Pictures and Stories

First up, the pictures:

Carter's first soccer team.  They named themselves the Rangers.

Today while I was feeding Dawson I made the mistake of allowing Carter to play in the backyard unsupervised.  While a hose was running on one of our newly planted trees.  This was the result.  Boy likes his mud.

Now for some stories.



• Carter burped loudly.  So I said to him "What do you say."  He looked at me and said "Oh yeah, in your face!"  Mike has taken this brotherhood of Dudes a little too far.
• On the way to the zoo today, Carter saw a local indoor waterpark called Coco Key with a picture of a tropical parrot and some palm trees.  He yelled to me "Look mom, it's paradise!" 
• I think it's hilarious that Ava's favorite animals at the zoo are the snakes and the kitties (sand cats.)

Heard around the house

(Back story:  yesterday the kids watched the movie Tangled for the first time.  It is the story of Rapunzel and her mother keeps her locked in a tower.  She asks repeatedly to see the "outside world.")

Carter:  Can we go outside to ride bikes?
Mommy:  Well, Ava is sleeping now and I need to feed Dawson.  But a littler later we will go outside.
Carter:  But I just want to see the outside world!

Sunday Bike Ride

Our Weird Family

Dinner tonight was cuh-ra-zy.  Dawson had an epic night of spitting up and Carter was competing in the world's most annoying 4 year old contest.  (I say this in the most loving way possible.  But asking me over and over and over and over "Mom what are you doing?" does not make me happy.)  Then Ava looked around and said "It's getting weird in here."  Mike and I lost it, because indeed it was pretty weird in our kitchen.

And yes, Dawson is still spitting up like crazy almost nine months later.  And yes, it will be a major topic of conversation at his 9 month check up.

We also took Carter to pick up some items for his soccer season.  His first practice will be on Tuesday.  Did I mention that Mike is coaching the team?  This should be interesting!

More pics from Totter's Otterville, and camo kid.

Soccer kid, beer heaven, and big sis with little bro

Hope your weekend was not as weird as ours was!

Our new pet

Lately Carter has been begging us for a pet.  Well, what animal does he want?  A cuddly puppy?  A sweet cat?  Maybe a goldfish?  Nope.  The boy wants a spider.  The spider will live under his bed so he won't hear it at night.  It is never allowed out of the cage because he doesn't want spider webs on his face.  Well, this is one pet that will NEVER be found in our house!

Ava on the other hand is enthralled with dressing me.  She walks through my closet and picks out different outfits for me.  Today she even asked me for pony hair (a pony tail.) 

Dawson is expanding his food repertoire.  Recently we have tried (solid, not baby food) bananas, peas, rice cakes, puffs and biscuits.  This kid still does not have any teeth!  I've been pretty hesitant to give him anything more difficult, he still does not have any teeth!

By the way, I am in no shape or form contemplating any type of pet.  So do not hold your breath for our pet spider (coincidentally named spiderman.) 

Summer Pictures

I took these pictures on the same day I took Carter's 4 year pictures.

Sweetie Baby at 8 months

Sweetie Girl at 28 months

Thought you might enjoy the pics!

FOUR

How did you grow so big overnight

How did you get so smart and bright

Yesterday you were asleep in my arms

Today you are growing off the charts

I'm so proud of you

You and Me by Frances England



For your fourth birthday I decided to start a new tradition: a birthday interview.  Hope you enjoy it! 

Mommy:  Well hello.  We are here today in Carter Owen Shadle's bedroom.  Hi Carter!

Carter:  Good!

Mommy:  So Carter, what happens tomorrow?

Carter:  Mmmmm, birthday presents coming?

Mommy:  It's your birthday tomorrow, August 22nd.

Carter:  Yeah.

Mommy:  How old are you going to be?

Carter:  Four!

Mommy:  Four years old.  So I'm going to do a birthday interview so that we can remember all the important things that Carter liked when he turned four.  Does that sound like a good idea?

Carter:  Mmm yeah!

Mommy:  So Carter tell me, what is your favorite color?

Carter:  blue

Mommy: All right, that's an easy one, huh.  What is your favorite book?

Carter:  superman

Mommy:  superman books

Carter: yeah

Mommy:  what is your favorite animal?

Carter:  horses

Mommy:What is your favorite game to play?

Carter:  tag

Mommy:  I like to play tag too.  Where do you play tag at?

Carter: at baseball

Mommy:  You played tag at baseball?  I thought you played baseball there.

