As promised....

Cowboy Carson sports his new boots and hat--fit for an honest-to-goodness cowboy.

"Howdy, Ma'am." Ridin' into the sunset. Or actually, ridin' in one spot watching Clifford the Big Red Dog.
This is Trent sharing some of his new iTunes with Carson.

Previous Post Exposition

Not a surprise. Surprise!
These gifts have been brought to you by:

coupons, future sisters-in-law and their sweet connections, and Black Friday discounts, without whom none of this would be possible.

"What I did on Christmas Weekend" Essay and photos by Jen T.

We are extremely blessed to have both sides of our family close enough to spend time with each group over the Christmas weekend. On Christmas Eve, we spent the afternoon and evening in Newberg with the Tompkins. Despite a lingering head cold, Carson seemed to enjoy himself and didn't need too much encouraging or coaching to start ripping into that wrapping paper! He was also pretty excited about his new stocking that Aunt Michelle made him.

On Christmas morning, we spent some time at our place with just the three of us. Trent and I got each other some gifts we'd been wanting--one was a surprise and one was not. Carson got some books, and a really special treat--an awesome cowboy hat and boots from Aunt Leota and Uncle Ron! Stay tuned for a boot-scootin' photo shoot in the next few days.

The rest of Christmas day we spent in Hillsboro with the Bunches. Carson again enjoyed the opening of gifts (here you see him pretty stoked about a new snow suit from Mike and Beck) and other than a few meltdowns, he seemed to have fun. It was a great, relaxing day for the rest of us.

And we even got a decent family pic!

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Christmas Card Rejects

Scary shadow lighting, Trent has robot eyes, and Carson's familiar arch-back hissy fit.

Each of us looks like there are about 100 other things we'd rather be doing.

Pick a flaw.

Escape artist.

Too cheesy.

Escape artist, take 2.

I really almost chose this one, but I wanted it to be a family picture, or at least see more of Carson's face and not just his big (but precious) head.

It's beginning to look a lot like you know what.

Carson met Santa today for the first time. The picture's not really that good, and if Carson's expression is a little less-than-enthused, it is probably because...

He wasn't exactly in the running for the "nice" list earlier today. But seriously, who could resist this?!?

Yes, I did crop Trent out. Sorry, Babe.

Dinner with Gma Jo and Gpa Roy

Well, it's obvious he had a good time.

And at least they had him pray for the meal, which is good...

Since they also are encouraging his drinking problem.

Let me see this thing...

Look! All kinds of small items I'm not supposed to touch!

Hmmm...how come all the ones down here are made of wood or plastic?

No glass?

Now these are small and come off easily. "Choking hazards" you say?

That's more like it.

I gotta call Grandma and tell her about it.

We came. We sawed. We conquered.

Well, actually, Trent sawed. I just tried to stay warm and took lots of lousy pictures with my broken camera. Carson just got carried around a lot. We are both pretty happy with our tree, though. As you can see (and as we probably have explained to you if you live near us), it looks as though our tree was actually a small branch left over from another larger tree that was cut for another family in Christmas past. The beauty of it was that it gave our tree about a three foot trunk area with no branches, making it easily accessible for the saw-er. So this is the "before." Stay tuned for the "after."

Everyone together now...

AAAAAAWWWWW! How sweet!

Yesterday we got to babysit Henry over at our place. Carson absolutely could not get enough hugs and kisses in. As you can see by that last picture, Henry did not share the same adoration, but patiently endured the barrage of intense, persistent lovin' from his big buddy. There are no pictures of the latter part of this lovefest, because Trent had to put the camera down and come help me when Carson decided he wanted to PICK HENRY UP himself. After grabbing behind each sholder and pulling towards him wasn't allowed, he bent down and grabbed Henry around the waist and was all set for the fireman hold when we quickly nixed that plan. There were several times we made comparisons to Lennie from"Of Mice and Men."

Hello out there!

JJ told me recently that he had spent some time with mutual friends from college that I haven't kept in touch with. A few of them said they have looked at this blog, since he has a link to it on his page. Every once in a while I hear about people whom I would never expect to be checking out this blog, which, let's face it, is really only pictures of my kid. Well, for all of you out there who might not have seen these pics on my brother's page, I didn't want you to miss our favorite fall pics. And I'd love to hear from you! I'm pretty sure you can comment under "anonymous."

It's pledge time again.

And not as in "of allegiance." Let me explain. But first, a disclaimer. This is a rambling thoughts entry, NOT an blog announcement of any kind. Or "banouncement" as Mike coined the phrase.

Back to the 'splaining. Every woman, upon announcing she is pregnant, soon learns that there is a mass sorority among us...the sorority sisters of motherhood. Of course, before having a child, we know that there is something special about motherhood, and we just haven't chosen to take that step yet. However, I felt this strange and intense vibe coming from other mothers once I was pregnant. It was like they were giving me a secret look or handshake to let me know it was time for me to pledge to their sorority. And crazy enough, in the middle of that first trimester......THE HAZING BEGINS. You see, at different stages of motherhood, I think the sorority has a different name. There at just a few weeks of gestation, the name of the club is Phi Nausea Puka. The more morning sickness, swollen ankles or vericose veins you have, the more "points" you have in the sorority.

However, nothing--NOTHING--compares to the competition of labor and delivery hazing. I heard so many stories of horror from my new "sisters" that I wondered if there was a contest for worst labor that I didn't know about. Once I was there in the hospital room, I could tell I was pledging for a new level of the sorority. Fortunately for my reputation in the new club, I had a long labor and a delivery that I wasn't necessarily easy. And afterwards I could relate a little bit more to the story tellers. Because no matter how difficult the hazing is, the rewards of that particular hazing leave you with an absolute miracle in your arms and your heart lost forever, and you remember every second of it.

The first few weeks and months of motherhood are also fairly infamous in the motherhood sorority. That house is definitely called Alpha Smelta Poopi and the brother fraternity of Gama Lacka Sleepa. There are so many initiation rights during that first year, it's hard to keep track. (But the smart sisters do keep track, so they can recite to their future pledges what they had to go through--you know, to ENCOURAGE them, not to scare them.)

ANYWAY, this week I felt I was having another pledge moment. Carson has entered into toddlerland and had some tantrums to prove it. Mealtime has become a battle, when he will whine and point for five minutes while I prepare something for him, and the moment I set it on his tray or try to give it to him he throws it to the ground or purses his lips and shakes his head violently. Then he immediately whines and signs that he wants something to eat. Aaaagh! But my hazing points came the other morning. I got puked on for the first time. Oh, I've been SPIT UPed on, but this was honest to goodness vomit. I froze for a second, and then had to laugh. Don't worry, Carson wasn't really that ill. Actually, he had a coughing attack that I think made him gag a little. Too much info? Sorry. What can I say? It's a sisterhood characteristic.

Happy Thanksgiving

Truly, the list of things I'm thankful for is too long to even begin. Aside from health and jobs, the rest of the list is pretty much people, and probably mostly you who are reading this. God is good.

Sad Little Dalmation

Photo by Uncle Mike.

Scabbyhead returns and the climbing continues...

In case you were wondering...new scab, same story. Carson took a tumble on the concrete outside. :(

Slow down!

When I look at this picture, the first thing I notice is his cute outfit--thanks, Aunt Tara. But then I see that he looks like such a little boy...not a baby. Yikes. When did that happen?

C-dog is obsessed with buttons of all shape and size--and the pot from the ricecooker. He uses it to stand in, put on his head (or dad's head) or mostly to stand ON to get on top of the coffee table.

Two words: heart melting.