Five years old

Today my Carter is FIVE YEARS OLD!

His current obsession is bowling so on Saturday he had a bowling party with his preschool friends....

This morning Daddy made pancakes .... shaped like a bowling ball and bowling pins!

Hmm, guess what he is getting for his birthday?  

Yup, a bowling set.

We also had a conference today with Carter's teacher.  He is doing very well at school and otherwise.  It is so interesting to me how we are raising 3 children with the same DNA and same 2 parents ... yet each child is so different with their strengths and weaknesses.  Different from each other, and different from us, even.   

Some of my favorite things about Carter in particular are ways in which he is different from me.  For instance, he is just a natural encourager ... he is always cheering on other people and noticing the things they are doing well and verbalizing his encouragement.  I need more of these qualities...I tend to be more critical, or sometimes I just don't SAY the encouraging thing I'm thinking.  For him this is just a God-given spiritual gift.

I also love how Carter notices and studies things I take for granted (although I think all children do this...we as adults just kind of overlook a lot of the cool stuff around us).  And he notices things that I would NEVER IN A HUNDRED YEARS find interesting ... but he is different from me.  Today we were driving to his school and he said "I'm glad we're going this way...we're going to pass my favorite sign!" (favorite sign? okay....)  Then later when we were eating lunch at McDonalds and he said to me "Mommy, there are 38 lights in here."  Sure enough, I counted and there were 38 lights.  He spends lots of time setting up his markers into "bowling pins" - in correct position, mind you - and then knocking them down with his fist (the bowling ball, I guess?) and watching how the pins fall.  He just has always looked at things in a natural, curious, "outside the box" kind of way, and I am so up in the box sometimes.  

Today I was thinking about how desperately I wanted to have a baby when I got pregnant with Carter.  I had had a miscarriage about 9 months previously....I was so sad to lose that child and I wanted so badly to have another child that I was kind of in a depression for quite some time about it all.  God taught me a WHOLE lot during that time about trust and waiting and accepting.  I had finally come to the point where I was "accepting" that whether I had another child or not was really in God's hands, not mine.  And then thankfully, (THANKFULLY!) God did indeed bless me with this beautiful baby boy.  I am so thankful for him. I sometimes think - if I had not lost the other baby, there would be no Carter.  It is a bittersweet thought. 

I love you Carter Jacob.  And may God give me the grace to be just the kind of Mom that you need.  I fall short so often...but no one here on earth loves you more than I do.  Okay, Daddy probably loves you just as much.  But you are a special gift from God to your whole family and we love you.

First Haircut

 BEFORE:

(not sure what she thinks about this "haircut" thing...)

AFTER:

(a very happy customer!)

Chloe with her stylist "Miss Kelly" :)

Thank you Kelly!

The Mother of all Christmas Posts

Fasten your seat belts ... I think this is gonna be a long one. :)

Chad has started a tradition over the past couple years of taking the kids on a Christmas Eve morning hike.  I love this because it's something special that they can look forward to ... and it affords me a little quiet time to get last minute cooking/wrapping/etc. done.  This is the first year that Chloe participated!

 Throwing rocks into water is an integral part of hiking according to the kids.

 I love how Chloe can barely see out of her hat. :)

Chad said that at one point they were all singing Christmas carols as they hiked along.

Wish I could've heard that.

 

 That evening we went to church and the kids sang in the service.  

Chloe did so with her finger up her nose the entire time.

Luckily when you're 2 you can get away with that and it is still "cute":)

 After church we tried to get a nice family photo.

For some reason Chloe was intent on doing this weird flippy move.

What can you do?  Once again - she IS two!

Looks like Santa came!

See?  He DID come. :)

 Christmas morning in the Christmas jammies

 Opening stockings.

When Carter saw this picture, he said (and I quote):  "Look at me!  I look so cute!"

I happen to agree.

 Audrey was VERY happy with what "Santa" brought!

 So was Carter!

(So was Chloe - she got a Bitty Baby - but I didn't get a picture of her with it on Christmas morning.)

 As you can tell, she was also happy with this princess dress.

Around lunchtime we headed over to my parents' house to exchange gifts and have dinner together.

 Chloe really got into opening gifts.  She decided Uncle Andy needed a little help. :)

 It would not be Christmas if Chad did not receive a humongous bag of Jelly Bellies.

 Carter discovered the game "Sorry" on vacation this summer and was WAY excited to get this.  

He kept saying "I'm so lucky!!"

 My Dad made two special gifts this Christmas.  The first is this bed (with trundle!) for Audrey's American Girls.  My Mom made all the bedding for it too.

 He also made this adorable crib for Chloe's bitty baby.  Again my  mom made the bumper and crocheted some little blankets for her baby.  Chloe got right to work putting her baby to bed. :)

Everyone got new PJ's for Christmas.  They put them on for the ride home later that night.

The day after Christmas we got busy packing and cleaning up for our trip to NY.  To keep the kids occupied we finally broke out the gingerbread house.  Somehow we kind of overlooked doing it before Christmas and they had a lot of fun decorating it with Daddy.

The next day we headed up to Buffalo to celebrate Christmas with Chad's family ... the kids were so excited!

 This is the kid table...minus one kid who is not old enough to sit up yet. :)

Yes, ladies & gentleman, we had 17 people under one roof.

My sister in law and brother in law are saints for hosting us year after year!

 Grandpa with the "big" girls.

 Grandpa & Uncle Josh with all the kids piled on the couch.

 Meet Nate.  He is my newest nephew!  Isn't he a cutie?  He just smiled and smiled for me while I took his picture.

 One of the days we headed to the Museum of Play in Rochester.  Audrey & Carolyn rode together in our van with their lookalike dolls.

