"*GASP* SANTA?! PRESENTS?!"

I wrapped some of Luke's Christmas presents the other day and put them under the tree.  When he woke up from his nap and walked into the living room to do his routine round of puzzles, he saw these wonderful gifts all wrapped up.  I hope I can write this in the most effective way so as to capture his total and complete surprise at what he saw.

     Luke:  *GASP* [mouth wide open in shock for more than 5 seconds]. Santa come? PRESENTS???!!!
     Mommy:  Those are from mommy & daddy, but Santa comes in 5 days.  Do you like those presents?
     Luke:  [clapping, laughing, & running hysterically] YAY! PRESENTS!!

So our sweet little boy gets it.  Who knew?

I wish, wish, wish I had a picture or video to capture that moment.  I was caught off guard.

Oh My Fishy Pie

Yesterday was a day for the history books.  We (meaning Justin) had the grand idea that Luke needed his very first fish.  So one day on a trip to Petsmart to get dog food, I picked up a little bitty goldfish and a plain ol' fishy bowl for it to swim in.  Luke promptly named this little fishy "Will."  Well, according to my dear, loving husband, I didn't get the right stuff (wrong bowl, what, no rocks? what, no fake vegetation?).  So he and Luke went back to Petsmart and got a "good" bowl and rocks and fake vegetation.  Then, daddy had the grand idea of putting the fishy bowl in Luke's playroom on the little desk in there...with the fishy food on the shelf above.  As I was putting dinner in the crockpot yesterday morning, I hear screaming from the back playroom, "Mommy!  Help! Help!"  So I go running thinking the worst.  Well, it was bad, but not bad in the way I was thinking.  Luke had moved his little play table up to the desk, used it to climb up on top of the desk, stood up to get the fish food off the shelf, opened the fish food bottle and proceeded to dump ALL of the fish food out....on himself, the desk, the bowl, EVERYWHERE.  He was distraught.  He just wanted Will to "eat."  Oh my...Calgon take me away.

These are not great quality because I took them with my phone. 

But you can see him sitting surrounded by all the food and clearly upset.

Potty Training Success!

Our little "big" boy is officially potty trained....in the pee pee department that is.  He now wears big boy undies during the day and pull ups for naptime and nighttime.  He's a champ during the day with the pee pees.  However, getting the No. 2's mastered is still a little scary for him, but three times so far and I'm happy, happy!  Jumping up and down and cheering like a madwoman....yes, he definitely thinks I'm crazy.  Now we just have to keep it up!  We went on vacation and he did excellent.  We went to the zoo and not one accident.  We go to the grocery store, running errands, and out and about and no accidents yet.  Knock on wood, please. 

I Officially Have My Living Room Back

After Luke's birthday party we were drowning in toys.  His little room was bursting at the seams and our little living room was filled to the brim.  "What are we going to do?" I say.  Get rid of some baby toys...yes, that's the answer.  Except that didn't clean out too much because he still plays with a lot of his old toys, too.  So, over Labor Day weekend, we officially made Luke a "playroom."  The back bedroom that had been used for storage (however, it had a bed in it should someone want to sleep there amidst the stuff), was cleaned out, packed up, organized, and reorganized for toys, toys, and more toys.  What a fortunate little boy Luke is.  So now he has a little table and chairs that he colors at most of the time, a shelf to store everything neatly, and room to roam.  He loves it back there and at no time are you able to do anything else besides play in there with him.  Because if you do decide you need to do something else, he grabs your hand, pulls you up, and says, "Play momma, please."  Or, "Sit, momma." Or, "Sit, play, momma."  So smart, he is.

Luke Turns 2!

Luke has officially turned 2.  He's such a big boy now.  Looking back through pictures when he was just one proves this.  He looks different...like a toddler...like a true big boy.  He's funny with a super personality, he's smart, he's loving, he's mischievous, he's all boy, and he's the best!  He had fun at his birthday party, blew out his candles by himself, and opened [most] of his presents (with my help).

Bye, bye, Kiev!

If There's One Thing I Know for Sure.....

It's that I love this kid.....

even though......

he takes such delight......

in peeling our Lacebark Elm.....

until almost no bark is left from his level down......

and then bringing us all the pieces.....

for us to see.....

I love this kid.....

because he takes such delight in peeling our Lacebark Elm and then bringing all the pieces for us to see.

Bouncin' Craze Bonanza!

Luke and I had a fantastic day with our friends Jehan and Kiev at Bouncin' Craze. Kiev and Luke played very well together and thankfully Luke was on good behavior. Luke is a natural climber (thanks to the Little Gym), so climbing up in those big bouncy things was fun for him. I lost track of him a couple of times, because, although I went in with him at first to check it out, this cramped space is not ideal for people over three to four feet tall. But he always seemed to make it out unharmed. Luke and Kiev also liked to play in the "fenced" area with the stove and other knick-knack toys....it's the most adorable, melt-your-heart thing to watch....ahhh...my boy wants to learn to cook.

"Going up now, Mom."

"Almost there ."

Poor Kiev with a monkey on his back

"I think Kiev needs a hug."

"No, wait...maybe he needs a kiss." Adorable....no matter which way you look at it.

Wow. Could there be any more of a difference in our facial expressions? Perhaps I should tone it down a bit.

The Little Lovey

Luke has loved Charlie ever since he could crawl around and try to get to him. Charlie, on the other hand, has always run as fast as he could in the other direction to get away from Luke. Luke has never really gotten ahold of Charlie and Charlie has never, ever gotten close enough to let Luke get him. However, on this particular day, Luke got what he has always wished for, and Charlie, poor, sweet Charlie, let him. Luke held on for all it was worth.

Someone Help Me!

