A Day in the Life of the Longs

Birthday Boy!

2011-02-18T11:41:00.001-08:00

Can we just pretend like I didn't just skip Christmas, New Years, and all of January? I just needed a break from blogging. But I am back now because things must be said:

Today my little man is four. For some reason this feels like a much bigger deal than three. He is not a toddler any more, he is a boy! I love him more each day. This last year was probably the hardest year I have had in parenting to date. It was full of sin…mine and his…frustrations….mine and his… and lots of prayer. We have seen each other for what we are…we are both sinners in need of Jesus grace. And I love Carter more because of it. I am beginning to see a glimpses of change in him. All the credit goes to Jesus who continues to work in spite of my sin and failure. He is growing into such a thoughtful boy. He praises me graciously for the “lovely dinner” I cooked. He loves to be a helper and thrives on responsibility. He is always concerned for his sister’s safety when we are out and about (as she tears off down the sidewalk with abandon). He is so intelligent. We have been going through the Story of God for children. It asks a lot of questions after the story and he can usually answer the questions with a good amount of detail. For example after talking about the story of Noah he asked me, “Why didn’t God just take away the bad people and make good ones?” A pretty theological question for a four year old I thought. He loves to play with his stuffed animals, playing rescue, jungle, and zoo. He also loves trucks and cars and trains. He is the man with the plan and always has a game to be played.

I am so thankful for my son. He is a treasure from God. I love him so much!

Fall, Thanksgiving, and a Birthday

2010-12-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

We are going way back. Back to the fall....which was really like three weeks ago. Three days ago it was still in the 60's. The south does not know how to do winter. But autumn...that it does beautifully. It really was gorgeous and if you like wearing shorts in November it is the place to be! Below are some pictures of a little hike we did to soak in some of the fall colors that the pictures fail to do justice.

Carter insisted on wearing his "pack-pack". (He only still calls it that because I still call it that:) He seemed like such a big boy on the hike. He walked the whole way, crawling up rocks and jumping off, throwing rocks, and smacking things with sticks....just like a boy! He is growing up.

Here is a little video from our hike. My two favorite parts: the way Piper walks and that fact that Carter has no idea why he is banging on things with a stick. My two least favorite parts: the way I video taped it sideways and the fact that I do not know how to fix it.

Thanksgiving we spent with our sweet friends the Conrads and Morgans. We cooked and ate way to much food. It was so fun. I am so thankful for friends who feel like family. What a blessing the family of God has been to us this past year!

We also just celebrated my 26th birthday! No, I don't feeling any older because I never can remember how old I even am so I lack a point of reference. Perhaps this in and of itself proof of my aging brain (or the fact that I have two small brain-power absorbing children).

My birthday wish was to go on a date with my husband. My sweet friend Melissa granted me this wish and watched our kids. Andy took me out to dinner and shopping and showered me with gifts. Then on Sunday we had friends over to eat cake with us! It was a wonderful weekend!

Failed cake=yummy chocolate trifle

Now, I am getting ready for Christmas which begins as soon as we land in Boise on the 13th of December! We will be there for three weeks! I am soooo excited! So, dear blog readers (all three of you), I want you to prepare yourself for a month of silence because I will be too busy having fun with family, playing in the snow, and eating very good food to blog.

Halloween

2010-11-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

We had a fun time on Halloween. We went over to our friend's the Rigney's and helped them hand out candy. The kids and (oddly enough me as well) went trick-or-treating for the first time in their neighborhood. Carter really hates to be the center of attention and so was very unhappy about dressing up. "What if they see me Mom!?" He quickly realized that any small embarrassment on his part was well worth it. All he had to do was wear fire jacket and hat and ring a doorbell and people would come out and hand him candy!!! After that there was no stopping the boy. Of course his sister needed no coaxing to put on her fluffy puppy outfit. She does not mind being the center of attention at all. :)

Mouse traps

2010-10-29T19:53:00.001-07:00

The other day at dinner Andy and I were having a discussion about a friends mouse problem. Carter hates to be left out of the conversation. And as it so happened he had a lot of original ideas on catching mice. When I started recording he had been going for about ten minutes already. Please excuse Piper Rose's excessive noise...what can we do, that is the way it is around here?!

Please enjoy the following video of our future engineer:

September and October

2010-10-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

September sure flew by. We had our wonderful friends from Seattle, the McFarlanes, come and stay with us at the end of September. It was so great to spend time with them and see their kiddos, whom we haven't seen in a year! After three days in a tiny apartment with 4 kids under 3.5 I am happy to report we still love each other and would do it again in a heartbeat. The only thing that did suffer was my picture taking, most of which turned out like this:

I am really disappointed that I did not get one decent picture. (Really, how is that possible?!) This picture was pretty cute because Carter was so sure that he was really helping Della by laying beside her. Despite the lack of pictures to prove it we really did have a great time with our friends, although we could not persuade them to move to Alabama. Even sweet tea could not convince them.

We took the kids to their first parade. They were astonished! "Mom, they are throwing candy at us!". It was pretty much a dream come true!

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch, which is one of my favorite fall activities. Although it did not feel like fall (90 degrees just isn't right in October) we had a wonderful time. We went with our sweet friends the Robinsons.

Piper Rose's loved this bunny! She was absolutely enthralled.

Just waiting for their tractor ride...

(Carter was having a hard time with the sun in his eyes.)

Our trip to Boise

2010-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I am finally updating our blog. We did not have Internet for awhile, so that put a hold on my blogging.The first week August we made the long trip home to see our family and to meet our new little niece, Avery Grace.

Here are the kids excitedly waiting to board the plane. They did surprisingly well on the plane. It may have something to do with the enormous amount of snacks that I packed, I don't know.

After our visit Carter said, "I have a lot of grandpas and grandmas. But I like them. They are nice." They kids were thoroughly spoiled by all the grandparents.

Fun in the park with Granny:

Uncle Jeff:

Grandma Long and Piper:

And here is the star of the show!!! Isn't she precious?!

Piper Rose absolutely loves Avery. If you ask her anything about Avery, she will cock her head to one side and say, "Avery....cute...".

