Unbelievable.

The weather that we had last week!  Picnics, park visits, and popsicles!  In FEBRUARY.  In NEBRASKA.  Ohhh we soaked it up.  I cracked a couple of the windows in the house for some fresh breeze and it was sooo amazing!

I think building with these extra bricks is going to be a favorite activity this summer!  =)

We saw these popsicles on Curious George or Sid the Science Kid or something and Eli kept talking about how wanted to make them.  So a couple mornings later when Carter and Hannah were still in bed Eli and I made these together.

And now. We're back to arctic temps in the teens.  Oh Spring, you never can come soon enough!!

Carter: 13 months

Wow, 13 months already?!  I do plan on continuing to say "He just turned 1" for quite awhile more though.  =)

Updates...

* He's fully walking so he's FINALLY not putting nasty stuff in his mouth all the time.

* He loves to tot around bringing me things.

* He can quickly stand back up from the floor without pulling up on something.

* I rearranged 2 of the kitchen cupboards so instead of Carter getting into all of my spice bottles he can get out our little plastic bowls and storage dishes.  And boy, does he!

* He loves books, but he wants to hold and explore it himself.
* He puts toy phones to his ear now.

* He still won't take to a sippy cup but he will need to soon because 2 of his 3 bottles have broken!  Probably because he just drops them down all the time!

* He likes to be cool-dude and hold his bottle with one hand now.

* We no longer need to warm his milk at all.

* The steps are gated off all the time now.

* He loves bath and will try to climb into the tub when he hears the water running.
* He loves to climb into Hannah's toddler bed and "play".

* Still naps 2x a day for 2 hrs and goes to bed at ~7:30pm.  But he's getting MUCH more flexible if we happen to stay somewhere much longer than his normal nap time would be.

* Our biggest battle right now is that he continuously stands in his high chair.  Earlier in the month he would shake his head NO as he did it.  Naughty boy!

* I'm still getting used to the increase in food consumption!  More eggs to scramble, more pancakes or french toast to fry, and more gallons of milk we go through!  He seriously eats equal if not more than Eli and Hannah do!

* He blows on his food after he sees me do it.

* He points to things he gets excited about-- ie when we on turn the TV he points and makes an excited Oo sound.

* Says mama, dadda, bye bye.  No real words especially but we can definitely see him trying.

* He's still rear facing in the car for quite awhile longer.

Little boy, you are changing and growing up so fast! 

Happy 3rd birthday, Hannah!

You are just so SO wonderful!!  Happy birthday! We love you!!!

love this.

Video: Carter's first steps

This video was taken about 3 weeks ago... Carter's first steps!  Not THE first steps but a glimpse of where he began.  NOW he's fully walking and can stand up from the floor quickly and everything!  It's AMAZING how fast he's changing!  It's time for a new video soon!

Hannah's 3rd Birthday {Party}!

We had Hannah's birthday party a week early since Kevin is working this weekend.  The gang came down (my parents, Kevin's parents, Nannie, Aunt Sheila, and Paul and Holly and Claire) and enjoyed a nice dinner, presents, and cake.  Since Hannah's been talking about Tinkerbell so much and wanting to be Tinkerbell when she grows up, I went with that as the theme of her party this year. 

very simple cake {for the most part}

Carter enjoying Hannah's birthday cards

Hannah's big present from us and the grandparents--her first doll house.  she loves it!  (Eli too!)

my sweet girl!

Another great day in our book of memories!!

Family Day: Children's Museum

Outage 2011 is coming up next month.  Kevin will be working nights for at least a month straight.  With him sleeping during the day even on his days off that makes it hard to much as a family at all. Except for those few days off, we don't even get any meals together.  SO we're trying to make the most of our days before then!  

Since we don't really need many more TOYS in this house, we used the kids' Christmas gift money to got a membership to the Lincoln Children's Museum.  The kids and I had been there a couple times last year but it's been quite awhile since then.  So we headed there for the first time as a family a few weeks ago.  I mostly stayed with Carter while Kevin took the older kids around.  I'd forgotten how much fun Carter would have there!  I brought the umbrella stroller for him, but that was definitely unneeded cuz he was down on the floor playing almost the whole time!  It's such a great museum for younger kids, we can't wait to round up some friends and head back soon while Daddy's sleeping during the day!

Just a little hello

from this little guy:

Oh well.

I was just cleaning up all of my photo folders off the computer desktop (importing into iPhoto) when I realized I never posted these pictures on the blog.  

Before Carter fully takes off walking here, I had a picture in my mind of the older kids each holding one of his hands to help support him.  But it didn't quite turn out that way in real life.  Carter was resistance and just wanted to GO.  So I ended up with mostly shots of the kids individually rather than altogether, but oh well!  Here are my cutie pies...