All things sweet...

Carter's favorite breakfast foods tend to be on the sweet-side (surprise, surprise: a child liking sugar!): apple cinnamon oatmeal, pancakes, waffles. Today we thought we'd add yet another one: French toast! Delicious!

Machines

The builder is our neighborhood has finally sold the lots across the street from our house and have begun the building process. It's a messy (and often noisy) process, but with the mess come the machines, which brings all sorts of excitement to Carter's life! What is it with little boys and machines?? Carter had enough of gazing out the window at the machines, so today we decided to take a little closer look...

Mesmerized by the machines...

Pool and Pizza

Carter loves playing pool! He could literally spend hours rolling the balls around, getting them in the pockets, then taking them all back out and doing it again. It has actually been a pretty good educational tool, too, since we incorporate the colors and numbers into our own little games.

And what goes better with pool than pizza? How about Mickey Mouse pizza? Carter can be a picky eater at times and has rejected pizza in the past, so I decided to shape our homemade pizza to look like Mickey Mouse -- lo and behold, Carter loved it!

Pool anyone?Future pool shark

Everything tastes better when shaped like Mickey Mouse! :)
Pizza and fruit - YUM!

Spring?

The sun has been shining and the snow is starting to melt -- is spring coming? We certainly hope so, but I have lived in this state long enough to know Mother Nature probably has a snow storm or two yet to come this winter!! Nonetheless, we were thrilled to get outside today for a walk around the neighborhood -- who says 34 degrees isn't heatwave? :)

Thrilled to see the sunshine!

"I love the outdoors!!"

My boys :)

Carter and I

Tired...

Carter is on strike from naps at home, but he seems to do fine in the car -- we'll take what we can get I guess! :)

*Not to worry, these pictures were taken while we were stopped at a stoplight! :)

Bizarre Sleep Habits...

We have had the hardest time getting Carter to sleep the past couple of weeks. We have a great bedtime routine that has worked wonderfully for him, but lately he just won't stay in his bed. After we brush teeth, read books, and "camp", he usually crawls right into bed and zonks out on his own. But lately, shortly after we put him into bed we will hear his little foots steps running around, and then we'll find him with the lights on laying in the middle of his floor, or sitting in the rocking chair. It finally got the point where we decided to remove the rocking chair out of fear that he'd fall asleep in it and roll off in the middle of the night (reference picture below).

This is how we found Carter during naptime one day -- not super safe if he falls out!

Carter tends to be a fairly "active sleeper", meaning he rolls around a lot in his sleep. It seems like he is more comfortable on the floor, so we thought maybe he was just feeling too cramped on his little mattress -- so we decided it was time to move the full size guest bedroom mattress into his room to give him a little more room to move around at night (without having to sleep on the floor)!

While Kyle was traveling for work last week, Carter and I went shopping so he could pick out his new bedding. I tried to make a very big deal out of how exciting getting a "brand new big boy bed" was and making Carter feel extra special, in hopes that we would look forward to going to bed at night (and nap time). So far, it seems to be working! He still wants to sleep with his light on, but at least he is staying in his bed! It just looks so strange to see our little boy sleeping in such a big bed!

Carter's new sports-themed bedding that he picked out

Cute Cole

Our good friends, Julie, Scott and their little boy, Cole, came over for dinner and drinks last night. Cole will be 1 in May, so he and Carter don't really play together yet -- but we are so excited for the coming years when they will! Cole is such a good baby and we always have so much fun hanging out with them! We can't wait for our trip to Florida with them at the end of March! Here are some cute pics of the boys that I just had to post:

Carter and Cole enjoyed some time rolling the basketball back and forth -- it won't be long before they'll be out on the court shooting hoops!

Cole was so funny with his sock in his mouth!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Even though Kyle and I aren't over-the-top Valentines Day people, we still like to create some fun for Carter and use it as an excuse to make an extra delicious dinner at home :) My parents stopped by yesterday to drop drop off a V-Day gift for Carter, and then he received a visit and gift from Dave and Dorothy this morning -- lucky kid!!

The day was fairly low-key, mostly spent watching the Olympics, reading Carter's new books, eating the VDay cookie-lollipops that I made, and then early to bed for Carter (too much sugar from the cookies meant no nap this afternoon).

After Carter went to bed, Kyle and I enjoyed a delicious homemade meal and then were early to bed, too.

