Carter's Bye-bye Pipe Day! March 28, 2010

It is a day that I have dreaded with each of my children. The day that we have to say good-bye to a much loved friend: the pipes. The pipe is always there to comfort ouchies, to quiet a fit in the store, and to soothe him to sleep. But as I have recently posted, my baby boy is no longer a baby and is now a big boy no longer in need of a pipe.

So as we have done with each of the children we have a family cerimony to say good-bye to the pipe. We decided to have Carter throw them into 9-mile creek near our home. He did it willingly and is very proud. (I, however, am writing this before our first bedtime without the pipe).
Did you know that pipes float? The kids watched them both go down stream. Taylor was sad for Carter; she always retrieved them for him when he was sad.

So long pipes.

Las Vegas!

After much ado, Mike and I decided to take Las Vegas get-a-way with two other couples for a long weekend. We were greeted at the airport with a limo, champagne, and roses (compliments of our romantic men in our lives). It was great start to the trip as I was secretly worrying about the kiddos and my sister in Iowa who graciously offered to add them to her already busy family and darcare. We had a great time as did the children who were spoiled to pieces by their Auties and cousins.
Mike was super happy that his golf clubs arrived safely in Las Vegas

After a long day at the Aria Spa (for me, Mike went golfing all day) we got all dressed up to attend our first
Cirque du Soleil show "O".

This is the whole gang!

Vegas has a mini versions of world attractions

Mike entered a 77 person poker tournament and got all the way to the final two tables of 8! No cash for 18th place.


Apparently I as the only one in the group that didn't know that the statues were real people! I caused quite a ruckus.

The fountains in front of the Bellagio were one of my most favorite things (after the spa day).

St. Jude's Childrens Hospital Bike-a-thon

Last week Taylor participated in the St. Stephen's Preschool bike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's Childrens Hospital Cancer Research. It was a lot of fun seeing the preschoolers cheered on by their classmates and teachers.

Taste of Spring

Carter really doesn't know it yet, but Twins fever is huge this year with the new stadium.
I thought that Taylor's hair was so cute after Grandma did the double braid.

The girls have been lovin the weather and the ability to spin around on their bikes.

Hailey has become an excellent and independent biker.

Narnia Sleepover

Yes, it is frightening. Hailey and Taylor were invited to a Narnia party where their instructions were to pick a character from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" story. Taylor quickly picked Lucy, the youngest of the children who carried the cordial and knife as they traveled Narnia. Hailey however has always had a love/hate kind of relationship with villians of every sort chose to be the White Witch. I managed to make the actual "turkish delight" that the witch served to temp the children into Narnia and Hailey also turned many people to stone throughout the night. The party lasted nearly 24 hours. They had an incredible time and came home exhausted.

Carter

I am scared that my little boy keeps growing before my eyes. He is starting to look silly in his high-chair and probably needs to move to a booster seat at the table. He no longer wants me to carry him and prefers to wash his hands in the sink. Mike and I went skiing the other day and left him by our neighbor; when we got home I was so excited to see him, but he had no desire to come home. I realize that we are entering a new phase of parenting as we say good-bye to babies, but there is an ache in my heart to keep them each by my side. I am very proud of the recent progress that Carter has made in his communication and obviously it is very healthy for him to be gaining independence. My baby boy.

Mix-up Day for Taylor

Taylor had mix-up day at preschool last week and thought it was a blast. She enjoyed mixing up her socks, shoes, hair, and dress for school. When she arrived at school they sang the good-bye song first and at coloring time they colored under the table.

She is very good at being silly.

Skate Night

This is Hailey and some of her great friends from school at a skating party last month. She is growing up much too quickly (skating with mom/dad was not cool).