DINOSAUR party at the park! Words could never express how thankful I am to them for all they did to make the party so great for Car. From creating the invitations, to ordering the cake, to making the treat bags, to putting up with me saying "I don't care. What do you think?"... they did it ALL (with the exception of the one check I have already written to Lizzie)!!!