Buddy Boy was equally smitten and would periodically stop playing to run over and kiss his little cousin. He also allowed Avery to hold Monkey...which is really the most sincere gesture of love and comfort he can extend.

Andy had a conference he went to straight from Boise, so the kids and I stayed an extra week. But of course it is never longing enough. Here were some highlights or our last week...

Enjoying some sprinklers:

Papa took Carter to the Fire Department! Carter wanted to wear all his gear because the "fire man will be so proud of me".

Papa and Nana bought him his first bike.

Fishing:

Auntie Bre-bre painting Rosie's toes for the first time! She was so happy about it. She would just periodically look down at her feet and smile and say, "Pink toes!"

In which Nana and Papa come and we celebrate the 4th of July

2010-07-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

It was soooo wonderful to see my family...we have waited a long time. This was the longest stretch we have ever gone without seeing them. Carter was very excited. He is pictured below awaiting their arrival. He sat there for about 1/2 hour!

Together we drove out to Mechanicsville, Virginia to visit my grandparents. It was the first time they had met our kids.
We spent some time enjoying Uncle Greg and Aunt Beth's extensive property. Carter was in heaven with all the sticks, bugs, mud, and frogs! Below you will also see my angelic sister freshly returned from England. She is still glowing. :)
For some time Carter has talked about when he gets bigger he will be able to go fishing....well, his dream came true. Here he is, my big man:

Three generations of Goldsmiths:
For the 4th we went over to a couples house from church. We enjoyed their back yard immensely. And the company, of course. And the food.

Piper and her sweet friend Issac:
Andy had Monday off so we visited the science center in Birmingham. Carter's favorite park was touching a shark!!!

Andy and I playing around with the peg board:
The special exhibit at the science center was Mr. Potato head, complete with a chance to meet Mr. Potato head himself. Piper Rose did not enjoy it one bit!
Here is Carter-boy shaking his hand:

Strawberries!

2010-05-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

It's pretty warm here. We have hit ninety degrees several times already and it is only May. We were in the pool before 10 o'clock today! Yikes!

We decided to invest in some shades for the kids. Here they are proudly sporting their sun glasses.

Since it is warmer here than the northwest the strawberry season is in full swing. Saturday we had a good time picking berries. There is very little in this world that my children love more than berries.

(Rosie had a hard time distinguishing the red berries from the red dirt clods.)

A little trip

2010-05-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last week we found out that Andy would be going to a conference in Champaign, IL the following Monday. We decided that we would all go. We had never been through that part of the country and we would only be a few hours of Chicago.
Monday through Friday we bummed around Champaign which was a surprisingly fun town. (What's wrong with Huntsville? Why can't it be cool?) There were a ton of parks and the kids and I spent a lot of time outside and enjoying the hotel pool.

People are not joking when they say Illinois is flat:

We also went to a little science center in Champaign. Carter got in touch with his nerdier side and Piper Rose found a "baby" to take care of.

Chicago was huge! And freezing cold! But it is a beautiful city. We walked about 12 miles on Saturday and Sunday seeing the sights.

Saturday turned out to be National Train Day so we walked down to Union Station to check it out. The highlight was a friendly lady giving us her tickets so that we could cut in front of a huge line to tour an Amtrak train.

We also went to the zoo in Chicago. Piper spent most of the time growling at the animals.

A few videos

2010-04-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos mainly for the grandparents and aunties. The first one demonstrates the fearlessness and exuberance of our youngest and the second highlights olders's first attempt at singing his ABC's. Sorry for the lack of pants in the last one. It couldn't be helped.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Jesus is risen! We are so thankful for that every day and especially on Easter. We celebrated by having our community group over for a brunch and then hid a few Easter eggs. The eggs were confusing for Carter. We definately wanted to put the emphasis on Jesus and not eggs. However in an effort to reconcile both of them he decided that Jesus came back from the dead and brought us eggs and bunnies. Oh, well....we tried :)

Same goofy smile!? Must run in the family :)

Siblings?

2010-03-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have never done a post yet comparing both of my kids to see how much they look alike. To make up for the fact that the camera battery was dead when we went to the petting zoo last week (boo!), I will take this opportunity to make the aforementioned post.

(Carter)

(Piper)

February

2010-03-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks have been super busy and super fun. Britty and Uncle Benny came for a visit for two whole weeks! We tried to show them the sights around here and keep them busy.

We also celebrated the third birthday of a very handsome young man! Here he is below doing his "birthday" (or age). What a fun crazy little man! Carter-boy facts:
He talks all the time now and asks questions non stop. He comes up with his own words. Two of my favorite are "narbled" (hint: squishing monk's face all up produces this: "Look Mom, Monkey is narbled") "boof" (hint: "I just boofed baby over"). He calls his sister a variation of babe, babers, babes. He brought me flowers of Valentines day. All his own idea. He tells me at dinner (most dinners)- "I really like this food you made". His favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs, which he requested for all three meals on his birthday. He still carries Monk around. Besides his top three (blanky, puppy and monkey) he has added Big Monk, birthday blanket and Christmas Bear to the entourage. He weighs thirty pounds. He does not know how to smile.

Carter-boy, I love you so much. I can't imagine life without you. You are a gift from God. I pray with all my heart that you grow up to be a powerful man of God, who loves Jesus with all his heart.

Some of the highlights from Ben and Britt's visit were Chattanooga:

Ben and Jerry's in Chattanooga:

The Parthenon in Nashville (full size replica, who'd a thunk?):

Opry Mills:

We also visited some caves near here called Cathedral Caverns which were awesome. My camera battery died at that outing, so you will just have to take my word for it.

The weather has been gorgeous lately. I am definately going to like Alabama in the spring. We have been out discovering new trails and various hikes around here. This Sunday we went out and I was finally able to get some decent pictures of the kids. It is sooo hard to get them both looking and smiling and in the picture. I was pretty happy with these.

Rollerball

2010-02-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

We finally did something blog worthy. The last month was pretty slow for us. We spent a good portion of it being sick, trying not to get other people sick, and trying not to get sick again. In there somewhere we visited Birmingham and Cullman...neither one was very noteworthy unfortunately. Andy had a business trip to Puerto Rico for a couple days. That was nice. For him:)
Other than that we have just been up to all the normal stuff.
Last Saturday we went on a fun little outing. We took the kids out to go bowling. At this alley they have kids bowling that is miniature! It was super cute and Carter loved it. It was too loud for Piper. She did not care for it.

