Happy 4th of July!

Hi there! Yes, I've been terrible about updating this blog! We've done a lot over the past few months, so I'm going to work on getting it all updated here soon. At any rate - I hope you all had a great 4th of July! We had a nice day - a neighborhood kiddie parade in the morning, family over for a cookout in the afternoon and then fireworks in the evening. Here are some photos:

Our Yankee Doodle Cuties getting ready for the parade! Our friends Rachel & Derek (and parents Cindy & Brian) walked the parade with us.


Walking the parade route...


Our cake for the cookout. Carter did ALL of the cutting on the strawberries himself!


Uncle Brad, Aunt Laura & Morgan went with us to the fireworks in Cedar Park. It was really nice! The weather even cooperated, it was decent out and not boiling. Some more photos...


Happy 4th!

Courtney's Birthday Party!

Courtney turned two back on February 4th, but her birthday party was today! We went with a Sesame Street theme this year, right down to Courtney's cute little outfit (thanks again Aunt Laura!). As soon as Courtney woke up today she was saying "Happy birthday to Courtney!" and "I'm twoooo" - she had been looking forward to her party and was just a little excited. She had a great time, and before I put her down for nap I asked her if she had fun at her party, and she replied "Yes, I ate a cupcake! I'm two! Happy birthday to Courtney!" Yay! Success! Here are some photos:

Mmmm I love cupcakes!The cupcakes were Elmo and Cookie Monster!The entire birthday crew.Courtney and her future boyfriend Derek.Cute little Dylan from Courtney's class as school.Sweet Natalie, a friend from our neighborhood.And another Natalie, who is in class with Carter.Can you tell Nathan is Natalie's little brother? Look at those eyes, they both have the same gorgeous dark eyes. Nathan is in Courtney's class at school too.Carter's good buddy Aaron.Grammy helped me put together a cute game - she painted a clothespin to look like Oscar, complete with Slimey the Worm on the side! The kids took turns dropping the clothespin into the "garbage cans" to win a prize. Thanks to my Twitter friend @paperbatty for helping me come up with this idea!!Carter was such a great helper with the prizes, he let everyone pick a toy from the bag.Time to open prezzies - Courtney sat with Grammy, and Carter very much wanted to "help". (ie, he wanted to do ALL the opening himself...)Courtney in the CUTE garden hat from Aunt Laura!Courtney LOVES dollies and dressing up - check this out - she got a Princess Aurora dress from one friend, and a matching Princess Aurora baby doll from another friend! What a cute matchy-matchy coincidence!!Here are the goodie bags the kids were sent home with... mmmm COOKIES!And some of the food - since the party was brought to us by the letter C (for Courtney) and the number 2 (for her age) - I cut out some of the cheese with cookie cutters!And I cut sandwiches into shapes - triangles, circles, hexagons, squares. Seemed kinda Sesame Street-y! :-)Courtney loved her party, and the other kids seemed to have fun too. YAY!

Playdate with Rachel & Derek!

Our good friends Rachel and Derek came over for a playdate, yay!!! We don't see them much anymore, now that our preschool time is on opposite days. So it was GREAT to have some time with them!! First we did some playing in the playroom, mostly building tracks on the train table, but that quickly deteriorated when a certain child who will remain nameless (but hint, he was not one of the sweet, well-behaved guests!) decided to keep destroying the tracks instead of building them. Sigh.So next I got out the paints! Paints are always a great distraction!! And here are our cuties painting...That distraction lasted for about 15 minutes. So then I got them to all sit on the couch and watch a little bit of Mama Mirabelle while I fixed their lunch. Here are all the cuties lined up on the couch! Notice a little hand-holding going on to the left of the photo!!! SO SWEET!!Thanks for playing with us Rachel & Derek, we hope you'll come over again soon!

Fun times with Natalie & Jack!

We had the pleasure of having a visit from our friends Natalie and Jack today while their mommy went to an appointment. Carter and Natalie had tons of fun playing with Legos and a Curious George game, and generally giggling and being silly. Jack was a little exasperated that he didn't get to play with the big kids in Carter's bedroom. And Courtney napped during most of it. :-) But here they all are at lunch...

Sweet Natalie:Adorable Jack:My Courtney bug, who was THRILLED that I asked her to give up her booster seat for Jack and sit in a big-girl chair:And Carter, cooperating for the photo, as usual...We hope Jack and Natalie will be back to play with us real soon!

Rachel's Birthday Party

On Saturday Carter and Courtney got to go to a super fun birthday party!! Their friend Rachel turned 4, and had a carnival to celebrate!! There were all sorts of fun games and prizes and a clown and face painting and carnival food!! Carter came home saying this treasure hunt game was his favorite!The kids all posed for a group photo. 20+ kids all being asked to sit still & look at the camera, I wonder if Rachel's mommy really thought that would work out perfectly, ha ha! But I thought it was so incredibly sweet how Carter was holding onto his baby sister for the photo!! (oh and btw - this pink sweater is a Rachel hand-me-down, HA!)And here's the birthday girl Rachel, blowing out her candles with mommy and brother looking on.Thanks Cindy for letting me borrow your photos! :-)

Carter's 4th Birthday!

Carter turned four today! FOUR!! Can you believe it? I can't. It seems like just yesterday he came into our world. And yes, I probably will say that exact same thing on his birthday for the rest of his life. So you better get used to it! :-) For the big four year celebration today, we decided to do a small party at Chuck E. Cheese's with family and friends. Carter and Courtney both had a complete BLAST, they LOVED it!! Here are some photos...

When we first arrived it was playtime. Carter had sooooo much fun playing air hockey with his buddy Adrian!Courtney really had fun with the games too - here she's bonking some sharks, with Daddy's help.Next it was time for dinner - pizza, of course! Here's the party crew - Carter was joined (counterclockwise) by his friend Rachel (whose 4th birthday was the day before!), sister Courtney (you can only see the top of her head), Zoe, Derek (Rachel's little brother) and Adrian.Carter was very happy that Grammy & Papa were visiting from Michigan and got to be with him for his birthday!And here's a gratuitous adorable baby shot! Have I mentioned how incredibly adorable Carter and Courtney's baby cousin Morgan is??Next the mouse himself, Chuck E. Cheese, made an appearance! He led the singing of Happy Birthday...And Carter blew out the candles on his Cars cake!Next the part Carter looked forward to most - eating the cake!!Ok, opening presents was pretty great too.Courtney was soooo excited about Chuck E. Cheese, she even ran over and hugged his legs, all on her own!All in all, a super fun birthday party! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!