Dancing with Dad

One of Carter's new favorite things to do is clap and "dance" to music. Tim was encouraging him the other day by clapping and dancing himself. It got Carter all excited and as he ran around clapping he had a slight encounter with the couch:) It didn't seem to slow him down much though!

East Asia Hat

Tim brought home lots of gifts for Carter from East Asia! A police car that lights up, a stuffed camel, a panda bear, and a cute little outfit. Carter also got this hat from our dear friends Britta and Steven that live in EA. Perfect for our little boy that loves to play the "hat game".

Here He Comes!!

Wow does Carter keep us on our toes! He is so active and energetic that most days I'm chasing him around so much I forget that I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant!!

He has learning some news words in the past couple of weeks as well:

Hot and cold-if his eggs are too hot he lets us know. When we go outside he normally says, "Cold...brrrrrrrrrrrr". It's pretty cute!

Blanket-it sounds like he is saying "beta" but we know what he means

Applesauce

Diaper

Aflac-really random but some of our friends have a toy duck and when you squeeze it, it says "Aaaaaflac". Carter got a kick out of it and has been repeating it for days:)

And one more cute picture of my blue-eyed boys!!

Bedtime Fun

Some nights are more difficult than others but normally Carter goes to bed very easily. This video kind of sums it up. He goes from spazzing out to saying "nigh nigh" to laying down in about 2 minutes:)

Bonding with Grandpa Steve

Grandpa Steve came to town last weekend to deliver the entertainment center that he built for us (see below). It was such a blessing to have him with us for a couple of days. He came up with all sorts of games to play with Carter and had him laughing all weekend. I posted a little video of some of their bonding moments. I am bummed that I didn't get it on video but at one point Grandpa had Carter on his back and was crawling around the living room....I think that was the highlight of Carter's life thus far!! Good times:)

Mo

Tim picked Carter up at the nursery the other day and said, "Are you ready Carter?".

One of the young girls working in the nursery said to Tim, "His name is Carter? I thought it was Mo".

Apparently Carter was really thirsty and kept saying "Mo" all morning (which to him means milk please) even when they would ask, "What is your name?"!!!!

Catching Up

Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks...


It took 30 minutes to get him bundled up to play in the snow and he lasted 5 minutes once we got out into the cold!!

He loves to wrestle and play rough but it is so sweet when he snuggles!

Carter still loves to read and will pull his books down daily but more often than not he says "buh, buh" which means "read me a book please"!

Unfortunately one of his other favorite things is to watch his Einstein or Baby Praise DVDs...it's so hard to resisit when he says "please" and looks at me with those adorable eyes! It does settle him right down though which is nice once a day:)

Fun with Friends over Thanksgiving

When Tim was in East Asia over Thanksgiving break, Carter and I were able to see some great friends. First we spent a morning with Noelle and Stacy, two of my dear friends from college. They each have two kids and Carter LOVED playing with all of them.



A couple of days later we headed south to Blooming Prairie, MN to see another dear college friend of mine, Mandy (and her sweet baby Zoe). Carter kept trying to pat Zoe's head and was a bit aggressive but Zoe didn't seem to mind:)

Boom and some new words

I'm am so far behind on posts! Carter has been changing quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. His vocabulary continues to grow and he likes to say "boom" when he pounds it...I think his dad taught him that one:)



Here are a couple of his other new words:
Bath
Poop-sometimes he will let me know right when he gets done...it's pretty funny!
Camel-Tim brought him home a camel from East Asia that he loves...pretty random word to learn otherwise:)
Block and Cup-Two of his favorite toys
And my two favorites-Help and Please!

Musical Family

When we were in Edina over Thanksgiving week Carter got some good time around my musical family. He LOVED playing on Nana's piano (alone or with one of us to help). Papa also helped him strum a bit on the guitar. He has a signature dance move (as seen in the video) that he busts out more and more these days!! Here are a couple pics and a fun video:)

Oh the Joy of Life!!

Being that our staff team is just Tim, Tammy and myself this year, our staff meetings are a bit more laid back. Often times Carter is running around the room before naptime and we just kind of make it work:)
Here is a clip from one particular staff meeting while we were on a quick break. Carter sure does keep us entertained!!

Sqeeky Shoes

Carter received these shoes as a gift when he was born. He finally fit into them, right about the time he was learning to walk. I'm not sure if he gets that he is the one making all the noise but he seems to like them:) Some days I think they are cute and other days they drive me crazy!!

