Christmas on the iPhone

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Morning waffle Christmas tree - thank you Pinterest!

Ah!! SNOW!

First snow ball fight EVER

So tired he can't even sleep right side up in his car seat.

Little Cesar's was closed but look who had all the pizza fixin's at home.

Trying out some new presents. Thanks a lot Uncle Trey!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope your day was as blessed as mine.

Say CHEESE!

I have recently added some new pictures to the Blog. I was feeling mighty guilty having a family picture that did not include Caleb. The problem with that is, I'm not going to spend a good bit of money to have family pictures done of a screaming baby, so I/we decided to wait until his first birthday. I am SUPER happy with the pictures that we were able to get.

Here are a few more of our little family.

It's almost time for ELF to be back!



Chrismas Tree (Chris for short) the Elf will be returning to the Black household this Saturday and I am thinking about letting him host a breakfast for Carson and Caleb to let them know he will be watching them everyday until Santa arrives with his bag of goodies.

 

Pinterest has really given me an advantage this year on some clever ways for Chris to move about the house. When looking back on last years adventure, he had some pretty good places that might be repeated this year.

 

If you are doing elf on the shelf (and I recommend it for ages 2 and up) here are some ideas for your elf. ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Elf on the Shelfing!

10 More Days of Thanks!

11. Health - For the most part (besides snotty noses ALL the time) my children and family are very healthy. It breaks my heart to hear stories of people struggling with sickness and I thank God daily for the health he has given my family.

12. Our Material Possessions - My kids have toys running out their ears (which keeps them very busy and Mommy very happy) and Garet and I have a great house, reliable cars, and all of the electronics we could ask for. In this category  Garet would be thankful for his new man room TV. At church last Sunday the preacher said it's OK to like your possessions - and we are very thankful for ours.

13. The Weather - I am not a cold person AT ALL, and the weather has been gorgeous thus far. I know it will get cold and then it will get unbearably hot next summer, but for right now I am in love with these 75 for the high day.  

14. Mother's Day Out - Last year Carson attended his first "preschool" and we had the best experience possible. This summer I really started my part time job so we found a school that would take Carson and Caleb two days a week. Carson's old school doesn't take babies, so we continued with the school that they attended during the summer. We could not be happier AGAIN! My boys love their teachers and they love them. The great thing about a church preschool is the love and affection they GET to show the kids. Caleb gets greeted with kisses by his teachers everyday. I am so thankful for their first school experiences. 

15. Social Networks - I am very thankful I get to keep up with family and friends that I don't get to see or hear from on a daily or weekly basis. Yes, they can be annoying on occasion (election month or cowboys game) but then I get to see precious baby pictures from high school or college friends and it makes it worth it. 

16. PINTEREST! - I will admit, I am addicted. I am thankful for this wonderful addicting website. We have benefited with good easy dinners, decorating ideas, and hopefully more to come. I have a lot of boards pinned with lots of ideas :)

17. Living Close to Family - I LOVE living within a few minutes of my family, and in the next month my parents will be moving closer to us. Garet's parents also live fairly close. 3 and a half hours is not bad at all and truly either group could travel the distance at any time. Garet's Mom and Dad made the move from Chicago to Houston with 3 small children and left their entire family up north. I am so thankful that we can stay near our families and don't even have to make a decision like that. 

18. Activeness - Garet and I both play indoor and outdoor soccer and we enjoy it so much. I am thankful we are physically able to stay active. Our competitiveness is still alive and we love being weekend warriors (sometime weeknight warriors too).

19. Electronics - I know I mentioned our possessions earlier, but I love the ease of keeping pictures, sharing pictures, sharing ideas...I could go on and on. I know some people think that technology is not a good thing, but I think it is great when used the right way. It will be amazing to see what kind of technology will be out there when my boys are older and teaching me how to do things. 

