Outdoor adventures!

Yes, more pictures! I couldn't help it. Plus my computer was being very fast. Anyway, it's finally nice here. On Sunday, we spent almost the whole day outside (he didn't even need a coat). Carter figured out that the front door leads to outside! I'm not sure how long the nice weather will last so we took full advantage of it.


There was one little pile of snow left by the porch. We gave Carter his shovel and showed him how to use it. It will be good practice for the sandbox this summer.
Laney is in need of another haircut. She was quite warm after her big walk. I guess this cooled her down!
This is the silliest face. It just makes me laugh when I look at it! I like his shirt too - little skulls and crossbones. He was looking good.
He thought pinecones were really cool. He gathered them onto the sidewalk and then threw them into the air.
He kept going up to his stroller and trying to climb into it. So we took a nice walk. He's not very subtle when he wants something!
He loves the tree. He walks over to it, stares at it, and says "up". Abb helped him out. He really just likes to touch it.
Here's my little monkey on Saturday at C Street Park. Daddy helped him hang from the monkey bars.

We usually end the park adventures by chasing Laney in the grass. He got her!
He also decided dirt was delicious, so why not try some grass? He spit it out though - must not be as tasty.
The little fake rock stairs were his favorite part. We all took turns helping him climb up there. He really needs a haircut!

Jordan came down there with us. She took him down the slide quite a few times. He wasn't sure about it at first, but then he liked it.
This is the first trip down. You can tell he's not sure what is going on.
He liked to beat on the slide. He thought that was really funny. He wanted to climb up it too.

A ton of pictures

Carter has become obsessed with shoes lately. Grandpa's slippers are the easiest to put on!
He's also been very lovey lately. He's been giving everyone (including Laney, his best friend) big kisses and hugs. I'm not complaining at all - I love it.
Carter has been playing with all his new toys that he got for his birthday. His little people "village" is behind him - he loves the car ramp - and his tool puzzle is also lots of fun.
This is his tee that he got from Cimmaron and Steph. He hasn't quite got the concept yet. He likes to run with the bat and knock the ball off with his hand!
He's starting to like his Baby Einstein video a lot. It's all about water. We also watched a little bit of Finding Nemo the other day. He thought that the fish were quite fascinating.
Carter and Grandpa had a very fun night on Thursday. Carter went to open gym with us, then Grandpa chased him around the house and gave him a horsey ride! Carter loves when people chase him.
Grandma and a little naked man read some books together. He really likes this new grouchy ladybug book that Grandma got for him.
Carter found a new silly game to play. He would walk over to the loveseat, lean backwards on it with his hands in the air, and laugh and laugh. We have no idea where he got this!
This was last weekend. Lovely right? It was crappy all week long.
This is a very tired little man. When he wakes up from a nap and sees Laney - he likes to go lay on her. It's part of his waking up process. Lane is such a good dog.
I like this little weird face he's making. I think he was intrigued by his new food. Peanut butter and jelly is delicious. He also enjoyed some tuna casserole later.
Abbey took this picture - it's very silly. He was partaking in some of Aunt Terri's chocolate birthday cake.
Another loving his puppy picture. Carter says puppy so clearly now. It's cute that their buddies.
Mashed potatoes are probably Carter's favorite food right now - next to the baby Cheetos. He's got some of that Irish Connors' blood in him!
Carter got another birthday present in the mail from Kelsie the other day (thanks Kels!). It's a "Baby Jamz" microphone and it plays awesome hip-hop versions of "Old McDonald" "Bingo" and many other classics. He dances with it all the time!
Here's a nice game of tug of war. Laney always brings her toys to Carter because he never says No!

More videos

This is a pretty funny video of Carter chasing Abbey. He loves to chase people or play hide n seek. He's always seeking! He gets distracted at the end, but the beginning is funny!



Here's the birthday cake video. He's not very loud about it, but you can tell he enjoyed it. I like how he keeps eating it off his hand!



This is just a short video of me tickling Carter. It went on quite a while before this, but I couldn't find my camera. He got a bit tired from all that laughing.



Last, but not least - this is Carter playing with one of his many new toys. This is the "pound and play" from his Alaska fam. I like how he gets ambidextrous at the end!

Random stuff

I had to show that Carter absolutely loves this hammer/gavel that Erica, Terri, and Landon got him for his birthday. He uses it with his "pound and play" toy, but he also just carries it around and hits stuff. Luckily not people or dogs but cheerios and puffs are fun to pulverize! You'll notice he has his tongue out in lots of these pictures - he's goofy.
Carter gets the cutest little curls when his hair is wet. Since Kyle and I both have curly hair, I suppose we should have expected it. I love it though - so cute.

It was so nice on Wednesday - 61 degrees (the news said our high would be 31)! Carter, Laney, and I took a long walk, then we swung by C Street Park. We had lots of fun. Laney knows I'll take off her leash and she can run and run. Carter and I chased her and just played. Here he is trying to climb up the slide.
Laney is trying to entice him to chase her some more. They are so cute together. We are so lucky that our dog loves our baby.
This was in Mom and Dad's yard before our walk. He loves to push his dump truck. I like the concentration (tongue out) and one hand. He thinks he's pretty big.

