Carter 's 5th Birthday Party

Carter had his 5th birthday party at Head Over Heels Gymnastics. His cousins and many of his friends from school and church were able to come celebrate with us. Unfortunately, Tim was not able to make it since he was in the hospital recovering from kidney stones!

Two gymnastics instructors led the party activities. They set up an obstacle course and let the kids run through it. The hit of the party was the trampoline runway that ended with a big jump into a pile of foam cubes. Hudson ran right behind the group the whole way. He likes to pretend that he is 5!

Carter wanted a dinosaur theme again this year. Since we have now used all of the dinosaur cakes that are commercially available, I decided to make one. Thankfully, Julie, who is a very accomplished cake decorator came over to help.....with her one year old twins. We laughed as we baked and decided that the next cake should probably be made with the help of a babysitter!! It was a fun day and we appreciate our friends who made it so special!

Odyssey Graduation

I am embarrassed to say it, but, Carter graduated from preschool and my camera battery was not charged. Carter's teachers called to invite him to graduation/fun day at the end of July. Carter was so excited about seeing his old friends and looked forward to it all week. They had bouncy houses, waterslides and all kinds of fun activities planned. For lunch, the school ordered "real pizzas" and let them watch a movie during what is normally naptime.



In the afternoon, all of the parents were invited to attend a program and the graduation ceremony. The kids sang several of their favorite songs from the year and a parent made a sweet video with pictures of the year. During the graduation ceremony, Carter's teachers gave out the class "Who's Who" award. I was not surprised to learn that Carter was declared the class "Dare Devil". This, by the way, is not something you really want to have to explain to your five year old. Now he is proud of this title and keeps trying to find ways to show me what a dare devil he is. I really don't need any proof though!!



It was sad to leave Odyssey. Carter has been with 6 of the friends in his class since he was 6 months old. Hopefully we will keep in touch.

Splash Pad

Carter, Hudson and I went to the Gardendale Splash Pad for our friend, Lily's, birthday party. This was our first trip there and the kids had a great time. I got lots of cute water pictures! In addition to playing in the water and eating his weight in pizza, Hudson was the party janitor. He picked up every piece of wrapping paper there was and took it all to the trash. Clearly there is no need for toys at our house. We have plenty of trash that can be thrown away!!

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July playing with friends in the Coulson's backyard. The kids enjoyed the slip & slide, a sprinkler, a bouncy house and Maury and Little Carter's new playhouse. They had a hard time making it down the slip & slide, but that didn't stop Hudson and Little Carter from trying it out. After dinner, the kids had a good time dancing to music. Hudson spent most of his time outside with the daddies. He was not interested in being around me or the kids at all! Thanks Owen and Sally for a fun time!

A weekend at home...with Tango

We were so excited to hear that Mr. Mike and Mrs. Sundra were going out of town for the weekend. That means Tango gets to visit!! The kids were thrilled when he arrived. Carter and Hudson spent all weekend chasing, wrestling, and snuggling with Tango. Hudson especially enjoyed him. Dogs are his favorite thing right now and this was definitely the closest he has been to one for more than a few seconds. Thankfully Tango is fast and very patient so no harm was done. Carter was especially excited that Tango wanted to snuggle with him during tv time and even sleep in his bed for a little while. Thanks Mrs. Sundra for letting Tango come visit us. We miss him lots and love to see him from time to time.....for a little while.

Anna's Wedding

We went to Tuscaloosa for Cousin Anna's wedding this weekend. Anna asked Carter a long time ago to be the ringbearer in her wedding. At first, he didn't really know what his job was as he seemed to think Anna had asked him to MARRY her! Once he got over the disappointment that he would not be the groom and pondered who he might marry instead, he was very excited.
Tim and I were very nervous about sending him to stand with the wedding party during the ceremony. All I can say afterward is that, it could have been much worse. Aside from some twisting and wiggling, he did hold it together until after the ceremony. Unfortunately though, as the wedding procession was walking out, I hear Carter sqealing in the back of the room. Evidently, the shoes that he wore the night before and countless other times the week of the wedding, became too small at that very moment! That, according to him, was the reason for all of the wiggling. How can you punish a kid when that is the excuse?





The flower girl was super-cute and she and Carter had a great time dancing at the reception. There aren't many little girls that can keep up with all of Carter's spinning and swinging, but she was a trooper.

This is my aunt Leah (my mom's sister), with the rest of the family.

The beautiful couple!

Exhausted from all of the weekend fun!! Congratulations Casey and Anna!

Visit with Nana / Quick Trip to the Beach (again)

The oil has still not made it to Sandestin. With news reports that it was on the way, we made another quick trip down to the beach for what might be our last trip for a while. On the way down, we spent the night with Nana. She took us out to our favorite Andalusia catfish restaurant and we went to visit the Dream Park.


Our beach trip was extra fun because we got to meet Aunt Amy, Uncle Drew and the cousins. The kids had a ball playing in the sand and visiting Baytone Wharf.