Imagine my embarrassment when I realized that I didn't post a Halloween Jib Jab for my new nephew! He wasn't around last year so, it's only right to include him this year! As always, Isabelle seems to steal the show with her moves - You go girl!

Happy Halloween

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Rain boots

At least this morning they match his PJs.

Shots & trains

Today Carter and I head to the doctor's to get some vaccinations. First, the flu shot, you know, just cause. Then, we got the Hep B shot which they've wanted him to get since birth and I've been putting off since he's not at-risk as well as the Hep A shot. I've read, and his doctor agreed, that he should get these as his new brother or sister may put him at risk (Hep A can be spread like a regular cold). Obviously, we'll know more when we know who our new family member will be, but the vaccinations take a few shots and several months, so I wanted to get them out of the way now while we know we have plenty of time.

So, we got to the doctor's office and Carter was thrilled to see the train table. He even pointed and said something close to "train!". I responded with "yes, it's a train!" and he quickly said "choo choo." So cute!

The shots went OK. He cried so hard when they happened, but when I asked if he wanted to play with the train some more, the tears dried right up! We went out to the waiting room and played for another 15 minutes or so before I had to drag him away.

I guess I have an idea of a birthday/Christmas present this year.. 

Little vultures

So Carter and I got back from some errands and the moment I set him down inside the house, there was a knock at the door. I should have known better than to answer it. I naively thought it might be UPS or FedEx and that I was lucky to have made it home just in time to greet them. Wrong. As I have already learned, a knock at the door THE MINUTE I get home means that there is a neighborhood child wanting to sell me something who has been watching for me to get home.

Don't start thinking I'm some sort of scrooge. I'm all about Girl Scout cookies and school fundraisers. What I'm not about is kids wanting to wash my car or sell me Chip Ahoy cookies right from the bag just because they want some money. Such was the case today. The repeat offender showed up asking if he could rake my leaves. I told him honestly that I didn't know if I even had any money to pay him and I asked him to give me like 15 minutes to get Carter fed and see if I have any money. He agreed and as he left, I saw the whole handful of leaves on our lawn. OK - we don't need help raking those up.

I fed Carter and with no further knock at the door, we proceeded to bath time. As I got Carter out of the tub and to his room for a diaper, I heard a knock. There was no way I was going to rush down to answer it so, I got Carter into his PJs during which time the knocks continued and got LOUDER.

I finally took Carter to the door to find that he had raked the few leave in our yard. I told him I was surprised he had raked them given our discussion to which he replied, "you can pay me tomorrow."

HOW SLICK IS THAT?

I wonder if their parents have any idea that they do this...

I asked him to wait as I ran through the house looking for spare change. Since we recently put it all in a piggy bank that requires braking it to get to it, I was left with about $1.04 from my purse, car and random dish in the office.

I went out and handed it to him.

To be honest, he did about $1.04 worth of work. That said, I'm sure he expected $5. Maybe he'll learn a lesson from this.... don't do the work before being told you'll be paid.... or, quite messing with the newest neighbors - they're on to us!

Rain boots

These used to be such cute shoes. Now that he refuses to take them
off, they have lost their appeal. He wears them ALL day!!!

The mint

Coffee date

Chris ran a race this morning and Carter and I went to cheer him on.
It was raining so badly, Carter and I changed our plans to a coffee
date. We'll meet daddy at the finish line!

Bad haircut

We tried a new place for Carter's haircut this time. End result: bad
haircut and a blue-stained t-shirt from the sucker they gave him.

Halloween sneak peek

If you know Carter, you know what he will be for Halloween this year. I've been slowly acquiring all the pieces from the green shirt to the workman boots throughout the year.  After finding the plain green T-shirt, the hardest piece was a tool belt that fits an almost 2 year old. I finally decided to improvise and make my own.


I started with a $1 adult tool belt from Walmart and cut it in half. Then, I had to pull out the seams and shorten it.

Look Grandma! I actually used pins to hold everything in place before I stitched (I usually don't have the patience for this step).

Finally, I added the ties back on and stitched 2 lines to divide the tool belt into 3 sections. 