20. Thanksgiving - My family had our thanksgiving early on Monday night and it was amazing to see almost our entire family there. If you know my family we are big and scattered all around Dallas. We had 28 people at dinner and it was a wonderful gathering. Tonight we are making the trip to The Woodlands to have thanksgiving with Garet's family and EVERYONE will be there as well. It will be fun to get pictures of the little ones and let the cousins play and spend time together. This holiday reminds us to be thankful and I am thankful it brings families together. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family whether it's a small group (my parents ran off to Vegas so there actual Thanksgiving will just be 2) or a group of 28 or more!

10 Days of Thanks

Several people on my facebook are doing daily Thankful posts. I love that my friends are thankful for their blessings but after about day 3 I was annoyed with the process. With that being said I am going to do (try, hopefully) 3 different posts on what I am thankful for.

1. My God - Without him I would have nothing. I learned at a very young age to trust in the Lord and he will not fail you. Everything is in his plan, the good and bad, and with that I have an amazing life with MANY blessings.

2. My Husband - Who knew going to Hardin-Simmons University would bring Garet and I together? Neither one of us had ever heard of the school before our recruiting trips, and we had both planned on going somewhere else before we chose HSU. Garet is my best friend and the love of my life. He also is a tad OCD and likes to clean and do laundry - I know its a rarity and I love him even more for it!

3. Carson - My first born, 3 year old son. There is never a dull moment around this one. If he isn't talking your ear off, he is probably running circles around you. He is way smarter than he should be and very loving. He is going to be our giant (size) super star.

4. Caleb - My sweet as pie baby boy. This little one is going to be my watcher. Yes, I know he won't be perfect forever but God knew what he was doing when he gave me Caleb after Carson. His little personalty is coming out more everyday and I can't wait to watch him grow more and more.

5. My Parents - Anyone need parents? Because my parents will "adopt" you in a heart beat. They are two of the most caring people I have ever known and would do anything for anyone.

6. Sean and Shanda - my brother and sister closest to me. The 3 of use were in the last "litter" as I call it. My parents were both previously married and had kids with those marriages and then got together and had the 3 of us. We fought so much growing up and now we are the best of friends. I'm even more blessed to live so close to both of them and their families.

7. My In-laws - Terry and Tony are two of the sweetest people I have ever met. The love for their children and grandchildren is unconditional and like my parents, they would do anything for any of us. After hearing horror stories of crazy, controlling in-laws, I am VERY thankful I have the ones I've got.

8. My Best Girlfriends - you know who you are! From elementary, to high school, to college I have been so blessed to have met girls that I know without a shadow of doubt will be my best friends for a life time. We will literally be in the nursing home together, checking out old men, and talking reality TV :)

9. My Husbands Job & My Job - Our last few months in Houston were sad ones because Garet and I both dreaded going to work. It was a situation where we liked what we were doing and we had good people around us, but there was one person that just spoiled it all. It added so much pointless stress and ultimately pushed us out the door and to Dallas. Our jobs now provide for our family and we are happy with them.

10. Rogue - Our official FIRST born. Rogue has been the best first dog for our family. She turned 5 years old last month and she has been such a great dog. She is awesome with the kids, barks at strangers, and doesn't chew up anything (unless she is showing off for other dogs).

 

10 days of Thanks...What are you thankful for?

ONE

I am SOOO happy to say that this will be the last post of this kind because on October 30th Caleb turned One year old!

 

This post will include his 12 month stats and information along with some birthday party pictures and dish that occurred the weekend before his birthday.

First thing is first...

Length:30 inches (50-75%)

Weight: 22 pounds and 4 ounces (25-50%)

Clothes: 12 and 18 months, size 4ish shoes

Diapers: 4 and we LOVE the walmart brand diapers

Sleeping: morning and afternoon naps 1-2 hours and sleeps great at night but an early riser

Food: We are eating all kinds of table foods but becoming pretty picky. I think it's a texture thing because he will stick things in his mouth and spit them out. We are down to breast feeding once a day, one bottle in the morning, and milk or water with a splash of juice in a sippy cup the rest of the day. I thought he was going to be so easy getting off the bottle because for a week he didn't mind the sippy cup at all. Then he got sick and refused to drink anything all day except nurse his one time, so I gave in and let him have one bottle in the morning. Hopefully here in a few days/weeks (who knows) we will be able to drop that as well.

