December 2013

December 2013 came and went in a whirlwind it seemed!  December is the busiest month of the entire year for John at work, but we managed to cram a lot of activities and fun into the month along with a little (much needed) at home play time.

 

The day after Thanksgiving (really this was November, but I saved it for this post since it was Christmas related), we visited the Fantasy of Trees with our friends the Myers!  As I mentioned last December, John and I both always went to this growing up and I danced there each year.  Last year we were excited to take the boys for the first time, and this year we were just as excited to take the boys AND Nora Kate AND go with our friends! 

 

Our family on the carousel at the Fantasy of Trees. 

(This was the kids' first chance to all three wear their matching Christmas shirts I made them, although it's hard to see in the picture!)

Dawson and his friend Colt had so much fun together at the Fantasy of Trees!

 

Nora Kate was excited to go to the Fantasy of Trees.

(I made her hairbow from the tutu of one of my old dance costumes that I wore in the Fantasy of Trees one year.) :)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we started decorating for Christmas!

The boys were SO excited about the big tree and their little tree!

Then they discovered they could both fit in the Christmas tree box, and they decided this was the most fun thing to do!  :)

Boys in Christmas attire.

 

Dawson LOVED getting an Advent gift each day of December.  Here he is opening his first one!

Carter quickly learned to be excited about tearing into the Advent gifts.  Here he is opening his first one!  (It was good practice for Christmas, because he knew just how to open those gifts by the time Christmas rolled around!)

Our Christmas tree!

This year Dawson's new ornament was a soccer ball since he started soccer for the first time this year! :)

Carter picked out this owl ornament at the store, and he absolutely loved it!  Owls are one of his favorite animals to point out and one of the first animals he learned the sound they say, so we decided since he picked it that it could be his ornament for the year.  Turns out he LOVED having it on the tree too!  He would go look at it, talk about it, point it out.  So sweet!

Last year we got these "D" & "C" ornaments for the boys, and this year I was SO excited to find a very similar "N" for Nora Kate!

More Christmas décor.

(Carter liked to point out Baby Jesus)

When I was younger and danced in the Nutcracker, my parents started giving me Nutcrackers at Christmas.  When John and I got married we started picking out one each Christmas too...needless to say, we now have A LOT of Nutcrackers!  Now our favorite thing to do is to try to find different looking ones!  I try not to put them all in the same place just lined up, so we had Nutcrackers in every room of the house.  The golfing Nutcracker sat on John's desk. :)

More Christmas decor.

Carter loved going around pointing to the Nutcrackers, and calling them "crackers!"

We hung our Christmas kissing ball that we got in 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale in the foyer this year.

I was excited to put our tree in the front of the house this year so it could be seen from outside!

We put the kid's little tree in the living room.

It was perfect because they could undecorated and redecorate it as many times as they wanted!

I really enjoyed our mantel decorations this year.  I kept looking at all FIVE stockings and thinking how blessed we are.  So thankful for our sweet kids.  Hard to believe that Christmas 2011 we only had 3 stockings, 2012 we had 4, and 2013 we have 5!

The boys and I did A LOT of baking in December!!

This was always their favorite part...licking the dough, batter, frosting, whatever! (don't worry, I didn't let them do this with any of the treats we shared with others!)

We made a gingerbread Christmas tree.

Our friends the Myers had a really fun Christmas party, and were so kind to plan it on the Saturday John was off in December!  They had a huge turnout!  Look at all these friends Dawson and Carter had to play with!!  The kids and John and I had a great time!

 

Sunday, December 8th we had Carter and Nora Kate baptized!  We were still visiting churches when Carter was born, so we still had not had him baptized.  Dawson was, of course, baptized in Alabama at Asbury in September 2009.  It was special to be able to baptize Carter and Nora Kate on the same day.  It was a rainy and cold Sunday morning, but it was perfect!  They were baptized by Dr. Russell at our church Fairview United Methodist.  The church was so pretty, all decorated for Christmas!  After the service, some family and friends came over for lunch!

After the baptism our friends the Myers came over for lunch.

Nora Kate, Mom, and I at our house after the baptisms.

All the family members who attended Carter and Nora Kate's baptisms.

