Tim's 34th Birthday

We celebrated Tim's birthday by all wearing Hawkeye apparal. Nothing says, "I love you dad!!" like dressing up in Black and Gold!! Happy Birthday hon:)

Carter Playing the "Drums"

We will support Carter in whatever musical interest he pursues...we just hope that it isn't the drums:)

Milestone Series-Cooper Learning to Crawl I

Our little guy is starting to move!! I looked back at Carter's videos from when he started to crawl and they are identical:) Both start in the beached whale position, move to a push-up and then flop forward! Life as we know it is over....again.

Sunday School

Carter graduated this week from the nursery to Sunday school at church. It is a couple months before he was supposed to transition but they asked if we would bump him up to even out the rooms. He came home with a brown bag of different things he did in the class. One was a sheet that parents are supposed to go through with the kids. I know this is all a bit advanced for him but thought I would try anyways. The first question was, "who made Adam and Eve?" I asked Carter and he gave me a blank stare. I thought I would help him out and said, "Did God make Adam and Eve?". He looked at me and said, "NO! Uncle Mike made Adam and Eve!". Hmmmm, we have a ways to go!

Cuddles

Carter woke up this morning as usual, around 7:30. Now normally I can't complain at all about his wake up time. I know many of my friends battle with a toddler waking up at 5:00 and I have great empathy for them. But this morning I was particularly tired as Cooper was up in the middle of the night for a while. So I went into Carter's room when I heard him stirring and asked if he would like to get some milk and come back to bed with me (Tim was already gone for the day). To my surprise, Carter seemed excited about it and even cuddled with me for 20 minutes. That is right, TWENTY MINUTES!! I will remember this day forever:)

"Sharing"

Me: "Hey Carter, do you want to play a game?"
Carter: "Yeah girrrrrl!"
Me: "How about we get all your stuffed animals out and you and Cooper can share them?"
Carter: "OK!"
Me: "Which one do you want to give to Cooper?"


...Carter hands Cooper the polar bear...
Me: "And which one do you want to pick for yourself?"

...and Carter picked all the rest for himself! I guess we are still learning how to share:)

Cooper didn't seem to mind at all though!

Mike's Visit

A couple of months ago we saw that our church had scheduled a quarterly baby dedication for October 17th. We were planning to have Cooper dedicated so Mike had made plans to come up. Last minute (Friday afternoon) we found out the date had been rescheduled to October 31st :(. Mike still decided to make the long trip and we had a great time hanging out with him.

Guess Who? Part 5

I was taking pictures today and thought that Cooper looked a lot like Carter again! Can you tell which one is Cooper??

Carter in the Leaves

Just a quick video of Carter enjoying the fall leaves!

Playing with Everette

Just about every week we make plans with the Kellings (Megan, Everette and Colt). Everette is a couple of months older than Carter and Colt is a couple of months younger than Cooper. They boys play great together (most of the time:)) and I'm sure Cooper and Colt will bond one of these months!

I Love Fall!!!

Experiencing fall with a joyful toddler is such an amazing thing!


Carter loves to help me rake and bag leaves...

He filled up a pumpkin bag with leaves and carries it around or waves to it if we are inside:)

Cooper really enjoys a good fall day as well...

Unfortunately for him, it is mostly experienced from his stroller!



Did I mention we love playing in the leaves?? Grand Forks has the sweet deal where you just rake them to the curb and they take them away periodically. We have a massive pile out front that is perfect for jumping, sitting and of course taking pictures!!

Bev's 60th Birthday-Spark Cabin

Imagine being in northern Wisconsin during the peak of fall AND having the weather be in the high 70s!!! What an unbelievably beautiful weekend at the Spark cabin to celebrate Bev's 60th birthday. Mike, Sherah and Whipper were there as well so we had a rare weekend with the whole Spark family.


Grandpa Steve took Carter out on the jet ski...may I remind you that it was October 9th when this picture was taken:)

Playing Sesame Street cards on the deck...always a favorite game. He will lay out all the cards and name the people over and over again:)

Carter found Bev's bear and had lots of fun wrestling and riding it!

This picture took a whole lot more effort to coordinate than you can imagine:) Hopefully it will work for the Spark Christmas card!!

Carter at 2 Years + 2 Months!

He's got personality!!!!!!!!
Here are a couple tidbits from the past month:
-Carter is obsessed with his blue blanket. I'm thinking I need to buy a back up because it is a nightmare when I need to wash it:)
-He loves dipping food in things so if we have hummus or ranch on hand, we can always get him to eat some veggies!
-His favorite book right now is "I Love You Forever" along with his Sesame Street books. We read/sing that book almost every night...it is really sweet.
-When Carter gets in trouble he will often look me in the eyes and start singing a really sweet song...this makes disciplining very difficult which I'm sure he realizes.
-Whenever he needs a diaper change he says, "change a poopy diaper change". Not sure why...most of the time it's not even poopy!
-Whenever I suggest going downstairs he says, "Down, down, down, plop", which is from the book, "Are You My Mother?".
Some fun expressions lately:
-"Oh my goodness!"
-"Wow, those are cute!"....referring to most anything (books, toys, etc.)
-"Wow, it's pretty outside!"
-"It's delicious!"

Fall Retreat

Carter loves college students and college students love Carter:)

Carter LOVED being at Fall Retreat this year...people EVERYWHERE!! I brought him into the church where the meetings were held because I thought he would enjoy the worship songs. I knew we would have to leave afterward but wanted to try it. After the first song, there was a pause of silence. Carter yelled out, "WOW!!" Everybody giggled a little. Then he said, "That was a GREAT song!!" The room erupted in laughter and I left immediately with the boys:) At least he liked it!

Guess Who? Part 4

Well this month the boys look less alike than every before. Cooper eats quite a bit more than Carter and it shows in his face!! I'm sure he won't appreciate that if he ever reads this one day:)

Red Wagon

Our dear friends Laura and Gerald gave us their Radio Flyer wagon as their kids have outgrown it. The boys LOVE IT!! We take walks and go to the park in it. The only problem is that when I'm pulling them around I can't watch them. I turned around yesterday and found Carter feeding Cooper animal crackers:) Super sweet but also a huge choking hazard!

Cooper is 8 months old!

Super Dooper Cooper! What an easy, relaxed, delightful baby you are:)
Here are a couple tidbits:
-Boy does he love to eat! He isn't the biggest fan of nursing anymore but put solids in front of him and he will eat endlessly.
-He has a very strong grip and constantly pulls my hair, neck, or whatever he can grab...ouch!
-He loves being outside. We will just put him in the wagon or stroller while running around with Carter and he is so content to just watch and chill outside. Sometimes he has been really fussy but the minute we get outside he is all smiles. I'm sure this will change once he feels a ND winter!!
-He seems to prefer the exersaucer over the johnny jumper.

Why Not?

Why not wear the same shoes as your two year old?

Why not put stickers on your forehead?

Why not suck on mom's big toe?