Anyone know what it feels like to be locked out of your house by your not-quite-yet-two-year-old child? Yep....I do! While in the process of feeding my two four-legged furry children (whose food happens to be stored in the garage), my son decided it would be funny to close the door to the garage behind me and lock the deadbolt. FUNNY! HAHA! You got me, Luke! NOW PLEEEEEAAAASE open the door and let mommy in! Whose response on the other side of the door is giggling and the little pitter patter of feet running away. He comes back to check on me (whew!) but then laughs and runs away again (is this really happening to me?). Now the crying starts because he can't find me and he's scared. Five minutes later, after much pleading, I get the bright idea to ring the front doorbell and knock and HOPEFULLY (puhlease) he will open the deadbolt there and let me in. Sweet savior! My child still loves me. Lesson learned: have a spare house key somewhere outside just in case your toddler wants to be funny. But who can be mad at this face? Certainly not the banished one.

Backyard Fun in the Sun

Luke and I had fun in the backyard today. We both got soaked and we both laughed our heads off. I cracked up at Luke and Luke cracked up at himself. He likes to play in the water, but he prefers to carry the garden hose around by himself instead of having it hooked into a [super-fun to mommy, but not to Luke] water sprinkler. Instead of running happily through the sprinkler, he prefers to soak our lab, Colby, which makes him giggle (very funny to Luke...not so funny to Colby). And instead of running happily through the sprinkler, he prefers to soak his mommy (also funny....to everyone).

This video is a couple minutes but pays off in the end (at least Luke thought so).



We also "rigged" his plastic slide into his blow-up pool. I'm pretty sure there's WARNING signs on all blow-up pools and plastic kid slides saying, "NEVER under any circumstances should you put THIS slide into THAT pool." But, who am I to deny my child a smile? Under supervised conditions...

And as much as I would have loved to sit in the chair with my feet in the pool to supervise...little Luke had a much different idea of what I should be doing. I was not allowed to sit under any circumstances and I must always be standing, either with my feet in the pool with him or right next to him in the grass...always.

The chair in which I would have liked to sit

The only person allowed to sit in the chair. Ever.

Welcome back to St. Louis

We just returned from our annual "Carter Family Baseball Trip." This year it was in St. Louis and pretty much all the Carters made it (except for a few and they were missed). This means 30+ Carters all bonding...over the good ole Cardinals. We went up in the Arch (630 feet tall) and then took in the game from the "Musial Bridge Suite" where we could all watch the game together. Luke had a blast swimming and playing with his cousins (however, mommy got accosted in the water by water noodles and beach balls from the hundreds of kids in the pool)....ok that's an exaggeration, but it seemed like a lot! Looking forward to next year!

In front of the "pink" fountain, which we're pretty sure is supposed to be Cardinal "red."

Striking a pose

Checking out his new boo-boo. We left St. Louis with both knees skinned up and he likes to point them out whenever possible.

The stadium from the Arch

The smallest #1 fan watching the game

The fam. And one tired kid ready to go to sleep.

Happy Easter!

Well, Easter was a success. Eggs were hunted, the Easter bunny was there for more slightly terrified pictures with a mythical holiday character, and goats & pot bellied pigs were petted. That's right...I said there was a petting zoo! Luke ran around with the animals and loved it. He was a little wary at first, but after a while he warmed up and wanted to keep going in to see the animals.

All ready to go hunt eggs

Going through his basket from the Easter bunny. "Is this ALL for me?"

With his bunny ears on

Tackling the blowup Easter bunny. I was hoping we'd make it through the day without Luke tackling something.

At the petting zoo. Yes, I'm pointing to the goat's butt. Haha. No, I'm saying, "Look at Nana taking a picture!" (I know what Luke's Nana will say to that).

The fam. Luke's worried the Easter bunny will come back and get him.

Fun at the Land!

"The Land," "The Farm," "The Tree Farm," "The Man-Land." These are all monikers given to the land...where a building resides...and trees. In this building, however, are all kinds of fun things to play on...mowers, tractors, 4-wheelers. The newest addition is the fun swingset Cappy & Nana (aka Grandma, Granny, Mimi) got for the kids. And by kids, I'm including me and Justin. We had so much fun swinging on the new swingset...we felt like little kids again. I even got scared because I was going too high and thought I might hurt myself. But Luke loves it out there and he gets to run around like a madman everywhere....Hooray for "The Land!"

Who's having more fun? Daddy or Luke?

Who's having more fun? Mommy or Luke?

Luke "riding" the mower. Vroom!

Luke playing with his cousin Maddie

Aloha, Hawaii!

We recently went to Hawaii and had just the best time. Luke loved paradise as well. He got to play in the black sand beaches and run around like a maniac all over the place! They had this wristband he could wear that was an alarm so if he got it wet (i.e. fell in the pool), the alarm in the house would sound. It was pretty neat and something anyone with a toddler and a pool should invest in! We had wonderful meals cooked for us and sightseeing galore! Luke didn't go on the helicopter tour of Kauai or the ziplining, but he participated in everything he could!

Throwing lava rocks on the black sand beach in Kona

Riding in the airplane...this is his new "Whoa!" face.

Hitching a ride

Saying "bye-bye" to the lobster before we eat him...and, "Please don't get that thing near me."

Lounging

Where Oh Where Did My Big Boy Go?

Luke and I were in the back bedroom folding laundry, which is where his swing also happens to be stored. He usually just ignores it or pushes it...but he decided to climb right up into it the other day and go for a swing! He finally took my pleading to stop growing up so fast and stay my little baby boy...although his feet hang off the end and it creaks straining with the weight. But, he was so cute doing it!

Climbing in like the monkey he is.

Oh, Little Gym has taught him so many things!

"Swing me, Mom!"

Look at those big feet!