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!

Home Improvement

We decided to bite the bullet and get our patio slab extended. Our first home in Houston had an awesome covered back patio with a ceiling fan and room to sit, play, have plants, anything we wanted. It really was one of the main selling points when we were buying and selling the house. So when we moved to Dallas, Garet and I loved our new house, but knew we would eventually want to make the backyard into exactly what we wanted. Phase one was to make that tiny patio you see in the before picture bigger. 

We had a few people come and give us quotes and one company gave us a price we couldn't pass up.

 

 Caleb felt the need to supervise while Carson and Daddy moved the sand box.

They framed it up with two by fours, and placed the grid of re-bar, then waited on the cement truck. I should have taken a picture, but while waiting, a small sided soccer game occurred in our backyard. 

The cement truck arrived

It was wheel barreled into the backyard while the crew was on the clock. Garet has never seen men wheel that fast in his life.

5 hours after they started, this was the finished project. 

We wanted to do the boy's hand prints, but they were both taking naps, and if you have children you know you don't wake them up from weekend naps :) So stamped with the family nap and year was the way to go.

 It's amazing how much we have already been out there more because of it and now phase two (it being covered) is on our brains. It won't happen anytime soon, but I'm already thinking about all the wonderful things we will be able to do once we get to.

Girls just want to have fun

This is a taste of a post that I will be writing about soon .

Be jealous, be very jealous! :) 

Things to look for...

I feel like there is so much that I could share, so I am going to bullet them out so I am forced to blog about them later when I can take pictures/up-load pictures or the event happens.

- Garet's man cave is almost complete besides the 60-65 inch TV that he wants. Anybody want to donate? Didn't think so :)

- We extended our slab of concrete in the backyard and want to eventually cover it with a patio covering.

- My parents are moving out of our childhood home and are building less than 2 miles from our home. 

- Carson is turning 3! 

and...

- In the next 4 weeks I will be traveling to Rivera Maya Mexico then Las Vegas

Some Day

A boy and his dog

It's crazy enough that he is at the point of playing with the dog, but the thought of him all grown up hunting with his dog almost makes me tear up.

He might be like the duck dynasty men some day (hopefully not that redneck) and I will show him this picture and tell him it was meant to be. A boy in his camo with his huntin' dog. Several of his uncles will be very proud of this picture.

Cowboy Up!

This past weekend Garet and I traveled to Austin to attend one of Garet's old college teammate's wedding. We saw some old friends from Abilene that we haven't seen in about 6-7 years. It was so much fun catching up, meeting wives, chatting about children or potential children, and having adult beverages. Some had more adult beverages than others :)

Not to mention that 13 of these old football boys floated the river the day before the wives got there. In my opinion that screams disaster, but somehow these boys always manage to all come back alive. It was funny to hear that they were all spraying each other down with sunscreen prior to floating and some even were responsible enough to take heart burn medicine and share with their friends. LOL that would have NEVER happened 7 years ago.

By the end of the weekend the guys started showing their age. The drinking slowed down the sleeping extended and all of the married men who were away from their wives and children left super quick to return home.

All in all we had a wonderful trip and we can't wait to have someone else get married to have an excuse to get everyone together.

Proud to be an American

8 Months and Proud of the USA

This is my sweet face

This is serious stuff

Yeah for America!

Happy 4th of July