"G" sus

Carter to me: Mommy, did you know that presents aren't the real reason we celebrate Christmas?

Me: Yes, but what is the real reason we celebrate then?

Carter: Well Mommy, we celebrate because of a person. I'll give you a hint...he's in my manger scene and his name starts with a G. Can you say "Ge" - that's the sound his name starts with!


Here's our elf Kate hanging out with our Christmas cards this morning. Carter thinks she's hilarious with all her funny places and he loves to come down and see her new spot for the day!

This is a manger scene Carter made at school - he's quite proud of it and I agree he did a great job!

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

As much as I enjoy posting all the funny and cute daily happenings in our lives right now, I just can't seem to find as much time as I used to! I think about updating this daily but just haven't had it in me the past week and a half. We've been staying busy, as I'm sure everyone does this time of year with all the holiday festivities. We had a blast over Thanksgiving - I worked Wednesday night shift and then Thursday morning we went to Fayetteville to see Ashley and Nana and have lunch and then drove 4 more hours to my parents in Greenwood, SC for the rest of the weekend. My brother, Sarah, and their sweet dog Willie joined us from Friday to Sunday and I think we all had a really quick but good time as always! My grandparents and aunt came to my parents on Saturday and it was awesome to have 4 generations in one house! Carter and Cooper were great and enjoyed all the extra love from people other than us for a change!

Cooper has decided he's found his vocabulary that was locked away in his precious, blonde head and is talking up a storm. I was never worried about his lack of verbalization (Jamey will disagree!) but I must say I'm thrilled that he's able to communicate better now! It makes mealtimes and just understanding what he needs in general so much easier on us. It's definitely not perfect English to an outsider but Jamey and I don't have too much trouble deciphering Cooper language! He is all boy and loves school, his brother, and anything that goes, such as trains, cars, firetrucks, etc.! He had the happiest, sweetest temperament and I must say I am one lucky mama to have such a precious little guy.

Carter is turning into a big boy before my eyes. I am absolutely blown away when I look at him and see how big he's getting! He's lost all the looks of a toddler and truly looks like a little man -I'm sure he wouldn't have it any other way! Sunday is his fave day of the week by far because that means he gets to dress up and get complimented a million times for looking so nice. I think he loves church but I think the attention he gets for looking so handsome is a close second! He has a better memory than any adult I know and will always call me out if I tell him something that isn't right - wonder where he got that trait from?! He also loves school and adores his teacher - he tells me almost every day how pretty she looked and what she was wearing. He's always very attentive and notices and picks up on so much that I don't pay any attention to - he'll notice if I have a different color hairband on my wrist than I had the day before, if I have makeup on, and he's the first one to compliment me when he sees me even slightly dressed up! He heard The Lord's Prayer probably 3 times in church and can now say the entire thing all by himself! He is quite the loving, sensitive fella too, but I think that's one of the things I love most about him. If he doesn't spend all his money on his fancy clothes he'll make a lucky girl very happy one day, but I don't think I'm ready to even think about that yet!

We've starting getting in the holiday spirit slowly but surely. Our tree is up and decorated as is our house and I only had to curse a few light strands so far this year! We've made a gingerbread house, gingerbread cookies and lots of Christmas crafts for which I unfortunately have nothing to show for right now because I've been a picture taking slacker. We'll have plenty more photo opps the next few weeks so I'm sure I'll catch up! We're heading to Pullen Park Friday night for the Santa Train, Carter has his Christmas Pageant at church over the weekend, and next week is his school Christmas Program. It makes me tired just thinking about it, especially while typing on 3 hours of sleep but looking forward to it all! Stay tuned and I'll try to update more frequently...

One Carter funny...we've been asking him what he wants for Christmas a lot because he hasn't really said much of anything yet but he told us he wasn't going to tell anyone but Santa what he wants so that we can all be surprised Christmas morning!

Playing at Nunu and Pop's Park



Hooray! Willie, Brian, and Sarah finally made it!




George, my parents' dog, has this towel as a lovie and he parades around holding it so proud!

We're Still Alive!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've done this but I guess time just gets away from me every now and then! We've had a super busy November with a visit from Nunu, our first home Tar Heel game of the season, preschool, work, countless games of hide and seek and other fun toddler games, and now it's almost Thanksgiving! This last week the sickness bug has finally bitten Carter with a 103 fever, an ear infection and sore throat but hopefully with antibiotics on board he'll be raring to go come Thursday! We've been pretty amazed to have stayed healthy up until this point to be honest.

The boys are so much fun and so full of life, happiness, and energy these days. As much as they drive me crazy sometimes, they can definitely brighten the worst of days with just a sweet smile or look. They both adore school and would probably go everyday if we let them - as a mom, not sure how to take that but school definitely has me beat in the craft dept so it doesn't bother me too much! They're so sweet and excited when it's pickup time to show off what they've done and to give big hugs to say hello - it doesn't get much better than that! They are really starting to play well together (at times!) and there is no question who hung the moon in Cooper's baby blues! He would do just about anything to get a reaction out of his big brother, which has been a good and bad thing thus far!

