Carter {7 months}

Seven months old!

 At 7 months Carter is...

-sitting up (still a little tipsy)
-getting his first tooth (maybe more!)
-mostly sleeps through the night
-has found his LOUD voice
-eats cereal, sweet potato, squash, and carrots (and don't forgot those yummy puffs!)

-thinks his brother is funny and doesn't care if he is basically squashing him
-chews on EVERYTHING

We love you sweet Carter!

The Canyon

Last weekend we had some visitors!  Ryan and Lindsay came to visit and it was a lot of fun!

On Saturday we decided to take a little trip to the canyon...and I don't mean the Grand Canyon...that would have been quite the drive!  About 20 miles to the south of where we are is Palo Duro Canyon.  It's the 2nd largest canyon in the U.S. (next to the Grand Canyon, obviously).  The Canyon is about 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and a max depth of more than 800 feet.   Compared to the Grand Canyon at 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6000 feet deep.  It was pretty impressive.

Driving out there all you see is ranch land.  Flat as flat can be and then...boom!  All of the sudden, there's the canyon!  We didn't drive too far into the park.  There are numerous hiking trails, picnic areas, and camping spots.  We chose to take a 1.5 mile trail (one way) since we were hiking with a 3 year old! 

Our view from where we started hiking.

Riley and Lindsay checking out the cactus.

We didn't quite make it all the way to the end of the trail.  We decided what was at the end of trail wasn't that interesting to see, which is kind of unfortunate because we were less than a 1/2 mile from the end.  Oh well!  It was a good thing we turned around because Riley was pretty tuckered out by the time we got back to the trail head.  He had to be carried some of the way back.  But, other than that, he was a trooper!  Carter had a nice little seat in the carrier and snoozed a good portion of the hike.  We didn't really hear a peep from him almost the whole time!

It was stinkin' windy though!  I'm talking the kind of wind that feels like it will knock you over and the kind of wind that pelts your legs and face with dust!  It doesn't feel too good!  Needless to say we all felt quite grimy when we got back to the house!  And on the way back home there was so much dust in the air it just looked like we were in a huge smog. Crazy. 

Lindsay took this picture on a walk later in the day. That's dust in the air!

It was a fun, but tiring day.  Riley crashed even before we were out of the park and the rest of the day was pretty laid back! 

Easter {2012}

Easter this year was a little different for us.  Typically, we would have gone to one side of the family or the other and ate yummy food and had an Easter egg hunt.  However, since we don't live across town anymore we had to do our own thing.  It felt quite strange, but all in all, it was a relaxing day spent with just the four of us. 

I'm not usually one to do projects and activities with my kids.  That's just not really my thing.  But, this year I thought I'd try to do some special things with Riley since we weren't getting to do our usual Easter.  I saw this idea on Pintrest to do Resurrection Rolls and thought Riley would enjoy making them.  I decided I'd give them a shot on Thursday since I had other things I needed to make on the weekend.  Here's what you need:

ingredients

AND

a little helper!

Really quite simple.  Each ingredient represents part of the burial of Jesus.  Riley had a lot of fun making these and while we waited our '3 days' he found something to occupy his time!

He loves to wash dishes!  I think thanks to Nana! =)

He enjoyed eating them too!  Forgot to take a picture of the final outcome, but the 'tomb' was empty!  HE HAS RISEN!

On Sunday we headed to church after the boys dug into their Easter baskets.  That's one way to get Riley out of bed!

And Carter dug through his own basket too!

Riley eventually got ready for church and just HAD to have some candy.  Good thing there wasn't very much in one egg!

We managed to sneak in a few pictures before church.

After looking back at this picture I realized that everyone was completely ready except me!  Oh well!

After church, we headed home for our own Easter dinner.  We even pulled out the china!!



For dinner we had:

Spiraled Ham

Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Cheddar

Roasted Asparagus

Frog Eye Salad

Easter Egg Bread

and Strawberry Pie

Then, after we all had a nice nap, Riley got to go on a little Easter egg hunt.  It wasn't terrible exciting--there's not too many places to hide eggs when there aren't any trees or landscaping in our backyard to hide them in!!  But, he had fun and actually hunted eggs a couple different times.

