Evolution of Carter's hair

When Carter's hair was first long enough to "do", all I could do was a mohawk in the middle of his head. His hair has a little natural curl in it, so it would always curl down. We all thought that he looked like a "who" from "who-ville".











After Daddy gave him his first haircut...I was able to achieve this look:

It's fun to have a brother!

The boys are really starting to have fun playing together! Mason definitely is the instigator in much of the trouble they get into...but this time, it was Carter.

As you can see, Mason did not hesitate to join in once he saw what was happening.

Playing together somewhat nicely.

Ever since he saw an episode of Caillou (and yes, that is the 2nd mention to Caillou in a blog post--we do other things besides watch Caillou around here, I promise!) where they saw dinosaurs at a museum, Mason had been begging me to take him to the 'dinosaur museum'. I looked up the Museum of Nature and Science...and was pleasantly surprised to find out that my military ID will get us in free!

Of course, we made plans to go...and wouldn't you know?...It was a free day to the public that day, as well! So it was pretty crowded...but still fun!

It was fun to watch Carter get so excited when I let him out of the stroller. All he wanted to do is be where Mason was.

Mason getting his picture taken with his long-awaited dinosaur bones (and Carter just hanging out).

Keeping us on our toes

This post is heavy on Carter pictures 'cuz I have a lot of catching up to do-once you see how cute they are, I'm sure that you won't mind one bit! It has been so fun to watch Carter's adorable personality even further develop over the past few months. He has been able to stand on his own since he was 9 months. Since then, he has taken several steps on his own, but is still clinging to tables and furniture most of the time.

• Carter has inherited Mason's love for the broom and they will fight over it frequently.

• And what little boy's day is complete without playing in the cupboards and banging around with a wooden spoon?

• When the boys were both newborns, it seemed like my day revolved around feeding them.

That doesn't change much as they get older, they just are able to take a more active part in the process! Carter thoroughly enjoys his meals, snacks, and desserts.

I found a good deal on blackberries a while back and Carter and Mason loved them. Carter had to eat his only wearing his diaper, though. The first time I tried keeping his pants on...but that didn't work out so well.

He will often resort to trying to eat his toes when he can. :)

• Carter has a really big appetite and will often eat more than Mason. He gets very upset when he wants something to drink and we haven't figured it out quick enough!

• We have two of those Leap Frog fridge toys that play music and these can keep Carter occupied for quite some time.
• He loves dancing and music. He really loves the start theme music to "on demand" for the sprout shows. I have to admit that it is kind of catchy. Once, I thought Carter was asleep and that music came on and he popped right up with the hugest grin on his face.

• Carter is very serious about brushing his teeth. He will carry around his toothbrush for long periods of time. One time, we had lost one of his or Mason's and Mason was brushing his teeth. Carter was pretty much hysterical that he couldn't brush his at the same time.

• And I couldn't close this post without mentioning Carter's love for the toilet brush. Whenever he realizes that the bathroom door is open, he runs (and yes, it is possible to run while crawling), squealing and laughing gleefully towards it.

He heads straight to the far corner and immediately picks up the toilet brush and starts banging it around. I don't know if you can tell, but his expression in this picture is one of pure delight.

• All of his energy does eventually catch up with him. He is such an angel all of the time, but especially when he is sleeping. :)

• We sure love our Carter and are so happy that he is part of our family.
  
  
  
  

You're a Nice Mommy!

It seems almost cliche to say that I'm way behind on posts-but I am! I just had to jot down some of the cute/hilarious things that Mason has been saying lately. To follow are some posts on Carter and also on both of them.

• Around Christmas time, whenever Mason could tell that I was getting a little frustrated or that he was pushing me to my limit, he would get a little pout on his face, and say 'No! You're a NICE mommy!' It always made me stop and think twice about my reactions. It was so cute, I'm pretty sure that he just got nice and mean mixed up...but I like to think that he was trying to remind me that I really am a nice mommy!

• We were on our way to Sunflower Market, and I told Mason that we were going to get some avocados (they were 3 for a dollar, so who could resist?). All through the store, he kept asking when we were going to get the avocados. When we finally got to the display, there 3 other people there picking out avocados from a huge selection. Mason became very worried and said to me "They going to take all the avocados" I told him that no, there were plenty for everyone and that we would definitely get some" He then proceeded to yell at the perfect strangers "Get away, guys!!" The other customers just smiled as I explained to him that we shouldn't yell things like that other people. :)

• Every night, before bed, Mason starts talking about the morning. He always asks me "Me and Carter going to get our clothes on after we wake up?" When he does wake up in the morning, he often says with wonder "It's already day!" Then he always tries to drag me out of bed, with the exception of this morning. It was Sunday and we have early church. When he woke up, I was already dressed and when he saw me, he demanded "No!!! Put your jammy shirt back on!"

• Today, when I dropped Mason off for nursery, we got there before his teachers. It is his ritual to do puzzles when he first gets there, so I was trying to help him get them out as best I could while juggling Carter in my other hand. When Sister Zenger arrived, he turned to me and said simply, "I want you to go now." Haha I had to laugh. I'm glad that he loves nursery.

• For FHE the other night, I adapted our lesson from The Family Home Evening Spot (also in my sidebar). It was about reverence. One of Mason's favorite parts was when I was asking him and Carter about different activities and whether or not we do them at church ie: 'do we run at church?' or 'do we slam doors at church?' or 'do we sing songs at church?'. Mason gets a huge smile on his face and says with a singsongy voice 'Nooooo!' (or yes, as the case may be). We had this lesson a few weeks ago, and he still will just randomly ask me to start the questions. Today, it was near the end of sacrament meeting and we had seats in the cultural hall. Mason was using one of Carter's blankets and trying to spread it out perfectly in the aisle, and Carter would try to crawl over it and ruin his attempts. He finally picked it up, and started to run to the back of the gym. I caught up to him and whispered "Mason, do we run at church?" His eyes got wide and he said "no" and stopped running! Success!

• Another something that he always says is when I am trying to get him to do something or eat something that he doesn't want to he says "playing with blocks really yucky!" or "going to bed really yucky!"
  
• One day, a couple of hours after we had returned from the gym, Mason said "I had a really fun time at the gym!" I asked him what he did and he said matter of factly "no, just chased girls." He has picked up the habit of using the word 'no' the same way most people use 'umm'.

I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of now, but I just wanted to record these ones before I forgot about them. As you can tell, Mason is such a fun boy to be around and we are loving every minute with him!