A Merry Merry Christmas

2010-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas! Our best present by far was Nana and Papa and Nae-nae's visit!! Two weeks with them flew by. After they left Carter said, "I kind of just want to go home with them"....me too, bud, me too.

Christmas morning:

Christmas breakfast:
(We made our classic breakfast: raspberry soup, butterhorns, and egg casserole...hmmm...so yummy).

After Christmas we drove to Cloudland Canyon, Georgia and stayed in a cabin in the state park there. We took a day trip to Chatanoooga while we were there. The cabin was quaint and rustic with a fireplace. The boys try to build a "fire" with soaking wet wood- it was heavy on the smoke, light on the fire.

We drove from Georgia to Nashville to meet the Carpenters, our friends from Seattle. It was so much fun to see them and catch up. We walked around the Opryland Hotel together and stayed the night in a cheaper hotel.

We are still here!

2009-12-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

We are still here, you wouldn't know if from my blogging though. Our computer crashed and then I got busy with Christmas preparations and here we are...
Let's see, what did you miss?
Car: We finally bought a second car. Yay!
Piper walks: she looks way to tiny but she motors!
Thanksgiving: We had a wonderful time visiting long time friends in Nashville.
My birthday: I turned 25. I'm in my mid-twenties. Yikes! Our friends from Nashville came down and watched the kids for most of the day so that Andy and I could go out. First date in 3 months! Woohoo! I also got a Phil and Ted's double stroller. It's amazing.
Piper's birthday: She is one now! My friend Emilie made a tutu for her, which she wore for her party. She looked so cute. She demolished her cake; dug in with both both hands and snorted it. It was that good.

Right now we are anxiously awaiting my parents and sister's arrival on Sunday. They will be here for two weeks! We are all so excited.

Here we are cutting down our Christmas tree:
(I do not know what to do about this kid's smile. I honestly think he doesn't know how to smile. I have tried giving him lessons, but as you can see it has done little good.)

Eating birthday cake:

My beautiful little one year old:

Bonus Material

2009-10-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here is some extras for ya'll. Pictures of our apartment and also a video of Piper:

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about pictures in a pumpkin patch. Maybe it is the crisp that makes the baby's noses all red and shiny, or maybe it is the beauty of the fall colors, or maybe its just my cute kids....but going to a pumpkin patch always makes for the cutest pictures! I love it!

This afternoon we went to a great farm with our friends the Robinsons. There was so much fun stuff for the kids: animals, corn box (like a sand box only with corn), slides, swings, and lots of pumpkins! It was so much fun!

Here are my beautiful babies:

This picture doesn't really capture the beauty of the area. The trees are gorgeous. It is like a sea of orange, red and yellow. This is also a picture of a cotton field. I had never seem one before.

We got a big pumpkin for carving, a pumpkin for making pies and two little pumpkins for the kids. They were both quite tickled with the "baby pumpkins". Rosie insisted on holding hers and licking it.

A few videos

2009-10-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Adventures

2009-10-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

We have done some exploring in the last couple weeks. We went to the Space and Rocket Center here in Huntsville. It was pretty cool. Carter really liked. We can see the rockets from the freeway as we drive by and every time he says, "There we are..." and has to rehash the whole outing. I think that it was a hit.

We went on a short train ride with the North Alabama Railroad. It was a very old train. Carter was a little disappointed that it didn't go "really really fast".

Then yesterday went to to Harmony Safari Zoo. It was really fun. It is a drive through zoo where you can feed the animals from your car. Carter got a huge kick out of it. Piper Rose on the other hand hated it. Hated it. She was terrified after turning around and seeing a very wet, bugged eyed emu staring at her only three inches from her face. She spent the whole trip with her head on my chest and would not be moved.

This is what the scenery looks like around here. It is very very green. The leaves on the trees are starting to change colors now. It is going to be gorgeous.

Sweet Home Alabama

2009-09-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

(Come on, you knew that title was coming...)

We live in Alabama. I still am not used to how that sounds. Nor am I used to how thick the air is here. Or how much people around hear love to chat! They'll talk your ear off if you let them. The rivers are brown. The nights are stay hot. The dirt is red. There is no traffic. The bugs are LOUD. There are Super Targets. There are no coffee shops. (Perhaps the 90 degree weather and 100% humidity deters people, who knows?) Everyone goes to church. And there are a lot of what Carter calls "brown people". (Gulp. I am not sure what to do with this very astute observation. He is not wrong, however, we may need to work on our terminology.)

Thanks to my Mom and Dad and father in law, we are all unpacked. I really like our apartment. We did a little bit of sight-seeing before Andy had to go to work. We visited Monte Sano state park and Burritt's Mueseum. There is a little green belt near our house that we tried out. We are still operating off of one car for the next couple weeks, so I am a little house bound for now.

Andy doesn't have too much to report as far as work goes. He has an little cubby hole that he sits in and reads policy manuals. He is pretty much like Milton off of Office Space. Thankfully, this is only a temporary desk and they have tons of work, so he will not have to read manuals forever.

We will try out Sojourn church together on Sunday. It is an Acts 29 church right here in Huntsville. Yay, for that!

So, all in all, we are good. Thank you all for your prayers. God is good, and we continue to see his mercies even in all of this.

Going for a walk on the green way

The lovely Indian Creek. I don't think we will be swimming in that water.

Checking out some animals at the Burritt Museum

This is not our house (real estate is cheap around here, but not that cheap). It is the Burritt Mansion

A little update

2009-09-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, Andy, his Dad and my Dad drove to Alabama this week. They made it in yesterday morning. They did the drive in a little more than two days. They got in Tuesday morning and by the evening had picked out our new apartment. This is the link if you want to check it out. Our floor plan is the Fremont. They are brand new and only five minutes from Andy's work.
http://www.livearchstreet.com/Default.aspx

The POD will be delivered tomorrow. The guys will upload it and I will show up after all the work is hopefully done! :) My mom and I (with the kids of course) fly out on Friday afternoon. We are armed with Toy Story dvds and every snack imaginable. Hopefully the flight will be uneventful!

