49th Annual Walburg Dove Hunt!

Every Labor Day Weekend/Opening Weekend of Dove Season since 2007 (except in 2010 when C was an itty bitty thing), we've headed to Walburg, TX for the Annual Walburg Dove Hunt.  Walburg is a tiny dot on a map with a lot of Bavarian influence, complete with the Walburg German Restaurant & Biergarten and Dale's Essenhaus, home to Dale's Famous Walburger.  While I have never been to either of these places, we pass them both each year and wonder why we've never gone inside.  They both just ooze FUN!  How did we end up in this little town of ~250, you ask?  Well, one of my good buddies from college is from this little town (don't quote me on this, but I think his family were actually some of the original settlers) and his parents have GRACIOUSLY hosted a bunch of kids, and now our kids, for the last six years. 

We got there early enough to settle in before heading out to the party at the Community Center.  Carson was thrilled to see the swings.  He LOVES to swing!

The party the night before Opening Morning is always held at the Walburg Community Center and is complete with a Polka band and TONS of food. Before we eat, this sweet old man always sings How Great Thou Art and it is just beautiful. We've made it to this event about half the time. We were lucky it was on a Friday this year and that Friday was a floating holiday.

Heading to the party with Daddy & Uncle Dave

Chowing down

Hard to tell here, but he is swinging his head like crazy to the beat of the music!

Still dancing with his arms.  He got out in the middle of the dance floor by himself and put on his own little show.

Enjoying the music...

Oh yeah, forgot we stopped at Bass Pro on the way there (after we put Lucy in "jail", i.e. the Petsmart PetsHotel).  This is how we roll...

Think he made himself right at home???

Mommy didn't hunt in the mornings, so we went on LOTS of walks. There was just so much to see and do!  He was happy to go on walks in his PJ's and Crocs.

Chickens!!!

No, you can't climb the fence and go play with them.

Yelling "Hi, cows!"

RUNNING!!!

Chickens... again.   And again.  And again.

Love water tower towns!

These two boys (exactly 1 year & 3 days apart) played SO well together!

How precious is Hudson and his little smile?!?

Playing with the rocks was definitely a hit.  Trying to keep Carson from throwing them was another issue.

So, we band doves at home for Andrew's work and let Carson release them into the air.  He didn't quite get that this one wasn't going to fly off.

And so we have the "Dove Night Night" video...

Had to laugh at one of the guy's dove bucket...

Uncle Dave... no comment.

Such a boy!

Popcorn snack break with Daddy



He LOVED this old truck of Spencer's.

How precious is this little girl in her A&M dress?!?  Surprisingly, Carson was pretty gentle around "Baby Caroline."

Mommy did go hunting Saturday evening with my little buddy!

Love this sweet boy!

Watching Mommy!

As always, we had a FABULOUS time with great friends.  The Merkords are always the most gracious hosts, not to mention pretty AWESOME cooks!  We certainly eat well when we are there!  We had fun back in our college days, but I think it's even more fun now with the kiddos there! 

Happy Hunting!

The TWO's!

Last Monday (not yesterday) was Carson's first day in his NEW class!  Same school, just new classroom and teachers (Ms. Erica and Ms. Michelle).  Many of the kids from his old class moved up with him, so there weren't too many surprises.  It seems so much more "grown-up" though from the toddler (18-24 month) class. 

He wanted to wear "racecars", not his polo shirt and madras shorts.

Cheese!  (it was really humid and the lens fogged)

Cool dude!

Let's do this!

He walked right in and we found his spot at the table with his name on it.  Well, actually he washed his hands first and then went and sat down.

1st Day Success!!!  He has a FOLDER now that comes home every day!

That folder had this good stuff...and MORE!

(Given that he's one of the babies in the room, I was happy to know that he already knew a lot of these things!)

That bee better make it back to the hive every day, Buddy!  :-)

We got his calendar with all his daily activities.  Next week is Manners week.  I'm ready for Tuesday, September 11th..."Yes ma'am" and "No sir" day!  I think I'm going to be so tickled when he starts saying that... which he will. 

