my brain...

We made cookies together the other day, shortbreads and gingberbreads. Carson helped quite a lot, so he got to eat quite a few! after he got tired of helping and I had to go on to some pies the boys watched some TV, and I baked. for over two hours. When Carson came back into the kitchen I asked him how his day was going. he said it was going well. I said sorry for not spending very much time with him today.
He said: "that's okay mommy. sometimes I just don't want to spend lots of time with my family anyways."
I asked him what he likes to do when he doesn't want to be spending time with us.
"oh, anything really." he said. "lots of things like skateboarding, rollerskating, those kinds of things. when I do those things I don't really like to spend time with my family."

We were talking later, near dinner time, and Carson had been asking for more cookies. (which he was denied...) He got a funny look on his face and said:
"I don't know why, but my brain keeps making me miss my Nana. It does it all the time. My brain keeps making it happen." I told him that it wasn't really his brain, it was more his heart. "why does my heart make me miss my Nana?" he asked. I told him that it was because he loves his Nana. "I do love her a lot." he said.
"mommy," he continued, "my brain is making me want to eat junk food too. I want to eat things that are good for my body, but my brain really likes junk food and makes me want to eat it all the time. I always want to eat cookies and chocolate and everything. I don't know why my brain does that."

fav quouts Dec 07

Logan
"Wook at DAT!"
,
"mommy, your my BEST Fwend."

"daddy- you wanna piece-a-me?"

"Cahson, can't catch me!!"

"I peed a Dora and Boots." (wearing a Dora pullup and forgot to use the potty)

"I play baskaball, football touchdown, SEE YA! soccah..."

"its a beautiful day to go beach..." (mommy) "REaLLY?" "NOOH! silly..."

" lets pray. pray DADDY, pray Cahson, Nana, Papa, Daniel, Gwandma, Gwandpa, Mommy, Daddy, Daniel...Daddy, Asa, Natalie...."

"can we read SolomonJohn?"

CARSON:

"I wanna tell you a joke. actually TWO jokes.
I'd like three crabby patties with a drink and TWO STUPIDS!!"

"heres another one. I'm so funny I CRACK MYSELF UP!!"

"thanks mom. you're the best of the best."

"thanks auntie Natalie for the gift. Auntie Natalie? you know what would make me feel really really happy? even more happy than this? MORE PRESENTS."

"Logan, you are completely destructive. you destruct EVERYTHING."

"mom, when we move we can get a dog. lets get a new house this week."

one small trip in a blizzard...

Carson spent the past few days at his grandparent's in New Bedford, and I decided to go get him on Thursday morning. (I missed him!) the only thing was that the weather was calling for some snow, so I left in the morning. the snow started half way there, and by 11:30 cars were slowed down to 35 miles an hour in a 65 zone, and visibility was way down. it took Mom Mendes 2 hours to get to U Mass and back- which is usually a 15 minute round trip ... and by that time there was no attempting the trip home.
so we spent the night and made sugar cookies with Grandma after a good snowball fight with Sheila and her kids.

he's 4!!

or almost four... but Carson doesn't know the date so this early birthday party constitutes his "change in numbers" to his inquisitive little mind.
Today we had a discussion as to why it is we are having a birthday party for him, Daddy telling him that it is because we love him that we are doing something nice for him and throwing him a birthday party. we reminded him to be thankful for what he is getting and not to just expect things because its his birthday.
Carson said "but its my birthday. when you have a birthday you have a party."
we asked why and he answered:
"everybody is a number. some people are turning 0, some are turning 3 or 4, some are turning 8, 9, or 10... and when anybody turns to another number what you do is have a party. you have to have a party when you turn to another number. I'm turning 4. I need to turn 4. so I need to have a party to turn 4!"
So we had a great party, his grandparents were here, along with aunt Natalie (who bought a great cake again... he asked for the same one as Logan had, so he got a duplicate spiderman and was thrilled!) and Micah, Sheila and her kids were here, along with Cynthia and Francesca.
Carson got some awesome toys (thanks everyone!) and couldn't believe his eyes when he opened his SKATEBOARD. now this skateboard has been prayed for for the past 2 months solid- every single day. he found it in our closet and thought it was daddy's.. so when he opened it along with his helmet and knee pads, he kept saying "I'm so happy mom, I'm so happy with this!" and was so excited to go skateboarding with dad. we had to explain that the skateboard he found in our closet wasn't in fact dad's, it was his being hidden until his birthday. Once he wrapped his head around that one he laughed and told grandma that it was pretty funny that he thought it was his daddy's.
after a long day of cleaning up his toys and the table in anticipation of the presents that were to come after cake, he played with all the great car toys he got, and of course his skateboard, and then promptly fell asleep on grandma's lap for a good hour. :)

20 days till christmas!!

so it has been a fun week. Carson has decided he can do anything he believes that he can do- telling me that he's telling me the truth and will prove it to me if I'll just take him to the north pole to go skating. or just to an ice rink. that would work too.
he has decided that he likes to talk on the phone and just spent over an hour on the phone with my parents. BY HIMSELF. yeah. no kidding.
He's also been asking for a skateboard for a very long time, every day he prays for one, and he asks me every morning if we could just buy one so that we can go skateboarding together.
He went to my room to watch cartoons in my bed one cold morning while the heat was warming the place up... he saw his hotwheels skateboard peeking out of the closet... and then thought that it was dad's! he excitedly showed me the coolest thing that Daddy owns, pointing from afar and saying that it was amazing that it came with knee pads and everything. he said "Mom, I wish I had a cool skateboard just like daddy's. then we could go skateboarding TOGETHER."
apparently he hasn't put the fact that his birthday is a week away and that he's never seen daddy skateboard before in his life... hopefully he'll still be surprised.
Logan is potty training in full force- on his own! I'll help him onto the potty whenever I think of it, but whenever he has the urge to go now he just takes his little self over to the big potty and maneuvers himself onto it and does his business. I think that the draw for him is the toilet paper. we've gone through many many rolls in the past few days... :) we've had some talks though, and now he is using less. he also pretends to be blowing his nose every time I catch him with some in his hand as well. he says "I blow my nose." with a cheeky grin as he flushes it down.
We're also in learning mode with Carson, who is starting to sound out letters and putting them into words. he read the word "fun" and "ball" and "look" today, and spelled "cat" "bat" "rat" and "fat" the other day... all with only a little help from me! I was so proud of my little guy.
so now to get myself into holiday mode and finish up some shopping... or at least get some good ideas formulated ?...

what a day!

today was a nice stay at home day, nothing to be done really, just made some pies and have plans to go out with a friend for coffee tonight. The boys have been fairly well behaved today- with the exception of Logan's strong willed and destructive behavior... but that is just normal now. Logan clogged one toilet with paper today, and almost clogged a second, tore a leaf off my palm tree (which is my pride and joy...) broke multiple crayons into pieces, dumped out a basket of folded laundry, and stuck his hand into my freshly cooled blueberry pie.
but that's not what I'm writing about tonight. those things happen with most active two year olds (right?? tell me I'm not the only one...?)
Tonight at dinner I was sitting with Logan as he finished his vegetables while Carson and daddy were already in the midst of their nightly wrestling match. Logan was eating quickly so he could go join in, when -as usual- he got distracted with the fun he creates with that amazing little brain of his.
he held up a snap pea and said "FWEEZE! PUT CHA HANDS UP! FWEEZE!!"
I said "what are you gonna do?"
He looked at his pea pod and squeezed once, drew his eyebrows together and thought for a second. "Maybe its broken." he said quietly.