Carter:  We played tag at home.

Mommy: Oh yeah, in our backyard sometimes. so tell me about smart start baseball.  How did you like baseball?

Carter:  Uh, good.

Mommy:  What did you like the best about it?

Carter:  Running the bases

Mommy:  You were so fast.

Carter:  Yeah, they say .........(indecipherable silliness)

Mommy:  That's silly.  I don't know what you're talking about.  What else do you want to tell me now that you're four?

Carter:  maybe Scooby Doo

Mommy:  What do you want to tell me about Scooby Doo

Carter:  I like to go on adventures with him

Mommy:  I do too!  What kind of adventures do you go on?

Carter:  We go to Hawaii

Mommy:  What do you guys do in Hawaii?

Carter:  we just eat there

Mommy:  You eat.  What do you eat there?

Carter:  We just eat stuff.  Like Ava.

Mommy:  please don't eat your sister.  That's not really awesome.

Daddy:  What's your favorite kind of food?

Carter:  palack!

Mommy:  What is that?

Carter:  It's a kind of different cereal. It's cereal with mulch.

Mommy:  cereal with milk?

Carter:  cereal with mulch!  Yeah, I love that kind.

Laughter

Mommy:  you're a little weirdo!  You don't eat cereal with mulch, no thank you!  Ok, so you like cereal with mulch and you go with scooby doo to hawaii.  That's pretty awesome.

Ava:  I eat cereal mulch!

Mommy:  You like cereal with mulch.  We might get you some.  Daddy can you think of any more questions for the birthday boy?

Daddy:  What's your favorite kind of dessert?

Ava:  mulch

Carter:  mulch

Mommy:  no we don't eat mulch

Daddy:  Do you like ice cream or cake?

Carter:  cake

Mommy:  What did you think about your birthday party?

Carter:  pop.  back. lack.

Mommy:  Was it fun?

Carter:  No!

Mommy:  Why not?

Carter:  It was battalack party.

Mommy:  Whateva cleva.  Can you say number nine is so fine?

Carter:  Number nine is so fine!

Mommy:  Can you say we are the lean green mean machine team?

Carter:  Lean, green mean machine team

Mommy:  Ok, I love you good bye!

By the time I did the interview, the bedtime sillies had definetely set in.  Honestly, you are a silly kid who loves to laugh and tell jokes.  At four years old your idea of a joke is to tell me that you eat mulch.  I know I could easily write pages and pages about you at the age of four, but that would be no fun for anyone (except me.)  So here are a couple of things that I forever want to remember about my little four year old man:

• favorite foods:  oatmeal with chocolate chips, sunbutter sandwiches, strawberries, blueberries, carrots, hot dogs, peas and milk
• dislike:  the color pink, waking up in the morning and bananas
• favorite play themes:  "You be the bear!" or if we are in the pool "You be the shark!" and you like to run away, scream and hide from these animals. 
• Looking ahead:  You are going to be going to preschool again this fall, along with preschool RFY and soccer.  I can't wait to see you out there running around chasing that ball. 

We love you forever, our little four year old! 

Fourth Birthday Party

Yesterday we had the best day celebrating Carter's fourth birthday with the grandparents!  We loved spending time with Meme and Bob Bob and Grandma and Bo.  It always makes the day extra special when we can have our families visit!

I decided to go the easy route and do cup cakes instead of an actual cake.  They were chocolate gluten free (per Carter's request.)  The cupcakes with the spiderman crunchies had chocolate pudding in them, and the ones with the web were pudding-less.

We made a spiderman pinata.  Carter took one whack at it and missed.  Then I think he was embarassed, so he wouldn't try again.  Ava also tried with very little success.  But don't worry, Meme took care of it for the kids!

Some of his favorite gifts included:  A Scooby doo set from Mom and Dad, a spiderman action figure from Meme and Bob Bob, and a remote controlled jeep from Grandma and Bo.  It was funny watching Carter open presents.  He was trying to be so serious, but he would open something and get these little smirks/shy smiles on his face.

Baby Brother made sure to get in on the action

Singing Happy Birthday

Blue spiderman smiles

What a great birthday!

Totter's Otterville

On Friday we took the kids to a place called Totter's Otterville.  Mike took a day off from work so we could spend some time together for Carter's birthday (more to come about this.)  Warning:  picture heavy post, with many more pictures to come!

I LOVE this boy.

ballet dancing

baby ball pit

 

big kid ball pit

fire truck washing

dinosaur sand digging pit

fishing

and even face painting.

