Still cut off from the world...

We are still without a computer and internet, so I'm posting this from my brother's place. I'm choosing a few of his pictures too, even though they are pretty much the same as my last post. These are from Christmas Eve, and they are just too cute! This will have to hold you over until Dell comes and bails us out. More posts coming soon!

Old Fashioned Christmas

And by that, I mean that we have been sans computer for about 2 days. It's amazing how accustomed we have become to getting online several times a day, and how much we miss it! The other day, Trent was working online, while I was burning a CD, and Carson flipped the switch on the powercord. Everything turned off, and after "someone" went into a time-out, all the electric devices turned back on...except the computer itself. Just trust me...I know it defies logic, but we tried all kinds of trouble-shooting, and Trent spent an hour online with Dell. The GOOD news is they are going to send someone to our house to replace something about the power source inside the computer, and it's covered under our warranty! The bad news is that's not happening for several more days. So, this post will have to hold you over for a while. :)

Here are some pics of when Carson met Jack! He was quite enamored. In fact, when we told Carson it was time to go bye-bye, he tightened his grip on his little cousin and said "NO!" We are headed up to see Jack in about 30 minutes, and we can't wait!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Baby Jack is HERE!

The wait was long for us, and I know it was longer for Becky and Mike, but finally their healthy, beautiful son was in their arms and not in her tummy. His full name is John Hayes, but they decided he will be called Jack, so Baby Jack it is. There will be many blog posts (Eric and Sarah already beat me to it!) of his birthday, and I think we all know that's just the beginning. For about 10 minutes when the family first crowded into the room, this kid had more flash bulbs on him than Britney Spears. He is absolutely GORGEOUS! Oh, and also...10 lbs 5 oz! HELLO!?!? Good call on the c-section, doc. 20.5 inches long, dark hair and long, dark eye-lashes.Becky is such a trooper! And gracious...she let all of us come in at the same time to meet him and hug and cry with her. I remember the feeling when my best friends started having babies. It was unreal. Then when other best friends had babies that I'm around all the time and they feel like my real nephews. But nothing could prepare me for the overwhelming emotion of seeing my little brother become a father! It was totally amazing. I must have annoyed people saying over and over: Mike is a Dad! That boy is Mike's! I just grin thinking about what a wonderful daddy he is going to be, and his glowing joy is just contagious!
Three Bunch generations! Way to carry on the family name, Jack.

Bowling Boy

A few weeks ago, Aunt Michelle invited Carson and I to join her at her company work party, since they were allowed to bring guests and she had been told the kids get a present. Since Carson is a fan of presents, we accepted the invitation. Although, in all honesty, I wondered how much fun it would really be. It was going to be in a bowling alley and Carson had never been, so I figured it would be too noisy and crowded for him.

Fast forward to Friday afternoon. We got there a little early and were able to claim the last lane over in the corner, and hardly anyone was there yet. I didn't realize this was going to be a HUGE party! The entire alley was reserved. We were so early we decided to let Carson be the only bowler for an entire game so he could practice. We showed him how and he warmed up quickly to the idea, although he usually needed a little extra help so the ball didn't stop 10 feet down the lane. He did accidentally cross that line that begins the lane, where it gets REALLY slippery, and he fell back and bumped his head a bit. That made him shy away from bowling himself, but he still cheered for us.

We had so much fun! Plus..there was TONS of free Baja Fresh, Pizza, video games, drinks...and each kid gets a present from Santa Claus! I've only ever worked for churches and non-profits, so I'm used to Christmas parties with a potluck dessert and a white-elephant gift exchange, so this was quite the luxury.

He loved waiting for the ball to come back up through the little machine. Also, that little fan at the back of the ball holder to dry your sweaty hands? (I'm assuming that's what it's for.) Lots of time spent with his face getting air blown on it.

