Putting up Christmas lights!

We normally put up our Christmas lights Thanksgiving weekend so that's what we did today!  Carson hung out in the stroller for 20 minutes or so.  Then he was starting to get crabby because no one was paying attention to him. 

 Kayda and Dillon were helping for a little while, until they got distracted by their cul-de-sac friends.

I can't help but to compare what Carson does to what Kayda and Dillon did as babies.  Kayda was already rolling over and wanted to be in the middle of everything.  Dillon was about as laid back as you could get, he was perfectly content to just lay down and look around.  Carson is quick to smile and always wants to be holding something.  He's constantly after a blanket, a shirt, a toy or..... his FEET!  Kayda and Dillon could've cared less about their feet but Carson finds them fascinating!!!

Look at how flexible he is!  Yes I understand he looks a little scared in this picture but you've gotta see those legs!

 Now he's having fun!

He doesn't like it unless he can get to his bare feet so I have to unbutton his sleepers and pull his legs out for him!  He was perfectly happy on the floor, with his feet in his hands, watching Kayda and Dillon play.

On another note, I found more of Kayda and Dillon's preschool art and I needed to get it out of the way for Thanksgiving and Kayda's coming birthday festivities.  So here's Kayda's:

 and here's Dillon's:

Every center day there are three spots for parent's to sign up. The day before there was still a spot open so I called Aunt Sarah and she took Carson so I could go down and help.  Another parent (Kayda's "best friend's" mom had the same idea so we had an extra parent).  It turned out good because the station I was at ended up being so hard for the kids to get done in their eight minutes.   I got to work with Dillon more because there were only four kids in his group and we had three adults working that station. It was a turkey on one side and and Indian on the other. (It's on the right in Dillon's picture).  Natalie (the other mom, Kenzie's mom) and I were talking about how we were NOT going to wait to sign up for the December center day because we wanted to do the Christmas one only to find out they aren't having one!  I'm kind of disappointed about that.  At least I have the Christmas program to look forward to.

First Thanksgiving as Hostess

This year we had a small group planned for Thanksgiving.  Our little family, Grandma and Papa H and Baba.  So we decided to host it at our house.  We ended up adding Chris, Wendy, Kyle and Kevin which worked out well since we had a 20lb turkey!  I finally got to use my china that I've had since my wedding (4 days from now it will be 8 years), it was all still in its boxes.  Daddy took the day off work on Wednesday and we spent the day relaxing and we went to Target to let the kids look at toys and get some gift ideas.  We spent Wednesday evening getting a couple of pies ready to go. This morning Daddy took off to play football, Kayda and Dillon helped me set the table (Kayda was especially excited to use the pretty dishes) and Papa H came to get the kiddos so that I could focus on getting the turkey ready and in the oven by 10:30 (I got it in by 10:10 go me!).  At about 1:30 I peeked in at the turkey and the pop up timer was already up!  I stuck in a meat thermometer and the turkey was cooked WHAT!?!  So I called Grandma H wondering what I should do since it's the first turkey I've ever done on my own.  The I called Grandma G to try to figure out why it was saying it was done so early (I cooked the turkey in a roasting bag like she does, Grandma H doesn't use them).  Turns out that a 3.5 hour cook time was perfect with those bags...guess I should've gotten my time from the box NOT from the cookbook.  So I frantically called everyone to see if they could come an hour early.  They were all nice enough to oblige.  Chris carved the turkey, Baba helped me last minute with the mashed potatoes, Grandma H did the gravy, everybody helped! 

Growing up my family never dressed up for Thanksgiving but it was one of the occasions when we got to use the china and I LOVED it; now I get to continue that with my own china!  Here's our table before the hungry mouths descended.

The hungry mouths!

 After we all filled up on turkey, other yummies and pie!

Daddy snuggles with Kayda!

 Watching football.

 Carson getting Baba baby snuggles!

 Dillon playing "soccer" with his second cousin Kevin.

