High School Small Group

Matt and I thoroughly enjoy our high school small group! This year our group has grown quite a bit, and we truly look forward to our Sunday nights with these kids. They are so much fun! The girls in our group are constantly baking! I used to try and keep up with them, but I can't compete with their red velvet cupcakes with homemade icing, and this past week, chocolate peanut butter brownie pizza! Yum! At least once a month we have a themed hang out night. We've done a mexican fiesta night, bonfires with smores, and our most recent, root beer floats and ice cream sundaes.
Carson gets so excited when they come over. The girls follow him wherever he tells them to go, it is so cute! Of course, he loves the sweet treats too! This past week the kids played an old fashioned game of Domino's with Matt. He is always thinking up something different for them to do. What a fun group of kids!

Sweet girl!

Hannah is such a girly girl! Although she is getting a bit of a tomboy streak in her from hanging with my boys so much! Her hair is just long enough to play with now and I definitely take advantage of my girly time with her. Isn't she just the sweetest?!?! Piggy tails!!
Such a big girl now!

Ready, set, swing!

Matt and I had a blast teaching Carson how to play baseball this weekend. He can throw the ball so well and has quite a swing too! Everytime he hit the ball, he would say, "Good job Carson" and give us a thumbs up! We took him to the baseball diamond at the Elementary school we live near and can't wait to start teaching him to run the bases soon! We are excited about our t-ball years to come!

Wagon ride!

Tanner's very first wagon ride!

Feeding turtles

Lake Lily is one of our family's favorite parks to go to. It is so beautiful! Carson loves to feed the turtles and ducks there. As soon as you start throwing the bread into the water, the turtles all swim over and come to the surface. A beautiful heron:

Valentine's Day

What a fun Valentine's Day we had! We started off the day by giving the boys little "love" treats from Mommy and Daddy! Carson was really excited about his giant bag of M&M's! Tanner loved his gift too - so much he wanted to eat it! :) Later in the morning, my good friend Amanda hosted a wonderful Valentine's playdate. She made heart shaped rice krispie treats, and a great lunch including heart shaped sandwiches for the kids. Landy and his yummy treat! After naps, Carson and I made Valentine's cookies for Daddy. This is the first time I have ever made homemade cookies with Carson. What fun! He loved rolling out the dough. We used heart shaped cookie cutters, pink icing, and sprinkles. Of course we had to taste them to make sure they were good enough for Daddy to eat. I left Carson with an iced cookie in his chair, only to find him minutes later rubbing the icing all over his hands like soap! There is no picture of that since I was running him to the sink! :)
Matt's mom watched the boys the Saturday before Valentine's day so Matt and I could have a date, but after the boys went to bed on Valentine's night, we ate a delicious heart shaped pizza and watched our favorite show! We hope you all had a love-filled day too!

Park fun!

The weather has just been gorgeous outside and Matt and I love taking the boys to the park in the early evening. Tanner absolutely loves to swing! This particular park we went to has a giant slide that Carson has been afraid to go down. This time, he went down like a big boy and was so proud! Tanner trying out the little slide.
Our cute little boys swinging. Mommy taking a turn on the seesaw!

Wolf Lake Elementary Carnival

Jamie invited us to her Elementary school carnival. It was a cold day, but so much fun! Carson got to dance in the courtyard and hulahoop. He also became a pro at bouncing on this ball: Gotta love beanbag toss games! And volunteers that let our little ones play it their own way! We met up with Jamie and Hannah towards the end and I got to ride the "choo choo train" with Hannah and Carson! Thanks Aunt Mamie for a fun morning!

Brothers

The older the boys get, the more they interact with each other, and it makes me so excited to have them so close in age. They are going to be best buds! Here are a couple of cute videos of them playing together.

Carkey & TT

The boys and I have such a fun time with our Hannah Grace in the mornings! Hannah has developed the cutest personality and is talking so much! She calls Carson "Carkey" and Tanner "TT". All 3 of them are best buds! Hannah has turned into quite the little Mommy. She yells "TT!!" whenever he leaves a room and goes into a different room. She has to make sure Aunt G is watching at all times. Carson loves to go and get Hannah after her morning naps. She isn't always too thrilled about his energy, but she definitely tolerates it! After morning naps today, they shared raisins. So cute!

8 months

Tanner is 8 months old! Each month that goes by, I have a tendency to say "This has been my favorite month!" And again, going into this next month, we are absolutely loving the stage Tanner is at. He is so much fun, and so active! This month Tanner took his first ride in the grocery cart! One of Tanner's favorite things to do is to crawl into his big brother's room, pull up at the train table, and play! It is so cute to see him stand there and play with the trains. He is a curious little boy. Always standing at the glass sliding door and peeking out to see what's going on outside. This past month, we have noticed a new habit Tanner has formed. Sucking his thumb! He never did this as a newborn, and never was too interested in the paci. Unfortunately, Tanner has been battling ear infections, and we have read that sometimes kids will suck their thumb because it makes their ears feel better. Although I am hoping it doesn't become a permanent habit, it sure is cute! We have really been enjoying the weather outside with the boys lately. Carson loves to ride his bike and walk up and down the sidewalk, and Tanner thoroughly enjoys the swing in our tree! He usually slips into this deep trance and sometimes falls fast asleep.
Our baby gates got put back up in our house this month. The kitchen is completely gated off, but he loves to stand at the gate and watch Mommy put the dishes away. Tanner also has learned he can crawl under Carson's bed! Not good! We can't believe how fast the time is going, but we thoroughly enjoy our TT (and our Carson!) to the fullest everyday!

50's Sock Hop Birthday Bash!

For Mom's birthday, Jamie and I wanted to do something fun for her. Our Mom is the greatest, and the best Nana too, and we couldn't wait to put together a little family (sadly, minus 2 important members Jacob and Brooke!) surprise party for her! Jamie, and her creative self, came up with a 50's "Sock Hop" theme! You could say, we went a little crazy! While my parents were away for the weekend, we decorated their house with 50's themed wall hangings, and set up a soda fountain/ice cream sundaes station. We thought it would be fun too to show up in 50's costumes, including the kids! Jamie made Hannah a poodle skirt, and I got the boys white t-shirts, and slicked back Carson's hair, he was so into it!
Tanner and Hannah posing in their 50's costumes! Rolling up my jeans, and throwing a scarf in my hair was enough of a costume for me, but Matt took it to the extreme with his "Nerd from the 50's" outfit. I was laughing so hard when he came out of the bedroom with his costume on, complete with nerdy glasses, and pens in his shirt pocket. He was quite the nerd alright! :) Jamie, Will, and Hannah had awesome costumes too! My sweet Hannah Grace! All of us decked out! Nana and her precious grandkids! After some fun photos, we headed inside to begin making our diner food for dinner! Carson and Hannah sipped on their soda fountain drinks (aka water!). Diner food - yum! Hamburgers, Chili dogs, onion rings, french fries, and baked beans: Our root beer floats and ice cream sundaes were a big hit too. We had lots of ice cream toppings and the kids especially liked this part of Nana's birthday party.

We love you Mom and hope you had so much fun at your Sock Hop Birthday Bash! Happy Birthday!