Tis the Season

Joel and I are going out to dinner with some friends in Tupelo tonight, and then we are heading to TOYS R US for some Christmas shopping! I am pumped. I think this may be one of my all time favorite things to do. I am giddy about what we will come home with to keep hidden in the attic for the next six weeks.

So Christmas shopping plus this video of Carter have me all fired up for the holidays. Carter has joined the Children's Choir at church, and this is what he came home singing last night. Melted my heart. He couldn't quite finish the song :) Makes it that much cuter.
P.S. Ignore the tractor noises as he is singing. Typical.

 

Buddies

Watching football and snuggling. Love it.

What is your name?

Pronunciation....the source of lots of laughter at our house. Here is Coop pronouncing his name :)

 

In case you didn't catch that, he calls himself, "Poot"....yes, you read that right....Poot. Hee Hee. Poor Coop, Carter called him "Pooper" for the longest time, and now he calls himself Poot. He is just destined for a bad nickname. Who knew Cooper/Coop was such a tough one to pronounce? Makes for some good giggles :)

Festivities

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend. The boys loved our church Reformation Celebration. They both had fun school parties, and lastly, we went trick or treating around the Oxford square. The boys soaked it all up, and Mama is exhausted!  

We opted for painting our pumpkins instead of carving this year. Can you tell I put them in the clothes I care least about?

Final products. These make me smile.

That is one handsome crew.

Joel bought this huge thing of Jelly Bellies, and the boys are like little starving birds when they see him get out the jar. They immediately flock to him and beg. I am not sure why he is giving them candy on Halloween weekend....as if they needed more than they had already consumed!!!

Okay, I have gone a little crazy on the matching outfits. I rarely matched them last year because Carter was in big boy clothes basically, and Coop was still in baby clothes. Now they pretty much wear the same style clothes, and I have gone a little whacko making them match ALL THE TIME. They just look so cute when they match!

Let the fun begin! Spiderman showing his muscles before the Reformation Party.

And our Super Coop ready to save the world.

Coop in his classroom at school. I am pretty sure he plays on the slide all day long. That's all he did the entire party besides stopping to eat his snack.

Carter in his classroom. He was sooo excited DaDa got to come to his party. I love that Joel gets to go to all their little school events. He is such a great dad.

We had a great weekend, but I think I will go lay down and take a nap. I think I am having a sugar crash!

Chef Carter, Tennis Lessons, and Smores

Carter is into all things culinary these days. He loves to help me cook, bake, pack Joel's lunch...anything in the kitchen. I love it too. Makes it all more fun when you have a partner. Yes, it makes a bigger mess, but it's worth it to see how excited he gets when I tell him he can help me. I hope he always like to cook...maybe we have a future chef on our hands :)

Coop enjoying the final product of our afternoon baking session.

The Oxford Park Commission has a little tennis class for 3 and 4 year olds, so we decided to sign Carter up since one of his little friends was doing it too. The first class was last week....hilarious! He was so excited. He ran around hitting the balloon and an occasional ball for the first 20 or so minutes. Then the coach decided to get organized and have them stand in line to learn to hit the ball. Carter was immediately in LaLa land. He wouldn't stay in line and kept wanting to hit the stray balls on the other side of the court. He quickly became uninterested!. He had fun, and we are going to stick with it until it's over, but I think it's safe to say that we are about 6 months to a year behind being ready for organized sports :)

Here he is in action!

Loving hitting that balloon.

He was VERY proud of his first tennis lesson and can't wait to go back. Maybe this week, we will cooperate a little better :)

Coop found a friend to pass the hour....Luci.

We bought a fire pit last week and decided to give the boys their first taste of a smore last weekend.

Carter loved roasting the marshmallows.

"So Yummy," he says.

Chocolate and snot...lovely combo.

On a sugar high right before bedtime. Loved his smore.

The Cavnars come to town (and Uncle Stephen too!)

As you can see we had a very relaxing weekend with the Cavnars and Stephen. Everyone came in town for the Alabama game and some family bonding of course. We had a blast, and we were sad to see them leave after such a quick weekend. My boys loved every minute of them being here. Wish they lived closer!

Julie and me on Joel's balcony. Julie and I could talk for hours and hours and hours. We have gotten really close over the past 6 six years, and she has been a God-send to me since having kids! I was the stereotypical first time mother (probably a little worse!), and Julie was there for me (and still is in my anxious mother moments). She is an encouragement to me, and I am thankful she is my sister and my friend.

Anna Kate and Coop at Joel's office

Andrew, Anna Kate, and Julie

One of my favorite parts of the weekend. Carter LOVED playing with Andrew...specifically tackling Andrew. They had a lot of fun together....made me wish Carter had an older brother, or even more, it made me wish the Cavnars were our neighbors.

Coop before church

The beloved Uncle Stephen...well actually only Carter calls him "uncle." :) Carter thanks God for Uncle Stephen EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Stephen came to visit last spring for a weekend, and ever since, he has been permanently added to Carter's prayer list. Plus, Stephen sent Carter Stanley the train in the mail for his birthday, so that pretty much sealed the deal on making him a cool uncle.

Carter after church

Family pic minus Carter...he wasn't in the family pic mood.

Julie and Stephen

I didn't get a single picture of Caroline or Reid. Oops! It isn't because I don't love them, I promise! Not sure what happened on that one. We had a fantastic time with them, and hope they come back again soon!

We love you Stephen and Cavnars! Thanks for the fun weekend!

I can't take it...

...all his cuteness that is!