Today is the Day!

I thought I would be posting a picture today of Tyler with his new front tooth. However, plans have changed. We did go to the dentist and they tried.......no luck! Our dentist called the D.M.D. dentist in the next office over to look and he agreed. He just doesn't have enough tooth there (that is exposed) to attach to. So now we will wait and check at every 6 month visit and see if the cap they fill will fit. Tyler seems fine with that for now. He is more concerned about the drilling and pain, then a missing tooth. The dentist assured me that his tooth will be fine as it is. So he is a picture, he is just as handsome without one.

(Update: Kennedy is also doing better. We will try a full day of school tomorrow and just go day by day with what she can tolerate. No gym or outdoor recess for 4 weeks.)

Carter's Quiet?

The other day I was fielding calls from Kennedy's Doctor and friends/family to she how she was doing. While I was on the phone Carter and Kennedy had been playing. I was busy multi-tasking while on the phone and was wrapping packages to be sent out. Carter was up on the stool watching my every move. He got down and went to play, and I continued my work. After about 5 minutes I looked to see where he was and didn't see him or hear him. I then looked in on the couch and saw he had climbed up and went to sleep. Kennedy covered him up with a blanket and went back to playing herself. If only everyday tasks were this easy to get done!

Carters New Croc's

While on our drive home from Grandma Rita's, Joe said " The outlets are about 5 miles away do you want to stop". You know me and outlets so I of course said yes! It was a perfect time to get out and stretch our legs and go potty. While there we walked through many stores and purchased some things at the CROC'S outlet. Carter got a new pair of CROC'S......but more importantly he got a Diego and a baby Jaguar JIBITS to put in his CROCS. He is very excited about his new CROCS. If you call them "shoes" he will be sure to correct you and let you know they are his "blue CROC'S"!

Back Track to Saturday

While at Rita's Saturday, my parents, Jen, Jacob, and Kendall came up to visit. We were able to sit and catch up while the kids all played together. We celebrated Carter's Bday. He was excited to open his presents and have cake with his cousins. Carter loved his presents. He has been playing constantly with his new ninja turtles and his fire station. I think the biggest hit was his new nerf gun. Thanks Grandpa its Carters favorite and now maybe he can keep up with Daddy! (Kennedy is doing better today, although her feet hurt to walk because they are very swollen from the hives. We got the first batch of blood results back today and they were normal, except for the WBC resulting from the mono)

Poor Kennedy

On Saturday night while at Rita's we noticed something when Kennedy was getting in the shower - she was covered with hives. She seemed to feel alright and hadn't complained, but she had hives on most of her body. We gave her some Benadryl, waited a while, and then she went to bed. She seemed to be hot and cold all night when she slept and when she got up in the morning she was covered from head to toe in hives. She also was now complaining of a stomach ache. We took her into the ER and after three tries with the IV, some blood work, and a strep screen, found out she has Mono!!! Crazy! Her activity level really was pretty normal, but she had very swollen glands. They gave her a steroid, more benadryl, and a shot of epinephrine. Her hives went away for the day, but the doctor said they would probably come back.

(The pictures were taken when the hives were NOT so bad!)

Happy Valentines Day

Friday at school were both Tyler and Kennedy's Valentine's Day Parties. I was helping in Tyler's room and Joe watched in Kennedy's class. We were heading back to Grandma Rita's and Papa's for the weekend so it was a very exciting day. It was fun this year to see the kids each prepare their valentines. Tyler signed each of the boys valentines with his name and signed the girls each with ?????. Kennedy on the other hand signed all of hers but carefully selected which valentine would go to which person. Carter was very excited to be able to go to Tyler's class for the party and see what 3rd grade might be about.

Carter's BDay - Feb. 11th

We had such a busy day on Carter's Birthday. With school, Mom2Mom, and AWANA at night, the day went so fast. Carter enjoyed being sang to at Mom2Mom, cupcakes with the neighbors, and cake with his family that evening. There were two things Carter constantly talked about for his birthday: a ninja turtle cake and a ninja turtle costume. He got both on his birthday and I think this made him extremely happy.

The Nerf Guns Came Out After Dinner

After finishing dinner tonight the boys got a little rowdy with the nerf guns. I thought I would try to add a video I captured of all of them in a "nerf war". Joe had as much fun as Tyler and Carter. (Kennedy was in her room). It was a little difficult to get them calmed down afterwards but they sure did have fun. You wouldn't know that they played outside for about 2 hours!

Our Trip to Branson - Dec 31st 2008 - Jan 3 2009

Let me just say that our family LOVES little get-a-ways. So for New Years Eve we took a trip to Branson, MO. The goal was to find somewhere between our house and Round Rock, TX for us to meet. They had stayed and visited Branson last summer so that is where we chose. We looked online for hotels and condos to rent and found this great house to rent. Pam did some dealing with the owner and for less than a hotel we were able to stay in a house with 7 bedrooms and bathrooms, two family rooms (one with a pool table and air hockey table). The house was amazing! It was so nice to have LOTS of room for all the kids to play and all of us to hang out. the kitchen was furnished and we were able to eat most of our meals right there. It was so nice to just be together and relax. Out the back of the house were woods that we hiked in and a huge pile of boulders that the kids played hide-n-seek amongst. My mother-in-law and father-in-law were able to stop by on there way home from New Mexico and spent a night with us. We had a great time and look forward to going back again.

My First Post

O.K. So here it goes, my first post. My sister-in-law has completely inspired me. Her new years resolution is to take a picture everyday, post it, and journal about it on her blog. It has been so much fun to read hers and look at the pictures that I thought I would try and get started. My goal is to post as often as I can, probably not everyday though. As I have thought about this I think maybe it could turn into Carter's blog. With him home with me everyday, he seems to be the star of the show all day long. He is so comical and as he is closely approaching three, I think it could be the independent/mischievous three's rather than the terrible two's! Let me share a story with you to explain why.

Last week I come downstairs from cleaning the two bathrooms upstairs ( of which I checked on him after the first one....he was nicely playing Lincoln Logs and watching Diego) and find him coming up the stairs in just his boxer undies. I ask him, "Carter, where are your clothes?" and he responds, "they are all wet". To that I obviously ask why and his response was...." because I was washing my boots in the potty so they would be clean and I could wear them on the carpet" Seems easy enough, however, when I looked in the bathroom at the potty and he or someone had not flushed the potty!!!! Well, I took care of the mess and his boots and they are now completely clean and ready to play in.