Park Pics

Here are some more pics from last week on C-dog's 18 month b-day. We went to the park with Auntie M (ha! Wizard of Oz, anyone) and Auntie T.

Helper

When there is a job at hand, Carson is not satisfied until he is IN IT. If the dishes are being taken out of the dishwasher, he literally tries to crawl in the dishwasher. If I am cleaning a spot off the floor, he wants to sit between me and the spot. If a blog post is being typed, Carson is on my lap trying to type as well (which is why this has taken about 20 minutes to post). These pics are a perfect example of his hands-on "helping" last weekend in the backyard.

Misc.

Haloooooo, down there! Happy St. Patty's day!
Self-entertainment with non-dangerous items. One of the happiest moments of my career as a mother.
"I can stretch too, Dad!"
Oi. Aren't you a little helper-man.
Um, Carson, those are mommy's.

18 Months Old

Carson is 18 months old today, as you smarter folks picked up from the title of this post. I wanted to capture on film the energy, curiosity, passion, intensity, stubbornness, humor and love that he has and exhibits every day. But instead, I got a bunch of pictures of him with a stick. However, some of them do hint towards a few of those descriptive nouns. I am continually amazed with how God programs each of us with such unique traits and tendencies, and how someone so young can be so full of personality. We are incredibly blessed, and totally in love with this little man. Ironically, I'm writing this as we've had kind of a long day. (Read: Carson woke up several times in the night, then for good at 5:30am, then threw several full-body tantrums, refusing to eat any foods other than rice cakes and grape juice.) But even in those moments when he makes me so mad I either want to scream, cry or walk out the door, my love for him (and God's grace) takes over. But the next person to ask when we're going to have "another one" is going to get hit with this stick. At 5:30 am.

Look out bad guys. Here I come.

Huh. I can leave a drag mark in the gravel. Cool.
And I can THROW it! Yeah!
This is the first and last time I'm smiling for you, lady.
Let me sit here and ponder all the destruction I can cause with three feet of wood.

Ninja in training.

Hi-YA!
I was just kidding, guys! I'm really sweet.
Walk away quickly. She looks like she's getting ready to take the stick away.

Got some hairs cut.

It's only been 18 months (today!) and already it's time to cut Carson's hair! ;) And even then, there were only a few that got the trim. Baldie had a few really long hairs wisping over his ears that needed to go. I mean, we're talking 4-5 inches long on an otherwise bare landscape. The whole escapade took about 30 seconds. And another "first" is gone!

Visitors

We had two auntie visitors this week! Tara and Michelle both came down, and I will just go ahead and admit they came to see Carson. My camera battery was still low when Michelle came, so sorry, Mich, these pics are all from Tara's visit. Riley came too and Carson was determined to get him to use the doggy door that goes unopened most of the time. "See, Riley? You go through like this."
Carson loves his mac and cheese, just like Aunt Tara.
In a classic SMITH move (thanks a lot, Dan) Tara gets Carson to touch his head with his mac and cheese hands, smearing the yummy cheese all through his hair--or at least, what hair he has.
And look at these WAY COOL shoes that Carson got! Tara swears that Carson picked them out himself, so she just HAD to buy them for him. The timing was good, b/c he only has 2 pairs of shoes that fit him right now!

Answer:
50 hours and 9 minutes.

Question:
How long did it take Carson to break my brand new sunglasses?


Soon you will all see my new shades that were purchased this afternoon at the Dollar Tree. Among the adjectives to describe them, "flattering" and "stylish" do NOT come to mind.

Munchkin Mania

Oh yeah. We put him to work.

You may not believe, me, but there was nothing on the TV. He was pretending.
And I don't think any of us would be suprised that pretend shows are actually quite boring."Writer's block."

Ahhhh! The good life. PB & J and a fire.I love this shot of Carson running full force toward Grandpa Roy and the camera.
Maybe Carson will transcend his parents dislike of animals.

Black Butte Exposition

For those of you who aren't from around here, Black Butte is a kind of touristy ranch in central Oregon. I won't give a lot of details, because I'll probably get them wrong, but there are lots of houses and condos there, and many of them can be rented out. They have a golf course, pool, etc. The ranch is named after this little mountain/hill below, called Black Butte. Renting the places is pretty pricey, but we have lucked out in that the family of one of my mom's former students liked her so much when she taught their son that they have "gifted" us a weekend there for a few years. It's a great time to relax, eat, watch movies, eat, take walks, eat, etc.Awwww. Aren't they cute?One of my favorite parts: the fire. Above the fireplace you can see our makeshift big screen TV made with a sheet, a laptop with a DVD player, Mike's speakers and a borrowed projector.
A rare moment when Carson is controlling his urges and not pressing all those tempting buttons.Awwwww. Aren't they cute?




Also check out this picture of Trent that Mike took last weekend.

We saw a ghost at Black Butte.

Seriously. Check this out.

More backyard fun time

The sun was out today, and it's been so long since we had a semi-warm day, that I totally forgot to put sunblock on Carson's pale little head, face, neck and ears. So, for a quick fix, I decided to give him a hat to wear, hoping that he would uncharacteristically keep it on. It was a mixed result: he would wear it for a while, take it off, then want to put it back on himself. I love his expression on this first pic!