We had to let other people bowl for us because we spent so much of the party sitting at these racecar video games. Since the games were all free, one of us had to actually push the gas pedal for him, or the car wouldn't move. Usually we just pretend he's playing and don't put any money in, and the car looks like it's going!

Here's Carson and Ronald McDonald. Oh wait. That's me. We both were wearing shoes about 2 sizes too big.

A Christmas Blognouncement

Knowledge is Power

And power is dangerous! It's fascinating to see how quickly Carson is learning about the computer. He has seen us working with it his whole life, and since the time he was an infant, he would sit with us and be mesmerized by pictures. His MO for most of his toddlerhood has been "command navigation," which consisted of: I want pictures! I wanna see "E" or "Enry." (His friends on other blogs.) I wanna see ME! I wanna see puppies! I want horses! (You Tube has opened Pandora's box for us.) Well, just in the last few weeks, Carson has begun learning about the mouse and the curser and how they work together. In fact, he's gotten so good, that he can scroll down an entire blog page with the little wheel on the middle of the mouse. He can even stop when he sees a video and play it for himself. He doesn't know how to change the page, though. This is great for me, because now I can walk away and he'll play contentedly with the computer for a few minutes.

Last night, I set this blog up for him on a page with some old videos and left the room to actually have an adult conversation with Trent. Soon, Carson came in with two full-page, color print-outs of the picture of me from my blogger profile! WHAT?!?!? "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" We weren't mad, just amused, suprised and concerned of what this could mean in the future! Then we found two more print-outs in the computer room, with the screen flashing that we were out of paper...or else there would be more enlarged photos of 4 year old me waving to the camera. Somehow, he had clicked on the ID photo, then figured out the print command. I still do not know how he did it, or how many times he told it to print. So much for setting up the computer and leaving the room. Soon he'll be ordering Elmo toys on eBay without me knowing. As you can see, he was pretty proud of his new discovery. And I'm thinking I need a new profile photo.

Long Live NEON!

BTW, that pleated shorts, flourescent loving kid is going to become a daddy any day now! Circa 1990.

YES, it's just writing, but then a video.

A couple days ago I was blog hopping and stopped by one of Mike's blogfriends. I don't want to link to her page, because that might be creepy since she doesn't even know me. But she seemed like a cool girl/mommy whom I'd be friends with. (In fact, since she mentioned Roadhouse and Konditori, I think we live in the same town.) Anywhoo, I'm stealing a post idea I saw on her blog. Feel free to respond with your own answers. I'm hoping to post Trent's answers soon. :) Sorry about #8, Mom.

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Cody Corolla

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Heath Macademia

3.YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) J-Tom

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Black Tiger

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Tomje

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The") The Pink DC

7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Robert Quint

8. STRIPPER NAME : ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Abercrombie Grapefruit

9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Jo Laverne (seriously)

And for those of you who hop to the next blog if there are only words, here's a video. I will explain that Carson had an eventful day at his Grandma Tompkins--that's Mimi, who will be referred to in the clip. She got him a fish, whom he is sure is Nemo, even though they don't look that much alike, and he got a bonk on his head, which is par for the course with this guy. Please give no mind to the condition of the water in the bowl. I promise Nemo will get a cleaner home soon. I keep trying to sneak up on Carson and film him talking to Nemo, because it's really cute. He sings Happy Birthday to the fish quite a bit. When I got the camera out, he said "Smile, Nemo!" Also, at the end of the clip, he says "Bye Camera!"

Little Rascals

I'm the first to guiltily admit that sometimes I let Carson watch too much TV. We've been really working on this lately... trying to keep the TV OFF for most of the day, which is hard for me, because I, myself, am kind of a TV junkie. But last week, we stumbled on an old VHS movie that I somehow inherited from my youth. It is a remake of the Little Rascals made in the early 90's. I didn't think Carson would follow it, since he rarely sits through more than 10 minutes of Sesame Street (unless Elmo is on), but he LOVES THIS MOVIE! He is obsessed with it! We've watched part or all of the movie for about 4 days in a row, and I have a hard time saying no.

