We got here!

We FINALLY got to Washington late yesterday afternoon...YEAH! Our flight went very well. Carter did great for having to be confined to such a small space for 4 hours. There was a lady in front of me who, as Justin would say was a Royal "B" and whanged her seat back so Carter had about six inches to move around. She had her knees up on the seat in front of her and was practically laying down. Now I understand people put their seats back on planes, especially if the person in front of you does. But I had a child on my lap lady! There was only space for one of us and Carter became a little ansty because of his lack of space. So being the distinguished lady I am...I kneed her seat whenever I could, had Carter kick her seat off and on, and let him play the bongos on her seat back. :) Did she get the hint??? NO. Was I one of those parents that let their little brat do whatever they wanted on the plane??? YEP. (To her at least.) Oh well. Everyone else around us loved Carter and could not get over how well he did. He played peek-a-boo with the guy behind us and quickly charmed the Grandmas in the other row. So overall, traveling went well and we are now here. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Not home yet!

Our flight from Chicago was cancelled last night...so we are stuck in Wisconsin for the time being. We are going to try flying out again in a couple days. The weather here and the weather in Portland is terrible, so hopefully we can make it home before Christmas. Hope to see you all soon. Love to all.

It just keeps SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing it from all my Wisconsin friends..."This is NOT normal, it usually doesn't snow this much!" YEAH RIGHT!!! Last winter was snow crazy and so far December of this year isn't looking much better. I am not sure if I can take another winter of SNOW. I know my family in upstate New York are all shaking their heads right now thinking...quit being a Midwest wuss Barb! :) We really did get a lot of snow last night and today. We have some pics and videos of it all. Hopefully we will be able to get out of Chicago...I would hate to think about Santa trying to find us at the airport!



The videos are from the last couple weeks. It takes some time to sit down and download all of them, so sorry for the delay. I have started doing a lot more scratch cooking, which takes up a lot of my time. I am now making homemade bread about 2-3 times a week. Carter LOVES toast and the bread I buy is somewhat expensive because it is healthier than just a regular loaf. I would rather give Carter something I made as a snack than something that has a ton of un-needed ingredients. One of the keys to all of us staying healthy, me especially with my thyroid, has been to make all of our meals from scratch as much as possible. This has become even better this time of year because I can make tons of soups and chilis in our crockpot and they taste AWESOME! I have also been making my own chicken stock so that makes my soups taste so much better. I do have to thank my friend Meredith for giving me all the great ideas on how to make our food healthier and taste better. Justin even said the other day that some of the other food he sometimes eats tastes bland compared to what I have been making myself..I will take that as a compliment!! I hope you all enjoy the pics and the videos. :)



Carter finally got brave and went through the not so deep part.


Justin adding to our already huge snow banks.


They just keep getting bigger.

Carter going through the snow maze Justin made for him in the driveway.

Mommy...I don't wanna play in the snow anymore!

Look at the path Daddy made just for me!

Mmmm...homemade bread!

Some lights from our drive the other night...I want Justin to do this next year!! :)

In the front yard there was a sign with the radio station to tune your car to so you could hear the music. I think we could do this and win the annual light competition here in town!

Carter playing in the maze Daddy made for him.

Carter on Christmas morning in Wisconsin.

Please don't hate me...but this really is hilarious!!

Poopapalooza 2008

I am sorry I have not added any of the promised pics and videos. Carter has had diarrhea for a couple days. He has pretty much pooped through all the pants that fit him well and almost all his PJs. He is doing better today, so hopefully I can add some tonight or tomorrow. We are supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow morning. I really hope we will be able to get out of Chicago and home for the holidays. The Pacific Northwest is also getting hit hard. We hope to see you all soon and hopefully Carter will be "pooped" out by the time we get there! :)

Carter's poop face when he was only a couple months old!

What a busy time of year!

