Dawson is Three AND A HALF!

Our big boy is now three AND A HALF!  On November 14th, we celebrated his half birthday with half of a cake that Dawson helped bake and frost.  Dawson is such a wonderful boy, and we love him so much!  At 3 and a half Dawson weighs in at 36 pounds 6 ounces.  He wears size 4T everything.  His pants are 4T just for the lenght, and if they do not have the adjustable elastic inside he cannot wear them.  He's so slim, that most of the adjustable bands have to go as tight as they will go to stay around his waist!  He wears size 11 shoe.  I think he's getting taller and taller every day!  His hair is still blonde, but it's slightly darker than it was a year ago...not much, just slightly.  I love his bright blue eyes, and how much he continues to look (and act) like his Daddy. 
At 3 1/2 he has a wonderful sense of humor, and he keeps me laughing all day!  He's very clever, and he doesn't seem to miss a beat!  He's a happy kid and wants everyone else to be happy too! 
Dawson has really become my good helper in the last few months.  I think a lot of this has been because of how he helps and does little things for Carter, but now a lot of it seems to be because he enjoys helping.  Because he likes to help, we have a few little chores that he does each day.  In the mornings he puts hims pjs in the hamper, and helps me make his bed.  After lunch and after dinner he gets out his small dust broom and dust pan and sweeps under the dining room table.  The sweeping is his very favorite chore, and I almost never (seriously, maybe 1 time a week) have to remind or ask him.  He just does it!  AWESOME!  He likes to do this and then ask me how it looks.  We make a huge deal out of what a great job he does, so I think that's why he always remembers. 
He also loves to help me in the kitchen.  He loves to cook and bake...especially if it involves mixing or sprinkles!  He's also his Daddy's helper in the yard too!  Dawson loves help with leaves, taking sticks to the stick pile, and anything outside John needs help with.  Most time when he gets to help do a lot of baking or a great deal of yard work, that's what he chooses to talk about at the end of the day as one of his favorite things he did for the day. 
At 3 1/2 Dawson also loves art and activities.  He loves coloring, glueing, stamping, cutting, putting stickers on, painting, and anything like that.  Every day we have new art in the house!  He also really enjoys doing play dough right now too. 
In the past couple of months, Dawson has really gotten in to playing pretend.  For example, after going shopping for a new chair for Carter's room, he has been playing "ottoman salesman" for the past month.  He makes us come to his desk in the playroom, look through a book, measure the floor, and pick a color.  Then he tells us our ottoman will be ready soon.  He's hilarous!
He is also (and has always been) a great talker.  He loves to talk.  If there is a silent moment, he will tell us, "I want to talk.  Let's talk about..." And he comes up with a topic, for example, "I want to talk about what we did at the park."  I love to talk to him, and I never feel like it's just me alone my kids when John's working or sleeping because we're constatnly talking.  Dawson really does entertain me!  :)  Dawson's favorite topics are John Deeres, construction, and poop (yes, poop...he's such a boy!). 
At 3 1/2 Dawson is still an early riser, as he has always been.  BUT he still takes a good nap in the afternoon.  I've heard of other people with 3 year olds who have stopped napping, but Dawson really needs his nap! 
At this age, Dawson also really likes to point out that he's a big boy.  He loves to talk about himself being big and Carter being little.  He tells Carter things he can do all the time, "when Carter is big like me."  Dawson is such a great big brother to Carter, and he's always sweet and loving toward Carter.
We love our Dawson so much!

The half of a cake we made for his half birthday!

My big three-and-a-half year old!

I love this boy!

Carter is Seven Months!