He had his first homework assignment this week... designing our favorite team's football helmet.  I resisted all temptation to fill in a few spots on his MAROON (which involved some creative paint-mixing by Mommy) helmet.  This is HIS project, not mine. 

I'll post the final product tonight after we finish it... two step process here since we painted.  Got to add the block A T M tonight!

I know Carson will have a great year! 

This Works....

So, found ourselves in this predicament this weekend... MAJOR diaper rash.  It's only happened a couple times (thank goodness).  It's always isolated to that little area on the back side (sorry, TMI... I know)... and it's ALWAYS been associated with him eating/drinking too much of one thing.  The first go round we found out it was raisins.  I knew acidic fruit like oranges and such could cause it, but raisins???... apparently they are in that same category too.  This kid loves him some regular raisins and yogurt-covered... who doesn't??

Anyways, this go round I thought it was peanuts/peanut butter.  He's never showed any allergic reaction before, but he also hadn't been eating PB with a spoon and snacking on peanuts with Daddy just about every day.  I'd read that peanuts/PB could cause diaper rash, but Andrew was actually the one that figured out the instigator this time....."blue juice", i.e. Gatorade/Powerade.  We tend to keep the sugar-free (or very little sugar) kind in the house and figured it wasn't too bad for Carson to drink since it didn't have near as much sugar as a lot of other juices.  Turns out CITRIC ACID is a major ingredient.  There we go... back to the acidic stuff.  I guess he was drinking more than we realized.

I remembered reading on my friend Sarah's blog that she used Maalox on her little one (per her pedi's nurse's suggestion) and that it worked miracles.  Yep, it does.  Makes sense... it's an antACID.

Check it out HERE!

So What Wednesday!

Forgot to do post week (mostly because all I could think about was trying to get my first big project as a Manager out the door).... which I might have done a happy dance at my desk afterwards when the last reports were uploaded for the client!  woo hoo!

So what if I found the rug I ordered for the living room on one discount site (Joss & Main) on Overstock for $100 less five minutes after I bought it, and found out there was nothing I could do about it. The reason I don't care... I ACTUALLY MADE A DECISION ABOUT A RUG.  This is HUGE.  I'm the worst decision maker on the planet.

So what if I let my kiddo play with the dead doves we shot.  AND... found it hilarious when he threw one up in the air expecting it to fly off (like he does when we band them in the backyard), only for it to just fall to the ground.  That's when he told me that "dove night night... shhhh."  So cute.

I totally write the days I work out and what I did on a blank calendar for motivation.  Now that I've been running again, I don't like to see a blank day.

I can't stay awake to watch a movie on the couch with my husband to save my life, but I can lay in bed and watch trash TV or play on the iPad though until way too late though. 

I had to go to time-out for "hitting Daddy" (albeit, it was nothing more than a friendly jab on the shoulder)... the price you pay to set an example of consequences for your kids.

Our Little Two-Year Old!

Since Carson has now been TWO for over a month now, I should probably let y'all know how life is around here.  How in the world do I even start to try to capture what our little man is up to these days?!?!

I'll start easy... his stats.  At his 2-year appointment, he was:

37 1/4" (98th Percentile)
34 lbs. (96th Percentile)
His head circumference is somewhere in the 50-60th percentile.

Clothes - Primarily 3T
Diapers - Size 5
Shoes - 8.5/9 Extra Wide!