Carson also had a great day, today he learned how to spell CAT, HAT, BAT, and FAT.
I couldn't think of any other easily spelled "AT" words. he sounded each out, and even wrote FAT out on his own. I was so proud of him!
we also had a great discussion about policemen and when they put people in jail.
He wanted to know if people get arrested for stopping at green lights, or for driving when its a red light. I told him that they wouldn't get arrested for that, they'd probably just be told to pay attention, or be given a ticket.
Carson then wanted to know what kinds of things people get put in jail for.
We talked about people getting into trouble for stealing things, and people going to jail for killing other people, or for beating other people up, which is assault. Carson said quickly "well I guess the police aren't paying attention when I beat my brother up then, 'cause I've never gone to jail and I beat him up all the time."
I hugged my honest little brute and told him the virtues of wrestling for fun and warned him not to hurt his brother on purpose ever. he's still not sure if he should go to jail or not... but as I write this he's horsing around with daddy, and isn't too concerned about the police at all.

sketchy sculpting

This weekend we had our thanksgiving dinner together at Mom and Dad Mendes' house. The meal was amazing, as is now tradition- with Jeff's Italian meatballs and pasta, Rachael's turkey sausage stuffing, Natalie's creamy cheesey green bean casserole, Cynthia's twice baked potatoes and the best turkey I've ever eaten... Mom's BOMB-(layered chocolate cake, snickers bars, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream) and my homemade pies... and so much more that I don't have time to record...
We ate our feast, and spent a few hours enjoying being together, watching Rachael and Jeff's wedding video- which was awesome- and laughing together at all the funny parts- Daniel's crazy dance moves, Dad Mendes' dance moves... and then there was the play-do.
Carson and Francesca had been having a great time together, they love being around each other so much. they opened gifts from Rachael and Jeff, and one of the gifts was a set of play-do. Francesca decided to make a doughnut, and Carson -for whatever reason, or possibly for no reason at all- decided to make a snake. not any snake, actually, but a one-eyed snake. we all looked at each other for a second, and then burst out laughing. Francesca's dad points out that all snakes have two eyes, and if she ever meets one with less than two she should run. then he makes her a teddy bear out of play-do. our little artists kept on playing, and both ended up with great works of art. we ended up with cramps from laughing so hard.
*everyone in my household denies ever teaching my son about one-eyed snakes. this matter is still under investigation.

Logan is 2!!

Logan's birthday party went well, he had fun playing with his cousins and aunts and uncles that were here. he got lots of great toys and clothes, thanks everyone! and had the coolest cake ever. He kept showing everyone over to the table and saying "look! its spiderman! and look there- its spiderman!"
he is growing up so fast, its hard to remember when he was a bald baby that went to bed without crying... now he's got a full head of hair (almost!) and jumps the coop every time we put him down. He's such a handful, and such a joy at the same time- its hard to know whether to be stern or just laugh at his antics most days. generally we end up laughing whether we want to or not, our little Logan is growing into a clown- cracking a joke at every occasion that presents itself, making a face to see what the reaction to it will be, or copying the things he hears Daddy and uncle Dan say when they watch football - "see YA, its GONE, see ya, TOUCHDOWN! a football touchdown!"
sigh... I thought that this toddler stage would last for so long... and its already slipped away! I have two little boys now, who are quickly growing into smart big boys- how did this already happen?! I'm still looking forward to being done with diapers, but when he's old enough to be potty trained will he be too old to talk to his stuffed animals at night- calling his goofy doll mickey mouse and laughing when goofy acts offended... too old to be giving kisses freely to anyone who is close to his heart... too old to say "I love you too, mom" throughout the day when it hasn't even been said first... too old for that hug that is so tight and sweet it makes you tear up every time...
...maybe I'll keep the diapers just in case.

Carson and his 100th haircut...

okay so not quite, but this kids hair grows so fast he is always looking shaggy. I was waiting to have his aunt Natalie do it again, but we have both been busy lately, so it wasn't looking like it was going to be soon. The last straw was the other night when the kids were in the bathtub and Carson was laying on his back swinging his head back and forth in the water saying : "my hair is just like a mermaid!"
and indeed it was- long and flowing around his head like mermaid locks.
So we got out of the tub and cut a good inch and a half off it, probably more.
He is thrilled with it, and it'll do until Natalie touches it up for me. :)

bible school

tonight at dinner we had an in-depth story time with Carson. He thought Nate had been at Bible school this afternoon, when he was really taking a test at work. Carson then proceeded to tell a long tale of how he himself went to a bible school named Nastestavonies that was just for kids, drove himself, and had a great day playing football. Nathan had a long conversation questioning him about the intricacies of how the day went.
Nate said "you drove yourself there in the Jimmy?"
Carson: "yeah."
Nate: "well, you can't drive a car yet, so how did you get there?"
Carson: "well, I guess I was just joking. I walked."
Nate "well, you aren't allowed to cross the street by yourself, so how did you get there?"
Carson: "well, it was just on the same side of the street, I didn't have to cross it."
Nate: " where was it? "
Carson: " in East Bridgewater, on East Brockton Road."
Nate : "well, East Bridgewater is on the other side of the road, so how did you get there?"
Carson "well, a guy just drove me to the other side of the road."

Nate: "you know you aren't allowed to go with strangers don't you?"

Carson: "yeah, I don't remember how I got to the other side I guess."

Nate "so, how many kids were in your class?"
Carson: "eight, but there were nine downstairs."

Nate: " so you must have met some of the kids in your class, what were their names?"
Carson: "I only made one friend. just one."
Nate "what is your friends name?
Carson "Scott."
Nate "oh yeah? what is Scott like?"
Carson "he's brown."
Nate "what color hair does he have?"
Carson " black. " (looking up directly at Nathan's black hair as he speaks,)
Nate "what color eyes does he have?"
Carson " blue"

I asked "what color shirt was he wearing?"
Carson "green" as he looks at my green shirt, without missing a beat.
Nathan "what is Scott's last name?"
Carson "Bott.:
Nathan " Scott Bott?"
Carson " yeah. Scott Bott."