We had a really busy weekend! On Saturday we had our Christmas party with our little playgroup. It was great to have all the parents and the kids together. We decided to have the kids draw names and buy each other gifts for $15 or under. Carter bought Reanna two Usborne books and Reanna bought Carter a magnetic drawing board he can use in the car and on the plane. It is always nice to have all the Dads there too so they can see how the kids interact with each other. We did have to play some Wii tennis and bowling, which was a blast to see the kids imitate how funny we looked! On Sunday we had our Christmas here. Santa came on Saturday night and delivered Carter a new dump truck, a farm yard that makes animal sounds, some little toy trucks and a stuffed bear. He LOVED everything. I think Justin and I truly felt how much fun Christmas can be when you get to see the smile on your child's face. I don't have time to add all the pics and videos, so I will get done what I can and try and add the rest in the next couple days. Enjoy!

Carter directing Carson where to go.

The kids playing in the hallway.

Adriana, Carson, Carter, and Reanna.

Carter riding his new dump truck...he loves to drive it all over the house!

The tree after Santa left.

Shoveling snow sucks!!!!

I will admit it...I love to watch it snow. There is just something peaceful about sitting inside listening to holiday music with a cup of hot coffee and watching the snow fall lazily to the ground. Then you realize...oh crap...I have to go shovel that peaceful snow! And one shoveling is not enough, you have to shovel at least twice a day. I don't mind the actual shoveling, but it is hard when I have a 16 month old who really doesn't nap. So we both get bundled up and Carter plays in the garage and in the snow while I shovel the driveway. I guess it gets us both out and in the little bit of sun we do have, but Carter is usually protesting loudly by the time I get close to being done. We are supposed to have a lull for a day or so with more coming later this week and this weekend...oh joy. :) These pics are from this weekend. The snow banks are even higher now on the side of the driveway. Enjoy the pics!


Our driveway...just as you think you are done, more snow falls.


The street looking down towards the lake which is mostly frozen now.


Carter supervising Daddy shovel.

Carter is going to be able to snowboard down the banks soon if it keeps snowing!

Okay Daddy, I guess this looks okay.

"I can't put my arms down!" (Like the little kid from the movie A Christmas Story.)

HEY Daddy...I said to shovel over here!!!!!!

How I keep Carter occupied so I can play on the Internet! :)

A great Thanksgiving weekend...and more snow.

We had an AWESOME Thanksgiving! It was so great to have Jake and Chelsea here to celebrate with us. It was the second year they have had Thanksgiving with us. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, homemade rolls, cranberry/pineapple jello, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and of course corn. For dessert we had homemade pumpkin pie cheese cake and homemade apple pie...mmmm...everything was great! We all went to bed very full Thursday night. The next day we drove down to Chicago and went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was very cool. There were so many cool exihibits, but I think our favorite was the the German submarine and the interactive earth exhibit called Earth revealed. Click here to see info on the interactive earth as I did not get pictures: http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/earth-revealed/ We took the long way back from Chicago along Lake Michigan and stopped and had lunch near Northwestern's campus. On Saturday we went to the Gurnee Mills Mall to do some shopping and of course we had to get Carter's pic with Santa. I got one for FREE at Bass Pro Shop...of course he screamed, but it is still cute. Then we went to the Jelly Belly Warehouse, took the tour, and bought some jelly beans...YUM! We had a great time and cannot wait to have them here again and maybe go to another Chicago landmark.

We had another snow last week and again this week. Carter had to go outside and test his new snowsuit. I got it at Gander Mountain on sale for $25 when it was regular $125!!! It is a little big, but he will grow into it. I went and bought him some little work boots yesterday so he can run around in the snow without slipping on his bum. We also found out that Carter is NOT anemic, so that is awesome. My labs also came back normal, so we are finally all back to normal...as normal as we can be!! I hope you all are doing great and enjoy the pics!

The big plane over the model trains at the Museum of Science and Industry.

This was very cool!

The German submarine on display.

Carter and Daddy.

Mommy.

Carter driving the John Deere tractor...Pat, do you think he can help with harvest next year? :)

I know what I am doing Daddy!


Daddy and Carter at Bass Pro.

