What's New With The Carter Family

Jem and his cousin River went to visit their Grandpa in Idaho this week.  That's right....alone.  It was a scary thing for me to watch my little boy get on that plane by himself, even though he had his cousin with him I was still anxious.  He was SO excited to travel on his own though.  My little boy is becoming quite independent!  They got there in just over an hour, and Grandpa was there waiting for them with big smiles and  hugs!

Seriously. This little girl is reaching milestones WAY faster than I've been expecting.  It's like all of a sudden, one day, she can do something new that I've never seen before!  This week, she's been sitting up.  Mostly on her own, sometimes needing to lean back and rest on me.  But her back and stomach and whatever other muscles she uses to sit up, sure are getting strong.  Look at this video I recorded of her this afternoon. She's barely 5-1/2 months old!  Crazy!

I can't believe that ANOTHER school year is over.  This year went by SO fast.  Yes,  yes.... I know I say that every year, but seriously, this year was the fastest EVER.  I mean, didn't he just start 4th Grade?   I guess it's a testament to a great teacher and a great learning year when you wonder where all the time went.  Jem's teacher this  year, Ms Quigley, was AMAZING.    Just the right kind of teacher for Jem, full of love for the children and as Jem says "she loves brain breaks!".   One of the things I love most about Jem is his crafty nature.  This time we copied a craft we saw on Pinterest, but he did all of the cutting, typing, and putting together of this gift :)   Let summer BEGIN!

Since Daddy has been away on a business trip, we've been sending him emails and photos each day.  We wouldn't want him to forget us now would we?  Here are a couple of random pics.....sent to Daddy from Us.   XOXOX    We miss you Daddy!

I just love her precious smile.  Her whole face lights up and I just want to SQUEEZE her tight!   I think this has to be one of my favorite pictures of Finley...taken during Memorial Day weekend. 

'Nuff said.

Yep.   It's that time of month.  Time to post a new age milestone picture of Finley!  She is now FIVE months old.  Amazing!  It's gone by so quickly....

First food other than milk and rice cereal.  That face just about says it all, doesn't it?  Let's hope she reacts more favorably to future offerings :)

Every year at Jem's school, they have an end of year Walk-a-thon.  It's to raise money for a selected project (each year it's different).  This year they were raising money for technology....to provide each middle schooler with an iPad, to buy a rolling cart with 24 laptops for the 3rd - 5th graders, and to buy some other things for the K-2nd graders.  It was a huge success - the goal of $60,000 was smashed by over $35,000!  The kids were very excited about this...and at the pep rally Jem kept repeating (in a very shrill yell) "I have a squeaky voice!".   Not sure what that has to do with anything LOL but I guess we all express our excitement in different ways.   Brandon was just excited that he got to squirt all of the poor little kiddos on the day of the walk.   Look at his evil smirk.  Finley was just happy to be there to support her big brother.  Go Jem!