2014 - A dubious beginning

 

Looks like fun!  Hard to believe it, but Dawson is wedged between Carter and Mike!

 

 

Well, 2014 has certainly hit me hard.  What began as a case of wine flu turned into a three day bout struggling to keep food down.  On Friday I was so weak from not eating for the past three days, I began to get dizzy and start to black out every time I stood up.  The poor kids were on a steady diet of television and whatever food they could find.  For lunch Carter served his brother and sister a very balanced diet of candy canes, tortilla chips, lara bars and cheese sticks.  Well, thankfully Mike was able to come home from work early and rescue me!  The good news is I'm feeling much better today and have even been able to keep food down.  It's so easy to take your health for granted, but it really is such a huge blessing.

 

 

So the kids have been spending lots of time playing with Christmas toys, jumping on the trampoline, and reading books with me.  On Thursday I was able to spend some time laying on the floor reading James and the Giant Peach with Carter.  Let me tell you, this kid is hooked!  He was begging me not to stop reading "Please, just one more word Mom!"  I even sat next to the tub and read to him for about twenty minutes while he was getting washed up.  This kid loves Roald Dahl!  So obviously not too much excitement here.  Once again I'm so thankful to Mike for taking care of me for THREE days, keeping the house going and the kids occupied.  2014 only has to get better from here, right? 

 

 



 

 

September Pictures and Stories

The beginning of September was crazy and busy, I barely had time to keep the house clean while taking care of the kids and getting ready to go on our cruise.  So here are some of the pictures/stories from the beginning of September:

 

 

Ava went to the dentist for the first time.  Yes, I know she should have gone a long time ago.  Fortunately eating as little sugar as possible in our daily lives has another benefit, both kids have beautifully clean teeth.  The dentist was very complimentary and said that he wished all kids had such clean teeth!  Ava did wonderful during the exam.  She sat still and let the hygienist clean her teeth with no issues at all. 

 

I caught Dawson and Ava trying to "sleep" on this bookshelf.  Ava was on the bottom and Dawson got on the middle shelf.  I got him down immediately, it's not a high quality bookshelf that could hold that much weight, but I had to take a picture of Ava.  It reminds me of Margie and I playing boat on our old white shelf.  I'm pretty sure we busted out the drawers in it.

 

Ava LOVES fire soup.  I've been making tomato soup like crazy to use all the tomatoes from our garden, and she loves to help.

 

We also made it back to the Akron zoo.  Here are the kids in front of the Grizzly Ridge Statue.  Ava was cuddling the baby bears.

 

Dawson and I on our hike today

 

I'm very proud to report that Dawson has mastered both functions of potty training!  Thank you once again to Grandma and Bo for helping out while we were on the cruise and working with him.  Officially we have no one in diapers during the day now, only the night!

Carter's is Six!

 

My wonderful, good natured, happy, handsome little boy is now six years old.  SIX. 

 

Here are SIX things you are totally into:

1.  Favorite color:  still blue, but you will answer this question with camo.  Ava constantly corrects you that camo is not a color.

2.  Favorite Food:  Easy one, pizza.

3.  Favorite TV show:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

4.  Favorite sport:  soccer

5.  Favorite toys:  Legos, flashlights, nerf guns

6.  Favorite Friends:  Danny and Scott

 

 

 

We had a small celebration with a Ninja Turtles cookie cake (your request!) and some present opening.

 

Dawson wanted to help as always.

 

There have been so many milestones hit this year, but I've already written them on the blog.  Here is a little recap:  swimming, loose teeth (haven't lost them yet), coloring within the lines very well, counting consistently to 50+, identifying some coins like pennies and quarters, telling time to the hour and just reading up a storm.  Right now we are re-reading Frog and Toad (good for building fluency) but we'll be going to the library soon for more inspiration.

 

Looking forward we are working on tying your shoes, riding a bicycle with no training wheels and improving your swimming skills.  You've attempted to ride with no training wheels on several attempts, but usually after two or three spills you give up.

 

 

 

You've been involved in so much this year!  T-ball, soccer, swimming, art lessons, kindermusik and library story time.  Now that kindergarten has started we are paring back quite a bit, but you will be having swimming classes at the Y.

 

Your two favorite gifts have been your power cap, which you wear to bed every night and your squirrel kit from Uncle Jason and Aunt Tiffany.  Fully stocked with change, candy, nerf darts and band-aids, you sleep with it every night and carry it around the house inspecting its contents every chance you get. 

 

Thank you for this little boy.  We love him so much and we are lucky to have him in our life.  Carter boy, you are my baby joy!  (Even though you aren't a baby any more!)

 

 

Our Week in Pictures {and stories too, of course}

My littlest helper.  Lately Dawson will get the broom out of the close and move the dirt around for me.  Thanks baby boy!  The necklace really sets off your pajama ensemble as well.

Ava has been a wonderful helper.  On this particular day I opened the dishwasher to begin unloading it and became distracted and walked away.  When I returned Ava had unloaded at least half of the dishwasher onto the island and was wiping all the water off the dishes.  Thank you so much!

This morning she also came to me and let me know that she had cleaned up her room without any help.  Sure enough, when I went to check her bedroom she had "made" her bed and put all her night time books away on the shelf.

Ava has also been very interested in cooking lately.  She loves to be kept busy stirring, measuring, dumping and cutting.   

This week Carter's soccer league has began at the YMCA.  He always looks forward to soccer nights.  On Monday I took the three kids to the field by myself because Mike was still suffering from the plague.  Carter was on the field and I was busy playing memory with Ava, scribbling with Dawson and reading books to both of them. I felt HORRIBLE when Carter came over and said "MOM, did you see me score a goal?"

No, I had not.  I wasn't paying a bit of attention, and Carter scored his first goal in a game.  I told him how great it was and how proud of him I was, and he really didn't care. 

On Wednesday Carter had soccer again, but this time Mike was feeling better and able to join us.  On the way to soccer we brought Carter's friend Danny because his sister was sick, and his Dad wasn't home from work yet.  Anyways, it was hilarious to hear Carter and Danny in the backseat having conversations with each other.  It began with Carter bragging about how he had learned to blow his nose, continued with both of the boys practicing blowing their nose and ended with a rhyme-off.  Hilarious.

After soccer on Wednesday we took the kids out for ice cream after soccer.  While Dawson loves ice cream at home, he will not eat it at the store.  We've tried it in a cone, in a bowl but either way, nope.  Finally we ate all the ice cream out of his cone and gave it to him, and then he decided to eat the cone.  What a little weirdo!

Not my Carter Boy!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So this morning at the doctor's office when I asked Carter if he had ants in his pants he did not reply "poop" loud enough for everyone to hear. He would never tell me that he had poop in his pants, especially not when he was clean. Nope, not my child!

He also would never ever throw a fit at the zoo yelling "Mine! Mine!" to the polar bears. And he would never get mad at me and try to hit me in the face because I would not give him said polar bears. Not my Carter boy!

And finally Carter would never take his sippy cup and throw it over the railing in to the tiger's pen. He knows to always hold onto his cup tight and especially never to throw it to tigers. Thank goodness none of the zoo workers volunteered to reach over the fence to get the sippy cup, that would just be dangerous!

So now that you know what we have not been up to, what have you not been doing this week?