The good things: this is one of the only times Carson will snuggle up in my lap and he talks about the things in the movie. Also, it's slightly more entertaining to ME than Sesame St. (At least the first time or two it was.) The bad part: the characters say words that we don't say in front of Carson. Not cussing, but things like "butt," or "sucks" or "you're ugly" kind of thing. In fact, yesterday (when the TV had been OFF for several hours, thank you very much) I heard him saying a line from the movie. I think it's what Spanky says when Alfalfa is professing his undying love for Darla. I heard Carson saying to himself: "I'm not hearing this! I'm not hearing this!" I stiffled my giggles, because I did not want to encourage it. He wasn't using it in context (ie: to his mother), thankfully, but it was a reminder/slap in the face that he IS digesting and taking in what he sees and hears!

Here's a few of my favorite lines from the movie:

Alfalfa: Darla and I are singing a DUET. BOTH of us. TOGETHER.

Waldo: How redundant.

Stymie, leading the club pledge: I... Stymie... Member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Haters Club... Do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to. And especially: never fall in love, and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours - or until I scream bloody murder.

Banker: What's your account number?

Spanky: Seven.

Banker: Seven?!

Froggy (in a whisper): Try eight!

Alfalfa to Spanky in a moment of reconciliation: I'm sorry Spank, but I like girls. And it might even get worse as I get older!

Child's Play

These pics are courtesy of Gma Jo, who watches Carson on Mondays. She was getting out her Christmas decor and let Carson play with the Nativity scene. Evidently, he was quite enthralled.

She said he could see that she was taking pictures, so he would pull out certain figurines and tell her to take their picture.Or he would set them up on the chair for a posed pic.
Carson likes Donkeys ever since we saw a Wiggles song that does hand motions above the head for the donkey's ears, and you sing "Hee-haw, hee-haw." I love the concentration on his face in this one. Also, I don't know if you can tell, but he has taken the baby Jesus and put him in Mary's arms, so he's holding both mother and child.

And unfortunately, a pig has moved into the manger, with a little cow, a turkey, ABC blocks and Baby Jesus all off to the side as he decides who goes where.

So, you're SAYING we're not adopted?

I couldn't find the perfect comparison pics, and I have no doubt that Blogger will never let me get the spacing right for a side-by-side shot, but I think you can see the resemblance. The pic of Mom is around her freshman year of college. Dad is his sophomore year of high school. (I think I got those ages right.)

Baby Blues

I was just playing around yesterday, taking some pics of Carson while he watched his standby, Clifford, and loved how blue his eyes looked--even if his expressions weren't exactly kodak moments.
I know we'll take some grief for this, but what is interesting about this picture is, when Trent and I both looked at it the first time, each of us said separately: "Wow! He looks like Chad!" Now, honestly, that does NOT have to do with the finger in the nose. Here's a picture of Uncle Chad and Aunt Jess for those of you who don't know them or don't see them often.

Just go with it.

This morning as I was rushing around getting ready to leave for Bible study, I realized Carson had been silent for too long. I was all done getting myself ready, and just needed to get him dressed, then we were out the door. Except that he had scooped a generous handful of "daddy's hair" (aka: hair pomade) onto his scalp, and it was a big, greasy mess. My gut reaction was "grrrr!" and wanting to give him a bath to clean it up, but there was no time. So, I tussled it up and grabbed the camera. I'm sorry all these pics of C-dog are so blurry, but he will NOT back away from the camera! What you can't see is this is the only shot of about 4 where he is NOT trying to grab the lense.

Also, yesterday at Gma Tompkins' house, he got to help make and decorate sugar cookies! This is him making the agonizing decision after dinner of which one he wants to share. He stared at these four cookies for a good 2 minutes before deciding...and coughing on all of them, which is a great diet technique for the adults. "Ooooookay. Not really craving those cookies anymore."

