Weekly Winners – Carter
Since this week has been totally occupied with my lil’ C man’s birthday (mostly his cake), I found it only appropriate to show off the beautiful boy that I worked so hard for! (a mom can say beautiful about her son, right?)
And yes, that is cake frosting on his face, even though the cake had not been cut yet. We made small squares for the kids so they wouldn’t have to wait until the cake of was cut. So he was able to “help” me dismantle the cake and eat a piece at the same time: a win-win!
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Happy 2nd Birthday C-Man!
Dear Carter,
I don’t know where to even begin – without it sounding cliché! You have brought so much joy into our lives these past 2 years (each person who has the privilege of knowing you)! Here is a little bit of what is happening in our lives right now:
You are my love bug! God knew that I needed you! You fit perfectly inside of my arms and go limp. You love to cuddle! Even though you are one busy guy, you always find time to give loves! I still sneak in to your room some nights before you fall asleep and rock you. You rarely go to sleep in my arms, but sit so still through many songs.
You are a comedian! You are constantly making us laugh – and yourself laugh. You are your father’s son. You will occasionally sit in bed during nap time and just laugh and laugh. I would love to know what exactly is going on in that mischievious mind of yours. There is never a dull moment if you are around.
You are one happy guy! You have such joy in everything that you do. You are a free spirit.
You are sensitive to authority. As much of a stinker as you are, if you see that our facial expression is serious, your head drops down in shame and you immediately come to our side to make amends. We rarely have to discipline you. You will make eye contact immediately, if you think you are getting in serious trouble. But you do push the limits 
!
You are active yet content to play on your own. Not one to get into trouble, but more like sitting quietly in your room, exploring your toys or reading books. (Or following your older brother around)
You still LOVE to read books. You would sit on our laps all day long reading books if we would let you. Somedays it is one book over and over again, other days you like to pick up each book in the basket and bring it over to read! Your not picky on what type of books either. You love them all!
You are smart. You are my talker. You have been talking from the beginning. And daily, your vocabulary grows. If we request that you repeat a word, you do so effortlessly. You LOVE your colors and shapes, sports and letters. And what you can’t say yet, you can show us either by taking our hand and leading us or pointing to an object.
You are very observant. You don’t miss a thing. And I guess that comes from having an older brother. You are constantly watching. You know where you leave things! Trust me, that is huge, considering how your brother is. You have yet to lose a binky, a toy or your juice cup. You are always aware of where you leave things and keep track of Evan’s things also. I can ask you to go find your shoes and you do (and find mine, daddy’s and Evan’s too).
You love Victor and Maya and they kinda like you too! You love to hug them around their necks and pat their backs while “oohing” and “awing”.
You are a runner. Yes, you crawled and walked later than most kids, but the day you started walking was the day you started running. And you haven’t stopped yet. You run EVERYWHERE. You do not have a “slow” speed that’s for sure! You have started to insert gallops and hops into your runs – which is absolutely hilarious to watch.
You are obsessed with all things transportation. You love Fire trucks, Trains and Hot Wheels.
You are a dare devil. You will try anything once. If you see another kid doing something, you try it! You love playgrounds and the pool!
You love to eat your veggies. Your favorite foods right now are steamed corn, steamed peas, tomatoes, fresh blueberries, Z Bars, PB&J sandwiches, pizza and waffles.
Phrases I hear most often during the day:
“Mommy watch this” (followed by something that you think is silly – this goes on about 100 times daily)
“Wa Wa (Evan) where are you….where Wa Wa go?”
“Ahh Woof” (while hugging Victor)
“Mommmmyyyyyy”
“Red Stop (while holding hand out), Green Go Mommy”
“We-ic (music) please”
That’s about it, at least what I can remember right now
I love you, Carter, more than words! I am so very blessed God gave you to us! Happy Birthday, baby boy!
Birthday Finale
I had another great birthday this year. I don’t really like the fact that I am getting older, but I do LOVE being center of attention, once a year 
!
As tradition holds, my mom made me my VERY favorite – all time – meal of Chicken and Dumplings, mashed potatoes and green beans. Oh. My. Word! And it didn’t disappoint this year. I *may or may not have* gorged myself! Yummy! I watched her very intently this year, because although I am 32 years old, I have never made it with her and she does not have a recipe for it. Mom, come on now, write it down already, geeze! So I took some notes and some pictures (although the pics don’t do it justice), in hopes that I could replicate it one day for my kids! There were “oohs”, “awws” and “yummies” coming from the peanut gallery. I just went face down and grunted occasionally – HA! Just joking, well sorta!
