C & B + R

Carson's 3rd Birthday Party!

2016-08-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

Carson celebrated her 3rd birthday on her actual birthday with a gymnastics party at the gym where she took ballet and gymnastics last school year. She had such a great time jumping around with her friends!!

We started her birthday out with yummy homemade muffins!

Helping lead her friends in stretching. ; )

The beam is her favorite!

We were excited that Mike Mike and Kathy and Jo and Donny were able to join us for the party. Nana and Granddaddy were out of town. We are having a joint family party for Reed and Carson next weekend, so there will be more birthday fun to come for this little one!

It was a successful birthday. She passed out on the way to dinner. : )

Carson's First Day of 3's Preschool

2016-08-09T17:00:00.000-04:00

Little Miss had me worried as she hasn't like being separated from me this summer. We have been talking up school and how much fun she would have. That had no effect until we met her teachers last week in her new classroom. Before we left the house she was saying things like "I don't like those teachers. It is not going to be any fun." So, I was a little nervous. Thank goodness, once we got there and she saw several of her friends from last year, the welcoming faces of her teachers and, of course, all the fun toys, she was good to go.

As I took her to school yesterday morning, she said "I will not have any tears. I will have fun with my friends." Yay, baby girl! I love the motivation talk she was giving herself. She kept to her promises. There were no tears at dropoff. She literally walked in without saying goodbye. Chris and I had to wave goodbye from outside the classroom. And when I picked her up, she said that she had so much fun with her friends! Yay for a successful first day. Let's hope Wednesday goes as well as Monday did!

The result of a fun day at school and no forced nap. : )

Reed's First Day of 1st Grade

2016-08-08T16:03:00.000-04:00

Reed started 1st grade at East Side Elementary last Monday. He was so very excited to head back to school! It certainly makes it so much easier to send him back when I know he loves it. His teacher's name this year is Mrs. King and he does have an assistant, Mrs. Collins. I think it is going to be another great year for Reed. He came home from the first day and told Carson, "you're going to LOVE first grade". : ) Unfortunately, Carson missed a pic with her big brother before school, because she was still sleeping. This has been her only day missing the bus since. ; )

He could hardly contain his excitement!

California Road Trip Day 5, 6 and 7

2016-04-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

We started day 5 out in Pismo Beach before making our longest drive of the week down to Santa Monica.

Breakfast of champions overlooking the ocean. ; )

We met our good friends, the Salsas, for lunch before we all headed to the Santa Monica Pier. The kiddos rode the carousel with their dads and then we played on the swings on the beach. The rest of the day, we took it easy hanging out and catching up. It was so great to see Eric and Diana and meet their precious kiddos! Thanks for having us, guys!

Rael and Carson were fast friends!

Our last full day of the trip, we made our way south to San Diego to visit the zoo and meet our friends, the Beltraminis, for dinner. It just so happens that we caught the zoo on the 1 in 5 days that it actually rains in San Diego each year. What luck?!?!? Thankfully, they had a bus tour that we could take around the zoo to avoid the rain for a bit. The rain cleared up after a bit, so we were able to enjoy the zoo even more. It was a great zoo!

It was so great to see Ryan and Alisha and meet their adorable kiddos! Oh, how we wish these California guys were closer! Love you all so much!

Someone obviously wasn't interested in having her picture made, ha!

Precious, precious girls!

Love this girl!

The main item on the itinerary for our final day was enjoying a spanish latte from Urth Caffe. It did not disappoint!

We had such an awesome week together exploring the California coast. I am so glad we took the leap and made the trip with the kiddos. The kiddos were great, maybe even better than we ever expected. Here's to many more adventures! We are looking forward to it!

California Road Trip Day 4

2016-04-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

We spent our fourth day driving through Big Sur. I'll let the pictures speak for this area. : )

Bixby Bridge, one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world.

We stopped at the Big Sur Inn & Restaurant and walked down the river, where Reed refused to leave without walking through the freezing water to the bench in the middle.

He made it!


Cool tunnel on the PCH. Carson discovered a new found love of tunnels on this trip. It might be because we instituted the screaming when we go through tunnels rule.

A male elephant seal

Lots of elephant seals.

Random zebra farm on the side of the road!

We made our way to Pismo Beach and the kids loved running on the beach in the frigid water.

