October 2014

October was an AWESOME month! It started out not so awesome though with ALL three kids being sick.  Dawson was the first one, then Carter, and finally Nora Kate.  It wiped us out for several days, and even then it seemed to take a while for all the coughs and congestion to go away.  Their sickness came at the same time as some cold weather, so we took advantage and spent a lot of time doing art, reading books, and playing inside-in our pajamas even!

glitter glue!

The two littles who were still sick in this picture.

This isn't the best picture of the kids, but I LOVE what it represents.  Tuesday, October 7th we went to visit John at this job for the last time!  It was his last day there, so we did a little shopping, grabbed pretzels (seen here) in the cafe, and visited Daddy.  

Then on to fun!  Between his last day at his former job and his first day at his new job, John had almost two full weeks off!  IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!  We did lots of fun things, and enjoyed some relaxing family time at home too!

The first few days John was off we headed to Pigeon Forge (Dawson calls it Pigeon Forrest-hah!).  Wednesday we spent the day at Dollywood.  It was perfect weather!

After spending the day at Dollywood, Wednesday evening we met Nana and Grandad (John's parents) and Cousin Drew at the River Stone Resort in Pigeon Forge.  We stayed in a great 3 bedroom condo there which was great because it allowed us plenty of space with the kids.  One of the big perks to staying there was that it had an indoor baby pool AND a big indoor swimming pool.  All three kids LOVED swimming!

The River Stone also had a nice playground.  So Thursday morning we let the kids play there.

Before we headed to the outlets for some shipping.

and putt putt

Nora Kate got nice and warm in the sun in the carrier against me and took a brief snooze like this during putt putt--this absolutely NEVER happens anymore!

I think it had a lot to do with the fact she was still recovering from being sick, but still I'll take the extra cuddles!!

After enjoying shopping, putt putt, playground, and more swimming Thursday, Friday we got up and headed to a go cart track.  Dawson assured us he was big enough and brave enough and "really really really really" wanted to ride with Daddy.  Look how excited (above) he was in line!

thumbs up and ready to race!

loving it!

Meanwhile I was entertaining Carter and Nora Kate, with Carter begging to ride "like Dawson because I are a big boy too!"  So, John decided to give it a try since Carter was tall enough.

So there's my little boy in the big go cart with his Daddy....and HE LOVED IT!!!

We got back Friday night from Pigeon Forge, and Saturday morning was another of Dawson's soccer games!

After soccer we took the kids to the grandparents, and headed to the UT Homecoming football game!

The following afternoon was our good friend, Colt's 4th birthday.  He had a fireman birthday party complete with a real fire truck which was a hit with all the kids!

During the rest of John's off time, Dawson, Grandad, and John enjoyed golfing here.

One Tuesday he was off we drove to Asheville, NC to visit our friends, the Whites.  Marshall had grown so much since we saw him in July!!

Carter had an in depth conversation with Cassandra!

Our six sweet kids lined up for pictures!

Left to right: Thomas, Nora Kate, Carter, Dawson, Marshall, and Henry!

We realized that combined we have 1 kid per year.

2009-Dawson

2010-Henry

2011-Thomas

2012-Carter

2013-Nora Kate

2014-Marshall

These 6 played really well together, and we had a great time visiting-despite that it was a horribly dreary, rainy day!

Josh and John

Fraternity brothers

Each other's best men

It got cold this month, and there is nothing sweeter than kids in snuggly warm fleece pajamas.

After our drive to Asheville and back, we realized (from her fussiness in the car-which is rare), that Nora Kate was definitely ready to move to forward facing.

So we rotated her seat.  Look how happy!

The last weekend of John's time off before his new job was the Foothills Fall Festival.  It was Friday-Sunday, and we managed to go FIVE times over the three day span.  We always enjoy the festival!  Here we are riding the train at the festival!

Carter loved this ninja turtle and we had to see it EVERY time we went to the festival!

There was a skiing squirrel show, a dog and pony show, and a pig show-all of which the kids enjoyed watching.  Look at our two big boys sitting front row watching the dogs do tricks.

Watching a painting pony at the festival.  Carter thought this was hilarious!

Saturday morning soccer game!

After soccer, I took the kids back to the fall festival (photos above and below) by myself so John could work on a special project at home!

My sweet Nora Kate was serious (above) and silly (below) while riding the (VERY FAST) carousel at the festival. 

Festival Fun!

So the special project John and the grandparents were working on while we were at the Fall Festival with the kids was taking Carter's toddler bed apart and getting him a twin bed-a big boy bed!!  After the festival he was excited to get to nap in his big, new bed! (above)

After nap, you guessed it...back to the festival.  They loved playing in this "sand" at the festival.  Nora Kate, on the other hand, would touch the sand and say, "shooo! shoo!"