Our time in Boise has been great. Crazy but great. We miss our friends. I cry every time we go to a park and Carter asks if James and Charlie are coming, or when he gets in his little car at Nana's house and says his driving Darren's big red truck...I am hoping this gets easier.
But, all things considered we are doing well and feel ready for the great state of Alabama!

Gone.

2009-09-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

Not to be overly dramatic, but Monday we drove away from Seattle, knowing that we won't be back for quite some time. As we looked back over our shoulders and watched the skyline disappear it was so surreal to know we are not coming back. Though I was sad to say goodbye to the city, I was heartbroken to say goodbye to our friends. They were more than just friends, they were our family. I am not going to "were" because you don't lose your family. I know we will stay in touch. Our friends made our three years in Seattle wonderful. We thank Jesus for you all. We love you guys! And you had better come visit us. We'll deep fat fry something:)

Update

2009-08-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

I have lots of picture to post. We have been on a couple fun outings. We went camping with our friends/family in Coeur d' Alene, Id. We got to go sailing, ride bikes, and go on lots of "walky-walks" (as Carter calls them). This weekend we tried out a new zoo with our friends the Heavilands.

Other news, for those who don't know is that we are most likely moving to Huntsville, Al. It is pretty crazy, but we are thankful that we finally have a job. Quite frankly, I don't want to go. But I know that Jesus has a plan for us and I am trying to trust Him. I just wish I could take all our friends with us.

Here are some cute pictures (as usual) of our little darlings:

So, I brought my camera on the camping trip, but forgot to charge the battery, so unfortunately we didn't get to many of the trip. But here we are enjoying ice cream after our 9 mile bike ride, getting our second wind for the the trip back.

Carter spent a lot of time in the dirt. He got really dirty. He loved it.

Carter and Andy went on a little outing with their buddy Darren to watch the Seahawk's practice. Carter thought it was fun for about 30min. Then he had to go throw his little football around too.
We had fun at the Point Defiance Zoo. One of the cool things is that they let you feed the little budgies. Carter got quite a kick out of it.

I love this picture. This is pretty much why I don't want to move to Alabama. Carter has some pretty good buddies here.

Hot!

2009-07-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a hot week so far. We hit 103 yesterday, breaking all previous records. Seattlites are wimps when it comes to heat. When we first moved here Andy and I made fun of them. "Big cry babies. We see that kind of heat all the time in Boise". But, when you remove AC from he equation we are whining right along with the rest of them.

The one wonderful things is there is plenty of water around here to cool off in. (Much to my husbands dismay. He is a notorious hater of water, sand, chaffing and all things beach). Piper Rose was born with her father's hatred of cold water. They both had the same pained look on their faces as the obligingly dipped their toes in. Carter and I had fun.

Carter enjoying our little pool.

Is that not the cutest baby body in the cutest baby suit you have ever seen!?

Snack break after swimming at Greenlake

More fun Summer Days

2009-07-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

The weather has been beautiful lately. We been on a couple fun outings in honor of the blue skies.

This is Carter enjoying some yummy ice cream from Molly Moon's in Wallingford. It tasted quite nice after a hour in the hot sun trying to coax Carter into the wading pool. He was a little freaked out by all the rowdy children.

Later that week we went for a fun walk around Queen Anne and Kerry Park.

Here are the kiddos in their new hot ride.

Both the children are thrilled about the new pool from Nana and Papa. Piper lovew it because it makes Carter do funny things and she loves to laugh with him. Carter loves it because, welll, mostly it's just an excuse to get "nakey" and carry all Mom's mixing bowls outside to dump water into.

And last but not least.... guess who is on the move??? Our very own Piper Rose! Below is the video to prove it. We don't call it crawling yet, we call it the caterpillar.

4th of July and a Baseball Game

2009-07-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

We had a fun 4th of July. We went with our friends the Carpenters to the Ballard Locks for a picnic. Then game back home for some "fireworks" and pizza. Carter liked the fireworks, but was fascinated with the smoke. "See the smoke going up, buddy?" (He adds "buddy" to everything since we apparently do as well).

On Sunday we wen to our first Aquasox game. Their mascot is a frog (not sure what the connection is; maybe since frogs like water, or maybe they are aqua colored....).

The frog was quite a hit with Carter-boy. For some reason he started calling it "the happy little frog". (It did in fact have a cute little smile.) When he wasn't saying, "See the guys, see the guys hit the ball", he was saying, "Happy little frog? Happy little frog?"

All and all I think that he had a good time. (The addition of potato chips to the experience didn't hurt his assessment of the overall experience either.)

Not be be out done Piper Rose is just as cute as her brother. She has started eating solids these days. We tried sweet potatoes for the first time and she loved them.

This is a video of her new trick. I am not exactly sure what she is trying to accomplish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOXHHiK7y7o

Some Videos

2009-07-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos.

This one is of Piper's first ride in a swing. Juding from hhe speed her feet were kicking, I think that she may have liked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-A5WDRPB_4

This is one of Carter making Papa's birthday card. Happy Birthday Papa. We love you! (And your card will be there on Saturday:)

http://www.youtube.com/user/andythelong#play/all/uploads-all/1/7d2AbOFxwuw

Picts from the trip

2009-06-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our recent trip. My parents rented a house on Guames Island. All of my family met us there and we stayed for a long weekend. The house was beautiful and the view was great!

Carter got to roast his first hot dog and of course a marshmallow as well. After his first taste of the marshmallow he informed us, "Hmmm, I like it". You don't say?!

The beach wasn't quite what we were expecting. There was a shocking lack of sand. In its place were very large rocks covered with barnacles. Needless to say we did not do a lot of sun bathing. However, under the rocks we found thousands of baby crabs! It was crazy. Carter was thrilled. And so were the older boys.

Here is some of the boy's treasures. Some of the things we weren't even able to identify; they were weird!

After our trip north we headed back down to Boise with my parents. We stayed for about at week and a half. We saw our families and a few friends. Time always goes so quick and we never get to see everyone we want for as long as we would like.

Here is some pictures from the park there.

This is my attempt to capture how long Piper Rose's eyelashes are. They are really long.

