Sledding and other fun!

Here's Ave the goof talking and singing about Landon's birthday party!


My monkeys and I had a very nice relaxing Thanksgiving break. We were supposed to go to Sunburst, but the roads were not cooperating unfortunately. Here's one of our laidback mornings...hanging out, watching cartoons, crazy hair, marshmellow cereal!

We headed over early to help Grandma do some cooking on Thanksgiving. Carter helped by cutting up olives for vegetable pizza. He did a pretty good job, although he ate half of what he cut!

The boys looked great on Thansgiving. They were having a blast with the fam too. They played board games with Nancy, and then everyone threw pillows at them. What could be better?

I know I shouldn't make fun of my husband, but his drawings always kill me. He drew this "Mickey Mouse" for Avery! I love it.

There is nothing quite like a mohawk girl in princess pajamas - a nice juxtaposition I think!

Every once in awhile, Carter really likes Ave to lay with him and watch movies. This is generally what happens.

Ave went sledding on Sunday for the first time. She looked pretty cute all bundled up and ready to go!

It was actually a lot colder than we thought it was going to be, but we still had so much fun. Here's one of the first trips down...the boys and Erica.

Lando decided it was too crowded and just gave them a good push. It was fun to get out there. We only went sledding once last year, and it was in March. Carter was much braver this year too!

My Boo Bear was so funny. We'd go down, and she wouldn't smile at all. Then she'd get up and say, "I don't like that." Then I'd say, "You want to go again?". "Yeah"! She got cold pretty quickly though the poor thing. You like my Toy Story gloves?

Daddy and Carter had a great time. Carter was an absolute nut. Lando ended up in the truck for a couple minutes to warm up with me and Ave. Carter was crazy. He had snow all over his face, he bit his tongue once, he went down with everyone and by himself. He was killing me! Kyle was crazy too because he wore shorts!

That's double trouble right there!

I like this picture. Good form Erica and Jocko! This was right after Landon got out of the truck. He trudged back up the hill and leaped onto Erica's back. She was not ready and thought she pulled a muscle!

Having some Daddy tickles when you're all done is a good time!

A few pictures...and a party!

Avery likes to put her blanket on the two steps in the living room and call it her "beautiful couch". She's such a goof.

They look so devilish in this picture. They were eating smarties (my favorite - taking after Mom). Ave calls them her parties, as in "Can I have my parties?".

Mom and Dad have spiffed up Kyle's old bedroom now that he's moved in with his friend. They repainted it and got new carpet. The kids love the new carpet! They just like to run around and jump on it. There's a video below.

We've had some horrible weather around here lately. It was -28 this morning when I woke up. It's also icy with blizzard conditions (30mph gusts of wind). The first day it snowed was not so terrible though. Carter got to go help Daddy clear off the sidewalks. He loved it!

Poppa hung up an old chalkboard from Butte High in the purple room. The kids love it. Especially Ave, she's a drawing fool. Whenever she draws lines like this, they are Raphael's Sais. I guess that's what happens when you have an older brother!

Here's another carpet picture. See how soft it is! You don't even need a pillow or blanket to take a nap on there! As you can see, he's wearing his boots. He never takes them off. Disney has a new show called "The Avengers" with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Wasp, and Carter's personal favorite Antman. That's who he is when he wears the boots.

Lando Commando turned 4 on Sunday! I can't believe it. He had a great party at Silver Bow with lots of family and friends. Ave got all dressed up for it. She even wore her headband for awhile! She hung out with her pal Jocko a whole bunch.

Landon was such a good boy about opening all his presents. He liked everything! This was part of our present to him. I love his facial expression!

He had the coolest cake ever. I couldn't believe Albertsons made a Ninja Turtle cake. I'll bet anyone $5 that Carter will have the same one come April!

There's a cake eating face. It was very tasty!

So much for trying to get a good picture of Carter and his buddy Madisyn. They were busy eating though.

Ave must have put on her headband here! She and Jordan enjoyed some cake together...although Jord doesn't look too happy. Maybe Avers was eating her cake.

Some more of the guests, Connor and Austin. I didn't get too many pictures because there were so many people to talk to!

I think Madisyn liked her party favors. She's a cutie. There were a bunch of kids there: Landon, Carter, Avery, Connor, Austin, Madisyn, Mason, Cutler, Cormac, and technically Abb and Jord are still kids. Great party - good times!

Some more videos

Here's Miss Googles saying her alphabet (with a little prodding from me). She gets distracted by her foot on the chalkboard sometimes. She was going to count to eleven also, but my camera died.


Now that Uncle Kyle has moved in with a friend, Mom and Dad got new carpet in his room. It was possibly the best thing the kids have ever seen. They played and played all day on it. They also talk about what party hats they are wearing...I guess this was in anticipation of Landon's birthday!

Not very good ones

This goofybean loves to talk on my cell phone. She's usually pretending to call Terri. She was looking good in pigtails for our volleyball dinner. I had so many people tell me how cute she is...if they only knew!

Carterman was a good boy up there too. He was a running fool! He was of course hungry when we got home. When he wants to, he can eat and eat and eat!

This is what happens when you run for two hours in the halls at Butte High...you pass out with rosy red cheeks on the front room floor!

Carter went to the mountains with Poppa and Landon last weekend. Avers was okay with that. She got to pick out a movie "Cars", and watch it on Carter's bed. Little chocolate face didn't last long either - she was out! I love when she sleeps with her arms behind her head.

