makes my heart smile...

an {elmo} birthday bash!

We had a great time celebrating Carter's 2nd birthday!

Nerf guns were a big hit... with all the boys :)
Mr. Paul and Grayson practiced by shooting at the Elmo helium balloons
the girls: Miss Kay, me, Mom

thanks Aunt Laura, for the fun Disneyland "play" food!

a typical Carter stance -- sucking his left thumb and rubbing Bear's wing

Grayson, Miss Kay, and I admire the beautiful Shutterfly book that Mom made for Carter

my friend, Lisa, made Carter's AMAZING cake!!

check her website out at http://www.buckinghamcakes.com/

Carter was loving being the center of attention ;)

Mom and Dad, the Brookses, and the little boys

our little fam with the Brookses

Gramps and Grayson

Nana with her boys

Thanks to Mom and Dad for hosting such a fun party, and to the Brookses for joining our celebration!! Happy Birthday, sweet Carter!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Carter!!

Can it be? Our baby is now two.

Wow.

Time does fly... when you're sleeping through the night!

Carter is a bundle of joy, a blessing from God, and cute as a button.

He continues to chatter more... occasionally putting two words together.

He loves to do what Grayson does. All the time.
One of his front teeth is chipped, possibly because he encountered a coffee table?

His head is monstrous, but his hair is beginning to catch up with it.

Grayson says Carter looks like George Washington with all his wild blonde hair.

We still haven't given him a haircut yet.

He is really into babies right now.

Yes, dolls.

His teachers at Kids' Day Out even wrote me a note and put it in his bag this past week: "Carter is so sweet playing with all the baby dolls here."

So, he's getting his very own baby for his birthday.

And, a larger-than-life bulldozer.

He's still all boy!

He loves books, trains, balloons, Elmo, construction vehicles, playing outside, singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and riding in the bike trailer.

He calls the bike trailer his "choo-choo".

He eats almost everything.

Bath time might be his favorite time of day.

We thank God for blessing us with our sweet Carter Elliott.
Happy birthday, Carter-crunch!

(more birthday pics to come...)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Carter and I headed to Grayson's kindergarten class this morning for their Valentine's party, and it was lots of fun! This was a "non-uniform" day, and the kids could wear red, white, or pink to school.

Grayson decorated a heart-shaped sugar cookie... yum! All the kids got to "fish" for letters on hearts and then spell a word with them. What a cute idea!
Levi, Parke, and Grayson
Carter had a ball watching all the kids, and later he was content to play with a cash register for most of the party ;)

And then we met Nana for a fun Valentine's lunch at Chipotle!
Dinner at our house is compliments of a suggestion from my women's Bible study: spaghetti with meat sauce, heart-shaped breadsticks, and fruit.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

Well, the snow has hit Wichita... again! We got the phone call in the middle of dinner tonight that school is cancelled for tomorrow. Make that Wichita's SIXTH snow day since 2011. Oh my.

All I can say is that I'm not sure who had more fun here... Jerry or Grayson. :)

Jerry hooked Grayson's saucer to the back of his truck with a long piece of rope, and off they went... gallivanting through the neighborhood.

Being the good blogger-mom that I am, I hopped in the truck in my sweats and slippers, but with my camera.

Enjoy!!

Headed down the cul-de-sac -- yes, Grayson is wearing his ski goggles!
The snow was blowing SO HARD... it started this morning, and it's still snowing hard tonight!

this pic is for MY brothers, taken from the passenger side mirror...

Yes, Jerry passed another car with Grayson still riding on the saucer in back of his truck...

two words: Why not??

then I started leaning out of the window to snap some pics... brrrr!

Here's to enjoying ANOTHER snow day tomorrow... as I type, it's 4 degrees out with a -16 windchill, and we're predicted to get as much as 11" of snow. There's about 6 1/2" on the ground now.

brotherly love

It's Sunday morning and Jerry and I are trying to get ready for church...

the bed's not made...

there's laundry in a basket waiting to be folded.

And, what do the boys do?

Climb in the laundry basket and pretend that it's a ship, of course. :)

Love these sweet smiles!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

the great blizzard of 2011

School has been out for two days now,

four days since 2011 started...

temperatures and windchills have dropped into the negative numbers,

I got our Tahoe stuck in the snow,

and NO!!! hospitals don't have snow days.

Everyone is getting a bit stir-crazy here with all the SNOW!!

It's fun for awhile, but it is truly dangerously cold out there.

Today, when we asked Carter if he liked the snow, he said, "No!"

Grayson, on the other hand, loves to be out playing in it and shoveling. He even helped our neighbors shovel their driveway.

Jerry likes it, too. :)

This morning, Carter made it outside... for about 5 minutes... and then wanted to go in.

Don't worry -- these prissy pooches have spent most of their time indoors. I let them out for an hour or so to run off some of their energy. It's cute to watch them gallop in the huge snowdrifts!

Here's to having school back in session tomorrow!! Please!!