Activity: We are taking steps and standing on occasion but continues to prefer crawling. When he wants to walk he will walk. This momma isn't rushing anything. He LOVES his toys, balls, riding toys, and books. All of this new birthday presents are definitely getting their use.

Other Random Things: We have started some temper tantrums. My sweetest, most loving, cuddle man gets angry and screams and kicks his feet and won't move an inch when he is having a tantrum. He still has his sweet loving moments but the tantrums happen regularly as well. He continues to love his paci and we are now thinking about when we are going to be the paci Nazi's and take it away. Not anytime soon, but hopefully he won't be a toddler running around playing with a paci in his mouth.

All in all it has been a WONDERFUL first year and we are so happy to have Caleb in our lives.

 

Now onto Party!!

 

Theme: Mickey Mouse!

 

(The only show or character he is interested in)

Guests: Family and Family Friends

Food: 6 ft sub sandwich with fixing's, chips, and pasta salad

 

 

and CupCakes!

 

Lots of Presents and One year firsts

 

He had a wonderful party with a lot of attention and love.

 

We are so blessed to have such great people to call family and friends!

Trick or Treat, Smell my feet...

2012 Halloween was a big one this year. Carson was in full force with the idea of getting as much candy as humanly possible and Caleb was willing enough to be in a costume and enjoy the ride.

We started off the weekend before Halloween with Caleb's Birthday party (I will post about that one day) and Trunk or Treat at my parents church Prestoncrest Church of Christ. Although it was pretty chilly the kids enjoyed a few bounce houses, games, food, and a lot of different car trunks decorated and handing out Candy.

We took a pretty good picture inside the church, because of the weather, of Angry Bird and Caleb the hotdog.

Side note: Caleb's costume is one of Carson's old infant costumes that a baby would wear kind of as a swaddle. We cut leg holes in it and it worked great. I LOVE when I can re-use things that are worn once a year like costumes.

On Halloween day/night we went to Daddys office first to fill up the buckets then did some old fashion neighborhood Trick or Treating. Carson LOVED going to each house and exploring the neighborhood. Halfway through the night we hooked up with my sister and her girls and it was fun watching Avery and Carson race to the front doors to see who could ring the doorbell first.

Once we got back home Carson was so worked up and excited that he was pacing the entry way waiting to give candy to other kids. It was priceless to see his excitement because Garet and I want our kids to enjoy holidays just as much as we did when we were younger.

Great quotes from Carson on Halloween night:
"look at the parade of costumes!"
-groups of kids walking the streets

"I want to go see the foooogggyyy pumpkins!"
100billion times

"When are the kitty cats coming to get candy?"
I accidentally called kids kiddies....

"Mom I DID IT, I said trick or treat!"
Yes, and you've said it to the past 30 houses? What's the big deal?

Halloween 2012 - Done and very successful

Almost too successful when a 3 year old little boy is already anticipating next year.

Lazy Eleven Month Post

This is our Eleven month post! Only a few weeks until the BIG 1. I know I will be mad at myself later for not putting more detail in this post but I figured I better put up his pictures now or it might not happen at all.

 

Our boy is a mover and a shaker and LOVES playing with balls of any kind. I used these two as his props because it is Mommy's favorite and Daddy's favorite and his sticker is our alumni colors purple and yellow from HSU where we both played.

 

 Trying to throw both at the same time.

 Throwing the ROCK!

 Just hanging out looking like a couch potato.

Happy as can be.

 

I will go over the major things.

-  Not Walking

- No new teeth

- Standing by himself on occasion

- Becoming a little picky with foods

- Says Mama, Dada, Bubba, Byebye, baba (bottle), and his newest word God (dog) Rogue feels very special right now.

 

The Count down is on and party planning is in full effect.