Home Again

2009-06-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it home again. We started our trip off on Guames with my parents and then followed them back to Boise. We stayed for about a week and a half. We soaked up a lot of sunshine and played outside all the time and spent tons of time with family. I am a little less then thrilled to come home to our cloudy city with a dead patch of grass to call a yard and no family. I think I am in need of a attitude change.

I will post pictures soon!

Fun in the sun with friends

2009-06-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

Last week we had some beautiful weather. We enjoyed some time at the beach as a family.

Sun bathing beauty

We also enjoyed some fun times with our friends this week. Here is Carter with the twin, Bryn and Chloe.

Here is Carter and Charlie.

Post popsicle scrub down

Piper and Della soaking up some rays with SPF 50 on. Hopefully no rays got through.

My beautiful girl in her new sun hat

Carter and his buddy James-o did some jammin on the fence together.

The Last Month

2009-05-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. We have been pretty busy. For Mother's Day we decided to do an very impromptu surprise visit to Boise. We just showed up and got some pretty good reactions from our moms. We stayed for awhile and enjoyed some lovely Boise sunshine. My sister Breanna came for a visit the following week. We had a great time. We went to the beach, cooked yummy food, went out to dinner, and talked a lot.

We have started undertaking potty training. Today was day one. So far so good. Besides the accident during breakfast with pee-pee dripping from the high chair to the floor, Carter did pretty well. We started out giving three M &M's for a treat, but had to decrease it to one because the kid peed like every 5 minutes.

We are still looking for a job. We are getting a little discouraged, but trusting God to provide for us. We know that He is faithful and will take care of us. We are very thankful for everyone's prayers.

Here's a few pictures:

Piper and her cousin Jaxon checking each other out.

Carter and Granny

Piper and Nana

A lovely Mother's Day dinner in the Goldsmith lush, park-like yard

Beach Day with Bre-Bre

I put the kids in the tub together for the first time. Carter thought it was great and wanted to wash Piper. Piper wasn't so sure about the whole thing.

Cute Quotes

2009-04-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cute quotes from Carter-boy:

"I am nudey everywhere!"

Mom: "Carter, where are you?"
Carter: "I'm peeing in the curtains."
(Right after his bath he normally runs around naked for awhile. Unable to locate him, I asked where he was. After receiving that response, I located him. Sure enough he had wrapped himself up in my bedroom curtain and was, in fact, peeing all over it.)

"Daddy is Jesus."
(This is a serious fundamental misunderstanding which we hope to clear up. However it is pretty cute.)

Upon finding a small piece of plastic on his changing table he informed us, "I throw it down there. I could choke on it."

We went out to breakfast with some friends. The waitress came over to take our drink order. We went around the table and placed our orders, one of which included hot chocolate. Without missing a beat Carter piped up, "I'd like some hot chocolate too!"

Fun in the Sun!

2009-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was beautiful here! It was so nice to have some sun. We did as much outside as we could.

We went down to the UW campus to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms.

We went to Golden Gardens park. It was actually warm enough to play in the water, which thrilled Carter.

Turns out that yoga on the beach is not such a good idea unless you want a sand beard.

Destined to be a plumber...

Piper Rose sporting some baby legs.

Random picture: this is what happens when I leave Carter alone with stickers. He thought that he was pretty clever.

We went to Ben and Jerry's for free scoop day. Piper was bummed she couldn't have a taste of my chocolate cone.

Carter's ice cream melted faster that he could eat it, so he resorted to drinking it.

We had a break through at the park...Carter went down the slide! It was the first time that he went down and actually enjoyed it.

I really don't think this baby girl could get any cuter!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Jesus is risen! We are so thankful to know Him as our Savior. He has conquered death and saved us from our sins. Jesus is amazing! We celebrated by going to church and watching people be baptized. Our church baptized 347 people that Sunday. It was so cool! Jesus is alive and saving people.

We also did some egg hunting...or egg "sneaking" as Carter says. He was pretty into it. He was even more into it once he discovered that there was "hot chocolate" (i.e. candy) inside.

It was a beautiful day on Wednesday so we drove up to Deception Pass and spent the day enjoying some sunshine.

It was a yucky day outside, so we had to settle for sneaking eggs inside.

A little man on a big beach.

I thought that I would just do a little relaxing in the sunshine, but Carter decided it would be a great opportunity to load me up with rocks.

I had to show him how its done!

I don't know what makes this so cute, but it is pretty adorable.

Where are the Longs?

2009-04-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

This is what most of our friends have been asking. We took a little vacation to Boise for three whole weeks! Being unemployed does have its perks! :)

We visited with our families and friends and then followed the Goldsmiths to the Oregon Coast for a few days. We had a wonderful time as always.

It took about ten hours to get to Boise. This was our first car ride with Piper-girl. She was a pretty good traveler. There wasn't a ton to entertain her with. She was a little bored.

We pulled out all the stops to keep Carter-boy happy. It was pretty much Toy Story, booty snack and cookies the whole ten hours!!

Yep, double fisting it!

Time with Grandpa and Grandma Long

Carter loved being outside at Nana and Papa's.

We need to get this kid a dog!

The Oregon Coast was a little chilly but Carter still loved being outside in the sand.

After a stroll on the beach we had to come in and warm up with some hot chocolate.

It was hard to come home, but Carter has been keeping pretty busy lately baking cakes. This consists of getting out the tupperware and blocks, transferring the blocks to different bowls and cups and plates, and then lots of tasting. I have become quite a connoisseur of his "chocolate cake".

The little chef

By the way, have you noticed Carter's new smile: buck tooth chipmunk?

Carter's Birthday

2009-02-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

Carter is two! I can't believe it. We are so thankful to Jesus for such a fun little guy and for two wonderful years with him.

Carter two years ago:

Aunt Britty came this weekend to help us celebrate.

We took Carter to the Children's Museum. He loved it. But the highlight of the day was his present from his friend James...."booty snack". I think he ate the whole bag that day. Hey, it was his birthday!

