He's on the move!

 Dumped out Mommy's Trash Can:(

 Love at First Sight

 Big Boy Bath Tub!!!

Mohawk by Kylie

Oh, Carter, I just love you so much buddy!

Big boy Carter is now 8 months old, weighing in at 22 lbs. and he's on the move! He's not really crawling yet, he basically pulls himself around by one arm and lets his feet drag behind.  It's hilarious.  But, he gets where he needs to go and he gets there fast!  Visions of Jackson dumping out the dog bowls have now resurfaced. Ugh. The house is pretty much kid-proofed, but ther are always things that have to be done with a curious crawler.  He finally has a tooth coming in too!  It's a big month folks!  He isn't eating any puffs or crackers yet, but once those teeth come in, he'll be ready to go. He's even started babbling "dadadadadadada" and I can tell he's so proud of himself. I was rocking him last night and he had his eyes closed on my shoulder saying "dadadadadadadada" and it was just too cute.  He's sleeping well these days, going to bed around 8:00 and sleeping until maybe 7:00.  Sometimes we'll get a 5:30 wake-up call, but after a bottle he's back asleep.

I am looking forward to all the fun milestones ahead and feel so blessed to have another baby to go through it with!



Happy Easter!

My Precious Gifts

Kylie and Katie-Bug

Playing before the Egg Hunt. Sweet face.

Carter was very proud for getting cousin Katie's phone:)

 

Another fun holiday to remember. With each kiddo just comes more fun on the holidays.  Jackson certainly got the whole egg hunting more this year, so that was fun! Our neighborhood egg hunt was pretty great.  They had it organized and broken down by age, so that was really nice for them to split up the big kids and little kids.  Jackson was in the 0-2 group so we was the big man on campus! After it was all said and done I think we did about 5 egg hunts this year not counting school ones. So fun!!! The Easter Bunny brought them some fun goodies in their baskets and hid eggs to find around the house.  I cherish each holiday I get to spend with my family.  There is nowhere I would rather be!

When life throws you down...

Or, in yesterday's case, a horse named Freckles.  Kylie was at her riding lesson yesterday and was thrown off her horse for the first time (and hopefully the last).  She stopped to get her bottle of water from Grandma and the horse starting walking again, so her teacher told her to drop the bottle.  Well, the bottle cracked and water flew, and off the horse went leaving Kylie behind. On her behind to be exact.  Poor baby.  I actually wasn't there when it happened, as I was on my way there with Jackson.  When I got there, Kylie was slowly riding Freckles while Mr. Brad was holding on to the reigns and she didn't look too happy.  My mom told me what happened and my first instinct was to go over there and comfort her, but I stayed behind and let her be brave and strong (so her and Freckles could gain their trust again).

As hard as it was for me to see her hurting, I couldn't help but think about what a great life lesson this would be.  Life throws us down all the time.  We can't just stay on the ground and cry about what just happened.  No sirreee, we have to get back up in the saddle and move on with our heads high, proud of the fact that we just overcame another fall.

In the end, Kylie was smiling and so proud of the fact that she got back up on her horse!  She was even excited about telling her friends at school about how she's "a real cowgirl" now because she was thrown off a horse.  She got that from my Great Uncle Bubba, whom my mom called to tell that she had been thrown.  He's grown up on a ranch and still lives on one, so he knows all too well about the lessons of a rider.  Kylie even got to talk to him, which made me so happy. He's just one of those people that God really broke the mold on.  Old Aggie with a big heart in a small body, who shares his life with a lady who is truly an angel here on earth.  Amazing people they are, and I'm proud to have them in my family.

As I lay next to her in bed last night with her cuddled in my arms, I thanked God for reminding us once again that sometimes He is going to teach us some lessons that are hard to learn, and even might leave a few scars, but we'll surely be stronger, braver, and definitely more faithful for it.

Coloring Easter Eggs

So, I tried baking the eggs instead of boiling them for the first time today (thank you Pinterest). It worked out pretty well, even though we a had a few casualties.  We just cooked them on 325 for about 30  minutes and voila! They were done.  After they were done we got to decorating. Of course this was a last-minute decision so we only had 10 eggs to dye today. We'll have to get more for this week! Kylie tried to make hers multi-colored, but Jackson just stuck with the classic stick-it-in-the-cup-and-wait routine. Works for me! I think we'll try Kool-Aid next time for vibrant eggs that smell yummy!

Ode to the Lion

I don't know why I've never written about Lion before.  Lion has now become a member of our family. Lion was originally owned by Kylie, but one day Jackson just decided he really liked it, so she gave it to him.  Well, it's been a match made in Heaven ever since.  This kid is so attached to this lion.  I keep thinking I need a backup in case anything ever happened to him, but at this point, he would quickly recognize the imposter.  He has his Lion close by pretty much every minute of the day, except when he goes to school. Lion is his best buddy and his comfort when he's hurt or sad.  When Jackson is falling asleep at night, his sweet little hands just pet lion over and over until he falls asleep. It is too precious.  Lion has been well-loved and you can tell, but that's what I love about him.  On the rare occasion I can get him away for an hour or two I try to wash him, but let's just say Lion typically doesn't have that oh so clean smell:)  So, we love you Lion and are so happy you are in our family!!

Spring Break 2012 Day Three

Off to Cabela's!!!Who doesn't love Cabela's?  Grandpa Roy even came with us on this adventure.  Kylie and Grandma Mary used to go to Cabela's quite a bit, but she hadn't been there in a long time.  Despite the cool animals and the huge fish tank, it seems like Jackson's favorite part was the big staircase - sheesh.
I think this store is so stinkin' cool.  All those neat animals in their true form.  Awesome.  And, the fish tank is quite a sight to see as well. Carter really liked this part!

 It's annoying that this is sideways - grrrrr.

When we went upstairs, the kids had fun playing in all the tents and shooting the laser guns.  Then, it was time for a bite to eat.  So, hot dogs for the kiddos and it was off to see more of the store.  Kylie even got a "Sic 'Em Bears" picture!

Spring Break 2012 Day Two

Rodeo... here we come!

I was a little worried on the way there because it was sprinkling, but we were going to the Rodeo rain or shine!

Carter stayed home while Kylie, Jackson and I spent some fun time together.  We started at the big barn for petting tons of cute (and not so cute) animals.  There was even a camel in there.  Those are some really interesting animals!

Kylie always enjoys feeding the animals and doesn't seem skiddish about it all.  Jackson on the other hand, prefers to throw the food at them so not to actually touch them!  At one point, a little goat was chewing on my shoelace and he did not like that one bit.  I thought it was really funny:) Some of those animals were little stinkers and would almost knock kids down trying to get their food.  One of them went after the backpack I was wearing!

After the petting zoo, we went out to ride some rides.  Jackson got to ride his first roller coaster.  I could tell he was a bit leary of the roller coaster, but I'm really glad he didn't chicken out.  Kylie sat in front of us, then Jackson and I were right behind her.  He was whimpering a little bit at first, but then he got the hang of it and was all smiles! So fun!  Oh man, I want to go back to Disneyworld.  He would so dig that place (well, who doesn't).

The other highlight of the rodeo was the tractors on display.  We could have gone just to check out the tractors and he would have been totally fine with that.  He is so into tractors right now.  In fact, we're thinking he might get a little ride-on tractor for his birthday in May. Ha!

The only bad part about the day was going out the wrong exit and then having to walk all the way through the Rodeo to get back to the right exit. Ugh.  I have no sense of direction.  No good.

I am so glad we went and hope to make it an annual tradition with the kiddos!