Junie B. Jones

Carver and I have started to read some chapter books at night. He is really into it. We read the Tale of Despereaux a couple of months ago and then we went to see the movie. I found out that our local theater is doing a children's performance of a popular children's book character Junie B. Jones, so I have started to read him Junie B. Jones books and he has really enjoyed them. Today, Junie B. Jones made an appearance at one of the libraries so we went to see her. Both of the boys liked it but Carver was thrilled. He is really excited about the play now so I'm really looking forward to taking him to that in a few weeks. I love giving him new opportunities and seeing him experience cultures.


The boys listening while Junie B. Jones reads some of her book.
Carver with his friend Junie B. Jones

As we were leaving the library, Carver was talking about Junie B. and asking how old she is. I said, well she's 5, only 1 year older than you. He thought for a minute and then said, she seemed a lot older than that! (The actress is obviously not 5! :)

Back to life, Back to reality :)

Well, we all survived my absence and I think that Daddy did a great job of running things while I was away. Everyone was healthy and happy when i returned and happy to see me, so I was happy. I must say, Daddy did a great job blogging too, I might just have to let him blog more often. :) Here is one family picture that turned out great that Chris didn't get a chance to post. I can't believe how big the boys are getting!

As far as my trip, I had way too much fun! I really enjoyed my time to just be me and to relax and catch up with my good friend Katy. I got to see some amazing sites and it was just absolutely gorgeous in Oregon. I have never been to that part of the country and Portland was such a pretty place to visit. Besides having way to much fun, and seeing some amazing sites, I did manage to run a little while I was there. I went to the Nike campus twice and it was awesome! It was great to run outside in the nice weather in such natural surroundings as well. I missed my boys terribly but it was nice to come home refreshed and ready to run things around here again. Here are some of the sites I saw.......

Muhnoma Falls

The ocean in Seaside, OR

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach (From the movie Goonies)

And...my favorite site of all :) Katy's dog Porter, I love this boy!

Daddy Part II

Here I am posting again with some more pics from the weekend trip to Chicago. Mommy is still having fun in Portland with Aunt Katy and is going to see Wicked tonight. I was deeply saddened that I would not be there to see that. Oh well, I will survive. The boys are home and settled in and were fighting quite a bit this morning. I tried to let it go a littl more than normal to see if they learned a lesson and Carver learned that Kayden bites very hard as shown with the full dental outline on his arm and Kayden learned that Carver can just pick him up and throw him to the ground and then sit on him and not let him up. Oh well, can't blame me from trying. They settled down after that so I took them to McDonald's for a healthy lunch. I did let them know vegetables would be back on the menu on Thursday so don't tell mommy what we have been up to! We will pick up mommy tomorrow so the fun is over but we are looking forward to her being home to run the house once again. I have posted some more pics from the trip so enjoy. It was great seeing my sister and my nephews. The boys all had a lot of fun together!

Daddy's Taking Over!

With Brooke away on her own vacation, I will have to take over and share some pics from Daddy and the boys vacation. Today we started with the buffet breakfast where both boys had juice (mom normally wouldn't allow this). From there it was off to the waterpark. Just before lunch daddy made sure the boys had a healthy snack consisting of fruit snacks, goldfish, and chips. Daddy then took turns with boys in the lazy river. Kayden actually fell asleep in the lazy river about 45 minutes ago even though he would get splashed in the face one every time around. I don't know how our kids sleep so well but it may be a gift from their dad. When I was in college, if I didn't get my 15 hours of sleep you didn't even want to be around me. We have been playing all day in Elmhurst at the Mayan waterpark and the boys are loving it. I did make sure to call mom once since this is the first time away from both of the boys for more than weekend. Don't worry, I have been feeding them plenty of vegetable (I got the lecture on the way to the airport to drop of mommy). Chicken fingers are vegetables right? Our second day here has been fun but I am sure the boys miss mommy. She would be proud though. Carver tried to order a Diet Pepsi with lunch (Aunt Heather obliged) but I told him no and got him a smoothie instead. Way to go dad. Anyway, I will post some pics so mom can see how much fun we are having without her! Enjoy Portland and your visit with Aunt Katy! Don't drink too much!

Daddy

Spring is near!

