The prettiest of them all...

My silly boy. Believe it or not, it was his Daddy who helped him with his new look. Carter came in the kitchen and said to me "Now I'm the prettiest of them all." Indeed!



And here's some more pure silliness...

I will not smile for the camera...

... and you can't make me!


Ok fine, I suppose I can smile just a little!


Taking photos of Carter is so much fun these days, LOL!

Sunday Morning Sweeties

My sweeties hanging out on a Sunday morning...

St. Patty's at the Hickson's...

Yup this was how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day this year! The kids start young in the Hickson household. I don't know what's crazier, the 2 yr old drinking Guinness or the big toe chaser she followed it with....?Meanwhile, as all the Courtney shenanigans were going on, Carter just sat at the other end of the table, looking sweet as can be...
Ok ok I should probably clarify - Courtney didn't REALLY drink any Guinness! Daddy had the bottle and she kept saying she wanted some, so after he had finished drinking it, he let her hold up the bottle. She may have gotten a drip. I expected her to make a completely revolted face and declare it to be the nastiest thing she had ever tried, but instead she squealed as sweet as can be "I wuv it!!". Yes, we are in trouble...

Our actual St. Patrick's Day "celebration" consisted of Carter deciding he needed to wear a green shirt - and then discovering in his drawer that he actually owns TWO green shirts - so he in fact wore TWO green shirts. We couldn't find a green shirt for Courtney, so instead she wore a My Little Pony shirt with a rainbow on it - the rainbow seemed sorta leprechauny. Or something. I decided we needed a green/Irish-inspired dinner, so I tried something crazy... I actually tried making homemade fish & chips. I bought fresh cod, made beer batter, heated a pot of oil and everything. The result - it wasn't that good and I found deep frying WAY too scary. So that's the first AND last time I'll make fried fish! I also heated some sweet potato fries for the chips (I figure there is orange in the Irish flag, yes?) and then made some green sides - peas, salad with green onions, cucumbers & avocado, and some avocado slices on the kids' plates. But of course their favorite part of dinner - the green frosted cupcakes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Olympic Fever!

Olympic Fever was in full swing at our house yesterday! We were sad when Team USA lost the hockey gold to Canada, but at least it was a fantastic game! But long before the hockey madness began, our morning was filled with watching some figure skating recaps. Which Carter found quite intriguing, and decided to "skate" along...And the finale, a perfectly executed triple lutz.And Carter takes the GOLD!! Well done.

Mmm donuts!!

Last night before bed, Carter asked if we could go for donuts in the morning. We've had a pretty rough week around here - I mentioned Carter's strep throat in the last blog post - well just as he was getting better Courtney developed an ear infection! They did a strep culture on her too, thankfully it was negative. So... we went for donuts this morning, to celebrate making it through our rough week and everyone being back to good health, and to make our weekend with Daddy gone to Korea a little more fun. Needless to say they LOVED the donuts! Carter ate two whole donuts, and Courtney ate one. "Whole" is the key word here - usually they just want to lick off the icing, so this was a big improvement! And since Courtney just had her birthday party last weekend, she still has cupcakes on the brain - she kept calling her donut a cupcake and even started singing Happy Birthday to Courtney. Too cute! Here are some photos:

Totally 80's Courtney!!

That's pretty much all I have to say about this...

Mmm... popsicles!!

Nothing brings a smile to a kid's face like a popsicle! Here are some photos of Carter enjoying one more than I've ever seen, and Courtney enjoying her first.
Just starting out...I had cut up some pieces for Courtney, but when she saw Big Brother eating one from a stick, she would have none of that and wanted one with a stick too!"Mommy it's sooo cold!"Pure popsicle joy.Orange tongue!Courtney was pretty bummed out when her popsicle fell off the stick - she even tried putting it back on.Oh well Courtney, we'll have more another day... :-)

Puddle Hoppin'!

Today was a dark and rainy morning here in Austin. It was the most rain we've seen in a LONG time! By afternoon the rain had stopped, and it was just gorgeous outside. I love walking around after a good, spring rain, everything looks so green and lush! Carter got some new rain boots, so we decided to put them on and go searching for puddles to jump in. Carter LOVED it!!Basically, splashing around in new boots ROCKS! Don't you agree, Carter?

My Future Chef?

Yesterday I had the TV on, mostly for background noise, as I cleaned the kitchen while Carter and Courtney napped. Carter woke from his nap and wandered into the livingroom. Usually if I have the TV on during the day, it's tuned to CNN or MSNBC - news - and as soon as Carter sees it he begins his usual chant of "I wanna watch thoooooomas!" Well this time I had on the Food Network. He didn't say a word and just plopped down on the couch, intently watching Guy Fieri whip up a "family-style fiesta". Carter loves cooking scrambled eggs with me, the one thing we cook together - and he loves playing with his pretend food and his kitchen, where he's always whipping up his special "birthday parties" - perhaps there is already some passion for cooking and I could have the next Food Network celebrity chef on my hands??? Hmmmm. :-)

My Little All-Star

Yesterday Aunt Laura and I went to the second-hand store. Lookie what we found!! I was debating whether Courtney really "needed" them - but Aunt Laura said "OF COURSE SHE DOES!!". So check out Courtney in her super stylish new Converse...Aren't they cool?Walking in them felt a little weird...Even Cole had to check them out!I love my new Converse, Mommy!Ok, that's enough. Get them off!