Our Easter-Inspired Craft Project

I was looking through the Oriental Trading catalog the other day and saw this cute craft idea. Although my bunnies didn't turn out like the ones in the catalog, they look cute! I started out with a boy and girl bunny (the girl I made out of strawberry marshmallows) but I couldn't forget about a cute little baby bunny~
These really were pretty easy, marshmallows, ribbon, foam paper and some toothpicks.
Carter's contribution to the whole process was eating his share of marshmallows. He has a huge one in his mouth in this picture. Originally when I thought of this cute craft, I thought of Carter being a bigger help but who can blame the poor kid...I love to eat marshmallows too!

My "Neat Freak" Son

I came to the realization earlier this week that my son is a "neat freak." Carter was in his playroom one morning, and he shut the door all by himself. (He's pretty proud of his new skill) and was playing around in there for a while. I kept hearing these weird, really loud noises coming from his room so I opened the door to check on him and was shocked at what I saw...

Carter's toys were no where to be found, that little stinker shoved every single toy into his tent and was sitting in his car holding onto the steering wheel with a bright face and ramming the car into the opening. He obviously has been working on this project for a long time and was getting pissed that his car wasn't fitting through the opening in his tent.


Even though he was really updet that the car wasn't fitting in the tent with everything else, he managed to be occupied by his fire truck. It's funny how these little guys can be so interesting sometimes. He really is becoming his own little person now...I Love It~
Check out his "chicklettes"

Teething Cures!

Okay, so Carter is one of those "tough teethers." I love him to death but there are sometimes that he cries in pain and honestly there's only so much a mom can do to help with stubborn teeth. Carter only has six teeth and his 16 months old but I can tell you that "we" (yes I do mean we) have worked so hard to get those little stinkers out.

So in order to soothe Carter as much as I can, we turn to popcicles. I love these otter pops because they don't make a mess and are so easy to just give to Carter and I can get back to my things.
He totally looks like a "FAT BOY" in this picture!
And this picture is just funny...I don't think his mouth could open up any further.
And, Easter is coming around the corner everyone! I love Easter more than a lot of other church related holidays for many reasons: 1) It means Spring is coming 2) It is the resurection of Jesus 3) little duckies and chicks are so cute 4) I LOVE peeps and jelly beans

Here are some things already that I had from last Easter. I'm excited to keep my supply of decorations going with some added things this year...

Jiffy Pop Activity!

Okay, so Scott is still sick and it snowed again today, so that leaves me with a very curious and energetic 16 month old....so I broke out "Old Faithful" JIFFY POP!!!!! Seriously who knew that $1 at Target could be sooo much fun? Carter sat in his high chair near the stove to watch the whole process, it was quite amusing watching him look at the jiffy pop as it got bigger and bigger.

Since Scott was in bed, I can't have the butter kind of popcorn and I don't let Timmy eat people food, Carter got to enjoy the ENITRE thing of popcorn...his eyes when I poured all of the popcorn out of the foil and onto his high chair were priceless~


He's really easy to entertain, it's coming up with the ideas that takes the effort. Winter is so hard on little ones because it's too cold anything outdoors and there's only so much you can do indoors. If anyone has any great ideas of what to do in the winter time, I'm all ears.

Proud Moment

Okay, so I normally don't brag but I seriously had the BEST idea!!!! My idea came about becuase we got a new entertainment center and Carter can reach the bottom three shelves on either side. Well, I wanted to be able to display pictures and what-not but since Carter can reach I needed to make sure everything was kid friendly...so my brilliant idea...drum roll please....inexpensive plastic picture frames without the glass.

I can have them on display anytime on the lower shelves, and Carter can play and throw them all he wants without me worrying.
Now the best part is, I put a picture of Carter's cute cousins in one of the frames and he now can point either hunter or Tanner on demand because we've gone over which boy is which sooo many times. So when Steve and Annie bring the boys out to Utah this summer, Carter's going to know their names so well, I'm excited!
My favorite part of this whole idea is that it's kid safe, fun and educational for Carter, and the best part is that my house still looks good.

Announcement!

Okay, so I have announcement to make...Carter is "toddler bed trained!" What I mean is that after a week of putting him in his toddler bed, rubbing his back and singing for about 5 minutes, he now goes to sleep in a matter of seconds when I put him in his bed. ~ Love him sooo much right now.

When he was in his crib, we would put him down regardless if he was tired for his naps and bedtime and he would fuss, but there was no fighting it when he couldn't escape...so when it came time for the toddler bed, he was so excited to realize he would escape if he wanted. But now he is trained and I couldn't be happier.

In the very beginning of this whole toddler bed thing, he didn't put it together that he could get out of the bed whenever he wanted...one night I put him to bed like usual and Scott was already asleep (so that he could wake up at 2:45am) and I guess Carter put it together at that moment because Scott said he noticed Carter's bedroom door open, he heard Carter crawling out of his room and to our bedroom door so that he could go out into the basement and play with his toys. That's when I knew that I better get him trained before he thinks it's okay~ and now I'm happy to announce that he doesn't fight sleeping anymore and goes down without a peep!