In my opinion, nothing beats a Valentines Day spent at home with loved ones! Here's to hoping all of you were surrounded by loved ones today, too!

The Valentines Day gift Carter created for Kyle and I

The beautiful drawing Carter made for us!

Carter loved the heart-shaped sugar cookie lollipops that I made!

Carter enjoying his visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Just because we don't "celebrate" VDay, doesn't mean we can't dress for it :)

Relaxing with books

Our homemade VDay dinner: Seared Sea Scallops, Shrimp Scampi over Fettuccine and Roasted Asparagus -- delicious!!

MOA

Carter and I had a nice little outing to the MOA today -- or as he likes to call it: "America"! The Mall of America is great for many reasons (other than the shopping, which surprisingly I did not do any of while we were there!), but namely 2 reasons: Underwater World and Nickelodeon Universe.

Our first time to Underwater World was a rainy day last spring, and Carter loved it! I was a bit disappointed at how short the walk through was in comparison to the price for admission, but Kyle recently found out that he gets 1/2 off tickets through work, so we decided to give it another shot.

It seems that sometime between last spring and today, Carter has developed a fear of sharks -- he did not have quite as much fun this time around. Whenever I stopped his stroller so we could take a closer look, he said: "mommy, keep pushing me". At one point, he asked me to hold him, and every time a shark swam overhead, he held onto me for dear life! Poor kid! Towards the end of the tunnel we discovered the little tanks filled with sea lions and he really liked those -- not a totally wasted trip afterall! :)

Once we were through with Underwater World, we were off to Nick Universe. Carter is still a bit small for the rides but he loves just walking around and checking things out. Now that he knows who The Backyardigans, and Dora & Diego are, he loves seeing the full-size versions of them throughout the theme park.

It was definitely a fun day out for him and I am sure we will have many more in the future!

Looking a little freaked out by the sharks

Checking-out the sea horses

Loosening up!

Checking out the starfishLearning all about the starfishCool turtle
This is the least freaked out he looked in such close proximity to a shark
"Look Mom, I found Dora and Boots!"

By the smile on his face, you can tell how excited he was to see Dora, Boots & Diego!

He found The Backyardigans, too, and was chatting away with them

This was the only "ride" Carter was tall enough to go on -- he didn't even care that I didn't have quarters to get it moving :)

Valentines, Running and Coloring

The days that Carter is at daycare, he usually tires out fairly quickly in the evening, but tonight he was all wound up. I have a feeling it had something to do with the candy from the Valentines Party they had at Miss Lori's today.

After showing us all of the cute Valentines and goodies he got in his Valentines Day bag, he decided we should run around the house for a good hour (where do kids get all of this energy??). He loves riding on Kyle's shoulders and having me chase them around -- constant laughter ensues -- he is such a riot!

Luckily the running around wore him out a little bit, so we were able to wind down before bedtime with a little bit of coloring.

What do we have here...?
Valentines!
Check it out Mom & Dad!
Someone got into the candy!
Note Carter's expression and where his hands are -- poor Kyle ;)
Ah, the sugar high is wearing off and now it's time to color...

Where's Carter?

One of Carter's favorite things to do lately is play hide-and-seek. Most times he "hides" right in the middle of the room where we can see him, but he is finally getting the concept of actually hiding where we can't see him. Here is where I found him this afternoon...can you spot Carter?

What a goon...

Enough said... :)

Chuck E Cheese.

Dave and Dorothy called us last week to ask if Carter was available for a playdate on Friday night. We didn't have anything planned, so we were happy to send him off with his Nonnie and Papa for a couple of hours. Some friends of theirs were taking care of their grandson, Parker, who is just a year older than Carter, so they decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese! Unfortunately, Carter has been under the weather the past couple of days battling a nasty little cold -- but he pushed through and had a great time -- though you can tell from the pics that he just wasn't himself :( The boys enjoyed all sorts of fun games, rides and, of course, pizza!

Kyle and I were able to take advantage of having a few hours to ourselves, so we headed up to one of our favorite dinner spots for a nice quiet dinner. It turned out to be a lovely Friday evening for everyone! :)

Parker and Carter enjoying their pizza
Enjoying a ride
It looks like Carter has hit the wall -- so tired!
THANKS for a fun Friday night out on the town, Nonnie & Papa!

New PJs

There's something great about a new pair of PJs ... Carter thought so, too!