OUR CARTER!

Evan & Carter celebrating Carter's birthday at Jungle Quest, having a zip line race.
In the Jungle Tree House.
Carter opening presents at the home we may or may not buy(we were there for the inspection).
New Carterisms: I have to check the FEVER outside! Having a brother isn't as horrible as I thought it might be! Hi s favorite number is 5,500- everything is 5,500. He absolutely loves school he says, "it's learning me a lot"! He seems to be doing well in all his left handed ways, with writing and coloring and all, much easier than Evan did at this age. Can't wait to see if the babies are going to be left handed, I wonder what the odds are of having 4 left handed kids w/ right handed parents? Life is never a bore w/ Carter around, he truly is our spitfire!

IT'S SO ExHAUSTING BEING A KID

Declan on top of Dawson

LAZY SUNDAY

What else do we do we have all of our toys out? Climb & play with empty containers I guess. Dawson in the box, Declan on the box.
Dawson cheesing for the camera. I pulled out the camera, since we are homebound today. Cold and rainy on a Sunday with Daddy out of town and Mommy sick?
Declan didn't want to be left out. Declan & Dawson think they are soo cool they got a hold of my camera. Good thing the battery is dead.

Carter Goes to SCHOOL!

Carter began shool this past week! He is in afternoon kindergarten, so we have to drive him in the afternoon, but he gets to ride the bus home. Evan is on year-round school and was off track for Carter's first week of school, but typically they will be riding the bus home together. The bus stop is around the corner & out of site from our front porch which kind of worries me, but of course the boys love being out of site. Hummm I wonder why? On a side note, Carter is quite the ladies man. His teacher is Hot! He likes MRS. Whalen!

Alas, Time to Resurface!

Back to reality, after 4 1/2 days of fantasy my book is over. While I am elated at the outcome it saddens me deeply to know that there will be no more vampire/werewolf stories coming, only a movie in Dec.! I am unsure how Hollywood could do it justice, but I will see as soon as it comes out. My house is sooo ridiculously neglected, as I also worked two nights while reading this book, meaning I absolutely did nothing besides eat, sleep, work and READ. So unlike me to read, Matt knew it was only temporary(this was the last of the series), he knew better than to say anything. Nothing would have stopped me. Now I have to focus on getting my home back in order and preparing for a talk I have to give in church on Sunday. If only I could transfer all of that gumption to my new tasks at hand!

We're 17 months old, on the 17th wearing our 17 shirts!

Dawson, Matt & Declan. Apparently I interrupted Dawson during his important phone call!
Today was another milestone, or so I thought! I have been super reluctant and vigilant about the babies not having peanut butter. With all of their sensitive skin issues and respiratory problems I was holding out. But today I just gave in and tried it(uncrustables are so easy & quick). Apparently, while on Matt's watch Carter fed the babies ritz peanut butter crackers. No reaction yet so we may just be in the clear! Declan on the left, Daws on the right.
Declan & Dawson eating peanut butter!

BIG BOYS ONLY!

Balboa Park Mosaic Art This wasn't the train Carter really wanted to ride, but it did the trick.
Ready to EJECT at the USS Midway Museum
Armed w/ their maps and ready to go!
Carter was way to into this for my liking!

We had the opportunity last week to tag along w/Matt on a business trip to San Diego. We left the babies behind w/ Grandma Jean and made it exclusively for the older boys. Every activity we planned we could not have done w/ the babies( at least it would have been difficult or miserable or both). Flying for instance was such a thrill w/ only 2 big boys! We visited Legoland! We quickly discovered that we are raising 2 Roller Coaster enthusiasts! Although Carter is only 4, he is the size of most 6 year olds and could and did ride all the big rides! Many of them multiple times. We also visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, the boys liked it, I would have rather stayed behind and gone shopping or something. They played at the pool everyday, really they would have probably been content to do this the entire week. W ventured out to the movies, rare for us. We saw Wall-E. Don't bother seeing it! We went to Balboa park and saw a model train museum and then rode a small train. San Diego has miriads of transportation options from pedi-cabs to taxis to busses to trains to trollies to water taxis. Carter was in heaven! We rode a pedi-cab one night. Coronado island was a fun beach adventure, as well as Mission Beach where Matt and Evan were quite successful at body surfing! We had a blast, we missed the babies, but the big boys have asked if we could make this an annual tradition! Of course we didn't capture enough of our trip on camera, but these are some shots that we did get.