Nana Caryn!

My Mom is here and we are having such a fun time.

The kids are loving having their Nana here.

It's a fun week!

Carson's new funny things this week -

He says "Come in!" when you go into his room to get him up from his nap.

New words are "teething ring", "up, to change clothes?", and "baby pinecone".

Do you think.....

....there's a chance that Jason will EVER be able to discipline this face?

I don't think so!

The latest on Sam

Samantha is doing so great.

There really isn't too much new with her, except her cuteness is growing by the minute.

She is vocalizing more and trying to roll over.

She still loves to stand and chill in her Bumbo seat.

She is just an awesome girl and we love her so much!

Cuties

Here are our cuties + Carson's "wayyyyyyyy" snuggling on the couch....

Kisses

Samantha gives these amazing kisses.

She comes at you with her drooly mouth open wide, ready for a huge kiss.

Here she demonstrates on Daddy...

Little raspberry

Samantha loves raspberries!

Double Trouble

While she does this....

He is doing this!

Wait until he is teaching her to do his tricks....then we are really in trouble!

Guitar Hero

Sam has a little Guitar Hero outfit.

Here she rocks it...

It is impossible for me to get a picture of Carson lately.

He just wants to look at the digital camera and see the pictures of himself.

He is too nosy to stand still!

He likes to wear my headbands around the house once and awhile.

He admires himself in the mirror with his headband on.

What a goofy guy!

New words and phrases are spewing out of Carson daily....It is hard to keep up.

New ones this week are...."paper towel", "Caliente!", "Daddy work....for money!", and "Booyah!"

Daddy has been working hard with him on that last one for awhile now.

He also sang the ABC song this week with very few mistakes.

Every day I wake up and wonder what he is going to say or do.

Never a dull moment with our Stinky Fish!

Scott

This is Samantha's boyfriend Scott Boschee.

He was born on August 18th, the same day that my Dad passed away.

I've always believed that my Dad sent Scotty here on that day...

I think he is meant to be Sam's keeper.

He, along with Carson and Daddy, will protect her from boys far and wide.

And we need to watch this adorable Scott, too...he was holding Sam's hand the other day.

Uh oh!

Paint with water

Carson's new "project" when Sam is taking her morning nap...

Paint with water!

He gets all set with his paintbrush in the backyard and paints everything with water.

He takes this job very seriously!

Sam's new trick

Sam's new trick...

Sticking her feet straight up in the air!

Ready Set Go!

A little clip of Carson and his favorite phrase...."Ready, set, go!"

Waaaayyyy!

Carson amuses himself in many ways while we are waiting for Samantha to wake up from her morning nap. He plays hide and seek in our Harry Potter closet. He practices jumping off the stairs. His favorite lately, is playing with his lovey or his "WAYYYYYYY!" as he calls it.

His yellow blanket, which we call his lovey, or Lovey Smith...is my blanket that I used when I was a baby and my mom reconditioned it for Carson. It is now Carson's favorite toy. We play "lovey monster" and we chase him all over the house with it. He drags it around the house like Linus from Charlie Brown. He has an outburst if he discovers that waayyyyy is in the laundry.

I think he would take it everywhere with him if we would let him.

I am trying to get a good picture of him with his waaaaayyyy. It is really cute.

In other news...the weather has taken a huge turn for the better here in LV and we are OUT.

We are at 75 degrees and sunny every day this week and there's no looking back.
If you need us, we will be at the park, celebrating life and spring!

Missy Moo

Our little Missy Moo is doing so great.

She has slept through the night three nights in a row now - 7 PM - 7 AM with no wake-ups!

We are so proud of her!

Great picture of her gazing adoringly at her Daddy...

So cute! They are best buddies.

Baby Einstein

We set up Samantha's Baby Einstein entertainer this weekend.

She's a big fan!

Carson was all too happy to show her how to push the buttons.

Big brother is already showing her the ropes!

Socks

Even when all Sam wears is socks...she looks pretty darn cute.

Penne Pasta

Samantha and I made Carson some penne pasta for lunch today.

He loved the pasta and she loved playing with the box!

Sittin' around

Samantha loves to sit around in her Bumbo seat.

She really thinks it's fun to sit up and give Carson the hairy eyeball during breakfast.

I know she is thinking..."Just wait big brother....just give me a few months...

and then I am going to GET YOU."

The giggle...

