Lesson Time

On most days, the girls at school "style" Carter's hair. Some days it's combed to the left, sometimes to the right, and sometimes straight up. Apparently one day last week he "helped" by pulling it right up into a mohawk...

Often I'll leave it styled until bathtime and won't pay any attention to his 'do. I DO, however, make sure he's well hydrated:
Gets his exercise:
Practices his manners ("Please, Mommy?"):
We work on his attitude problem (kidding...) [and this pic shows off his sweet mohawk]:
I make sure he's a happy kid EVERY day:
And we practice multi-tasking (10 seconds of walking and drinking - AT THE SAME TIME!):


We'll keep on practicing our lessons and I'll be sure to keep you updated as to his progress! :)
~kerrie

PS One photo I have yet to snap is Carter and his love of books. We're reading him about 5 books a day lately and it's pretty endearing for him to grab a book from his basket, bring it over to me, and then sit in my lap so that he can be read to. Say it with me, "Awwwww!"

Pack-and-Play Away We Go...

Decided that I wanted a little more space in the living room, so the pack-and-play was folded up and tucked back into the closet. Seems like it was becoming more of a make-shift toybox of late, so it was due to be removed...

And since Carter rarely is in it, we took all the toys out:
...which became quite the toy haven:
Then...he started to feel a little remorse for 'ol pack-and-play:
But realized it was all part of growing up (and FINALLY being able to access ALL of the toys!):
Now, thankfully, he has more room to move about and another wall to bang on! Weeee!
~kerrie

Scooter

Now that Carter has become more mobile, he's taken to relocating the furniture (why not?!)... One of his favorites is to scoot the kitchen stools around on the tile. A) It helps with his walking and balance, and B) It makes a God-awful racket (which is hilarious!?)...

Here's a quick shot of the correct chair-scooting form:
And if you can handle it, here's 14 seconds of chair-scooting fun:


Luckily we only have two stools, so the worst he can do is drag them both about and drive BOTH parents crazy at the same time!
~kerrie

Sewing Helper

So I've been sewing quite a bit lately (making gifts, mending a few articles of clothing, putting in some curtains, etc.)...well, I must say, Carter is QUITE the little helper when it comes to sewing.

Ok, scratch that, he's not. He yanks on the fabric, tugs on my ironing board, and LOVES to push on the sewing machine pedal. So the majority of my sewing time is during his sleeping hours...

However, while he's up, I let him play with my sewing machine case for as long as he wants. It's pretty cute to watch him scoot it all around the living room:
And play with the little non-slip grid pattern inside the bottom of the case (so the sewing machine stays put):And try to fit the top onto the bottom:
(And if you click on the above picture, you'll see that Carter managed to whack himself in the face with a toy at school...couple fun bruises to go with that whacking - below is a close up)
Anyway, back to testing out the integrity of the bottom of the cover:
"Yep, Mommy, it'll hold me just fine!"
And so once he realized that it made a fantastic little boat, he sits in it all the time now:
And smiles that goofy Greenie grin pretty much every time:

Yep, that'sa my little helper!
~kerrie

Special, Special Day!!

Well today was a very special day at the Greenie house... I FINALLY finished Carter's baby quilt!! Yay!!! Figured I make quilts for other babies, I needed one for my own baby!

I used two different "monkey" fabrics and pulled it all together with a gorgeous chocolate brown. Few sample pictures of the finished product below.

The front:Shot of the front and the back:
Close-up of the monkey fabrics:
And the back (solid brown) with a corner of the front:
I make all of my baby quilts out of flannel, so they're uber-soft, machine washable, and plenty warm. And yes, I use yarn to secure my quilt fronts to my quilt backs (vs. doing some top-stitching). It's the way my grandma did it, so I'm carrying on the tradition. And it's fun for kids, as they're like little "grip" points.

But really the reason for this post....

CARTER TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS TODAY!!!!! ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Captured a very short video with my cell phone this afternoon - and it's only 4 seconds, but that's as long as he lasted. And I just LOVE how he holds his arms out all Frankenstein-like for extra balance. Check it out!



And here's one more video (7 seconds this time) from just before bed time. Matt was home to see this one (and you'll hear his voice in the background). More steps, a little more stable... Watch out, folks, we've got a WALKER here!!!