I love going on adventures like these with my family.  It's so fun seeing the kid's playing and exploring. 

Smart Start Baseball

This week Carter played smart start baseball.  He really enjoyed the practices.  I took the kids Tuesday night and even Ava was allowed to get in on the action! 

Carter was posing for me.

Babe "Carter" Ruth

She also enjoyed time in the stroller.

Running the bases

This is really funny to watch, and the pictures don't really show very well what he was doing.  It seems like Carter was trying so hard to run fast, but instead was prancing on the field.  He was kicking his butt with each step, which actually slowed him waaaaay down. 

Unfortunately, on friday Carter wasn't feeling well and he was very grumpy.  We tried to stick it out so he could play the game with his baseball team, but he was refusing to move and bursting into tears every other minute.  At least I was able to take pictures on a night when he was happy and doing well.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Phone Pics

Eagerly Anticipated Pool Day. Kids grocery shopping.  Loving Brothers.  Spiderman Kid.  Bathtime bubbles.  Clicker baby.  Coloring.  Tunneling.  Washing Bikes.  Children's Museum.  Sleeping Baby.

Worst. Tantrum. Ever.

I must apologize in advance if you happened to be in Target today.  I was not killing or torturing my child, but it most certainely sounded like it.  A certain child decided to throw the mother of all tantrums there today.  What triggered it all?  Well, she wanted to go to the restroom and couldn't.  What a mean mother I am for not taking her!  No, I took her and we sat and sat and sat and sat.  She had just gone 30 minutes earlier at the park so it was a no go.  Then Dawson started fussing and Carter decided to make silly faces at him.  This made her SO MAD.  Screaming and crying, kicking and hitting.  I have never seen her so worked up EVER.  I only needed one item, and it was medicine for the baby.  So I decided to suck it up, sprint to the pharmacy and leave.  This trip took maybe five minutes, but she screamed the whole way there and back.  Finally we got to the car and I strapped her in.  She proceeded to kick the back of my seat, take off her shoes and throw them at me, and of course scream and yell.  When we got home I immediately set her in her crib to cool off.  Don't worry, she has lost the privilege of princess movies today and she is not going to baseball tonight.  I really hope we never have a repeat of this again.

Now she is sleeping soundly.  I know that she was really tired.  Yesterday she did not nap and then we let her stay up late to go to Carter's baseball practice.  It seems that my kids always do well when I'm letting them stretch bed times and nap times.  It's the next day that they show their true colors.  

Wondering why she didn't nap yesterday?

Oh, that's right someone had a toliet paper shredding contest instead!  I guess the child isn't remaining nameless, whoops.

I just have to add, I'm so proud of this little boy.  He has been wanting to climb to the top of this "spiderweb" for ages now.  Today was the first day he made it!  I guess he really must be a spiderman kid!  (By the way, Mike has convinced Carter that he's spiderman.  Carter totally believes it, but he can't talk about it, because it's a secret.  Unless he's mad in which case he will tell me "spiderman dosen't need time outs!")

I apologize for venting, but my sister wasn't home to talk to!  But hey, this is our real life!


  

Latest and Greatest!

• Now that Dawson is army crawling, he is getting into everything!  Today I have pulled him out of the bathroom, out of the china hutch, saved him from eating electrical cords and fake lemons.  We just removed most of the baby toys from the play room and put them in the living room so he has a relatively safe place to play.
• Ava is so fiercely independent.  It is driving me CRAZY!  Hair washing, bathing, teeth brushing and tolieting are becoming a daily battle.  She is fully in the terrible two's and throwing temper tantrums because she wants ketchup, she dosen't want ketchup there, she wants to eat ketchup with a spoon, she hates ketchup and get it off her plate.  Keep in mind these mood swings happened in about two minutes time.  
• Carter went to Day 1 of smart start baseball.  He had a wonderful time.  Hopefully I will be able to take pictures of him there soon, but for now here is one from Mike's phone:

The Unexpected

Today we went to a birthday party for a neighborhood friend.  I was baking egg and peanut free cupcakes to bring along.  Both kids were helping with the first batch, then while they were otherwise occupied I put in a second batch.  Eventually I took the second batch out of the oven.  Carter ran over and yelled "More cupcakes!  I didn't expect that!"  Silly boy.

We had a good time at the birthday party, although Ava was absolutely glued to me.  Carter on the other hand was running around making all kinds of new friends and playing with all the toys he could get his hands on!  So funny!