I have lots of sleeping pictures this week. It sure doesn't seem like they sleep this much! He's starting to not nap everyday unfortunately. This is what happens now after daycare sometimes.

Rock n Roll! That's what Carterman kept saying last Sunday. We had breakfast at my house and decided since everyone was there, it was Rockband time...Beatles and regular. We were pretty awesome!

Lando was laughing so hard the other night. Carter kept tickling him - he looks pretty proud of himself doesn't he? I like the gloves on Landon look too. He got new red ones, and he won't take them off. Erica had to beg him when we were playing Candyland the other night. He couldn't pick up a card in them!

Avery really loves scrambled eggs. It's obviously easier to eat them if you have a fork and a spoon!

We went out in the cold yesterday with the boys to feed the ducks. Lando wanted to hold Carter's hand, but that wasn't happening. You can tell by his face that he's telling Landon "No". I held his hand eventually. Landon just likes to be in the middle!

Dad said Carter looks like Tim Lincecum (the crazy Giants pitcher) when he feeds the ducks. He does like to throw the bread as far as he can and watch them waddle after it! Look at the frozen pond - the poor ducks just were sliding all over.

These two clowns walked/ran all the way to Poppa's house, which is over a mile. Erica and I were freezing, and the boys found every puddle they could to jump in. Kids apparently don't feel cold they way adults do!

Erica and her boy took a nice photo together when we finally made it to the house. Look at the sky behind them. It got dark and cold about the last half mile! Oh well, the boys had fun and we got some exercise!

Really funny videos!

This is Avery singing Baby Beluga. She loves this book. You can hear her sing "Swims so wild and swims so free". There's also some "Heaven above and the sea below". She definitely knows the words. If you know it you'll be able to pick some of them out. She kills me. Towards the end you can hear her say "That's a puffin". How many kids know Alaska's state bird? Ha Ha!



This one is just crazy. Carter sings his days of the week song. Then Ave sings it with "Poopy" thrown in (her new favorite word). Carter thinks it's hysterical! She does eventually sing the days of the week song. They are clowns. Of course the video finishes with "poop" though. I hope that's just a phase!

Halloween!

Here is the start of our Halloween festivities. I went down for Landon's preschool parade. He was looking good as Raphael. He sang his songs very well too. Unfortunately, it was so packed I couldn't get very many good pictures.

Mom and I helped Erica get into her awesome costume. It's nice that she's a big dork - her preschool kids appreciated the effort!

There's Minnie Mouse! She was hamming it up big time. She didn't want to walk in her parade since Mommy and Daddy were there, but she was loving the attention. All the little kids kept pointing to her and telling their parents, "It's Minnie Mouse".

This is Carter's preschool class all lined up to sing a couple songs. The Flash did a good job! Auntie did a good job teaching them!

The Flash is so super-fast that he had to lead the parade. Auntie had to reel him in!

My little monkeys were quite happy to take pictures together that Friday. They were pretty impressed with how great everyone looked.

I believe Minnie was dancing in this one. I was worried about her little outfit being too cold, but it was quite a pleasant morning. Flash's muscles kept him warm!

I love this picture. They both look so cute! They were waiting patiently at daycare for their cupcakes and treat bags. Then they got to go home with Dad. What could be better?

We skipped the Saturday festivities. It was our last volleyball game and kind of a crazy day. So this is on Halloween night. We decided to go out in the cold (which really wasn't too bad!) and do some trick-or-treating. Carter decided to be Leonardo on Sunday so he could use these new light sabers that Terri got for the boys.

I wanted one picture of them actually saying trick-or-treat and thank you. They were very good about that! Ave was kind of cranky. She wouldn't say a word, but she still wanted candy in her bag!

We stopped over at Nancy and Frank's house. Their street is always decorated and lit up. The boys showed off their singing skills there also. Carter absolutely loved thier dog Cuomo too. He liked the Halloween scarf he had on.

Dad always lets his classes carve pumpkins for extra credit. Then he takes some of them home for Halloween. He had a table with about five of them on there and another seven on the porch. It looked pretty great! There was a Ben Franklin, a headless horsemen, an Edgar Allen Poe, and many other cool ones.

And now...goofy kids pictures. I really wanted a picture of Carter's cool Halloween shirt that he wore on "orange day". Naked Ave got in there too. Look at those faces!

This is the night they were being so silly together. Avery kept saying "poopy" (which I'm thrilled about), and Carter could not stop laughing.

Avery got to wear her most beautiful purple outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Barsness to the game on Saturday. It must have brought us good luck because we won! I wish I would have got a better picture, but she's awfully busy!

The boys helped Poppa do some raking outside on Sunday. I'm glad Poppa is willing to take them outside. It was freezing that afternoon. The wind calmed down for trick-or-treating luckily.

I like Landon's cheesy little grin here. They were both enjoying wearing their pajamas for most of the day.

This is a really old compact I cleaned out for Carter a while ago. It's his turtle-com. He was talking to Donatello. He told me Donatello is a genius who's always fixing stuff. His imagination kills me!

I just like this beautiful Boo Bear face. She's my girl!

Last but not least, she was riding this horse for all she's worth in her new kitty pajamas. She named the horse "Poopy" that night. What a charmer!