Valentine's Day

We didn't get to do a dinner out for Valentine's day just the two of us, but we did go out with the kids on a Saturday night.  Carter is pretty good out in public (probably better than at home) so we are starting to enjoy going out a bit more.  The downside is that we have to be sitting down at our table by 6pm because he eats dinner so early.

Waiting on our table.  Carter loves to people watch and is memorized when Laura takes him to the mall.

 Little guy eating his dinner with us.  He sits still and eats pretty well in a restaurant and doesn't need to sit on anyone's lap any more as long as there is food in front of him, people to watch, and a waitress to flirt with.

 Me and boogie bear.

 Laura and her date.

 His spirit picked up quite a bit once he got a hold of some pizza crust.

 Big smiles for pizza!!

Sibling Love

One more picture of the kids when I had them to myself for the weekend. Avery was such a great big sister and help taking care of her little brother.  She is going to put us in a really nice home when we get old.

Day at the Park

The Sunday that Laura left me with the kids, I didn't have great-grandparents or grandparents to help; but since the weather was nice we all went to the park after lunch.  This was a park one of Avery's friends had a birthday party at that had 3 playground areas, walking trails, and in the summer a water fountain the kids can jump in.  

This looks like a fun picture of Carter playing in the woodchips, but it was nanoseconds before he stuffed that handful into his mouth.

Avery doing a dance routine and singing at the top of her lungs on the stage.  She got a round of applause from some strangers walking by.

Carter had a blast trying to do what Avery was doing on the jungle gym.

Avery's favorite part was climbing up the different playgrounds to the top (without my help) and hitting the slides.

Carter really really enjoyed the swings.

And Sissy was a great help pushing him gently.

Sibling love.

Taylorsville

The weekend before last (or maybe earlier depending on when this post gets published), Laura left me with the kids to go help Aunt Stephanie do some wedding stuff.  So I did what any reasonable father would do and called his mother to come help.  We then decided let's get even more help by heading up to the grandparents and letting them entertain them.


First up was Nanny and Paw's where they have a basket of baby toys that Carter had a blast playing with.  His favorite toys are always drumsticks and will turn anything into a drum including his sister's head.  Conveniently, there was drums and drumsticks in the toys, so he didn't have to use his sister too much.

Carter also fashioned a bucket into a hat and Nanny dressed him in a Reds baseball helmet.

Carter also ate pretty well.  He must have eaten a cup of green beans, a half of a sweet potato, and a couple of pizza crusts.

After a quick nap, we headed over Grandma Marshall's house to turn other things into drums.

Carter has figured out how to crawl up to someone, pull up on you, and position his hands into yours until you walk him around the room.  We all took turns wearing our back out leading him around the room.

Sissy and Gigi make great play mates.

10 Months Old

This little guy is now 10 months old.  At least he was 10 months old when I took the pictures, but finally got the camera downloaded.  He did go to the doctor for his 9 month appointment on 1/20 and ended up 12% for weight, 88% for height (Laura questioned the R&R for this measurement) and 64% for headsize.  The weight seems pretty odd considering that he eats more than Avery eats, so we probably have a good growth spurt coming up.  

Sitting is no big deal for this guy.  Sitting still is another issue...  Laura found a picture of Avery at this age sitting in an elevated chair reading books quietly by herself.  This dude would jump off the chair and have a fire started before we could turn around.

Pulling up and standing is also no big deal.  He is easily cruising around the coffee table, but is hesitant to make that first step on his own.

 You can see his toothy smile.  He has his two fangs up top and the center two on the bottom which leaves a great mark on your arm if he gets a hold of it.

 "What do you mean we have to take a nap this afternoon?"

 Our happy little guy.

One more pic that shows off those teeth.

Pizza Day

The snow melted pretty quickly in South Charlotte so having been stuck at home for a couple days, we were happy to get out of the house and headed to lunch. We went out for pizza (like Christmas Eve).

Carter got to work quickly on the provided coloring book.

He had his own big lunch while we waited for our food to come.

However, as soon as the adult's pizza came he got pretty upset that we were eating pizza and all he had was puffs.  Apparently he remembered how awesome pizza crusts were.

He quickly reached out and tried to grab Laura's first slice.

Once he got his own piece, he was pretty excited and happy for the rest of the meal.

In this picture, he was sneakily reaching over to grab a leftover crust while Laura wasn't looking after he finished the ones we gave him.  

Snow Day

Sorry for the break in posts, but hopefully Sara's blog  has kept you up to date with Avery's travel to Disney.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) while Avery was gone, Carter was sick; so we didn't do much fun stuff.

Weekend before last, Charlotte got some snow and  lot of sleet.  Laura's work was canceled so she got to stay home with the kiddos, while I had to work (at least it was from home).

Avery did get dressed up to go outside and was pretty excited about the light dusting that was coming down on friday.

A friday evening walk around the neighborhood trying to catch a few snowflakes.

However, Saturday morning we woke up to a half inch of snow on top of our half inch of sleet.  Notice the nice clean street.

While we don't own a sled, I was able to take a Christmas wreath holder and build a pull behind sled that worked pretty well on top of the ice we had under the snow.

Avery was pretty excited about me pulling her around.  If you have ever been to our house, you know that we are at the top of a hill.  I would pull her up and down the hill until I almost had a heart attack.

You can see based on the number of lines, how many times I got to sprint up and down the hill pulling Avery's "sled".