What's New With The Carter Family

  My 39th birthday came around awfully fast.  When Brandon asked me what I wanted to do this year, my answer was fast and sure - I wanted to drive down to Seattle and have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and then head over to the waterfront to ride the new Giant Ferris Wheel.  So with my BFF and her family joining us, that's what we did!   For the first time in what seemed like weeks, the sun actually came out :)  It was going to be a perfect day to ride the big wheel....though we were all smart enough to realize that it was still going to be COLD as heck.  It is the Pacific Northwest afterall!  Hence the big, bulky winter gear :) Love that I got to do something fun on my birthday, but even more than that, I love that I got to spend the day with the people I love most.   I had such a good time....and was so grateful to my good friends The Bakula Family (Burke, April, Matthew, Ryan and Adam) for joining our fun and...

Yikes.  Time is passing by so quickly!  I am now the proud mother of....a....PRETEEN!  I can't believe my little guy is eleven years old.  Crazy!  Love my minecraft.obsessed-video.game.playing-always.eating-loves.to.cuddle-awesome.big.brother-violin.and.piano.playing-almost.middle.schooler-handsomest.boy.ever  SON.  Happy 11th birthday!

 

Yep. My boy is TEN. Double digits. I can barely believe it. I think I'm in denial...that is, until my son starts going ON and ON about how he's now TEN and how he's a big kid because he's TEN and oh yeah, mom did you hear, I'M TEN? We get it Jem...I mean, James. Good thing for you you're adorable. And loving. Look at how the first thing you did when you got up on your birthday was rush in to say good morning to your little sister :) I forgive you for being TEN. Just barely. I even was so nice as to let you have a sleepover with your best buddies. Nathan, Garrett and Matthew. With a movie. And a concession stand full of goodies to purchase with special "tickets". That's right. Cause I love you like that, Mr. TEN year old boy. Good thing TEN year olds still love to cuddle their mamas, otherwise there would be BIG trouble.

Literally ONE day after arriving back home from Italy, Brandon hopped back on a plane (with Jem this time) and headed to Indiana for a quick 2 day visit. They were there to celebrate a very special occassion - Brandon's Great Grandma Nickels' 100th Birthday! She looks AMAZING, and as you can see from the photos below, her party was a family celebration. Almost everyone was able to make it, and it was wonderful for Jem to meet so many of Brandon's side of the family!

For Jem's birthday this year, we invited a few of his friends to join us at the pool for a pool party. These are my favorite parties....you turn up right when the party is scheduled to start, you have the pool all to yourself for the hour you're there, you have food and presents in the bleachers, and...the best part...when the party is over there is nothing else to do! No cleaning up. You dump all the trash in the can. No house to clean and get back to normal. Simplicity at it's best! Oh and ok, the swimming part is a lot of fun too...for Jem and his friends :) And Brandon. He always makes it a fun time, playing with the kids in the water, dragging them around in their inflatables. Thank you River, Piper, Matt, Ryan, Adam, Wesley, Asher, Teagan, Hannah, Mitchell, Jack, Carson, Cale & Ashton, for helping us celebrate Jem's 9th Birthday!

What a gorgeous day it was today!!! The sun finally came to Washington, and it was awesome to be out in it! We invited the Skinners to join us for a picnic lunch and some family fun at Jennings Park. After stopping off at Extreme Pita in Lake Stevens to get some lunch, we drove down to Marysville and set up camp by the play area. After eating, we moved on to a nice grassy patch, set our blankets down, and played a game of Phase 10. It was a warm, relaxing and most enjoyable afternoon! Thanks for spending it with us guys :)

Here are some photos of my little Jem (though with the speed that he is outgrowing his jeans, I can hardly call him little anymore *sigh*). They were taken on his actual birthday, out on my porch...and yes, this is me playing around with my editing program, Photoshop Elements...fun, isn't it? P.S. Thought it would be fun to post the "before" shots of these pictures....what they actually looked like right out of my camera! Before any lightening, cropping & adding of fun backgrounds.....so here they are :) What a difference, right? Before - dull shots of a fun occassion. After - some pop! and wow!

Jem's 8th Birthday was so much fun - though it took quite a bit of effort to execute! He had a "Mario" theme this year...and was involved in planning every part of it with me :) See, he loves the game "Paper Mario - the thousand year door". So of course, that's the kind of party he wanted. And it was up to me to make it happen. Not as easy as you'd think. We bought a few Mario themed items...water bottles as party favors, a pinata to fill with candy, plates and balloons....but all of the games I had to make myself. From the 3 hours I spent drawing and painting an exact "hooktail" for the 'pin the tail on hooktail' game; to the laborious task of cutting a 'boo' out of foam board; to the stinky and staining job of boiling eggs and painting green spots of them for the 'Yoshi's egg relay race' - we really put a LOT of effort into this party! We were so glad Jem's friends were able to share the day with him....thanks ...

Yes....it's that time of year again.... my birthday :) This year it was very low key - a surprise dinner a few days beforehand with our friends April & Burke (& Matt, Ryan & Adam) and Kate & DJ (& Carson) at Claim Jumper (one of my favorite restaurants!). On the actual day I had to work.... but I did get a beautiful round of "happy birthday Ms Cathyyyyyy" from the kiddos at preschool :) When I got home I had a couple of hours to myself before my boys got here.... so I just sat back and relaxed in a nice, quiet house! The highlight of my birthday though was when Jem got home - and presented me with two gifts he'd gathered and wrapped all by himself! Look how cute they were! Then we went to Subway, got some food, and drove to Lundeen Park for a picnic by the lake. What a nice way to spend my birthday, with the people who mean the most to me :) It was a good day :) Happy Birthday indeed!!!!!!!!!!!

7 years ago today, in a hospital not very far away.... a little baby boy was born. This little baby grew and grew..... into this handsome young man we see before us today! It's my boy's birthday today! His 7th Birthday! Whew! Since his Birthday Party isn't for 2 more weeks, we kinda took it easy today. Woke up, opened presents, went to church, got a donut :). Went to IHOP for brunch, came home, played some Wii, played with buddy Carson. Got some birthday phonecalls, had some dinner, read some stories, cuddled up with LoveHeart.... then BEDTIME!!! Happy Birthday Jem! I love you, and hope you had a great day :)

Wow! Is it me, or are the birthdays just coming around SO FAST nowadays? I can't believe that I blinked and all of a sudden Jem turned 6! He is very definitely a big kid now...with that big kid know-how that he's only too willing to share with you! We asked him how we would like to celebrate his birthday this year, and he had 3 requests: go to build-a-bear workshop in the morning; eat lunch at Red Robin ('are they gonna sing me happy birthday and bring me ice-cream?'); and a birthday party at home with a 'movie' theatre theme. So that's what we did! The first picture shows his new 'bear', a mean old biker dog he called 'Woof Woof'. He had lots of fun making him and dressing him in all of his cool clothes (too bad he's not wearing his wicked cool sunglasses here). Then off we went to Red Robin for some lunch. The birthday boy ordered an apple juice, spaghetti and apples, and yes, he did get a happy birthday song from the waitstaff (and the...

Jem is now 4 years old! Can you believe that all he wanted for his birthday was to have a 'Purple Party'? (Whatever that means....) We sent out invitations to 9 of his closest pals, and decorated the house in all manner of purple. Then for 2 hours it was pure kid bliss - with pizza, cake, games, a pinata & a special bouncy castle for the gang to jump in! Jem had a ball - and is already talking about NEXT year's birthday, which for now he is predicting will be a 'Yellow Party' (Spongebob perhaps???)