Father's Day Weekend Part II

Although, Carter wasn't extremely cooperative, I did get some cute pictures:

 Carter also decided he needed to pick the gorilla's nose:

Father's Day Weekend Part I

 I don't think Kevin has been up to Clemson since I was pregnant with Carter.  He decided to make a trip up there on Saturday.  I told Carter we were going to look for Tiger paws, a cave, and a waterfall. 

We started our day with lunch at Pot Belly Deli.  The Home on the Ranch was just as good as I remembered.

 

After we shopped in downtown Clemson.  then, we headed over to Carillon Gardens where Carter had lots of fun ringing the bell :

From there, we headed over the alumni walk:

We treated Carter to his first ice cream cone and headed north for the highlight of the day.  We took Carter to the Stump House Tunnel and Isaqueena Falls.  He has been talking about caves, so we knew he would enjoy it.  With a flashlight, we made it as far as we were allowed to go in the the tunnel.  After, we headed over the "water faucet."  Carter was thrilled to walk on "Thomas's bridge."

 

We headed up to White water falls, but unfortunately, it really started to rain when we got there.

We definitely had a fun day being "those old people" who visit their alma mater.

It's the Little Things

 

(Old picture from the river a few weeks ago)

After dinner tonight, I decided to take Carter with me to take our recycling.  I promised him if he was good, we would drive by the fire station on the way home.  Carter was very sweet and talked with me the whole way there and back.  While there, he picked up three large rocks and told me he wanted to throw them in the river.  After driving by the fire station (the garage door was open with a fire truck inside!), we headed to the lake by our house where he could throw his rocks.  It amazes me the enjoyment he experiences from something so simple.

Obligatory Cute Carter Story

#3 During the same thunderstorm, Carter looked out the window. He told us he saw the "lightman" who is cleaning.

Obligatory Cute Carter Story

#2 When our night time thunderstorm started, Carter ran into the computer room to tell Kevin and me he was afraid.  We told him to tell the thunder, "Go away.  Don't bother me."  At that point, he replied, "I'm not scared.  I'm just afraid."

My New Obsession:

Pinterest

If you havent checked out pinterest, go now!  It's awesome.

I am turning into an organizing monster in my house.  I think Kevin is scared.  In three days:

• I reorganized our linen storage in our closet
• Organized Carter's books
• Bought large ziploc bags to put Carter's toys together
• Moved and reorganized our kitchen junk drawer
• Thrown away anything I didn't think Carter would miss
• Gotten rid of household items we no longer use
• Reorganized my side of the dresser and got rid of lots of jewelry I never wear

Coming up next will be the garage, pantry and refrigerator. 

If I had an unlimited supply of money and a container store, I would be dangerous!

Not only am I finding a wealth of organizing ideas, I'm finding tons of crafts I would love to do.  Pinterest allows one to organize web links into bulletin boards by category.  Kevin wanted me to name mine "S**t I will never do" and "S**t I will spend lots of money on."  Where is his faith in me?

Things out of the realm of my imagination  before I became a mother:

#2  A person could fall on the driveway and nearly bite their tongue off along with busting their lip and scraping every knuckle.  Thanks goodness the bleeding stopped in time to convince me he didn't need stitches.

SUMMER.......

The possibilities are endless and so is my to-do list:

• Finally clean the grout
• Really scrub the laundry room
• Clean and organize the garage
• Sew
• Craft
• Run at least 20 miles each week
• Try out a group class at the gym
• Keep Carter out of school several days to do special activities
• Plan a baby shower for a friend 
• Go to the beach
• Plan and go on a small family vacation

Today was my first day off after a horrible eventful trip to Disney World with 64 6th graders.  Put it this way, we came home with 2 less than we left with.  I'm glad I wasn't the parent who had to drive 16 hours round trip to pick up my child who got in trouble.  The trip couldn't end soon enough. I was very happy to get home to my family.  I was also very happy for Carter to go to school today, so I could finally relax.  I did get a lot of errands run.  Most importantly, I am caught up on all the Real Housewives shows.

Obligatory Cute Carter Story

#1  Apparently Carter decided he wanted to play barber at school.  He would sit his friends in a chair, snap out a cape to cover them, and use a plastic banana to "cut" their hair.  He did this for a few days.

Things out of the realm of my imagination  before I became a mother:

#1  Sitting in the bath tub without glasses or contacts on and Carter shows me his fingers saying, "Look Mommy."  Without hesitation, I go to grab the boogers, quickly realizing it's poop!

I can't believe my little boy is 3!  It sounds so much older than 2.  He is growing up so quickly.   He has been successfully wearing underwear for over week now.  Just ask him, he will be more than happy to show you.  

His vocabulary is expanding:

• When I got home from running, he told me I was disgusting.
• When I threw him on the bed to play, he said, "That was great fun."
• He can tell me he is disappointed in me.
• He showed us the doctor's "stethoscope" at his well visit.
• When we talk about him growing up, he tells me, he is "breaking mommy's heart."

He just never ceases to amaze me and is so much fun.  I always thought I would  mourn the loss of the baby years.  As much as I loved him being a baby, each age is a new and fun 
adventure. 

 We had  Carter's 2nd celebration at the Columbia JCC.  It was the best deal I could find.  They have a wonderful playground, and the kids had a great time playing together.  After they each made a little puppet.  Then, they enjoyed pizza and cake.  Carter was thrilled to finally "go to his birthday."  He has been a little confused with birthday, birthday cake, and birthday party.