One last thing, tt seems like more often than not Grandma G ended up running water into the turkey to finish defrosting it that last little bit...that was another tradition I got to carry on this year! 

Thank Goodness for Lazy Fridays

We have very busy Mondays-Thursdays with preschool, speech therapy and swim lessons.  The kids get pretty worn out by the time Friday rolls around.  So we spent our Friday lazing around the house in our jamas until it was time to go to Papa H's birthday gathering. 

 Carson is really starting to enjoy the exersaucer and manages to stay in there for 10-15 minutes now. 

Dillon decided he wanted to be in the picture.  He was "sneaking" in.

 So we got a picture with all three of them.

 Then we had snuggle time on the couch.  The kids love to hold Carson.  Look how BIG he's getting!

I go through all this effort to buy a carseat that holds babies for 8 more pounds than most of them, but it doesn't go any taller than the others, I'm starting to think Carson is going to out grow it heightwise well before his 1st birthday.  Sad. 

Preschool Art

It's time to clear out the collection again.  The kids seem to really enjoy their new preschool and I am very impressed with it as well.  They actually don't come home with nearly as much art as Kayda had last year, instead they have an abundance of practice worksheets and stuff from them working on their writing, shapes, numbers etc.  I don't take pictures of those because well, they're worksheets.  Here are some of their art projects, most of them actually. 

Here is Dillon's art.

Here is Kayda's art

I got to go in to their preschool on October 27th for what they call a "center" day.  Basically three parents volunteer and we get to go in and run a station.  I got to run a station where they painted paper bags to look like pumpkins, which they later added faces to.  I'm keeping the pumpkins to add to our halloween decorations.  The kids did a great job.  I'm hoping I can go in to "center" day just to watch and take pictures this month.  I only got to be with my kiddos for a few minutes before they were moving on to another station.  It was a lot of fun to be there with them.

They are actually starting to get ready for their Christmas program!  Kayda has been coming home singing about Mary having a baby named Jesus.  It is SUPER cute.  I can't wait to see it!

Tummy Time!

It's here...the time when a baby seems to be doing something new on a weekly basis. Carson rolled over on November 4th, from his tummy to his back (though he hasn't repeated that performance yet).  Also on that day, he used just his legs to "crawl" himself over the top of the boppy.  He ended up with his face on the ground and his little bottom up in the air (he HAS repeated that).  Then last Friday (November 11th) he laughed for the first time, he continued that on Saturday.  Then Sunday he found his thumb, he used it to help him go to sleep last night.  That will be interesting, he's our first baby that hasn't taken a pacifier.   He is growing so fast, at two months he was already taller and heavier than several of our friends' babies at FOUR months.  He's not even a chubby guy the way Dillon was.  Carson is just a tall buff little baby.  If he's anything like his siblings we're in for an explosion of new things.  Is it bad that I'm kind of hoping he's not and that he'll take his time?   

Here's a picture of my little 14 week old boy.  We were doing some tummy time, which I can't say he particularly enjoys but he had fun long enough to snap this picture this morning!

A Honorable Discharge

The time has come that our infant car seat has "expired".  Yes, car seats expire (something about wear and tear on the straps and worries about the plastic).  This car seat has served us well.  It brought home three babies, helped us put said babies to sleep when we were too tired or Mommy and Daddy wanted time to talk (we have a long history of car rides and it seems to be where we have the best conversations since there is nothing to distract us), it went all over this state, to Canada, and California, and it endured endless hours of naps.  After all the sweet memories and with all the care it has taken keeping my babies safe I can't say it will feel right to destroy it... they say you are supposed to bash it with a sledge hammer or take a chain saw to it so that people won't take them off the curb and use them once they're expired.  Stupid people ruining my farewell.  But alas, it has served us well and it is time to say goodbye.

Here is Kayda when we got home from the hospital.

 Here is Dillon when he was about 2 months old (we don't have a picture of him coming home!!! I am appalled). 

Here is Carson at the hospital right before we headed out.