HAPPY EASTER!

Tents

Riley has really been into tents these days. At least once a day he asks if we can build a tent.  Sometimes the answer is 'yes' and other times it's, 'let's wait a little bit' in hopes that he might forget (which rarely happens)!  And, if by chance we have built a tent then it usually stays up for a few days so we don't have to build it all the time!  Only slight repairs are needed on a daily basis if it gets left up. 

So, this was our tent we built the other day. 

I'm pretty sure he finds every available blanket, pillow, stuffed animal, chair, toy, etc. to build these tents.  You see, it has to be dark...and then we have to find a flashlight because it's too dark!  Go figure!  And who really needs a door!?  There can be NO opening left uncovered!  I didn't get a picture of the other side of this tent, but he brought out ALL stuffed animals, a mountain (from his train set), ALL the pillows from the couches and his from his bed, AND even the dirty clothes that has been sorted out in his and Carter's room (because I was doing laundry this day)!  Took me a little while to figure out where those piles of clothes went! =)

Then, once built we have to count!  He wants to play hide and seek.  We count and he hides.  I'll give you a wild guess where he hides...you'll never guess! ;o)  So, we count REALLY slow and then go 'find' him.  He loves it!  And we have to do this over and over again!  It does get limited, however!

Amazing what kind of fun you can have with only blankets and pillows! 

Carter {6 months}

I'm a little behind on blogging.  (In case you've been checking!)  Last week the boys and I spent the week in Kansas.  And while we were there Carter turned 6 months old! 

It was a rainy week, but we still managed to sneak in a quick photo shoot with the lovely Andrea!  She does a great job and we love her!  You should check her out if you're in the Wichita/Newton area!  Here's a a few of my favorite shots she snapped!  Thanks Andrea! ;o)

I snapped a few of my own too.  Not quite the professional shots, but we can't all be pros, right!?  Otherwise they wouldn't have a job! ;o)

At 6 months Carter:

-weighs 12 lbs. 13 oz and is 23" long

-wears size 3 month clothes (and an occasional NB sleeper!)

-rolls over (when no one is looking!)

-just started eating some cereal

-still waking up once at night (and not always at the same time!)

-can scoot across the room on his back (it's quite amusing to watch!)

-starting to find his big brother somewhat entertaining

-has a big gummy-cheesy smile that we love!

                                                                   -still has blue eyes!

-loves to put everything into his mouth

-takes 2 or 3 naps a day

-lets us know when he is DONE with something (quite emphatically, I might add!)

It's so fun to see his personality come to life!  Riley can get him laughing pretty good sometimes if he's in the right mood!  It's so fun to hear them 'playing' together from the other room.  Riley always calls him Brother.  Rarely does the name Carter come out of Riley's mouth.  And, Riley always wants Brother to look at him!  Which usually means, "turn him around Mom so I can see Brother's eyes." Pretty sweet the bond you can see developing between the two!  I hope it gets stronger and stronger as the years go by!

Cereal

We decided to break out the cereal for Carter this past week.  We thought maybe it would help him sleep through the night a little bit better having a fuller tummy.  The first night he did!  Then the next night he was up again.  Boo!  He is getting better though and not waking up quite so early.  I think we're on our way back to a full night of sleep!

I'm thinking he's not going to be quite the eater that Riley was.  It's work to get him to eat the whole bowl of cereal--and when I say whole bowl, it's like 1 T. of cereal! 

But, maybe he'll change his mind when he actually gets some food with a bit of flavor to it!  I know I would!

Naps & Park Fun

Riley decided it was nap time the other day with Carter.  He got a blanket and covered them both up for a nap!

It was pretty cute!  He wanted me to lay down and take a nap too--which I am perfectly fine with taking a nap--but not when it's time for bed! =)  Plus, who was going to take a picture then!?

It's been really nice here the last several days and Riley keeps begging to go the park.  There is one not too far from our house, but during the day it's not as convenient to go play since it's right next to the school.  We did manage to sneak in a Sonic drink and a little bit of play time before the kids came out for recess.  Riley was bummed to have to leave so soon, but we also were about to blow away!  Carter just snoozed in his car seat while we played.

Hopefully this nice weather sticks around for awhile!