Discovery!

I bought this car for Carter when he turned one, (the engine comes apart and it came with tools and everything, so he could be just like daddy) and he has recently begun to show an interest in it! He can now get in it all by himself and his little chubby feet push him around our house.
Another discovery Carter made today was his NOSE!!! He looked right at me for about 2 mintues straight and shoved his little finger up either side of his nose!

Scott worked all day today and then came home really sick (it better not be bronchitis) so Carter and I had some fun making shapes out of our jello jigglers...not that my 16 month old knows which shapes are which but I guess it's never too early to start right?

Cruel and Unusual Punishment!

Okay, so Carter has a play room full of toys on our main level upstairs, he also has his bedroom downstairs that's well stocked, he has four shelves in my entertainment center (the ones that he can reach) and this is where the little stinker likes to play!
He got in a shut the door all by himself, just for the record...
This little fetish of his began when he was a lot smaller and could fit better. This was taken last July when Carter was about 9 months old, though the kennel has stayed the same, Carter has gotten bigger!

Late Valentine's Day

Okay so Scott and I flew to Arizone on Valentine's Day with Carter and spent the enitre weekend with my family, so we decided that we would celebrate Valentine's Day after we got back from our trip. Here are some little things I made with Carter's help...

Carter and I also went to the store and bought this cool infra-red trash can, when you wave your hand by it, it opens the lid and closes all on its own...so it's not your average trash can, or that would make a weird Valentine's Day present.
Since Scott and I are coming up on our 7 year mark (that's 7 years that we've been together) I thought I'd share 7 reasons why I still ove him after all of this time:
1. He is my best friend, since the day we met he was the only one who really understood me and could make me feel better
2. He is a conderful and patient father to Carter, he has more patience than I do most of the time and really cares about Carter to the fullest extent
3. He is a great machanic, over the past 7 years I've never had to even think about my cars because I knew that Scott would take care of it (It's also saved us sooo much money)
4. He works very hard to support his family, Scott has to be to work at 4 am (yeh, that's before the crack of dawn) and doesn't usually get off until around 3:30pm. He works really long hours and lately even on weekends to allow me to work part time and stay home with Carter the rest of the time.
5. He completes me, we are best friends so when I go somewhere and really enjoy it, I want Scott to be there too to experience it with me.
6. He works so well as a team with me, Scott has been working very hard at being a united front with me. When it comes to parenting or making financial decisions, Scott and I work together as a team.
7. Lastly, Scott makes me happy, whether it's just a normal Saturday at our house or an outing we're going on, I really enjoy being with him and he knows exactly what to do and say to make me happy.

So, Happy LATE Valentine's Day Everyone!

The weather in Arizona was a little bit cooler than normal, but still a great change from the 20 degrees we have in Utah. Carter began his fetish with cell phones a few months ago, he walks around with the phone up to his ear and talks to it. When we arrived to teh Paye's home Carter became obsessed with thier house phones. (we only have cell phones in our house so the house phones are unique for him) Here is a picture of Carter and his Grandma Pam. Though this may look like a normal grandma and grandson photo, notice what's in Carter's hand...
His Aunt Amanda (aka Manda Moo) has a soccer tournament with weekend we were there and the weather was so nice during the day that Carter came and played with the extra balls and worked on mastering his walking along the sidelines.
After a busy day of playing and visiting, Carter fell asleep at his Great Grandparent's house while we got all caught up.
What's a vacation without a little coruption right? Just kidding, Carter's great aunt (my aunt Kathy) helped Carter taste his first chocolate chip cookie! And as you can see, he loved it so much, she gave him the ENTIRE plate!
My Dad and Pam's house has a few stairs going up and a few going down, Carter waled everywhere and mastered his stair climbing skills as well. It was fun to see him walk everywhere like a little penguin!

Our Arizona Trip!

This was Carter's second trip to Arizona, however last time he was about 4 months old, so I'm sure he doesn't remember. Here are some really cute photos fo Carter and his Grandpa Jeff and my cousin's daughter Audrey in Arizona.
AFter the long ride to the airport, the confusing plane ride and the excitement of more new people to give Carter attention, he was EXHAUSTED and fell asleep on his Grandpa.
I have a huge extended family in Arizona (that's where I was born) and it's funny now that all of the "cousins" are growing up, we are all having our own children. Here are some picutres of my three cousins' little kids that Carter just loved playing with!

Yeh, we're Bored!

Okay, so I know I'm a dork, but these glasses are hilarious. Grandma Morris had them at her house but Carter loved them sooo much, she let him have them. Scott and I took out the lenses and wanted to see if Carter would keep these on by himself...

It was so much fun to see Carter's face and what he did with them on, I decided that our entire family needed to join in on the fun!


Grandma Morris also went to Ikea and brought back a tent for Carter, we put it up for the first time today and he brought some toys in with him so that he could play in his tent. ~

This one is just funny of Carter's face....
Today we got our new entertainment center delivered and while I was installing the shelves Carter decided to have his own fun...

Little boys are so funny!