-He LOVES to play cars, trains, airplanes, and boats.  He loves to play "crash."  He definitely is most entertained by the simple toys... little cars, his trains, Daddy's old boats.  He's definitely into anything transportation related.  He LOVES to play in his tent.  I mean, it's CRAZY how much he loves that tent!  We also make a ramp and race the cars.
-He LOVES to read and has been "reading" to me... narrating in his own little way.  I'll catch him in his room, curled up in the glider or his bed just reading to himself out loud.  If he's not in the mood to sleep at nap time, he gets out and brings a pile of books into his bed and enterains himself.
-He LOVES to give hugs and kisses.  His favorite is a 3-way hug/kiss between Mommy, Daddy, and Carson.
-Thomas the Train, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are his favorite shows.  He also likes to watch So You Think You Can Dance with me and dances along.  He LOVES to dance.  He'll actually site for a while and watch the Cars movie or Toy Story.  He's even been entertained by some non-kid movies like parts of Back to the Future or Jurassic Park.  I make it sound like he watches a lot of TV, he really doesn't.
-He now has a "hiding spot" in Mommy & Daddy's room and loves to hide and have us pretend like we can't find him.  When he jumps out, he is LAUGHING his heart out... he has the sweetest laugh!!
-He loves to be chased and to chase us around the house... again, LAUGHING his heart out the whole time!
-He loves animals... mostly cows, deer, frogs (he likes to make ribbit sounds and hop around), and ducks.  He loves Shooter and Lucy too, but I think they are even starting to drive him crazy too... they are ALWAYS up in everyone's business trying to get food.  It's funny that even Carson gets a little annoyed by the begging.  He still calls them "Shoo-Doo" and "Shoo-Dee."  Carson had SO much fun helping us band doves in the backyard for Andrew's job.  He LOVED to throw them up in the air and release them.
-He loves "Carson's room!"
-He LOVES all his stuffed animals... he has to sleep with ALL of them.
-He hasn't been in the high chair in a while and prefers to eat at his little wooden table from Gigi & Pops.  I actually have since put the high chair away.  Wow...
-He LOVES to swim.. man, wish we had a pool!
-He LOVES to be outside.
-He's very much into boy stuff... he doesn't mind getting dirty, loves playing rough, throwing rocks, playing with the water hose, watching things crash, jumping on the bed, etc...
-He's more decisive than me.  I give him a choice for his clothes (and sometimes shoes) every morning, and he immediately tells me which one he wants to wear.  He picks his jammies every night... which is usually interesting.
-He LOVES puzzles and blocks!
-He can eat like a pig if he is hungry or if it's something he really likes or will pick like a bird for flat our just shove it back at me if it's something he doesn't want.
-Breakfast is his favorite meal... this kid can take down some scrambled eggs or pancakes!
-He LOVES peanut butter and will eat pretty much anything that I put PB on (bananas & apples!).  Sneaky Mommy...
-He is very familiar with the concept of "time-out" and usually goes there for hitting us (mostly just flailing arms that turn to hitting) when we pick him up to change him.  He does not like to be changed.  Hello kid.... let's potty train then!

Favorite Phrases/Words:
-"Mommy, come on."  "Daddy, come on."  Wannie, come on."  "Pops, come on."  You get the point.  :-)
-"O-kay" - imagine it in some hilarious 'Valley girl' voice.  I HAVE to get this on video, it's hilarious!
-Our dogs are now "Shoo-Doo" (Shooter) and "Shoo-Dee" (Lucy)
-"Flag" originally sounded way more like the f-word.  We worked on the "G" sound A LOT... not it sounds like "fag".  Fantastic.  L's are hard I guess for little kids.  He points out EVERY flag he sees.  You quickly realize there are a lot of flags out there...
-"Clock" actually sounds more like another name for a rooster.  Real fun when he says "big" in front of it. 
-Any animal sound.  He's a rockstar at a cow, horse, dog, cat, snake, elephant, chicken, duck, pig, etc.
-We recently taught him "cheers" with his drink.  He thinks that's pretty fun!
-He's getting so much better at being polite.  He's saying please ("peas") and thank you.  He'll tell me "I sorry"... even when he doesn't need to be.  He must get that from me.  Andrew had indicated that I apologize when I don't need to.  I just say 'I'm sorry' a lot.
-He's using his name ALL THE TIME.  He didn't do this until just before his 2nd birthday (maybe around 23 months).  He talks in 3rd person.
-He talks in little sentences, mostly 2-4 words and occasionally longer, but is pretty good at communicating. 
-He is VERY thankful during prayer time.  We cover all the family, and he usually thanks God for the fan, outside, pictures, Shoo-doo and Shoo-dee, friends (he usually names several, including his teachers), the moon, deer, ducks...
-He's started doing the plural form of words... sort of.  He has two "Mickey Mouse-es-es."
-He repeats just about everything, and I feel like his vocabulary is huge!
-He still hasn't said "I Love You"... which I just don't get since he hears that ALL THE TIME.  Oh well... some day.

