What's New With The Carter Family

Finley is absolutely fascinated by, well, herself.  Every night in the tubby she: a)  Splashes like crazy, and b)  Takes time out of her busy splashing schedule to say hello to the baby in the mirror.  She oohs and ahhs and says hiiiiiiiiiiiiii and when she's close enough, tries to touch and even kiss the 'other' baby.  It's so stinkin' cute.  Today I decided to take some pictures of her tubby time with reflection baby.  Adorable!

It's been a long time coming.  Jem has tried to defeat the Shadow Queen (the final step in the gamecube game "Paper Mario: the thousand  year door") for a few years now.  We've had to take the game away for months at a time because he would get so obsessed with it, and upset when he couldn't finish her off.  Finally, this summer, he decided to give it another shot.  And yes, this is the face of victory . Satisfaction over a battle well fought, of a long time enemy defeated.  This is finally THE END of the mathematical calculations of what one must acquire in order to be powerful enough to defeat her.  THE END of the quick visits downstairs to let mom and dad of his new "plan" of attack.  THE END of the tears, the frustrations, the near wins and the long hours to retry. Thank goodness it's finally over.  For all of us :)

Um...yeah.  She's in love.  With dirt girl.  She goes NUTS when she sees her on tv, or when any of us start singing the theme song (just start saying "get grubby..." and see what it gets ya!).  It's the weirdest show (for those of you who haven't seen it, it's kind of like a teletubbies thing...animation with real people's facial parts on top).  It's so freaky to see, but to miss Fin there's nothing better.  Here she is having a moment with brother's kindle....and dirt girl :)

Oh my goodness.  ALREADY?????????   How cute is that face :)

Who wouldn't love coming into a room and being greeted like THIS?

After a few days of fun with Grandpa, Jem and River got some company -- US!  Brandon, Fin and I drove down to Idaho a day after the Skinners did, and spent the week enjoying some gorgeous warm weather, and the company of family.  It was warm enough to put the pools out (I bought a baby pool for Fin and Piper to use, and a slightly bigger kiddie pool for Jem and Riv), and of course as is customary we ate out every day :)  I like that tradition!  My favorite place was Texas Roadhouse, which we only get to enjoy when we're visiting Brandon's dad (as they don't have one where we live).  Here are some photos from the trip.

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!