Friends

We had a nice playdate at our friends' Elliott and Berkley's house this morning. Elliott is 3 1/2 and Berkley is only 5 weeks younger than Hayden. As you can see from these pictures, Hayden did not want to be held for a picture!

Look at these cute friends! What sweethearts.

Daddy's Day Off

Daddy was off work today for the MLK holiday so we decided to do something fun as a family. I've wanted to take the kids to the Dallas Children's Museum for some time now, but it's a long drive to an unfamiliar part of Dallas and I didn't want to go alone. So, we decided to go today. We had a great time! It is similar to the KidSpace at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History, although I think the Dallas one is better (IMO). We also went to a Planetarium show which Carter said was his favorite part of the whole day. He's really interested in stars and planets now and he thoroughly enjoyed seeing the different constellations. There was even a wonderful toddler area which Hayden loved! Along with the pictures below there was also a farm complete with a cow for milking, planting seeds, riding tractors, and harvesting food; a backyard with life-sized spider webs and ant hills; indoor dinosaur fossil dig; and construction area.Look at these giagantic bubbles!
Hayden really liked playing with these beads.


Climbing wall

Little Bruiser...

Playing in water is always fun!

With a heavy heart...

This weekend has brought me a heavy heart as I learned the news on Friday night that a fellow MOPS mom had lost her precious 3-year-old daughter after she was attacked by a neighbor's dog. I saw my friend Liz and her daughter, Brooklynn, just that afternoon when picking up Carter from MDO (they go to the same school but are not in the same class). They also live very close to us. Our MOPS group is mobizing to help take care of this family and I will be attending the funeral this week. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Make-up

(I have to precede this post by explaining that when Carter thinks something is really super, he says it's "super-sonic")

This evening Carter asked me why I didn't put make-up on today. I told him that I did and he asked me if I was going to put it on tomorrow. I said "yes." Then I asked him what make-up did. He said it made my face prettier--then he said "super-sonic pretty!" (I have to further note that he said, when asked, that my face wasn't pretty without make-up--I guess he has alot to learn before getting married some day!) :)

A tough lesson

Carter learned a tough lesson today about taking care of his things/toys. He occasionally helps us around the house with "chores" and gets a few coins to put in his piggy bank. Recently he found a special Hotwheels car for $3 at Kohl's and he said he'd use his money to buy it. We counted out the $3 which pretty much emptied his piggy bank. Well, he left the car outside 2 days ago and Heath found it this morning--it had been chewed up by the dog. Poor Carter. He was very distraught and wants to go buy another one "today"! Well, he doesn't have any money to buy another one, so we talked to him about doing some more chores and building up his piggy bank again and then he could get another car. My heart is sad for him and you know I just want to go get him a replacement car, but that wouldn't help him learn the lesson. Daddy is stronger than me on these things and that's good--he knows this is a good lesson for Carter to learn. I know it too, but as a Mom, I just want to make things right, right away!

Growth Spurt!

Carter has sure grown in the last 2 weeks! Many of his shirts are 4 inches too short in the arms and several pants are too short. One of his jackets is very small and I got out his new shoes last night as he was complaining his others were hurting. He's wearing a size 13 shoe now!! Good thing it gets warm here in March or I'd have to buy Carter a whole new winter wardrobe!

On another note, Hayden found his way into the bathroom when Carter was pottying and started splashing in the potty! Yikes! Carter thought it was very entertaining.

A week in New Mexico

Heath & Alison ice-skating

Carter & Mommy ice skating

The whole family builds a snowman

Carter sledding down the hill.

We just returned from a week in Los Alamos, NM, where I grew up. They had gotten lots of snow beforehand so we enjoyed sledding and building a big snowman. We also went ice-skating at the outdoor rink nestled in the mountains--beautiful! Carter enjoyed every activity. Maybe next time we'll try skiing. We also enjoyed a week of home cooking; some New Mexican cuisine; catching up with old friends; and just spending quality time with family. Now we get back to our normal routine as Heath returns to work and MDO starts for Carter again. In about 5 weeks, we'll be celebrating Hayden's 1st birthday--wow!