With Lolly and Pop

With Nana and Grandad

Carter in his suit for his baptism.

(He has a cummerbund, but he kept putting his shirt over it...like in this picture) 

The suit had tails!

Sweet Carter in his baptism suit.

The beautiful and delicious cake Nana and Aunt Emily made!

Carter and Nora Kate's baptisms.

 

I decided to make Nora Kate's baptism gown, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Nora Kate in her baptism gown.

Nora Kate in her baptism gown.

 

At the lunch we had at our house after the baptisms, Dawson, Colt and Haley decided to put on a little show for us!  It was pretty entertaining!  Only wish I had gotten some better pictures! :)

We went on several rides in December to look at Christmas lights.  Dawson liked for me to ride in the back of the van and share a hot chocolate with him while we looked at the lights. :)

(He looks sick in this picture, but I think the camera flash was rough on him since it was completely dark when I took this.) :)

Carter loved looking at lights too!

Dawson's 1st or 2nd Christmas, my parents gave Dawson his Elmo stocking.  It sings and moves-right up Carter's alley.  Well, Carter absolutely loved this stocking this year!  So sweet!

Everyone sporting their Christmas pajamas!

(Dawson and Carter's pajamas match, although I had to cut the cute feet out of Dawson and sew cuffs on them because his feet were too big for these new 5T pajamas!)  He was still excited to have matching Christmas pajamas with a reindeer on them!

 

Had to share this picture, because after I took the good one above and was about to put the camera down, Carter leaned over and hugged Nora Kate.  No one told him to do this, he just did it!  He does this all the time.  She's lucky to have two sweet brothers!

Dawson and I made several ornaments this year!  Here he is making a cool sun catcher type of ornament!

We made several Gingerbread houses.

LOVE this picture.  Perfectly captures Carter's love for Dawson.

Dawson's telling Carter what to do while Carter looks lovingly on.

Our gingerbread village.

My friend Abbey made this adorable penguin hat for Nora Kate and mailed it to us!!  Penguins are our sorority's animal (so this is perfect for this little Sigma Kappa legacy!), and I think it's perfect that this one has blue eyes just like Nora Kate!  Thanks, Abbey!

One evening we drove to Shadracks Drive-thru Christmas lights.

We had a great time!

Carter was super excited to get to ride on my lap through part of the lights and John's lap for the rest!

Dawson also was happy to ride in the frontseat with me!

After driving through Shadracks, we got out and found this giant Santa.

Carter LOVED it!  Funny boy!

Nora Kate dozing in some Christmas attire.

I wanted to make a few gifts this year.  The kid's second cousin (I think that's right...my cousin's son), Corbin, LOVES wearing ties, so I made this for him from Dawson, Carter, and Nora Kate.

I made this infinity scarf for my cousin that we drew names with for Christmas day.  I loved the orange and white chevron and was wishing I had made one for myself, then I opened my presents from my parents...and they had bought and orange and white chevron infinity scarf for me!  Perfect!

A couple more gifts we made this year.  As part of the gift for Dawson's teachers, we made these tumblers with their names on them!

We baked and decorated cookies for our neighbors, the two directors of Dawson's preschool, and the two teachers in Dawson's class.  We had fun making these!!

In the boxes of cookies for his teachers, we decided to make a cookie to place at the top of the stack to say who they were from!

Tumblers and cookies ready to go for Dawson's teachers!

This picture is out of order, but I just love this!

This is a great example of Carter's carefree, easygoing nature!  He's hilarious...all the time!

Here he is, no pants, just shirt and diaper, weedeater in one hand, leaf blower in the other hand, singing loudly! :)

Dawson wanted to give all his school friends a Christmas gift!  We gave them these cups filled with candy canes, candy, and playdough!

Dawson's class with Santa!

Dawson's last day of school before Christmas break he had a Christmas program!  He was so excited for this he could barely wait.  (More on this in a minute...because these pictures are out of order!) 

Christmas day (photos out of order) at Lolly and Pop's house!

Christmas Day at Lolly and Pop's house!  Carter was really excited, despite this face!  (This is also a great picture of the busy board Pop made to put on the end of the workbench they got the boys!)

