Wow, it's been awhile . . .

. . . since I last posted. Work is in full swing and I've had a birthday. Yep, no longer a twenty-something as my profile used to say. Carter has started preschool and Cameron's got all sorts of new tricks. Below are some photos to get us all back up to date. The pictures are in reverse order because of the way I uploaded them. Think of it as going back in time.

My family came to visit for my 30th birthday, and we went on a hike to see the beautiful aspens in the mountains. Carter finally likes smiling for the camera.

The trees were absolutely gorgeous. And not a cloud in the sky.

"Papa" and Carter found every rock they could to jump off of.

For my dad's birthday, Laura and I took him fishing. Laura even caught a fish that we ate for dinner.

Carter had his very own fishing pole, but instead of a hook on the end, he had a rubber worm. He loved it.

Laura and Carter had some good bonding time over rootbeer.

A couple weeks ago we found a new climbing spot with no approach. It was a beautiful day. Here Mark's attempting a 5.11. It was a bit tough.

We went to an end-of-summer festival at a local park and we got to walk around the hot air balloons they were inflating. Carter and Cameron loved how big they were.

At the end of summer we found a great park that had fountains the kids could play in. Cameron was a little tentative, but Carter loved stepping on the spraying water.

Over Labor Day weekend a good friend from high school, Nicole, came to visit. Her whole family came out, and we went on a hike in Evergreen. It sprinkled just a bit, but the weather held out pretty well.

The bike trailer that sits under our deck has become a favorite place for the two boys to play.

Does this picture just make you cringe? Amazingly, no one got konked on the head.

At the end of August we took a family camping trip to a place we'd never been before.

Cameron loved sitting in the big camp chairs.

Carter liked playing in the tent.

Carter's first day of preschool. He wasn't much in the mood for picture-taking. He goes right down the hall from where I work. My favorite part of the day is when his class walks by my class on their way to recess, and Carter peeks his head in to say hi.

Carter's Birthday

Carter's birthday party on Saturday was a great success. He had lots of fun and loved the attention. Here is a story of his birthday in pictures.

Carter excitedly waited all morning for his friends to come over.

He waited patiently to eat his cake and looked longingly at it many times during the day.

It was a lion cake to go along with the jungle theme. What it lacked in appearance it made up for in home-made deliciousness.

Carter and his friends had fun decorating their favor bags with jungle stamps.

Meanwhile, the babies socialized with each other.
Carter opened lots of presents. He loved the dragon castle with its trap door, treasure, and boulder.

Cameron pretended to be Medusa with some of Carter's snakes.

And the helicopter was great. He loved all the noises it made.

Finally, it was cake time. Carter's eyes lit up when we all started singing. He still likes to sing Happy Birthday to himself a few times a day.


Carter and Mark enjoyed sharing a piece of cake.

It was a great party. Happy third birthday, Carter.

Cause for Celebration

If I titled every week of my life, this week’s title would be celebration. Each event is so so notable and remarkable for me that I wanted to include them in separate posts. So keep scrolling. Keep reading. Keep celebrating.

Happy Birthday, Carter

Today is Carter’s third birthday. He has been talking about it for months, and it’s finally here. (Although he still said this morning, “My birthday’s coming!”, not quite understanding that it’s actually today.) This is a big one. It’s the first birthday he’s actually been anticipating and will be celebrating. The past two have really been more about us and our celebration of his life, but this year he gets to take part. He gets to begin to understand that we are celebrating his life and our love for him. Last night felt like Christmas Eve for me, secretly wrapping presents and eagerly anticipating the morning.

This morning I had put some presents of the table, and when Carter saw them, he said with amazement, “Presents?”, as if he wasn’t quite sure if they were for him or whether he could touch them. By 6:30am, he had unwrapped two books, a shape shorter, three race cars, and a race track. Not bad considering the sun hadn’t even come up yet.

As a child, you don’t recognize that celebrating your birthday is as exciting for the parents as it is for you. Now as a mother I realize that this special day is also about celebrating the beginning of our family. The day I became a mother and Mark and I became parents. It’s as much a “mother’s day” as it is Carter’s birthday. I catch myself smiling today for no reason other than the joy of this special day. Happy Birthday, Carter.

Carter's Birthday Present

Carter's birthday is one week from today, and I have yet to buy him a present. I was sitting here thinking, how horrible a mother am I? I don't even care enough about my son's birthday to think of a gift, much less buy anything. But I realize that's not the case. Carter is fortunate enough to have grandparents and aunts and uncles that love him so much and want to shower him with whatever toys he might want. We as his parents are lucky enough to be able to provide the basics for him so that he doesn't want for simple things like clothes, good food, and a space of his own.

What I have realized is that it's not that I don't care enough to give him gifts, it's that the gifts that I want to give him are not things you can buy in the store. If I had a wishing well, I would wish the following for Carter for his birthday:

1. Know he is loved
2. Believe he can achieve anything in this world
3. Experience joy every day
4. Feel safe and trusting of everyone he depends on
5. See or do something new every day
6. Be full of wonder about the world we live in
7. Feel passion for life and what he chooses to do with it
8. Never want for life's basic needs
   

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wrap those sorts of things up and give them to our children to open? I only hope that in some little way I'm able to give these things to him each day.