Ten on Tuesday

1. Okay, so Ten on Tuesday is rare for me. I've only done it once or twice, but I haven't blogged much, and we've been doing a lot!

2. We've been to two different beaches in the last week and a half. First we went to Cape San Blas, FL Look at the beautiful sunset we saw:


3. Then last Monday we headed down to Destin to stay until Thursday. We hit the water park, the crowded beach (for a whole hour!), lots of good eating, and of course the pool!! Gabby & Carter both loved the water, and we enjoyed the time together.

4. Carter still isn't walking at 13 months. I'm not too surprised since Gabby didn't walk until 15.5 months, but he was acting like he was going to walk before he was 1! Oh well, I just get to chase his super fast crawling!

5. I can finally announce potty training success! Gabby has been doing great. It wasn't that she couldn't do it before...she just didn't want to! I was told that when she was ready she would pretty much do it on her own, and quickly. That proved true! She hardly has any accidents, and she had ZERO on our trip (including in the car!) Hopefully Carter will be much earlier, though.

6. Gabby is a big scaredy cat. She is afraid to go down slides, afraid of the dark...just scared! Sometimes she'll surprise us, but usually she just says "I'm scared," til she trys something and realizes it's fun! Any suggestions for helping to her branch out and not be afraid to try things?

7. I'm working on a small project. I wanted a chair to put at the desk in our kitchen area. I didn't want to pay a lot, so I went to a few garage sales on Saturday. I almost didn't go to the last one, but so glad I did! I found the perfect chair for $5!!! Can't beat that. I'm in the process of painting, and looking for fabric to cover the seat. I'll share the after soon! Here it is before:



8. I still don't have much on the walls. We've been in this house for 9 months now. So it's one of my big summer projects. Have you seen any interesting decorating pieces lately? Do you have a favorite place to find stuff? Keep in mind I'm cheap!!! Decorating is NOT a big interest and definitely not my strong point.

9. I'm trying to be really good about using my reusable shopping bags. I've done really well this week, remembering them each time I've gone to the store. I hope to keep it up! My favorite bags are the two I have from Kohl's. They're big, and stronger than the other one I have. I found them on clearance for $0.79! I should see if they still have more!

10. It is HOT here. I mean like 100 degrees or more. When we got in the car to leave my MIL's house today (at around 1 p.m.) the temperature thing read 108! Stay cool, everyone!

First Haircut

I didn't want to cut Carter's hair before his 1st birthday. Since he was several weeks past that, I decided it was time to head to the salon (barber..whatever!) So on June 2, the 2nd official day of summer vacation, we made a visit to the salon. His Aunt Margot cuts hair, and she was excited to see us. She gave Gabby her first haircut last May! In fact, Gabby got haircut #2 (trim)the same day as Carter's first. As she was cutting Carter's hair, he started to look more and more like Chad. It was amazing what a little trim of the hair can do. He also gained some age! He doesn't look as much like a baby anymore :( He has a little boy look to him now! Okay, enough babble. I know you want to see it!

Carter's First Birthday

Since tomorrow Carter will be 13 months old, I figured I better get up a birthday post! I meant to do this a lot earlier, but May is such a busy month with birthdays and the end of school! We had Carter's 1st birthday party at home. It was our first time really entertaining since we've moved into our new house. We really got to enjoy our deck and backyard. It was a lot of fun!

I attempted to make Carter's birthday cake. I was planning on making Gabby's 2nd birthday cake, but a case of the flu got in the way! So this was my first attempt at making a birthday cake. I don't know if I'll ever order one from a bakery again, if I can help it! I think it's an extra special touch on their birthday. I was very pleased with how it turned out! I did use box cake, but the icing was homemade buttercream...yum! Here's how it turned out:


And here's the birthday boy!


And a slide show of the day:

It Can't Be.

Really? Already? A year? Am I seeing the calendar correctly? Friday is May8th, isn't it? But...that's impossible. There's no way that it has already been one year since our lives were blessed with Carter. But as impossible as that seems, it's hard to remember a time without him! This year has gone by unbelievably fast. We have enjoyed every minute of it! His little personality is really starting to emerge. He loves to laugh. I hope that never changes. Here's a small glimpse from the past year.

