Finally...a "Warm" Winter Day

We got bundled up an adventured outside yesterday. I think it was about 20 degrees but it felt like 50!!

Cooper in his gear! He gets quite frustrated that he can't move as freely:)

A winter wagon ride!

As you can tell, they LOVED it!!

Bath Time Fun

Carter is LOVING that Cooper can finally join him in the bath tub!

Cooper tries to copy everything Carter does. When Carter splashes, Cooper splashes. When Carter kneels, Cooper kneels...it is quite adorable!

I can't tell you how many times a day I say, "Carter, get off your brother".

Good times:)

Isn't that the sweetest face?!

Stir Crazy & Stuck Indoors

The chilly North Dakota winter is catching up with us and we are all going a little bit stir crazy and tired of being inside. I'm running out of creative ideas. So far this week...

We had a hat party...

A scarf party...

A drool party...

Went to the beach...

Played with some new toys...

And took a spin around the house in the laundry basket. Cooper seemed to enjoy it more than his face is expressing!! The boys all-time favorite activity though is wrestling. I will have to get some video footage because it is quite hilarious!!
Spring, please come soon:)

Edible Play Doh

A good friend of ours recently introduced us to edible play doh. I was skeptical at first, but it has become one of Carter's favorite activities!

First you mix equal parts of honey, peanut butter and flour.

Then the fun begins...

Eating...

And building snowmen!

Carter's Favorite Songs

Carter loves to sing! He definitely has his "go to" songs-Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday, Jesus Loves Me, and his new favorite, My God is So Big.
Here is a sample:

Teething Baby

Cooper has four teeth coming in right now...ouch!


But those teething biscuits taste sooo good!

Our Mexico Vacation

We have wanted to take a vacation for over 2 years now and finally were able to get away. Both of our parents graciously agreed to help watch our crazy boys.

Happy to be in warm weather and get some quality time together!

Checking out the resort


Our mini golf tournament ended in a tie. So did tennis. But Tim schooled me in cards:)

For every "nice" picture there are about 10 others like this!

It was so good to get away but we were so anxious to get home and see our kids!

Carter is 2 Years + 5 Months!

A couple fun things from this past month:
-I'm on the floor playing with Cooper and Carter hops on my back. Then he says, "I'm going to ride you mom, ride you to the library!"
-After returning from a trip he kept saying, "It is SO GOOD to be back home!"
-He often would say the phrase, "All by myself". He is definitely growing in independence:)
-Carter asked me for a little sister one day. Really?
-He also watched a couple of episodes of Dora the Explorer with Hadley and it became he favorite show for about 3 weeks. Tim got him out of that rut:)
-Making dinner one night and Zepplin started playing on the ipod. Carter said, "Ooooh I like it. It sounds just like Barney!"
-While watching Toy Story 3 with Carter I started to tear up. I looked over and saw his hand go up to his face. I thought we were sharing a moment...then he picked his nose!
-I tried to prepare Carter for Christmas so we'd sing Happy Birthday to Jesus at random times throughout the day. He normally would tag on a "and Big Bird" or some other Sesame Street character.

Cooper is 11 Months Old!

Cooper is such an active little guy! He is always on the go and if something gets in his way, he will just crawl right over it. He has conquered the stairs, both up and down although he is still a bit shaky. He is eating a lot more solids these days-string cheese, green beans, banana, hot dog, etc. I can't believe he turns ONE next month!! Also, this past month he decided to keep us up 4 out of the 5 nights at TCX for about 2 hours each night:( Not sure why...the day we left the hotel he went right back to sleeping through the night. Thank you Coops!!

Christmas with the Sparks

We spent the second half of our Christmas in Stillwater...

The boys love bonding with Grampy and Mimi

Carter got excited about ALL of his gifts. The grands really spoil our boys!

Carter is still into Sesame Street. Mimi even wrapped his gifts in Sesame paper which was a hit!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Sherah got Carter a Spider Man costume. Tim tried it on right in front of Carter but it still scared him a little bit:)

And even at 2 1/2 years old, the wrapping paper is still really fun!

Christmas with the Carrolls

We celebrated the first half of Christmas in Edina...

Cooper had a great time climbing over the gifts!

Carter was very excited about his new Elmo CD!

I even got a little cuddle time with Sawyer:)

And Carter got some good reading time with Papa:)

Carter is 2 Years + 4 Months!

If I could pick one word for Carter this month it would be SWEET! He has been so good with Cooper and really is bonding with him. He is just saying the most heart-warming things too. Here are some examples:

-"I love spending time with you dad!"
-"I love when you read to me mom!"
-"Thank you for this food. It's really tasty!"
-"I love you so much Cooper John"
...Wow! That is all I can say:)


Cooper gravitates towards Carter and although sometimes he gets in the way, Carter usually welcomes him with a hug!

Here he is helping Cooper with his bottle. These pictures are pre-haircut:)

He is pretty proud of being such a big help!

It has been pretty chilly outside but Carter loves playing in the snow.

Carter has also shown us his organizational skills this month! He often times will sort the food we give him for snacks or meals...Oh boy, I don't know where he gets that from!!