THEN....Monday, October 20 was John's first day at his new job!

I really wanted to take a picture with him and the "first day of ___" chalkboard on the front porch with his briefcase and lunchbox, but I was luck to get this picture!  He is LOVING his new job! AND I am loving having him home EVERY EVENING AND EVERY WEEKEND!  I feel very spoiled and very thankful for this new job with the new hours!  We have never had normal hours the whole time we have been married, so this is a treat!

Carter's big boy bed

It's hard to get a picture of Carter's big boy bed and Dawson's bed, but this kind of gives you an idea.  He loves having a big bed like Dawson.

Dawson had his first ever field trip this month!  We went to the Maple Lane Farms.

Dawson and Colt checking out the tractors, of course!

Dawson, Colt, and Carson

Hayride with Carson

I handed my camera to a friend and asked Dawson to take a picture with me on his field trip in the pumpkin patch, and he just gave me a big hug! She snapped the picture really quick, and I LOVE THIS!!!!!  He was so excited that we got to have a special day together on the field trip!

Love my big boy!

FRIENDS!

Carson, Dawson, Colt!

Quick mom-picture!

Dawson found the perfect pumpkin!

Snacks with his class at the pumpkin patch!

Dawson and his teacher on the field trip!

We have started having "at home pajama days" every Thursday or Friday.  With Dawson having school 3 days a week now, soccer Saturday mornings, and church Sunday morning, it's sometimes hard to slow down and enjoy our sweet little time at home.  I've been trying to "schedule" this at home time one of those two free mornings a week, and the kids really enjoy it!  We do art! (Above)

build haunted gingerbread houses

We made mummy dogs for lunch

painted pumpkins

had banana ghosts for snack

our finished mummy dogs (the kids had fun shredding and wrapping the breading around the hot dogs.)

One of our at home mornings we did leaf crafts.  We went on a leaf hunt for different size and color leaves around the yard and neighborhood.

We ironed some leaves the kids had collected at the grandparents house between wax paper and decorated the playroom door to outside.  Then we made the leaf art above (mostly Dawson) with what we collected in our neighborhood.  Carter had the most fun shredding the leaves...yes, inside!

Nora Kate has worn this cheer leading uniform a few times, but I finally managed to get some good pics of her in it on the day of the UT Alabama game!

This girl loves her Daddy!

We celebrated Cousin Hailey's birthday at Mr. Gatties this month!

Cousins 

(Drew, not pictured)

I LOVE NEWBORNS!  My friend, Kristin, had her baby girl in October, and Carter, Nora Kate, and I went to visit one morning!

Nora Kate was a little jealous!

THEN another friend had a baby in October too...so we made our rounds that day and got to see Lauren's sweet baby girl too!

John had a Halloween work dinner and we were supposed to dress up!

These were seriously last minute costumes (we didn't know until the day of the event!!!), and we won 2nd place (a gift card was the prize) for our costumes.  We were a loofa and soap!  It was a lot of fun!

Dawson had his soccer award banquet in October too!  Here he is with his coach and trophy!

He's so proud of this trophy!

Of course, October ended with Halloween.  My cute little Buzz Lightyear is ready for take off!

And there's my favorite deputy, Dawson as Woody.

Just like every year since Dawson was 17 months old, we had a Halloween playdate at our house.  So fun!

Back row:  Nora Kate, Harper, Colt, Dawson, Carson, Carter

Front row:  Claire, Nora, and Charlie

There's my sweet little lady bug!!

An at home/pajama morning of art was perfect for Halloween morning!

It was VERY cold and rainy on Halloween, but our favorite place to trunk or treat-a local church-moved their festivities inside.  This was perfect! It was brightly lit, so less scary for the kids and easier to see everyone's costumes too.  Our friends the Myers met us there.  

Trick or treat!

Checking out the loot after we got home!

October was a great month full of a lot of great family time and fun!

Nora Kate is 14 Months

Nora Kate is now 14 months old, and she's a good little walker!  The biggest change this month was that she went from crawling most of the time to walking most of the time!  She could crawl last month, but still preferred to walk.  The only bad news is that she usually has at least one bruise on her head or legs from falling.  She's a great walker-but she wants to go fast-like her brothers- and a lot of times she gets going too fast.  You have to walk before you run, Nora Kate!!!!

Nora Kate has definitely become a Daddy's girl this month.  If he is around, that's who she wants!  She will walk to him and find a way to climb on him and try to get on his lap! It's so sweet!

Nora Kate has started putting more and more words together.  Her three word combinations are "Here you go." "There you go."  For two word combos, she frequently says: "Love you!" "Thank you" "Bye Bye"  "Uh oh!" "Night Night"  We have started asking her animal sounds this week.  She does not always like to do this, but when it's pretty calm I can usually get her to answer two:  "What does a horse say" (neigh neigh) and "What does a dog say?" (Woof woof, but sounds like doof doof) 

She loves bath time and teeth brushing time, and if I mention either of these, she makes a beeline for her bathroom. 

