Rockabye Emmett

After the first time Carson sang it Emmett, smiling, said, "'Gain!" That was the first time I heard Emmett say again. Carson obliged and then 'gain again while I took the video. So cute. Of course minutes later the cuteness stopped when I had to roll up a bunch of toilet paper...

Toilet Paper

We are complete vagabonds in this house and use toilet paper to blow our noses with. Shocking, I know. Carson has lately had a runny nose and frequently brings me a few squares to help him out. On this particular day a few weeks ago Emmett decided he should bring me some too. I guess he didn't know to detach it from the roll first...

So there I am simultaneously crying "noooooo" as I grab for the camera and by the time I have it turned on and am out of my chair to aim he's headed back out and has gotten caught up.

Happy 3rd Birthday Carson!

Sunday was Carson's 3rd birthday so we had a little family party that evening. We didn't discuss a theme with him, we already knew it had to be Cars due to his obsession. Saturday he yelled out, "I can't wait for my Lightning McQueen birthday tomorrow and I will be 3!" Yup, no need to ask what he wanted. This and a few red and black balloons was it for the decorations. (Plus some Easter stuff there) I fed everyone nachos and we had rainbow chip cupcakes (in Lightning McQueen wrappers), chocolate cake and ice cream.


The family. I could actually spot at least a tiny glimpse of everyone in this picture except an MIA Emmett and Megan who hadn't arrived yet (and me of course). Ben, Angela, Shane, Avery, Alli (behind Avery), Carson, Katrina, Julie (in Katrina's arms) Kevin, Travis & DeAnna.


But here's Megan helping with the presents and Emmett trying to get into them.

Carson made out with lots of Cars stuff. The bowling set from Aunt Megan, the "ball machine" as the kids call it from Grandma Benjamin and the four additions to the set of little Cars vehicles that we got him have been the big hits of what they've had opportunity to play with so far. Carson also wants to run around all the time with his Lightning McQueen umbrella I got him.

Time to blow out the candle!


Then tonight, Monday, we went out as a family for a birthday dinner at Red Robin and not only did Carson get the free sundae, but he also got to meet Red Robin himself who was wandering around the restaurant. After dinner we hit the hair cutters as Carson obviously needed one, but so did Avery and Travis. They are (more) handsome now.

Happy Birthday, Carson!

My Ugly Birthday Cake

March 9th was my birthday and that evening I had my last evening with the 2nd Ward Young Women as their 1st councilor (our move took us out of the ward a week and a half earlier). While I was gone I knew Travis was making my cake because he had called on the way home from work asking what kind I wanted. Usually I like chocolate with a fruit filling, but this time I opted for lemon with a lemon pie filling.

When I got home I made a few discoveries.
First: Apparently Travis thought 2 layers meant 2 boxes (instead of my 2 round pans).
Second: Travis made me an ugly cake.


To his credit he really tried. The first layer came out fine and he had it set up on the back of a cookie sheet with the pie filling spread and waiting. When turning over the second layer it completely fell apart and got everywhere. He "glued" the pieces back together on top of the pie filling then put the 9x13 over the mess and flipped it over. The top looks like it's been skinned because that's the layer that stuck to the cookie sheet.

So it was ugly. But that's okay, frosting covers so many imperfections.

But wait...

Apparently, Travis stopped trying after the fiasco and the frosting got slapped on. It was actually all pretty funny, especially the thought of him having three kids running around in the midst of cake falling everywhere. Besides, it tasted good!


However, just to really drive home the point on effort here, I just have to share what I've made for him the last two years: 2009 & 2008. Well, better luck next year, honey.

The Box Roll

From March 7th

Hammer Loop

This picture is a month old today but since we were in the middle of moving it didn't get posted then.

Plainly, Emmett likes his hammer loop, and he uses it a lot for an assortment of tools.

Backyard

The boys really like playing in this old, neglected, probably-never-even-made-it-to-a-garden box. Will I try to make it a garden? NO! I admit, I'm lazy, I wouldn't want to keep up with it. So it will be taken out, filled in and sod put down.