Dawson and Carter both LOVE their new work bench!  The vice is the favorite part!

John and Dawson Christmas Day!

 

Nora Kate's Great Aunt Phyllis was more than happy to hold her for a while!!

Christmas Day with my Mamaw.

Our family on Christmas Day 2013!

On Christmas day my brother took this picture of Dawson I absolutely love!

Lolly and Pop with their Grandkids on Christmas Day 2013.

(We're back in order now, so back to Dawson's Christmas program.)  He was SO excited about it, and he did a great job!

The program was really sweet, and I loved watching his sweet face smile and sing the whole time.

Sweet Dawson's first school program!

Santa Dawson and Elf Carter delivered the Christmas goodies we baked to our neighbors in the John Deere Gator, of course!

Front view before delivering cookies!

Carter wearing some Christmas pajamas.

Carter

One morning we went over to make Christmas cookies with Nana!!

The boys were excited to see the Chickfila cow dressed as Santa at the mall.  Carter couldn't get enough, and he kept asking for "More cow" after he left!

We also saw Santa this month!  Santa was awesome!  He got down and played ball with Carter.  He talked to Dawson about how his reindeer like carrots, and how his favorite cookies are Oreos (so we left out Oreos and carrots on Christmas Eve!).  He was GREAT!!

One morning the boys left on their pajamas and put on aprons for a little more baking.  We made Oreo balls dipped in white chocolate.  Their favorite part is pictured here...smashing the oreos!  They're banging them with spoons to break them.

The kids on Christmas Eve night.

Left to right:  Carter, Haley, Ashton, Corbin, Dawson, and Nora Kate.

They had a lot of fun playing together!!

Christmas Eve brunch with John's family.  Carter was thrilled to tear into some gifts!

Dawson was excited to begin unwrapping too!

Nora Kate enjoyed some time with her Aunt Emily!

Dawson and Hailey helped each other open some gifts!

Daddy and Nora Kate on her first Christmas Eve!

Cousins! Carter, Dawson, and Hailey!

The kids with Nana and Grandad on Christmas Eve!

Dawson's gifts.

Carter's gifts.

Nora Kate's gifts. 

Christmas morning!

Even though the kids got in bed super late on Christmas Eve, they were still up bright at early to open gifts!  We did stockings first!

 

Dawson saw this big box, and said, "I KNOW this is a typewriter!  Typewriters come in big boxes like this!"  (A typewriter and legos were the two things he asked for this year.  Waaay back in April he saw a typewriter in a book by PD Eastman, and he has wanted one ever since.  We tried to talk him out of it because we were afraid he would be disappointed.)  He was SO excited with the typewriter!  He loves to type on it, and thinks it is so cool! 

So excited with his typewriter!

Opening gifts Christmas morning!

Nora Kate sat in her Bumbo and watched the Christmas morning action.  We helped her open her gifts, of course!

Carter loves this bowling set!  Our hardwood floors are perfect for this toy!

Carter and John checking out some gifts!

Check out this cute hat we got Carter!  HE LOVES IT!

The Christmas morning aftermath!

 

The two things Dawson asked for this year were a typewriter and Legos, and he was so excited to get both!  Carter, of course, is too little to ask for anything.  Dawson suggested that Carter would want games.  Sure enough, Santa listened.  :)  Nora Kate was happy with her onesies and teething rings and baby toys.  The kids and I got John some new clothes, a photo frame for his new office with 4 5x7s (one for space for a picture each kid and one for a family picture) along with some coffee, candy, to go coffee mugs and an air compressor.  I told John he got the award for giving the best gift, because my favorite gift from him was a new string of pearls!  He said it was because Nora Kate would need to be given my old pair (that John gave me when we were dating & that I wore on our wedding day-among many, many other times) when she gets older.  Love it!

 

Now on to more Christmas pictures....

 

The boys playing with their workbench at Lolly and Pop's house.

Nora Kate in a dress I wore my first Christmas!

Nora Kate in something else I wore my first Christmas.

We loved all the wonderful Christmas cards we got this year!  Dawson and Carter REALLY enjoyed looking at all of them over and over!

 

We had a wonderful December, and we hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas.  Happy New Year!!!

