Jingle Bus

For the past two years, we have gone on the Jingle Bus.  It’s basically a chartered bus that drives around downtown at Christmas time.  There is a tour guide who points out the displays and tells you a little bit about the buildings.  It’s nothing fabulous or fancy, but since Ben is obsessed with buses, we keep doing it.  You get free hot chocolate and cookies while you wait for your bus.  Ben is never one to pass up the opportunity for a funny photo shoot:Adam was happy just being held. We had a great time and will most likely be back for more next year!  Which is now this year. Weird. 

Eight is Great!

In our church, you can choose to be baptized once you are eight years old.  Carter decided to get baptized and we are so proud of him!I forgot my good camera, so I apologize for the poor picture quality.  We did what we could.  Isn’t he handsome? He was lucky to be able to have Mike perform the baptism and confirmation. 

It was such a special day.  It took a lot of work and planning, but everything came together nicely thanks to some amazing friends.  I’ve said it before, but we have been so blessed to have such great friends here in Wisconsin.  We have been there for each other through pregnancies, miscarriages, baby blessings, birthdays, and now a baptism.  I would have loved to have family here for it, but we had just as much love and support as if they were here.  Thanks again to everyone who helped!

You have been accepted…

To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!  Carter has a small obsession with Harry Potter so we went with the Harry Potter theme for his eighth birthday. I have to say that is was a challenge to get it all together, but I think the kids had a blast and Carter loved it.  The kids got their acceptance letters as invitations. 

I had a little backdrop set up to take pictures as the kids were coming, but it didn’t quite work out as I had hoped.  I got some of Ben, who can’t stay away from the camera, and a few of Carter.  Because I haven’t asked anyone’s parents, I won’t post any of Carter’s friend’s pictures.  You’ll just have to believe that they were there .  I was most impressed by the spread.  The kids got to go to Honeyduke’s afterwards to stock up on treats for the movie (we watched HP #1 at the end of the party) and to take home.  There were edible wands, chocolate frogs, jelly slugs, acid pops, gillyweed seeds, hippogriff tounges, Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans, Mandrake puffs and cauldron cakes.  We supplied the magic wands and phoenix tears. The phoenix tears were mixed with goblin crystals (ice) in cups that had food coloring dried in the bottom of them to make a healing potion.  Then we used another form of goblin crystals (dry ice) to make another potion.  We poured hippogriff saliva (bubble solution) over it and it went crazy!  Carter took his magic very seriously.  He taught his friends some of the most important spells, which were used to defeat the dementor that got loose in the house (Mike in costume).  I’m not one to toot my own horn, but it was a pretty awesome party.  As another part of his gift, we rearranged Carter’s room and made a little reading nook.  Samantha got him a bean bag for it.  He really liked it.  As was evidenced by the bulging eyeballs and flaring nostrils.  He’s telling me to delete this picture as I’m typing. Ben gave him the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid which he finished the next day. 

Overall, I think he had a pretty great day.  One day he will appreciate all the work that went into that one great day!

December

Or as I like to refer to it “marathon month of craziness”.  Within a four week time period I hosted a cookie exchange, we attended 3 Christmas parties, had one Harry Potter birthday party here, celebrated Carter’s birthday, Carter was baptized, we celebrated Christmas and hosted our annual New Year’s Eve fondue dinner.  This last week has been amazing with nothing planned.  It is awesome getting back to normal life.  It was a fun month, but I’m definitely ready for a break. 

Christmas was great as usual.  We tried not to go overboard like we usually do.  We did ok.  Samantha got her “American Girl” doll.  We learned a valuable lesson here.  If you are looking to do anything with the doll’s hair, the real thing is the way to go.  We have to keep her hair in a ponytail all the time or it gets tangled beyond belief.  Adam was just glad to be a part of the party.  This mask was high on Sammy’s wish list.  Future bank robber?Ben had to put a candy cane in front of his eye every time the camera came out.  And again…Watch out for the shark!

I think that everyone got what they wanted and it was so nice to be able to spend time together as a family.  And isn’t that what it’s all about?  Actually, it’s all about Jesus.  But family is good too.  And we did try to think about Jesus a lot. 

7 Months!

Wow, that went fast.  I was holding a friend’s newborn today and it’s just crazy to think that was him 7 months ago. It’s amazing how much happens in this first year.  Here are some of the highlights of the last month:

• He started crawling a day or two after I wrote his 6 month post.  He’s gotten really fast.
• His bottom two teeth finally broke through today!  They’ve been coming for a while now, hopefully now that they are out they won’t bother him as much.
• As of this morning he can pull himself up to standing in his crib.  He’s not sure how to get back down though.  He’s got a mark on his forehead from trying.
• He sleeps through the night most of the time.  He goes down between 7 and 8 and wakes up between 7 and 8.  We all love this.  A lot. 
• He can feed himself a bottle.  This is fabulous in the mornings when I’m trying to get Carter and Samantha off to school.  He sits in his little chair and drinks his milk.
• He is such a happy baby!   It really doesn’t take much to get him laughing.  He’s super ticklish and thinks it’s hilarious to bounce as we go up and down the stairs. 
• He has learned how to splash in the tub and would spend hours in there if I would let him.  Hopefully he thinks the water at the waterpark (the Dells) later this month is just as fun. 
• He loves food!  He’s a carb junkie like his mom, but he’s slowly branching out. 

And for your viewing pleasure:

Circus afro!

I sincerely apologize for the boogers in the above picture.  I tried photoshopping them out, but apparently that is above my expertise level. 

And this photo shoot was cut short in order to keep my camera dry. 

He’s an awesome baby and we love his guts!