But not yet. We have other things to tackle first. At least looking back at this picture (with was at the beginning of March) I can see there's been some definite improvement in our grass since then!


I wonder what they're looking at? Probably a worm.

Jetted Tub

This was the boys' first experience with the jetted tub earlier this month. I'm actually surprised they held out a whole five days after we moved in!


I think this shot is funny how they're all facing their own way with zero interaction playing with their own toys.


After washing Emmett and Carson we added more water and tried out the jets, then things started getting bubbly.


Emmett liked to dump water on his head.


And he just kept doing it.


After Emmett and Carson were finished playing and I got them out, Avery got washed and all the soap in there really started bubbling up. Avery was loving it!


At this point I'm the only one in the family who hasn't tried out the tub! Shameful!

Boxes And Paint

The boys love playing in boxes.


Avery picked up a box and started acting like a robot. Carson followed suit and then Emmett had to also. But why all the boxes? Because we were packing to move into our house we just bought!


We got an incredible deal on a short sale. It was long and tedious, but it worked out for us. It's a 4 bedroom plus a big bonus room (read: playroom!) and 2 1/2 bath. The garage is a "limo garage" where the right hand stall extends back the length of the house (read: weight room/Travis' shop). The lot could be bigger, but the deal just couldn't be beat by a long shot. And the lot is actually made smaller by a creek that runs through at the back. Here's the new digs:


We painted the whole interior, here's a shot of the kitchen with just the ceiling done.


This shot is really boring, but for those curious about the colors, the walls and ceiling were all a yellowish cream color (the small patch), so we painted the ceilings white (what a HUGE difference in brightening the place up!), and the walls an oatmeal. The original wall color I chose Travis decided was too dark for the whole house, so we went two shades lighter and my original choice was used for some accenting. Unfortunately, two shades is not enough of a difference for those accent bits to really stand out, but oh well. The lighter oatmeal in shadow looks the same as the darker oatmeal.


This picture sort of shows how yellow the walls were.


One wall of the formal living room and one wall of our bedroom each got chocolate. The rest of our bedroom we did in my darker original color choice. I LOVE our bedroom. It's huge (this picture shows very little) and we have his and hers closets, a big master bathroom with a jetted tub, two sinks but still plenty of counter space and a full size shower with two shower heads. It's not meant for two people because built in seats on each side don't give enough standing room for two, just fabulous luxury for one person (and a pain in the wallet when time to pay the water bill!)


Carson loved his (and Avery's) bright blue room at this first siting.


And here's a picture I took of Emmett just the other day so I could include a shot with his one vibrant green wall. The funny thing is Carson doesn't refer to these rooms according to the owners, but instead as "the blue room" and "the green room."


More of the house will undoubtedly unfold as I post more, but I'm not sure I'll do another post on just the house. We don't have enough stuff to actually decorate or even furnish the place so I'm a long way from feeling like any room is complete. We have big plans for the yards though and we've already done some in the back, so watch for posts on that!

18 Month Old Party

Emmett and 4 other little ones in our ward were turning 18 months and going into nursery within weeks of each other. Chances are pretty good that these kids will grow up, at least in the same stake, together. One of the mom's had a great idea to throw a party for them. I think she said her husband had that done for him when he was little and he still knows some of the kids from his party. What a fun thing to look back at pictures of (since they won't actually remember!)

The party had a theme of primary or bright colors and we planned for the kids to wear solid bright colors. The room was full of giant bright balloons, bright toys and so forth. Snacks included a rainbow of fruit and rainbow goldfish. There were even fabulous rainbow lollipop cookies.

At the end we had the kids (minus Mae who had to leave early) sit on the Twister mat (both for it color and making clean up easy!) to share some rainbow cupcakes... Then the drama unfolded...


First Emmett (who seemed to have a good mutual attachment with Phaedra) wanted Phaedra to rub his feet.


Meanwhile, Lillian's making her move on Ian.


But when Phaedra gets up, Lillian takes notice of Emmett, "hey, cutie, how's that cupcake?"