Nora Kate is 4 Months!

Nora Kate is now four months old!  It's a good thing that is so fun and cute to watch babies grow, or else I'd be even more sad at how quickly these first four months of her little life have gone by! 
Her 4 month check up was today.  She weighs 16pounds 10 ounces and is 25 inches long.
Compared to Dawson who weighed 15 pounds 12 ounces and was 26 inches long and Carter who weighed 15 pounds 5 ounces and was 26inches long at this age.  To have started out 13 ounces less than her older brothers, she sure has caught up!  She has the most adorable little rolls and cheeks!!  Her legs have more rolls on them than I thought imaginable, and I just love it!!  So far Nora Kate has only had breastmilk, although this was the age where we started both boys on cereal because they seemed to be absolutely starving.  She, however, doesn't seem to be dissatisfied with her purely liquid diet. When she seems ready for a little more we will begin rice cereal, but I'm not going to rush it since she's content! 
In terms of being content, she's a good sleeper at night other than the fact that she absolutely will not go to bed before 10pm it seems-oh and she wants to be held from 8-10pm.  Now that I've stopped trying to accomplish things during this time, I don't mind it at all.  She and I just have snuggle time on the couch, and she finally gives up and goes to sleep around 10 (sometimes later, a few times earlier).  The wonderful thing about Nora Kate's sleep though, is that after she goes to sleep she sleeps for about 5 (sometimes 6) hours straight!  Then she'll go another couple of hours to get her to around 6:30/7:30 which is the time frame that she usually wakes up.  Although she sleeps fabulously at night, she rarely sleeps during the day?!  This is so surprising to me because the boys were just the opposite-great nappers and poor night-time sleepers.  She's usually content during the day, so I won't complain.  I have not met my goal of trying to get Nora Kate on somewhat of a schedule yet, but, hey, she's only 4 months old, right?!
Nora Kate sits up in her Bumbo seat wonderfully now!  She loves to be in this because she can watch her brothers play in the playroom and be rowdy!  She will just watch them and smile as they talk and play!  She's a lucky girl to have two sweet, sweet older brothers who just cannot get enough of their precious sister! 
In addition to the Bumbo, she still enjoys her swing and bouncy seat too!  We have plans to get her exersaucer out of the attic very soon as I think she'd like something else that helps her be upright a little more! 
I cannot remember if I included this in her three month update, but the night she turned three months old....she rolled over!!  Nora Kate rolls tummy to back regularly, but we've yet to make it back to tummy as that's more difficult. 
She's holding her head and upper body up like a champ when she sits in the Bumbo or on my lap or when she's doing tummy time.
Nora Kate has become increasingly interested in her hands.  I often notice her just holding them in front of her face moving them around looking!  She will reach out to touch a lot of things now...and successfully grasp them!  Nora Kate will take her paci when I offer it, but she really seems to care less about it.  She prefers to suck on two or three of her fingers.
One thing I have to mention...Nora Kate drools more than any 4 month old I've ever seen!  I don't know why, but I have to keep a bib on her just for the drool a lot of the time to keep her shirt dry!  Carter thinks it's funny that she always "blows bubbles."  He will point to her bubbly/drooly mouth and say, "baby! bubbles!  wet! bubbles!!" and just laugh and laugh! 
Nora Kate loves to "chat," and she has become quiet vocal this month!  I love hearing her sweet little baby voice, especially when she squeals with delight!  Nora Kate smiles all the time.  I just love her sweet smile!
One big first for Nora Kate this month was the she started sleeping in her crib in her room.  I kept her in our room until she literal outgrew the bassinet.  Her feet were touching the bottom and her head the top.  John joked that I was going to stunt her growth if I kept her in it much longer. :)  So, we moved her to her crib, and she has done great!
She got a wonderful report at her doctor's visit, and she smiled and cooed for Dr. Booher and all the nurses which got her lots of attention.  My poor baby girl had to get three shots at this visit.  She doesn't go back until she's 6 months old.
I could go on and on about our precious baby girl!  We love our little Nora Kate so very much and could not imagine our family without her!!

Nora Kate at 4 months

Sibling picture.

Dawson 4.5 years.  Carter 20 months.  Nora Kate 4 months.