And the cake!! My mom goes ALL OUT on my cake every year. Funfetti Cake Mix, Funfetti icing, and the sugar candy cake toppers. Just like the meal, she has made me my very favorite cake every year since who knows when. I absolutely LOVE it!
This year, she had a “helper” when putting on the candies. So the decorations are slightly asymmetrical! And possibly slightly accented with drool and slobber from licking a couple to see what they tasted like.
I love my mom! I’ve got the best one in the whole. wide. world!! Thank you for making my favorites again this year. And thank you for taking the day off work so that I could spend it with you – even though you did get a little muddy playing soccer with the boys – hee hee!
Top Ten Tuesday: My Birthday Date
Jeremy took me out for an early Birthday date. My birthday isn’t until this Friday,
but he thought it would be fun to celebrate last week because the Goo Goo Dolls came to town. Yes, you can now try to figure out how old I am based on that last statement ! So I though it would be fun to recap the night by linking up to Oh Amandas Top Ten Tuesday. So here we go:
The Top Ten things I loved about my Birthday Date 2010:
10. Dropping the kids off at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house for a sleep over!
9. Having Jeremy all to myself for 12 hours.
8. Enjoying a bottle of my favorite Riesling, Schmitt Sohne, at one of my favorite restaurants (see if you can figure it out by the picture).
7. Did I mention, a date with my husband, without my kids?? I don’t know how to slow down and enjoy a dinner. So we put it in the hands of one of my favorite restaurants, who pride themselves in the relaxing experience not only the wonderful food!!
6. The Melting Pot, Lover’s Lane. And if the private booth, the bottle of wine and the amazing food wasn’t enough, Steve, our waiter, brought me out some extra Oreo covered marshmallows because I mentioned those were my favorite dipping item!
5. Jeremy organizing the whole evening, IN ADVANCE!! Let’s just say that Jeremy kinda *cough cough* waits until the VERY last minute to make plans for special celebrations (as in runs out the morning of my birthday and picks up a card, signs it in the car and then brings it in to me ) and tends to be a little indecisive when making decisions. Don’t fret, I am not talking down about him, he is well aware of this and we joke about it all the time. So the fact that he took charge and made a wonderful birthday celebration for me is an amazing gift in and of itself!
4. My new t-shirts. Jeremy can be a little *picky* about t-shirts. You know, since he is a graphic designer and all. I was in desperate need for some new t-shirts. So I put Jeremy in charge of finding me some “cool” ones and ones that when I wore them he wouldn’t make snide remarks about. He picked me out 2 tees from Threadless.
Not that I’m complaining, but the t-shirt I REALLY wanted:
was sold out!! 
But Jeremy did email them so hopefully if they get enough requests, they’ll reprint it and I can get one…
3. The Goo Goo Dolls came to town! They have a sorta special place in our relationship. Their first #1, “Name”, came out when Jeremy and I first started dating. And many of their hits were in the years of our dating relationship. Before college degrees, wedding bands and kids! The Goo Goo Dolls, without sounding goofy, were one of those bands that we listened too when we were “growing up”. So hearing “Iris”, “Black Balloon”, “Slide” sends us back to those carefree days of high school and college. When we thought we would be young forever, blaring the radio, with the windows down.
2. Heading into the concert and the ID checker actually thinking I should be carded! Woot! I, of course, didn’t realize that they were carding and were giving out 2 different color wristbands. I, being completely oblivious of how these things work now a-days since having kids, asked what the different bands meant. I didn’t even bring my ID with me. She said “I don’t know, I think you need to be carded.” I started to laugh and she said, “no seriously”. I informed her that she made my night since I was celebrating my 32nd birthday. She was shocked to hear I would be 32!! Not that I think she thought I was 21, but that I was in my twenties made my night even better!!
1. Okay so I am going to combine several in this last one because they all kinda fit together.
Watching all the teeny-boppers leave after hearing the opening act: The Rocket Summer which a.) I have never heard of because I live in my own little kid bubble and b.) They weren’t half bad. c.) The Goo Goo Dolls? Leaving before hearing the Goo Goo Dolls?
Watching 40 year old drunk people dancing in the isles and looking like IDIOTS. Some of them even getting escorted out of the concert. Not really what I would call a “fun” evening…for them! Geesh people!