We're so proud of our little guy! All those walker toys and practice around the living room are paying off! Next post I'm guessing will be along the lines of "Watch out! We've Got a Runner Here!"...

*two unbelievably proud parents*
~kerrie (& matt)

Greenie Family Photo Shoot

For Carter's first birthday, the Greenies went and had our photos professionally taken. It was RIGHT before Carter's nap time, so we were lucky to get a few good shots before he hit melt-down mode (which, we're blessed, that equates to about 10 seconds of crying, then he crashes....).

Anyway, here's a sampling of the [un-edited] photos from the shoot (and you can click on any of these to see them better).

The Greenies:
Matt and I (I don't think we've ever actually had just OUR photos taken - except at our wedding, I suppose...):
The fam again:
Mommy and Carter:
Daddy and Carter (love this one - Carter is all like "What?!"):
Carter pushing around the "C" block (couldn't keep it in one place for nothin'!):
Carter and the giant teddy bear (and the KU bear from Grandma C) - he LOVED the giant teddy bear and how soft it was:
Our little ham:
Love this shot - it's like he's WANTING to be deep in thought, but something was too funny and broke his concentration:
Another of just Carter:
And finally, MY favorite shot from the day - Carter at his best - happy, smiling, and lookin' cute!
Now I just have to frame up the zillion photos I ordered. Matt's loving that I'm covering the entire wall of the stairway and keeps teasing me that we're going to need a bigger house at this rate... Oh well, if you can't be proud of your kid and show him off, what's the point of taking pictures? I, for one, LOVE seeing the family photos every morning as I come down the steps!

And one more blog to write. Saved the best for last...
~kerrie

Belated St. Pat's Party

A buddy of mine, Jeremy, always throws the BEST St. Pat's party (complete with corned beef, Guinness, and this year there was even some awesome Bailey's Cheesecake...yummy!)

Anyway, his wife, Liz (another great pal), has been traveling a lot this year, so the party was held a few days after St. Patrick's Day. No worries, the Greenies have no problems celebrating one of our favorite holidays a few days, weeks, or even months later!

We decked Carter out in a totally cute v-neck sweater and I just had to snap a couple pictures. He looked like the preppiest kid on the block!
He was a total cheese-head and was having a good time smiling for the camera:
And one last shot before we hit the road:
Here's a parting shot of "the boys" (Matthew, Jakob, Matt, and Carter) at the party:
Unfortunately I was still on antibiotics, so no Guinness for me. And in solidarity, Matt refrained from partaking in the "Car Bomb" shots (of which he's famous for...). Alas, there's always next year...

Thanks again to Jeremy and Liz for a great time! Happy Belated St. Pat's!
~kerrie

The Lobo Kid

So, yeah, I'm pretty much WAY behind on my posting... Been battling this head cold crap (sinus infection, turned to bronchitis, turned back into a sinus infection...) and well, let's hope this THIRD round of antibiotics does the trick, eh?

To catch up on the blog, we'll go way back to March 27, 2010. The University of New Mexico "Lobos" made it to the NCAA tournament (which I'm told doesn't happen on a regular basis...), so Carter was supporting his local team by wearing his Lobo tee. Snapped a few photos before school, so he wasn't quite awake and therefore, wasn't hamming it up for the camera.

But he still looked adorable:
A little bit of, "Hey wait a minute, Mommy...this isn't a KU shirt?!"
"Oh, boy, the other kids will think I'm confused!!"
"Oh well, let's get this show on the road! Goooo Lobos!"
Unfortunately the Lobos didn't make it to the Sweet 16. They lost by nearly 20 points to Washington (and hey, at least my 'hawks only lost by TWO...). There's always next year, huh?

Rock chalk, Jayhawk!
~kerrie

It's a Lemon

And the final post for the night...

So there I was, chopping up some lemons the other night to go into a pasta sauce. Thought I'd give a piece to Carter to see what he thought:
As expected, he found it to be quite tart:
But then he thought it was hilarious that I found his squishy-face so funny, so he kept chowing on the lemon:
However, I decided that our boy needed a little bit of actual NUTRITION, so I swapped it out for an apple. MUCH, much better:
The boy loves him some fruit. What can I say?!

Hope you have a terrific weekend ahead of you! The Greenies will be getting some MUCH needed R&R!!
~kerrie