Them's Good People, Those Oklahomans

(yes, I'm playing a little catch up with the blog tonight... this is my last post for the evening, but be sure to catch the other thirty-six I just posted...)

Our mostest favoritest people in the whole state of Oklahoma came to visit us last weekend and if you can believe it, I completely forgot to get out the camera! D'oh. Well, luckily we'll be back through OK this summer, so I'll take extra shots to make up for it. (And that link takes you back to a post from last summer when we visited them at their house.)

It was really, really great to see Renae and Chris and catch up (and eat New Mexican food! Yes, I broke my diet...). They did a whirlwind trip through the Land of Enchantment and then went back to OK to their real lives. While they were here Renae and I got to chat about everything and anything and Matt and Chris did whatever guys do...

So happy that Renae is all healed from her horrendous car wreck (not linking to my "best wishes" post because I don't want to think about the horror of it...). Chris is doing great too and I think collectively they've lost more weight that a 1-ton truck! They look AMAZING!

I know they made it back safely, but let me say it again, drive safe and be careful! They know how much we love them and they know we don't ever, ever, ever want to hear about car wrecks or injuries! Got it! Now thanks for stopping by and take care of yourselves and we already miss you! :)

Ok, let me move on...

After Chris and Renae left our place, we headed out to the mall for a little shopping. I was shopping for some school clothes for Carter, so Matt took him over to the little play area by the food court so I could take my time. He didn't really want to "ride" any of the machines (and we didn't have any quarters, so tough luck kid!), all he wanted to do was climb up, climb down.

Tried like heck to get at least one photo of him sitting at the wheel, but no such luck. This (below) is what I was able to capture:

There was also a couple cars, an ice cream wagon (which I think is where he's learned the phrase "cream," as in "ice cream"...), and a rocket ship. All he really cared about was the train. Good taste kid, already showing some love for engineering! Keep making that mama proud!
~kerrie

How Does Your Garden Grow?

That's right folks, it's that time of year! SPRING!!!!

So what did the Greenies do as soon as it got warm enough? We planted our garden! And what sort of weather did we get the very next day? Freezing!

Happy to report that the garden is still growing and all of our plants made it out alive. Matt is a dear, dear husband and churned up the soil and planted us some tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and marigolds (for the bees, of course, not to eat!). Carter and I didn't do much in the way of "helping," but I did take a few photos of the "fun..."

Here's Carter getting ready to help Daddy. Apparently we needed something from the roof first:
Skip the help, let's play on the swing-set (with a horseshoe game stake and the hose, of course):
Proud Daddy:
Too lazy to take any finished shots, but I'll capture some later this Spring as our plants start blooming. Happy gardening to you too!
~kerrie

Greenie Family Photo Shoot (Carter 2-Year Pics)

Since I posted some candid photos of Carter in the last entry, I thought I should put in some "real" photos too. We went for some "professional" photos (I use quotes because I'm not quite sure that these people really know what they're doing. Keep reading...), anyway, we went for some family shots and to get some good photos to document Carter's second birthday.

I had it all planned out that he would wear his Kansas jersey, hold his Jayhawk (from Grandma C), and then we'd get a few family shots in his nice new shirt (also from Grandma C). Well, it didn't go quite like I'd planned...

So let's start the show (and all of these are from the raw files - as in they haven't been centered, color-adjusted, etc.).

Got that jersey on AND a basketball - perfect! (except Carter won't smile [normally]...):
Nor did he want to sit in their chair:
(ok, I LOVE this next one - and who knows why his cheek got all red all of a sudden...)
So we did an outfit swap - let's try some shots with the "2" block:
No sitting still...why? Because there was a STUFFED SQUIRREL!
At least we managed to get the Jayhawk in the picture... Except he's not wearing the jersey anymore...
Let's try a few family shots - here's the ONE that came out ok (Matt never smiles - he just looks at Carter and focuses on something, um, elsewhere, while I just watch the camera and ignore everyone else...):
The boys:
Mommy and Carter:
So then we swapped photo rooms to one with a red background (thought that'd be great - crimson and blue AND the Jayhawk - just in case I brought two...). Went all fine and well until Carter spotted the giant rubber duck!
Ok, crop out the duck... Cute, but won't smile for the lady:
What's that?! A GIANT RABBIT! A giant rabbit AND the duck?! (And who actually WANTS to use these props?!) And what happened to the Kansas jersey? Screw it, just keep on the white tee:
Ok, white tee with red background. Not bad. Add in a rocking chair? To sit in? Nah, Carter just wanted to push it around the set...
Which is TOTALLY fun!
*patience gone at this point

Let's try some blocks. Got a "C" block? Two? Cool! Those are for stacking, right Carter? What about the camera lady?
Ok, let's try mini blocks?
A bunch of sports equipment?
And at that point, folks, we gave up. HOWEVER, we did get one REALLY great shot of Carter to put up on the wall and to send copies to family. Good thing it has a squirrel in the shot, eh?
Can't make this stuff up folks. Here's hoping your photo shoots are just as entertaining as they are for the Greenies!
~kerrie

Sunday Reader

I'm a huge news junkie. I read the newspaper every day. I listen to talk radio. I check on news websites several times a day. So it's no surprise that I want my son to be a big reader and to stay apprised of current events (ok, ok, so far he's really not been all that interested in the hurricane-followed-by-tsunamis-followed-by-nuclear-plant-meltdowns... we'll get there soon enough...).

But I DO know that Carter is really, I mean, REALLY in to books. Depending on who puts him to bed, either Matt or I read him about 5-10 books a night. (I often hear Matt just making up stories, but it still counts, right?) In the morning when he wakes up, he'll grab a book and try to coax you over to the rocking chair to read it to him.

Well on Sunday morning, I thought he should read the book to ME! He was pretty in to it (after this first shot) and I captured this series of photos as he was reading the story aloud (ok, he pretty much just points to the things he knows and says, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, look! Ball!" and so on).

Unedited and in the order I took them. Check it out:
(A lot of these shots were captured between words and looks/points to me.)
(He'll kill me someday for posting this next one...)
(This next one is my favorite!)
And from there, we built a fort out of blankets. To sit and read under, of course :)
~kerrie

Nap Attack

Pretty much ALL of the Greenies have had the crud within the past 40 days. I was first, then Matt had it, then Carter had it. Let's just hope I don't get it back... (Which I shouldn't because I'm on an awesome can't-eat-anything-fun diet to see why I keep getting sinus infections. But that's another post for another day...)

This is just a short post to report that A) Matt is healthy, B) Carter is healthy, and C) No one is able to nap on the couch with Carter "The Attacker" in the house. See:
Seems pretty pleased with himself, huh?
Oh well. As I always say, plenty of time for sleeping when we're dead! Now get up Daddy, it's time to play!
~kerrie