Really...I'm still alive.

I've been chastised for not keeping up with my usual blogginess. Sorry about that. And at least 2 people (my husband included) have confessed that they open the page with some disappointment when they see "just words" and no pictures, so here's a post to appease you illiterates. ;)

This is just a random, slightly out-of-focus pic of Carson yesterday, mugging as usual. In fact, this is the furthest I could get him away from the camera. For some reason the angle of the shot or the slightly oversized sweater makes him look like he has Popeye shoulders and skinny little waist, but I think it's just an optical illusion. Carson has been pretty sick this last week. I've never seen him lose his appetite like this before. He hardly ate solid foods for about 5 days--just a bite or two here and there. We were force-feeding him smoothies and Carnation instant breakfast. I won't get into great detail, but another symptom was explosive diarrhea for several days. In fact, he can now say "I have diarrhea!" And after "I love you" isn't that a phrase you want to hear most?! Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and he was sitting at the table drinking my water and looking at a toy catalog! I'm not making this up! I told him to point to what he wanted.

The drum set. Of course. I'd consider it, but not with "Shrek" on it, please. I'm averse to character-covered toys. Scarred by my JEM paraphanalia from the late 80's, I think.

Also, I just wanted to point out that after a couple years of having most of my best buds from Oregon with a blog, three of my best friends from college have recently joined the cult, er, club of blogging, which I love! Check out the links on the right for Templetons, Lyons and Wooldridges. I love being able to see pics of their families since we are not together nearly enough. Now you all can blog-spy on them too.

Perspective

This afternoon I had the rare opportunity to get groceries by myself. I even drove out of my way to WalMart to get some good prices. I carefully picked out all the stuff I need to make my portion of Thanksgiving dinners this weekend and waited in long lines of others doing the same thing. Then I looked in my purse and realized...I didn't have my wallet. I was so many things, but the two major emotions were embarrassment and frustration at the wasted time and effort. I was sure I had grabbed my wallet! Then as I made the walk of shame out of the store, leaving frustrated clerks behind, I had a thought: maybe my wallet was stolen. I hadn't been super careful, and I my purse is one of those pick-pocket's dreams: just a big open hole at the top, with my wallet peeking through. So, all the way home I panicked about who I should call first, how much cash was in there? What if they charge up videos on my Blockbuster account? When I got home and saw my wallet on the table, I was so relieved that my wallet wasn't stolen that I didn't care so much about the wasted afternoon.

Kind of like when I got a tattoo in college, I thought I should tell my parents that I was pregnant and going to Vegas to elope. Then in their mute stupor, I would say: Just kidding! I only got a tattoo! No big deal, right?!

When did November come?

BTW, here is a pic of the door after we painted it. I don't know if you can tell the difference as much, but we can!

Also, this was the first day Carson showed a strong preference (and if you are familiar with toddlers, you know that by "strong preference" I mean "if he didn't get his way my life would be miserable and/or the end of the world would be imminent") regarding his clothes. I had already picked out the top portion, and he demanded his "Beeber pants."

No Really! Helmets look cool!

A few weeks ago we took Carson out in our new bike-trailer (is there a better name for it?) that he got for his birthday from Gma and Gpa Tompkins. Of course we also had to get him a helmet, which he was not too sure about. (Can you blame him?) Of course, it didn't help that both mommy and daddy pinched his skin the first time they clicked the chin strap. :(

I decided that biking together (or should I say bicycling? Do I really need to clarify that we were not on Harleys wearing leather?) is good family exercise. The best option, really, at this point. Carson is no longer content to sit in a stroller, which is the only way we can walk fast enough for me to get my heart rate up at all. (Although he declared about 15 minutes into the ride that he was "all done," he still lasted much longer than in a stroller.) And what I love about riding on a bike, as oppose to when I tried my "learn to be a runner" club last spring, is that I am not reminded with each step that I have given birth to a child and therefore need to concentrate continually on not wetting my pants. Too much info? Sorry. Most of the mommy readers will understand.