The conversation went on to reveal that the school had a lady teacher that he didn't know the name of, was white in color with nine legs that didn't have shoes, but sandals on their feet.
The legs purpose were to keep the school up when there were too many kids inside.
after telling Nathan that he could go and check for himself to see that this bible school really does exist on East Brockton street in East Bridgewater, and not backing down from his story for a good 10 minutes... Carson finally smiled and said "I'm just joking, there really isn't a bible school. I tricked you!"
by this time my cheek muscles were sore from the suppressed smiles and smothered laughter, and I was glad to have his charade over... as funny as it was. I'll never be surprised after this at how quick a child's mind can be, and how vivid their imagination. but then again, tomorrow is always a new day with new surprises!

visiting away

we're having a great time at my parent's house for the week, only a few days left before we head home. my little guys are loving all the attention, but lacking on some sleep time... we'll catch up back home. we've visited family in Enfield, which was great, church family in Milford, where the kids foot raced from one side of the sanctuary to the other- so cute having a lot of little ones together.
We spent the night with Patrick and April at their house, and the boys really enjoyed their dog, Cona. April took the day off to spend the day with us, and we had a great trip to Erin and Genes, Cathy's for lunch, Joanne's for a quick visit with little Michael.
We had some amazing dishes at sarah's place that night- I found out that I do like blue cheese, and that Carson doesn't like eggplant. Logan, being Logan, ate everything and loved it. However, when Sarah made a thai dish - a spin off butter chicken with rice... we found out how much Carson wasn't a fan. he sat for 30 minutes while we ate, and ate around 3 bites the entire time. We made a deal that he would go to bed and finish his food when he woke up, which he was really happy about. he woke up and spent the next two and a half hours holding rice in his cheeks, until I finally felt bad enough for him that I just took it away... he still only got half of it down. I told him that that wouldn't happen again- if he is given something he needs to eat it. he looked me in the eyes and said "okay mommy, but could you please never make that again?" so cute.
Logan has been entertaining, asking everyone if they know what he's thinking, and then saying "I'm finkin, go to the beach! with STICKERS." makes no sence at all, but he laughs as if he's said the funniest thing ever!
he's also taken to calling Jon Josh- he prays every night before he goes to sleep, prays for Mommy, Carson, Daddy, Nana, papa, Sewa (sarah) daniel, and JOSH. lol. so funny.
I've been enjoying having my dad around, he fixed various things that were wrong with my car, and even got new tires for it ! he's a great guy to have around.
mom has been spoiling us with turkey dinners, butter tarts and meatballs... its great. I miss home!!

"so why do you still call me 3??"

Carson has been wanting to grow up desperately so that he can join the big guys in football and basketball. One day after being told he couldn't play basketball with Daniel and Josh, he came to me more than a little frustrated.
"mom," he began with a frown on his face and determination in his voice,
"Every day I try so hard to be a big boy. I clean my room, I do my work. I eat my food and drink my water. And every day when I go to Ikea, they tell me at the playplace that I am getting so big, and getting to be a big boy. SO WHY DO YOU STILL CALL ME THREE???"
I tried hard not to laugh straight in his face, and explained that three years old lasts for an entire year which is a long time. I explained that he is almost four, and that he is getting to be very big and he is doing well with his chores. He wasn't satisfied.
He asked again why I was always going to call him three, and reminded me again that he was doing his best to grow up, and then proceeded to sit down at the piano and compose a song.
He played a few notes low, and then a few notes high. he started by singing about how the trees change, how the leaves change, about swimming in his pool, and now its too cold to do that too. He sang about how if he could change "something into something else" then he would be really big and grown up. He sang "I could let you play my tuba, yeah yeah, I could let you play my trombone, yeah yeah. but its really big, yeah yeah, and it has lots of buttons. You have to be strong to play it, yeah yeah"
he sang about the shows that he likes and dislikes on TV, and when he was finished, he got up and asked to go outside like nothing had happened.
he's my little minstrel I guess- with a good touch on the piano, and a great head for lyrics-and I still call him three.

the whole Mendes family

whack that thang!!

Birthday fun

Here is Carson at his cousin's birthday party. he loves birthday parties and can't wait until he has his next birthday party. we did temporary tattoos, and Carson wanted three on each arm. they are gone now and he is quite disappointed.
Carson visited his grandparents for the weekend while we were away, and got to go to a bible study with Grandma. before they went in, Grandma told him and Logan that they were to play nicely and behave themselves. once they got in there, there were some other kids playing, so she thought it would be best for them to sit on the couch for a while instead of getting too excited playing. After a few minutes of patient waiting Carson leaned over and asked:
"why did you say that we get to play nicely if we don't get to play at all?"

Yeah, I'm awesome.

Carson and Logan have been sick, so we took them to the doctors to get checked out. They get on the scale to be weighed, and Carson goes first. The nurses tell him that he did a great job, and he smiles and says "thanks."
Logan gets on the scale and hops to see what happens. Then he pulls on the pole and makes himself heavier and then lighter, and then he stomps each foot... finally after getting a semi-accurate weight on him, we tell him he's all done.
"see? I DID it!" he proclaimed for the whole office to hear, smiling from ear to ear and celebrating himself excitedly.
"yes, you did" one nurse told him.
"you did awesome!" another nurse praised.
"see? I'm AWESOME." Logan said, doing a little dance.

its fall already?

well, the summer has flown by with so many things going on it seemed impossible to sit and write it all down... and now its nippy outside and beach days are gone! We had a few great trips this summer, camping with my family in Maine, to a wedding in New Jersey, and a few trips to local beaches... we also had a trip to the hospital overnight with Logan, who had an asthmatic attack, brought on by a virus, he was so cute in his little johnny shirt and saying "thank you" to everything the doctors and nurses did for him. He even said thank you after getting a painful IV in his arm, tears welling in his eyes and all. He had a few nurses crying right along with him!
We've been doing a lot of reading lately, and Carson has picked up on the fact that too much TV is no good, and junk food is terrible for you. I tried to give him and his brother Veggie chips the other day (they are organic and made with vegetables, not too junky) and he refused. he accepted a glass of water, and then finally told me he was really hungry and could he have something else? I told him that he already had a snack in front of him, and he could eat that. his face fell as he said "but that's junk food... and I don't eat junk food!" I explained that these were healthy, so he ate the rest of the bag.
Nathan and I are heading to Maine this weekend for a wilderness camping experience... we'll only have electricity for 3 hours every evening apparently. I'm bringing every sweater and pair of socks I own... maybe even a snowsuit for night time, we'll see. its getting so cold- and I don't want to be done with summer yet!
The kids are excited to be spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, Carson started packing the minute I told him about it.
it seems that there is much much more to write about, but that will have to come another time.

summer fun

Logan and I watching Carson and daddy on the schoolbus ride- Logan was terrified that they were so high up, but tried to hold back his tears while we looked on.

Logan's words for the week

"THAT'S NASTY!!"

"stinky winky!"

"sir, yes sir!!"

"kiss meee!!"

"exactly."

"lets pray."

"NO! that's mommy's!"

"uhhuh. its mine."

"watch Diego? GOOO rescue!!"

