Zoo Day at Preschool

The Fort Worth Zoo came to Drew's preschool on January 17th.  They invited parents and siblings to attend, so Clayton, Owen, and I joined our Drew for the presentation.  It was awesome!  I didn't know quite what to expect - I just figured that they would bring out a couple of small animals and call it a day.  Boy, was I wrong!  My boys were thrilled to see an owl, snake, opossum, parrot, and penguin!

I love seeing my Drew in a school setting.  He is so quiet and serious - not at all like he is at home!

 This snake was just inches from my baby's head.  I think that my heart literally stopped for a few seconds.  Wowsers!

Surprisingly, Owen was way into the show!  He was following all of their directions.  I couldn't believe how much of it he understood.  I am in total denial that he is transitioning out of babyhood...

The zookeeper said, "Hold up your hands and look at your fingers..."

 "Put on your fox ears and listen really closely...."

 The penguin was the star of the show.  He just waddled all around the sanctuary.  Crazytown.

 Such a fun day for my boys!

Christmas in January

Due to schedules and a sweet baby that decided to come 5 weeks early, we were able to have Christmas with Wade's Mamaw and G & Granddad the third weekend of January.  It was so fun to spread the Christmas celebrations out as long as possible.  :)

My sister-in-law, Leigh Ann, was so kind to host our Christmas with Mamaw.  It was so much fun to be under one roof with the Tompkins clan!  The flu and a death in one of the families made our crew not quite complete.  We really missed the people who were unable to come, but were thrilled to have most of the families represented.

Mamaw with 13 of her 16 great-grandchildren

 Mamaw with 6 of her 7 grandchildren

Our get together was the day before Mamaw's birthday.  What a joy it was to see that precious lady blow out her candles!

The next day, Kim & Joe hosted Christmas for the Carpenter side of the family.  We were supposed to get together at the end of December, but sweet little Miss Charlie decided that she was ready to come into the world 5 weeks early!  I'd say that a new baby is the best reason ever to reschedule Christmas. :)  We have had two new baby girls this year on the Carpenter side - Audrey & Charlie!  They are both so sweet...

 Audrey Girl was blowing raspberries at me - such a cutie pie!

I said that there were 2 new baby girls, but I guess that there are actually 3!  Sophie is the cutest golden doodle puppy.  She kept photobombing the shot when Wade was trying to get some pictures of Audrey.  Ha!

 G & Granddaddy with their 5 grandchildren

 The Original Carpenter 4 :)

 The Great-grands with their 8 great-grandkids

I feel like my kids are so blessed to have all 4 of their grandparents and 3 great grandparents in their lives.  I love any opportunity that they have to make memories with those 7 very special people!  Thank you so much to all of the grands that made Christmas so special for my kids!  We love each of you so very much!

The Big Boy Suite

As I have mentioned, our boys are really into Legos right now.  I must admit, I love them too!  I feel like they are a toy that I don't mind spending money on.  They teach them how to construct things and encourage creativity.  The bricks themselves are pretty much indestructible, so I know that they will last through all 3 boys.

The only problem that we have had with Legos is that they have such tiny pieces.  It makes me nervous for Owen to play with them.  So... we decided that the Carpenter Legoland needed to be confined to the big boys' room where they could close the door while they were building.  :)

I found a really cool Lego table online, and my Hubby was kind enough to build it.  ;)  As is so often the case in our family, I had the vision and Wade had the skills to make it happen.  Love him for that!  We made a trip to IKEA (so fun!) and Wade built the table within an hour or so.

After much discussion/warning/threatening, we bunked the boys' beds that were previously two separate twin beds to make room for the Lego table.  They promised to abide by the rules of no jumping, grabbing fan blades, climbing down the ladder safely, etc. and have done really well for the last few weeks.

I'm so happy with their room!  I hope that they will love it for many years to come.  :)

 Carpenter Legoland  :)

 Wade mounted shelves to store their completed creations.  Clayton's side...

 Drew's side...

The boys made a little "zoo" as their first project on their new table - complete with mini figure zookeepers.  It's pretty cute...

Baby Brother tries to claim Drew's bed as his own.  Not so fast, Little Man!  You will remain in the nursery for as long as possible.  Mama is in no rush to vacate that room!  ;)

Surprisingly, Drew actually plays in there the most.  He loves the Lego City series and the Lego Dino series.  He still needs some help, but he does pretty well for a 4 year old!

I am so grateful that Clayton and Drew love sharing a room.  It is so fun to watch their relationship grow, and to see them enjoy a shared interest.  One of my biggest prayers in life is that my boys will all grow up to be best friends.  Lord, let it be so!

Happy New Year!

It's 2013!!!  Despite the number 13 having a bit of an ominous ring to it, I'm hoping that 2013 is a good year.  :)

We decided to ring in the New Year with an early dinner with friends (none of us wanted to be out super late with all of the crazies).  As an added bonus, we were back home early enough to celebrate with our little fellas before they went to bed.  Friend time followed by family time - the best of both worlds.  :)

We got out all of our New Year's hats and blowers to let the boys celebrate in style.  Owen posed for a few pictures and then it was off to bed for him.  The big boys got to stay up until 11 to see the ball drop in NYC.  So fun!

We had some sparkling cider and then it was off to bed.

Happy New Year!!!

Carpenter Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Wade's parents on December 26th.  We had a great time together, as usual!

There was some Just Dance 3 on the Wii action.  Clayton and Morgan were so cute!  :)

 Wade, of course, had to get in on the action.  ;)

When present time rolled around, the boys were pretty excited about their loot!

This boy and his faces...

 Aunt Leigh Ann got Drew this cute shirt and hat.

It was a super fun celebration!  Thanks, Corey & Leigh Ann, for hosting!  Thanks also to Grammie & Papaw for spoiling us all rotten.  You were so generous, and we are so appreciative!