My favorite part about us riding together is that even with an older bike AND a trailer attached, Trent still rides much faster that I do. This fact was not lost on Carson, who kept yelling back to me: "Come ON, Mommy! Keep going!"

"I'm COMING, Carson! Tell your Daddy, Lance Armstrong, to slow down a bit!"

Filler Post

I've been slacking off on taking pictures, which is kind of my bread and butter for this blog. So, I'll try to fill you in on some things Carson has been saying lately. I find that adults trying mimic their toddler's language in person is somewhat grating. I hope that just typing it out isn't as annoying to you. If so, you might want to stop reading now.

"I want my Beebers ______________." Coming from a family of OSU fans, he already has lots of Beaver goodies. The most common things he asks for are his Beeber pants or Beeber plate.

"I don't yike that!" This was originally started by Trent when they wrestled, to let Carson know when some action (or a particular place on the body) was off-limits. Well, instead of being the "safe" word in the midst of rough-housing, C just seems to holler it out quite a bit. I think he figures it will give him the edge over his daddy, since technically, Daddy is supposed to stop whatever he's doing if Carson says that, then Carson can continue his slick wrestling moves.

"I watch Tipperd." This is in the morning before we turn on Clifford.

"Play bitball!" That's football.

"I need MY poon." (spoon)

"It's too youd!" When he accidentally turns up his little stereo in his room.

There's more, but I can't think of them right now. It's so fun to hear his language just take off. More to come, I'm sure!

News Flash

I was just finishing the previous post when something newsworthy (or blogworthy) happened. Carson, dressed only in a diaper, came to me slowly with his arm out, and there was SOMETHING on his finger. "Oh, Lord. Please let that be part of a dead worm. Or the world's biggest booger. Or melted chocolate from the leftover halloween candy." I gently grabbed his wrist to prevent IT from touching anything, especially me, and held it closer to my nose. Nope.

It was none of those things.

Slow News Day

This is a family shot at the church where we grew up, where my dad was a pastor. Sweet beard, Dad. Aren't we so cute?! And so 80's! I loved that dress.

It's funny to think of my mom as a mom of YOUNG kids! She's probably only about 32 in this picture...barely older than I am now! Does she look tired? I mean, Mike was not a small toddler. As Carson would say: "He's hebby."

My dad pointed out to me something I wouldn't have noticed about this picture. When it was taken, my dad was twisting my brother's finger to make him squirm, so Mike started pinching Dad's arm (or pulling arm-hair--not sure which.) Always the goofs. And it seems I'm looking over disapprovingly, as a big sis should.

I think the time and event of this pic is self-explanatory. What is weird is that it already seems dated. This will probably make people older than me roll your eyes, but I look at this pic and think: we look so young!

Cowboy Carson

We had quite a day yesterday! After Bible study, we had lunch at Gma Jo-Jo's house, then drove to Beaverton to meet up with Ethan and Nathan and their mamas. Then we stopped by BCC to say hi to some of my old coworkers, and went to Uncle Mike's and Aunt Becky's for dinner, where C-dog scarfed up Becky's spaghetti. THEN, for the culminating event, we went to the harvest party at BCC, where the boys were totally over-stimulated by baloons, lights, people, noises (including fire alarms and one total evacuation), food, big screens and more. Carson is getting to the point where this interests him, and he likes to walk around and see more, even though he doesn't have a clue what is going on. Here's some pics of the evening:

A dragon, acowboy and a bear sat on a hay bale...sounds like the beginning of a bad joke!

Aunt Becky helping the cowboy button his vest. This vest was TRENT's when he was a little boy! If I have the story right (which is not always the case) his grandparents got it for him...in Mexico? I think? Anyway, Trent started calling it the family heirloom vest.
Carson wanted popcorn and didn't ask for candy!

These are some pics Mike took before dinner. Hello, scrapbook!