Bloggy Randomness...

I feel the need to apologize for my absence from the blogosphere lately. It was brought to my attention this weekend that people were starting to worry about my lack of posts. Apparently, there were speculations of illness, computer problems, etc. One sweet friend even said (jokingly, of course), "I'm sure getting tired of seeing 'Boredom Buster #4' every time that I click on your blog." Ha!

I just haven't really had anything major to blog about lately. We've spent the last couple of weeks trying to squeeze every last drop out of summer. We've had some fun playdates and goofed off at home, but I have taken very few pictures lately (shocking - I know!).

To be honest, I had totally forgotten how exhausting this semi-mobile part of babyhood is. My sweet lap-sitting Drew has transformed overnight into a super busy little monkey, who is constantly exploring, never still, and getting into everything. Gone are the days of typing away while my precious babe sat in his exersaucer... I feel like I am so busy wrangling that sweet little toot that I can't manage to take pictures of our daily life (much less document them on our blog). I know that you Mamas out there understand, though, right? Can I get an "Amen"?

Since I can't manage to form a cohesive thought (nor a cohesive blog post), here are some random tidbits about life right now.

* Clayton starts back to preschool next Tuesday (the 15th). He is sooo excited to meet his new teachers, find out which of his friends will be in his class, and get back into his preschool groove.

For now, he is enjoying the end of summer and all of the slip sliding that entails. :)

* We signed Clayton up for Fall Tee Ball. He is stoked! He and Wade have been practicing in the front yard in the evenings. Maybe this will be his sport - you just never know...

Or he could follow in his Mama's footsteps and try lots of activities and never really stick with any of them. I attempted ballet, tap, gymnastics, competitive jump roping (oh yes, my friends, there is such a thing!), choir, piano, and violin all by the 5th grade. Bless my parents hearts for paying for and transporting me to all of those lessons!

* Drew has enjoyed jumping in his Jumperoo while watching Brother practice.

He jumps and jumps until he is too tired to bounce any longer.

* Clayton came out of the playroom in this costume the other day...

He had his Superman tee shirt and cape on underneath a dress shirt and tie. He was also wearing some old 3D glasses. He said, "Hi Lois, I'm Clark Kent." Ha! He cracks me up sometimes with how his little mind works.

*We're starting Drew out on superhero costumes early. ;)

* The lack of smiling and drool on the front of Drew's onesie is hard-earned evidence of his latest trials with teething. He is cutting his second top tooth as we speak. This has definitely been the toughest teething experience that he has had thus far. With the other 3 teeth, they just kinda appeared without the usual teething symptoms. This tooth, however, has caused shortened naps, fussiness, tons 'o drool, earlier morning wakings, etc. Boo! I'm ready for that sucker to break through so that I can have my happy baby back. Hopefully in the next few days...

* We spent part of the day on Saturday putting all of the baby gear in the attic. It was bittersweet. It was sad to think that Drew didn't need his swing, bouncy seat, play mat, infant car seat, Bumbo, baby clothes, etc. But, it is nice to have a little more living space without all of that stuff. And, hopefully, one day there will be another Carpenter baby that will need all of that equipment. :)

I think that is all that I have for now! Meet the teacher is on Thursday, so that should give me something to blog about. Let's hope that my "strong willed child" makes a good first impression. Ha!

P.S. Happy 5th birthday, Miss Morgan! We love you, sweet girl!

Boredom Buster Recipe #4

On Thursday, my friend, Leah, had to do some training at work. So, we were lucky enough to get to play with Maggie for a few hours. She is such a precious little girl and we all enjoy her so much!

It was a nice morning (it had rained earlier, so it was cool outside), so I decided to make a recipe that I had found online for sidewalk paint. It was a big hit, so I thought that I would share it with all of you. :)

Sidewalk Paint:
2 Tablespoons of cornstarch
2 Tablespoons of water
4 drops of food coloring

You will need the above proportions for each color that you make. I used a muffin tin, and it worked great.

My little painters were super excited about our activity.

The paint after mixing the ingredients

Let the painting begin!

Clayton and his rainbow picture

Little Miss Maggie

After about 30 minutes of painting, Clayton took Maggie on a firetruck ride. :)

This picture has noting to do with sidewalk paint, but I thought it was a cute one of the boys in their traditional Chinese clothes that Daddy brought home. :)

On another random note.... Drew's top tooth finally broke through. He has done so well with teething! (Knock on wood!) It sure hasn't held him back when it comes to eating and his sleep hasn't been disrupted (which I am so thankful for!).

I just can't imagine my little bug with top teeth!

Happy Saturday, y'all! Hope that you're doing something fun! As for me, I'm giving the grout in my kitchen a little TLC. Does anyone have any tips for dingy grout? It is the thorn in my side - arggg!

Ni Hao, Daddy!

Wade is finally home from China! Hallelujah!

Wade was in China on a business trip from August 13th - August 25th. I have to tell you, it was the longest 13 days of my life! I missed him like crazy! I spent the better part of the past two weeks in full-on survival mode. My goal each day was to feed, diaper, clothe, and bathe my children - nothing more. If I accomplished those things, then it was a successful day. :) I am so used to having Wade's help, that it was hard taking care of the house and kids by myself day in and day out. I really don't know how single mothers and military wives do it! My hat is off to them, for sure.

We somehow managed to survive for 13 days without our Daddy, though. Several of my sweet pals were kind to call and check on us often. Leah planned several fun activities to make the time pass quickly, and Abbey brought me a piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and some bubble bath on one of the particularly tough days. Thanks, friends!

By day 8, my Mommy mojo was running really low. So... it was time to call for reinforcements. :) We went to East Texas to spend the weekend with my parents-in-law. They cooked for us and kept us all entertained. It was so nice to have two more sets of hands! I don't know that we would have made it through the last few days without them. Thanks Grammie & Papaw!