Chris and the kiddos even got into the pool at our hotel. Chris said the "heated" pool had gotten the ice knocked off of it. Carson was shaking shortly after this pic and had to get out to warm up.

California Road Trip Day 3

2016-04-18T07:09:00.002-04:00

Our third day began with breakfast at the Quail Lodge, our home for a mere two nights, followed by a quick 9 hole round of putt-putt. It was a little chilly but still such a fun morning. This was most definitely our favorite place that we stayed.

After breakfast and putt-putt, we made our way to the Monterey Aquarium. We had a fun morning there. It was a really good aquarium, although it didn't really hold a candle to the Georgia Aquarium.

This stingray was trying to reach up and give Cars a kiss. ; )


The view from the viewing deck of the aquarium. They definitely have the Georgia Aquarium beat with this view.

After a quick bite to eat, we made our way to the start of the 17 mile drive that would take us by a lot of cool stops including Pebble Beach golf course.

Bird Rock, named for the white top due to all the birds that call this rock home.

The Lone Cypress. This tree has lived on this point for 250 years. It now has many ropes attached to it in hopes that it never comes down.

Pebble Beach golf course. Chris was pretty bummed that he wasn't here to play. Next time. Next time!

We ended our day with a long walk on the golf course.

Totally random, but this was the walkway from the parking lot to our room. So pretty!

California Road Trip Day 2

2016-04-14T09:23:00.001-04:00

We started our second day with a giant coffee before beginning our drive down the Pacific Coast Highway. ; )

Our first pullover stop on the PCH was Gray Whale Cove State Beach. We spotted a few whales hanging out in the sea.

You can see a whale coming up to the surface here! So fun!

We continued meandering down the coast until we came to Cowell Ranch Beach. I only knew about this stop because a designer that I follow had posted about "working" here for the day. After seeing her picture, I knew we had to stop. Below is the walk out to the beach.

A pic of the fan before we walked down the steps to the beach.

The kiddos with the cliffs behind them.

Toes in the Pacific!! It was cold!

Reed and I both got caught by this wave. Oops! Wet jeans were no fun, ha!

The hills on the walk back from the beach. So beautiful!

Our next stop was the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. The redwoods are majestic. I wasn't aware of just how amazing they would be in person. Some of the tallest old-growth coast redwoods are located in this park. The tallest can reach up to 285 feet tall and be 1,500 years old!

Cross section of a fallen redwood that was just a baby when Jesus was born (see below)!

Standing inside a burned out redwood. This trees can burn from the inside and still live for thousands of years.

Photography courtesy of Reed. The only full length picture of the two of us together. ; )

"The Giant" was 17 feet across.

This picture doesn't even do the enormity of this tree justice.

Also know as Endor to Reed. The Endor scenes were filmed in a redwood forest. He was excited about that!

Amazed!

After a pretty long and eventful day, we made our way to Monterey where we located the Dennis the Menace playground. The kids were excited to run wild for a bit!

California Road Trip Day 1

2016-04-11T21:48:00.000-04:00

We started our California road trip in Sacramento. We arrived very late at night(ahem 1 am our time), so we headed straight to bed. The next morning we woke up at a reasonable time and made the 1.5 hour drive to San Francisco. Thankfully, the late flight allowed us to all make the quick adjustment to California time.

Due to the foggy weather, we opted to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to check out Lombard Street, the crookedest street, first. The look of amazement on Reed's face as we crossed the bridge was priceless.

The bridge didn't look like this when we made it back over the bridge.

It looked like this....

But thankfully, after lunch, things cleared up and we got a good view and good pictures of the bridge. : )

We had lunch in Sausalito at the Salsalito Taco Shop that we had been too years ago with the Carlocks!


Lombard Street, although we didn't get a great shot of the crookedness. Just trust me. ; )

Carson fell asleep on the way back over the bridge, so Reed and I headed into Ghiradelli for some yummy ice cream.

And then we hung out in the park a bit while Reed worked in his book.

After a little break, we made the walk down to Pier 39 to see the sea Lions.

We had originally thought that we would ride the street car this trip but the lines were just too long and the kids were on the verge of being done with sightseeing.

So we opted to drive south of the city and find a local playground.

Carson and Reed were in heaven.

And, we finished out the first day with a yummy burger from In-N-Out.