"bananna?" (Mommy answers) "you want a bananna?"
(Logan) "NO!" like its the funniest thing he's ever said. then he composes himself and says:
"no wank you." (thank you) then, waving his hand expressively he says- "I'm all set. "

juicey juicey

Yesterday evening the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down. we heard thunder a few times, and the kids were wondering what was going on. Logan climbed up beside Nathan and pointed out the window and said, "Dad! look! LOOK! out a window, what is it???"
"That's rain." Nathan said. Logan looked at Nathan, back out the window and shook his head emphatically.
"NO." he said, pointing his little finger outside, "its Juicey-juicey! "
Now we know for sure that when Logan asks for juice, (which happens more times a day than I can count,) he's just asking for a drink.

horrible nicknack

This morning (sunday) as we are getting ready for church Carson found a bead. He proclaimed it to be a seed, and decided to give it as a surprise to his friend Jack at church. he talked about watching it grow after they planted it in the ground, and thought it would be nice if he could find another one for Jack's younger sister Mary and Logan to share.
He put it down beside a pair of swim shorts (it was laundry day yesterday and there are still a few things out of place) and the bead got stuck in the cloth somewhere.
"this is what you call a horrible nicknack." Carson said after a moment of searching, "it hides in horrible places."
As I am writing this, after finding the bead and having Carson so relieved to have his gift back "because everyone just loves a gift," he has just lost it again under the heater. "Mom, I just lost my horrible nicknack" he said again, "could you please hurry up before that horrible nicknack is gone for good??"
so here I go to save the day again, and restore something that isn't really horrible at all to my generous little guy.

RING BEARER!!

here he is as the cutest ring bearer ever... with the cutest flower girl ever, cousin Francesca.
they had a ball... the wedding was awesome, I'll put more pics up later.

is this going to work.....

I'm THIS excited about the boat ride!

here are the kids at camp dunn, where we spent the weekend. we were all suited up, and took a row boat accross the lake to a sand bar (the one you can see to the right of Logan's head) where we found a stick, a golf ball, and a few fish swimming near the shore.

quotes from this week

Logan:

"are you kiddin' me??"

"are you SERIOUS?"

"Mom, I'm talkin to you."

"no thank you!" (accompanied by a grimace and a large shake of his head)

" Carson! wheeh ahh you??"

Carson:

"mom, what is a house? what is a tree? what is salvation? what is baptism? what is water? what is blue? what is extremely? what is ultimate? "

"mom, you're not feeling good? maybe daddy should cook tonight."

"daddy. mommy's not feeling good. can we get takeout?"

"of course I wanted to win. what, did you think we were just playing around out here?? " -after we raced around the bush 30 times, and he was still asking for more, I finally realized that he hadn't won too many times... he was honest with his answer!

"whats Itallian?" (me) " a language, like French, that Nana speaks, or like Spanish that Grandma speaks, or English like we are speaking right now."
(Carson) "whats a monster?" "there are no real monsters, but when we think of monsters we think of big things that are scary looking and go 'aarrgh'."
"oh." carson said, "they must speak French."

who do you follow?

a friend has recently inspired me to take a closer look at the methods of child-rearing that we all approach, and that in turn has brought me to think of how that relates to the rest of my life in general. What is the final authority in my life? what would it take for me to back down from a topic that I believe to be right? whose opinion is the most important to me?
This is a question that everyone answers in their own lives- whether realizing it or not.
Honestly, for most of my life I have looked to others for advice- my parents, friends etc. This in itself is not a bad thing- even biblical, to look for counsel from someone you believe to be wise. The reason that I am now looking back and regretting is that I didn't even involve God in decisions at all. I thought I did, because I would pray and ask "what do you think God?" in whichever way it was stated at the time. But I never searched the scriptures to see what God himself could have there for me. and honestly, what other way has God freely provided us with? Yes, he speaks to us in a still small voice, but how are we to hear that voice if we haven't hidden his word in our hearts that we might not sin against, and be separated from Him?
So, all of this to get on to the subject that I sat down to write about- who has the precedence in my life? do I still look exclusively to others for guidance? have those people just changed to new people that I am surrounded by? or am I actually placing my faith and my life in the hands of an almighty God that knows so much more than I can fathom... but sometimes can't figure out?? how exactly am I to know what God has for me as a mother, a wife, and a woman of God?
I think the answer comes in finding the correct view of God. I believe that we must come to God with a view of him, and how we can worship as HE wants, how we can live as HE would require, and the rest will fall into the correct order. When we get into petty arguments about things that the Bible is not completely clear on, we must learn to find the character of God, what it is HE would have for us in that situation. I think when we come to a situation and try to find scripture to back up our side of the argument we have lost already. God has blessed us with His Word to guide, and we need to read deeply and fellowship closely with him in order that HE would guide the "little" decisions. There will always be differences of opinions when it comes to interpreting the Bible. Thats okay! As long as we are seeking Gods face, his way for us, and not trying to fit Him into our lives so that it works out how WE were hoping, we will find the right way.
I encourage you to seek the scriptures, search your own heart- make sure your own calling and salvation! We have all been lulled into a lethargic spirituality- it is probably the worst thing that could happen to the church... so many people have a false sense of security in their salvation because they prayed a prayer... BEWARE! if there is no change in the life, there has not been a change in heart. Call out to God, test yourself to see if you are one of His own. Are you sensitive to sin? do you forsake and turn from that sin when you are confronted with it?
There is probably much more to come on this subject- one I have just begun to understand!

my relaxing day off ??

it was a stressful day. I woke up to the sink being clogged- so clogged that nothing at all was going through. Carson denied putting anything in it.
Logan drew all over the floor with a crayon, and on the wall too. last time the artistic side of the kids came out all over the hardwood floor I figured out that if you wiped it up with coloring book pages it cleaned well... unfortunately this time it was on the linoleum in the computer room that doesn't clean nearly as well.. there is still a large blue spot.
Carson decided to play with the turtle while I was trying to clean that, and when I finally made it back into the kitchen a few minutes later, I found a mess of mud and grass all over my counter, table and kitchen floor. upon closer inspection I found my darling turtle (that I have become quite attached to) helplessly kicking his feet and craning his neck, rocking back and forth on his back... poor little guy was terrified. I let him loose in the backyard after that, I felt so bad that he had been terrorized by my kids. I felt a twinge when he looked back at me with his tiny little eyes, but I knew it was for the best. maybe he'll come back to me.
when I was in the bathroom later on, I questioned Carson about the sink again, and he finally told the truth, he had put toilet tissue down the drain before I woke up.
Seeing that I couldn't take much more, I sent the kids to bed. (over an hour early for their nap, without lunch and all, but I couldn't take another minute!!)
I got out a pair of pliers, figured out how to make them big enough to be flush with the screw on the bottom of the sink where I saw the plumber open it up, and after a bit of effort if finally gave.
unfortunately there was hardly anything coming through still, and nothing at the bottom. so I found a curtain rod, took it apart and shoved it down the drain... and somehow dislodged the mass of tissue and gunk, flushed it to the bottom, and scooped it out with Q tips.
I then cleaned up the dirt and the grass from the kitchen floor, dumped the gross stuff from the sink outside, and made a PB&J sandwedge for the kids, got them up long enough to eat, and then put them to bed. when we all woke up things looked a lot better. we cleaned the car out, it looks great now; we made supper and everyone but Logan liked it, and then watched a game show that we copied in Carson's room on his request- "we're playing twenty-five," he said, "two strikes and you're outta my room."
questions like "A-rod." and "Block" followed, until we coached him a bit. he caught on fast, and asked some good ones in the end. I never did get booted from his room though!