Carter's Imagination

2009-02-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

We are discovering that Carter has quite the imagination. He is always pretending that his food is various kinds of animals. At breakfast he will tell me that his toast is a horse and make it gallop around his tray. Yesterday at dinner he said that tomatoes in his pasta were mice. He would take each one out, snuggle with it, and then eat it.
Today he came up with quite an elaborate story. He told me that there was a raccoon outside and that it was going to open the door and bite his toes and fingers. (At this point he points to his hand and says "right there, right there"). He then proceeded to prepare "raccoon snacks" which consisted of puzzle pieces in a bowl. He told me that he was "ready". When I looked out the window with him and told him that I couldn't see a raccoon, he informed me that it was because it was hiding. When the raccoon didn't show up he settled for feeding the "raccoon snacks" to Buzz.
Where does he come up with this stuff?

The Last Couple Weeks

2009-02-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated the blog recently because we haven't been doing much but being sick. And by "we" I mean Carter. Poor little guy.

Piper is growing so fast. She is turning out to be quite a beautiful happy baby!

The Longs came for a visit this weekend. It was very fun to have them here. We took them to Pikes, Theo Chocolate Factory, and Carkeek Park. Carter called them "This", "That" and "the kid".

Getting out of the house

2009-01-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

Well, we have been venturing out of the house a little more these days. So far, so good. This weekend was exceptionally beautiful here the in the Puget Sound. Today it was 57 and not a cloud in the sky. We all went down to Carkeek Park and let Carter throw rocks and shovel with sticks. We couldn't get him to look at the camera because he was too busy.
He has been talking a lot these days. He refers to himself as "Carter-boy". He loves to have me narrate his activities to Piper. He will do something and then say "Tell baby". It is so fun to have him talking so much. We get to see what goes on in his mind.
Last weekend we went to the Aquarium because it was not nice outside. That was also a big hit. Andy tried and tried to get him to touch a starfish, but Carter is not super brave. In the end he got up the guts to do it. Daddy was proud.
Piper Rose is doing well. With Carter, I was a nazi about his schedule, but her....she pretty much does whatever she wants. This week she is going to start taking naps in her bed I think, but that is what I said last week. She is smiling a lot now and we managed to catch it on video.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. The Goldsmiths were here for a whole week. All in our little apartment. To most people this would be a nightmare, but we have a ton of fun! We had a white Christmas which was very fun and very rare for Seattle. So, given the snow (because no one around here plows the roads) and a brand new baby we have not done a whole lot since the family left. I have yet to venture out by myself.
Having two kids is a little crazy. I feel like things are out of control pretty much all the time. And the fact of the matter is that things are out of my control...But I am very thankful that Jesus is in control. Even in all the craziness, it is a lot of fun. It is so sweet to see Carter interact with Piper. I love having a tiny baby to snuggle. I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Well, I am going to have to stop blogging now so I can go take a nap while the babies are down for their naps. Awwww, nap time.....glorious nap time! :)

Carter-boy, enjoying the Goldsmith tradition of raspberry soup for breakfast

A very fun Christmas present, that cannot be ridden unless you are wearing the hat.

Enjoying some tea while watching the snow fall

The snow bear that Andy, Ben and Papa made

She is starting to wake up a little now. She has really big dark eyes that I am hoping are brown like her Daddy's.

Carter Meets Piper

2008-12-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that I'm not raising a danty little boy. We do, however, feel like Carter is a bit like a bull in china shop right now. Everytime Carter picks up a block there's a certain amount of anxiety that runs through the shoulders of Bethany and I. Who knows where it's gonna land.

It does appear as though Carter is going to be a wonderful big brother. He is very gentle with Piper. He gets quite concerned when she cries and runs around the house letting everyone know until someone gets Piper calmed down. He likes to hold her too. He practices holding his monkey the way he would hold Piper. It's very sweet, that is, until he chucks the monkey across the room and moves onto something more exciting. I think we have a little more work to do before we let him fly solo with her ;-)

More Piper

2008-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures taken by our friends the Heavilands.

Piper Rose Long

2008-12-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

Well, my little darling is here. Piper Rose was born on 12/14 at 1:54 A.M. She weighed in at 7lbs 80z and 19.25" long. The labor went really well. Bethany only needed to push for about 20 mins. Both Mom and Baby Girl are doing great. Here are a few pictures to tide you over. I'm sure there will be several more posts over the next couple of weeks. Carter hasn't met Piper yet. I'm sure that will make a great post ;-)

...by the way, this Daddy is completely enamored with his beautiful little baby.

Labor... I think

2008-12-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I am in labor. I have had contractions now about 4-5 minutes apart for almost two hours. We are going in to the hospital. I am really hoping it is not false labor. I will be really embarrassed. Check back in the morning. Either they will be a picture of a baby or one of me looking really sheepish.

Nope.

2008-12-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

For all you anxiously checking the blog for exciting news - there is no baby yet. I am still very pregnant.
On a happier note, I had a wonderful birthday. My darling husband surprised me with a wonderful weekend. We dropped Carter off with his buddy Charlie (and Charlie's mom of course) and then went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. After wandering around for awhile through the Christmas lights downtown, we ended up at the Nutcracker! It was the first time I had ever been to it and it was quite fun. Already feeling very spoiled, Andy took me to a hotel downtown for the night! It was so much fun and so relaxing.
I really do have a wonderful husband.

Well, I am off to vigorously mop the floor in hopes of stimulating labor. I will let you know how it goes.

An update...finally!

2008-11-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

My goodness, I can't believe it has been over a month since I update the blog. Time flies! What have we done since I last posted, let's see....
Nana came for a short visit to help us do some projects and get ready for the baby. In the few short days that she was here we made curtains for nearly every room in the house and hung them up. We organized, rearranged, shopped, and decorated. It was pretty much a minor overhaul of my house. We Goldsmith ladies, we get things done....fast!
We have been getting ready for the arrival of baby girl. We have about two and half weeks left. For those who care or even know what it means, I am one centimeter dilated and 50% effaced. I am hanging in there. At this point I am just ready to meet the little gal, however I realize that it means the end of just Carter and me time and that makes me a little sad. He is going to be a great big brother. He already tries to give her his milk, via my belly button. He likes to pat her and hug her.
We have been getting ready for Christmas. I am trying to have all my Christmas shopping and such done by the first part of December. I think that I am going to make it.
I think that may be about it. We are staying busy. Carter is always busy. We have decided that he is bored with his toys. I have been trying to come up with new things for him to do. He loves doing the dishes. I will fill up the sink with water and give him several bowls and spoons and he will literally stand there for an hour on a chair "washin". He also loves "drummin" (notice the pattern here: everything ends in "i-n" including his new word "uppin" which is primarily used as a verb i.e. " I need to be uppin")

Here are my boys repairing the sink. Carter loves using tools. He will quite frequently go into the kitchen and get a fork and use it as his tool for "workin".