Our sweet Carter is seven months!  He is starting to act like such a big boy lately!  He's continuing to be a great eater (if you can't tell from looking at all those adorable rolls)!  He eats veggies and fruit around noon, veggies and fruits again at 5pm, and then at 7:30 he eats cereal, fruit, or veggies or a combination.  Of course he's still nursing about every three hours too, so he doesn't go hungry!  This month we started giving Carter puffs, and he devours them!  On his 7 month birthday, Dawson and I also made his first batch of biter biscuits.  Carter loved these as well!  With all that eating, unfortunately Carter doesn't work much sleeping into his night schedule.  At seven months, he wakes up anywhere between 3 and 5 (7 on a couple rough nights) times a night.  This month, I started making him put himself back to sleep and only feeding him twice during the night.  I won't complain too much about his poor sleeping, because he is a reliable napper during the day.  Since he was about 2 months old he was napping in the afternoon at the exact same time as Dawson about 90% of the time.  I don't think most Mommys are so luck to have their two children at these ages napping at the same time reliably, so I'm very thankful for that little quiet time to get things like laundry and cooking accomplished!
At seven months Carter continues to love his brother more than anyone else it seems!  If Dawson is in the room, Carter is watching his every move!  If Dawson is talking, Carter is focused on listening!  It's really sweet how much Carter loves his big brother.  I hope they will always be best buds!
This month has been a chatty one for Carter.  Although he's babbled for quiet some time, this month he began saying some exciting words.  FIRST, yes first, he started saying, "Mama!"  (Just a fun fact:  Dawson said Mama first too!)  Now he knows I am Mama, and when I leave the room he almost yells for me!  :)  He then started saying, "bu bu bu bu" when we would say "brother."  AND he started saying, "Dada."  Now he will look at John, and in the sweetest voice say, "Dada."  It's like he has a special tone for talking to his Daddy.  So sweet.  He also says, "hi!"  It's pretty fun to hear him say this one!  When Carter talks it's loud!  We think it's to compete with his big brother!  :)  He also loves to squeal in a very high pitch.  A lot of times a night when I put him in his crib (I always lay him down wide awake, and he puts himself to sleep...awesome!), he will talk himself to sleep.  It's entertaining for us to listen to on the monitor. 
Carter is trying really hard to crawl at seven months.  He can move himself around pretty well in the playroom on his tummy to get to all the toys he wants to check out, but he can't get his tummy off the ground it seems!  It's fine with me if he doesn't crawl for months!  I want to keep him just like he is!  (John think I have a problem, because as he keeps growing I keep saying I wish he would stay just like he is!)  Dawson wants Carter to crawl so badly, and I've overheard him telling his little brother several times how to crawl.  :)  I'm sure he will crawl soon enough.
In the playroom, Carter prefers to play with one of Dawson's John Deere tractors or a truck to a baby toy.  It's so funny because he will push the truck or tractor back and forth on the floor making it go...I'm convinced that no 7 month olds do this that do not have older siblings.  I don't remember Dawson doing this until after he was one!  (If fact, I have a picture of it somewhere...he started pushing a tractor on the kitchen floor at 14 months making it go!)  Carter would prefer to play with all of Dawson's toys.  Another recent favorite game is to build a HUGE train track around the playroom floor and sit Carter near it.  Then Dawson turns on a Thomas that goes on its' own.  Carter watches it go through the entire track, then when it gets close he grabs it EVERYTIME!  Dawson likes this game too, as long as Carter gives the train back!
He still loves his Johnny Jumper and his exersaucer.  I know he would love a walker too, so we're looking to get him one to start using in the coming month. 
Carter loves to be surprised or startled and will just laugh and laugh.  He also loves peek-a-boo!  He has such a sweet little laugh.  It's contageous! 
He's also a wonderful cuddler.  He loves to snuggle and cuddle up with you when you hold him.  Carter is such a happy baby, and he's so much fun!  We love him so much! 
Here are the pictures of how big our sweet boy is growing!

Carter's first time with a biter biscuit.

Carter LOVES puffs!

Carter's first time sitting in a high chair at a restaurant.

(I'm hoping to sew a new high chair cover for him this week!)

Carter at 7 months.

Carter and big brother Dawson.

Carter 7 months.

Carter started getting a sippy cup this month.

He LOVES it!

My big 7 month old!

Sweet brothers.

Halloween 2012

We celebrated Halloween the entire month of October, it seems.  Here are some pictures along with the details.  I apologize in advance because they are out of order.  I'm not sure why but sometimes they get out of sequence when I upload them.

 

Last year I saw Dawson's friend Jude in an adorable

shirt like this, and I thought it was so cute that I

remembered it and made one for each of my boys

this year.  It is just a white t shirt (or white onsie,

in Carter's case) Tye dyed and then a jack-o-lantern's

face drawn on.  So here are my sweet boys in

their matching shirts.

On Halloween night it was SO cold!!  We could even

see snow up on the mountains from our backyard.

Brrr!  So, when we headed out trick or treating,

I put Carter in his warm giraffe costume with layers

of clothes underneath, then put him in the Moby wrap.