summer happenings

It has been a while since I last blogged- it seems life has picked up some speed along the way, and the weeks are flying away from me faster then I can record the events in here! so this post is an overview of the happenings in our family for the past few weeks.
The most important thing that has happened in our kids lives happened on Monday evening just before bed time. Carson and Logan and I were doing devotions together, reading a children's version of the bible, and talking about the stories we read. Carson piped up and said:
"did Jesus die for my sins?" "yes" I told him.
"You know that Jesus and God are the same person," He answered emphatically, " they are the SAME person." "that's right" I answered.
"why did Jesus have to die?" I asked
"Because I sin." Carson said, his eyes on the floor.
"That's right. and even if we just sin once, we can't be with God, because He is completely WITHOUT sin, and there cannot be sin in heaven with Him. "
"yeah," Carson said. "and you sin, and Daddy sins, and so does Logan. and me too."
"yes we do." I said, noticing how closely Carson was listening, "so that means that we aren't going to be able to get into heaven, doesn't it?"
"yeah, because I don't have Jesus in my heart." Carson said, sounding a little defeated.
"and we have to have Jesus in our hearts to be saved from our sin," I said, "He died to take away all the sin that we have done when we follow him and have him in our hearts."
"well, I don't have him in my heart. and I can't because I'm not an adult" Carson said. (one thing that is typical of all unbelievers, even ones that are being drawn to Jesus, it seems that we all have excuses of why we can't come to him, even a three year old... )
"you don't have to be an adult to have Jesus in your heart" I told him. "you just have to believe on him, and want to follow him."
"oh." Carson said.
We continued our devotions, and went on to different subjects. Ten minutes later when we were finished I asked Carson if there was anything he wanted to pray about before we went to sleep. Usually the requests are to go to someones house, have company over, or see family members, but this night he surprised me by immediately saying:
"yeah. I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart." so I told him to go ahead and pray. he closed his eyes tight, and said "Jesus, do you think you could come into my heart?" Then he grabbed me and hugged me and said "I think he said yes!!!" I prayed with him, and have continued to pray for him, for understanding to be given to him, and for his heart to be responsive to the Word of God.

We had a movie night with the cousins, it went well until everyone decided it was more fun to run and scream than it was to sit and watch... we still had a great time.

Logan has been learning a lot of new words, and continuing to amaze me with the things he can do on his own. He is definitely a toddler and not a baby... growing quickly into a big boy. its hard to look at him with his (almost) full head of hair and remember what he looked like weighing less than 30 lbs and bald... he is now getting his own utensils and feeding himself, asking for specifics like apples out of the fridge, he's still asking for juice 40 times a day or so, but he is suffering it out on plain old water most of the time so that he doesn't keep refusing it. Daddy is still his favorite person, he asks for him numerous times throughout the day, and screams his name and runs for him when daddy finally gets home. He calls for Carson whenever he doesn't know where brother is, and can say his name well. his favorite word for this week is "again" - always referring to some kind of body slam performed by daddy or uncle Asa... which is a favorite of both my sons. Carson has been requesting the "choke slam." Logan can say the words "you hurt me" now, which he says even when he slams himself into someone and hurts himself...

We had a great visit with my parents and Lisa, they were down last week for 4 days. it was wonderful having them around. Dad fixed everything in my house that needed fixing... right down to the shower head that got duct taped. my house now seems so much more livable with the utensil drawer now being able to open without falling apart!! Mom made the most delicious
lasagna rolls, I'm going to attempt to reproduce those sometime in the coming week.

the 4th was spent at my place, we had a cookout with my parents and Nathans, it was a great time, with great food- mom Mendes made the greatest steaks that we bbq'd. We ended up watching fireworks on our new 52" plasma... it felt nice to have both our parents enjoy it with us. hopefully fun vacations like these won't be too far apart.

Main pit stop

On our way to my parent's place a few weeks ago, we stopped at a friends house, who has the nicest place I've ever seen. the kids fell in love with the dog- I think her name is Grace.
The whole trip Carson was so excited to get to Nanna and Papa's, but once we arrived at Betsy's house all he wanted to do was swim in their pool and play with the dogs, goats and cat. we finally pried him away, and after many more hours of driving we arrived at my parents house

quotes for the week #3

Carson:

"I put the crayon in your purse, because Logan had it in his mouth and I saw him. it was like a tongue tattoo." -after attempting to let Logan color with him.

"daddy, I'm on your team. it'll be great. yo ho ho, go cowboys!" (they teamed up on me with the squirt guns)

"proverbs 1:8, My son, hear the instruction of your father, and don't forsake the law of your mother. " - it took about 5 minutes of solid repetition, but he got it!!

"mommy, you look good today." Carson said. I said "awwh, thanks hun. that's so sweet." Logan leans over and touches Carson's arm and says: "good boy."


Logan:

"hey, dudes!"

"free DVD" (Carson saw the advertisement on a cereal box for a free dvd, so that's what he calls it, Logan keeps asking for "more free DVD!!"

"I'm juicey." this is Logan's way of telling me he's thirsty and wants juice... he just kind of blends them together!

Logan's new thing this week is greeting every single stranger that he crosses paths with. he'll stick his little hand as high in the air as it can go, and cheerfully call out "Heyyoh! HI!" (hello, hi) and if the person doesn't respond, Logan simply calls louder "HI!" with a bigger wave... this process continues until the person Logan is trying to communicate with finally notices and says hello back. to which Logan smiles like his mission is accomplished and keeps on his way.

blazing heat- defined

We had a great trip to Canada, thanks to my parent's hospitality, and my mother in law accompanying me, Cathy's amazing community breakfast, and Erin and Gene's hosting skills. we did a lot of fun things, but the best part was just spending time with family and friends. We arrived back home without the hoopla of the trip down. (one missed turn and a VERY late arrival... resulting in 911 calls by my parents, and a few calls to the Maine State troopers... once again mom, I apologize if I am the cause of any ulcers or cardiac stress ! )

Now that we are back home, we find ourselves in the middle of a terrific heat wave. the weather has been amazing- for those who live on a lake, or have air conditioning in every room of their house, that is. the thermometer was reading 95 degrees , and that was at the beach which was much cooler!! Yesterday I took the kids to the beach with my friend Sheila and her three adorable kids. I have some cute pictures that are being stubborn and not transferring to my computer, once I have that hitch figured out I'll be displaying them proudly online.

Today, another scorcher, trapped us inside our house for the afternoon, but finally when we spotted a breeze picking up outside we decided to try for a water fight with our family of squirt guns that we had picked up for precisely this occasion.
I, however, had not considered the possibility that my boys would ALL gang up on me and drench me from the very top strand of hair on my head down to the bruised foot I got from attempting to wrestle away a gun from my much stronger hubby... :) good times. The kids ended up jumping in their little kiddie pool- Logan ended up exploding his huggies diaper from jumping repeatedly on his bottom in the pool for a reaction from mom and dad. he really will do anything for a laugh that one!!
anyways, we just found out that this is subway's customer appreciation day, so we are headed out to subway for a free six inch sub with purchase of a drink. :)

Window Shopping- prudential style!

