Month by Month

10 Months

Deacon - you are 10 months old!

• You weigh 23 lbs. and are 29 inches tall!
  
  
• You wear 12-18 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

• You celebrated your first Thanksgiving this month and are quickly approaching your very first Christmas!!
  
  
• One of my nicknames for you is walkie-talkie because that is exactly what you are doing now! You have figured this walking thing out and we have counted 14 steps without falling!! You are continuing to jabber mostly with your favorite two words: dada and mama.
  
  

• We have added a little table food to your diet. You have tried pasta, banana, french fries, and some thanksgiving dishes. You are willing to try anything, but need to work on your gag reflex a little because you can give us a scare with sounds you make while eating.
  
  
• You have 6 teeth now, 4 on top, 2 on bottom. The bottom ones are really prominent when you smile, and the top ones are starting to come down into view. I love your teethies, but will miss that gummy smile of yours.
  
  
• Our other name for you is Catnap King. For some reason you have given up long naps during day and take a couple of 10-20 minute naps; the only time they last longer is in the car or stroller.
  
  
• Your favorite new activity is bed bouncing! All we have to do is sing "Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" and you go to town! You are brave just like Carson was too and love for Dada to throw you in the air and hang you upside down! (And Brian loves scaring Meme by doing this...)
  
  

Carson's 5th Birthday Party

Guess how old my big guy is...



That's right, he is a whole hand old now and celebrated his birthday with a Mario bouncy party.


This is the first year we didn't have the party at our house and I was a little nervous to give over the control, decorations, and games that come with doing it yourself. But, when all was said and done it was so much easier and I could spend the time sitting back and enjoying his party instead of running around. And when the party was over, pack up and leave the mess THERE!


The one thing I still got to do was goody bags!

I made the tags myself through picnik and printed them at Walgreens for a whopping $5.

The favors inside were the biggest stress. I ordered gold coins, squishy balls, mustaches, bags and princess suckers from Oriental Trading on December 1st. They said the package would arrive the 10th (the day before the party). I knew we would be pushing it, but they usually ship really quick. Well, throughout the week I tracked the package and by Friday it was obvious the items weren't going to make it on time. I tried to expedite it, but they weren't able to. So, in a last ditch effort I called Oriental Trading and told them about the problem. They promised to overnight all the items with a guaranteed shipping before noon for free! And they did, thank goodness!

On to the party...

James rode with us, and because he was at the house while Carson was getting ready, he wanted a faux-hawk too!

Deacon played the adventurer on the Sesame Street bouncer.

Carson's cousins, Ethan and Austin, came too and looked dapper in their Mario 'staches.

Carson's girlfriend, Maia (I finally learned the spelling while addressing invites), didn't make it to the party, but he has another girl who loved him there, Alyssa, from his class...

Her dad told me that she was so excited to go to his party that she had woken up early that morning because she wanted to make sure she got to pick out his present.


At one point she moved in for a kiss.

...and this was his reaction!!

Hey, he's a one-woman kinda guy!

The other detail I could arrange was the cake. Like always, my favorite cake gal did an awesome job.

Carson absolutely loved his cake!

What he liked even better than the cake, was all the presents!!

Dada wasn't too impressed with the Zoobles, but look at his happy little face!

And finally there is a toy in the house I can play with! :)

I love this group shot with some of the kids and their mustaches!

The grown-ups were incredible sports too!

I had to twist some of their arms to get in the group photo! hehe

For some reason I forgot to take pictures of the bouncing...but I did get the money shot!

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Adopt-A-Family

Have I mentioned how much I love my job?? I am reminded on a regular basis how wonderful it is. This week demonstrated the hearts of children and really gave our school the chance to get in the Christmas spirit of giving.

Our church has a table set up every year for adopting a family. I am a Student Council sponsor at my school and we decided that this would be our service project for the semester. We selected a family with five children:

Age: 4 Sex: M
Hobbies/Interests: Coloring, Dragons, Dinosaurs, & Cars

Age: 5 Sex: M
Hobbies/Interests: Drawing, Super Mario, Toy Story

Age: 10 Sex: F
Hobbies/Interests: Drama, Dance, Littlest Pet Shops

Age: 11 Sex: M
Hobbies/Interests: Hunting, Fishing, Soccer

Age: 15 Sex: F
Hobbies/Interests: Soccer, Reading, i-tunes


We gave these details to all the students at our school, along with names and clothing sizes, and held a competition for the class who brought the most items in. Unlike many distributions the students are given, which end up on the floor or trash at the end of class, they were held onto and memorized. You could walk into a number of classrooms in our school and students could give you names and descriptions of the children.

Yesterday was the deadline and the winning class brought in 28 items. Second place brought in 27 items... Our tiny Christmas tree literally overflowed with gifts, and throughout the day parents delivered more to the office. We received over 100 presents!! We have so many gifts that we are able to give to other families as well!

Discovery Green

After Carson's game last Saturday, my mother-in-law suggested we go to Discovery Green and enjoy the nice weather. We've never been before but have heard about the kid-friendly area reserved right in the middle of downtown, along with their outdoor ice skating rink for the holidays.

After walking around to check out the place, we sat on a hill and watched the boys enjoy the playground.

The guys had fun on the hill too!

Including Deacon, who wasn't too sure how to maneuver on the incline!

When the rest of the family arrived, they got the football out and played.

By the time we were finished playing at the park, the rink had opened for skating, and Santa even showed up for the occasion!

The skates they had for younger kids were awesome because they came with double blades! We had been nervous about how Carson would do, especially since he was still wearing his soccer uniform, but he skated circles around us!

Grandma rocked!! While all of us were too chicken to get out there, she pulled on those skates and went out there with the kids!

Carson had SO much fun; he skated forever! We each took a turn going out there with him while the others rested!

By that point Deacon was tired and ready to go, so we left with him, while Carson and everyone else went on a trolley ride through downtown looking at Christmas lights.

Baked!

During the holidays Carson's daycare opens up the lobby for parents to sell homemade stuff. They are overflowing with tons of cute crafts that range from hair bows to Christmas decorations. The daycare doesn't take a cut, they just like for parents to do some holiday shopping and money making. The director has asked me the past couple of weeks what I am bringing, and I tried to explain to her that I am not super crafty, especially not crafty enough for someone to actually purchase something I have made.

Last week she asked me again, and I told her I could make some cake balls. She said that would be perfect. So all day Sunday I baked. I even used my favorite site to make a sign to display by my desserts.

I filled up the bowl with about 3 dozen balls and dropped them off Monday morning.

I spent yesterday and today baking, coating, sprinkling, and wrapping another 3 dozen to add to the quickly selling goodies. Three days of work and I will make about $70...not including food cost...probably closer to $50....lol

Carson's birthday is on Thursday and tonight I asked him what he would like to take to his school to share with his friends for his birthday.

Guess what he wanted??

Looks like I will be baking, coating, sprinkling, and wrapping 2 dozen more cake balls for Thursday...

42 Weeks

Now that we have our Christmas tree up, you are in love! Your favorite part is the mesh wrapping the tree which you use to chew and rub on your face. It is going to be fun these next few weeks keeping you away!