Winter Park 2015

2016-01-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

We spent the week after Christmas in lovely Winter Park, CO with my family. We skied and hung out with our family and our friends, the Rush family, who makes the trek to Winter Park every year. We loved it out there in spite of the negative degree wind chill and the obvious lack of oxygen. ; ) We will certainly go again in the future.

The evening few from our place.

Reed ready for his first day of ski school.

View of the mountains and ski slopes on the drive up to the place we stayed. So pretty.

Morning view.

Jenga!

The sunrise over the mountains on our drive back to the airport.

Reed is 6(and a 1/2.....almost)!

2016-01-13T15:45:00.000-05:00

Yeah, this is probably the most delayed post ever, ugh. I have had most of this stored up in my notes app of iphone just waiting for me to take the time to sit down and actually put it on the blog. Man, I need some organization in my life. I digress. This is not about me, this is about the super call boy that we get to spend our days with. We are so very lucky!

Height:
Weight:

At 6:

Reed is a pretty good reader but often gets a little lazy and tries to guess the word instead of sounding it out or just throws his hands up in frustration. Normally, if he takes the time to actually sound the word out, he gets it. Silly boy. Santa brought him the first Harry Potter book and he is really loving reading it with us every night.
He loves school. Phew! I asked him one day if he would mind if I picked him up early to go an appointment or whatnot and he said "no, I would miss something". So far, he's received two report cards and our boys is doing great. Might want to work on controlling his talking though. Poor guy has lots to say. : )
He seems to be making new friends really at school (obviously written closer to his birthday, August 29th). We were worried about the transition from a great group of preschool kids to strangers but it hasn't been a problem at all. He loves playing with his new friends. He has a group of little boys and one little girl that he plays with every day. Usually the game of choice is tag. Shocker.
He is one smart little cookie who remembers everything. Most of the time, if he brings up a new kid's name, he usually knows what class they are in, the theme of that class, etc. He is very observant. Just the other day at Chick fil A, we were talking to a girl and her mom who is a 1st grader at the same school Reed attends. He didn't know the little girl, couldn't tell me her name, but he did know whose class she was in. That kid! I wish I had his memory!
He is certainly more sensitive to death in his older age. Poor little guy has dealt with a good bit of death the last couple of years. Usually we let him know that there is no more pain because the person is with God in Heaven. The death of our sweet cousin, Barbara, caused him to break down and sob. The hope of seeing her again and knowing that she was with The Lord didn't cut it this time. It broke our already broken hearts. We will certainly be more cautious next time with his heart.
He continues to love all things Star Wars, which is only exasserbated by the new movie coming out in December. Star Wars is everywhere and he wouldn't have it any other way. He and his dad had a boys' afternoon and went to see the new movie a couple of days after its release. He loved it while there but wasn't really pleased with a few things that happened. He says he never wants to see it again, this particular Star Wars movie, not all of them of course, lol. I am sure that won't last very long.
We are still having a tough time with him on occasion. He is incredibly moody and angry at times. Most of the time, he just needs more sleep but it wears on all of us nonetheless. I see him growing and changing all the time and I look forward to the day when I can write that this is behind us. The last few days have been so good for us. He does tend to have a much shorter fuse as bedtime nears, but we are all working to make the days as smooth as possible. He is getting there, I just know it.
Outside of these outbursts that are decreasing in number, he is the sweetest, most thoughtful, caring kid. We try our best to open our hearts wide and absorb all the wonderful moments that he gives us to fill our buckets up for his next outburst.
He has pretty good penmanship. His print is probably more legible than Chris's. Ha, don't tell Chris that, lol.
Reed is working on losing his first tooth. It is his top right tooth. I am honestly not ready for this total big kid development, but he is super excited. I have started snapping pictures of his sweet baby teeth smile, so I don't forget it. And also, I pull out to make a video every time he wiggles it, just in case it comes out!
He is currently playing his second season of basketball. He is still timid on the court(he got this from me, dear) but is slowly making progress. He has become a little more aggressive this season and definitely prefers to play defense over trying to get the ball and score. He is such a good little ball player at home. I look forward to when he can show others just how good he is.
Lately, when he gets into trouble, he always says "you hate me, nobody likes me". I feel like we are dealing with a teenager already, ha. We make it very clear how much we love him and that we are only getting onto him to teach him the right way to behave.
Reed loves his little sister, who idolizes him. It is so fun to watch them play together, especially when they aren't arguing. He is so sweet to her most of the time. Hugging her and checking on her when she is crying and making sure he asks how her day was. Warms my heart.