Mumpkins

2008-10-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch. Carter was of course thrilled with all the "mumpkins" and dirt that were everywhere. Although, he thought that pumpkins were a little poky. He spent most of the time we were there running around saying "oh get it".

On Sunday we went to Carter's friend James' birthday party. It was a costume party. Mom and Dad were lame and didn't dress up, but Carter made a really cute lion.

Here is a little video of Carter dancing. He is very particular about the kind of music he wants to listen to. I went to the library and got some cute little kids cds but he didn't like them and kept asking me to turn them off. Right now his favorite seems to be Nickel Creek. He doesn't mind Coldplay, but definitely didn't like John Legend.

Baby Girl Wiggles

2008-10-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

I thought that there are probably some family members out there that might enjoy this little show.

Pygmy Goats and Pumpkins! What Could be Better?

2008-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

So Daddy is writing this blog entry. This is the first blog entry I've ever made. Pretty exciting day. The family had a fun little outing to a local pumpkin patch this last Saturday. Carter was introduced to the wonderful world of farm life. Carter was most excited about the baby piggies. He was less excited about the chicken who bit his finger.

He had a great time with little ducklings and the bunnies.

No so sure about the calf though...
Some how I managed to get myself stuck in the rabbit pen. Don't ask. Here I am looking a bit sheepish while my dear wife capitalizes on my moment of temporary misfortune.

Chill'n with the homeboys.

Pygmy goats rock and so does this video.

I have a real cute little family.

Baby Girl

2008-10-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here is our little Darling.

This Week

2008-10-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

This week has been a beautiful! It feels and smells like fall. On Sunday we went to one of our favorite parks to do, what else (say the boys) but through some rocks. Carter didn't want to go near the "waves" (miniature sloshes of water) because they are scary he says. So we stayed by the little pond.

We built Carter a little fort. He really like it. It worked well for him but was slightly cramped when he wanted Mommy and Daddy to join him, Puppy, and Monkey. He also liked to eat his snacks in there.

On Saturday Andy went to go learn how to brew beer, which will be our new hobby he tells me. Not to be out done in creativity Carter and I did some finger painting. He was a little hesitant about it at first...

But he soon got into the spirit of finger painting.

Back from Boise

2008-09-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

We made a trip back to Boise over Labor Day. It will be the last time we will be back as a family of three. Next time we go back we will have a baby girl to show off. 12 weeks to go!
We had a fun time with our families, as always. Andy had a business trip to Minneapolis, so Carter I stayed an extra week while he was gone. That was the longest we had been apart. Both Carter and I missed Daddy. We drove this time. So my Dad drove back to Seattle with us and stayed for a couple days. Carter loves his Papa. Once everyone was back to their respective homes Carter kept asking for Nana, Papa, Nae, Bree, Puppoo (puppy), and Meow (kitty).

Carter is definitely growing up, which is fun and sad at the same time. (And also challenging...he is a naughty little guy). He is trying to understand this baby thing. He knows that there is a baby in my tummy. A couple days ago he came up and grabbed my belly and said "Baby out, baby out". I told him it was too little and we would have to wait a little bit more. It was pretty cute. I think he is going to be a great big brother.

Carter and Grandpa Long

Baba with Auntie Britty

Hiking to Table Rock

While my Dad was here we went and picked some blackberries. Carter really enjoyed picking and eating every berry he found. He did not discriminate based on color.

As it is football season now, we are watching our fair share. Here are the boys watching football and eating snacks.

Another busy week

2008-08-18T19:59:00.001-07:00

Last week Cho-Cho and Granny came for a visit. Carter loved having them around and having someone else besides mom to play with. After they left we were able to help with VBS for the rest of the week. It was very fun and very warm. After a busy week we were hoping for a relaxing weekend, but Carter got the stomach flu for the first time. It was kind of traumatic for the little guy. Andy got puked all over and has been making jokes about feta cheese all week. Nice. I am happy to report that Carter is back to his perky self.

We also got to watch the Day girls last week. Carter thought they were pretty cute!

On Saturday Andy let me go get a pedicure. This is Carter hugging James waiting for their mom's to come back.

2008-08-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy couple of weeks. It seems like the summer is going by quickly, but that is what everyone says isn't it? We have had fun hanging out with our friends, playing in the water, and going to Greenlake alot. We went and visited our friend Naomi and her baby Asha on Camano Island for the day. Carter got to play in the sand with his little friend Caleb. It has been pretty warm here so since we don't have a pool Carter has made use of a few large mixing bowls instead. We are getting ready for Granny Kathi and Aunt Chelsey to come for a visit this weekend so I will post more pictures of our adventures with them later.

A Baby...

2008-07-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

I am now 20.5 weeks pregnant. On Monday we went in for our ultrasound. We had decided that we would find out the sex of the baby (we didn't with Carter). We are having a girl!!!! We are so excited and pleased. It will be fun to have one of each and see the differences. We are hoping that we will have a nice calm little girl that will soften and settle Carter down. From the looks of the ultrasound though we might end up with another crazy child. She was so wiggly that the ultrasound tech was having a hard time getting a clear shot. She wouldn't hold still. We did however, get a very clear shot of the part that matter, so we are very sure she is a girl. :) Everything else looked healthy and good. We praise the Lord for another sweet baby! I can't wait to meet her.

