Carter Turned 3!....4 months ago...

I have a lot of catching up to do. I want to get all of my posts done that I need to in the next couple weeks...then make a book...and then be done blogging. I have been meaning to do this post for oh...4 months!

On June 6th Carter turned 3 years old! Now he is almost 3 1/2! How it got to be October already I will never know! Seriously...SLOW DOWN!

Carter's ultimate desire was to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for his birthday. He loves that place. I love it for that fact that it is practically deserted in the morning and Carter and I can have the place to ourselves. So, on Thursday June 4th, we celebrated Carter turning 3 by having a party of 3 at Chuck E. Cheese's. He was delighted.

I had planned to make Carter a really awesome cake this year. However, just before his birthday we moved...then moved again if you recall...into our office...with no stove. Baking was out. So...even better...I took Carter to Wal-Mart and let him look through their book of cakes and pick whichever one he wanted. As you can see he chose "Bolt". I just might do this every year. Easy...looks better than any cake I would make...and Carter was beyond thrilled to be able to select whichever cake his little heart desired. No stress. Perfect. (It actually tasted good too which surprised me...I had 0 expectations.)

I decorated the table with punching balloons and inflatable animals. You do not have to pay to just go in and use a table and they let you bring your own cake. We did order a pizza and tokens package. I think our total cost for the Chuck E. Cheese party was 50.00. Not bad.

We got him "Bolt" the movie to go along with his cake choice. Grandma DeAnn (Josh's mom) sent us money to get him a gift with which we purchases this scooter! Thank you Grandma DeAnn! My mom, Grandma Theresa, sent Carter 40.00 to go to Target and pick out whatever he wanted. He ended up getting a big Batman play set and I bought him extra action figures and vehicles to go with it. He loved it. We also got him an industrial size container of bubbles and bubble wands. The picture below is a set of tools that he asked for. I think they are all missing now.


This is Carter going crazy with 3 punching balloons.


Carter is a hoot. We love having him around and he makes us laugh daily. Here are some of my favorite things about Carter right now:

*He wakes up instantly happy in the morning. He needs no transition time. He usually pops up and says a funny phrase or makes a funny noise as soon as he opens his eyes.

*He is a snuggler in the morning.

*He is hilarious and says the funniest things. He makes goofy faces and gives funny nicknames. He just nicknamed Atrion (my sister's 3 month old) "Bobble Head".

*He has a tender heart and is very kind. He is always aware of how people are feeling and will ask them why they are feeling the way they are feeling. You better respond the first time to his inquiry because he will not stop asking until you oblige him.

*He is instantly your friend. Every kid on the playground has equal opportunity for friendship with Carter. If you don't want to play with him then too bad because he will play with you anyway.

*He is very bright. He learns very quickly. He speaks very well and will tell us stories always starting with "Once Upon Time"...he always has awesome sound effects in his stories as well.

We Love You Carter Bug and hope your 4th year holds so many magical adventures!

A Quick Word...Or Is It?

I thought I would just write a little update because I have been getting massive amounts of e-mails from my readers asking me to soothe their curiosity as to what is going on in the never ending adventure that is my life. So...

1. I have found a new hobby/interest that I am excited about. I began to feel like maybe I had maxed out my interests in life and could no longer acquire new skills. Back in May I purchased some pots, potting soil, and plants and began to grow my first garden. I started small which has contributed to my success, I am sure. Every time I look out my window and see my bell peppers and tomatoes getting bigger it puts a smile on my face. I also have 2 flower boxes that are just fun. So...so far I have 3 bell peppers, a handful of tomatoes still on the vine and more to come, a cucumber plant that is blossoming, 2 flower boxes, and 4 other flower/shrub type plants that are all flourishing. I did not realize this was something that I liked to do but I really enjoy watering and tending to them. Maybe it is the side of mothering that is easy...feeding them, caring for them, but the plants don't cry and whine or run away from me at lightening speeds into oncoming traffic. Yes, that is it, plants don't give me daily heart attacks.

2. We are in housing limbo. Long story. After finding out we were going to be here for another year I decided it was time to move off-site and become less accessible to our tenants. That is my awesome customer service side coming out. I picked out an apartment and we moved our big items in. Josh had a bad feeling. I told him I would follow his lead. Somehow we were let out of our 14 month lease that we had just signed with no problems(phew!) but in the meantime we had rented our house out and had nowhere to go. So now we are squatting in our office. Our office that is the size of a hotel room. Our office that has no kitchen or laundry hook-ups. Our office that has...well never mind. So we are going over our options and trying to decide really what we want to do. However, as bad as it might sound living in such a small place...I am actually kind of enjoying it. I will have to post longer later on the logistics of the whole thing and how we are making it work...complete with pictures.

3. Carter turned 3!! I have lots of pictures that I need to post. We had a fun time celebrating with him and can't believe how big he is getting! Longer post on that later as well.

4. It is HOT down here!! Right now it is 95 degrees. With humidity it feels even hotter (eek almost had a heart attack as I looked out of the window and saw Carter picking one of my bell peppers...guess that makes what I said earlier obsolete.) So...we have to stay indoors most of the day as it is too hot to even walk to the car in most cases:)

5. Waiting for Atrion to enter the world so that I can go and be a nanny for a little bit and hold a newborn again!

6. Re-addicted ourselves to the TV show 24 after a good 5 year hiatus. We are in season 3 and look forward to watching an episode almost nightly before bed.

7. Getting ready for a summer/fall filled with travel. We have a few destinations on our list and few more in the works. Traveling and seeing stuff I have never seen before is also one of my hobbies. If I haven't discovered a new place (whether that be a new town, store, restaurant, theme park...what have you) in more than a couple of weeks I start to get jittery. Currently I am itching for some place tropical.

8. That's all folks. Not a lot of exciting stuff happens in our lives but we are happy and content and that is all I can ask for!

PPPP

This post is a "PPPP" Procrastinated Picture Purge Post. Total points for all that alliteration. I am too lazy to move all the pics around to be in order. I dislike the way blogger messes with my pictures...so I will not fight it. These pictures were meant to be posted last month. These depict Carter's birthday trip to the Memphis zoo...as well as the only 2 pictures I got of his birthday cake and presents, the camera batteries died:(

I think these are one of the strangest looking creatures that roam the earth.

I am sad because the picture turned out so dark...but it is the only one I have. We let Carter pick his cake...yes...my kitchen was not unpacked yet so I was not in the position to make him one. He picked a white cake with strawberries on top...and once you scraped off all the icing it was actually really good. I rarely like store bought cake so we were happy with his selection!

Here is Carter enjoying the trampoline Grandma Theresa sent him and behind him on the couch is the present we got him. It is a little boom box that plays different songs with letters and numbers and colors. Carter likes to turn a song on and jump to the beat...then turn a new song on and jump some more. I love that we both got him gifts that he uses together and loves! He also got him some bath toys and a few summer clothes.

Who ever knew Marco Polo was so dang cute?

This was funny. Carter wasn't sure if he could get too close at first...I guess this little panda looked all too real. I finally convinced him to pose.

So far he is living up to the terrible twos. They are big shoes to fill but Carter wears them well!! He has decided to melt down into full out tantrums these past couple of days which have just come out of nowhere...so much fun. But I also love this age the very most. He communicates so well and he jokes with us and we just have so much fun. He loves to snuggle and give kisses and just hang out with Mom and Dad...which I know won't always be the case. I always try to remember that this time goes by so fast and cherish our moments...I know it won't be too long before I am yearning for days past and trying to remember what he was like when he was 2 years old. Sheesh...enough of this talk! We love our little guy so much!