He likes to carry around his hair brush. He eventually forgot about it when he found out how fun dirt is. He just sat and threw it around for a long time. Then he decided to eat it. That was fun to get off his tongue!
He tried every toy there. We went on the swings too. He's a little explorer.
I think this picture is so cute. He just looks so small surrounded by all the grass and dirt. He was on a mission to go eat some more dirt. The grass just wasn't as fun.

Here's Laney and Carter playing tug of war with Grandpa's whipped cream leftovers. This happens a lot. It's pretty funny to watch because they're both pretty nice about it.
If we ever leave Laney's bowl of water out, Carter makes a huge mess. He splashes in it and knocks it over if we don't catch him in time. On this day, he was stirring it with his spoon. He looks awfully pleased with himself!
He really likes to chew on toothbrushes. They must feel good on his poor swollen gums. He's getting two or more new teeth. I gave him my toothbrush one day, just to be nice. I love his new monkey pajamas too.
Carter loves watching Jordan and Abbey play on the Nintendo DS. It enthalls him for a couple minutes. Then he just tries to close it on their fingers. He thinks this is just hilarious.

Carter got to wear shorts on Sunday after his party. It was so beautiful. I didn't get a good picture of them, but he looked fantastic. We got a foot of snow this weekend (it was a balmy 6 degrees this morning), so I hope he enjoyed it! I really wasn't intending to make this post a weather report!
I have such a happy little man. He kept running to me the other day and hugging my legs. He says "Ma Ma" and I say "Baby", and he runs over. It's so sweet.
He fell asleep on my legs the other night while we watched Top Chef. You can tell he was a bit exhausted. I love when he doesn't fight me about going to bed! It's so rare.
Open gym started last week. Carter had the best time running around the gym and flirting with all the girls. He really likes to watch them serve. He fell asleep on the way home - must have been all that exercise.

Party Time

These party pictures are really out of order. Oh well, there are too many here for me to worry about it. Anyway, this is Carter's last bite of cake. He did quite a good job on it as you can see!
Here's the after photo! He got out of the high chair and ran around doing his fake laugh. He was loving all the attention. He did not enjoy being cleaned off by me, Kyle, and Terri.
Isn't Ritter's little girl, Madisyn, so cute? I never would have thought Ritter would have a blond haired, blue eyed little girl running around with a purse!

This is Carter with his buddy Callie right before he dug into his cake. We thought it was probably a good idea to just get down to the diaper. It was so nice of Callie, Nate, and Paul to come over from Missoula.
This is Carter's second little bit of cake. He was very cautious at first. He wasn't sure if he should just squash his fingers in there.
Then Grandpa Dale got him a plastic spoon. That's when he really started to get into it. He's pretty handy with utensils.
As you can see, with the help of the spoon Carter was able to get some large chunks out of that little cake. He really enjoyed it. I'm glad he didn't get a bellyache later. He was actually hungry for dinner at 5.

Abbey let Carter "shoot" the last couple basketballs from her game. He thought he was pretty cool in there. Aren't his little green football shoes cool?
Here's some party guests: Stephanie, Aunt Terri and Carter, and Ritter and Madisyn. Further back was Mom, Aunt Helen, Aunt Nancy, and Aunt Margaret. We had an excellent showing for the party. I really appreciate everyone coming.
Madisyn looked just gorgeous for the party. She was all decked out in her M & M shirt and skirt. She also had some lovely sandals on (and a bit of pizza sauce on her face)!
We have a ton of pictures from opening presents. Everyone was very generous. Carter was good for about the first five. Then he wanted to get down and play - I decided not to put up the many of me opening his presents.

This is when we first got there. Carter had just woken up from a nice two-hour nap (thankfully), so the blue guy is in his mouth. He liked riding the carousel with Jordan and Chelbie though.
Abbey took Cimarron for a ride on the carousel also. Sorry your face got obstructed, Abb. The moving pictures are tough! Cimarron looks so cute though, and she's so nice too.
Carter got to meet his Great Grandparents from Wyoming! It's always so nice to see them. Carter fed Great Grandma Clarabelle a bite of his chocolate cake later.
Here's some more party guests. From left to right, we have Paul, Callie, Nate, Great Grandma Bonnie, and Aunt Mary Jo. Carter is so lucky to have such fantastic relatives!

Here's Colty and Carter playing with his shark bath toys before the party. Grandma Diana, Grandpa Dick, Colten, and Breanne stayed with us over the weekend. We had a really good time, and Carter loved hanging out with them. He showed them how he plays with all his toys and runs around the house in a big circle.
Here's the Barsness cousins: Colten, Breanne, and Carter. Carter looks like he was trying to escape, but he was actually just kind of laying there. He took a nap shortly after.
Carter opened up some gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Barsness before we went to Silver Bow. He liked the farm wrapping paper a lot. He got so much cute stuff - I just want to thank everyone one more time!