Fantastic Five

Our Little Man turned 5 today.  So hard to believe that he is already 5 but we are blessed beyond measure.  Every year at this time I am reminded of what a scary start to life our little guy had and how very thankful we are that he is alive and healthy.  He is all boy!  He is into guns, super heros and star wars.  He likes to make guns out of his legos and pretend to shoot things.  So much so that he now has Cassidy picking up legos and making the shooting noise.  He is very good at imaginative play and can spend hours in his room playing with his Star Wars Action Figures (thank you Nana and Pop) and Legos (Thank you friends).  He LOVES his little sister and will let her play with him in his room.  He shares beautifully with her.  I wish I could say the same thing about his older sister.  He LOVES her too but their relationship is definitely more hot and cold.  One minute they are playing with each other the next they are fighting.  When we separate them into their rooms for fighting, we catch them playing with each other from the doorway of their rooms.  My favorite though is when we go to check on them at bedtime and they have snuck into bed with the each other.  Makes our hearts swell as parents.  Back to Carter.  He is still extremely shy and most think he is a guy of few words.  However, if you hang around long enough he will warm up and you will see he is very chatty indeed.
He has a fabulous smile and his little giggle is infectious.  We love watching movies with him because he gets the humor in a lot of the films and I love hearing him belly laugh at the movie.  What more can I say than we are so very lucky to be his parents and we love him to the moon and back.

Matt and I took the day off work on his actual birthday, Tuesday May 20th.  We brought the girls to their respective schools and then had the whole day with just him.  We started off at Centennial Park.  We looked at the Saber Jet and Locomotive and then headed to the playground.  After the park, it was time for lunch.  He chose Ci Ci's Pizza.  Once we were done with lunch it was off to the movies to see Rio 2, his choice of activity and movie.  After the movie we stopped off at Sonic for a slushi before heading to pick up the girls.  It was a great day and we loved having that one on one time with him.

About a month ago Matt introduced Carter to Star Wars and he has been obsessed ever since.  So, it wasn't any surprise that for his birthday he wanted a Star Wars party.  We invited the boys from his preschool class and our neighbors.  The kids played in the back yard.  Then we had a little dinner of hotdogs, fruits, veggies and chips followed by birthday cake.  After letting them lose in the yard a little longer, we sat them down for a short lego star wars movie.  Then it was time for pin the light saber on Yoda.  As a prize for playing the game, everyone received their very own light saber.  This is where the real fun began.  The kids then went in the backyard and had light saber wars.  I know the party was a success because Carter thanked me three times for his awesome party.

The party didn't end when his preschool friends left.  We invited our neighbors to stay over for a camping sleepover.  My amazing husband slept on the ground for the second night in a row in the tent with the kids.  I think it is safe to say a good time was had by all and this mommy and daddy were pooped when it was over.

One whole Hand!!!  Annual Mother/son birthday photo

Cassidy and Carter on his 5th Birthday

Look how tall he is!

Father/ son Birthday photo

Opening gifts

Its a Star Wars Backpack with his name on it!  Kindergarten here we come.



Birthday breakfast: blueberry pancakes, strawberries, grapes and a side of chocolate milk



Opening presents the morning of his birthday.

Carter and Matt on the Train in Centennial Park

Fun at the Park

Climbing

Love that smile

Laughing after a bumpy ride on the slide

Invitation to Carter's Birthday Party

The Cake

Blowing out his candles

Love this picture where his friends are helping him blow the candles

Pin the light saber on Yoda

The kids had a great time trying to see who could get the closest

The prize for playing the game... light sabers made out of pool noodles

As you can tell they were a BIG hit



To top off the party a camping sleep over with friends.  In this photo Matt told them to pretend they were sleeping.  Love that Cassidy is pretending too

Some didn't listen about pretending to be asleep

Make a silly face

The piece de resistance...making s'mores.  What's a campout without s'mores?