Poor Carter had a minor incident at the pool on friday.  He was running to the restroom and yanked the (heavy) door open into his toe.  It bent back his toenail and caused it to bleed.  Today it is black and blue but seems to be getting better.  I sure hope so, because I wouldn't wait it to interfere with his baseball league this week.  Luckily Dr. Uncle Jason told him it would heal just fine.

By the way, does anyone have any suggestions for vining plants for our pergola?  I really have no idea what a good choice would be.  Whatever we choose, it needs to like full sun.  Also, is it easier to plant directly into the ground or in a pot?  Thanks for the advice! 

Phone Pics for your Enjoyment!



Some miscellaneous pictures from my phone over the last couple of weeks

Brothers

Dosen't get much better than this.

Don't worry, although it looks like Dawson is sitting precariously on a brick wall that is not the case.  Mike is hiding behind the kids and he has a firm grasp on the baby.

What's new here?  Well, we are gearing up for Carter's birthday.  He can't decide if he wants a scooby doo or spiderman cake.  Yesterday around 5 I was totally ready to go get a job.  We had a string of disasters including an overflowing toliet and another child needing an emergency bath at the same time.  Plus Dawson decided to start screaming in the middle of it.  But we all survived.  Hopefully the laminate flooring in the hallway is none the worse for it.  Ava has a little runny nose.  She really is the worst sick kid ever, she wants to be held and coddled all day long.  Which wouldn't be so bad, but I have two other kids to take care of.  She actually was crying and whining yesterday that she couldn't wipe her nose because the tissue was "too heavy."  Doubtful.  The kids have a busy week coming up including playgroup, a birthday party, two zoo trips and a pool day with Daddy.  But for now I'm going to enjoy the brief period of silence before the kids wake up.    

Look at what a certain little boy figured out!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking my little girl out for a "date." Meme and Bob bob were over, so Ava and I went out so she could pick out a present for Carter's birthday.  It was so fun to concentrate on one special little girl, even if it was only for an hour.  Ava had M&M's for the very first time (we don't have them in the house because of peanut cross contamination, even with the plain kind.)  This girl LOVES M&M's.  I bought a package to share, but she was not having that at all.  Thank you Meme and Bob Bob for watching the boys so she could have a little one on one time.

Santa Claus and BBQ sauce

Yesterday, Carter and I had a conversation about life, death, heaven and God.  We were reading a book called Just in case you ever wonder by Max Lucado.  It talks about how special we are because God made us.  Carter looked at me and said "Santa Claus too."  I was a little confused so I said "What about Santa?"  And he said "Santa Claus made us too."  I guess it is time for some RFY classes!  I tried to thoroughly explain that Santa Claus was not involved in the Creation story, but we'll see.

Only a Shadle could love BBQ sauce so much that they munch on it through the bottle!

Eight Months Old

Eight Months Old!

Here are eight reasons why I love you:

1. You love the TV remote.
2. You are starting to push up on all fours.
3. You make me smile a thousand times a day with your little Mohawk hair and blue eyes.
4. You are learning all kinds of fun tricks: clapping, "dancing," and putting your hands up.
5. You hate to sit up and purposely dive bomb onto the floor onto your belly.  You love to roll around and explore the house.
6. You are taking a bottle like a champ, Hooray!
7. You hate any toy that looks like a baby toy. All you want to do is play with Carter's and Ava's toys!
   
   8.  Just look at those big chubby cheeks, they are so kissable!
   
   
   
    

 

Adorable 8 month old Shadle boy in a red onesie next to a (fake) tree

Adorable 8 month old Shadle boy in a red onesie next to a (real) tree.

Our weekend

Don't all construction workers fix refrigerators in pink fuzzy high heels?

This weekend Uncle Jay brought over a robot for the kids.  Carter was enthralled, while Ava was pretty petrified.  During nap time she was crying that she couldn't sleep because there are robots in her hair. 

Mike took advantage of the free labor (dosen't he always?) by building the pergola I've been dreaming of since we moved in.  I love it!  As soon as we get up a shade canvas it will be perfect.  I must say, I am very spoiled.  While everyone was at the house I spent the night out celebrating our 30th birthdays with the girls!  A movie, sushi, dancing and a place to crash at the end of the night that didn't involve a crying baby at 3 am.  Thanks to everyone for all their hard work, and letting me escape for awhile.  Although by Sunday morning I was missing my babies like crazy!