Fun Times

2008-07-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately. Just after the 4th we headed over to visit Andy's Grandma at her house on the Oregon Coast. We had a very relaxing time visiting with her and Aunt Cindi and cousin Katie. From there we met the Goldsmiths and the younger Carricos at Battleground, Oregon for some fun times camping. Carter loved camping, mainly because were so many rocks and sticks readily available. He also likes dirt and water and the campsite had both, so it was perfect. After a couple of fun days there, we left the Carricos in Portland and the rest of drove back to our place. We had an activity packed week showing Nana and Papa and the aunties all our favorite hang out spots. It was very sad to see them all go home. It is so hard to have Carter actually comprehend (or not really) that they are gone. This morning Carter woke up and the first thing he asked for was Papa and Nae (the two names he says the best) and wanted to go downstairs and check to see if they were here. We went for a walk at Greenlake this morning and every man that walked by Carter asked "Papa?". Sniff, sniff.
Not to disappoint you all, I have included several choice photographs from our fun filled weeks "abroad".

This picture perfectly captured our short walk on the beach. Cold, windy, screaming baby.

A little trucker at a rest stop.

Enjoying the horse races. Making big money.

A sunny day at Alki Beach.

A big boy haircut.

We were strolling through Greenlake when we suddenly realized that we no longer had Monkey in the stroller. This was very serious because Monkey goes everywhere with Carter and is required for peaceful sleeping. We quickly turned around and retraced our steps. We finally saw Monkey perched atop a trash can. We were all very relieved. From then on the stroller-pusher was required to maintain eye contact with Monkey at all times as he has proven to be a rather sneaky and devious escape artist.

Berry Vampire

2008-07-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Upon reviewing my last post, Andy requested that I include the picture of our berry-vampire, which I had previously omitted. After eating his weight in strawberries and dirt clods Carter is looking a little vicious.

Happy Fourth of July

2008-07-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun Fourth of July. In the morning we went with Mike and Faith and picked strawberries and raspberries. They were so yummy. We all liked them but Carter seemed to enjoy them the most. Carter was a very good picker- however none of his berries made it into the basket. Most of them went into his mouth and the rest he squished on Daddy.
After the berries, we went back to Mike and Faith's and ate hamburgers and hung out while Carter took a nap. Them we all went over to Brett and Emilie's for s'mores.
Here are some pictures of the our berry picking adventure.

Some Catch-up Blogging

2008-06-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

To my three faithful blogger readers, I apologize that it has been so long since we have posted some pictures. I have felt a little crazy lately. However be assured that Carter has been plenty cute and we have some fun pictures to share.

For Father's Day and just for fun we went down to Pike's Market and walked around. There was a boat show which we got to walk through. Carter's favorite part was the pigeons.

We have been feeling bad for Carter since we don't really have too much of a yard for him to play in so we went and got him a sandbox- he loves it!

Here we have some pictures of Carter's latest pastime: ant hunting. His intention is not necessarily to kill (though more often than not this does inadvertently happen), he is more into the sport for the thrill it provides. One never knows where those little guys will show up. You are just going along and then POW there it is. It does require some special tracking skills because ants are very small and can get away very quickly. It is best just to lay on your tummy because this way you are close enough to follow the prey's every move. This is at least Carter's method.

An ant sighting:

Oh my goodness Mom....look!

This is so much fun. I love ants!

Our trip to Boise

2008-05-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

We are back from a trip to Boise. We were very sad to leave. We miss our family and the sunshine. Carter had a wonderful time. We started the trip at Grandma and Grandpa Long's. He played in their fountain and experienced sprinklers for the first time. He wasn't too much of a fan. He got to go to the zoo with Granny Vargas. At Nana and Papa Goldsmith's he spent most of the time outside. When he wasn't outside he was standing at the door rubbing his belly (his version of sign language for "please). He learned a lot of new words on this trip: barbecue, I'm goin' get you, poky and Justice (my parents dog).

Checking out the ducks with Nana

Please, please can I go out?

Watering plants

Playing with bubbles

Embracing his inner hick side

His first haircut

Dad made us leave a mullet for the picture. Just a little too much hick.

New Tricks

2008-05-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Carter has a few new tricks. He has decided that it is fun to put the food he dislikes on his head. He thinks it is very cleaver. We try hard to keep a straight face so as not to encourage this behavior. It is pretty hard when his gives us that cute little "Look at me, I am pretty smart" smile.

He also is getting very proficient at peek-a-boo. It is super cute. Enjoy the video below.

Things Carter Likes, but shouldn't

2008-05-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Sauerkraut

Green olives

Bird poop

Coke

Small spiders

Sand

The Toilet

Sunday at the Beach

2008-05-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we got to see the sun for an extended amount of time. It has been awhile. To celebrate we went down to the Edmonds beach to play in the sand and look at the water. This was Carter's first interactive experience with sand. He enjoyed several large bites before we could stop him. Despite the fact that we did not allow him to continue sampling the sand, he had a fun time. He loved to watch the little waves and hear the big boats go bye.

Tulips

2008-04-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Last week Carter and I visited the Tulip fields up near LaConner. We went with all the other moms and babies. We had breakfast and then took some pictures. It was very fun. And very pretty.

Laundry Day

2008-04-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

We haven't done too much this week. . . the best I can offer is picts for laundry day. A bit lame, I know, we will try and get out more. :)

While laundry day provides very little excitement for most people, Carter seems to enjoy it. It affords him the opportunity to do his washin' dance. (A sample included below)
He also keeps himself busy while Mom folds laundry. This has been one of his favorite activities lately. He gathers all his little stuffed animals and gets a blanky and book and just snuggles up.

Baking Brownies with Mom

2008-04-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

Carter's favorite thing to do to help in the kitchen is stirring. He loves to stir.

He also enjoys tasting.

"Carter, what do you want?"

2008-04-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Andy!

So, I have decided to give this whole "blogging" thing a try. It seems to be all the rage now days. :)

We celebrated Andy's birthday two weeks ago. It started out pretty good....breakfast in bed....and ended better- a steak that didn't fit on his plate. (I know the way to my man's heart:)

While Andy was receiving his "happy birthday" phone calls Carter was busy snuggling and being just like daddy.

For Andy's birthday we went to West Seattle and did a little exploring. We found a fun pie shop and ate lunch there and then got some tea and walked around. Andy got to go to San Francisco to see his good friend Nate as a birthday present. (Thanks to everyone who contributed to make this possible!). He had a wonderful time. Though he came back a little red. We Seattle-ites aren't used to that much sun apparently.