This is on the back of his invitations. It's amazing to see how they grow from month to month, isn't it?

A year old? But look, he was just a curled up newborn. ONE? Really? Nah, it can't be. Not just yet.

De Colores

I love this CD! It was one of the things I bought when I first started teaching Spanish, and I have used it ever since! It has so many great traditional & easy to sing children's songs on it. I have since bought a few other Jose-Luis Orozco albums, but this continues to be my favorite (though Diez Deditios is a close 2nd!)

Would you like a copy? Visit the Wanna Jugar With Migo blog to enter! She has 5 copies to give away:

http://wannajugarwithmigo.blogspot.com/2009/04/jose-luis-orozco-de-colores-cd-giveaway.html

Not to mention she always has great ideas for sharing & teaching language to your children!

Washing Our Spirits

This is Gabby's response to why Jesus died for us. We're not sure where she got it, but on Friday I was explaining to her what Good Friday and Easter are all about. I told her that God sent Jesus because He loves us so much and that Jesus died for our sins. We also talked about how Jesus rose on the third day and how He is alive. When I questioned her in review of our conversation I asked her if Easter was about bunnies & eggs. She said "No...Jesus!" Then I asked why Jesus died for us, and she said "so to wash our spirits." Very insightful for a 3 year old. Maybe we misunderstood what she said, or perhaps one of her grandmothers told her that...but wherever she got it from her answer truly made her daddy & me very happy.

We really had a wonderful Easter weekend filled with love, fun & family. On Saturday we did a couple of fun projects! First I made cupcakes from stratch. Yes, homemade! If you haven't heard of Bakerella you should check her out. Now, Bakerella I am not, but I still think my attempt at her latest idea turned out pretty cute.

They sure were yummy too! (I plan on using that buttercream icing on Carter's birthday cake which I'm going to attempt to make myself.)

Then we colored eggs! This is the first time I've done this with Gabby. She was looking forward to it for days! She was so excited and very patient while they sat in the dye. She would just sit and look at the cups.
This morning we got up bright & early to get ready for church. We had the nursery so we had to get there a little earlier than normal. I had to get a few pictures of Gabby & Carter before we left. Carter didn't really know what to think of his first Easter basket. He just wanted to take everything out.
After church and lunch we had an egg hunt at Nana & Granddaddy's (Chad's parents) house. All the cousins were there. Here's Gabby in action:

And here's what Carter did during the egg hunt:
Nana & Abuelita took turns holding him as he tried to escape. After the hunt was over he tried to attack everyone's baskets, but wasn't very successful. Don't worry, you'll be out there next year, buddy!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend! And remember: Jesus came to wash our spirits! How can we not rejoice in that truth?

P.S. This is officially my longest blog post ever!

Spring Break & other fun

Spring Break was last week, and we got to have a short visit with some friends. Gabby & Carter enjoyed playing with Joseph & Jacob & Andrew. We're so glad that Julie & Andrew got to join us. I haven't seen her in years, and it's the first time we got to meet each other's children. I'll have to make a trip to Birmingham soon to meet Andrew's little sister who should be here next week!
Gabby liked Jacob & Joseph's stroller better than her own, even though it was exactly the same!

The week was rainy, so we didn't get to do many other outdoor activites. A week is so short! I had such a lofty "to-do" list. I didn't get nearly anything done on it. On Sunday, right before returning to work the following day, I decided to takle one big project on my list: paint a nightstand I had in the garage for Gabby's room. Here's the finished product:


I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I have a dresser that matches it. I'm not sure that I want to paint it...plus it will take up the coveted space in her room that is dedicated to toys! Of course I could...no... I should move some (more) of that to the playroom. Which was my other project! I'll have to take pictures and share that later. I still have a little more to do there. And why is it that the room that the least people see is the one that is the closest to being the way I want it??


Just for fun here is Gabby yesterday making cookies.