Wake Up Call

When Carter wakes up in the middle of the night - or unreasonably early (like anything before, say, 9am) - he typically comes up to our bedroom, where we pull him into bed and tell him something to the effect of "Go back to sleep. It's still nighttime." If he won't get in bed, we'll send him on a scavenger hunt in our bedroom, asking him to bring us various objects, just so we can stay horizontal for a few more minutes.

Recently, Carter has wised up. These days, he simply comes to the bottom the stairs to our bedroom, flips on our light and calls out "Daytime!"

Thankfully, he only does this when it is actually light outside.

Beach Trip

We had a great weekend at the beach with Cart Cart, Ashley, Park and Anna. I've posted a selection of photos below. A few things I didn't get pictures of:

1. Park & Thomas enjoying their Oyster Shots
2. Thomas attempting to eat 10 saltines in under a minute
3. Our rousing game of Hoopla (What do you call a non-ghost costume for a man made from a sheet? How about a baseball-player candy bar? Sure, easy when you're not under time constraints!)
4. My first viewing of A Room with a View (finally!)

But here are some pictures I did get:

DVD player saves the drive, again

Morning story and beverage time

Carter was the king of the playground!

Cousin bathtime!

Carter demonstrated how to crawl the tunnel, but Anna couldn't be convinced to follow.

Carter's barefoot walk on the beach (I joined him shortly thereafter -- and it was COLD!)

Feeding the birds

Shorn!

Apparently, Thomas wasn't down with the whole long-haired child thing (which seems pretty hypocritical, really :). But I told him he could get Carter's hair cut whenever he wanted. So today, (the first time he was alone with Carter since I said that) they got a haircut.

And, wow. What a difference a haircut makes. Look at my baby-faced toddler on the top and my practically-ready-for-jr-high boy on the bottom! Only taken a week apart. Wow.

Aquarium

Two weeks ago, when my work was still fully insane, Park and Ashley were so kind as to take Carter to the aquarium for the day, which finally gave Thomas a break and allowed me to work guilt-free. Carter had a GREAT time, so, the following week, he and I met up with the other Fowlkes family for another visit to the aquarium. Carter was somewhat disappointed that Uncle Park wasn't picking him up (what a drag to have your MOM go with you), but we still had a fun time.

Silly Hair Day

The first Friday of each month, Carter's school has "spirit day", on which we are asked to do something funny to them (dress them in silly socks, their (our) favorite color, etc.). This month was silly hair day. Thankfully, Carter is in serious need of a haircut, so we were able to participate fully in the silliness.

A Letter Home

Apologies, once again, for the lack of blogging. My insane work schedule continued through the holidays and into this week, but things are beginning (fingers crossed) to get back to a slightly more normal pace. Regardless, I still need a little recovery time before I get back to my normal blogging self. So, while I'm being lazy, I present you with this hilarious, blast-from-our-past post from my brother.

A Letter Home

Thanks for finding, posting and deciphering, Patrick!

Christmas - Post 3

Christmas Dinner

Christmas - Post 2

Thomas can't wait until the whole ball of yarn turns into his Christmas scarf!

Opening his awesome name/puzzle stool

Webcam-ing with the family

Trying out the mom-and-tot yoga book Carter and I received

Mr. Potato Head!

Christmas - Post 1

Just a quick post on Christmas before we head out for a few hours. I promise more pictures later this afternoon/tonight.

What Santa brought.
Santa had a little hand-me-down help this year. Two of his three Santa presents were simply shined-up for their debut at our house. Note the 20+ year old keyboard and the much newer my-first-Schwinn. His Lightening McQueen is a first-edition, though. Santa appreciated the help!

Carter and Thomas playing on the keyboard. Carter enjoyed playing this one with his hand, and then with his feet, and then with his whole body. Then he branched out to even bigger and better keyboards. I'll post on that later.

Carter tries out several of his presents at once. New bike, new choo-choo train underwear (outerwear?), a new sweater, and he dressed the bike in a new shirt for good measure.

A Christmas toast with our traditional pom-pagne!

Christmas PJs

Growing up, we had a tradition in my family where we got to open one present on Christmas Eve, and it was always pajamas. That tradition continues with the three of us. Since the presents started showing up under the tree, Carter has asked pretty much every day if he could open them, but he has, surprisingly, not just started ripping them open. But he was VERY excited to get to open one tonight. Thankfully, we aren't yet at the stage of Christmas awareness where he can't fall asleep on Christmas Eve. We opened PJs, put them on, read a story, and he went right to sleep. Hooray!

Thomas realizes that he and Carter have received matching pajamas (oh. great.... thanks, honey)

Carter realizes that he and Dada have received matching pajamas (this is the best thing ever)

The boys

The three of us!