Fun Times

I took a break from unpacking this week to spend some time having fun. (Yes, I am STILL unpacking. It takes a lot longer when you have a toddler.- At least is does for me.) Lexie left on Monday to go to church camp. She gets back on Friday, and I am looking forward to finally getting to have some fun with her. I have really missed her. She has been gone most of the summer break so far.

Carter loves to play in the water. It has been really hot, so I got over my fear of germs and we headed to the city pool a few times this week. It really is a very nice public pool. It has a little area for the kids, and they are allowed to bring toys (which is something I wish I had known the first day we went).

He doesn't really have a ghetto booty; there is an air bubble in his swim trunks.

It took me a little while to figure out why he kept getting out of the pool, walking to the fence, walking back to the pool, stopping, and holding out his hands to me. Then I finally saw that a bigger kid on the other side of the pool was starting at the fence, running (not smart on wet cement), and jumping into the pool. Once I figured it out, Carter had a blast "jumping" into the pool. (He didn't really jump, and he never ran.)

Telling me there was a bug in the pool. 'Bug" is one of his new words. He has learned a new word every day since he got his tubes. The ENT doctor did tests, and his hearing was not damaged. I don't know if it was the tubes or just an intellectual growth spurt.

Tuesday we decided to stay indoors to play, so we went to an extra day at Gymboree. Carter loves Gymboree! It's funny though. A lot of the group songs/dances he won't participate in at Gymboree, but he does them at home without prompting from me. If any of you go there then this might make sense to you: When they do the 'freeze dance', he will not go near the air log. When he is in the bath tub every night, he does the 'freeze dance'.

Any of you that know Carter very well know that he will tell you a serious story. Sometime you almost feel like you are in trouble. Well in this picture, he is telling someone something pretty serious.

After Gymboree, we met daddy for lunch. This was the first time Carter noticed the gumball machines. They kept him very entertained until daddy got there. Don't worry; I washed his hands really good before he ate.

Carter got a couple of new toys last week, and he is really enjoying them. The 2009 model of the Cozy Coupe says it has a cut out handle and removable floor board, so it can be used as a 'stroller'. I was so excited. I could see myself pushing Carter around the neighborhood in his car. Well, it does have a handle, but I have to bend over to push the car. I'm not a tall person, so any normal sized adult will certainly have to walk on their knees to push this thing. They must have done some serious photo shopping on the picture on the box.

Today I went to my mom's, so Carter could play with Lyddie. (Angie and Jared are in Florida--lucky!!) They were so cute. I didn't get a picture, but Carter is practicing being a daddy. There is a toy umbrella stroller at my mom's house, and he pushed a baby doll all over the house. Lydia wanted to push it too, so she chased Carter a few times. I was standing in the living room, and all of a sudden Carter came flying around the corner pushing the stroller. I'm pretty sure he was on two wheels. Maybe he's not ready to push a real baby just yet. My mom and I didn't want to swim, so we put the kids in this little pool. They had so much fun pouring the water back and forth between cups.

"Look Carter, no hands."

"Come swim mommy."

"Fine if mom won't swim, I'm outta here."

Here are a couple of pictures of the dance team from last week's camp. They performed their newly learned dances on Friday. I drove down to watch. My trip down was not so fun. I made a couple of mistakes, so my 3 1/2 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip. (I've driven in LA, San Francisco, a few other big cities, and I get lost in freakin' Van Buren! Then, the GPS was on the wrong setting, so it took me the long way.) I got there in time to see the last dance. At least Lexie rode home with me, so I got to spend some time with her.

EVENTFUL DAY

Our day started at 4:45 this morning when we had to get up to take Carter to the hospital to get tubes put in his ears. Carter did great! He got a little impatient waiting around to be taken back to the OR, but that is understandable especially since he had no idea why he was up so early and couldn't eat. He was fortunate enough to have a cute nurse carry him back to the OR, so he didn't cry one bit when she took him from us. When they came in to update us on what he was doing (before the procedure), they said he was being very cute, talking, and looking around. A few minutes later the doctor came in and told us the procedure went well. Everyone told us it was quick, but we didn't expect it to be that quick. When they brought him back to us, he was not happy! They said he wasn't in pain, but he was disoriented because of the anesthesia. About 20 minutes later we got him calmed down. He kept pointing to the door of the hospital room, so we finally took him out to the hall. That is what made him stop crying. He was fine as long as we didn't try to walk back in the room with him. He fell asleep on the way home and slept about 4 hours. When he woke up, he was back to normal and very happy.

Sitting on daddy's lap while mommy took care of the paperwork.

Waiting to be called back to his hospital room.

Looking out the window, and pointing at the cars that are going by. He saw my mom pull in to the parking lot, and was talking to her. Once she got out of sight, he started crying. When she made it into the hospital room, he immediately wanted her to hold him and stopped crying.

He was not a fan of the bracelet they put on his ankle. He kept ripping the sticker off of it. Finally they put one on his monkey, so he could take the sticker of that instead.

He looked so cute in his little gown.

Carter was happy to see Granny.

Waiting patiently on the nurse. This didn't last long.

After his nap, he was back to normal and terrorizing Tinkerbell.

This afternoon, Lexie left for Drill Team Camp 4 hours away. This really was too much for me to handle in one day. Lexie has been to church camp before, but her aunt was one of the counselors so I wasn't nervous. I know she is having fun, and it is a great bonding experience for the girls. Plus they get to go to an amusement park and do another fun surprise activity. I know Lexie is LOVING it already. I get to go down on Friday and watch them perform. I am so excited.

"Yay, the bus made it!" The driver had seat trouble, so it was late. The girls were expecting a charter bus, so they were a little disappointed to see a school bus pull up.

Lexie and her tryout partner.

Trying to figure out where they are going to put all of the suitcases. Each girl was only allowed to bring one suitcase, but that still was a lot of luggage!

Group photo

This is the 8th and 9th grade dance teams and cheerleaders.

There goes the bus. Taking away my baby girl!

After the traumatic events of the day, Carter and I decided we needed some ice cream so we went to Dairy Queen.

The Reason for Lack of Blogging

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!

We closed on it last Friday, and the movers are coming tomorrow. Fortunately it is close to where we currently live, so I have been able to take things over during the day. My kitchen at the new house is almost completely unpacked and ready to go. I always feel like once I have the kitchen ready, everything is okay. Between doing all of the necessary things for buying the house and all of Lexie's end of the year events, I have not had time to blog. The above picture is actually a copy of some postcards the bank gave us. Once we get moved in I will post a tour of our house.

Last Day of 7th grade

Today was Lexie's last full day of school. (She will go to school tomorrow, but she is checking out early to go on vacation with her dad's family.) This school year went by very quickly! I also can't believe my baby is going to be in the 8th grade. (When did I get so old?) This has been a great year for Lex. She has made some very good friends and has accomplished a lot. I don't think I posted it, but she tried out for and made the advanced girls' choir for next year. Next year is going to be a busy and fun year for her!

Recital

Lexie's dance recital was Sunday. This is the first time I have not seen the dance a million times before the recital. I also didn't have to sit backstage and do hair and makeup. It is so nice having a daughter that is self sufficient (most of the time). I do wish she would slow down on getting older, but it seems to be speeding up instead. The recital was really fun. The theme was "A Night on the Red Carpet", so the songs were all from movies. Also, the finale dance was to "Fame", so everyone had the 80's thing going on.

Finale costume: Love the leg warmers!!

Main performance costume