What's New With The Carter Family

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 :)

I was looking through some old photos...from the summer of 2005 to be exact....and came across a couple of pictures that just made me smile :) I can't believe how little Jem and Carson are in these pictures....it's INSANE! And the fact that they are both sitting in the Jeep (I think this was Carson's?) at the same time with room to spare is funny as anything! I just don't remember them ever BEING that small.....though I guess they were, and here is the photographic proof!

What a gorgeous day it was today! I'm not sure how high the temperature reached, but it had to have been somewhere in the 60's dontcha think? A little sun, a little breeze....just a taste of spring in the air! And what better way to celebrate than with some outdoor play time? Jem and his buddy Carson were outside (reluctantly at first -- can you believe that?) riding bikes and scooters. It looked super fun, so I snapped a couple of shots to remember the day by.

Our Valentine's day was lots of fun......a surprise from Brandon and Jem on the kitchen table when I went downstairs, followed by a day in downtown Seattle with lunch at The Cheescake Factory and a visit to Pike Place Market. It was good to spend the day with my boys, and with Sarah & Justin and niece River :) How did you spend your day?

Last Monday (in honor of River's sleepover and a day off of school yee-haw!) I invited Jem's good buddy Carson over to join us for a scrapbooking marathon. Now in child terms, that marathon only lasts one hour *LOL*. But during that hour they were involved, excited, creative and BUSY! Here are some pictures of the kids in action! Notice the intensity of the layout decisions.... heehee.... "I've just finished cutting around my photo. What next?" "Now what will my title be???" "This little brad goes perfectly with my paper!" Here are Carson, Jem and River with their finished masterpieces! Not bad for an hour's scrapfest - kiddie style!

The NCA K-1 Christmas concert was postponed this year....three times! Originally it was set for the 15th of December; but then we got snow and it got moved to two days later. Then we got MORE snow and...yep...you guessed it, it got moved to two days later. Of course the snow continued and a decision was made to have the concert on January 6th. So here we are tonight! Let me just say that the kids did an amazing job of remembering all of the songs after three weeks of vacation. They were SO stinkin' cute up there! And of course Jem had his big moment...and delivered his long awaited line... " Like Tonight?" Two words were never more beautifully spoken heehee! Jem's Kindergarten and Carpool buddy Zoe was also there (dressed as an angel in all white) and she did an awesome job too! I took some video, so hopefully sometime this weekend I can do a quit edit and put together a little something to post on here :) Enjoy the photos in the meantime!