So today I met up with my friend Ashley (who is moving to Washington State in a few days *sniff*, but such is the life of a coastie wife, right??)
so we took the subway from the north side, over to the prudential section of Boston- and went to the ritziest mall ever... just for kicks we took the kids into a few shops that we wanted to window shop in- Tiffany's, Gucci, Coach, Louis Vatton, Sac's Fifth Ave, etc. the prices blew me away- can you believe that some people out there in the world will spend over $400 on a TANK TOP? we're talking about a tank top that looked like it should cost $5 tops. I found a dress that was so cute at Gucci- only to find the price dramatically reduced and still waay out of my price range- $1,995. for a SUNDRESS!! we were checking out the shoes, and admiring the extravagant colors and styles, when Carson realized the buzz was all about shoes.
So he sat down on a stool, and posed his sneaker (dirty and untied as it was) right beside a polished leather stiletto (yeah- over a grand for that one too) and said
"oh, its so cute!"
I guess after hearing mommy and Ashley shopping, this was the comment that the kids picked up on as being universally accepted as the thing to say.
We stopped on our walk back from the train to meet daddy and Shawn (Ashley's husband) at the base, and got some ice cream at the world renowned Mikes pastry shop- the best ice cream I've ever tasted actually!
So now we're home, back to reality- and I'm still left to wonder- what exotic breed of people actually spend two thousand dollars on a sun dress, or nine hundred on a pair of ballerina flats? I'm perfectly happy to keep up my bargain shopping and come home with that "treasure" that I've been waiting to go on clearance- after all, a girl doesn't have to spend over five dollars to treat herself- sometimes the best feeling comes from finding the best deal around! -Like the bargain I brought home from the extravagant mall I visited today- a tub of shea butter scented cream - 75% off- I spent $2.50. now that's living the good life! Two happy boys, a husband that got to hear the good news that our bank account hasn't been overdrawn from my wild shopping spree, and I didn't come home empty handed. It was a great day.

RING BEARER!!

My sister in law Rachael is getting married on August 4th, and she's asked Carson to be her ring bearer. Francesca (there are a few pictures of her on here somewhere) Carson's cousin is the flower girl, so today Francesca's mom (Cynthia) and I took the kids shopping for their outfits. Rachael is having a super laid back beach wedding at a gazebo in New Jersey, so we knew we were looking for a linen type look- nothing too frilly. We lucked out, and managed to find the most adorable linen dress for Francesca that exactly matches Carson's linen pants. We found them sandals that coordinate well, and will be picking them up this week (gotta wait for those great sales!!) I'm so excited for the wedding- the two of them are going to be adorable!! Francesca is very sure of what is supposed to happen- she grabs Carson's hand and tells him "Okay, Carson, its time for us to go over THERE now. let's go okay?." and they walk together wherever she leads. I think they'll do just fine on her lead!! I'll be posting pictures of his new outfit soon.

Look Alike!!

Here is Logan with Uncle Daniel Mendes, we realized when he was down for a short visit this past month that the two look more alike than any of us realized! I thought it would be fun to do some look alike photos, so we'll see what else I come up with after this one!

Chatty Tuesday

This morning when we got up Carson and Logan immediately spotted a cute little robin outside our patio window. They were studying it for a moment before Carson ran to get my attention as I was making breakfast saying- "mommy- come see! its a very mysterious bird outside, come and see it!" of course, it wasn't too mysterious at all, but it did hop around in and out of the bushes and the kids thought it was great.

This afternoon I fed the kids left over spaghetti from last night (it wasn't very good because I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce for the amount of noodles that I cooked.)
But Carson, being the ever encouraging child that he has been lately took one bite and asked-
"How did you get this scrumptious, scrumptious sauce in here ?" I answered that I had dumped a bottle of ready made sauce into the noodles.
"how many bottles did you use?" Carson wanted to know.
"two." I answered.
"well," Carson said looking at the food in front of him, "maybe next time you can use four."

Logan had been quite loud all throughout lunch time, and finally my elder boy had had enough of it. He looked at his brother with a smile and used a line he'd probably been thinking up all afternoon- "shut your voice mail."
I don't know where kids come up with the things they do, but I'm glad that I'm hearing it first hand- its a blast!

a family thing

Today was a different kind of day- it started raining a little bit during breakfast, but the day didn't look too extremely yucky. At 11 am Nate walked in the door- he had the day off from work so that he could get the cars fixed- a nice surprise. (we've been having some car trouble in the past week with both of our vehicles.)
We decided to drop off both vehicles at the same time and then take the kids for a walk from the mechanic's shop and go to the Christian book store down the street, but by the time we arrived the rain showers had turned to a downpour. Nathan dropped us off at home, and drove back to the shop to wait out the repairs. I put the kids to bed and turned on a movie, wondering how Nathan's day was going. an hour later the door opened, and I got a glance of my husband- honestly he looked like he had just jumped in a lake. he walked the 5 miles home from the repair shop in the hardest rain fall of the entire season thus far. We both busted up laughing as soon as he stepped in the door. it was unbelievable.
The rest of the day was full of silly jokes and laughter, everyone was in a good mood and rested and enjoyed having daddy home for most of the day.
This evening, as Logan played on the living room floor, I sat on the couch beside Carson and Nathan watching TV. Carson, sitting between Nathan and I put his little arms around my waist and tried to wedge his hand behind daddy's bigger frame.
"why are you poking me in the side?" Nathan asked him
"I'm just putting my arm around you" Carson answered.
"why?" Nathan asked.
Carson answered quickly, his little face lifted up to explain to daddy-
"I'm just trying to do a family thing."
"you're alright son." Nathan said with a grin on his face. "so are you daddy." Carson said. "so are you."

weekly quotes

Carson

"the suspense is killing me!" (wondering if dad was going to be home when we arrived)

"its a competition to the death!" (battle with a caterpillar and his water gun.)

"you need to help me destroy the whole city" (imaginary city with our water guns)

"I'm four... and I don't have a girlfriend." (he's still only three, and was talking to a family friend that he's never met before.)

Logan

"excuse me" -usually he says "excuse YOU" every time... we finally had a breakthrough this week!

"oh geez"

"I got YOU." - when he kissed me back after me getting him good... repeating slowly and clearly what I had just said.

all played out

The weather has been so nice- hot every single day, that we've been spending a lot of time running around outdoors lately. I was teaching on this evening, and daddy was spending time with the boys. I was really impressed with the sound level in the next room- it was so quiet and peaceful for the entire lesson. I went out to see what activity daddy had involved the kids with this evening, and this is the scene that greeted me. all three of my boys, completely knocked out and splayed across the couch. I took three pictures with flash and all... and not one of them even flinched!

I don't like my haircut!!

Carson got a trim the same day Logan got his first haircut, and wasn't pleased with the results...

freaky picture- it scares me every time I see this face on my little boy... yikes!

Okay, he's just a clown. not really angry!! I think he got this posing deal from his cousin Francesca, she is only 3 months older than Carson, but she is completely different from him. Whenever a camera appears, Francesca begins striking poses faster and with more energy than any real-life TV shoot I've ever witnessed... (if there is a such thing as a real life TV show... lol)... so cute. So when Carson saw my camera, he tried to do the same thing, only we got some crazy faces and a lot of action shots... I don't think Carson gets the idea of a still picture yet!!