Barbara Hankins

2015-11-11T07:22:00.002-05:00

Barbara and Guinn with their kids and grandkids

Barbara and Guinn with their children, Patti and Adam.

On Sunday, November 1, 2015, we lost a beautiful member of our family. Barbara Hankins went to be with her Lord and Savior a week ago Sunday after a battle with cancer. She was taken away from her loving family way too soon and will certainly leave a gaping hole in all of our lives.

Barbara was one of a kind, that's for sure. After reading all the wonderful things that people said about her on Facebook, I thought to myself.....if people say half the good things that they said about her, about me, I would consider it a life well lived. Barbara's certainly was. Barbara loved everyone and everyone loved her. We should all aspire to be the kind of person that she was.

I have lots of special memories from my childhood and adulthood that involve Barbara. She was a special part of our family and will be greatly missed. Here are a few things that I will remember.

I'll remember how fiercely she loved her family. They were her everything. She was so incredibly proud of her kids and grandkids. She took great pride in all of their accomplishments. Everything they did made her so very happy. She also didn't want to them to have their hearts broken or for them to be mistreated. She would have jumped through fire for every single one of them, no questions asked.

I'll especially remember how much she loved Guinn, her husband, without end. She was a loving, dedicated wife. Always making his favorite coconut cake or making sure he had the meal that he wanted on any given night. She was once away from him when he broke his hip and vowed to never be away from him again and she wasn't. If you ever saw Guinn, you saw Barbara. They were very rarely separate from each other. She worried that she might not be with him if something were to happen to him and she couldn't bear it.

I'll remember how very much she loved music. She probably knew the lyrics to every song that came out before 2000. She loved to sing and would occasionally do a little dancing.

I'll remember how well she was at completing a crossword puzzle. I was pretty jealous of her knowledge of all things.

I'll remember all the wonderful get togethers at her house, be it Christmas or Thanksgiving or just a party for no reason. Barbara and Guinn were and are people who other people want to be around.

I'll remember spending a good bit of my summers, along with brother, riding our bikes over to Barbara and Guinn's house because we wanted to hangout with them. We'd call and ask if we could come over and the answer was always "come on!"

I'll remember all the fun times had with her at her and Guinn's lake house during the summer. I'll remember people piled up all over the place because everyone was welcome.

I'll remember how much of a worrier she was. I'll remember her hiding in the lake house when her grandkids were on the intertube. I find myself being a little bit like Barbara in this respect.

I'll remember how selfless she was. I'll remember how no matter what was going on with her, she would respond with "I'm good, Brookie, how are you?"

I'll remember how she told you that she loved you every chance she got.

I'll remember her infectious personality, the animated way she would respond....."shet up", "shuh uh".

I'll remember how she never really called anyone in my family by the name they went by. Gary Reed for my dad, which are his first and middle names. Lurlene instead of Arlene for my mom. Brookie for me and Marcus for my brother.

There is no doubt that I am forgetting many more wonderful things about Barbara. I just wanted to make sure I got a few things down to remember a lady we all loved very much and will certainly miss all the days of our lives. We are all better because we knew her and I certainly hope to honor her memory by living my life more like she lived hers, giving and showing love to all. We love you, Barbara! We'll see you again soon.

Barbara with just a few of the many other people who loved her very much.

Fall Fun!

2015-10-26T21:32:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful, busy weekend doing all things fall related. We spent Friday evening at the Fall Festival at Reed's elementary school. Both kiddos had a great time. On Saturday, we started our day with a baseball game followed by a trip to the apple orchard, fish feeding, trying to catch said fish in a net, roasting marshmallows on a campfire and some movie watching in the camper with Mike Mike and Kath. On Sunday, we hit up the pumpkin patch, carved a few pumpkins, ate apple crisp with ice cream and watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I would say we probably managed to break some kind of record of most fall things done in one weekend, but it was so much fun. October is my favorite month and I hate to see it come to an end on Saturday. It's a good thing November is my second favorite month! : )

Fall Break Trip to the Beach!