(Carter was decided-on his own-to try to hold Nora Kate's hand for the picture!)

I just had to include this picture, because when I was trying to take pictures of JUST Nora Kate for this update, Carter absolutely could not leave her alone.  He kept climbing in the chair and sitting as close to her as possible.  So sweet!

Carter at 20 Months

Our sweet, silly, happy Carter is 20 months old today-Friday the 13th!  AND he was born on a Friday the 13th, so these (now) "lucky" days are his! 

There is so much I could say about Carter this month, but what I really want to remember is his happy personality!  He is so, so sweet.  He loves to give hugs, kisses, and snuggles without being asked or prompted.  He is especially sweet with Nora Kate-even when we're not looking.  He really just can't get enough of her.  He kisses her head, hands, and toes...isn't that the sweetest thing?!  He is constantly hugging or patting her.  Sometimes he will sit down next to her or in front of her and just watch her, waiting, like they're going to have a conversation.  He's just so sweet! 

Carter is also super silly!  He loves to be a ham.  He will do silly things and then look at our faces to see if we are going to laugh.  Then he laughs at himself right along with us.  Carter loves to laugh.  He will do something we won't even notice and crack himself up!   So funny!  There is no way to have a bad day when Carter is around. 

As sweet as Carter is to Nora Kate, he looks up to Dawson just as much!  I don't think there is anyone that makes Carter happier than Dawson.  He copies EVERYTHING Dawson does (this is both good and bad!)

It would be impossible to specifically talk about words in Carter's vocabulary now because there are just so many!  However, there are a few things he says or talks about that I want to remember!  His favorite phrase right now is "all aboard!"  He says this 24/7 and with a variety of tones, inflections, and volumes.  The other day the first thing I heard on the monitor when he woke up from nap was "all aboard!" repeated about 15 times before I could get to his room!  If you're in Carter's way, he will look at you and shout, "Move back!"  I'm not sure where this came from, and it honestly doesn't sound super polite (so we're going to work on that), but it makes us laugh every time!  Last week at church, John had Carter trapped in the pew during the service, but Carter wanted out to the aisle to run.  He looked and John and said, "Daddy, move back!!"  If he is looking for anyone or anything he says, "Where are you?" in the sweetest sing-song voice ever!  The other day I asked Carter where his bellybutton was, and he said, "Bellybutton, where are you?"  :)

Carter loves music, and he loves to dance and sing.  His current favorite is Frosty.  I've never sang Frosty so many times in my life as I have in the past 2 weeks!  Any and every snowman is frosty, so every one we see in a Christmas decoration he points out, calls Frosty, and then wants us to sing.  :)  We are always so impressed with how quickly Carter learns things by song-even at this young age-he knows A LOT of words to various songs, and even Frosty which we haven't been singing for too long! 

Carter points out bugs, bees, stinkbugs, and lady bugs EVERYWHERE, and he usually correctly identifies between them.  There is a huge stinkbug problem in East Tennessee (lovely thing to remember on our son's 20 month blog post, right?), but because of this Carter has learned what they are.  Unfortunately now if Carter sees a piece of a leaf or anything on the floor that isn't supposed to be there, he is convinced it is a "stink bug" (which he says with a lot of emphasis).  He points it out, and says stink bug over and over until we come look.  If we tell him it's a leaf, he will say, "stink bug! ew!  shooo! gross! stink bug!"  I want to remember the way he says "no" he draws it out and shakes his head, "noooooo!"  He has started nodding yes, and it's the most dramatic nod you have ever seen...hilarious.

In terms of potty training Carter is doing really well!  We usually have a minimum of one success each day, and a lot of times more!  The days I do a good job taking him frequently, he does great!  If I could stay on him better about asking, he would have it quickly because he is already even telling me when he has to go a lot of the time without me asking. 

Carter is currently cutting A LOT of teeth (finally!) at once!  I'll update next month with how many he actually has, because as of now his top molars are half way through, his bottom molars feel like they're coming through soon.  And he has a couple more knots on his gums in the front where it looks like he could be getting more teeth too!

My sweet Carter!

 

Carter 20 months.

Carter 20 months.

Carter 20 months.

