Carter-Carter-Carter-Carter

If you've been around Sean at all in the past few months you'll know exactly what that title phrase sounds like. He looovess his baby sister and refers to her that way almost all of the time. In fact, she is so used to it now that she doesn't always turn her head with just one "Carter". Dan and I have started saying it as well as it just caught on. I fear she might go to preschool ignoring the teacher until she hears 4 'Carters' in a row! We also are just big in general on nick names. As a baby we called Sean "booger" or "boog" and now she call him all sorts of things. We basically rhyme everything at our house. Once Sean figured out how to rhyme he is on a roll with nick names. For instance, Carter is sometimes, "Carter bobarter" and Sean is "Seany Boboni". I know it sounds so silly but seems so normal at the time to us and our cute little family!

Birthday party fun.

We had a lot of fun today at a birthday party for one of Sean's friends. It was at Coffee and Cartwheels (or some variation of that title) and it was a lot of fun! Carter was all about hanging with the "big" kids and getting in the middle of the fun! It was a great time for all. Dan and I enjoyed hot cocoa and fruit smoothies (we don't drink coffee) while the kids played, perfect combo!

 Trying to get in on the action!

 Friends and Fun!

 Watching the big kids from the sideline

 Carter's turn!

Crash. . .

 Feeling the best friend love!

What a fun day!

Dinner time laughter. . .

Two things happened recently that made us all laugh during dinner. Here is the first:

Mommy: (rubbing her IT with a rolling pin, yes I know that is my only personal use for a rolling pin, sad)
Sean: Mommy, why are you doing that?
Mommy: Because it makes my knee feel better.
Daddy: Really, its because mommy is getting old.
Sean (to Daddy): Are you getting new?

LOL

The other was last night. We've been working on the sign for "milk" for over a month now and Carter has recently beginning to have control over that part of her hand. So, at times, she will mimic what we are doing when we sign "milk" (which is like squeezing your hand back and forth as if you had a ball in it to squeeze) Anyway, Carter was sitting in her seat watching us eat as usual and she was giving Dan the stare down as he ate. Then, she kept looking straight at him and did the sign for "milk" which I think she just meant as "FEED ME SOME FOOD!" Lol. So, I got some bananas out and that was much better than when we tried last week. A few bananas were actually swallowed and she was at least opening her mouth for the spoon. Being the grabby hands that she is, she was trying to grab the spoon from me every bite. Anyway, it was probably a coincidence as I am not sure how early baby's start to sign but it was a hilarious coincidence to us! Poor girl, sitting there every night watching us...she just wanted in on some of the action!

Carter is a scooter

I put Carter down on the blanket today, within a few minutes Sean and I look over to realize she is already off the blanket and then a few more minutes later she has scooted herself all the way around to play with the vacuum. Uhhh, we are in for some trouble very soon!!

 What? I didn't do anything?!?!

 Working on my abs...

Hmmm....I haven't seen mommy use this lately...what is it?!?!

This is from last night when she was showing off her "plank"

My BIG Girl....

Carter had a huge blowout today at the babysitters just as I was walking in. Well, needless to say after about 20 wipes, two adults, and some papertowels we got her clean and changed. Her back up outfit apparently is a little small!! It is a gymboree outfit 3-6 months and Gymboree stuff is very liberal on sizes. But oh no...it is obviously way too small! She is on to 6-12 more gymboree stuff and 9 month Carters brand. I feel like she is almost as big as Sean....at least it seems so in the picture!

 Not much size difference!

 LOL!!! Her belly and feet are hanging out!

She looks so huge!!

Uh oh....on all fours!

Carter has been pushing up to all fours for a few days now. It is getting more and more frequent. Sean didn't crawl until he was 7 months but at her rate, she'll be crawling before that! She is so cute when she pushes up to a push up position and then lands on her knees .Tonight she even moved her head forward like she was going to crawl but then realized her body didn't do what she wanted it to and she hadn't moved. Dan and I just laughed because it was so cute! I am in NO rush for her to crawl but it is fun to see her learning new things everyday! We've even seen her do the sign for milk a few times when she sees her bottle. What a smartie!

 

 First, the push up position.

 

Then to the knees.

Bathtime cuties!

Carter and Sean really enjoy bathtime so it makes sense that they would enjoy it even more when they can take a bath at the same time! Carter loves being able to sit up and play with Sean and she was quite fascinated with the bubbles tonight. They are so much fun that even bathtime is a blast!