2015-10-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

In the last few years, we have opted to skip going to the beach during summer break in order to avoid the masses and the heat. This year it seemed that the masses had figured out our secret, yikes! It certainly wasn't the quiet beach trip that it normally is, but we had a great time with family and the kids even made a few friends to play with on the beach. The heat stayed away and the weather was pretty perfect, just the right order for a week at the beach!

My dad looking on as Chris and the kiddos played in the sand.

I am sure he was reenacting a scene from Star Wars. That boy!

One of many donuts had by all of us on this beach trip!

Carson woke up early one morning. I was a little bit perturbed until I saw this.

They do play well together occasionally.

They fight, A LOT, but she loves him so and would follow him anywhere.

About to take off!

Playing keep away.

My grandmother, Jo, buried Carson in the sand.

My mom with the kiddos.

No more pictures, Mom!

Jumping in front of Carson to mess up the picture. Jokes on him because this one is cute of him! : )

Putt-putt!

Note to self.....give them popsicles and they will sit down beside each other for the first time the whole trip.

The tower they built outside the restaurant on our last night.

Happy Birthday party for Carson!

2015-08-21T10:44:00.001-04:00

We had a little birthday party for Carson in July (much closer to her actual birthday than this blog post is being written, ha!)! It was fun to have family and friends at our house to celebrate our sweet girl. She had a great time at her birthday party!

Her and Reed were both so excited that she blew out her own candles.

Carson's 1st Day of Preschool

2015-08-17T13:43:00.003-04:00

Carson started preschool last week at the same preschool Reed attended. She is in the 2's class with Miss Doolin and Miss Heather as her teachers. Miss Heather happens to be the mom of one of Reed's preschool classmates. She seems to really enjoy school, although she is super excited to see me when I pick her up. She has had no tears thus far at dropoff after 3 days, although she did tell me this morning "I not got to my class today". Haha! This is a far cry from Reed, who I think cried everyday for weeks and weeks. I think dropping her brother off at preschool the last two years has certainly helped this process.

She was a little apprehensive to go in, but she was curious enough about the puzzles to walk in with too much encouragement. Way to go, Carson!

The below pictures are from the meet and greet with her teachers the Friday before school started.

Just reading to the class.

And running through the halls like a big girl, carrying her school bag.

We had to make a stop in the restroom to wash her hands, ha!

Carson - 2 Years Old

2015-08-09T22:03:00.000-04:00

Height: 35 3/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. 6 oz (25th percentile)

At 2 Years:

She has started declaring "I not know" when in fact she does know. Where are you? I not know. What color is this? I not know.

I often hear her yelling from her crib when she wakes up in the morning and from her nap. It usually starts with "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" and then changes over to "Momma, Momma, Momma" and then to "You hear me Mommy?" Almost every time I get to her room to get her out of her bed she says "you scare me, Mommy". Silly girl.

She can spit with the best ones. Not a good trait. She learned it from her brother.

She climbed out of her crib for the first time on 6/22. Thankfully, she hasn't continued to do it often. While we were outside chatting with family one night, I did hear her monitor going off and her walking around downstairs saying "where are you, Mommy, where are you?"

She absolutely loves bandaids or should we call them stickers.

She bites her nails. Dear.

She has started calling Chris "Mr. Daddy". Haha!

"Plean up, plean up, everybody, everywhere!"

I am still having to rock her to sleep. Goodness. If she would just go to sleep, it really wouldn't be that big of a deal, but lately she wakes up the moment I lay her down crying and screaming "Mommy!!!!!" What to do? What to do?

She absolutely loves swimming. It took her a bit to warm up to it at the beginning of summer. She couldn't really figure out her puddle jumper, so she was a little uncomfortable. Now, she is running to the side of the pool and jumping in and going under. She absolutely loves it! She has even ridden on the tube behind the boat and wasn't scared at all.

Speaking of not being scared, she will literally do anything that Reed does. She has no fear. No bueno! She makes me nervous. She'll jump off the couch, climb really tall rock walls, go down huge slides at Catch Air, etc...

Pretty much every meal we eat together, which is pretty much every meal, she wants to sit with me. "Sit in you lap, Mommy."

The other day Reed hit her in the face with a pool noodle. She said "listen, listen, never, ever hit me in the face again". Imagine her pointing her finger while saying this.