Carter 20 months with his siblings!

Carter 20 months with big brother and little sister.

Isn't this sweet?!  He just loves his sister so much, he had to try to hold her hand...all his own idea!

Love my three precious kids!

November 2013

November was another fun month for our family.  We started the month by visiting Dollywood.  John had to work, so Lolly and Pop came with Dawson, Carter, Nora Kate, and me!  The weather was really perfect...we weren't hot, but we weren't too cold either.  Dollywood was beautifully decorated for Fall.  I envisioned getting several wonderful pictures in front of these displays, but the boys were really just interested in having fun at Dollywood on the rides!  :)  We did have a fun day, and got to do A LOT of rides!!

We did several Thanksgiving crafts this month including decorating Thanksgiving placemats and making these handprint turkey plates.  We made one to keep, and one for each set of grandparents.

 Glitter glue is serious business.

 Carter thinks glitter glue is silly!

In the middle of the month we celebrated Mamaw's 84th birthday!  We had cake and ice cream at her house.  In addition to her gift, the kids took her balloons and flowers.  Dawson was especially excited to give her flowers.  So sweet!

One Friday morning we visited the Alcoa Fire Station with several friends!  The firemen were so good and patient with the kids!  They told them a lot of good information, demonstrated "stop, drop, and roll,"  showed the kids what they look like in their fire suits and how the search for people in a burning house so the kids wouldn't be afraid, and -of course the favorite-let the kids get in the fire truck!  We spent about an hour there, and Dawson and Carter had a blast!  I wore Nora Kate in the carrier and she slept most of the time! :)

 

Dawson continues to absolutely LOVE preschool, and he was beyond thrilled to be invited to his first school friend birthday party!  It was for a little girl he likes to play with named Cheyenne, and it was a pool party at a local indoor pool!  Dawson spent the better part of a morning perfecting her homemade birthday card (so sweet!), and he had fun picking out a girl gift for her of Polly Pockets.  When we got to the party he was excited to get to swim and play with a few other friends from school who were at the party too!  He has since asked to have a playdate with school friends (funny how he makes the distinction of "school friends" on his own).  So sweet how he loves his little friends. 

We celebrated Uncle Logan's 20th birthday this month! 

The Monday before Thanksgiving my friend, Cassandra, drove over from Asheville, North Carolina with her sweet boys, Henry and Thomas, for a playdate!  It was so fun to have them here and get to chat and play with the little ones!  I was glad it worked out for them to get to stay and play with Dawson after he got home from school too!  We all had a great time!!!

 Unfortunately I didn't get a picture until the kids were absolutely exhausted!  (Explains the expressions and the paci in Carter's mouth!)

Then we celebrated my birthday!  I had a fun day with the kids (yay, it wasn't a school day so I got to have time with them all at home!), then that evening Mom, Dad, Logan, Karen, Mike, Emily, Drew, Eric, and Hailey all came over bringing dinner, cake, and ice cream to have a birthday party.  After it was over, John and I slipped out for a movie date, leaving the kids in the care of Nana and Grandad for a few hours.  I had a great birthday! 

 As soon as Carter saw the cake, he couldn't think about anything else.  He kept asking for a piece!

 Family picture on my birthday!

The night of my birthday it started snowing?!  I don't remember it ever snowing on my birthday before!  When I was up with Nora Kate during the night I looked out the window to see a beautiful snow covered yard.  While I'm not a fan of the cold weather in winter, the snow is beautiful!  The boys had a blast playing in the snow!  Carter learned what snow is, and now he likes to talk about it!  I ran Nora Kate outside for a quick "first snow" picture, and she was most definitely not a fan of the cold!

 

The following day was Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with a lot of family (including Mamaw) at Lolly and Pop's house for lunch, went home for the boys, Nora Kate, and John (he worked the previous night) to nap, then went to the Zorio's for Thanksgiving dinner. 

 Daddy's tiniest turkey on Thanksgiving.

 My three sweet Thanksgiving turkies!

 Somehow I missed that Carter was doing this until I uploaded the pictures to the computer!  Looks like he wanted a little sister to eat instead of turkey!  I'm really not sure what he's doing here, but this is SO Carter!  Just being silly.