Lemon Juice

A couple years ago, Jeff and I took a parenting class. The man who was the teacher supports spanking. He suggests using an object, like a wooden spoon, rather than your hand. It serves as a visual cue and you don't use the same hand to love and punish. Carson has never actually been spanked, but he is scared to death of the wooden spoon. All it took was demonstrating on a chair what it means to be spanked, and he knows he never wants one. He will immediately shape up.
This week, my sister's family in town. On Friday Ann Bennett had a sour mouth so she got a squirt of lemon juice. Carson was watching as this happened. Since he was being super whinny and ugly, I told him he could get it too. He has now added lemon juice to his crying. He would not even come close to Rene' for a few minutes because he was afraid she would squirt lemon juice at him too. On the way home that night, Carson brought the lemon juice up again. I told him he would only get it if he had an ugly mouth. Then I told him we would have to buy some lemon juice at the store. At that point he told me "I think there is a store that doesn't have lemon juice." The conversation continued for a moment talking about Publix selling food not juice. It was very cute. Now, it appears we have 2 threats for getting Carson to cooperate.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We have had so much going on that I want to tell you about, but for now just a few photos. ( I was going to tell you I didn't take many, but I had 63 new photos.)

Carson checking out Woody from Santa.
Macie with her doll (the first of 3) and stroller from Santa. She is also holding her Cinderella phone-she loves it!

Macie with her singing vacuum.

Carson opening his Thomas computer from Grandma and Poppy.
Carson and Macie playing with Noah's ark, Carson's gift to Macie

The kids really had a fun time. Once I format pictures, I will post Macie walking around with her new purse. I have to find sometime to go through all of the toys and get rid of or hide some for a while. They are certainly blessed with many people who love to spoil them.

Picture Post

Finally some pictures. I don't have long because Macie should be up soon (it is 8:13), and I will have to feed her. But, in the few minutes I have, I thought I would share a few photos.

Our Christmas Card Photo














Macie at the sledding hill-asleep!














Carson skiing on the little hill














Carson and Ann Bennett with Mic

Still not photos

I still have not found time to deal with my pictures, so you will have to wait a couple more days. I have a couple videos on my camera so it will take a bit to deal with them, and I have not had the energy or time.
I thought I would shard our adventures last night. Carson stayed up to watch Frosty the Snowman. He had taken a nap, but he was tired when it was over. He walked up the stairs and hit the gate at the top of the stairs. He. of course, went crazy and his screaming woke Macie up. Thankfully she went back to sleep quickly. He went into the bathroom to brush his teeth-still crying. He was upset and dropped his blue bear in the sink. Jeff picked it up and threw it on the floor. The combination got Carson even more upset. I finally get him to bed and leave his room. About 5 minutes later, he comes out to go potty. Jeff takes him to the hall bathroom (right next to Macie's room). A few seconds later I hear this awful screaming coming from Carson. He had dropped blue bear in the toilet. (A long time ago he dropped a paci in the toilet too) His screaming woke up Macie. So, Carson went back to bed screaming because he did not have blue bear. Jeff set off to clean and dry blue bear (with the hair dryer). Macie kept crying this time. So, I ended up getting her up and rocking her. She fell asleep but woke up when I put her back down. She the yelled for about 45 minutes before she finally fell asleep. Finally blue bear was dry so Carson went to sleep.
The only good thing about the whole thing is Macie is still sleeping at 8 am!

We are home again

We left Tuesday for a trip to Colorado. My dad has a house in Brekenridge, so we try to go out once a year to ski. Most of the time my sister comes out at the same time. We missed last year since Macie was born in January and we all went to Disney in October. We had a good time, but it is hard traveling with small children. Macie did not sleep well at all. It seems like every time we have a baby out there, they sleep poorly. I don't know if it is the altitude or being away from home.
Carson took private ski lessons with my niece Ann Bennett. They both did well, but Carson could only handle a short time of skiing. They actually went up on the big lift (or swing as they called it) and skied down a regular slope. Carson was a little scared and started crying I want my mommy (or blue bear). He ended up going home for a nap, but Ann Bennett skied with us a couple times (she is almost 6). I have a couple pictures I will post in a few days. They had a great instructor so if you are headed to ski, let me know and I will give you his name.
We took the kids sledding the first day. Carson did not like the snow in his face, but liked sledding with mommy. I kept my hand in front of his face to keep the snow out. Macie like it too, but we were a little more cautious with her. She took a little nap in the sled.
I will post more later since this is already long. I will also try to get some pictures up.

Walking

I thought you might enjoy a video of Macie walking. She is still crawling some, but she walks a good bit. If she has goal, she walks. If she is just trying to get into trouble, she crawls!