It seems to hold his tools just fine!

Breyden #1

I'm just realizing that I haven't posted about Carter's buddy,
Breyden! Breyden's daddy works with Chris and we've been having weekly
play dates for about a month. He is such a sweetheart!
Now that Carter knows a Breyden and a Brayden, we'll call Brayden with
an "a" Brady :)

A new buddy

We had a play date with Brayden and his mommy today. Brayden's dad
works with Chris AND grew up in Reno. What are the odds?

Brayden is about 4 months younger than Carter, but they had a great
time -as did the moms.

Got to love the Gap Card!

Carter and I just got back from the Gap. I had a return to make and today seemed like the perfect day since EVERYTHING IS 40% - it's 45% off if you use your Gap card.

Crazy, right? I know! It got even better for us.

For some reason, the 45% had to be hand calculated by the cashier if you used your card. When I got home, I looked at the recent and it turns out, I got 55% off! Poor girl. She took the number x .45 (the discount) and charged me that instead of subtracting it from the total. The mall is a good 25 minutes away so, there's no way I'm driving all the way back now to insist I pay the correct amount.

So, go go go! You still have time to make it there today for 40-45% off of EVERYTHING!

If you give a mouse a cookie...

My little Silhouette project got me thinking about my pantry. Of course, I know where everything is and it IS organized, but to anyone else, it probably doesn't look like it. So, with the cute little "pantry" sign on the door, I decided to I needed to make the inside look better as well. 

Before:

AFTER:

I know. It looks like I threw out a ton of stuff, but I didn't. I just combined duplicates and got rid of big, bulky boxes and bags by transferring the contents to other containers. Now, if I can just keep Carter out of there! He keeps moving things just for fun!

It's a love hate relationship

I finally came out from living under a rock and learned about the Silhouette SD. Wow, that things that machine can do are AMAZING! There was a great promotion going on to save about $100 on the purchase so, I took the bate and waited anxiously for it to arrive.

All my excitement was damped when it arrived without any sort of instructions. They advertised that it was now compatible with the Mac so, I shouldn't have any problems, right? Wrong. All the software that they sent was only for the PC. I was able to go online and find a download for the main software, but the instructional CD, well when I called Silhouette they informed me that they had not yet created the CD for the mac.

So, there I was with a great machine and no clue how to use it. Thank God it's 2010 and U-Tube and a bunch of women with experience who like to film themselves exist. I'm still trying to figure out most of the functions, but I was able to complete one project which I'm pretty happy with. That said, I was able to complete this project using Cricket products (vinyl and transfer tape). The Silhouette brand would not stick to the door which makes it pretty useless.

We've had enough people try to get to the garage via the pantry that I thought this was no only cute, but warranted. 

Bye-bye highchair?

Lately Carter has been insisting on sitting in a big boy chair to eat.
I miss the highchair already.

Mommy's helper

I was telling Carter all about his cousin Isabelle helping her mommy
with the laundry and he must have gotten my hint! One if his new
favorite activities is sweeping and swiffering.

(yes Uncle Nick, he again doesn't have pants on). :)

OMSI

I had been told that Carter was too young to enjoy the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) so, we haven't made a huge effort to go there. What a mistake! He had a blast and so did we! We spent a few hours there and will definitely be going back.

***I swear that I was there as well. I just didn't make it into any photos

Lessons from Dad

Carter is learning new things everyday most of which I take credit for since I'm the one with him EVERYDAY, but some... some, I have to give credit where it is due.

Like this morning for example. I left the boys alone when I went to my workout class and when I got home, I found this:

Let me explain what you're seeing here. This is an example of how you can support your two favorite teams at the same time. Oregon Beavers hat and windbreaker accompanied by UNR Wolfpack sweatpants and blue and white striped stockings. But wait, there's more!

This is also a lesson on time-saving dressing techniques. Why take the pajamas off to get dressed in the morning? Just layer your clothes on top of them! hmm.. Why didn't mommy think of that?!

Static cling

This is new.... We're experiencing little meltdowns whenever I leave
Carter with the daycare lady (who he LOVES) at the gym and now this...
At home in our kitchen....