Today Carter's class had a Thanksgiving feast for their last day of school and his class dressed up as Indians and another class played the pilgrim role! He was so proud of his yellow shirt and headdress and they were all pretty precious marching in to their spots. Carter's placemat said he was thankful for his brother, his turtle, his puppy dogs, his mommy and daddy, his giraffe and otter, his bed, his covers, and his blue blanket. It's so humbling to hear all the cute things they're thankful for! It really puts things into perspective right before the holiday and I'm going to make an effort to take time to relax (I can hear Jamey laughing at me now), enjoy family and friends and put stress on the back burner - much easier said than done but so worth trying! I'm so thankful for my wonderful family and friends and can't wait to spend time with all of you this week, if only I can get through one more night shift...


A highlight video of Carolina's last season came with our tickets this year and Carter was dying to watch it! They were pretty zoned in for a while and I must say we were very proud parents to see them caring about something so special to us!
Check out the new race track Nunu got us!
The camera didn't find it's way out too much while Nunu was here but I'll try to play photog a little more over Thanksgiving.
Definitely not the best family photo but the nice man behind us wasn't too camera savvy - very nice to offer to take our picture though!
Once again not the best but we were there! Carter got a haircut the next day BTW - that little part in front drove me crazy!
I guess if you look down while you're hiding it's harder to find you!
I just love this boy.
Carter has a new found love, too - Kix cereal.
Yard work with a bike helmet, safety first in our household:)
Cooper wanted his haircut so bad when Carter had his shaped up so the nice lady put him on a horse, sprayed his hair, and combed it just right while pretending to cut it! He was proud of what he thought was is new do but don't worry, the curls haven't gone anywhere!
Carter's feast consisted of cheese cubes, turkey, and grapes.
The calm before the storm...
My proud Golden Eagle.
Excuse the man's hand, he was really sorry!
Carter's pine cone turkey of all he's thankful for - don't worry Jamey, I won't throw this one away like I do so many other crafts!
I love my sweet Carter - he's totally worth only 3 hours of sleep this morning to be at his feast!

Carter Funnies

I worked Sunday but Jamey said on the way home from church Carter was talking about how many boys, girls and dogs were in our family. He said, "Daddy, in our car we have one man, one baby, and one example!" He likes to tell us sometimes that he's the example for Cooper, I just wish he'd set a good one a little more often!

He's also been dying for Lunchables to take in his lunch for school but when I've bought them in the past, he just nibbles on the crackers and won't touch the meat or cheese. I got him one to have at home and told him if he ate the whole thing we'd get him more for school at the grocery store. It took about a year but he ate it all and was thrilled that meant he'd have more coming his way for school. Once his container was empty I noticed him checking it out pretty intently but before I could ask him what he was thinking about he said, "Mommy, this part looks like Oklahoma, which is where my friend Lucy and your friend Miss Amy moved!" It was pretty cute - I love when he throws a "which" into his sentences for emphasis!

Here's Oklahoma for you!

May The Force Be With You!

Much to our dismay our little Yoda was raring to go Halloween night! Our church had a membership event at Pullen Park where costumes were optional so Carter went in full Luke Skywalker attire but I took Coop's costume in the car and figured I'd dress him when we got there. When I tried to put in on him, I got a whole lot of head shaking and "nooo's" so I decided to let him skip out on dressing up then and pick that battle later for trick or treating! Once the time came, he didn't complain at all and was actually excited about it! He didn't want to change from shorts to brown pants so I improvised and pulled up his socks to his knees - I promise he wasn't wearing tights as it appears! Jamey and I fully expected to carry him from house to house and basically trick or treat for him but he walked (very, very slowly) to every house, said trick or treat and thank you, and even acquired a new word on our trip. As soon as he said thank you, he'd turn around and say, "next" and head to the next house. Once we were almost home I tried to help speed him along and realized why he was going so slow...his plastic pumpkin was heavy as lead and he'd been carry it the whole time! They had a blast and we are up to our elbows in candy but I'm sure we'll manage!

Just realizing I loaded these in the wrong order so this is the end of our night! Our last stop trick or treating was at Carter's good buddy Keelin's house so we stayed a little while and helped them hand out candy.

Cooper decided Keelin's dad was a good helper for trick or treating so Jamey and I got a little break!
Waiting and waiting on it to get dark enough to start trick or treating!
Keelin loves Coop and I think the feeling is mutual.
Carter was conflicted as to which princess was the prettiest - I lost count of how many times he asked me which one I thought looked prettiest!
Coop liked our Carolina pumpkin.

Check our those knee socks!