Work, Work, Work

Been a while since I had time to sit down and type in a few blogs. I've been a busy worker bee, Matt's been a busy worker bee, and Carter, well, he just been a big help!

If I bring home stacks of paper, he is very proficient at filing:
Sorting:
And even running out to make copies:

I kid, I kid... :)

He is getting pretty good with his OWN work and has brought home some pretty cute schoolwork. Here's a good coloring of a ball (and I might add that he's a BIG FAN of crayons and we think he might have consumed an entire blue crayon...or so the contents of his diaper alluded to...):
One of my favorites from last week - this is Carter's "hair" (which I recently tried to cut all on my own...let's just say that from now on we'll be paying the salon for each trim...):

Carter has been quite the good student at school (on the days when he isn't the class "biter"...*eyeroll* Guess pretty much ALL of the one-year-olds are biting, hitting, or kicking their classmates. Fun times!). Anyway, he's a good eater, a good napper, and plays well with others. They've even started having "pool time" (as in the aquatic type, not the ball and cue type...) on Mondays. And his teachers are fantastic and we're still VERY happy with our daycare! Yay!

His school is very accommodating, as recently we had to switch to soy milk. It seems our boy is allergic to cow's milk. Luckily, soy milk is just as readily available as cow's milk, so it's really not a hassle to buy. It's also curbed the super-toxic-butt-burning poo situation, so pheww, thankfully we found the culprit! And trust me, when Carter is screaming bloody murder during a diaper change,we'll try ANYTHING to help him feel better. Luckily all it took was a switch to soy milk!

Moving on to something less, er, gross...

Previous post mentioned how helpful Carter was with housework and mopping. Well, he's also QUITE the laundry helper. Anytime I need a fresh hanger, he's on it:Might be a tad tangled, but it's an easy fix to separate them:
He'll even help ball up the socks (MY least favorite laundry chore..):
Although we typically take the laundry upstairs, it can also be done right in the kitchen (and the uber paleness is due to the slathering of sunscreen on his face...that stuff is THICK!):
And a couple of my favorite photos - our little laundry helper carting off the t-shirts to be hung up:
For some reason, he's taken to piling everything up on his walker so he can transport EVERYTHING all at once (toys, cup of water, you name it...):
I told Matt that he sort of looks like a bag lady, er, bag boy. Hehehe!

Anywho, that's it for tonight. Before I sign off, I did want to say HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the most amazing father ever - Matt! We couldn't ask for a better Daddy around this place and it'd take me all day to type up just how wonderful he is. We love you, honey, more than this silly 'ol blog can say!

And an extra big HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my father (the infamous "Grandpa C"), too! I can't even begin to express how wonderful it is to have him in our lives! We love you and can't wait to see you in October!

Hope you're all having a great week and keeping cool! It's the beginning of monsoon season here, so the evenings are cooling off and we're getting some sprinkles in the late afternoon. Yay!!!
~kerrie

The Dancing King

This is a VERY, VERY random post that ends with a funny little video! So keep reading!

We'll start with Carter's first popsicle (and to stay in the ranks of "good parenting," it was made with 100% fruit juice and was sugar free...really, it was!).

First assessment, AWESOME:
First taste, AWESOME:First notice that it drips sticky juice, AWESOME:
First taste of the stick, AWESOME:
First realization that it's really cold in his hands, NOT SO AWESOME:
And actually, he pretty much ate the whole thing... And we've tried again with other flavors and now that he's got the hang of it, he's a big fan!

So let's move on to topic number 2 - gardening...

We bought Carter some mini gardening tools to play with in the backyard (so he won't steal Daddy's tools...). We've found that pretty much ANYTHING that can be scooted along the floor like a broom is fantastic. These garden tools pretty much qualify for fantastic! See:There are three of them (a shovel, a rake, and a hoe) and he constantly tries to carry around all three at once:
And then he'll prop them all up in the corner all nice and neat. It's actually pretty endearing that he tries to "clean up" and keep Mommy from stepping on them barefoot (OUCH!):

And my final completely random topic for this post is dancing. You see, Carter LOVES music. He'll dance around pretty much EVERY time he hears a song, a toy makes noise, or when Matt and I sing silly songs to him. First he'll swing his arms around from side-to-side, then he'll clap his hands. Then he'll spin around in a little pirouette, and then he'll bend up and down at the knees (which is REALLY cute!!!).