Singing “Iris” at the top of my lungs along with the rest of the crowd, with Jeremy’s arm around me, and getting thrown back in time for a few moments.
What a great birthday! Thank you Jeremy! It was too much fun!
What Was I Thinking?
I had this wonderful – at least I thought so at the time – idea to have Evan’s party at a local arcade/entertainment center – think Chucky Cheese but without the scary robotic singing animals! We take Evan there about once a month – we have become VIPs since we have been there enough over the past year – and he and Carter LOVE it there. They play in the large play place – think McDonald’s times 10 – and play on some of the preschool friendly arcade games.
We were there last month, on a Friday night and the place of pretty calm. We even made fun of some of the parties going on there – BECAUSE I WOULD NEVER HAVE A PARTY AT A PLACE LIKE THAT. But wait, hold on. After we finished laughing about ever having a party at a place like this, it dawned on me! Evan loves this place, we don’t have room for 15 toddler/preschoolers to be running around in our house, I don’t have to clean the house before hand, I don’t have to clean up afterwards AND I don’t have to cook any food!
What a beautiful thing! I WAS SOLD! So after checking out the prices, we figured out that it wouldn’t cost anymore to have it there than to host it at our house. So we booked it for Evan’s birthday. Evan was SUPER excited!! He couldn’t wait.
I couldn’t wait to hang out with all of our friends and family and let the kids run loose!
One small, teeny, tiny detail. At least 10 other parents had that same idea, booked parties, and the place WAS MOBBED, besides the Saturday night teenagers who have nothing better to do than run around an arcade! We couldn’t even walk without bumping into people. There were KIDS EVERYWHERE!! It was mass chaos!
You live and learn, right? Right! Note to self, DO NOT EVER book a party on a Saturday night, in the winter time, in an arcade! For some reason, it never occurred to me that the place would get that chaotic. We have NEVER seen it that busy, EVER!
The kids had a great time! I guess that is all that matters but for me, I am extremely disappointed!
Reason #1 – we paid extra for a private room. I called several days ahead and told them we would have 15 kids. The room was just big enough for the kids. There was not enough room for the 30 plus adults that accompanied those kids. So unfortunately most of the parents and family were stuck outside of the room with only a window to see what was going on. MAJOR BUMMER and really has STRESSED me ever since the party. The majority of people didn’t get to see Evan sing the birthday song to himself or when he blew out the candles The whole point of having everyone come is that they can hang with the birthday boy!
Reason #2 – Because of the mass chaos of the evening and the crowded arrangements, I was so stressed that I took no pictures!! I did hand Jeremy the camera when we did the cake but that’s about it. I did take a few pics of the croweded room. But if you know me, you know that I like to have pictures with the boys with everyone that is there – you know for posterity sake. I even made it a point to tell Jeremy that we needed to get a family photo while we were there, a photo with each set of grandparents and the random shots with all of his friends. Well, we got a family shot right before we left and that was it! Again, it really hurts my heart to know that I didn’t get any good shots!
Reason #3 – I didn’t get to socialize with all the adults there. I was running here and there and everywhere, as were all the parents there. Those kids were CRAZY! Which I knew they would be but since the place was so jammed packed with other people, us parents were stressed about keeping our eyes on our kids. So needless to say, I apologized to everyone there for my poor judgment in party times!
But on the bright side:
Evan and most of the kids enjoyed themselves! I guess that should trump all of my negative guilty emotions I am having!
After asking Evan what he favorite part of the evening was, he replied, “Mommy thanks for making me my yummy drum cake and cupcakes!” Okay fine, so maybe next year, I will just make him a cake and just invite his friends over to the house and let them run a muck in our basement.
Happy Birthday Lil’ E!
What a fun and exciting year! We have watched you go from a toddler to a big boy this year and it has been a fun, crazy, hectic, sometimes stressful ride! You have learned and experienced so many new things and have taught us a lot along the way.
I typically get sentimental on days like this but I am going to try not to be this time around and just give you a few things I loved about your 3rd year with us! As I was going through this years pictures, I was amazed on how you have transformed from a chunky little baby into the boy you are becoming. It is amazing to me how much you have grown, both physically and mentally.
You are my little man, my first born. You are not a risk taker, but you are a thinker, my cautious one. You assess every situation you are in before you make any decisions. You don’t like crowds. You would rather have a few close friends and family to hang out with and that’s good enough for you (you are just like your mom)! You are reserved, although once comfortable in your environment you will let loose!