Pulling Austin in the wagon

Aaron showing his mom his craft

Carter was thrilled with the toys on the cake

Blowing out his candle

Carter's big birthday gift.

I did not plan to have a birthday party for Carter this year, but somehow, we ended up with two. Here's our pictures from celebration #1 on Carter's actual birthday.

After his buddy Aaron's birthday, Carter began requesting a Yo Gabba Gabba cake. I was finally able to talk him into having a firetruck birthday instead. Right before his birthday, his requests for a Yo Gabba Gabba Brobee cake increased. I wanted my little boy's birthday to be special, so I told Kevin I would figure out how to make one for him. I was extremely impressed with the outcome:

(Anyone who knows me will doubt I made it, but I did!)

We had Carter's classmate Austin over for hot dogs and cake. The boys had a great time playing together:

(It took a lot to get them to share the 4- wheeler. Each had a tantrum involving kicking off shoes)

It was finally time to sing to Carter: and blow out his candles:
The boys each enjoyed an eyeball:

The second half of our trip took us to visit our North Carolina family. Grandma and Grandpa had lots of fun toys for Carter.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to Grandpa's house. He has tons of fun things to play with. Carter road the moped with Grandpa:

and took his cousins for a fun ride on the golf cart.

Carter really enjoyed hanging out with his House/Hagwood cousins.

Our trip wound down with helping Aunt Maranda make an herb garden.

The Ansleys arrived on the 26th, so we continued our Christmas celebration. Zach was very anxious to open his gifts, but we made him wait. He entertained himself by playing with the little kids.

They tried out Gammy's new twin beds:

Played with Easter eggs (what else would be more appropriate at Christmastime?)

And patiently waiting:


Carter enjoyed his Christmas with his Louisiana family and was rather exhausted by all the festivities:

SNOW DAY

Christmas was very busy for us.
We started with a flight from Charlotte to Baton Rouge. Carter was very excited about going on an airplane and didn't understand he had to wait a few days from when we started talking about it. In true Rabalais fashion, we arrived at the airport very early. Once at the airport, we had to wait our turn. It was all very confusing to him.

Once we landed in Baton Rouge, we met Aunt Kathy, Uncle P, and my cousin's daughter Katie for dinner.

We finally headed to Lafayette.

Carter was excited for Christmas, but I don't think he fully grasps the idea. He was able to tell me Santa was going to bring toys, and he wanted a truck. Santa left a few toys on Christmas morning.

Later, we started opening gifts. Carter seemed rather overwhelmed and opted to play with old toys. He told us he wanted to wait for his cousins to arrive to open the rest of his presents.

A little late, but here are pictures from our visit to the pumpkin patch. (Too bad there was a hail storm the previous week and had no pumpkins to pick. We had fin anyway, we met up with our friends Misty and Greg and their son Kaden who is a few months younger than Carter.





While at the pumpkin patch, we were able to ride tractors,go on a hayride, feed goats, play in corn, ride on a giant slide, and play on hay bales. Despite not getting a pumpkin, we had lots of fun.

Carter absolutely loves his Elmo. He has had a little Elmo for less than a year now. He wanted it when we bought a birthday gift for one of his classmates. I picked up the cheapest Elmo I could find for him. Little did I know Elmo would become his favorite comfort item. Elmo has taken medicine with Carter and even has had his teeth brushed. Over the summer, we bought Ernie to be Elmo's companion, but Elmo is still the most loved.

When we went to Atlanta, Elmo went with us, of course. Kevin made sure Elmo was packed in a bag before we left. When we were on the way home, Carter started asking for Elmo. We pulled over and searched the car for it.....no Elmo. We called Gammy and Poppa to see if maybe they had it by mistake.....no Elmo. The only thing we could think of was to stop at a Target and look for a new one.....no Elmo. When we got home, we searched our bags again..... no Elmo. I searched online and ordered one, hoping it was the right one.

I called the hotel the following day and left a message for housekeeping in the hopes they had it. The housekeeper returned my call, and told me he had found it, it was dirty, thought it was a dog toy, and threw it away. To which, I exclaimed, "it was dirty because it was well-loved!" The housekeeper explained he looked for it in the dumpster, found it, but it was too dirty. My dear husband and super dad set out on a search to find the correct replacement. In the meantime, he called the housekeeper back to ask him to mail it anyway. This time, he admitted, he had never found it in the dumpster.

Luckily, Kevin met up with a former coworker at Wal-Mart who said she had just stocked some at Kohl's. The new Elmo came with a see-and-say, but we didn't care at that point. We were afraid Carter would know it wasn't the original, but he wouldn't let go of it. Hopefully, he learned a lesson about not unpacking bags, but I doubt it!

When the ordered Elmo came in, it was the wrong one. I never understood why my parents would desperately help us search for lost items or drive an extra 45 minutes to go back and get my blanket I had forgotten to take to Grandma's house. Now, being a mom and knowing the importance of these comfort items, I realize that's just what parents do.

When Kevin's parents came for Thanksgiving, they brought him one they had found for him. It was the right size, but not the right fuzziness. We now, have a very large tickle-me-Elmo, a medium sized one, and two small ones. That little boy loves Elmo!