THEN I put a coat on and zipped Carter and myself

up!  He was like my little heater and only my hands got

cold and he stayed perfectly warm!  He was such a champ

out trick or treating too!

Dawson was thrilled to check out his loot when we returned home!

Some Halloween snacks I made.

All of the Halloween snacks I made for our Meetup Halloween Party we had at our house!  Pumpkin shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, mummy dogs,

jack o lantern frosted Oreos, witch hat cookies, pretzels, and jack-o-lantern oranges.

Check out the jack-o-lanterns I put on the back

of Carter's onesie!  :)

Despite what his shirt says, he does have a costume!

The witch hat cookies for the meet up Halloween Party.

The plate I made with Dawson and Carter's foot prints.

Me and my boys about to head out trick or treating.

Pumpkin shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Mummy Dogs.

Dawson could not wait to set out trick or treating.

He flew around our neighborhood which ended up

being really disappointing with not many people at all

(4 out of 15 houses we tried) giving out candy...so

we went to a local church's HUGE trunk or treat event.

And Dawson had a BLAST!

Check out this cute monster Dawson made

at our Meetup Halloween Party.  He loves this thing!

Dawson thought this was wonderful!

At the trunk or treat event, someone decorated

their horse trailer and dressed up their horse.

The kids got to trick or treat the horse trailer,

get candy, and feed the horse.  Dawson

LOVED this!

Dawson and his friend Colt at

the Halloween Meetup.

Some of the costumed

kids eating and doing

crafts at the party.

More crafts being done.

It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a picture of

all the kids being still in their costumes,

but I managed to convince Colt and Avery

to sit with Dawson and Carter long enough

to have their pictures taken.

Dawson also made this hand

print spider at the party.

Dawson ready to carve

his pumpkin!

Dawson's face when he touched the

inside of the pumpkin!

Just thought this was funny.

Dawson wanted this pumpkin

to have 30 teeth!  We settled

on three.  He was pleased!

We we purchased our pumpkins,

Dawson really wanted a white

one.  So here he is with his white pumpkin.

Instead of carving it

he got to pick out the pieces

to make this face.

He LOVED doing this...

I think more than actually carving

the pumpkin because he could

do it rather than watch me with

the knife.

After much debate, we decided to dress

Carter as a giraffe for Halloween.

This was Dawson's first Halloween costume,

and honestly we loved it more than anything

we saw at the stores or anything I considered

sewing.  Possibly just for the sentimental value

that Dawson could fit in it just three short years ago.

Anyway, here is our cute little giraffe loving Halloween!

And our Buzz Lightyear!

He thought this costume

was fabulous especially because

the wings light up!

 

We had such a fun Halloween!  We love our little giraffe and Buzz Lightyear!

Additional October Pictures

As promised, I am sharing a few more pictures from the month of October.  These were on our phones, and I was not able to figure out how to get the pictures from our camera and from my phone in the same posting.  I now know how to do it for next time though.  For now, enjoy a few more pictures from October!

 

At 4:30 on Halloween when I was attempting to

get everything ready for our early dinner so that

I would have time to dress the kids in their costumes,

feed them, and take pictures all before trick or treating...

Dawson declared that he wanted to do "one more

Halloween activity before it's not the holiday anymore,

because then I can't do it."  So he worked diligently

on these Halloween masks and coloring sheets!

I love how much he enjoys doing all these little activities

and crafts!  I had to snap this picture of him

because I love the extremely focused look on his face.

Look at my sweet Carter in his high chair!

One afternoon in October Dawson decided he

wanted to be Carter's teacher and play school.

He got this assortment of items out, and he wanted

Carter in his Bumbo facing him.  Dawson entertained

Carter this way for about 20 minutes.  I think he enjoyed

the VERY captive audience.  Sweet brothers.

Dawson using chopsticks in the Children's Museum.

Making s'mores in our backyard.

John in his festive hat at the Fall Festival.  :)

This handsome little guy helped me fold laundry

one afternoon.

This is how we rake our leaves!  :)

Dawson and Daddy in Downtown after the Foothills

Fall Festival.

