Celebrating the "Eights"

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a few celebrations in our family involving the number "8"...

First, on March 16, Carter turned 8 months old! (this is Carter's latest picture. I'm boycotting the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month traditional photos and instead doing 4, 8, and 12 months. In reality, I just didn't get my act together on time!) I know I'm biased, but I think this one turned out pretty darn cute!

Then, on March 27, good ole' Murphy turned 8 years old! To celebrate, Brian took Murphy to Sam's school for a mini "show and tell". Then the boys took Murph to Chow Hound and let him sniff through the store and pick out some doggie cookies. Finally, we all sang Happy Birthday and celebrated with a Frosty Paw for Murph and the rest of us enjoyed the new "limited edition" flavor from Edy's called Girl Scout Thin Mint...yum! The picture below shows Carter's first reaction to ice cream. :)

Finally, on March 28, Grandpa Frego turned 85 years old! We celebrated with the whole family and had an icecream cake from Captain Sundae. Gramps is such a wonderful person and we all love him so much! (thanks for the pic Jen!)

Also, I had to include these profile pictures of Samuel and Carter. They are about 3 months different in age when the photos were taken, but I think you can tell they're brothers for sure!

Feeling like spring!

What a gorgeous day! Unfortunately, Brian has a terrible sinus infection, so he's not enjoying all the sunshine and warm temps and is sleeping instead. Sam, Carter and I made it to "our park" already and the boys had a ball. Carter loved being in the stroller and smiled or giggled just about the whole time. Sam was a big helper and either pushed the stroller or helped walk Murphy. It was quite an excurtion getting both of them ready, but it was SO nice to be outside for once!


Carter loved going down the slide (with my help!) I would have had more cute pics of the two of them, but my battery went dead. :(

Here's some other pictures I took from the past week...
Carter and Great-Grandpa Frego (Grandpa LOVES his grandbabies!)

Carter can't get enough of chasing Sam through the tunnel.

Can you see my little tooth? Tooth #1 has made it's appearance and just when he started sleeping better again, #2 it getting ready to poke through, so neither Carter or mama got a very good night's sleep last night. We're both a little stuffy and sneezy today and I'm hoping and praying it doesn't turn into whatever Brian has.

Go Blue!

I feel a little bad because I think I've been neglecting Sam in the picture department. Carter's just at that really cute stage! So for the sake of being a good mom who treats her children "equally", here's a pic of Sam, the "Wii Master". Isn't he looking so grown up and handsome?!

Little Stud

Today Carter wore this cute football jersey and looked like such a stud...I couldn't resist a few pictures. (I promise, it is NOT an OSU jersey! It's Old Navy...I would never stoop to that low of a level, no matter how cute he might look!) :)


Here he is getting into something, as usual! He loves to explore and boy is he FAST!

It's been a while

Life's been pretty busy lately, so I haven't blogged in quite a while. The last couple of weeks have been really crazy at work and then I was sick last weekend, so this past week I felt behind the eight ball trying to catch up on laundry, housework, etc. This week looks to be equally busy, but I'm trying to relax this weekend and not think about school until Monday hits. Also, Carter cut his first tooth this week, so the poor guy has been a little bit cranky and not sleeping as good at night. That, on top of losing an hour last night due to daylight savings, means mama is ready for a nap today! Here's some pictures of what's been going on around here lately...
Carter loves to pull himself up on the furniture. I can't take my eyes off him for one second or he's into something!
Sam and Carter are becoming best buddies. This is one of their favorite things to do...Sam pulling Carter around in a laundry basket. They both think it's hilarious!
It used to be use Dad and Sam wrestling matches, but now Carter likes to help Sam tag-team daddy.
Here's Carter playing peek-a-boo from under a blanket in the laundry basket.

While I take a shower in the morning, I put Carter in his crib and Sam will often run around Carter's room entertaining him. The other day it got really quiet, so I peeked my head out of the shower and this is what I discovered! Sam decided to join Carter INSIDE the crib!
A sad moment. Carter was cutting his first tooth and not all too happy about it. His cheeks and nose were bright red for two days. :(
The tooth came through and he's all smiles again! If you look closely, you can see it on the right.
Carter loves to play "superman" with daddy.
Another new favorite is playing with plastic bowls and water bottles. He loves to rolls the bottle and chase it all over the kitchen floor. Seriously, why do I buy toys?
This picture is from this afternoon. Sam got out his tunnel and the boys had a blast chasing eachother. This lasted for quite awhile. Now they are both pooped out and hopefully fast asleep. Now it's my turn for a nap too!

