Costume Party

Carter was invited to a friend's birthday party a few weeks ago and the invitation said "come dressed in your favorite costume." It was a girl's birthday party, and the majority of guests were little girls, so by all accounts it was technically a "princess party." But I greatly appreciate that the host showed respect for the dignity of the 4 boys in attendance and called it a "costume party.":)

There was no question about what Carter wanted to wear for his costume, but Ryan decided to take it to the next level...

Snow White..... meet Clark Kent.....


Clark Kent with Spiderman


When the games began, it was time for Clark Kent to change identities...

(this was Carter's first experience playing musical chairs, I was impressed by how quickly he picked it up!)

He decorated his cupcake with Superman-like speed and determination:).

The End of an Era

I realized that I would be remiss in not documenting this...

Friday, June 5th marked the end of an era. After a year and a half of fun, the adventures of Carter & Trevor are officially over. While they will still have the occasional play date together, Trevor will no longer be coming over on a daily basis. It's been a roller coaster experience, with plenty of ups and downs, but overall I'm grateful for the experience. Initially, the arrangement of babysitting Trevor is what allowed me to quit my teaching job and stay home with Carter. I have absolutely no regrets about that decision. There were days that I wanted to pull my hair out or shut myself in my bedroom to get away from the quarreling toddlers, but we also had some fantastic days and the boys really enjoyed playing together.

Carter still talks about things we're going to do "when Trevor comes over", but he is slowly coming to understand that this is different from Christmas Break or Spring Break, were we had our alone time, but Trevor always returned. I know Carter will miss playing with Trevor, but I'm looking forward to the time he & I will have together now.

Here's a look back at their time together:

January 2008 - It's hard to believe Carter wasn't even 2 years old yet when we started keeping Trevor.


February 2008 - This little nap in the car led to the only official day that neither one of the napped at home:).


March 2008 - Fun in the snow


May 2008 - The Wiggly Play Center in Frisco became a favorite place for running out their energy.


July 2008 - I can't remember why they're only wearing diapers...I'm sure there was a good reason for it at the time.


October 2008 - Carter joined in on Trevor's love of hockey, so I'm hoping that will wear off now...


March 2009 - Occasionally I had moments of bravery and let them venture into the world of play-doh.


April 2009 - This was their 2nd trip to the Dallas Zoo together, they loved it!


June 2009 - Trevor grew to love Granny like she was his own...so we had to make one last trip to Granny's pool for Trevor's last week.


As with anything in life, this arrangement was great for a season, and now we're ready to start another journey!

Firefighter Mike

This entry is way overdue, but better late than never, right?:)

Uncle Mike has been training all semester up here in McKinney at the Collin County Fire Academy for his new job with the Carrollton Fire Department. A few weeks ago, they had a "Family Night" and we got to see him in action. They invited family members to come see several demonstrations of the skills they have been learning. It was a great evening and Carter will forever talk about being a fireman when he grows up!

Carter, Dylan, & Avery are checking out the fire truck.


Uncle Mike in full gear...


Ryan & Carter are watching the team put out a car fire.


Uncle Mike is the one in front with the black helmet.


Carter & Uncle Mike (big props to Mike for patiently letting everyone take a picture with him while he was burning up in all the gear!)


This is Carter looking off the top of the 10-story practice building...by the way, I was not the one casually standing by taking a picture of him climbing this ladder...I didn't know that happened until Aunt Charlyn sent me this picture...I might have had a heart attack! :)


Daddy & Carter watching another demonstration


This is Carter's disappointment over not having a "cat rescued from a tree" demonstration:)


We all enjoying the evening and are so proud of you, Mike!!!

Roughriders Baseball

Last night we enjoyed the evening at the Roughriders game with Uncle Trent & Aunt Laura. Some friends at church gave us some ticket vouchers, so we decided to brave the weather. It was rainy and yucky all day, but the evening ended up being surprisingly nice for a baseball game.

Our seats were in perfect foul ball territory - several balls hit in the sections on both sides of us, but we didn't get lucky enough to catch one. Carter was disappointed, he talked the whole game about wanting Daddy to catch a ball so he could give it to him...maybe next time!

One of the highlights was Carter getting some facetime on the big screen:). There weren't a lot of people there, so the odds were in our favor, but it was still fun to see him on the screen. He showed off his dance moves to the "Move it, Move it" song from Madagascar - good times!

Here are the guys intensely waiting for that foul ball.


Carter & "Duece" became buddies...


This is Carter laughing at Duece's silly dance moves...


And Laura specifically requested that I include this picture of her trying to get the mustard stain out of her shirt:).

Superman Birthday

On Saturday, Carter had his 2nd birthday celebration with the Boudreau side of family. We went out to Granny & PaPa's to enjoy a cookout with aunts, uncles, cousins, and Superman.

Carter loved this balloon - it was just about life-size for him.


Dave & Charlyn brought over the bounce house for the kiddos, that's always a hit!


Carter was also excited about his Superman cake - I had told him that I would try to make one, but couldn't make any promises on how it would turn out...overall it was a success.


The bright blue icing, however, wasn't so exciting for the parents (sorry, Dave & Charlyn)


Here are a few of the treasures he took home this time:

He's ready to start practicing his spelling with Boggle Jr:)


He also got his very own digital camera with Lightning McQueen on it - awesome!


The Spiderman fishing set was a favorite - especially since Granny & PaPa had a pool for him to start practicing in:).

A Day at the Zoo

It was a beautiful day on Wednesday, and Granny invited us to join her at the zoo with Charlyn, Dylan & Avery. We were initially concerned about the number of school buses we saw in the parking lot, but it didn't turn out to be a problem. The kiddos had a great time, and somehow, it never got less humorous to catch the animals going to the bathroom:).

In case you're not up on your African wildlife, this is a Bongo...


This was our first attempt at a group picture...it didn't get any easier as the day went on...


All the kids needed their own map to carry - Carter looked closely at his and informed us that we needed to get on the train to see all the animals.


Group picture on the Horny Toad bench...this was one of the best smiles from Avery...come to find out, she had tonsillitis that day, poor thing!


Here we have Carter & Trevor hissing like the snake behind them.


After seeing the animals and enjoying a picnic lunch, we went to the children's area to let them play around and run off the rest of their energy. Carter & Trevor followed the "feet only" rule for the water, but somehow their shorts still got soaking wet:).


The giant spider web was even more fun this year now that Carter has become more familiar with Spiderman.





This is the thanks Granny gets for buying all the kids snapping animal heads:).

Happy Birthday!

Carter is officially 3 years old today! As cliche as it sounds...I really can't believe how the time has flown. He seems so grown up now and constantly surprises us with his quick wit and humor. We have been blessed beyond measure by these years we've had with him and look forward to the amazing years ahead!

This past Saturday, Ryan's family was in town, so we celebrated Carter's birthday a little early with them. We enjoyed our time with them and are thankful that his dad survived another tax season:).

The Birthday Boy


Blowing out three candles on his football brownie...


...and now enjoying the treat.


He was thrilled to get his own set of GeoTrax (like Trevor's)


All the guys (big & small) enjoyed putting the tracks together...a few times I would hear Carter pipe in "Hey guys, can I help?" He eventually got a turn with his new toy:).


The boys...