Finally Fall Time!

Fall is finally here and baby boy (not so much of a baby) turned 11 months yesterday. So expect the last month post EVER soon. Of course I don't have it ready. I'm too busy facebooking, pinteresting, and playing with the little nuggets to get that done on time.

In the meantime here is a picture of our front door with two fall pieces that aren't supposed to go together, but I thought it worked.

Enjoy the cooler weather before we start freezing our butts off!

10 months down and 2 to go

I really dislike doing month posts without going to the doctor because my favorite part is seeing how much my little nugget has grown. So if I have ever skipped a month post that is the reason.

But this month we took some really funny prop pictures so I just had to share.

length: growing
weight: growing
clothes: 12 months
diapers: size 4
sleeping: wonderfully...2 naps and all night


food: ANYTHING and EVERYTHING put in front of him.He is already trying to eat us out of house and home. Also trying some milk products this month so at 1 he wont be thrown to the wolves. He also still nurses twice a day. We are weening off the boob. No, he will not be a 4 year old still nursing :)

Activity: I'm not going to go into everything I have already mentioned in previous months so new things are: Throwing anything he can get his hands on. We are trying to teach him that the appropriate things to throw are balls. He is cruising more and stood without holding onto anything once for about 5 seconds but I think it was a fluke (my baby is way to lazy to be doing that already) His babble is becoming more meaningful. On occasion he will will say mamma, dadda, bubba, more, and bye bye. Now don't take that as me saying he is talking. He isn't consistent enough for me to say he is saying these words with the correct association. Of course my mother thinks he is, but that is what Grandmas are for :)

Other Random Things: No new teeth. I think he knows when those top 2 bust through the boob is gone, so he is trying to hold off as long as possible. Still has the paci. Here is a new one - he likes to sleep on a pillow and he has since he was about 5 months old. Of course its a very small pillow that he can throw around, but he loves that thing. He continues to be my loving butterball and I am taking advantage of every loving moment I get.

2 months to go until the big ONE...I better start party planning!

Keeping Up with the Blacks

Some pics from the good ole IPhone. I lost my phone in the airport right before boarding the plane for Vegas, so unfortunately no naughty pics ;) luckily someone found my phone and turned it in to the lost and found. There are a few good people still out there. So I am very thankful to that good person that I get to share my pictures with you.

Rooaarring with his Cancun shark shirt...since sharks roar and everything.

Some breakfast together and watching cartoons.

Black light putt-putt. Totally worth every penny in this heat.

Riding dirty in the double wide :)

Eventually loving the circus.

There is your catch up. Soon to come will be the Las Vegas post...maybe :/ You should be nervous about that one.

If you know the girls I went with (Whitney & Stefanie) you can only imagine...

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Carson turns 3 and Caleb 9 months

...and the best part about this milestone is at their doctor's appointment they needed NO shots. Happy kids make for a very happy Momma, and "Happy wife, happy life" I try to remind Garet of that all the time :)

Lets do a little rewind 

 

It is amazing how much he has changed in 3 short years. 

In his birthday party post I described some of the things he is doing at the age of 3, so I won't go into that again. Here are his stats from the doctor's appointment.

Weight: 39 lbs 95-97%

Length: 41 inches >97% (off the charts) = giant child 

Anyone who knows my husband Garet, knows that he is super pumped about Carson being huge. 

Now onto my little Caleb and compared to Carson, he is very little. Compared to the rest of the world he is average.

9 months and trying to give you a hug!

Length: 28 1/4 inches (50%)

Weight: 20 lbs 6 ounces (50%)

Clothes: 12 months 

Diapers: Size 4...we have finally stopped going up so quickly. 

Sleeping: 11 hours at night with a morning and afternoon nap that last anywhere between an hour or 2 hours.

Food: He gets to nurse twice a day but has officially started taking Two 8 ounce formula bottles. Along with that he is eating stage 3 baby food and anything else I let him eat. New things that we have tried are: cheer-ios, macaroni and cheese, french fries, Ritz crackers, bread, re-fried beans and Mexican rice. He is not a picky eater and is very content in his high chair, especially sitting next to brother.

