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Claire Elise

Carter-isms

Our three-year-old is giving us quite a few laughs these days with the funny things he says. Here are a few Carter-isms from the past couple of weeks.

Carter went through a phase recently (short-lived, thankfully) of having difficulty going to sleep after being tucked in bed. Brian and I would have to answer calls of "Mommy!" or "Daddy!" for up to two hours after we had turned off the lights and said goodnight to the little guy. There were several 'urgent' reasons for this beckoning such as: monsters in his room (I think he felt this got the most sympathy from his parents), needing a drink of water, it was too light or too dark in his room, and of course the "I've got to go potty" call.

On two particular occasions Brian and I came down from telling him goodnight for the umpteenth time with a chuckle under our breathe. There was one night that I went in to answer the call for at least the third time and made it very clear to Carter that I was not happy with him. He was not supposed to be calling me. He was supposed to be sleeping! That's when he looked at me with his 'sweet face' on and said in his most endearing voice, "Mom, you pretty." Ahhhh! That's when I tucked him in (again), kissed him on the forehead, and said goodnight. He managed to get out of his consequence for the time being.

Another night the same week Brian was up watching a college football game and decided to put some wings in the toaster oven for the game. It was almost ten o'clock. As soon as the oven said "ding" Carter called for his daddy. Brian reluctantly marched up the stairs and asked Carter in a not-so-happy-voice, "What?" Carter answered with a "Wha chu eatin', Daaaad?" Apparently he had heard the "ding" and knows that whatever food comes out the the toaster oven is his kind of food (chicken nuggets, fish sticks, pop-tarts). Needless to say he did not manage to get any wings that night.

This week Grant received a chocolate football for his birthday from his Uncle Jake and Aunt Jessica--cool, huh? Grant agreed to share his treat with his brothers the following day (it was late when he opened the gift). Carter, being the sweet-tooth that he is, was very distraught that he would have to wait on the chocolate. "Tomorrow" we told him, "you can have it tomorrow." Through his whining and tears (yes, tears) he looked up at us and said, "But I want it this-morrow!"

I am enjoying this stage of funny sayings and silly preschool antics. Carter's recent craze is marshmallows. He loves marshmallows. It is both a good thing and a bad thing that I can motivate him to do just about anything with a handful of miniature marshmallows and that the answer "no" to his request for marshmallows can bring on twenty minutes of dramatic crying.

Carter certainly adds a lot of pizazz to our family and we enjoy the many laughs he gives us.

Introducing Blessing #5

December 2009

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

The Christmas season was full of fun for our family of six. We enjoyed good times with friends and family and our first Christmas in our new home. All the boys enjoyed looking forward to the celebration of Jesus' birth.

Bryce putting the star atop the tree. Our tree was simply decorated with ornaments given to us by friends and family and ornaments made by the boys. It was also "redecorated" by Davis (at least the bottom half of the tree) many times throughout the Christmas season.

The weekend before Christmas we enjoyed an early Christmas with Brian's family in Williamsburg. It had all the makings of a Christmas movie as we drove through a snowstorm to get there and family members came in slowly after battling icy conditions on the road. We were almost snowed in for the weekend! We were all grateful to arrive safely and to be able to spend time together as a family.

Davis and Grammy

The boys playing an intense game of Fusball. This went on for a long time!

Davis on the John Deere toy.

Our family of six. Merry Christmas!

The week of Christmas we had my family over for a simple dinner and Christmas gift exchange. The boys had fun opening their toys from Gramma and Granpa, Uncle Jake and Aunt Jessica, and being entertained by fun Uncle Eric. Aunt Susannah was enjoying warmer weather in Peru at the time!

Davis and Uncle Jake

Eric and Grant

Aunt Jessica, Davis, and the cool robot toy from Gramma.

Grant and Carter in their new Transformer costumes.

One of our family traditions is to make gingerbread men at Christmas time. The boys had fun cutting out the gingerbread cookies and decorating them with M&Ms (I think Carter ate quite a few M&Ms in the process). Being very pregnant at the time, I appreciated Brian's help in rolling out the dough this year. Christmas just isn't Christmas without gingerbread cookies!

On Christmas Eve we have made it a tradition the past couple of years to read The Light of Christmas, a beautifully illustrated children's book sharing the Christmas story and the reason Christ came. The book explains how the world was dark with sin and needed a Light from Heaven. God set forth his plan of salvation by sending Jesus to earth--the Light of World. It is through Jesus that we can receive forgiveness of sin. How amazing is God's love for us! This year, with some ideas gained from friends, we sat around the kitchen table and each boy was given a cupcake with a candle in it. As Brian read the story we lighted candles at the appropriate time to represent the birth of Jesus. When the story was finished we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out the candles before enjoying the cupcakes. It was a good reminder to all of us of the true meaning and significance of Christmas.

Christmas morning was great fun with four boys opening gifts. We had Legos and Transformers galore along with remote controlled trucks, Nerf guns, and light sabers. One gift that was most entertaining was the "Wolverine Arm" that Bryce had been requesting for quite some time. He was so sweet about asking for it, and so seldom wants anything that I was really looking forward to giving it to him. It was the last gift he opened and he was all smiles when the wrapping paper came off the box. The "Wolverine Arm" you see, is a plastic sort of glove that goes over the hand with three 15 inch (or so) prongs that come out from the fingers and makes a sort of eery sound as it is swung around or when it hits something. Kinda scary. I'm still not quite sure why I bought this toy except that I love my little boy. So far it has not made impact with any brothers and will be taken away (we've made that very clear) if it becomes a weapon. But definitely not something I thought I would ever be purchasing until I became the mother of four boys.

November 2009

Tsk Tsk, it has been so extraordinarily long since I've posted! It has been quite a whirlwind around here the past couple of months, but I cannot make excuses for the time lapse in updates. I will, however, try to be brief in catching up so that I can do a better job of staying up to date.

On November 13th we celebrated Bryce's 5th birthday. He requested a Star Wars cake and we celebrated at home after eating dinner at Red Robin. It was a simple event, but getting into bed that night Bryce told his daddy that "It was the best birthday ever!"

November 21st was a big day for our family as we moved into our new home. After spending seven months in a rental house, watching our new house being built, moving day had finally arrived! The big day went off without a hitch. We were blessed with help from family and friends. Thank you to all who watched our boys, lifted our furniture, carried boxes, lined shelves, and helped in so many other ways!

This is a picture of our new home. We are grateful to have a little more space for our family and praise the Lord for the many ways He worked so that we were able to move. God is good!

Autumn fun

On Friday the boys and I enjoyed a beautiful autumn afternoon together in our backyard. The colors on the trees are amazing this time of year. What a wonderful Creator we have!

Despite the boys' efforts at raking the leaves into a pile, not quite enough leaves have fallen yet for a lot of jumping into. Bryce and Carter had fun making "leaf angels."

Bryce and his acrobatics. We drove by our new house this week and were amazed at the progress. The construction process is almost complete. I told Bryce excitedly that the house is almost finished and that we will be moving in soon. He remarked candidly, "It's not done yet. They still need to put in the playground."