Logan's first haircut!!

after a year and a half of waiting for Logan's hair to grow in enough to call it a headful, we finally noticed that the back was looking like a mullet. so on Saturday, May 26th, Logan got his very first trim! he sat very still on daddy's knee, made funny faces (pictured here) and listened intently to the sound of the scissors snipping away at his wisps of hair. When Aunt Natalie had finished the trim there was only a tiny bit on the floor to show for it- a far cry from Carson's first haircut that filled the entire dustpan! I love Logan's haircut, he looks pretty much the same but less scruffy, which is always good!

the baby store

Carson was trying to play with his golf club, using it as a hockey stick and "scoring" on the cabinets with his squishy baseball. The game was fun and he was enjoying himself. Then over came Logan. He picked up the ball, and wrestled his way past Carson with it, screaming as he went by. Carson didn't even bother to try to get it back this time, he just came straight to me with his idea (which I think had been developing for a while in his little mind.)
"Mommy," he said, obviously trying to be mature and convincing in his tone of voice, "I think we should take Logan to the baby store."
"really?" I asked, wondering what this newest idea was about. "What happens at the baby store?"
"well," Carson said cheerfully, "Thats where babies go and get snacks and play games together. its fun."
"thats good," I answered, wondering what he was getting at. "and after Logan plays and eats snacks we take him home?"
"No." Carson said emphatically- his eyes conveying that this was the important part of his scheme- "Logan has to STAY there- we'll pick another baby, maybe one that is nice. Logan is just bad all of the time. We'll EXCHANGE him."
After covering my smile I was able to answer him, "Well, Carson, Logan is the baby that God gave us, and we have to try to help him grow up to be a good boy. I get to take care of him, and as his big brother, so do you."
"I don't think so." Carson said, the cheerfulness back in his tone, "we should just get a good baby."
The funny thing was that later that night, we put the kids to bed, and went into the kitchen to clean up... what we found was a 2 gallon puddle of water on the floor- apparently Logan had opened the spout of our water jug a little bit and let the entire thing drain on the floor quietly.
Five minutes into sopping up the mess I looked at Nathan and said "maybe the baby store was a good idea after all?" just kidding. we love our baby Logan, and hope that this terrible stage (and he's not even two yet) is almost over....

Bandits!

We decided to take the kids for a walk the other evening - it was a beautiful evening, the trees lining our street are all blossoming, in fact there are so many blooms outside at this time of year the air smells like honeysuckle. (or what I THINK honeysuckle smells like...)
So we loaded up in our double stroller and took a hike a few blocks up to Friendlies where we got chocolate brownie sundays, and shared with the kids. By the time we got back to the house, the kids were on the sugar high of their little lives! They ran around the backyard chasing each other and yelling for me to follow. Carson decided that he was a bandit and that I couldn't catch him. he yelled "yippi oh, yippi eh! I'm a BANDIT!" and laughed as he ran around the bush in our backyard for the 150th time. Pictured here is Logan, being himself eating Carson's "gun" stick, which led to another chase, tackle and wrestling match. good times. but it may be a while before we get them more ice cream!

so generous!

I gave Carson and Logan both drinks of apple juice (which is a favorite in my house) and they each had straws in their glasses. I was holding Logan's so he wouldn't spill (yes, all the sippy cups were dirty again, my kids eat and drink A LOT) and Carson was holding his own. Suddenly Carson looked at Logan and did something strange.
"here you go little buddy." he said as he gave his own straw to Logan. Logan looked warily at Carson, and then started drinking from the offered straw. Wanting to reinforce this nice (albeit odd behavior) I said "that's nice of you Carson" and gave him Logan's straw. Carson took a tiny sip, and returned to his own cup. 10 seconds later the same thing happened again. Logan drinks some of Carson's juice, and Carson sips Logan's. the third time this happened I was kind of baffled, but thrilled that my three year old was sharing so well- that is until Carson slurped up the last drop of his juice, jumped in the air with fists raised victoriously and shouted "YESS! I WIN! I beat you Logan!!" Logan didn't seem to care, as he finished up his own drink as well and smiled.
maybe that idea of racing at the dinner table to have everyone finish at the same time wasn't as brilliant as I had first imagined... but there aren't too many 2 hour dinners for Carson any more either... we'll just have to weigh the good and the bad before implementing any more of my plans. Leave it up to my little ones to take competitive EATING to a whole new level!

bowling

We went bowling today with some teenagers from the church we go to and brought the kids along. We didn't have gutter guards, so it was difficult for Carson to get the ball down to the other end. Logan tried one- but the ball was bigger than he is, so it didn't work out so well. We were pleased with the kids success at the sport - none of the balls actually stopped before making it to the end which was a good thing... I didn't realize that something moving so slowly could make it that far though. fun times. The kids ended up with a grand score of 9, which made the teenagers pretty happy because their scores were mostly in the low 40s.

Quotes for the week

"oh good. We've got Possibilities." - Carson upon finding our Campbels soup in the cabinet.

"yeah, my eyes- they're like vinoculars." - Carson upon spotting a really far away plane in the sky. (binoculars.)

"maybe you could put on some makeup or something?" - Carson upon taking a closer look at mom in the morning.

"if a dinosaur attacked me I would just do karate on him cause I'm not scared." - Carson upon being reminded that he should be thankful for parents that take care of him and protect him... he didn't quite catch the idea of it though.

"suck it up - you're a WOMAN." - Carson upon seeing mommy say "ouch" when Logan hit her with a stick outside.... yeah, we have a lot of refining to do with Logan!

"excuse YOU" - Logan upon burping

"umm- juice? PLEASE?" - Logan, seemingly every minute of the day.

And that's all for this week... tune back in next week and I'm sure there will be many more silly quotes and views of life from the eyes of people a lot smaller than us.... sometimes its quite funny to take ourselves a lot less seriously and just enjoy the times that we have together!

POOR ME!

yeah... not surprisingly I caught what Logan had a few days ago, and I'm telling you it WASN'T fun!! I was up most of Thursday night sick with the flu, and of course, as is now normal for me, passing out at the worst times! So yesterday I went to the doctors to see what is going on and if there is something that I can do to prevent myself from fainting whenever I get sick. Apparently it is a nerve called the vegalvegal nerve that prompts people to pass out, and with my low blood pressure (its a healthy blood pressure, just on the low side) whenever I get sick I end up fainting on the floor. So after an EKG, and a hemoglobin count check, we found out that I'm fine... and the only thing that I was told that MAY help is for me to start drinking coffee and eating more salt... yeah I know- whaaatt? its been shown to work in some cases. So next thursday I am scheduled to go in and get some more tests done to make sure my heart is fine, I'm having a 24 hour harness on to monitor my heart activity, as well as having an eco-cardiogram performed... I'm sure everything is fine, but I'm still annoyed that there is nothing that can be done to prevent me from fainting on the floor every time I come down with the flu! Although, I do need to be thankful that there isn't something seriously wrong with me, I guess its all in our perspective of the situation isn't it?

