Small Group Christmas

Our small group from church are some of our dearest friends. Each Christmas since our group has been together, we've celebrated by exchanging gifts. We all got together at the Blair's home on Saturday, December 12th. Our group began with just couples and one child and now each family has at least one child and some have two! This year the kids drew names to exchange with each other. Baby Katie had Carter's name and got him Little People blocks and a new book. He loves books and the blocks were a hit too! We had a wonderful time with all the kids! They are just so much fun!

Our attempt at getting all the kids to look at the camera... at the same time!

(Baby Katie didn't make the picture.)

Family picture time

"This stuff is fun!"

"Thank you Katie for my book and blocks!"

The girls:

Kelly, Lee Ann and Haylee, Beth and Jordan, Amy and Katie, Courtney

The guys:

Jason, Jody, Justin with Keltin and Matthew, Joe and Carter, Michael and Carson

Let it Snow!

We woke up early (as always with Carter) on Saturday, December 5th to a beautiful, white scene- Carter's 1st snow! We were so excited to get Carter outside to see what he would think. We didn't even give him his morning bottle before we bundled up and headed outside for a little while. We couldn't stop laughing at how much Carter reminded us of Randy from "A Christmas Story". He had trouble doing anything with his arms except holding them straight out (he had on so many layers)! He was very curious watching the snow fall from the sky. He loved to watch but just not touch! We had a great time letting Carter experience snow! It was something we will never forget!

Family picture time!

Our little Randy!

It looks like Carter was trying to make a snow angel! The snow kept hitting him in the face, which he didn't appreciate, so he got a little upset about that!

Courtney took Carter inside to warm up while Joe made a snowman. Carter was dying to get back out there with Joe. He couldn't stop watching Joe! He must have been wondering when he was going to be able to get back out there!

Carter and his 1st Snowman!

After this picture, he fell over and caught himself with his hand... which touched the snow! Our experience was over after that...

"Get me back inside!"

Fresh, Hot, Now!

Courtney's family has gone to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts since she was a little girl. They would drive to the Kingston Pike store, buy a dozen hot doughnuts or two, and everyone would get a little carton milk (now the milk comes in little jugs). That's a family memory that she'll never forget! To this day, Courtney LOVES Krisy Kreme doughnuts! We thought we would go ahead and introduce Carter to this wonderful food group- Delicious Lard! He was excited that the entire doughnut was placed on his tray but a little unsure as to what to do with it. He enjoyed using it as a drum stick on his tray rather than eating it! We broke it up into bites and he doesn't seem to share Courtney's love for Krispy Kreme... yet! He ate a few bites and didn't seem to really care too much about it. Next time we may let him try a "fresh, not, now" kind! (That's what Courtney calls them when the light is on!) It will melt in his mouth and he's sure to love it!

"I'm so excited!"

"What is all this stuff on the top?"

"This is so much fun!"

"Cheese... I mean Doughnuts!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 26th, we went to Courtney's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. Carter has been eating more table food over the past few weeks so we let him have Thanksgiving dinner with everyone instead of baby food. We have realized very quickly that Carter loves food. He loves to try new things! We haven't found much that he doesn't enjoy eating. His favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner was Grammy's special dressing. We took some home with us and Carter had leftovers the next day too!

Carter and his Great Papaw

Carter doesn't really care for baby food peas but he LOVES real peas!

They are the perfect finger food for him!

Shoveling in the yummy food!

"I love Thanksgiving!"

We are so thankful to God for our baby boy!

What a blessing he is in our lives!

"Thanks Grammy and Guggy for the yummy food!"
"I love you very much!"

Fantasy of Trees 2009

On Wednesday, November 25th, we took Carter to Fantasy of Trees. Courtney helps co-chair her school's decorations for a tree so we go every year to see the Amherst tree. Carter enjoyed looking at all the lights and people. We took Carter on the merry-go-round and he hated it! He fussed for most of the ride. We also let him try his 1st cookie, which he loved and screamed for more. He was up that night until almost 10pm on a sugar, over-stimulation rush! (At least we didn't have school the next day!) Carter made his 1st Christmas ornament for our tree at home. Our tree has several ornaments from our childhood days so we can't wait to start adding Carter's to the tree!

Our Family Picture

The Amherst Elementary Tree-

"Jingle Bells" theme

"Get me off of this thing!"

Just daddy and me!

"YUMMY!"

Our little cookie monster screaming for more cookie!

Carter's 1st ornament

Jingle All The Way Home!

Disney on Ice... Finding Nemo

On Wednesday, November 18th, we took Carter to Disney on Ice. The theme this year was "Finding Nemo". We were a little worried considering the show didn't start until 7pm and Carter starts getting ready for bed around that time. He was a champ and did really well. It helped that Courtney's family was there to play "pass the baby" when Carter was getting tired. He was entertained for about the first 20 minutes and then wasn't too excited about seeing Nemo skate around on the ice. We had a nice family outing together and hope to make this a tradition every year!

After the show, we tried to get a family picture-

Carter was soooo tired!

Our Little Nemo!
Carter borrowed his Uncle Joe's hat so that we could get a picture.
Thanks Uncle Joe!

Here are a few pictures from the show:

I love food!

Joe went out of town a few weeks ago with the 8th graders at Karns Middle. While he was out of town, Courtney went to Cracker Barrel with her family for breakfast and let Carter have a few bites of blueberry pancakes. He seemed to enjoy them so she decided to make blueberry waffles for dinner on Monday, November 16th. We thought we would let Carter try them out and see what he would do. He absolutely LOVED them! This was the 1st time he actually feed himself without missing his mouth! We were so proud of him! He couldn't shovel the food in fast enough!

His 1st big boy bite!

"I love these things!"

"YUMMY!"

"Why are you taking my picture?"

"All done!"

Look at the blueberries all over his face!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great 1st Halloween with Carter on Saturday, October 31st. We ran several errands that day and rushed home to get Carter ready to hand out candy. It was a very rainy night so we didn't have quite the turnout that we expected. Carter tolerated his costume for most of the night so that we could take a few pictures. He loved seeing all the characters ringing our doorbell! Later that night, we gave him his treat basket since he can't have candy. We got him a pumpkin book, a new bath book, puffs, and a pack of ghost peeps. We'll let him try the peeps in a few weeks so we'll post pictures later. He was so funny going through his basket. He actually took one thing out at a time and inspected it thoroughly before getting the next thing out.

Our little monkey!

We propped him against the ottoman so that we could get a "standing" shot.

Outside waiting for the trick-or-treat fun!

Our Halloween family picture!

"Puffs! I love these things!"

"What is this? I love the noise that it makes!"

"I love my new bath book! I can't wait to chew on it!"