October 2012

October, whew, what a month!  October seemed like a crazier month than normal due to moving back in our house, but we managed to squeeze in A LOT of fun activities too!
On October 3rd, we went to National Night Out sponsored by Target at the Greenbelt Park.  Dawson had a blast seeing the Smokies mascots, police officers, the police dog, and sitting on a police motorcycle. 
Dawson, Carter, and I organized a Nature Scavenger hunt for the Moms Meetup group on October 5th.  The kids each got to decorate a paper bag, and then search the park for items like pine cones, acorns, and different leaves.  Of course, Dawson also loved playing on the playground and having a picnic lunch while we were there too.  Carter was content to relax in his stroller or be held most of the time we were there. 
John traveled to Augusta, Georgia for a week to work at a store there.  Dawson, Carter, and I were tempted to go with him, but at that point we were needed here as the final details of the re-construction on the house were being wrapped up so we could move back in.  John snuck in a golf game while there but otherwise stayed busy with work in Georgia. 
The Foothills Fall Festival was in October, and we made a weekend of it!  On the first day of it, Friday, Lolly and I took the boys.  Dawson had a blast playing in the kids area with all of the inflatables, sand pile, and of course, ducks-it is in the park after all.  :)  Lolly wore Carter in the Moby for me so that I could do everything with Dawson!  On Sunday afternoon we went back to the festival, this time with John, and our friends the Gibsons!  This time more fun in the kids area-ball pit, inflatables, and sand pile!  Oh, and they had big John Deere tractors parked along the streets downtown, and Dawson LOVED this!!  Dawson loved having his friend Charlie with him to jump and play!  After all the fun we were ready to eat, so we walked downtown to the Tomato Head for a yummy dinner. 
On Friday, October 19, we got together with our meetup group at Maple Lane Farms.  I remember going there on field trips all through elementary school, so it was fun to take the boys there.  We went on a loooong hayride through all the fields and cow pastures and ended at the pumpkin patch.  Since we had already purchased all our family pumpkins, Dawson just picked out one small one that he could carry.  Dawson also had great fun checking out and commenting on all the tractors and farm equipment.  After the hayride and pumpkin picking, we checked out a beautiful field of sunflowers...so pretty!  Then headed over to the corn maze.  We did the kiddie corn maze so that it didn't take us hours, and we went through a couple of times.  They have the kid maze set up for the kids to count monkeys as they go through.  Dawson had fun doing this.  After the maze it was time for a picnic lunch.  Dawson had fun on the farm and especially had fun with his friend Finn since we hadn't seen him in a while!  Carter was such a champ the whole time.  He rode in the Moby facing out, and LOVED watching all the kids.  At the picnic he sat on my lap as I fed him his sweet potatoes and bananas. 
We purchased a small fire bowl for the back patio, and in October we had A LOT of fun using it!  We used it a few times, but had the most fun the first time when we invited Lolly and Pop over for steaks and veggies with a dessert of smores!  Fun!
We finally made it to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum this month!  I have been wanting to take Dawson there since we moved to Tennessee.  It's not convenient, and it's just not something that has made it into our daily plans...BUT now that we've been I'm already trying to decide when we will go back.  The meetup group had scheduled a meetup there, and so Dawson not only had fun at the museum, but had fun with the other kids he knew there.  We spent the entire morning there and could have stayed longer, but it was getting close to naptime!  Dawson's favorites were the two store kid size house with kitchen, living room and den downstairs, and bedrooms upstairs.  He says the working doorbell was his very favorite part.  There was also a water works exhibit where Dawson learned about locks...but mostly just played in the water with boats!  :)  Carter was (again) a great little brother and relaxed in the stroller or in my arms the whole time being entertained by watching Dawson run around and explore this HUGE museum!
On Sunday, October 28th, Lolly and I took the boys to Colonial Heights UMC church, the church were I grew up, in Knoxville.  They were having a homecoming, and it was so great to see everyone and show off the boys!  ;)  So much had changed, but so much had stayed the same there too...it was a good feeling going back.
This October we have watched the leaves turn beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange, and gold and fall off.  We have also enjoyed the view of all three mountain ridges from the back of our house and watching the colors on the mountains change as the leaves change and then even seeing SNOW on them on Halloween day!  As much as I loved living in Alabama, Tennessee has a much more beautiful Fall!  The leaves change so much more here and for so much longer.  John and I both agree that we never paid much attention to the leaves or the mountains when we lived here growing up, but after being away for about 5 years, we appreciate what a beautiful time of year this is in East Tennessee!  (Of course, I am not a fan of the cold weather coming, but it has still been a beautiful Fall).  Dawson has LOVED playing in the leaves in our yard too!
Stay tuned for our Halloween post coming soon!

