Carter's Birthday Party

Since Tristan was gone for Carter's actual birthday we decided to do a birthday gathering for Carter once he returned home.  We chose a Sunday because that is what typically works best for our families, but that also meant having to squeeze it in after church got out at 4:00!  Fortunately, it stays light late in September.  The weather was still pretty decent and we didn't get chilly until after the sun went down.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs and just let the kids play!

The sandbox is always a fave for Carter!

 Birthday boy eating his dinner

 Opening gifts.  At first Carter just watched what I was doing...

 then he decided to get in on the action!

 Time for cake!

 Who cries over cake?  It's just a thing for my one-year-olds.  Ethan wasn't impressed either.

 Showing him how to blow out the candles

 Digging in!  This was right before he threw that huge piece in his hand!

 Trying to show him what he's missing out on

 No, mom, I don't want cake!  Seriously?!

 Yummy Costco cake for the rest of us!

One year has seemed to come so quickly.  I was so grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate Carter with our family.  We are grateful for those who came and let our little man know how special is to all of us!!

Carter's First Birthday

I can't believe our little man is 1 already!  Unfortunately, Tristan had to work for Carter's birthday so we planned a get together for when he was home.  On the day of Carter's birthday I decided to take the boys to the zoo.  I got a few girlfriends together and we headed up to Point Defiance Zoo.  I wasn't able to get many pictures since it was just me with the two boys...I was kind of running all over the place!  But I did manage to get a few of the birthday boy.

He loved playing at the playground area of the zoo!

 Love the intensity in his face as he's playing!

 He loved running through these plastic flaps.  It was cracking me up!

 In and out...in and out....

 When we got home Grandma Bernard came by for a visit and so did Grandpa and Grandma Walker.  My parents got him an actual sandbox to replace the kiddie pool sandbox that was cracked and broken after a long, hard summer of playing.  This will be nice since it has a lid.  I was done with sand for the summer so I decided to just put a little water in it and let them play.  It was fun for a few days and then it was time to clean it out, move it out to the yard and close it up for the winter.  I know it will be well loved when spring weather hits again!

September Silliness

Popcorn is a favorite snack around here--especially for the boys.  Carter had been trying so hard to get ahold of some everytime we had some.  Finally I just gave in even though he wasn't really supposed to have it yet.  As you can see, he enjoyed it a lot!

 Yum!

 One day we had apple smiles for a snack

 I started teaching Ethan how to use scissors and glue.  He loves it.  I think it makes him feel like a big boy!

 Doing some apple stamping

 For some reason, baskets and empty boxes are a favorite toy in our house.  Carter is constantly trying to climb into them no matter how small they are!

 Two boys in a basket!

 Later that morning I found them in my room rolling around in my DIRTY laundry.  What weirdos!

 We finally pulled up the last of our carrots.  Ethan loves, loves, loves carrots.  Carter wants to, but just doesn't have enough teeth yet!

 I love how they are looking at each other in this one!

 Ethan never really got into swings.  He still doesn't like them.  Carter, on the other hand, loves to swing!

 One night we decided to roast marshmallows in the back yard.  Here's Ethan, all ready to roast his first marshmallow!

 Getting it toasty brown!

 A marshmallow for each of us!

 Trying his first S'more...later he ditched it and just started eating the chocolate pieces.  That boy LOVES chocolate.

 Carter's first S'more

 As you can see, he was diggin' it!

 Shoving more in his mouth

 Apparently he was playing in the grass, too, because the grass was stuck to the marshmallow on his face!  That kid is so crazy!

I just love our silly boys!  There is no shortage on entertainment around here, that's for sure!

Tacoma Splash Park

Rich and Allisha have been talking about these awesome splash parks up in Tacoma and I had really been wanting to go to one.  One weekend while Tristan was gone I tagged along when they headed up to one and I'm so glad we did!  It was a great little park and the kids had a great time!

A picture of the water features

All the boys "getting their feet wet"

Carter loved watching the water pour out of this one.

Ethan having SO much fun

The other great thing was that there was a perfect little kid playground there as well.  Carter was more drawn to that than the water park!

Carter and Dylan

Wheeee!

Climbing the stairs

Allisha was Ethan's favorite playmate.  He loved it when she would swing him through the water.

Trying out the water gun

Carter crawling over the bridge

There was also a bigger kid playground on the other side, but we never played over there.  In the background you can also see part of the field.  It's actually a huge, grass field with lots of space to run and play.  This park had a little bit of everything!

That's Ethan in the orange and that little girl next to him was his little friend he made.  He always ends up making random friends when we go places--it's really cute.  She was quite a bit older than him, but they followed each other around and talked and played for quite a while!

Apparently this is one of several parks like this in the Tacoma area.  We will definitely be exploring more of them next summer!