Hoggin and Joggin

For the second year, Life Community Church in Nolensville has hosted a Hoggin and Joggin 12K relay race o benefit the Nolensville Food Pantry.  My friend Vicki won a free entry and asked Katherine and I to join her.  I spend most Saturday mornings chasing these two beautiful women so how could I say no.  Team Soul Sisters was formed.  Here is how the event goes.  Each team is comprised of three team members.  Each team member is required to eat something from a local restaurant and then take off on a 2.5 mile run.  Once all team members are done running then all team members eat a mini cupcake from a local bakery and run across the finish line.  It was a cool morning, perfect for running.  We all actually ran a few miles before the race began.  I was the first runner.  My local restaurant was Mama Javas and I ate a 1/2 of a breakfast wrap.  Peanut Butter, Banana, honey and granola wrapped in a tortilla.  Delicious normally.  However when you are trying to eat it in a hurry, it is a bit challenging to get down.  I ran in and tagged Vicki who then had to eat a fried macaroni and cheese ball and a fried chicken tender from McDougals .  Also delicious but also difficult to eat when you are in a hurry.  After her 2.5 miles, it was Katherine's turn.  Katherine had the Martins BBQ leg.  Her food items were chicken wings and baked beans.  She was a champ!  Don't know if I could have run a step after baked beans but she ran her leg with ease.  Below is a picture of us all running it in after her leg.  We then ate a mini cupcake provided by the Bekary and ran across the finish line.  Definitely not your traditional race but Oh so much fun.  Because every leg started and ended at the same spot we all chatted and goofed off in between legs.  Matt and the kids even came out and watched us finish.  Good morning with Great friends.   

Great day with Great Friends!

First Camping trip

Matt has been wanting to take the kids camping for quite some time.  They are finally old enough.  So when he found out that you could rent tents and camping equipment pretty inexpensively it wasn't anytime before he had planned a camping trip.  Originally he planned to go with two friends and their children.  Unfortunately, at the last minute they weren't able to go but our kids and Matt were still super excited about camping.  Matt gave the kids the option of camping in the woods or the backyard.  Ella Catherine left the decision up to Carter.  He chose the backyard.  So, they set up the tent and grabbed their sleeping bags and gear.  What is a campout without s'mores?  Trying to stay true to a campout, Matt fired up the grill and they roasted the marshmallows on the grill.  To say the kids had a great time would be an understatement.  They LOVED every minute of it!  I definitely think that they will be camping out again this summer.

 

Setting up the tent

Pumped about camping

Let the marshmallow roasting begin

Roasting her own marshmallow

learning that the hanger can get pretty warm in the fire

Back on the horse and roasting away again

Carter wasn't so big on roasting his own marshmallow (afraid of fire) but he was all about eating the s'mores!

Just like mom likes a little blackend

All the fixings!  I'll admit although I wasn't on the campout because I was watching Cassidy, I did steal a s'more or 2

Eating the fruit of her labor

MMMMMMMMMM

So after I thought they were settled, I tried to get a picture of them.  They were awake. So, Matt told them to pretend they were asleep.  Only they couldn't stop smiling

Carter actually got tickled and couldn't stop laughing

Then Matt got tickled.

Matt's Homemade zipline

Our children are very lucky to have Matt as their dad for many reasons.  One of which is his creativity and adventurous nature.  He was outside gardening and straightening up the garage with Ella Catherine and Carter while Cassidy and I were cooking and folding laundry.  The next thing I know I look outside and he has made a homemade zipline for the kids.  Ella Catherine takes more after him in her willingness to try new things while Carter is more reserved like me and likes to hang around and watch.  So, only Ella Catherine enjoyed the zipline.  It was short lived, but she sure did have fun while it lasted.

 

Getting ready for the first run

And she is off

wire hung a little low and swing a little long so she hit the ground

Wire higher, swing shorter and she is ready for the second run.  I believe right here she is saying daddy I'm not so sure about  this and Matt is telling her it will be fine.

And she is off for round 2, eyes might be slightly shut

And now they are completely shut

We may have been yelling at her to put her feet down so she didn't hit the deck.  Which she may or may not have hit anyway. oops.  Luckily, she slowed herself enough that she didn't hit very hard.  I know it wasn't bad because she wanted to go again.

Mother's Day 2014

Very lucky that Ella Catherine, Carter and Cassidy call me mommy.  Being mommy to these three is the best, most challenging and most rewarding job I've ever had.  I'm equally as lucky that I have Matt as a husband and father to share this wonderful journey with.  Our house is never as clean as I would like it to be and there is a lot of crying and drama on a daily basis but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  No our life isn't perfect, far from it, but it's the perfect life for me!

Planting the Tomatos

We (Matt and kids) had such great time with our garden last year that we (Matt and kids) decided to do it again.  I have a brown thumb and therefore am not allowed near the plants.  My only job is to cook the produce once it is harvested.  Today it was time to plant our tomato plants that we have grown from seed.

Tomato plants ready to plant

Getting the soil ready

Prepping the plant

Finding the perfect spot

Grow little plants grow