Look at me go!

TV Fire and Carter's 7 months

Carter..7 months old

It's been another crazy weekend around here. Friday began with our TV starting on FIRE...no joke! We're still not sure how it happened (although I like to tease Brian that it's very convenient that it occurred while I was at work and he just happened to be looking at TV's on internet a few days ago!) According to Brian, the story is he turned on the TV, heard a crackling/popping noise and saw smoke coming out of the back of the TV. He ripped off the back panel off and saw 2 small fires which he unsuccessfully tried to blow out! Then he attempted to use the fire extenguisher, which he quickly discovered DOES NOT work! So, he resorted to throwing an entire glass of water into the back of the TV! Got the fire out, but needless to say, we spent all of Friday evening and most of Saturday searching for a new TV. Happy Valentine's Day! :) We eventually found one and so far love it, especially the LCD feature which eliminates that annoying glare from the sunlight. Brian used to shut the blinds and cover all the windows with blankets in order to watch TV...not anymore! :) Also, the new flat screen creates more room in our crowded little livingroom...yeah! The downside... there goes most of our tax return money. It's a blessing though that we had the extra money to spend.
Sam playing Wi baseball on the new TV

Other than that, Carter turns 7 months old tomorrow. Friday night, after all the chaos from the fire and spending the entire evening shopping for a new one, I had just settled down to relax with a nice glass of wine when I heard a strange banging noise coming from Carter's baby monitor. The picture below shows what I discovered!

Yep, our little mover and a shaker was STANDING up in his crib! It freaked me out and I made Brian lower the mattress immediately. We sure do love this little guy, but he's already a handful. I have to shut all the doors in the house, close the baby gates to the stairs and keep a constant eye on him because he's crawling all over and pulling himself up on the furniture too. He's also starting to babble and say "da da da". Mostly, he just brings us tons of joy with his melt-your-heart smile and contagious laughter.

Carter pulling himself up on the couch

My favorite boys

Changes

It seems that our family it going through lots of changes right now. First, Carter is cruisin' all over the place and getting into everything! The babying proofing process is in high gear as Carter loves to crawl all over the house and get into wires, cords, and all Sam's toys. Sam has lots of little gadgets that are potential choking hazards for Carter so protecting him from that has been an on-going battle. Luckily, I have a big helper named Sam! He is quite protective... for example, the other day I caught him picking up Carter by his heels and dragging him backwards across the livingroom floor (at a fast rate) in order to prevent Carter from crawling into the TV console! We had a little chat about asking for help! :) The cutest thing is that the boys are starting to interact more and even play together a bit. Sam pushes his big trains around the house and Carter comes squealing after him. Here's a few pics of our newest troublemaker... The second big change is that Brian has accepted a position as a part-time worship leader at Maranatha Church (ie. "the ski-slope church")! He has a real passion for praise and worship music and being able to use his talents to serve this church is a big answer to prayer. Many doors have been opening for him over the past year which have led up to this opportunity and we feel this is where God is leading our family. It's scary though because we love our current church and I'm not a big fan of change. However, I'm trying to trust that God will work this all out for our good. Other than that, Carter had his 6 month doctor's appointment this week. He checked out good...16 1/2 lbs.(25%), 27 1/2 inches (75%)...long and lean, just like his daddy. I checked Sam's babybook and they are EXACTLY the same at this age! The only bad part was Carter already had a nasty cold/cough and then on top of that, they gave him the 3 big pokes for his immunizations. I hate those darn shots! Oh, and we had to sign Samuel up for kindergarten! I am in denial that he's going to be 5 years old in less than 2 months, even though he won't let me forget it. "Mom, I'm almost 5 years old, you know!" Why can't they just stay little forever?
My skinny little guy (I promise he eats likes a champ!)

Carter's first Thomas Train...Will the obsession continue? Aren't I cute in my Sunday best?

The boys first bath together(don't worry, I only let Sam hold him for the picture!)

Best buddies...watching cartoons together.