29 More Days

Until Christmas!

I mainly just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here.  It's just been a very busy few weeks!  I'm going to try to get back into the blogging swing of things this weekend :)

It's a Circus up in here!

Even though Benjamin turned 3 almost a full month ago, we didn't have his party until last weekend. I wanted to do a circus theme full of games and it was important to me that all the kids in the family were available to join in on the fun.  These are the types of memories I want Benjamin to have - playing around with his gang of cousins! As always, I intend to take way more pictures than I actually do.  I didn't get a great picture of the signs I made, the banner or the food spread :( We had the typical circus type food - hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy, cracker jacks and popcorn.  And to end the night we had giant cupcakes and an ice cream buffet. 

We had a pretty good variety of games

• Sack Race
• Peanut Pick Up - I stole this idea from Field Day back in grade school! They had 3min. to pick up as many peanuts as possible with just a spoon. 
• Duck Pond
• Pinata 
• Can Toss

I was so excited to try out the face painting kit but only a few were brave enough to let me experiment on their face.  Thanks Dylan P, Zoe, Maddie and Owen :) Every time I asked Benjamin to sit down so I could paint his face he argued with me about wanting to paint my face instead so I finally gave up trying. 

I'm definitely bummed I didn't get more pictures, but here are a few of my favorite action shots of the day...

Fall Kick Off

This weather is amazing! Sunny and in the mid 70's - yes please!
David and I have been going apple picking for as long as I can remember so we jumped at the chance to go last weekend.  Such a perfect way to be outside and soak in the fall temps and celebrate David's Birthday. 

Let Me Count The Ways...Vol. 2

• You spent hours looking for the perfect condo rental for our mini lake trip
• You're practically a professional at packing the car for vacation
• High Fiving with Benjamin after the Rams won their first game of the season
• Spending the entire summer making sure our little pool was always clean and ready at a moments notice
• "Reverse swoop neck"

Ally takes on Sweet Potatoes

Oh my gosh...the next series of pictures is too much for me - Ally's facial expressions are hilarious!

Here she is laughing at David trying to ignore me and the spoon

And then she finally decides to look over at me like - Uh I don't know what you're trying to pull but I'm not game

Wait for it...

LOL!!!

Seriously, I'm sure Ally was calling me all sorts of names in her head

 And when I finally gave up and put the spoon down all was good again

I might have a problem

I can't help it - what am I supposed to do when Target is basically shoving all of this pumpkin stuff in my face?  Dang you Target! All I went in for was a Jack Johnson CD for David and I came out with a basket full of pumpkin eats - what the heck!?!

Gourmet Grilled Cheese

I'm pretty sure I could eat grilled cheese every day.  It's SOOOO good! I have tried all sorts of variations.  A couple of weeks ago I tried out a combination I saw online and was not disappointed.

Sourdough bread with goat cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes. Never would have thought to add cucumbers b/c I'm normally not a fan but I figured what the heck - I'll try anything once (a concept I'm still trying to get David to understand)

Not enough restaurants offer adult grilled cheese sandwiches. Maybe that's a million dollar idea right there - the possible flavor combinations are endless! 

How did this happen

How in the world do I have a 3 year old?  I just don't know where the time went.

I saw some fun balloon ideas on pinterest so I decided to hang some balloons on Benjamins door Thursday night so that he would start his Birthday off right away Friday morning.  I had visions of him busting through the wall of balloons laughing and having fun but in reality I could barely get him to even come out of his room and when he did he said it was scary, we cut the video when he said he had "wet pants" so clearly it wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for but I guess it's a little funny to look back at.

After he ate breakfast and got dressed he seemed to be in a slightly better mood

We asked him what he wanted for his special Birthday dinner Friday night and here is his list of requests
Pizza
Grilled Cheese
Tiger Cereal (aka Frosted Flakes)
Pancakes
Sprinkles
Knowing him I wouldn't be surprised if he actually could eat all of that in one sitting :) But we kept it simple and just stuck with pizza. 

Everyone had on their party hats after dinner :)

I found a bubble leaf blower on clearance as a last minute gift and I'm so happy I picked it up because he was definitely excited about it.