Happy 40th Birthday to my sister

This is Rene', Macie and me on the day of Macie's dedication in April. Today is her 40th birthday. In honor of her birthday I thought I would make a list of 40 things I love about my sister. (These certainly are not in any particular order)
1. She was one of the first people I met in the world.
2. She is the only person in this world who really knows where I come from and how it has made me who I am today.
3. Growing up, she was usually the one to get in trouble because she was the oldest. I don't ever remember her complaining about this either.
4. I never had to make a decision about who would be my matron on honor. I had several close friends so it sure made my life easier.
5. I can call her at any time and for any reason.
6. She came and stayed with me the weekend after Macie was born even though she lives 7 hours away and had just been here 3 weeks earlier for Christmas.
7. Just after Ann Bennett was born, she got on a plane with a tiny baby to come to my wedding shower.
8. She was in my wedding just 3 months after having a baby.
9. She has given me a wonderful chance to be an aunt to my niece and nephew.
10. She let me spoil her kids before I was married and had kids of my own.
11. She loves my kids as much as I love hers.
12. She taught me that you can get into trouble with credit cards in college.
13. She taught me that getting out of college without loans could be a good thing.
14. She allowed me to come visit at the drop of a hat during my single days.
15. She is paving the way for raising a boy and a girl.
16. She is learning all about having kids in school so I can learn from her.
17. She has given me enough hand me downs to cloth my children for most of their lives.
18. She has taught me that when you stay at home with your kids, you don't have to say yes every time someone asks for help.
19. She was there when we had to separate the Christmas ornaments.
20. When I was starting to question Santa, she gave the right answers so I could believe at least one more year.
21. She felt bad when she hit me over the head with the telephone or spayed perfume all over my room in stupid childhood fights.
22. She allowed me to tag along with her friends as we started to get older.
23. She understands why it is important to watch Days of Our Lives on Christmas eve even if you don't have a clue what is really going on in the show.
24. She can struggle along with me as we come up with ideas for Christmas presents for our family.
25. I know if anything happens to me while my kids are young (or anytime) she will give them lots of love to make up for it.
26. We have many memories of skiing through the years.
27. She still goes skiing with us even though it can be a pain to get together.
28. Her family helped us have a wonderful trip to Disney last fall.
29. She came and spent a week with Carson when I had to go back to work for a few weeks before summer.
30. We can talk for hours or sit in silence without any problem.
31. She has taken on Nita's tradition of making peanut butter balls at Christmas time.
32. We always have a good time when our families are together.
33. She has sacrificed being home for Christmas with her kids to come spend it with us.
34. She tells me I need to let things go when I really need to let things go.
35. She is a woman of faith and I know we will get to spend eternity together.
36. If I needed her she would rearrange her life to be here.
37. The seven hours drive between us hasn't drawn us apart. I wish we lived in the same town or even several hours closer, but I know our relationship is still strong.
38. She makes me want to have a 3rd child so Macie has a chance at having a sister.
39. She will work to help Macie and Ann Bennett have a bond that is like sisters.
40. I am blessed to have her as my friend and not just my sister.

Happy Birthday Rene'. I wish I could have been there, but we will do something when I see you next week.

Santa

We finally had some success with Santa! Carson's first Christmas, we did not make it to meet Santa. When he was one, we went to the Lake Lanier lights and tried to get pictures with Santa, but Carson would only see Santa if Jeff and I were in the picture with him. Last year at breakfast with Santa he really didn't want to see him, and the line was so long, I didn't make him. This year we got the picture and I even got him to smile (his fake smile) for me. I could see he was a little anxious while we were waiting, but he walked up and climbed in his lap. Macie cried at first, but then she liked to look up at him. Carson wrote a letter to tell Santa he wants Mack and Woody. He also told him that Macie wants a dolly and stroller. If Santa's helper who is visiting Disney this week comes through, all their wishes will come true! Enjoy the pictures.

Before we left for school.



Waiting in line.Showing Santa my list

Busy, Busy Busy, Busy

I thought I would post a couple more pictures from Orlando. The first is Jake and Macie and then All the kids with Pluto. Carson was much happier to meet him this year.
As you can tell by my title, I have been rather busy since we got home. We had a baby shower here on Sunday, so I had to get my house decorated and cleaned in just a few days. Thanks to my mom coming and working for 10 hours Saturday, it looked great. I am trying to keep it this way, so I have not had time to sit down at the computer. I have lots of blogs to read, so if I have not signed yours in awhile, I will soon.
The shower was for my dear friend Leslie. She is having twins in February or March. I was more than excited to host a shower for her. We have prayed many years for these babies so I know they have to be 2 very special people. I am sure if you check out Amy's sight she has done a great job of telling you about it. I have not looked to see though!
I tried pulling out the old digital camera, but after a few pictures, I remember why I wanted a new one 2 years ago. It was so slow, I could not get pictures of the kids. So, tonight I went to Wolf Camera and bought the updated version of my broken camera. Who knew that the camera store would sell it for the same price as all the other places. Tomorrow is breakfast with Santa so I am sure I will get lots of pictures to share.
Well, I gotta run clean the kitchen and pick up all the toys scattered around.