"Book" Knowledge (I know I can't take credit for some of this. Glad he's learned something at school!)

-Knows most of the letters, but I've only heard him say his ABC's in order up to F. He may be able to do more, but I don't really focus on it to much. He does love letters and points them out everywhere we go.
-I've heard him count to 14. He really likes 2 and 14... random. He's starting to grasp the concept of multiple things. For example, he'll see two boats and tell me "two boats."
-He knows most of the major colors, but usually responds 'green' the first time you ask him about a color. He'll usually get it right the second time.  I hope he's not color blind... he usually calls blue things purple and red things orange... at least the first go round.  He gets it right the second time.
-He knows what shapes are, but circle, square, and diamond are the ones he knows the best.

The last two years seem like they have FLOWN by, but at the same time, it seems like he's been in our life forever.  I think back to different stages and they seem like so long ago.  I think it's just hard to come to grips with the fact we have a 2-year old.  When did we become adults???

Carson, you just fill our lives with so much joy!  You have a smile and laugh that will light up any room.  You are the sweetest snuggler and give the best hugs!!!  We love you BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!

Quick Big Boy Bed Update

All is well on the big boy bed transition front! 

I still can't believe how ridiculously easy this was for us.  I REALLY think it had everything to do with just sticking with the crib and converting it to a toddler bed (and a kid who doesn't really fight bedtime... anymore.  He certainly did when he was little.).  We plan on getting a twin soon, but I want to leave the toddler bed in there too for a while.  More to come later on how that goes...

He does get out sometimes, but usually just to grab some books and read for a while.  This usually is only at nap time on the weekends.  Sometimes he will get out and try to open the door (again, at nap time).  I admit, I did put a child safety doorknob thingy on the inside so he can't open it.  I have no shame in it either.  He will occassionally try for a few seconds and then either goes back and reads or just crawls in bed, shoves the blanket in his mouth, and call it a day (actually, mid-day).

He LOVES his bed and this Mommy could NOT be more thankful!!!

Even Mommies Can Get in Trouble

I humbly spent a few minutes in time-out when we got home from our Labor Day weekend dove hunt in Walburg. 

We were almost home from our long drive when Andrew made a {what I found inappropriate, although it was factual} comment about a very large woman on a motorcycle.   It was mostly something I didn't want Carson repeating, although again, it was factual.  He agreed it probably was something that shouldn't have been said, especially in front of Carson, but hey, we all slip every once in a while.

Anyways, the second it came out of his mouth, I quickly said "An-drew" in a reprimanding voice, accompanied by a friendly punch on the shoulder.  Well... Carson VERY quickly called me out on it... "Mommy hit Daddy" followed up by "Mommy time-out."  For the last 15 minutes of our drive Carson was on REPEAT.  "Mommy hit Daddy.  Mommy time-out."  I had to explain that yes, Mommy hit Daddy and it was wrong, "not nice", "Mommy hurt Daddy".... and yes, that Mommy had to go in time-out when we got home.

As soon as we got in the door, he went to the time-out spot and told me that I was in time-out.   I set the timer and everything.  I think he was LOVING this... he repeatedly told me that I was in time-out and what I was in time out for. 

It's been two days and he STILL brings it up.  Who knows if he's telling his friends at school....I'm just really glad that it wasn't the other way around.   That would have been great, "Daddy hit Mommy."

So lesson learned...

It really is scary how much we are examples to our children.... good and bad.  I pray everyday that I am a good one.