"Yet me read it." Said after every book we read before bed.

I just started telling her who wrote the books we read. The first one was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. If we say the name of the book, she says "by Yara Muneroff". She also writes every other book we read, per Carson.

She has three 2 year molars.

She loves to "read". I usually get a page into a book before she says "I read it".

She is super polite, always saying thank you after one of her many requests are fulfilled. ; )

Showing us her sad face. Ha!

"You want me to sit like this? Make myself look as uncomfortable with this photo shoot as possible? Okay, I got it."

Practicing her royal wave. ; )

I put Simba on my head to try to get her to look at me. She just wanted something on her head too, lol!

Reed's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

2015-08-03T21:47:00.002-04:00

The after-school picture. It doesn't quite do his excitement about his day justice. He loved it!

Sweet Summertime Part III!

2015-07-29T21:30:00.001-04:00

Carson woke up early one morning at the lake and my mom offered to take her so we could sleep. They fell back asleep on the porch. So sweet!

Reed has recently started begging for bunk beds in his room, so he and Carson can sleep in the same room. He also begs for them to sleep in the same bed. I don't think they are ready for this yet.

Take a picture mommy.

Reed doing one of his favorite things. Drawing Mario pictures.

Found on my phone...courtesy of Carson.

This pic also courtesy of Carson. Much better!

Carson's visit to the Birthday Bear at church.

At the car wash....

At the car wash, yeah!

Constant tree climbing from this guy.

Solo trip to the park with this little lady while her brother was a "dolf tamp".

Golf can be dangerous at times.

Checking out the homemade birthday card fro her bubby.

He looked at little like Ace Ventura after a post-bath boat ride.

Sweet Summertime Part II!

2015-07-21T22:20:00.004-04:00

Doctor visit during one of our many visits over a span of 2 weeks. I avoided the ibuprofen for Reed prior to future visits, lol. I don't think the doctors believed how sick he was this day.

Fun at church!

A little trip to the Grand Canyon after church.

She got a hold of my waterproof eyeliner. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to come off, haha.

Carson and her "caddy".

Carson loves to take pictures on my phone.

A rare moment of sweetness.

Girlfriend loves her bandaids, or should we call them stickers?!?!

Driving at the grocery store.

Reed has a newfound love of tree climbing. He fell out of one a few weeks ago and caught himself with his arm on one branch. He has a nice boo boo to show for it.

Carson loves her peanut butter. The crunchier, the better.

Checking out the fireworks for the 4th.

Carson loved them much more than Reed did.

Sweet Summertime!!

2015-07-20T22:30:00.000-04:00

A yummy doughnut on National Donut Day.

A little bowtie pasta for dinner. Reed requested "send this picture to Daddy".

Girlfriend loves her peanut butter toast.

Such a great big brother. He got her into her swing, strapped her in and pushed her. Sweet boy!

It is just too much work to put her feet on the floor, lol!

She has started wrapping her cups with a napkin pretty much every time she has a drink. "Where my napkin are?"

Trying to get a picture of the new freckle on her chin.

Fun times at the playground.

Yummy shaved ice. Reed had already finished his by the time we got home. Carson was not allowed to eat hers in the cars. : )

The gates are gone!!

Yummy ice cream at our favorite place in downtown Roswell, Roswell Provisions.

Waterslide pool party. So fun!

Driving my car. ; )

Fun times hanging out with Rory and Emma.

Carson - 23 Months!