Well, we downloaded some horrendous kids tunes to play in the living room for him. Needless to say, he's a fan and will do his goofy dance pretty much every time!

I wasn't able to capture the entire dance "routine" to embarrass him, but I caught this short clip (~15 seconds) of the arms a-swingin' (and ignore the "trance" at the beginning - I was clicking around on the TV and since we don't typically watch the tube, he pretty much zones right in on the screen any time it is lit up...). Here goes:



As soon as I get the camera batteries charged back up, I'll get some videos of the entire routine. Adorable, I say!
~kerrie

Games & Grub with the Greenies

Matt and I decided at the 11th hour to have a little backyard fun with some friends. We enticed them to join us with our gourmet food (hotdogs...), the terrific weather (50+ mph winds...), and our awesome backyard games (old limbo set, deflated beach balls, and other random crap...)!

Took a few shots of the gang as the day went on (we ended up taking down the gazebo, as we were afraid we would end up KILLING our friends as it launched across the backyard in the hurricane-force winds...). Anyway, Carter and Avery still had fun throwing random lawn games at everyone:
Madison (Avery's big sis) even taught Carter how to use his swing (before then, Carter was quite terrified of it...). However, he only wanted to climb up in it backwards and be pushed by Mommy:
Oh well, it was still a hoot!
Tyson and Jennifer enjoying the awesome food:
David and Avery playing modified jai alai (they used bean bags instead of a ball):
Brett wasn't able to play with the correct basket thingy, so he used a kid-sized shovel:

Carter was ready to limbo, but ended up impaling himself on the pole...so mean 'ol Mommy took it down:
Mary Beth and Dan just watched from the sidelines (and Mary Beth is pregnant with Baby Luke - doesn't she look AMAZING!?!?!):
All in all, it was STILL a good time! We didn't capture all of our friends on camera, as Carter was a royal terror and was cranky, cranky, cranky! Oh well, next time we'll halt the winds and have a jolly time in the backyard with all of our pals (and we'll make sure Carter gets a nap beforehand!)! Thanks to everyone that came out!
~kerrie

Missed a Spot

Before this month is over, you'll be seeing a few photos from our diligent cleaning crew. Well, the one boy crew - Carter. You see, he has REALLY taken a love to the mop, the broom, and the vacuum. So we bought him his very own housekeeping set! And then the camera battery died... So I'll post some photos of the kid-sized sweeper and such later this month!

In the meantime, here are a few shots of our mopper kid, workin' the swiffer like a pro:
He even got the hard-to-reach spots up under the kitchen table:
And for fun, here's a quick (~19 seconds) video of our little mopper:



Now I guess I should go help Matt with a little of the house work, eh?

Happy First Day of Summer!
~kerrie

Congrats to Wes and Oshani!

Just a quick little post for our pals Wes and Oshani....

Starting with a big....
Their little boy, Ryan, has arrived! Can't wait to meet the lil' guy in person - hopefully around the July 4th holiday! And after seeing a few photos on Facebook, he is ADORABLE! A big congrats to Wes and Oshani and here's a quick shot of the happy parents (wrapped up in the superhero quilt I made for him):
Heartfelt congratulations from the Greenies and here's to a few rest-filled nights!
~kerrie (& matt & carter)

Box Boy

And my final post of the afternoon...

Being that it's a zillion degrees out today, we're letting Carter run around with minimal clothing. He decided that he'd make a little nest in the box lid this morning and stuffed in a fleece blanket just in case the weather decided to turn chilly (don't we wish...).