Spring is finally almost here! We have had some nice days lately and we are making sure we enjoy every minute of it!






We even decided to take the boys for ice cream after dinner tonight. Of course, as usually a small cone turned out to be a gigantic cone, but the boys didn't seem to mind. :)

Playing with my new toy

Just testing out some different ways to post videos from my new toy (see post below). Enjoy! :)

Watch out I got a new toy!

Chris got me a new toy today. It's a flip video recorder and it's really cool! I, of course, had to try it out today so Kayden taped a couple of messages for his God Parents. Enjoy!

He's officially 4

And he rang it in right! I want to turn 4 again after all of the fun that Carver got to have over the past few days. I am still having a hard time believing that my baby is 4 but I'm so glad that he had a wonderful birthday.

It started with being the Birthday King at school on Thursday...

...followed up by a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with friends on Friday.

Here he is goofing around with his cousin Ava...

...and hanging out with his friends Logan and Alex. I can't believe how fast they are all growing up, they have been playing together since they were newborns and they have celebrated every birthday together.

Our sweet boy even made time to take a picture with mommy...

...and be silly with Daddy.

Here he is trying on one of his presents, what a great day!

When we got home I caught daddy tattooing up the birthday boy. They both thought this was very funny, especially the tattoo on his backside that I thought that I better not post. :)

For his birthdya day, Carver got to spend some special time with Mommy and Daddy. Here he is opening one of his gifts...

...and making silly faces with his special clown sundae after the Happy Joe's staff sang him Happy Birthday

After lunch we headed to Michael's Fun World for some play time.

From there it was off to Build a Bear to make a special birthday bear with a special certificate he received in the mail.

Last stop on the birthday train today was home to get his final gift from mom and dad. I think he was a little bit excited about his new bike (with no training wheels of course!), especially since he tried to ride it around the house all night and insisted on having it in his room with him tonight. :)

Thank you so much to everyone that helped Carver celebrate his birthday or called or sent gifts. He had a great birthday in large part because of all of you! Here's to another wonderful year of fun, laughter, and lots of great memories. :)

Make sure you scroll down a little further for a K Man fix! :)

Like mother like son

Seriously, who can resist girl scout cookies? I have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. Carver made sure to embarass me by telling the neighbor girls that I had been waiting! So, apparently Kayden was excited about them too. While we were busy helping Carver ride his bike, this is what Kayden was up to. I think he ate about 10 cookies before we got the box away from him! :)

He made good use of the box when he was done. :)

Carver Banker...the next Lance Armstrong

So as if turning 4 wasn't making me feel like Carver is growing up way too fast, check out what he did today.........

Excuse the fact that Carver goes crashing into the ground in the second video, he is still mastering the art of stopping, but by the end of the day today (it was his first try at riding with no training wheels today!) he was riding all the way down the block all by himself. Now if we could just get him to stop without crashing! :) Practice, practice, practice! He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him!

**I don't know how the sound is on these because the computer I'm using isn't letting me hear the audio so hopefully we don't sound do dopey. :)

Carver

Dear Carver,

4 years ago I was eagerly awaiting your arrival. I had no idea how my world would change the moment that you arrived on that Monday morning March 7, 2005. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never imagined that such a little person could so change my heart. From the moment that I saw you I was in awe of you. You were so perfect in every way. My life became your life on that day.

Since the day that you were born, I have strived everyday to make your world a happy one. To do everything I can to make you laugh and smile. You have become such a smart and funny little boy. You have come to make me laugh and smile everyday.

The past 4 years have gone by entirely too quickly. I hold on to every memory from the first time you smiled at me to your first words, steps, and every other milestone that you have met. I know that you will continue to grow and I look forward to seeing all that you will accomplish and all that you will learn. I also look forward to all that you will continue to teach me.

Don't grow up too quickly, enjoy today, tomorrow and every day that you get to be my little boy. No matter how big you get you will always be my baby! I love you more than the moon and stars.

Love you boobah,

Your Mommy

1 day old

1 month

3 months

6 months

10 months

1 year

18 months

2 years

2 years

2 1/2 years

3 years

3 1/2 years

almost 4 year old :)

Getting closer but still not there. I'm holding on to 3 for a few more days. :)