 One of my favorite exhibits there was the grocery store.  Every kid got a cart, picked out 5 items, and then took them to checkout.  They got to scan them and print out their receipt.  Then they had to "restock" their items.  They loved it!

 Audrey was working the bakery and cheese section for awhile.

 The whole gang on Sesame Street!

 Another day we took the big kids bowling.  Carter was in heaven - he loves bowling.

 Before we left, we had a mini birthday party for Carter (whose birthday is in January).  He got to open his presents from Grandma & Grandpa and his cousins.

Shortly after this, we had to go. :(

 On our way home.

We always stop at this rest area ... it is a big lodge with scenic overlooks.

Since 7 hours in the car was not a full enough day for us (ha) - after a brief stop at home to drop off luggage - we headed straight to Chuck E. Cheese to do our annual New Years Eve celebration with our neighbors.  The kids were very happy to see all their friends. 

Chloe wanted to climb in the tubes but her little legs could not make it up this beginning part.

Guess who got to climb in and help out?

I asked my neighbor Karen to watch my camera and she decided to take a few pictures of me climbing in here. ;P

It was all worth it to see her happily sliding down the tubes with her big sister! ;)

It has been such a busy, fun, blessed, wonderful Christmas season.

As usual, I am a little sad to see it go. :(

I wonder what 2012 will hold though!

Advent Thoughts

Last weekend I just got to feeling that the Christmas season was sneaking by and my focus was too much on last minute shopping, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, putting together teacher goodies, etc....the list is never ending.  So I decided the other day that I was going to spend the afternoon taking "off" from Christmas.

I made myself some peppermint hot cocoa and sat by the tree and just read over the Christmas story again.  I talked to God.  Lately I have been feeling very discouraged with myself.  I just poured it all out to God and sat back and "listened."  The earth did not move, lightning did not strike, I did not get some special revelation from God .... but I felt at peace.  And I felt like my focus was shifted in the right direction.

Each year we try to remember the advent season with the children by doing this advent wreath with them.  One of the reasons I was especially discouraged is because we had failed to do the wreath this year.  I feel like it got squeezed out amongst all the activities which seemed to be falling on Sunday nights.  And I was so mad at myself because to me - this is what Christmas is and should be about more than anything. 

Anyhow, after my time with God that afternoon, I decided that we could still do it.  There were four days leading up to Christmas, and our evenings were free this week.  So I was determined.  We did the first one last night and have plans to finish the others in the coming evenings.  I want to add - it was not perfect.  Chloe left the table before we even really got started.  An argument broke out about who gets to blow out the candle.  One child decided not to sing the Christmas carol with us. 

BUT.

Audrey and Carter both read the Scriptures by themselves.  At the end Carter insisted on praying.  AND, most importantly, the kids were reminded of what Christmas is really all about.

As I took this picture of the advent wreath, I started to clear off the table so the picture would be "nicer".  But then I decided to let it stand as is ... because this is our life.  It is messy and filled with distractions and the kids don't always cooperate with "our" plans and things are just not perfect.  (Ha, understatement of the year.)

BUT.

In the middle of it all, just like that advent wreath on the table - among all our mess and chaos and craziness --- 

Immanuel ....GOD IS WITH US.  

And if we can just grasp a glimpse of that this season .... then it is a good Christmas indeed.

Christmas Fun, Part 2

Merry Christmas one and all!

My Carter is not much of an artsy dude.  In fact, most of his coloring and crafts appear to be an attempt to finish ASAP so that he can get on to something that he really wants to do.  But yesterday he sat down and colored this picture with only a little help from his mama.  (I showed him how to draw presents with bows.)   We had  a lot of fun working on it together!

Speaking of Carter .... last week he had his preschool Christmas concert.  He was very excited to go to school that day and sing.  Until he found out that it would involve dressing up.  Which means that I made him wear a sweater and cargo pants.  :)  Anyhow, he quickly moved on to being excited again and sang with great gusto.

 The only problem with being one of the tallest in your class is that you are stuck in the back row where it is hard for Mom & Dad to see you very clearly.  :)

 And here he is "recessing" (his friend Rebecca is in front of him).  It cracks me up that he walks around with his hands in his pockets like an old man.   He is probably smiling real big because he knows that after the concert is the cookie reception! 

 Chad and I went to his company party last weekend.  

Yes, this is one of the few times of the year that I dress up.  I even painted my nails and had time to do an "updo".  We had a great time - now that he has been at his company long enough I actually enjoy going and meeting up with some of his co-workers and their wives/husbands.

 On Tuesday night we hosted our small group's Christmas party.  We had one out-of-town couple and one sick husband so this picture isn't "complete" but these are some of the people that we love the most!

Every year we have a white elephant gift exchange.  Chad (not my Chad, but the one in the back row on the left) is modeling some of his white elephant "gifts"... that rockin' sweater AND the peel-n-stick  mustache!

 Of course, then all the guys wanted to try on the mustaches....

 ....then we girls decided to get in on the fun. 

Yes, we're weird.  It was one of those 'you had to be there' moments. :)

My white elephant "win" was this Noah's Ark latch hook rug.

I'm not a huge fan but Diesel seems to love sitting on it...

Just to add to the fun around here I am now potty-training Chloe. :-/
I didn't really want to start yet but she keeps asking to wear "unduh-pants" so I felt like I should go along with it.  We are about a week in but not  real consistent yet.  Probably because Mommy here is too busy to be very consistent yet....anyhow, I am anxiously awaiting the end of my diaper-changing days!

We are all excited about all the fun still to come - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day... and then a trip to Buffalo NY to see all the cousins!!  The kids are WAAAAY excited.