Samantha has a new killer giggle these days. Here she laughs at me saying "woof woof"...I will do about anything to get this giggle out of her...so excuse me sounding like a complete weirdo!

Via Bellagio

We were bored this morning.

All three of us have runny noses and we weren't sure what to do.

I thought of my Dad and how he always seemed to be able to make things fun, even when the day wasn't the greatest.

So in his honor, I packed up the kids and we went to the Bellagio, just for fun.

Hey, we live in Vegas so we might as well live it up!

The kids enjoyed looking around at the Conservatory there, which was all decked out for the Chinese New Year.

I was hoping to show them the water show, but it doesn't start until 3 PM on the weekdays.

So we cruised around and got some gelato and had an absolutely wonderful time.

My Dad would have loved it.

Our view...

Carson loved the "TIGER!!!" in the Conservatory

Carson and Sam - Viva Las Vegas!

Big boy Carson....or not?

Two things...

The first is that Carson is really interested in the potty right now.

I am trying to capitalize on it even though I know he is too young to be trained.

I should rephrase...he is more interested in toilet diving than actually using the potty.

He loves to put his hands into the potty and splash around in the water. He loves toilet paper.

And he LOVES to wash his hands...for like 20 minutes straight. I can't get him to stop washing his hands. Which I guess is a good thing since we are in a toilet diving phase.

As I said, if toilet diving were an Olympic sport...Carson would be bringin' home the gold.

He does like to sit on the potty once and awhile. I figure one of these days something might come out. But for now, we will be here...toilet diving in Las Vegas.

Second thing.

This is what Carson's bed looked like for 2 hours one night this week.

He got out of his crib Monday morning. I found him standing at the top of the stairs all of a sudden. Never heard a thud from his room, so I imagine that he shimmied himself down somehow. We tried the toddler bed on Monday night. But after he escaped 500 times in 2 hours, we decided to postpone the big boy bed transition. Now his crib faces the opposite way with the high side facing out and it is working so far.

Our babboon has been contained......for now!

Carson is talking soooo much and I can hardly keep track of all his new words

He said "T-Rex" and "dino" this morning...And he put three words together this morning when we were reading ("Blue eat apple...Blue eat pretzel"). He attempts to say almost everything even though it is not always clear. He shakes his head "yes" but still loves "no".

Carson is becoming a big boy but he is not there just yet. :)

4 Months Old!

Our beautiful, precious Samantha is now 4 months old.

I can't even imagine how it's possible that 4 months has passed since her birth, but it has!

She is flourishing every day and we love to watch her grow.

She weighed 14 lbs, 1 oz (63rd percentile for weight) and is 25 inches long (80th percentile for height). Carson, by contrast, was 16 lbs and 26 1/2 inches at this age.

She loves to stand and loves to follow her brother all around the house.

She puts her lower lip out anytime she loses sight of her mama for more than a minute.

She loves books like her brother and kicks her legs wildly whenever she is read one!

She is good at grabbing objects and putting them in her mouth.

She looks so much like Carson sometimes...it's crazy!

We love our Sam I Am, more and more each day.

jump!

When Carson saw Isaiah jump off the stairs one day...he wanted to do it so badly...he has tried and tried since then to jump like Isaiah. We aren't quite there physically to do the jump with two feet....we haven't quite had lift off yet.....but here he works on his new skill, jumping off the stairs! I am sure once he learns, he will be doing it all the time, especially when I am feeding the baby! :)

Noooooooooo!

Here are some pics from a typical weekend at our house....

Carson pretends that Jason is a horse and rides on his back all over the living room, only to be bucked off onto the couch, 100 times in a row. Intense giggling follows.

We put on our Iowa gear and sit on the couch and eat pudding.

Carson decided to toss all of his shorts from the drawer in his room

through the bannister slats and down to the family room below.

He thought Samanatha should wear them, too.

Fashion Police!

I knew this was coming, too....but Carson's new favorite word is

....drum roll please...

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

He answers "Noooooo" to almost every question...

even questions he would normally say "yes" to....

Example: "Carson, do you want another cookie?" "Noooooo!"

"Carson, are you a good boy?" "Nooooooooooooooooooo!"

And on and on and on....

Carson's new talent that he displayed last week is that he can

count to 10...

IN SPANISH.

I started with uno last week and he went all the way from dos to diez, with an emphasis on ocho...he really likes ocho.

I guess all these months of watching Dora in utter adoration means that Carson will be able to hold his own in Spanish class. Before he turns 2!