Our Albert

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting him, this the love of our lives, Albert. My parents cat, Blackie, gave birth to him (and a few others) the same time Brian and I first moved in together five years ago. He was the sweetest of the litter, so we had to have him. He is such a wonderful addition to our family, I felt he deserved his own blog...

Don't be fooled by his cat-like exterior, he is a dog trapped in a cat's body. He knows his name and will come to you when you call him. He is friendly to all of our visitors and is usually waiting by the door when I leave and come home. He goes on walks with Carson and I through the neighborhood and even waits by us if we stop to talk to neighbors. Best of all, he is so great with Carson. He lets Carson pet him, sometimes carry (ie. drag) him around the house, but will still put Carson in his place if he gets too rough.

We love him.

It's only just begun...

Well, I officially had my first public embarrassment via my lovely 3 year old. I knew the time would eventually arrive that Carson would do or say something to turn my face a bright shade of red in public. I was hoping it would take a little longer, or possibly be Brian, instead of me...

Last night Carson & I met my sister and her boys at a small Italian restaurant in Pearland. Ethan wanted to check the place out as a potential birthday party destination b/c they let the kids make their own pizzas, then they cook them. We were seated front and center next to the hostess stand, cash register and restrooms.

Half-way through the meal Carson announces at the top of his lungs "I need to go POO-POO, Mama! Hurry so I don't POO-POO on myself!!" (No, this isn't the embarrassing part...) So no big deal, I am happy to take my potty-trained child to use the restroom! We go in, he does his business and we go back to our table. On the way back to our seats Carson gets the strange notion that I now need to use the restroom as well. So he begins to yell "MAMA, YOU NEED TO GO POO-POO!!" I turn around and quietly tell him "no, I don't need to use the restroom." He obviously isn't buying it and continues to scream "MAMA YOU NEED TO GO POO-POO! HURRY MAMA, YOU ARE GOING TO POO-POO ON YOURSELF!" Again I tell him "really Carson, I don't need to go to the restroom." He continues and is now throwing himself on the floor screaming "YES YOU DO MAMA! YOU ARE GOING TO POO-POO ON YOURSELF, YOU NEED TO GO TO THE POTTY!!" At this point all employees and some of the customers are staring at me, and I can only imagine what they are thinking: does this lady have some previous habit of pottying on herself or what did she just do in OUR restroom. Joni, on the other hand is laughing hysterically. After a good couple of minutes debating with my child about my lack of needing to use the potty he finally stops the tantrum and moves on to something else, while I am forced to finish my meal with a restaurant full of giggling people.

I'm sure I will be able to return the favor in his teenage years.

A VERY Merry Christmas!!

We were so blessed this year to spend Christmas with our families! And even better, they came to us!

On Christmas Eve, we went to dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant, Celaya's, and then went to a wonderful church service, where they took the shoes off our feet to donate to charity. (We had to watch Joni to make sure she didn't steal any cute ones back out of the box) Our church was hoping to collect 4,000 pairs of shoes to donate to places across the globe to some families who had never owned a pair in their lives.

Eating Fajitas

Austin got to go on stage and sing Christmas carols with the children

When we got home from church we had to bake and decorate cookies for Santa Claus! Carson was very generous with the sprinkles, which I am sure Santa enjoyed. Brian & Pops played elves, while Meme & I helped Carson in the kitchen.

Decorating Santa's cookies

Setting out cookies & milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer

Santa must have really liked the cookies!!

Carson loved his tractor so much he wanted to show it to the neighborhood

Carson's video game bike from Aunt Claudia

...and his Harley Davison Skooter

Time to look in the stockings

New stuff for my sewing machine (I look rough w/ no makeup)

Brian got truffles

An oldie, but goodie

Opening presents

My mother is slightly (hah!) addicted to these STOK shots that you add to coffee for more caffeine

Probably the only picture I will ever take of my mom taking a shot (we didn't have any coffee)

The boys came over to open their presents

Granny came by too!

After we had our nap, Grandma & Papa came by to celebrate Christmas with us too! We ate, watched movies, and showed them all of our new toys.

Christmas Cookies

We had so much fun this past weekend decorating Christmas cookies! Although, we discovered that we lack ALL decorative culinary skills, we can make some pretty yummy pre-packaged cookie dough and homemade icing...

Joni & the boys w/ their prized cookies

Before things got messy

Carson had a little difficulty w/ the sprinkles

Our final product (can you guess which plate is Carsons??)

These 3 years have flown by...

Let it Snow!!

We were wearing shorts yesterday, and today we are having snowball fights in the yard. In Carson's 3 short years of life, he has already seen snow in Texas twice! We had such a great time playing in the snow, but are wimps and had to go inside every five minutes to warm up...

Carson standing by our yard decorations (it had just started snowing)

Our snowman was happy!

Shot from our porch

Carson playing with the neighbors, James & Caroline

Back windshield of my car

Pictures with Santa

Waiting in line for Santa!!

Waiting with Grandma

...and Papa!

After waiting in line for an hour and a half, Carson got to see Santa! He was so excited that when he got up to meet him he even did a little dance for Santa and was more than happy to sit on his lap! Carson told Santa that he wanted cars for Christmas (it changes every time you ask).