Happy 2nd Birthday Carter

Wow, it is so hard to believe that Carter is already two. The past few years have been such a blast as we have watched Carter grow from such a sweet cuddly baby into the fireball, full of energy, never resting, always playing toddler!! It just amazes me how much they change in just two sweet years. I remember thinking, this same time last year, will he ever talk? And now, wow, I have a little guy who for the past three weeks has been telling me he wants a "chachi choo-choo cake"....and so of course, that is exactly what he got!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Carter!

Matt has always had the joy of making us our birthday breakfasts which always consist of pancakes in the shape of the year we are celebrating....notice, i didn't post mine from a few months ago! Anyways, above you can see that Carter really enjoyed being daddy's little helper.

Here are the little train engine party favors that I made and was so completely proud of because I thought that they so closely resembled a train. That was until Ceili got hers as she was walking out the door and she said, "Oh, a little girl.....in a fancy dress!" What? Are you kidding? My sister Holly and myself just lost it. Too funny! So, I walked over and said, "what if we look at it a little differently." and she said, "oh, mamie, it's a train!". That a girl! You are so silly! But, honestly I can see what she was thinking. If you look close it looks like a little lady with white hair, killer curves and an apron.

Above, Keira and Carter are enjoying a nice round of Coal Toss.

Tada....here is the cake. Carter loved it with all the colors and all the candies. But most importantly he loved it because it was "chachi"!!

'Round Here!!

Hello! Well this past week, like all weeks, we have been hanging out and having fun! Only this week my camera was in arms reach for most of it!! So here you go, a few shots of us bumming around and having a blast!

"Yummo! Bam!" Just a few words Carter uses to describe the pure richness of chocolate cake. Since Carter asked for a "Chachi" cake for his birthday, I spent this past Sunday whipping up a few for practice. Oh, how I hate to pass on the four little metal wires of tasty cake batter but to see his little face all covered with chocolate and that intense look of trying so hard to get every last drop it was well worth it. He became a batter tasting pro and momma saved a few extra calories!!
While I was making cakes, Matt was busy hanging a shelf and Carter was right there to help! Isn't it cute to watch kids try so hard to be little adults. If you look closely Carter is making sure it is level like two feet below where the shelf is actually being hung but he just kept saying, "I help. I help!" And I also thought it was cute that both Matt and Carter situate their stance on their right leg while the left is propped up. Too funny! And yes, Carter grabbed the tool box to help Matt out. Doesn't everybody hang their shelves with a crowbar?? Oh, by the way, Matt wasn't really using any of those tools but how could you tell Carter that?

Arts and crafts are HUGE at our house. I mean HUGE! Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night just thinking of things that I could make with Carter. There is who calls me momma, some that call me mother earth, and yet another who calls me Martha. Really, I don't even come close to being a real Martha but I have lots of fun trying! Above, Carter is showing off his "dirty" hands from finger painting.

Ok, thats it! We are outta here! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

No photo, only words

because no camera could ever capture the pure sweetness of this moment. It happened last night as we were eating dinner. Matt and I, like always, were trying to encourage Carter to eat his food. So we were both leaning in close to Carter as we asked him for a bite off his plate. How it normally works is he gets as close as possible to putting a bite from his plate in our mouths and then at the very last second, like the king of a head fake, he snaps it back and pops it in his mouth. It is a simple little thing that works for all of us....he thinks he is "tricking" us and we finally get him to eat his food. All are happy. But last night as were finishing our fish, Matt and I were leaning in close and Carter just looked from one of us to the other and then reached his little arms out. One resting on Matt and the other resting on me. And then with the cutest little smile and sweetest little voice he said, "My family". How completely sweet! That moment filled my eyes with tears and my heart with joy! Don't you just love 'em!

SNOW much fun!!!

So, since we had so much fun the other day playing in the snow we decided to head back out for round two. This time....it was like 12 minutes bundling up and more like 30 minutes playing. Hey we are getting better at this whole make-sure-every-inch-of-skin-is covered-thing!!

And just as a side note, if you know me you know that, much like I have a love for freshly vacuumed carpet with nice little lines, I also love freshly fallen snow with no tracks running through it....that was at least until this little guy. Who could tell this heart-melting, spirit-lifting, sweet as honey, little guy no? Not me. And so, no longer am I worried about freshly fallen snow and just been vacuumed carpets. I am just more than delighted to play, have fun, and make the most of every second with this cutie.

That smile says it all....we were having a blast and Carter was having the time of his life!

Yeah, as I said, so much for fresh snow. Not only do we have tracks galore, but somebody also had the BRIGHT idea of adding a little color. Ok, so maybe red wasn't the best choice but we had fun and thats what matters most.


After digging and building it was time to head inside and warm our little hands and bellies. Nothing says "just in from out in the cold" like a warm cup of hot chocolate! yum-yum!

And here is the aftermath...and just as a another side note....yes, I had actually just mopped the floors! But I hope that someday when Carter is talking about me, hopefully he will be able to recall all the fun things that we did together and not just remember that his mommy always had clean floors!