Activity: Crawling EVERYWHERE, pulling up on everything and cruising, banging toys together or against hard surfaces (making music), and the newest funniest thing is hitting balls with a bat or golf club. He sees brother do it all the time so he crawls around sits on his rump and swings away. It really is the funniest thing I have seen him do. Something else new that I haven't mentioned in any other posts is his babbling. He is trying more and more to talk and is really starting to make some correct noises. No words yet, but we will get there soon enough.

Other Random things: 2 official teeth and working on the top two (slobber monster). Not too cranky with the teething process. Continues to love his paci, but isn't obsessed with it. Sometimes at night he will throw it out of his crib, then get upset he doesn't have it. He will learn :) He also continues to be so loving and cuddly. I am a hard Momma with Carson and I am really afraid that Caleb is going to try to take advantage and butter me up when he gets old enough to figure that out. Only a few more months until the big 1 and he will get his first taste of cake, cookies, ice cream, all of the good/bad things for you!

Here is the prop month pic of my little man...

He is hinting to his Daddy and uncles that he is ready to go fishing!

Carson turned 3!

I can't believe that my baby boy turned 3 a week ago. We had a wonderful birthday party with family, friends, a blow up water slide, and a huge bounce house. My goal for his birthday party was for Carson to have the most fun possible and I think we achieved that. But talk about a bad mother...I only took one picture the entire party and that was Carson blowing out his birthday candles. At least I got that right? Luckily several other people were taking pictures, so hopefully I will steal some of those for his memory book. 

Also luckily we got to keep the bounce house for the entire weekend, so I got to capture some "pure joy" moments the next day.

About to Body Slam Uncle Derik

Doing some flips his cousin Avery taught him

Jumping with a nervous little brother

Now onto some 3 years of life stats: Carson is 40 inches long and 38 lbs. He was born a man-child and he has continued to grow at a rapid rate. He is a talker. Let me correct that - he never stops talking. He is potty trained for the most part. He is perfect at school - go figure - but we still have issues at home now and then. He has moved onto his big boy bed. We bought a convertible crib before he was born, and we have officially gone through all of the stages. He LOVES his big boy bed. When we took the front of his crib off to make the toddler bed he kept falling out, so we transitioned to the full bed pretty quickly once he proved to us that he wouldn't get out during naps or night time. How did we do it? I threatened his life and he hasn't called my bluff yet. We also have a two way video monitor to where if I see him moving I can tell him to go to sleep. Or in the morning we can tell him he can get out of bed to join the family. 

This last year Carson completed his first full year of school/mothers day out 2 days a week. He also went to a summer program 3 days a week. He had his freak out moments at both schools and we pushed past it and for the most part he enjoys going. Anybody who has been around Carson for long periods of time know that he has a memory better than some adults, so going to school has really been fun for Garet and I because he comes home with new phrases, songs, and stories all the time. 

And finally Carson has filled the big brother role beautifully. He loves his little brother a lot and will do anything to help or make him feel better if he is crying. Some of my favorite things that Carson does for Caleb are: If Caleb is crying he will go talk to him, tickle him, or in his car seat play with his feet which he absolutely loves. If Caleb is crying in the car Carson will try to throw toys into his lap to make him happy, or he will start doing silly faces for him. Any mother knows a baby crying in the car gives you the most helpless feeling and my sweet boy always tries to help out. 

I could go on and on about things that I love about Carson. I could also write 10 blogs about things he does to drive me crazy. By the way that is a new phrase he uses with us "Mommy, you are making me crazy!" I wonder where he got that? Anyways, we have had a wonderful year and we will see what the terrible 3's bring us. I will be optimistic and say it will be the wonderful 3's. No matter what there will always be more goods than bads and more hugs and kisses than tears. 

 Happy 3rd Birthday Carson Anthony Black!