Bye-Bye Bottles

Look at what Elijah learned.....

C'mon Mom....

I know that Carter is going to find this post quite embarrassing one day but.....it will be many years until he can located and read this blog on his own.......so here goes...... Carter pooped on the potty this morning! We have been having much success with peeing but pooping has been a bit of an obstacle. This morning, much to my surprise, Carter requested his little potty and went....so much excitement! In case any of you are wondering what the reward for pooping in the potty is....a skittle, a M&M, 3 Cars Reward stickers and a lollipop. A bit of overkill I know...but what can I say? I am a proud Mommy and most of all I am happy that we may be seeing the end of one child in diapers!

Taking a Dip

In order to woo Carter from Mimi and Poppy's today I had to promise him some pool time and he discovered that he could use his slide and pool together......HOURS of fun!

Just Because

I had to put this up just bcause Eli is so serious. (sorry I am not sure how to rotate the clip)

Happy Birthday to Mommy

Yesterday I celebrated my 33rd birthday. It's funny, as I get older I really do believe that I am getting better with age. I am very lucky to have my wonderful husband (who works harder than he should most days), my fantastic family, health and, of course, my boys......who are the best gifts ever! Brian took charge of the boys, giving me the day "off" and he also made a wonderful dinner with just a tiny bit of help from our Moms. My mom and I went to tea and then visited a greenhouse (two of my favorite things), a great dinner (that I didn't prepare or clean up), and special time with my family.....ahhh....Heaven!! I love you all so much....thank you for everything that you did so I could have a relaxed day!
Carter and I blow out the candles and make wish. We only had to light the candles and sing Happy Birthday twice.

Yes....these boys are serious about cake!

Last Day of School

Carter's school year has officially ended. We enjoyed the last day of school playing outside and enjoying a hot dog party. The day started off sunny making it perfect to spend the first half of our party playing on the Noah's Ark and other playground toys.
The kids enjoy sliding down the pole in the center of the Ark as Miss Jackie waits below to catch them. Carter was a little unsure of the pole at first but really enjoyed himself after sliding down about 50 times....Miss Jackie was busy!

Jacob and Carter poke their heads out of one of the Ark's windows. After this picture the boys happily started a chorus of "you scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

Mrs. McAtee rallies the class onto the top of slide and prepares them for "blastoff"!

It is amazing how still and quiet the children are when waiting for a snack time. This is Carter's class plus some siblings as they get ready to sing their prayer song.

Carter enjoys his chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. He also had two hot dogs and a cupcake. Guess that's what happens when you sleep in and skip breakfast.

Carter says good-bye and wishes Mrs. McAtee a Happy Summer!

This past weekend Carter and I worked on painting pots for his teachers, Miss Eileen (the secretary who readily hands out lollipops at the end of each class) and Mrs. Simms (the pre-school director)...we then picked out flowers and planted them. He was very proud of his special project and the pots looked so cute. Carter excitedly distributed the pots and relished in the compliments he received for his hard work but as the class time wore on he became sad and had a really hard time saying good-bye to his teachers....however....the promise of summer visits to both Miss Jackie and Mrs. McAtee's homes seemed to perk him up. If he only knew how quickly summer will fly by................

On to our new adventures!

I'm Still Standing

Elijah pulled himself up to the standing position today! Yea......this is a huge deal as standing at furniture is the next step to cruising! Everyday we get a little bit closer to him taking steps.

This Sandbox Rocks!

The boys love the sandbox, no doubt....but this past weekend I caught McGraw in there "playing". He was rolling and flipping the kid's sand toys around. He had a grand time!


P.S. Isn't he the cutest little poodle mix ever?!?

Shut Out

Last night I was watching the little boy across the street for a few hours. It works out great because Carter and Joey are great playmates and are never any trouble. The older boys were playing so nice and Eli was happily trying to get into the mix when all of the sudden Carter and Joey run into Carter's room and slam the door in little Eli's face! Poor baby had such a pout going and then the tears came! The cycle has begun....Eli officially became Carter's annoying little tag-along brother last night!

Barnyard Days

We enjoyed a field trip today to Phillipsburg H.S. for Barnyard Days! The agricultural students set up and run the day. They had different areas set up with all different animals, plants, flowers and tractors for the children to learn about. It was very nicely done and all the kids really seemed to enjoy it! Carter was able to pet a duck named Pork Chop and a baby goat named Tinkerbell. Carter declared that both Pork Chop and Tinkerbell were very soft and nice to touch!

Carter and Jacob were the only two children able to attend from their class and liked having Miss Jackie and Mrs. McAtee all to themselves. I love this below picture of Miss Jackie and Carter!