Poor Logan...

Logan has been sick with a flu bug, and it is heartbreaking to watch him feel so terrible!!
Yesterday after a two hour nap, I finally woke Logan up, and discovered that he was so tired because he was feeling sick. from that moment on, it was one big cuddle for me until I put him to bed that night. He looked at me with his puppy eyes and said "I stuck" which I assume meant that he was feeling sick, and lounged on my lap for a few hours before falling asleep in my arms... I love watching babies sleep! I felt that this was quite a nice day even though Logan was sick, because he was so still and cuddly... and didn't destroy one thing that day! oh, the joys of having a brute of a 17 month old in the house!

Yogurt Raisins

once again, at the breakfast table, Carson and I were discussing the intricacies of life.
"what does raisins start with" he asked.
"R" I said.
"what does black raisins and yogurt raisins start with?" he asked. I answered him at first wondering about the yogurt raisins and then remembering that they are the coated ones that taste a little like white chocolate.
"when did you have yogurt raisins?" I asked him
"at Nana and Papa's house, Aunt Sarah bought them." he said, "and I ate all of them, a whole bunch. yeah, but they made me sick. they made me throw up. " to this he nodded his head with pursed lips reliving the pain of the experience. Then he sat straight up with a worried expression on his face and quickly added "It was the raisins that made me throw up- not the people. Not Nana and Papa and Sarah and Daniel. just the raisins. yeah." ... thanks for sharing, Carson... :)

gone fishin'

It was a gorgeous day on sunday, so we decided to go fishing. After searching out the nearest lakes online, we commenced on a car trip around our town, finding lakes, swamps, creeks, and finally, the perfect little fishing spot. On the other side of the street from where this picture was taken is a beautiful lake, but I forgot to bring my camera over there, and decided that this little creek was safer for the kids to play at anyways. Its amazing how entertained a little bit of water will keep two kids, they had an awesome time while Daddy and Asa were fishing. I was going to fish too, but its a little difficult with two children, so I ended up just watching them, and enjoyed my day just as much as they did!

just one at a time

My children have a favorite activity whenever near any body of water- including puddles. Tossing rocks into it and watching it splash. But this time we had some trouble teaching Logan how to do it properly. He started out like a champ, finding the biggest and best rocks and trying to beat Carson to it, but soon started grabbing entire handfuls of sand and rock mixed... and one minute into the adventure he had already nailed mom in the eye... sand doesn't go well in the eyes, as we all know, so mom wasn't so impressed. Carson took it upon himself at that moment in time to help mom remind Logan that "we only throw one rock at a time!" and he faithfully kept up his policing duties until the time we left. And, I am happy to report, Logan has learned well and did a dandy job of rock-tossing for the rest of the afternoon. Carson is now looking forward to the day that he'll be able to have his own fishing pole and catch a "big striped one, and a little one, and a really really big one" for grandma.
Oh, and Carson is pictured here, tossing "just one rock" that was aimed at the creek, and instead tagged Logan straight in the back... but he apologized profusely and Logan just laughed. I guess in some ways they do play extremely well together!!!

rubber boots don't really keep the water out...!

... at least not when you are knee deep in water.
Logan was so enthralled with the rocks and water, he would throw a rock out into the creek and then go to get it... by the time we were ready to leave and I took his little boots off there was about 2 cups of water in each one! he didn't seem to mind one bit though.

"when I grow up" by Carson

Another morning at the breakfast table discussing the intricacies of life with my talkative son, this time I was listening to every word. Over the weekend Carson had a great opportunity to spend time with his Grandma and Grandpa, and take a trip to New Jersey to see Aunt Rachael and Uncle Jeff, and together they all took a trip to NYC. (weird when your three year old son has seen more of the world than you have... !) So by the time I got to New Bedford to pick him up, Carson had had so much fun that he wanted to stay overnight just once more. So he ended up staying until Monday night. Now, four days away from your little one can seem like a lot, so I kind of expected him to feel the same way, but once again he cried to stay at Grandmas again. this time no one gave in, and he cried for about half an hour until we were alone in the car. Then he sang about 5 words to the song that was playing "Holy is the Lord God Almighty" okay, 6 words to be exact... and promptly fell asleep, and stayed asleep when I put him to bed after arriving home.
So by the time this morning came, I was excited to spend time with my oldest boy, and that's when we got on the topic of Cars. He found some stickers in a drawer that the doctor had given us the other day, and he proceeded to stick them on top of each other to save room on the paper on which they were sticking. They were pictures of race cars, and one of them was overlapping onto tigger's leg. "uhhoh," Carson said, "that sticker is on tigger's foot."
"Uhhoh." I repied, "I bet that hurts!"
"yeah, only its just a little car, and its just a sticker so I guess its okay." Carson said. My goodness, I think, have I already forgotten that his reasoning skills are more advanced than this? has it really only been four days? Then Carson says:
"little cars you can throw, but big cars crash and catch on fire. and if a big car gets on your foot it would hurt."
"yes" I said, noticing that Carson is reassuring me that my point was valid, "yes it would hurt. and it might even break your foot, so that's why we don't get too close."
"well," Carson thought for a second, "That's why I'm going to eat all of my food and GROW UP to be a big STRONG man, and then I can throw big cars and break THEM!"

how many times can kids run around the block?

Mom's house has a pathway around in a square "block" formation, and the kids had a ball running around it. I thought they would never stop! Here they are racing- Carson is about to leap an obstacle, and Logan is trying to push him into it I think... he's pretty cute but he is a bully!
oh, for all of you who haven't seen this house, its Mom and Dad's hallway in Sussex.

running and running...

and running

Our Trip to Sussex

we spent Easter at my parents house in Sussex, NB and had a great time while there. Thankfully we got in on saturday evening, because by the time sunday morning came, there was so much snow on the ground that we could barely get out of the driveway! Apparently snow tires really do work, because the car that had them on (dad's) made it to church and the one that didn't (ours) didn't even make it back in the driveway after a failed attempt to brave the streets. So, much to Carson's disappointment, we didn't make it to church- church is Carson's favorite place to be- instead we had a private bible study in mom's living room. We had a lot of fun while visiting Nana and Papa, my favorite part was getting to sleep in until 10 am, waking from time to time and hearing the kids play with their Nana. (she spoils me so much when I'm there... thanks mom! I LOVE it!)
I feel bad that we didn't get to see everyone that we had wanted to on our trip, but sometimes the days are just to short to fit everything in!! I guess that's why we've got phones and blog spots to keep in touch as well.

fish catching fun!

Carson had a great time at the creek, he was daring enough to get down by the water with daddy, but not quite daring enough to hold the fish when daddy asked him. Although as soon as we were in the car ready to leave he changed his mind and told me that he was sad that he didn't get to hold a fish. Carson changes his mind more often now, it is kind of funny to hear him say something you know that he hasn't thought about yet- like "no, I don't want to play with playdough," and then watch him cock his head to one side as he walks away as if to ask himself what he has just done... then three minutes later he reappears and says "Mommy, actually I do want to play with playdough, I changed my mind. is that okay?" funny little guy.