You love music. Man, do you love music!! I LOVE watching your foot tap and the air drums come out! You have a new interest of wanting to know the artist of every song you hear on the radio and wait patiently hoping to hear the DJ say it, if I don’t know. You love Toby Mac, Tim Hughes and most music that has a strong drum beat.
You are one tough cookie! I have never seen such a tough little boy. You have bruises constantly on you shins, knees and elbows! Amazingly, you haven’t been seriously hurt! Although you do not take chances, you love to play – running, jumping, tackling – you fall and get right back up. Nothing seems to faze you.
I love watching life through you eyes! You soak everything in like a sponge. You are always aware of your surroundings. You see and hear more than I believe an average 3 year old does. Although you may not immediately talk about what’s going on in your mind, you allows glimpses every once in awhile and I am always amazed at what you know and understand.
I can’t tell you how many times you say something new, and I wonder where you picked it up, only to realize I say the same thing with the EXACT same inflection. You’ve begun to gesture when you talk, complete with shrugs and hand-motions, which is the cutest thing ever. I love the slang words you’ve picked up like, “’cause” and “that’s cool”, and the grown-up words like “cooperate”.
You like to know how objects work. Even the simplest things you want to figure out and you ask if you don’t know. In fact, you ask A LOT of questions, almost to the point of exhaustion, but I know it’s because you just want to know and am happy to answer.
This year you have begun to learn how to be a big brother to Carter. Sure, you guys have your share of disagreements and we’re still working on the sharing thing, but we can see that you truly care about your brother. I love seeing you give a toy to him when he’s crying, or share a snack with him. You guys have begun to wrestle and roughouse like boys do and it’s pretty fun to watch.
So Lil’ E, we love you more than words can express and truly are blessed to be your parents!
Instead of posting a couple of pics from the year (because you know I couldn’t pick just a few), I did a little slide show of my favorite shots from this past year, accompanied by your favorite music right now!
Hit the Drum! (Lil’ E’s Birthday Cake)
This is a cake post . If you are new to my site, Welcome!! Come check out my Cake Endeavors!
As you all might remember, Evan has been OBSESSED primarily with 2 things for the majority of the year – Pumas and Drums. When I asked Evan a couple of months ago what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he requested a “Puma” cake.
Well, that kinda skeered me, since I am not that talented. So after discussing it with him over a few weeks, he decided he wanted a “Drum” cake instead. WHEW! I didn’t force him to change his mind, just gently guided him to another decision!
Okay, a drum cake is a little more manageable!! So I agreed to his terms ! He wanted a “drum cake with 3 candles on it”
I actually thought, this would be the easiest fondant cake I’ve done. But soon found out how hard it was to keep everything level and with clean lines. But here it is:
Carter’s 1 Year Check-up: Just Shoot Me!!
Poor Carter, he definitely is my second child. I was on Twitter about a month ago and someone (don’t remember who it was) tweeted that they forgot to make their child’s 1 year Doctor visit appointment and that she felt horrible about. I laughed then thought to myself “Oh Crap, I don’t think I have made Carter’s yet.” And sure enough I hadn’t and the earliest they could get me in was yesterday (1 full month later than it is supposed to be – OOPS).
(I was looking for a picture of his first Doctor’s visit and surprise, surprise I don’t have one. I have one of Evan, but not of Carter. OOPS! Yep, poor kid. I can’t imagine if I had a third.)
But anyways, I took him to this appointment alone. Jeremy usually comes with me, because I can’t handle watching the kids get their shots, but unfortunately something happened with work and he had to go right in and take care of the situation, leaving me ALL BY MYSELF to handle the shots. Let me just tell you, I haven’t done ANY of the shots with the boys!! I know, you don’t have to say a word!!
So off we went and of course the appointment fell right at Carter’s nap time and snack time. So he was a little crabby and required some heavy duty Mom-creativity! But unfortunately no matter how much I did, he knew that he didn’t like ANYONE in the Dr.’s office. He fussed to get his weight done, he fussed to get measured, he fussed when the Nurse talked to him and oh Boy, did he fuss when the Doctor came in. He just knew something was going to happen.
But, while the Dr. was in the room, Carter did decide to show off for her, almost right on cue. She was asking me how many words he says consistently and I told her between 5 and 10, but he will repeat many words that we say. She was writing that down when he pointed to the Elmo that was hanging from the ceiling and said “Melmo, Melmo.”
