Helping

The jokes would be too easy for this picture. Carter was helping grandma clean out her booth at the antique mall.

This past weekend

The sun finally came out (it's gone again today) and we were able to have a great time this past weekend. We decided to check out the Farmer's Market in Ester Short Park in downtown Vancouver. Carter loved the park and the cool frog he got painted on his arm. We also found a stand that made fresh donuts! Carter of course picked out the one with the sprinkles - reminds me of uncle TJ when he was little always wanting sprinkles!

What I woke up to...

I think he calls this his "sexy" pose

Oh yeah. Got it!

There's a man in my bed

Seriously. When did he get so big? He's still at 30 lbs, but now he's 37". I can't believe what a little man he is.

Summer at the lake

You know summer has hit the Roberts' house when you find it empty - 'cause we're at the lake house! It is even more fun now that Carter and his next-door-neightbor-little-girl-with-the-same-due-date-but-came-10-days-early are now 2 1/2. These two had so much fun together!

More excitement: Regan's mommy is having another baby and her sister has a little boy on the way. So, with Coen, that means we will have a minimum of 5 kids at the lake next summer between our two houses!!!





I love seeing them hug. They are too cute. Can you believe how little she is next to Carter?

Poo poo on the potty

Today was HUGE day. We haven't been pushing the potty thing around here. Carter will usually go any time we put him on his little potty, but has refused to go on the "big potty" or to do his #2 business anywhere except for a diaper.

Today, he came to me and said, "mommy poo poo" so, we headed upstairs and he let me know he wanted to use the big potty. So, we gave it a try. About 15 seconds later, he decided he was done, but had done nothing. Back downstairs to play.

About 10 minutes later, same thing. This time, we had success! He poo poo'd on the big potty and even waved bye as he flushed it. Just like the book we read the night before.

I was blown away! I hope it isn't a one-time thing.

Donald's

I decided that today needed to be a bit of a play day so, I asked Carter if he wanted to go to McDonald's to play on their big play structure. He had no clue what I was asking so he eagerly agreed to go. When we got there, he was so excited about the structure. He ran right in - and right back out!

class="mobile-photo">He would not go further than the first level without me. I wasn't even sure if it was allowed for adults to go in, but after looking for any signs, I decided that we had come here to play so, let's play.

First, thank God that he did not make me tall. I think 5'4" might be as tall a person as can fit in this thing. My knees are killing me from crawling through and I'm shocked that I didn't have a panic attack inside with it being so confining. In the end, we made it out. Carter wouldn't go down the "hole" (a huge slide) by himself so, it was good I was with him.

Now, here is where I wonder "what was I thinking?". After escaping, I mean, after getting out, he was more confident and went in alone. About 3-5 minutes later I head the dreaded "mommy! help!". My poor little man had made it all the way to the 3rd level and to the slide before we realized he did NOT want to go down the slide alone. Back in I went. I found him on the 3rd level like this:

Waiting for his savior. More crawling and we headed down the slide. I'm sure you aren't surprised that the lil' booger than wanted to go back in. I told him no. Mommy had done her time and the other customers were probably already talking about the crazy woman who kept crawling through the children's play structure.

Ahhh. The things we do for our children. I love you little man.

Upgrading the man cave

Next to the office, the closest thing Chris has to a man cave is the garage. Every so many weekends, he works on figuring out the best solution to our storage/being able to park both cars in the garage issue. No matter how uncluttered he gets it, it never seems "clean" or "finished". We decided that part of the problem is that the garage was never really finished. See the walls?

This was after we started priming obviously.

And then, we painted!

Ahh, looking better!

We're not big ice cream eaters

Let me rephrase that. We don't eat a lot of ice cream. We LOVE ice cream which is why I almost never have it in the house.

That said, anything free is always welcome. Enter Aveda and Ben & Jerry's. What? A salon spa product company and the fattiest of fatty ice cream companies? Umm hmm. Here's how it played out:

I bought some make-up from Aveda. They gave me points in their Pure Privilege program. I used those points to get 5 coupons for 1 free pint of B&J. It was that or mint tea ;) here's where it gets better. I went to Walgreen's and was surprised to find B&J on sale BUY 1 GET 1 FREE! So, my 5 free pints became 10 free pints.

Now, that is just nuts! We went from no ice cream to enough for the summer (who am I kidding? It'll be gone in a month!)

Petty pease

If you let me stay at Breyden's house I promise to take a nap! Look, we'll nap right here, right now! Petty pease!

A little funny from my day

1) When driving home from errands, I asked Carter if I could grab a coffee really quick before we went home to play. I didn't expect a response, at least not a real one. I'm so used to talking to him since I'm with him 24/7 that it's like talking to myself. His response today: "No mommy! No, no coffee mommy. Juice!" I tired to persuade him, but I was not match for his adorable little finger moving back and forth. He was ready to play and did not want to waste time at Starbucks.

2) Right around the time Chris is supposed to get home I usually realize that there are toys EVERYWHERE and we really need to clean up. I tell Carter to hurry up and clean up his toys because daddy will be home. Some times he slowly gets to cleaning up. Other times we have to have a discussion about time out before he gets moving. Here is what happened today:

We hear the door indicating that Chris is walking in. Carter runs to the hallway and yells something like "Daddy, mess! No daddy, mess!" with his hand up signaling him to stop. It was like, "come no further, the place is a mess" and he then ran around and cleaned up all his toys before he would let Chris come into the kitchen.

ADORABLE! I mean, if he gets any cuter he might explode.

Memories

I just love this little man. Everyday he gets better and better.

What I want to remember about Carter at this age (almost 2 1/2):

• How he wants to be JUST like daddy and will copy everything he does.
• The way he says "Oh, yes!" with such understanding when I correct him on something.
• His little hands on each side of my face as he turns my head to face him if I'm not acknowledging him.
• The way he will respond to any request if I just say "mommy needs help" His response: "Oh, yes!"
• His little voice saying "Kiki home"
• How incredibly clean he is when he eats - asking for a napkin if a little PBJ gets on his finger.
• How concerned he gets when something is out of place or broken "Uh oh!"
• How gentle he is with anyone younger than him and his request for "two babies."
• How he runs to daddy when he gets home from work.
• His wanting to go to "scoo" any time we pass a school.
• The way he thinks his toy tools can fix anything.
• They way he adores daddy and thinks he can fix anything (including the picture of the broken Wheat Thin on the cover of the box).

What I will likely forget:

• The tantrum thrown because he doesn't have his juice in the car when he specifically told mommy "NO juice" multiple times.
• Spilling his milk not once but twice because he decided to drink out of the cup instead of from the straw.