Tanner's first football game!

My cousin Alex is a freshman in high school this year and made the JV cheerleading team! Tanner and I rode up to Belleview with my parents one evening to watch her cheer at the football game.
She did such an awesome job and we were so excited to get to watch her.
During the game, as a fundraiser, you can pay $1 to have the announcer "shout out" to players or to the spectators. While we were visiting down by the field, we heard, "Tanner and Jill, thanks so much for coming to the game. We love you! Love, Alex and Maddy" SO fun!
Tanner was loved on by his Great Aunt and Uncle and did a great job hanging out for the whole game. We love you Alex - awesome job cheering!!

Thunderstorm fort

One night Matt was working late and there was a line of severe thunderstorms pushing through our area. Carson usually isn't too scared, just keeps saying "Raining!" over and over, but on this night you could tell he was a bit nervous.
Matt and Carson build forts out of sheets and chairs often, so I asked Carson if he wanted Mommy to build him a fort we could play in while the storm passed by. He knew just what I was talking about and said "Daddy's blanket!" Which is the blue sheet in the picture! Carson wanted Tanner to come in too so we read stories and hung out in our fort during the storm.
I'm pretty sure Matt does a much better job at building forts than I am, but it served it's purpose! :)

Tanner laughing

Fun with new toys

Carson can't wait to get to his new toys when he wakes up each morning. We start each morning with a song.
And paint about 5 pictures each day!

Carson's 2nd Birthday Party

The theme of Carson's 2nd Birthday party was "Under the Sea". I didn't realize how much fun stuff there was to do with an Under the Sea party! I made a photo collage on a fishing net of pictures of Carson over the past year.
My sister is the most creative person I know and she (along with the help of my Dad too) made this submarine for the kids to poke their heads through and take pictures! It looks just like the submarine on Carson's birthday invitations. We borrowed an inflatable water slide from a friend as the main attraction. It was a big hit!
Carson had a blast sliding and playing in the pool. We had the sand table out for the kids to play in. We also put out a slip n' slide and a large beach ball sprinkler. Tanner watching all the birthday party fun! We had fun making "Under the Sea" foods like peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches and Octopus hotdogsInstead of ordering a big cake, we made "shark cupcakes" (thanks Martha Stewart).
And I made Carson his own small birthday cake.
We sang "Happy Birthday" to him...Carson told everyone, "Ready, set, go" :)
Carson got lots of new fun toys including this guitar from Nana and Papa!
We had such a fun day celebrating Carson with our family and friends!

Happy 2nd Birthday Carson!

We had such a fun day celebrating our little boy! It's so hard to believe that he is 2! We started off the morning with special birthday pancakes...Carson's favorite!
Matt took off work early so that we could spend the afternoon at Disney. Aunt Mamie and Nana split the afternoon and evening watching Tanner so we could have some one on one time with Carson. Carson rode the Dumbo ride for the first time. Usually the wait for Dumbo is super long, but we went on a good day and only waited 10 minutes! Carson kept wanting to go, "Uppa, Uppa" but Mommy was a little scared!
Matt was excited to take Carson on the race cars! I almost missed taking this picture thinking that they would be awhile in line, but again, they only waited a few minutes! Perfect for a little 2 year old's attention span!
After a few rides and dinner in Frontier Land, we got Carson his own ice cream sundae with chocolate Mickey ears. Matt and I sang "Happy Birthday" to Carson with ice cream instead of cake! (Note the "Happy Birthday" pin on Carson's shirt. Every ride we got on, or even just walking around the park, the cast members would tell Carson happy birthday...so fun!)
We headed back to our car a little before the fireworks show. We took a boat over to a Disney resort and watched the fireworks from the boat. It was so nice!
Once we picked up Tanner and got home and had baths, we let Carson open his birthday presents. Knowing he would get quite a few gifts from family and friends, we bought him just a few things! He loved the Sesame Street shapes matching game.
Daddy picked out a bowling set, although Carson uses the pins like a golf club to hit the bowling bowl. Funny how they make up their own version!
And the keyboard was a huge hit since Carson loves music so much. We are having so much fun watching Carson grow and learn new things and feel so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful little boy. Happy 2nd Birthday Carson! We love you!

3 Months

Our sweet little Tanner is 3 months old! He is growing like a weed and changes everyday. He rolled over for the first time today! I put him on his back on his ocean playmat only to find him like this when I came back in the room... Here he is working hard to turn over in his crib. He sometimes can't figure out how to get his arm out of the way! We sat him up in his bumbo seat for the first time since he's doing so good with holding his head up. He wasn't so thrilled as you can tell by his expression! :) One of our favorite things about this month is how much Carson and Tanner are interacting. Carson loves being close to Tanner. Carson calls Tanner "T-T" and tells him all the time, "Baby cute!!" and gives him kisses. Tanner watches every move Carson makes.
Turning 3 months meant it was time to move Tanner out of the bassinet and into his big boy crib. This was hard for Mommy, but Tanner found his crib much more roomey than his previous bed. He even wiggled his way out of the sleep positioner!
Tanner is such a smiley baby too! All you have to do is look at him with a smile and he will give you a big smile back. We aren't due to go back to the doctor until next month, but I did have Tanner weighed just to make sure he was gaining. Boy is he gaining! At 3 1/2 months, he weighs 14lbs and 11oz! He has gained 4 lbs in 6 weeks! We kid around that Tanner is going to be our quarterback. Can't you tell by his cute chubby cheeks?

Our Labor Day weekend Camping trip!

We were planning on going to Jacksonville Saturday to wedding shop with Brooke, and decided Friday morning that it would be fun to go on a little adventure and camp with the rest of my family in Jacksonville for the weekend. We borrowed Steve and Lori's camper, and brought it home Friday night to begin packing. We hit the road Saturday morning for our weekend camping trip! Our home away from home was great!
We got to spend some good quality time together as a family in a little tighter space than we are used to. Carson and Tanner were little snuggle buddies.

Bathtime was a highlight for our trip! We were so thankful to have our own little tub/shower in our camper, but it was a tight fit and made us laugh as we all got clean!
We played play-doh and made up our own play-doh games. We had nowhere to be and were loving the hang out time.

Carson was a busy little boy! He inspected every inch of the camper with a flashlight.
He "walked" my Aunt and Uncle's dogs.
And loved playing on the playground.
There was a water playground for kids at the park where we camped.
Carson had a blast playing and cooling off.
The park where we camped was also on the beach!
I think Matt was more wore out after our beach day from chasing Carson in and out of the water. Carson just loves the water!
Uncle Jacob made Carson something real fun in the sand.
And Tanner was tired just from watching all the fun!

We had such a fun trip. Carson and Tanner both were exhausted on the way home. We were so glad that the boys did so well and can't wait to go camping again!