The Dr. looked at me and asked if that was one of the words he says consistently and I explained that it wasn’t and that while we were waiting in the room, I had introduced them. And then, right on cue again, he pointed to the window and said “Window”. Again, she looked at me and I said “yep, just was playing with the windows before you came in, too.” She explained how impressed she was with the language development he seems to have and how clear he was able to say the new words. DUH – I know Doctor that he IS A GENIUS, you don’t have to tell me that! Okay, maybe I don’t think he is a genius, but I did have one of those “Mom Moments” that make you feel proud!!
But then, he made her pay for the rest of the visit. He did not want her touching him, let alone talking to him. He squirmed, fussed, went boneless, all in an attempt to get out of that room! Finally, the Doctor was finished examining him and left the room as we waited for the DREADED shots. We waited…and waited…and waited…
You get the idea. So after about 20 minutes of playing EVERY game I could think of and feeding him every snack I had in his bag, I peaked my head out politely and asked if we had been forgotten. “Of course, we hadn’t been.” And the nurse came right in. So not only did he have to have 4 vaccines today, they have 2 new tests for 12 month olds that Evan never got. Both required toe pricks to draw blood.
I explained to the nurse, that I have never been in the room with EITHER boy for their shots and the look on her face was priceless! And of course, it had to be this time for me to get to experience it!
So, I held him down while she tortured him gave him his pricks and shots. After screaming for a moment, I was able to comfort Carter – LOL – I wasn’t the one screaming! Although, I did cry while I was holding him down. I HATE IT!! After the drama, I cuddled him for a moment then went to check out. I felt SO guilty, I let him taste a lollipop and he entertained the Nurses Station with his “mmmm”s and of course threw a fit when I took the lollipop away.
We made it! But I did take a running documentation of the whole visit. Yes, there are many pics and really I could have just posted pics without any words and you moms out there would have completely understand how the story went! So sorry, in advance, for the many pics but see if you can capture the story line! Because of the amount of pics, I put them in an album that you can scroll through (like a book) which is kinda fun for this post since it is like a story without words!
If you click on the first picture, the picture viewer will open up and you can scroll through them. OR click on this link [View with PicLens]. There are captions below each pic also, for your viewing pleasure!
Do you have any funny Doctor visit stories? I would love to know that it isn’t just my son – LOL!
Related Posts: That Toddler Chatters Have Begun, The Crazy Train is Pulling Into the Station
Weekly Winners
Saw a post from Momminitup – loved this idea. So this is my first time doing Weekly Winners from Sarcastic Mom. Hope you all enjoy, and don’t forget to visit the Weekly Winners headquarters at Sarcastic Mom.
A few random activities the past couple of weeks.
My Lil’ Pilot
Pool Fun
Waiting for Daddy to come home from work.
Jeremy’s Birthday Cake
A Labor of Love
So when Evan turned one, I decided at that point that, Lord willing, I would always make my kid’s birthday cakes! His was simple. His obsession at the time was -surprise surprise – basketballs. It was a pretty simple cake.
But by his second birthday he was into tractors and that cake was not as easy. Since I really enjoy a challenge, I find the hardest cake pattern I can find and try:
With Carter, the inspiration wasn’t as easy. His 2 obsessions lately have been books (which makes my lil’ teacher’s heart skip a beat) and our cat Maya. Neither one of those is a great theme for a birthday party. Can you see it – cats every where? Don’t think so! But it hit me a few weeks ago that his VERY FAVORITE book right now is:
Along with that book and “Moo, Baa, La La La” he has a growing obsession with cows. I will moo and he will moo. Sometimes I will hear him mooing in another room. So the idea took shape. A farm themed birthday party.
I always seem to get in over my head, but this time I was prepared, or so I thought. I called around a couple of months ago to find a cake decorating class, but because of the summer time there were none offered until August. So I went with the old stand by – Google. I found a few sites that actually had step by step video on some basic cake decorating techniques which gave me enough confidence to try this:
And since Carter is obsessed with cows, he got his very own:
See the problem, I felt, poor Carter gets all the hand-me-downs and I remember someone during Evan’s 2nd birthday making a comment like “How are you going to out do this cake, when it is time for Carter’s birthday”. So at this rate, can you imagine what their cakes are going to look like when they are 18! Evan is already talking about what kind of cake he wants for his birthday – 6 months from now!!
So after 8 hours of cake decorating fun and developing carpal tunnel, I finished it! The boys loved it and that is all that matters!