2015-06-23T23:01:00.002-04:00

At 23 Months

Carson says strawbeddies. Cutest thing ever!
She is very good at climbing up and down the stairs. So good, in fact, that she likes to hang on the railing occasionally. Dear. "By self, Mommy."
"Get off me." Usually uttered when I am trying to help her do something or hold her hand while in the parking lot.
She has pretty good manners. She says please, thank you and excuse me. She also says "bess you" after I sneeze.
She likes to buckle herself in. She can only do the top of the 5 point harness right now although I am sure it won't be long until she can do it all.
If someone or something is missing, she says "Reedy are? Mommy are? Hand are?"
She has started to recognize when Reed gets into trouble. "Reedy in trouble. Reedy not nice."
Famous words from one sibling to another. "No way Reedie. Stop it."
She started begging for bites of my peanut butter toast every morning, so now she gets her own piece. She loves the crunchy kind and usually just picks the peanuts out to eat.
Pretty please equals "petter please".
She bites her nails and picks her nose. Yay.
If we asked her if she has finished her meal or done something we asked, her response is usually "not yet".
"I so proud of you." She says this to Reed a lot, but Chris and I get it sometimes.
She can count my fingers on one hand, although she sometimes likes to hop around to different numbers.
She definitely knows the color pink.
She can sometimes identify a square, triangle and a circle. She shocked her brother the other day when she guessed rectangle and was correct.
She loves for her Kath to sing "Taking home a baby bumble bee", and she has already started singing herself.
Carson has started to become super sensitive and whiney. If someone besides Chris or I tell her no or to stop doing something, she puts on a super sad face and starts crying, sometimes hysterically. Poor baby! Apparently, this is normal, because I looked back at Reed's 23 month blog and I said the same thing about him.
Carson loves to jump and run. "Ready, set, go!" She has this stance when she starts to run. Too cute!
She can count to 10. After 10, it is "evven, twelve, firteen, firteen, firteen".
She just started saying "I wuv you" unprompted. Sweetest thing ever! She also told me that I was her best friend ever. : ) She also told Chris that a day later, ha!
She has her two bottom 2 year molars.

She goes from excited to take pictures to this in 2.2 seconds. I promise I only took a few photos after the one below.

Reed's Last Day of Preschool

2015-06-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to posting pics on Carson's 22 month blog. Check it out here.

A little outside play at home to celebrate the day!

A trip to the aquarium!

2015-06-03T22:26:00.000-04:00

We got annual passes to the aquarium when we went for Carson's birthday last year. Their big sales pitch is it pays for itself in two visits. Well, guess what? We just went for the second time in May, almost a year after our first visit. Dear. We just may have to go to the aquarium every week until her birthday.

Memorial Day Weekend

2015-06-02T22:06:00.001-04:00

We had an awesome time at the lake over Memorial Day weekend at my parents' place with our family and friends!!

Reed driving Guinn and Barbara's new boat!

Reed decided this weekend that he might actually like riding on the tube!

Carson: 22 Months

2015-05-28T22:00:00.000-04:00

At 22 Months:

Carson tries her best to do everything that her brother does. She wants to dribble the basketball, hit a baseball and a golf ball. She isn't quite as natural at it as Reed was, but she is willing to keep trying. After one of Reed's baseball games, we let her go on the field and run the bases with Reed. She thought that was the coolest thing ever.
She loves to count. She counts two books, two feet, etc. She counts 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. She says eh-ven for 11. So cute!
What has to be her longest sentence ever, she said "daddy took my water from me". Girlfriend is good with words. : )
If anyone is missing from her sight, she usually says "where daddy are?", "where mommy are?".
She is overly confident with her stair climbing and descending skills. So much so that she has started climbing without holding on. Ugh. This makes me less than okay about taking the gates down. : /
Strawberries = Strawbeddies
She is constantly falling. Poor thing got a pretty bad boo boo on her knee a few weeks ago and she has continued to fall on it. It might get better one day.
She really is a good listener. If we ask her to do anything, she usually does it, unless we are telling her to lay down and go to sleep.
Everything is "by self, mommy, by self".
She says "get off me" if I am holding her hand while in a parking lot or otherwise doing something she doesn't want me to do.
She has pretty good manners and usually says thanks, excuse me and bless you appropriately.
Just the other night she asked me to rub her back while rocking her. Sweet girl.
Her silly, deep, evil sounding laugh is back. We love it!
She loves to color but only when Reed is coloring. She went through a phrase where I had to trace her hands every time she sat down to color.
She is a terrible eater. She literally hardly eats anything besides fruit pouches and fruit and yogurt.
She can slide with no help, although she seems to think she can do everything that Reed does at the playground. Eek, not good!
She likes to buckle the top clip of her carseat. "I do it, Mommy, I do it!" If I do it, she gets very angry. She is very close to figuring out how to undo it as well. Dear.
She loves for me to roll her window down in the car. "Winnow down, Mommy." She giggles pretty much the entire time. Precious.
She loves her hair in piggy tails and requests them pretty much every day.

I ended up getting a few cute pics, but let's be honest, most of the shoot went like this...............