Carter's new snowsuit.

The back of his snowsuit.

Carter loved Santa and even tried to give his candy cane back to Santa...he just hated the fact that we had to hold him in one spot and SCREAMED. Oh well....maybe next year. (The writing is backwards because I had to scan the pic...sorry.)

The first snow

We had our first snow last night. It was only about 2 inches, but proved to be beautiful! There is always something peaceful about the first snow...but by the 4th or 5th snow, I am a little tired of it. I got up early this morning and was able to capture a couple pics. In other news, my baby is no longer a baby anymore. :( He had his 15 month checkup on Thursday and got to stand on the big boy scale for the first time. I almost cried. I remember laying him down on the infant scale at a week old while looking at the big boy scale and thinking "he is NEVER going to get there!" My little man is now 26 pounds and about 32 inches tall. The doctor tested his blood from a small prick on his finger and it showed he was anemic. She said the test could be wrong because of the small amount of blood taken, so we had to go get a full blood draw on Sunday. It went really well. The lady was wonderful. Carter did cry, but it was more so from us restraining him. Once he could reach out and touch Justin with his other arm, he stopped crying...even while they were continuing to draw blood. We are pretty sure he is not anemic, but it is a good thing to test. We should know the results this week. Enjoy the pics and video and I hope everyone has a great week!!


Our house looks so warm and cozy!


Our hedge in the front yard.


The hedge again with a different light.

Grandma Judy got this doll for us before Carter was born so we could practice diapering and swaddling. Now it is "Carter's baby." He insisted on putting a diaper on it and is reading to him in this picture.

A closeup of Carter's baby.

"La la la...making a mess!"

Mommy and Carter. (Like Carter's new big boy haircut?)

This is MY trusty steed Mommy!

Carter showing off his Christmas stuff!

He is okay folks!

So Justin had some car trouble the other day...he hit a HUGE dead animal in the road! He is okay and the Focus has some minor damage to the bumper, but the damage should have been A LOT worse. Justin hit the HUGE animal (a big deer, cow, or maybe horse) at about 60 mph in the dark. He was able to swerve just in time to hit it only with the passenger side. Thank god he is okay and all turned out well. I have some pics below...if you are at all woozy about blood on cars...don't look. I do have a couple pics of Carter before those. We are just hanging out this weekend and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Jake and Chelsea are coming down from Madison...YEAH!!!! Enjoy the pics.


Mmmm...Annie's Mac and Cheese!! I am using utensils off and on now too!


See my teeth??


I am a big boy!

My rocking horse and the Christmas tree.

The underside of the car.

Very little damage for how fast he was going and how big the animal was.

The front bumper.

Changes

We have made a lot of changes since becoming parents. I would say one of the most important changes is that we are eating SO MUCH healthier. We really had to do this not only for money reasons, but because of my thyroid and to teach Carter about leading a healthy and balanced life. The first step for us was to start making all our meals from scratch. I found when I bought box or frozen meals, they would not last for leftovers and were definitely not the healthiest. I plan my meals for two week increments. It does take me about half an hour to sit down and actually plan meals, but it saved us so much money! I now spend an average of $110 for two weeks of groceries. Another easy way to eliminate unhealthy and expensive food was to get rid of snack food. I don't buy crackers, chips, cookies, etc...there are other things to snack on. Our newest endeavor is to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our food. This may seem easy...but it isn't!! High fructose corn syrup is in EVERYTHING! I found it in jelly, salsa, juice, pasta sauce, soda, syrup, yogurt, and even bread...the list can go on and on. It feels great to be eating better and spending less money. Also, the food tastes much better knowing that is is good for us and I made it myself. On tonight's menu...homemade crock pot chili and homemade cornbread...Yum! Enjoy the pics!


Chef Carter helping me in the kitchen.


Closeup of the chef.


What can I do Mommy?

Obviously Carter was starving again...so he had to break into the cereal!

What Mommy...I was HUNGRY!!!

Still working to peel wallpaper in the dining room.

Goodbye ugly wallpaper!