Nora Kate is a great little eater, and she's not too picky!  Her favorites are pasta, string cheese, yogurt, chicken or turkey, carrots, bananas, raspberries, apples, and really any casserole. 

Nora Kate gets up about 7:30 each morning and goes to bed about 7:30 each night.  She usually (unless we have a playdate or are out running errands) takes 2 naps a day, one from 10-11am and another from 1-2:30pm.  She always takes the afternoon nap, it's the morning nap that gets omitted sometimes.

Nora Kate is such a happy little girl!  She is opinionated in that she knows exactly what she wants, and she's not the most patient (ie, if she drinks all her milk, she wants more immediately and everyone will know it because she gets loud!). 

We love our sweet baby so much!  There are a few things I want to remember about our precious Nora Kate at 14 months...She loves to walk, dance, climb, read books (especially touch and feel books), knock over block towers, carry her babydoll around, push her baby stroller, her brothers, and being outside! 

My three precious babies!

The three amigos

I love this sweet girl more than words!  

Nora Kate 14 months!

Carter Update: TWO AND A HALF

Until the time Carter turned two, I did a monthly "Carter Update," as you may remember.  After he turned two, I decided that I would only do an official update every six months.  Carter is now two and a half, so it's time for an update!  John and I cannot believe we have such a big boy!

I say we can't believe we have a 2 and a half year old, but at the same time, Carter talks and acts so big-sometimes he seems MUCH older!  He looks up to his big brother SO very much and wants to act just like him, so I think this is a big part of him seeming older!

Carter is definitely our little comedian!  He will do absolutely anything to get a laugh!  I'm not so sure his teachers will appreciate this when he gets to elementary school, just his brother and sister LOVE being entertained by silly Carter!  Carter is FULLY of personality and energy!

Carter has always loved to sing, and he still does!  My favorite is when he wakes up singing in the morning, and I can hear his sweet little voice on the monitor.  If anything is a song, he learns it VERY quickly! I'm always impressed! 

Carter loves to pray!  He always starts out his prayers, "God, thank you for mulch and..."  I'm not sure why but he's always really thankful for mulch.  The other night his prayer went like this, "God, thank you for mulch, and Dawson, and Daddy, and Mommy, and Nora Kate, and not for the bad or scary things, and thank you for bears, and the mountains, and not for spiders, and Mr. Gatties, and taking care of us, and AMEN!"

Carter has always been a great "talker."  This has not changed.  He has a HUGE vocabulary.  BUT in the past couple of months he has also started making up words.  He has three "Carter Words" that he loves to say, and he always makes such a sweet/silly little face when he says them!  The first word he started saying that was a "Carter Word" was "teamapster."  Then he added "tennesseeawesomebom."  And finally, he added "oshkosh."   He just likes to say these when he's playing or happy, and he knows they are nonsense words, but they're so funny to him!

As I mentioned in the September blog post, Carter became so comfortable in the water this summer!  I'm thinking maybe we should enroll him in swim lessons this winter when we don't have a lot to do so he can continue to be comfortable in the water and learn to swim a little!

I've talked a lot about Carter's love for his big brother,  but I don't want to fail to mention Carter's relationship with Nora Kate!  Over the last two months, Carter and Nora Kate have started interacting a lot more!  They seem to enjoy "playing" with the other.  I'm so glad Carter is starting to play with her especially on Dawson's school mornings because he used to be SO lonely without big brother.

Another thing about Carter at this age is that he knows no strangers.  He loves to talk to anyone who will listen!  Every morning when we drop Dawson off at school, Carter has to talk to EVERYONE.  Carter is definitely not shy!

Carter gets up every morning at 7:30, takes about a 2 hour nap from 1-3, and goes to bed at 8:00.  A big change right when he turned 2 1/2 was that we put him in a twin bed instead of his toddler bed, and...he has done AWESOME!  He loves his big boy bed, and looks so little and cute curled up in it!

My sweet, brown-eyed, full of personality, funny, sweet, happy, rowdy Carter melts our hearts each day, and we love him so much!  Happy 2 1/2, Carter!!

LOVE these three!

Carter looks up to his big brother so very much!

Poor Nora Kate!  Carter has this recent obsession with her ears!!

He is always feeling them!  When I catch him doing this he responds, "but they are SO soft!"  While I was getting the camera ready to take pictures Carter leaned over and touched her ear, so I manage to capture this.  Hah!

Oh the "cheese face"! 

LOVE my sweet, Carter!

And now for a total Mommy moment....it seems like just yesterday I was sharing the above baby picture of Carter with everyone!  How has 2 1/2 years passed already?!?