East Asia

Tim left this morning for East Asia. He is leading a team of 7 people on a Campus Crusade for Christ Vision Trip to one of UND's partnership cities. I was originally going to make the trip with him but because of the risks involved in being pregnant, we decided that I would stay back with Carter. Carter and I will both miss him SO MUCH! Carter's favorite word this week is "DAAAAAD!!". He says it with so much joy it is just adorable!
Here is a little video of my two boys enjoying each other:)

My Favorite Month

Ever since Carter has been born I think that every new month is my favorite month:) The past month (14-15 months) is no different. In that time Carter has gone from cautiously taking a couple of steps at a time to being a full-time walker! His vocabulary continues to increase as well. Here are some of his new words:

"Mo" = Milk
"Mo" = More...tricky with 2 of the same words but we can normally interpret!
"Ahhhh Done" = all done
"Boom" = pound it (he stick out his fist and wants you to give him knucks:))
"Ssssssssshock" = sock
"Sssssssshoe" = shoe...he loves to emphasize those s's
"Cah" = car
"Dah" = dog
"Cup" = his stackable bathtub cups
"Buh" = bear

I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting and new ones all the time!!
Here are some fun pics from our Halloween weekend in the Cities:



We took Carter to the mall and let him run around. He loved it!! So much freedom:)

Oh How the Years, Months and Weeks go by!!

Tim is 33,
Carter is 15 months,
And Baby #2 is 25 weeks old!

Hat

One of Carter's new words this week is hat. He is adorable when he says it too...the "h" is silent and the "t" is overemphasized!!

So cute:) Anyways, we have a bin full of winter hats that we pulled out for him to play with. He loves putting them on himself, Tim or me and then pulling them right off...all the while saying "hat" over and over again. It's the new hat game-good times for all!

Our Son, The Spaz!

Oh, to be young and full of energy!! Life with Carter is always an adventure and he is always making us laugh:) This video goes along with some others below (Bathtime Fun and Screen Door).
He has started letting us know when he is tired by saying "night night". Otherwise, we'd never know!!

Learning to Talk

What a big month for Carter...new steps, new words, new adventures! 14 months is such a fun age!!
Here is a peek at his growing vocabulary:

Learning to Walk

Carter is a little walkin' man! The video with the shopping cart is two weeks old and the other video is a week old. We are at Fall Retreat this weekend and he is walking all the way across the room! He still is quite wobbly but oh so adorable:)

Screen Door

This video belongs in a group called "The Spaz Series"...you'll see why in a minute:)
Every day is an adventure with this little guy!

Bathtime Fun

Warning! This video contains one little naked Carty Man in the tub:) He is such a spaz and I just had to show you what bath time is like. Needless to say he had fun and I was soaked!
Also needless to say, some day he is not going to like that I posted this video!!

Carter Loving Life

There aren't many things that Carter doesn't enjoy these days. Some of his favorites including reading and rides in the stroller...

...playing with mom's cell phone...

...hanging out with dad...

...and as you can tell he LOVES to climb up those stairs. (And he's getting really good at going back down too)

Nana's Visit

My mom (oh sorry...Carter's Nana) came to town last weekend and we had such a great time!

As you can tell, so did she:)

Thanks mom for watching Carter so we could go on a date, for the great meal, and coming all the way to GF to get time with us!

Baby Update

We are excited to announce that we are having another boy!! We got an ultrasound last week at 20 weeks and he looks healthy and active. It was amazing how much he was moving. Tim kept saying things like..."Oh my, are we going to have our hands full!!"

Here is an inside and out look at baby #2 :) Praise the Lord, the giver of life!

Reading with Carter

Carter loves books! This has become his new routine...

Step 1: Tear all the books off the bookshelf

Step 2: Sit on top of the pile

Step 3: Flip through all the books and make very cute noises:)

What a fun little boy!!

My Whole Life!

Here is a video celebrating Carter's 1st year. It's a bit long so hang in there:)

Carter's First Year
Starring: Carter and his friends
Music by: Shane Barnard, Ray LaMontagne, Rusted Root, Five for Fighting
Poetry Reading by: Nana Carroll
Created by: Mom

Carter's 1st Year from Casey Spark on Vimeo.

Mike and Sherah's Wedding

Tim's brother Mike got married this past weekend in the Cities. We had such a fun time celebrating with them! Carter even sported a suit for the occassion:) Congrats Mike and Sherah!!

Carter's 1st Birthday

This post is a little bit overdue...

Carter turned 1 earlier this month! Papa and Nana came to town and we decided to just keep it low key. He got some fun new toys and of course he loved the wrapping paper and boxes better than any of the gifts....so it goes with a one year old:)

12 Months of Carter

Carter turned 1 this month! What a fun year it has been. Here is peek of the past 12 months...