Carter loves to cook. His cooking consists of mixing various spices in a bowl and playing with utensils. Over the summer while shopping with a friend, I found this adorable apron for him along with his own set of pots, pans, and utensils. He especially enjoys transferring his creation from bowl to bowl. "Cooking" can keep Carter entertained while I cook. If I don't feel like claning up after him, I have to be very careful about how I state I'm going to prepare dinner. He is like Pavlov's dog when I say, "cook." He responds, " I wan cook."

So, enjoy the pictures of him and ignore my messy countertops (Mom!).

We are so blessed to have such a happy child. Of course he has his stubborn streaks which he obviously inherited from his dad.

Carter is such a clown and is always performing. He reminds me of myself when he is laughing at himself before we can even laugh at him.

These pictures are of Carter wearing my lipstick. You can see how proud he is of his artwork.


He loves playing in my makeup. I have even given him my old powder compacts. We were in the car a few days ago, and Carter wanted my lipstick. I told him it wasn't for boys, so he asked for Daddy's lipstick. When I told him Dad didn't have any, he said, "Daddy's lipstick home."

Wow, I really need to buckle down and catch up. How embarrassing to look at my blog on election day and realize the most recent posts discussed Labor Day! So, for the 2 people reading this, let me catch up.

Part of our routine when we go to Wal-Mart or any place that might sell lawn mowers is for Carter to try them all out. Here he is at Lowe's taking one for a test drive:
Carter is very routine, so once we start something like trying out lawn mowers at a store, we have to do it every time we go. Maybe one day he'll convince Kevin to buy me a riding lawn mower, so my yard can look as good as my neighbor's.

Check me out:
http://500in2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/meet-challegers-natalie.html
(Just ignore the grammatical errors and the really bad picture)

Our night time routine is crazy. To minimize it, we have put some of Carter's books in his bed with him. He reads to his stuffed animals. I love listening to him on the monitor because I can often tell exactly what page he is on of his books. Here are some pictures of him falling asleep reading his firetruck book to "chomp chomp." (his alligator)






Recently, he has been wanting his "Bible stories." He fell asleep one night with his Bible on his chest. It's amazing how angelic he can look!

Out the back of our condo was a marsh. Here it is at high tide. I wish I would have gotten a picture at low tide. The extremes in the tide really amaze me. The beaches here seem very different than the beach in Gulf Shores where we went while growing up. Here are some more pictures of our wonderful trip.
My favorite part (other than sitting in my chair at the water):
We went to barefoot landing that has a wildlife exhibit. Visitors can pay $59 to take a picture with a monkey, baby lion, or baby tiger. There's a great viewing area. One of the photographers walked around with a monkey on his back. (Always makes me think of George Michael...right, mom?) Carter continuously told me, "I want to touch monkey." To which I replied, "I'm not paying that much." The guy let the monkey off his back. He ran by us and grabbed Carter's leg because Carter had it through the fence. He was thrilled by this, but no longer asked to touch the monkey!

We stayed in Cherry Grove just north of Myrtle Beach.
Here is a view of Cherry Grove from our condo:

I actually ran up and down all the streets to keep up with my training. When I returned, Kevin had taken this picture of the gorgeous sunrise:


This is a view of our condo from the beach. It was actually on the second row with its amenities all in a house on the beach:


Our view of the beach:

We took a family trip to the beach for Labor Day weekend. We actually stayed in the exact same condo my friend had rented.

Carter enjoyed taking our chairs:
He absolutely loved running on the beach. His favorite was chasing the birds across the beach.

Splashing in the water with Daddy:

We have really enjoyed our zoo membership. Carter and I met my friend Misty and her son Kaden at the zoo one Saturday morning. The boys had a great time together and behaved very well.

They enjoyed playing in the orangutan statue:
Carter loves the carousel:

Watching the orangutans who were yelling back and forth at each other:

Enjoying lunch before they climbed on the table next to us, closed, and shook the umbrella. It was great to hear another kid say, "Hey dad! Look at those little boys!"

I deemed the day a success when no shoes were kicked off and no tantrums were thrown.

Still trying to play catch up........

Carter loves to wear our shoes. He especially enjoys tromping around the house in Daddy's boots.
I regularly have to reorganize the shoes in my closet as a result of Carter trying them on.

3 kids on a lawn mower. Who knew safety gear could be so entertaining?

Carter had a great time with his cousins. Of course, his showing off for them caused many more problem with misbehavior, but he had a blast:

We had a great lunch with Uncle P and Aunt Cathy. Here's Carter sitting with Uncle P.


Carter with Poppa:
The three guys all dressed alike:

The kids outside the restaurant:

We headed to Louisiana at the beginning of August. We flew directly from Charlotte to Baton Rouge. Here's a blurry picture of Carter and Kevin on the shuttle in Charlotte:

Carter was very excited to ride on an "airpane." Once on it, he looked out the window and continued to ask to ride on an airpane. I don't think he realized he was on it.

We started our trip meeting with family in Baton Rouge. After lunch, we headed over to LSU to check out Mike The Tiger's new home:


After an exciting day, Carter was exhausted and fell asleep on the way to Gammy and Poppa's house:

We took Carter to EdVenture.
He got to drive a firetruck:
Dress like a fireman:
And drive a tractor:

Carter is extremely playful and always wants to be "ha ha funny." We never know what he'll be wearing our hauling on his fire truck. Here is playing with his trains:

Breakfast has been a struggle in our house. Here is where I will earn my "Mother of the Year" award. Yes, that's Chex Mix for breakfast.

We bought a bike seat for my bike. Carter was super excited about wearing his helmet. We don't make it too far on our rides, but they are long enough for him. He enjoys hanging his feet, so they hit mine as I pedal. Here he is helping us put it together: First ride:

I did find a few pictures from our beach trip. Carter woke up very early each morning, so Matthew joined us to watch cartoons in our room. While in there, he also taught Carter how to climb in and out of the pack n play. Carter helping me pack:

We attended the Blythewood Balloon Festival with the hopes of being able to go up in a balloon. That never happened. Every time the balloons began to inflate, the wind would pick up. Carter did enjoy seeing them, and we enjoyed the people watching.