I wish I had a better picture of his ice cream before he blew the candles out but he was so excited and I just wasn't fast enough.  But at least I got a pretty cute after shot

Saturday we got up bright and early and went to the zoo.  I was so excited about it and had all sorts of plans to take Benjamin to the childrens zoo to pet the goats, take him to Build A Bear and maybe even watch the sea lion show but someone was EXTRA grumpy and we actually cut the visit super short.  I'm kinda of wondering if he wasn't feeling so great (maybe too much pizza and ice cream the night before) because he just didn't seem to be acting like his normal goofy self
We were at least able to ride the train and see some monkeys before we had to leave

I love this little man to pieces and I love seeing him grow and learn every single day.  He definitely keeps us on our toes but he's sooo smart and can be super sweet. I can't wait to see what this next year brings us!

Let me count the ways...Vol. 1

I don't really have too many posts about Mr. Carter so I'm going to fix that starting today. 
It's so easy to go through the motions of day to day life without taking a quick second to appreciate the important people in your life.  So I plan on doing regular posts dedicated to all the reasons why David is an amazing Husband and Dad :) 

• You go the extra distance to drop me off at work in the morning when we car pool even though we practically drive right past your office first.
• You tell Ally she’s pretty ALL the time
• When Benjamin asks to hear the young man song you know exactly what he’s talking about
• You love looking for treasures at goodwill and garage sales possibly even more than I do
• “Feeding goats is easier than this” 

So here's to you David - I love you always and forever!

XOXO - Sarah

Headbands and Hairbows

I have officially decided that Ally does not have enough headbands.  SOOOO much of her hair has fallen out and even the Mohawk is starting to thin out on top.  David says it like some sort of whispy wheat crop growing on top of her head these days.  Poor thing!  I used to be able to put a bow clip right smack dab in the middle up top but now it’s so fine and thin that nothing will really stay in place.  Hence the need for more headbands.  I have become obsessed! There a like a million and one cute headbands on etsy  - I just ordered one the other day and have been trying to decide which one to buy next.  I also want to put my creative skills to test and make a few of my own.   

I saw a super cute Bow organizer on Pinterest and made my own this week.  Just need to hang it up in her room somewhere.  I gotta be honest – I was kinda scared to have a girl just b/c I only had experience in how to handle a rowdy boy but oh me oh my – this is so much fun.  At least for now :) Before the Attitude comes out.

Weeklys

 Special shout out to Grandma Zacher for the 100% made from scratch dress Ally is sporting in her week 16 picture :)

And how cute are the matching bloomers?!?

Potty Frontier

David I decided to Dive head first into the wonderful world of potty training almost 3 weeks ago.  Let me tell you right now – this stuff is NO JOKE! I feel like we’re living in a full blown Zoo right now.  I have seen and cleaned up some stuff that no normal person should ever have to deal with.  I mean if you’re a zoo keeper for the Ape house – sure, it is to be expected to clean dirtiness off walls.  But in my own house? Um…No thank you! We’re only 3 weeks in and I feel like I have already met my potty disaster quota for the year but realistically I know that is far from the truth.  This potty journey is going to be a learning experience (for all involved) that will probably take some time.

With all that said – I do need to give the little guy credit! He’s made leaps and bounds since that first weekend we started.  Plus look at how cute he is running around in boxer briefs

Bed Crasher

We were in Benjamins room the other night and I needed to put Ally down for what I thought was a quick second to help Benjamin brush his teeth and when we came back Little Miss was completely passed out :)

Binder Fun

Ally's birth certificate has been sitting on our dresser ever since we got it in the mail.  Not exactly the smartest filing system :(
Instead of putting together a file for her in the filing cabinet I decided to turn the cricut on and make a binder for each of the kiddo's. 
There's a closed folder that snaps shut to store loose items, as well as a few subject dividers.  I plan to organize any sort of official documents like shot records etc in here.  Much cuter than a file cabinet - am I right? :)
The only downside to this project is that I decided to do it during the peak shopping time for back to school. I had to fight my way through the school supply section at Target.  Oh well...it's done and over with and I'm super happy with the end result. 

Did I for real just become a soccer Mom?

We signed Benjamin up for soccer this fall!!! I am beyond excited to see him run around with a bunch of other 2-3 year olds chasing after a ball.  It's going to be hilarious! It starts in a couple of weeks and goes until Mid October.  His "practice" will be Wednesday nights at a park in St. Peters. Thanks to Davids sister Briana we already have some pretty awesome soccer shoes.  How cute is he?!

He seriously seems to be a natural - he's got some mad skills already