Playgroup Halloween Fun

Okay, so I WAS going to do better at blogging this year, but of course I haven't...  I do have a few excuses, it's been a crazy couple of months and I just got finished teaching my month of preschool for the co-op Preston is in which took a lot of time.  We were also in Utah without internet access for almost  a month this summer, and in Hawaii for a week.  Pictures of that to come sometime, I promise.  A few people have given me a hard time for not blogging (including my mom who want's to see pictures), so I figure it's best to start with today.  These pictures are from a few halloween parties we've had the last week.  

The playgroup Halloween party was today.  All the mom's did a great job putting together fun activities, and of course all the kids looked cute in their costumes.  Preston's a firefighter if you can't tell, his hat was shed early on during the party.

Candy toss.

For this activity they had to find the eyeballs in the noodles, I think they were bouncy balls.  Of course Carter just wanted to eat the noodles, and kept eating them... He's the dalmation dog.  Did you guess right?

I moved him away, but he kept going back for more.  Silly kid.  I promise I do feed him. :)

These last two are from our ward "pumpkin party" we had last Friday.  Of course we carved pumpkins, and Preston was determined to help Gabe with his scary faced pumpkin.  I know it's kind of hard to tell, but Carter is also hanging on Gabe's legs.  What can I say, he loves his daddy. :)

Happy Halloween everyone!  We're hoping it won't be TOO rainy when it comes time to trick-or-treat...

Carter's First Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun putting Carter's very first birthday party together.  Or should I say I had a lot of fun...  Gabe did a very good job supervising the boys. :)

We invited just a few of Carters little friends his same age to enjoy the party with him.

and aren't they cute!

We were kinda able to get a picture or two of a few of them together...

As you can see the homemade balloon bouquet was a hit... for Sam anyway!  He had a lot of fun until he got tangled up.  I don't blame him for getting upset about that.

We tried to get into the party spirit, but he didn't seem to be too fond of the hat, even though he looks darn cute.

Then it was time to enjoy the cake!

Preston enjoyed it a little too much... and a little too soon. :)

Carter had his own little cake for the occasion.  I had a photo shoot with him the morning of which is why half of it was already missing by the time the party started.

He started out by slowly examining.

Then he dug right in!  I personally find this next series of pictures rather hilarious...

Watch it fall!

He was sure proud of himself.  You should have seen his shirt pocket, it was filled to the brim with cake!

Sam is only a few months older than Carter and was doing an awesome job with a fork!

On to the presents we went.  By this time Carter was down from his sugar high and ready for a nap, but we still think he had fun, and Preston sure loved helping him!

He's such a little man already!  Happy Birthday Carter!

After the opening of the presents we of course did enjoy spending a little time enjoying them!  Thanks Holly for taking these pictures for me!

To see more of Carter and the oh so fabulous decor and details check out my photography blog, it's too many pictures to put in just one post.  One-year pictures of Carter to come soon!

I can't believe it's been a year!

Carter was born a year ago today, and in some ways it seems as though we've had him with us forever, but in other ways it's amazing to me that we've had him this long.  Time has just flown by, and he has grown up so fast! 

I still remember how small he was when he first came home with us, although he was bigger than his older brother was when he was born.  He was such a sweet baby, and it's a good thing he was after all the trouble he gave me while I was pregnant. :)

Just a year later he is a big, very spunky troublemaker with quite the personality.  He has eight teeth (four more than Preston had) and is walking all over the place.  Some of his favorite things to do are chewing on spoons, climbing stairs, splashing in water (including the dog bowl and toilets), eating the dogs food, playing with Bentley, eating my hair, eating yogurt and cheese, playing with cars, following his big brother around, and wrestling with him, finding microscopic things on the floor to put in his mouth, and being outside.  You'll often find him sleeping with his bear's ear and his left thumb in his mouth, he is a lefty you know... or with my hair and his thumb in his mouth.  I much prefer the first. :)  Although he likes to get into trouble he is still as sweet as can be and loves to snuggle, we're so lucky to have him!  More to come on his adorable (if I say so myself) birthday party, but here is just a sample of his sweet face in the birthday boy hat.

I can't forget to mention that today is also my (big) little brother Kyle's birthday as well.  I was actually talking to him on the phone about ten minutes before Carter was born on his birthday, he was very excited to share his day.  Kyle turned 19 today and will soon be serving an LDS mission in Managua, Nicaragua.  We all know he will be an amazing missionary because of his social skills and love of the gospel!  But we'll miss him!  More to come of him too... eventually. :)

Happy Happy Birthday to both of these spunky boys!

The Thomas Party

Preston's party started off with all the kids playing with the toys.

I had set Preston's train out, but the kids played with just about everything except the train.

Even little girls were playing with the tool set.

Or playing the piano.

Eventually we decided to break out the Thomas coloring pages.

Everybody seemed to enjoy that.

It kept them busy for a very long time.

Then they wanted to hang their work on the fridge to show off to everyone.

It was amazing, it even kept the little ones entertained.

After the excitement of the coloring pages wore off we all ventured out into the backyard for bubble blowing.

Britni was gracious enough to help me out with that.  She's pretty much the best bubble blower ever.  Seriously.

All the kids had a great time chasing the bubbles.

It's too bad it didn't catch Preston's attention for that long.

Or anyone else for that matter.  Something new caught their attention...

a little frog that was hiding out in the grass.

They shared well

and each took a turn holding it.

Except for Preston.  He was too excited about filling his dump truck up with rocks.

Tesila was nice enough to keep him company.  Oh, and do you like how our kids aren't wearing any shoes?  Nice, huh?

Then of course another distraction came along.

The girls absolutely ADORE Bentley!

If you couldn't tell?

A little more playing in the grass happened

Then we decided to play a game.

Who knew "Red Light Green Light" would be so intriguing!  They didn't even try to win, it was funny.

We finally made our way back in the house for a story about trains.

At least it caught the attention of the older kids.

But the minute we said the word "cake" their attention span was gone.  Poor Preston had been waiting to eat his Thomas cake since the night before.

Unfortunately when it was time to blow out the candles he wasn't quite sure what to do.

But when it came to eating the cake, they all knew what to do!  Look at little Sawyer digging right in.  I had to give him an extra helping of frosting on top before I even got my cake! ;)

It turns out having them sit on blankets was a good idea.  To clean up all I had to do was take them outside and shake them... then wash them of course, but that's easier than mopping. ;)

Preston was sooo happy!

He just loves making a mess of himself.

What a silly boy!?

Of course after filling the kids with sugar they were ready to go once again so Ramsay kept them all entertained by blowing up balloons and then letting the air out so they would fly around the room over and over again.

Until finally Preston noticed the little stack of presents in the corner.  Everyone was more than happy to help him open them

and play with them of course.

While the adults chatted nearby

and passed the time by bouncing balloons in the air.

Don't worry, little Mateo didn't peep almost the entire time.

Poor Carter on the other hand was having a rough morning.  We were so lucky to have my mom there to help out!  At least he got in the Thomas spirit and fell right to sleep on Preston's new blanket after all the commotion was over.

After Carter woke up I wanted a picture of both boys in their train "gear."  They weren't too sure about it at first.

I wasn't suprised that Preston would be more interested in his train than getting his picture taken.

But finally I got one kind of decent one.  At least they were both looking toward the camera.  Oh, and isn't the Costco merchandise in the background lovely?

If you couldn't tell, everyone had fun!  Even if they were tired...