Mrs. McAtee takes charge of the boys as they head to the hear about the next animal.

Brian took a half day per Carter's request and the two of them spent time together. Carter seemed thrilled that Brian was one of the few Dads that was there.

Even though he was interested with the animals, Carter just couldn't hold his concentration until we visited the tractor station. He could barely control the ants in his pants.....as the tractors tempted him, he tried to sneak off early to see them a few times! Finally he and Jacob made it front and center and got a good look. Guess what?....There was a tractor "just like Poppy's" there. This station proved to be the favorite!

At the end Carter enjoyed some homemade ice cream....also a favorite!

Little Monkeys

We spent the entire morning on the walking path with Jacob, Cassie and Ashleigh. It is amazing how quickly everything has grown in the last few weeks with the abundant rain and then sunshine. Carter and Jacob have become quite the little explorers and even climbed this fence to get a look at Jacob's "secret" waterfall. All around us wildflowers bloomed and there were signs of wildlife everywhere. We saw a couple of fat little chipmunks, ducks and their cute ducklings, a variety of birds and Ashleigh and the boys even saw a snake swimming happily across a small brook. (the snake was happy NOT Ashleigh!)
Carter made me extremely proud when he befriended this tiny caterpillar. Anyone who knows me knows that I love bugs, butterflies, frogs and salamanders. So I really enjoyed watching Carter take interest in this little guy. He talked to him and asked me a lot of questions about him and then we sent him on his way.

Today was also a great picture day and the boys cooperated for these two adorable pictures, a very rare occurrence!

Eli chilled in the stroller and did a lot of babbling and Miss Cassie made her way onto Ashleigh's shoulder for the last leg of the trip and really enjoyed checking out all of the scenery.

It was another fantastic outing with lots of laughs and giggles and a lot of excellent sharing of snacks and stroller rides....oh and maybe a tiny bit of yelling and disciplining!

Happy Birthday to You!!

Happy Birthday to our very special Mimi!!

These Boots are Made for Walking

Even though he is not quite walking yet Eli got his first pair of walking shoes yesterday!

Carter got a great pair of dress sandals and his first pair of Crocs which he loves. He thinks they are "way cool" and is especially thrilled with his dinosaur and bicycle Jibitz that his Nini picked out!

Thank you very much Nini for the wonderful shoes!!!!

Mother's Tea

Yesterday was my first ever Mother's Tea. Carter and I had a fine time. We enjoyed jelly and chicken salad sandwiches and laughed and giggled. Carter was so excited for me to see all of the "secret" crafts he had been working on for the past few weeks and was thrilled to see me wearing the bird's nest hat he made!
Carter and Jacob, of course, wanted to sit next to one another and were very well behaved. Jacob was sweet enough to share his jelly sandwich with Carter, while Carter was happy to make sure Jacob's juice cup stayed filled!

Below is my bird's nest hat as well as a beautiful vase of flowers, handmade place mats and a necklace of beads that Carter and I worked on together! Hands down this was one of the most precious days of my life!

Banner Day

Today was a fabulous day not just because the sun finally came out but because today Carter wore big boy underwear all day! This is the day I have been waiting for.....the breakthrough day as I will refer to it. We have had some minor potty success in the past but it was always me pushing Carter into using the potty and wearing the big boy underwear. For goodness sakes, I bought every possible pair of underwear (i.e. Thomas, Spiderman, Tractors, Firetrucks ect.) just hoping to spark some interest. We were so brave as to even venture out and run errands without the safety net of diapers or pull-ups and we had NO accidents. The best part is that Carter seems so proud of himself. He was willing to go on the potty...ahhh.....the power of a little Skittle.....and he told us he can't wait until tomorrow to use the potty again! Hallelujah!!!

Gotta Love a Deere!

A John Deere, that is. It's official, both of my boys "dig" their Poppy's backhoe. Today was Eli's first time on it and he had fun. Carter wasn't too happy about sharing the backhoe or his Poppy but he did okay and allowed Eli some time on it.

Carter's reward for sharing with his brother was the opportunity to operate the digger all by himself. Here are some photos of him giving it a try. He did manage to move a little bit of the ground but was a bit overwhelmed. He did do a good job listening to his Poppy's instructions and let Poppy lend a hand!

Through Carter's Eyes

Carter and his class have been getting ready to celebrate Mother's Day and tomorrow I will attend my first Mother's Tea! For a couple of weeks the kids have been making special projects and talking about what makes their mom so special....last week they were asked to make a picture of their mom. Carter had to pick out eyes and hair that matched mine and he also had to guess my age and favorite color. He did a great job and even shaved a few years off of my age!! Below is his picture of me....I think it is perfect!