July 4th

Tristan was gone for the 4th of July again this year, but we stilled tried to pack it full of fun!  The annual fireworks display that is done on the 3rd of July was right by our house this year so I was hoping Ethan and I would be able to see it from our yard.  We stayed up watching a movie and around 10 headed out so see if we could see anything.  No luck...now we know for next year!

The next day we got up early and got ready to go down and meet Kelly and Anderson at the parade in Tumwater.  I still remember watching the parade down there with Ethan last summer when I was still pregnant!  I can't believe a year has passed so quickly!  The parade wasn't as great as last year, but luckily there were plenty of cars, trucks, emergency vehicles and tractors!  That's all Ethan needs to be happy!

We headed home after the parade for a much needed nap time and a chance for me to regroup for the evening.  We met a group of friends from church at Barclift Park around 6 to picnic and play.  Ethan must have gone down this slide 100 times--literally!

Carter did an awesome job--especially since it was well past his bedtime.  He just sat in the grass and watched all the big kids play.

We had a good group that came out!

Allisha made awesome cupcakes.  There was lime with strawberry frosting, dark chocolate mint with chocolate ganache filling and orange creamsicle (I hope I got it right).  They were so yummy!!!

Skyler was being a total ham and modeling for me.  I got one of him munching on his watermelon!

I had to put this in here because he was cracking us all up and trying to take pictures.  His aim was pretty good on this one!

Carter still going strong as the night went on!

The fireworks started at 10:15 and we had a little bit of a walk to get to the viewing point.  Luckily, Rich was our hero and went and roped off an area for us around 6 that morning so we had a GREAT spot waiting for us!  Both boys stayed awake for the whole show and were total troopers.  Carter never even cried during the fireworks--which I was sure he would!  We didn't get home until well after 11, so it was definitely a late night!

We had a great 4th and look forward to being able to celebrate with Tristan next year, hopefully!!

Point Defiance Zoo--July 2012

With summer's arrival school got out!  Which means extra play time with our good friends Kelly, Justin and Anderson.  Kelly and I decided to take the boys to the zoo the first week of July.  It was a decent day weather-wise and the trip to Sonic before (and after) was a nice splurge as well!

First stop:  the elephants!

 Anderson and Ethan checking out the sleeping tiger.

 The otters were inside on this day and they were all snuggly in a little dog house.  It was really cute!

 We stopped to watch some people take a ride on the camel.

 The penguins were right by the fence, so it was fun to stand and visit them.

 Carter loved any of the big glass aquarium windows.

 Ethan and Anderson telling Carter about the fish.

 Cute little smirk

 Visiting the sharks

 Lovin' the colorful fish!

 Anderson found this empty sign holder and just went over there on his own and was standing in it, so I had to get a picture!

 E.T., the Walrus

 I tried to get a picture of the boys by this life-sized polar bear, but as you can see, Ethan was less than cooperative!

 Last stop was the little play area, where Ethan found a little nest to snuggle up in.

Everyone was worn out from a fun day with friends!

Random June Fun

There are so many funny moments that I can't get to the camera fast enough for, but I still manage to catch some good ones.  One day Ethan and Carter were just playing in the bathroom.  Ethan was fully dressed in the empty bathtub and Carter was practically naked just itching to get in!  Carter loves the bath tub!

 I don't know what it is about boxes, but Ethan is constantly trying to climb into them!  He is just plain silly!

 I think Carter was propped up like this drinking a bottle while Ethan watched cartoons.  He just looked like such a big boy!

 Ethan saw that the camera was out and wanted to get in on the fun!

 The garden really started booming!  We started harvesting our lettuce and it has been such a nice, fresh treat to go with our meals.

 My dad has strawberry plants that Ethan loves to eat off of.  My dad actually told me the other day he's never eaten any of his strawberries because he saves them for Ethan because he knows how much he loves them...what a dedicated Papa!

 Enjoying his strawberries with breakfast!

 Carter finally got really confident about standing and pulling himself up.  He loves to watch out the window.

 Ethan always wants to hold Carter, which is very cute.  Unfortunately, Carter very rarely wants to be held now that he's so mobile!

 My tomato plan started getting fruit!  These are sweet yellow tomatoes.  They are small like cherry tomatoes.

 The carrots started really sprouting as well!

 Carter is pretty much done with baby food and will eat anything you put in front of him.  The thing I love about this phase:  he can feed himself.  The things I hate about this phase:

 There is always such a huge mess to clean up!

 Carter loves the laundry room and the bathroom.  One day I caught him being devious in the laundry room digging in the clean laundry and playing with the rug.  Just look at that face...he knows he's such a cutie!

 Ethan still loves playing with his cars.  For some reason he likes to take rugs from all over the house and turn them upside down to drive on them.  He has a rug that is meant for driving cars on that has roads and all and he even turns THAT one upside down.  Such a silly boy!!

In case you couldn't tell by all of the pajama pictures, June was a pretty laid back month after all the Father's Day celebrations were over.  We just hung out, enjoyed the pretty weather when we could and played!

Father's Day

On Father's day this little cutie turned 9 months old...I can't believe that he's almost 1!  You can see he got a little sunburned at the airshow the day before...I was a bad mom and didn't use sunscreen.

 Carter is laughing or smiling most of the time these days (far different from his infancy).

• It is rare for him to be fussy or clingy for no reason.  He is starting to have some separation anxiety, but overall he does great.  
• He stands for several seconds on his own and has one tooth that finally broke through.  
• He is loving finger foods and will try anything that we put in front of him.  Thankfully, he doesn't have the same sensitive gag reflex Ethan did.  
• He LOVES Ethan and wants to be in the middle of everything Ethan is doing.  
• He also loves baths.  He will come crawling as fast as he can the minute the bath water is turned on. 
•  His sleeping is still hit and miss, but we are definitely on the good side of things.  He's ready for bed by 7 most nights and usually sleeps until 7 in the morning.  He might wake up once or twice but rarely needs more than a pacifier to go back to sleep.  He still takes 2 naps a day--usually one around 9 and then another around 1 for about and hour or an hour and a half.  Ethan always complains that he wants to play with Carter when I go to put him down.  I'm glad they are good buddies!

 We celebrated our "Super Dads" on Sunday morning before church since we don't meet until 1.  Since things didn't work out to celebrate with my dad on Saturday we had my parents over for brunch on Sunday morning.

 My mom and dad brought some super yummy pastries for us...maple bars are Tristan's favorite so I asked for some as a surprise for him.

 I made a new recipe--this egg ring from Pinterest.  It was actually really good and kept well for leftovers.  I will definitely be keeping this in my recipe box!

 Ethan and Carter before church (sorry about the lighting).  Ethan refused to cooperate and get in the picture so Tristan is pretending to just have one son here.  The boys got the tie he is wearing for him for Father's Day.

 After dinner--beef stroganoff (another of Tristan's favorites)--we went over to the cemetary to visit Tristan's dad's grave with the boys.  I finally snagged a pic of the 3 of them before we left.

 Then we came home and had Key Lime Poke Cake for dessert and an early birthday celebration for Tristan.

It was a full weekend, but it was fun to spend so much time celebrating what a wonderful person and father Tristan is.  I am so grateful for him and all he does to support our family!