Thought he was goofy enough to get the camera out, so here are a few shots of our Box Boy:
Never knew it could be so much fun to play in a box lid, eh?
Hope you're staying cool and enjoying your weekend! I think it's now time to set up the kiddie pool and chill out a bit!
~kerrie

Fish Fry

While in Portland, we picked up a set of tiny pots and pans at Ikea for Carter to play with in the kitchen (figured it was better than him playing with my All-clad gear...). Well, he chose the skillet to bang around before school on Friday, so I snapped a few photos of him in his "Catch of the Day" outfit:
Pretty happy boy we have here, eh?
Happy fish frying!
~kerrie

Denim Dude

My next few blogs with be short and sweet! This is a simple silly post to show off Carter's new "jeans" diapers! Huggies is making them as a limited edition product, so of course, I just HAD to buy a box because they are just too adorable!

Here's our naked little guy running around in his demin drawers:
And if you click on the next photo, you can see that they have POCKETS on the back (ok, not real, actual pockets, but a pocket print). Awwwww!
He wouldn't stand still for a front shot - but in the next photo you can barely see the zipper on the front of the diaper if you click on it:And of course, the jeans "label" on the back. Totally adorable!
Ok, that's all for this post. I just had to buy them (and they're only like twice as much as regular diapers, so it's not like I broke the bank...excuses, excuses, excuses...) and I had to show them off!
~kerrie

Visit to Oregon - Part 2 (Life's a Beach!)

Continuing on with my blogging marathon... Part 2 of the Greenie trip to Oregon!

On Monday (Memorial Day), we took a trip out to the coast (about 1.5 hours outside of Portland) with a stop along the way at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Unfortunately, they weren't processing any cheese, so all we really got to see was some manufacturing equipment sitting idle. Alas, we got some fresh cheese from the shop and got our fill of the tasty stuff.

From Tillamook, we drove up the coast to Cannon Beach (about 40 miles north of Tillamook). By the time we got there, it was cold, drizzling, and the winds had picked up. Didn't stop the boys from having fun on the beach (and note - this is Carter's VERY FIRST trip to the ocean!). Before I forget, when my folks came up to Portland, it was nearly 80 degrees and sunny when we went out to the beach! I swear, they bring the nice weather whenever they travel!

Few shots from the sand:
Perhaps two of the most adorable shots of Carter ever - is his tiny red raincoat:
A shot of Haystack Rock (famous for being in the "Goonies" movie - scene where the pirate ship comes around from behind it at the end of the movie):
Carter enjoyed playing in the sand and REALLY wanted to catch up with a kite a fellow beach-goer was flying in the wind (which is what I'm doing below - pushing hair out of my eyes from it blowing so much in the wind!):
Few more shots from the beach:
Hopefully Carter's next trip to the beach (possibly in Orlando in November?!) will be a little warmer, sunnier, and not quite as windy!

From Cannon Beach, we drove further up the coast to Astoria (another 40 miles or so - also included in the filming of "Goonies") to meet up with my Aunt Paula. She has a BEAUTIFUL historic home with a BEAUTIFUL view of the bay! We didn't stay too long, as we had to get back to Portland, but we did have some great conversation and snapped a few photos in the front yard. Thanks, Aunt Paula, for letting us drop in!

Few pics of Paula, Carter, and I (and a stick Carter found in the yard):
A shot of the Greenies:
And a few shots of just Paula and Carter. I think these are just entirely endearing, especially the last one!) and I'm so happy Carter was able to meet his Great Aunt!
And with that, we had to make the trek back to Portland and get all packed back up for the flight home in the morning. However, before we hit the hay, we took Carter to the hotel pool one last time. He was quite skeptical to be in the water on his first time in, but after he saw some other kids splashing (and figured out he could splash too), he was giggling and having a blast! Can't wait to set up the little backyard pool to have some fun in the sun at home this summer!

Well, folks, that was the great Greenie trip to Portland for Memorial Day 2010. We loved seeing our friends, family, and lots of books! And I'm already itchin' to head back!
~kerrie