Dawson as a motorcycle officer at National

Night Out.  He LOVED this!

Dawson checking out another police

vehicle.

Carter had fun at National Night Out too!

My handsome boys in their fall colors

at the Nature Scavenger Hunt.

Carter rode around like this-very

content to chew his fingers-during

the scavenger hunt.

Taking time to play with friends on the

playground after the scavenger hunt.

Dawson has mastered climbing up and over

this big dino at the park.

The bag Dawson decorated to put his findings

in from the Fall Scavenger Hunt.

My two handsome boys after

church one morning.

Love these little faces!

This was when we were still living at

Nana and Grandad's so Kipper had to

jump up on the couch to be in a picture.

We did some Halloween baking

in October.  Dawson went sprinkle-

wild If you cannot tell!  :)

He still loves to help me in the kitchen!

Lolly, Carter, and Dawson

as we are headed to the

Fall Festival.

Dawson about to enter Adventure Land (the

kids area at the Fall Festival).

Playing in the huge sand

pile at the festival.

Driving a Cozy Coupe

over the sand pile.

Dawson hurrying to see

a man on stilts riding a tricycle

at the Fall Festival.

TumbleBears Gym had an area set up for

kids to go through.  Dawson had fun

in this area!

Dawson really wanted to go

through this GIANT inflatable

obstacle course, so I let him.

I think it was a little big

for him, but he loved it.

Here he is at the beginning.

Coming down the first slide!

At the big climbing wall

someone from below and

above had to help him up.

But what a big boy he was,

he went down the huge

slide on the other side and

loved it!

When we went back to the festival on Sunday

afternoon, we walked through downtown to see

all the tractors they had parked there.

Dawson was in heaven!

Carter was happy downtown

too!  Look at that sweet face!

Dawson and Charlie had a ball in the balls!  :)

I'm pretty sure they thought we couldn't

see them at this point!  :)

Two sweet friends.

The John Deere pulling our hayride at

Maple Lane Farms.

Dawson and his friend, Finn, at the pumpkin

patch.

Me and my boys in the pumpkin patch.

I LOVE this picture! 

We posed to have a friend take this

picture of us on the hayride, and it

appears that as she snapped the picture

Carter pulled Dawson's hair...check

out Dawson's face.  I hate that he pulled

Dawson's hair, but I just think this picture

is funny!  It must not have hurt bad because

I didn't even know until I saw the picture.

Oh, these brothers!

Maple Lane Farms.

(It was really hazy the day we went, and I found

out later that it was caused by a dust storm

that had blown our way all the way from Oklahoma...

kind of wild!)  Despite the haze, it was still pretty!

Sunflower field.

so pretty!

Dawson

Dawson and Finn

Farmer Dawson at

Maple Lane.

Dawson proudly roasting the first

marshmallow.

And then enjoying the first

smore.

Dawson LOVED the children's museum.

Here he is with wood to build a log cabin.

Pretending to sleep in a little bed.

Dawson put on a puppet show for me, Carter,

and a few other people at the museum.

More of his puppet show!

Dawson and Carter in Water Works learning

about locks.

This house was so cool.  I parked Carter

in his stroller in front just to show the size.

It was a perfect two story house just Dawson's

size to play in.

After visiting Colonial Heights UMC for

their homecoming, I snapped this picture

of my two boys.  I love these two!

(Dawson insisted upon a detailed discussion before church

about who was going to wear which bow tie...these

were the Dawson-approved bowties for the boys.)

When we lived in Alabama we had two trees in

our yard that we planted in 2010, and needless to say

I think we had about 25 leaves to rake last year.  (seriously).

This year....haha our yard is constantly full of leaves.

It's been a lot of fun for Dawson though.

Here are my two sweeties in the fall leaves.

 

There will be an additional post later of a few more October pictures.  We (finally) decided to get iphones this month, and got rid of our old flip phones.  The iphone has an great camera, so I took some pictures this month on it.  I'm still getting used to the new technology (seriously, I feel so behind!) so I'm not sure how to share all the pictures above from our camera AND pictures from my phone in the same post.  So look for another post later of just a few more fall pictures!