Wade was so smart to set up a few other measures to help make the trip a little easier on all of us. He installed Skype on my computer and taught me how to use it. What a miracle of modern technology that is! You can "talk" via video conference to others for free. It was awesome! It made it feel like Daddy wasn't so far away. Clayton would say, "Mommy, can we Skype Daddy?" whenever he wanted to talk. As soon as Wade answered the call, Clayton would say, "Ni Hao, Daddy!" Drew even waved for the first time to his Daddy on Skype. :)

Wade also bought a small present for Clayton to open each day (and several for Drew also). Clayton would wake up and immediately run to open his little "happy." It gave him something to look forward to and the bags were numbered so we could countdown the days until Wade got back home.

A picture from Wade's camera of him Skype-ing us from China

Our view from Texas :)

Wade talking to Drew on Skype - apparently fake sneezes are just as funny even from halfway around the world. ;)

Daddy was being goofy with his webcam applications and made himself look like a superhero. Clayton thought that was totally amazing.

Clayton opening his bag on day 1.

Drew with his book from Day 1

The last bag - the day before Wade came home

When Wade walked through the door on Tuesday night, I literally heard the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background! I was soooo happy to see my hubs! (Sydney and the boys were glad to see Wade too.)

Drew was so cute - he kept touching Wade's mouth. It was like he just had to make sure that it was really his Daddy.

Wade brought home a huge duffle bag full of souvenirs that he had bought in China. I teased that we were having Chinese Christmas. :)

He brought both of the boys wooden snakes.

Drew preferred to chew on his. :)

Clayton got a cool mask....

and a little dog that walks around and barks.

I was surprised by a gorgeous set of pearls! I can't wait to wear them!

Wade had a great trip business-wise. He had some productive meetings and made some new contacts. He also got to spend a weekend with his Aunt Kim & Uncle Joe who are living in China right now. He had so much fun with them and got to experience some really cool stuff. I am trying to get him to do a blog post about his time in China. However, he came back from his trip sick. Poor thing looks and feels horrible! I guess that I'll give him a few days to recover before I tell him that his post is overdue. :)

Drew is 10 months old!

Drew is 10 months old today!

At 10 months old:

* Drew wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.

* He takes 2 2-2.5 hour long naps during the day and sleeps 11-12 hours at night. Our boy loves his bed! However, he isn't a huge fan of sleeping anywhere else now. He doesn't nap in the church nursery (which makes Sundays so hard) and doesn't nap on the go quite as well as he used to. But, we are thankful that he is such a good sleeper at home.

* Drew still loves to eat! We have yet to find a single baby food that he won't take. He eats baby oatmeal mixed with a fruit for breakfast. He eats a jar of meat baby food and a jar of a vegetable at lunch and again at dinner. He also has a bowl of rice cereal mixed with a fruit before bed. Our boy doesn't miss a meal! :) He also loves finger foods (Cheerios, puffs, tiny pieces of cut up banana, etc.) and is getting really good at picking up each piece and putting it into his mouth.

* He still just has his 2 bottom teeth in. His top gums are starting to look a little swollen, though, especially the top right.

* He has the sweetest little face. Oh my gracious, I could just kiss those cheeks all day long!

* He loves to give 5's and just learned to wave (8/17). Actually, he just flails his little arm around in a not-so-controlled manner and grins really big. :)

* He is all. over. the. place! I'm here to tell you, that little stinker is fast! He also found the stairs this week. That should be fun...

* This is the view that I see every time that I go to get him up after a nap or in the morning. I love seeing his happy face when I walk in his nursery.

* He loves the remote and cell phones. He lunges for them as soon as he spots them. Funny how that is ingrained in males so early...

* Drew LOVES his big brother! He lights up as soon as Clayton walks into the room. It is so sweet to watch them together.


My Dearest Drew,

What a busy body you are now! You are all over the place. You crawl behind me and follow me room to room. If I stand still for a moment, you pull up on my legs. I know that walking is in the near future, and that will be so fun to watch. I love watching you explore the world around you and figure things out. We are just starting to work on "no-no's." This month you discovered that playing in the dog bowls is super fun and that nothing beats teething on a shoe. YUCK-O! You aren't a huge fan of your exersaucer or your jumperoo anymore. You'd rather be crawling around. You are loving your new found independence.

You are such a joyful part of my life. I love when you lay your head on my shoulder as we rock. I pat your sweet little head and beg you to never grow too big to rock.

I love you to pieces,
Mommy

Fire Station Tour

My sweet friend, Leah, arranged a BIG treat for our kiddos today. Leah's brother is a fireman, so she asked him if we could come up to the fire station today and take a tour. He was more than gracious with his time, and the kids had a BALL!

The kids got to see inside the fire truck, the dive truck, and the ambulance. Clayton asked about 5 billion questions, and Mr. Justin was sweet to answer every one. Clayton was mesmerized by everything about the fire station and hung on every word that Justin said. It was the sweetest thing!

When we were leaving, Clayton said, "No one at preschool is going to believe that I went to the real fire station!" In the car on the way home I asked him if he thought the he would want to be a fireman when he grew up. He said, "Yes! I want to be Mr. Justin!"

Wearing Mr. Justin's helmet

And his mask

Trying out the thermal camera

"Driving" the firetruck

Comparing the hatchet from his costume to the real deal

Drew with brother's fire extinguisher

Checking out all of the dive equipment

Sitting on the ambulance

His EKG printout

Clayton and Drew with their friends

Clayton with Mr. Justin

It was a banner day that Clayton will be talking about for a very long time, I'm sure! :)