Birthday Boy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: