Church today

Carter and I went to church today (Dad was at work). Last week we visited Strafford's First Baptist Church for the first time...well it was alright...I didn't really feel like anyone was very welcoming and it wasn't a big church at all. I guess I'm just use to small town Newburg where when a new person walks in, everyone makes it a point to come up and welcome them to their church. So anyways, today we went to our neighbor's church. It is called Landmark Christian Center. It was awesome. EVERYONE made it a point to come up and say hi, and welcome us. I was reminded of church camp that I went to as a teenager, which was one of my summertime favorite activities. They have a band and sing very contemporary Christian praise and worship songs. The sermon was almost Pentecostal like. The pastor was very loud, and the people there were yelling hallelujah and other words that I'm pretty sure weren't English :). It was definitely a great service and I am so excited to go back. I left feeling like I hadn't felt since church camp many years ago. Apparently the church rents the building they hold services in, and they unfortunately share it with other groups. So the first Sunday of every month they can only hold night services. Well, Carter usually goes to bed between 6 and 7, so night services are not really an option for us right now. I guess I will be praying for the church to find a way to hold services every Sunday morning, because I am kinda of disappointed I have to wait 2 weeks before I get to go back.

He never looks at the camera for me anymore :)

Isn't this the cutest picture?

My new do :)

This week

Well not too much excitement around here this week. We got some ice monday night, of course I had a hair appointment the next morning. I went ahead and went, because I knew if I didn't do it then, it would be forever before Clayton could watch Carter again. Our road was slick, but once I got on the interstate everything was oki doki. So my hair is super short again...ugh, not exactly what I wanted, but oh well I guess it will grow back. Maybe I'll put a new picture of it on here sometime :)
Carter had a doctor's appt on Wednesday to get his flu booster. He did so good! He didn't cry or fuss or even make a sound. He just looked at the nurse and then looked up at me with this face that said "mom did you see what she just did to me?!" Then we went to the mall and bought Carter his very first pair of walking shoes from Stride Rite. The are really cute, and they are supose to be the best shoes for little beginnner walkers. The lady couldn't believe that he was only 10 months old and already walking so well.
That's all we've done this week, Dad will be home this afternoon, so we'll see what the weekend holds for us.
Here is a slide show of pictures taken this month:

And this is for Angie...A video of Carter walking without him falling on his face :)

Back in the Saddle again!!

Yay! I finally have a laptop again. Mine bit the dust and I lost a lot of stuff, but thanks to my Father-in-law and his neighbor I was able to save all of the pictures that were saved on there. Which is a good thing because there were hundreds of pictures of Carter on there that I hadn't ordered prints of yet. So now I have a new laptop and I can keep everyone up to date again :). If you haven't sent me an email in about the last week, I probably don't have your email address anymore, so just send me a short message that says hi so that I can save your addy to my contact list, K?
Carter is walking! When he wants to...he does a pretty good job when he doesn't have an audience but I think he gets stage fright when someone is watching him. But of course I do have it on video... He usually still finishes his strolls with a belly flop to the floor, but hey, that's okay :).
Not really too much else happening around here. We've been hoping for some snow so that we can play with the sled Grandma got him for Christmas. We are suppose to have bad weather monday, but as usual the weather people don't know how much or how bad it will be....so we'll keep our fingers crossed for that snow and no ice :).

Happy Valentines Day....a few weeks early :)

These are Carter's ten month pics. If you want me to email them to you, then you'll have to email me cause I've pretty much lost everyones email address when my computer crashed :)

Updates

Well other than the tornado post, I haven't done much posting lately. The main reason being that my laptop bit the dust so I have to use the dino desktop in the computer room. Its slow and old. I also can't download pictures directly from my camera to it, so that puts a damper on showing you all new pics. Hopefully I will get a new laptop soon. I haven't been able to keep up with my ebay business either while my laptop is down, again, because this computer just can't handle it. So here's a little update on what we've been up to.
On new year's eve we went to Brandon and Melissa's, our friends, and Brandon is a co-worker of clayton's. They have a little boy who is 7 (I think) and a baby girl who will be 2 in April. It was a nice evening, nothing too crazy. It was good to get out of the house and see other adults. I don't get to do that much anymore. As I told Melissa, when the most exciting event of your day is seeing what the mail man brought, anything is a good time.
A week ago Carter took his first steps. He walked about 4 steps to get to me. I got so excited and started cheering for him. He didn't know why I was cheering, and I guess he thought it was just because he made it to me. Now every time I try to get him to walk to me, he just kinda does a belly flop towards me and starts giggling. So he's not quite a professional walker, but he is getting there. As soon as he does it again I will have the video camera in hand.
Last Saturday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's to go to a Christmas party in St Louis for the "toy train" old people. It was a nice time. Clayton's mom and I generally just sit and talk to each other while the men play with trains and Clayton talks to everyone and anyone. Of course those are the times that I get myself in trouble diet wise, as I have absolutely no self control when it comes to party finger foods. Luckily, there wasn't too much that was very good, so I just took one bite of lots of different stuff. I don't know what it was, but none of those women must have tasted their food before they brought it (except Clayton's mom. I ate a few too many of her little smokies, cuz that was pretty much all that was edible.)
Carter and I are going to St louis next Sunday for Aunt Shelly's big 21st. We are super excited to see her and celebrate her big birthday too. (Humm Hmm, Shelly if you are reading this, you better call me and give me the details of the plan, you little procrastinator!)

And it sounded just like a freight train coming through...

For those who don't live around here, Monday night was quite an eventful evening weather wise. There were over 70 tornado warnings issued in SW Missouri, and we are right in the middle of the path where they were popping up. There were at least three that hit within 5 miles of our house, but luckily, there was no damage here. Clayton, of course, was at work, just like any time there is any kind of bad weather. (Ice storm:gone, 3 feet of snow:gone, you name it weatherwise:gone) So Carter and I stuck out the first tornado here at home. It passed about 3 miles to our west. But once I saw there were more headed this way, and the next one was on a closer path to our house, we packed up and headed to the neighbor's who have a basement. The electric went out at around 8:00 and we stayed until about 2 am. I thought we were in the clear, but after I laid Carter in bed I was listening to the scanner and heard that there were more forming along the cold front that was coming through, as well as straight line winds in excess of 95 miles an hour. So I got Carter and laid him in our closest floor. He never woke up, and I just sat in there until the wind calmed down. Finally at 4 am I put him back in his bed and went to sleep. The next morning we awoke to find no damage to our house or property, but just about a half mile down the road several houses and barns had been demolished. We are so thankful that we were okay, and that we have such wonderful neighbors who are willing to share their home with us. Oh, and our electric finally came back on later in the afternoon. The first two pictures are of a farm about 1 mile or less from our house. The other two are pictures of a house on the north side of Strafford that was hit by the first tornado that went through.

Drum Roll Please!

DUM DUM DUMMMMMM....I've lost ten pounds! I don't know why, but for some reason it has been really easy for me. I haven't been craving really bad food and I've been exercising almost everyday. I worked out at the hotel on christmas, but I still enjoyed myself with pizza on Christmas Eve, and chocolate pie on Christmas Day. Of course I worked out for a while longer when we got home. My knees are much better too. I took a break from the treadmill and focused on bicycling while they were hurting. Yesterday I was able to get back on it. I had a good run. It was the first time in a really long time that I was able to get a 'runners high'. It felt great. I'm still training myself to run for longer periods without taking a walking break, but so far so good. I wish I could run when clayton wasn't home, but I can't keep Carter occupied for that long by himself, and his room is too close to the treadmill to do it while he is sleeping. I've never been a good outdoor runner, but once it warms back up this spring and I can take Carter in his stroller I will definitely give it a whole hearted try.
My next goal is to lose 9 pounds before Carter's birthday, which is nine weeks away (AHHH!!!! I can't believe it, but that is a whole nother blog!) So PLEASE wish me luck, and say a little prayer for me to keep me motivated and on the right track!