"Oh no she di'int!"


Emmett: "C'mon, baby, it's not what you think!"


"Ah, Phaedra, comeback and eat your cupcake! I promise it was nothing!"


Funny stuff.

Emmett's not very impressed with Mom and her camera, so these next were all I really got of him, but check out Laurie Marie Photography for some individual shots of the other cute kiddos!




Thanks for such a great party!

Avery's Fourth Lost Tooth

Avery's lower right lateral incisor has been loose and bugging him. Today at lunch he chomped his teeth on accident and I could hear it from across the kitchen. He was left with that loose tooth all bloody and the upper right central incisor got all bloody and much looser. Poor guy was really hurting. After finding the upper tooth more loose than the lower, Avery wanted (in the poorest sense of the word since there's so much apprehension in that want) Travis to pull it for him. It proved too painful, so Travis took Avery down to the office to give him some topical to numb it first. He also took x-rays of each tooth and confirmed the root was pretty much gone on the upper, but the lower could wait. (Yes, Avery can definitely be spoiled when it comes to loosing these teeth and a dentist for a Dad, but this was the first time getting numbed, etc. he's had the floss treatment, pliers, and lost one in a sandwich and swallowed it before!)


After his visit to the office (and missing lunch) he and Daddy stopped for a few donuts before coming home. Lucky kid.


Oh, and notice how both top teeth are missing? The other one was his very first lost tooth all the way back in August! Where's the permanent tooth? Both of his lower permanents have come in. The x-ray showed it was likely held up by the other upper. Now that they're both gone, hopefully they'll both come in!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And Happy Birthday Morgan!

"I'm A Very Famous Race Car!"

Carson is addicted to the movie Cars. He would watch it 24/7 if he could. Sadly, the boy is limited to no more than every other day.

The other day Carson says to me, "I'm not a bulldozer! I'm a very famous race car!" While this is actually a mash-up of two quotes since the "very famous" part doesn't go with the bulldozer, that boy can pretty much give line for line as he's watching the movie. My favorite is his "UGH" grunt during the opening song.

Anyway, today's quote was a nice change-up from the usual "We quit, Mr. One-Man Show!" and "Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beemer!"

On another quote front, I recently discovered Carson's frequent "Nocka-brango? I'll nocka-brango you!" is actually "no comprendo" from a Songs from Veggie Tales movie he occasionally watches.


And this picture has nothing to do with any of this (neither do, they're both from January) but there's something about it that I love.

Spring!

So I know I'm doubling up here with Laurie Marie Photography, but I'm just too excited for Spring! Only three days after I took those frosty morning pictures from two posts ago I caught these lovely first-comers of Spring! These were from a row of crocus that popped up along our front walkway.

No Jackets Necessary

These are back from February 19th. It was warm enough to play outside without jackets! Yea! We never played in such warm weather at that time of year in Milwaukee! Okay, so I put a jacket on Emmett anyway, but another milestone here is actually that it's Emmett's first time being let loose to play outside also.
WHAT?
Yeah, you heard me. It rains for winter here, it's not like he was going to get to go out in that and when the weather was nicer before winter Emmett was still putting anything and everything in his mouth. So on this day, Emmett was in heaven being outside with his brothers. Don't let the face in the picture fool you, he was ecstatic.


Avery's always on the lookout for something that creeps, crawls, slithers and whatnot.


This is the Carson face. It's classic. He leaves crazy faces to his older brother, Carson's the serious one in the family.


I asked him to smile and he (sort of) obliged for a change. Except that's not his real smile.


A HA! There's a glimmer of real smile. Of course he's not looking.


Ah, sun, you're so much fun. Please, please stay.

A Frosty Morning

My first morning home after my 6 days in Spokane back in February was all sparkly with frost.

A frosty leaf


A sparkling deck


Wait, what's that!?


And there's more!


The culprit! Avery called me to come look at the frost and it turned out he had already gone out to inspect!


"I know what this needs..." SMACK!




And when your toes get cold...


Carson thought that fashion trend was an excellent way to fit in at the party


And a few more frosty shots