 Cuties!

 Being silly!

 She loves watching Sean being silly!

 Reaching for my toes...

Got 'em!

The remote.

Carter is no different than any other baby....she loves the remote! Now that is a little more mobile (she can scoot a little bit) she seems to get hold of things pretty easily!

 Yes, I got it!

 Now, I just need to get it to my mouth!

Snow Day yuckiness

Sean had been complaining about his tummy ache all day, he even came inside from playing in the snow while his friends were still here because he said he didn't feel well. He spent most of the day on the couch after the outside fun. We thought he was just super tired from playing outside all morning. Nope...the stomach bug was about to hit. He threw up right before dinner. He laid on the couch while we ate and proceeded to dry heave into a plastic bowl while Carter decide that dinner time was a great time to poop. Lets just say that Dan's good dinner was sort of lost during our dinnertime experiences! Luckily, after staying home with Dan for a day, Sean is back to his usual self and is eating and feeling good. Fingers crossed that it doesn't hit the rest of us!

 Gouda and sun dried tomato turkey burgers (with a garlic basil aioli)and veggies, yum!

 Dessert-black berry apple cobbler. (sean didn't even want to eat dessert)

 

Poor guy! He later threw up that cereal.

 

Lets hope she isn't next!

SNOW DAY!!

We got a little less than 4 inches of snow last night which was enough to make us happy! We were all outside at 8:30 am this morning playing. There was a bit of a rush as it is supposed to be 50 today and the snow is melting fast. Later this week it is supposed to be 70..go figure?!?

Sean absolutely loved playing in the snow and stayed out for 1.5 hours. His friends from around the corner came down to join us. Carter stayed out for a few minutes and also enjoyed herself she even rode the sled with Dan and Sean a few times. She was very interested in being outside with her big brother and Daddy. Luckily, a friend had given us a small snow suit for her to wear. It was a perfect start to our snow day.  Not to be too greedy, but bring on more snow!

 So happy to be outside playing!

Down the driveway, fast!

 She loves the snow!!

 Fun!

Wheeeee!

 Love them!

 Big and little...

 She literally smiled the entire time we were outside!!

Sean's neighborhood friend

SNOW!!!

As I said, we drove home this afternoon through the snow and it was so exciting! As the day has progressed the snow has continued to fall and now has covered the yard and roads. We just got the phone call that we do not have school tomorrow. It is the best feeling! Like a child at Christmas! I am not sure what our snow day will entail but I know it'll be fun!

 Here is the snow as it first started falling.

 Playtime inside while we watched the snow fall through the windows. Carter was very interested in the snow.

Story time before bed. Daddy picked a girly book for Carter.

Going to "Cabin's House"

As I've blogged about before, our very close group of friends plan an annual trip to Massanutten for a quiet weekend in the mountains. We stay in huge cabin with a great view of the ski slopes. Though our activities have changed drastically over the years as the children have multiplied it is just as much fun as when we started going 5 years ago. We started with two children and are not up to 8!  Sean thoroughly enjoyed the drive up this year, he didn't even watch a movie. We drove through the country, saw cows, horses and huge mountains. We drove over the mountain and we pretended we were on a roller coaster. He kept asking on the way, when will we get to "cabin's house" ha ha. We kept saying we are going to the "cabin" and he didn't remember going last year. Now he is super pumped that we are going to a "cabin"this summer with Nama, Poppy, and Auntie.

Though admittedly, it is a little crazy, we still have a blast and make great memories each year. Sean loved every minute of playtime with all of his favorite buddies and the grown ups surely enjoyed the quiet time after the kids were all sleeping. The weekend flew by as usual and we headed back throughthe snow to get home. What a great weekend!

 Movie time (popcorn and all) with his buds.

 The gang!

 Sean and Carter

 Out for a walk with the whole gang, whew, big hills!

 Best friends, Sean and Gracyn

 

Carter of course enjoyed our stroll

 Love. her.

 They did a little "mountain" climbing!

 Whew, steep!

 Headed back to the house, easier walk home downhill.

 Story time with "uncle" Dan

 S'mores for all! I love how their faces are all covered with chocolate because it was so dark outside.

Yum!

As you can see from the pictures it was a super fun weekend! We did miss our great friends the Haynes who live out of the country and could not join us this year. We hope we can all be re-united at the cabin again one day!