Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer. I can't believe it is over already! Where did it go? The weather has been so mild here lately we had to get the solar cover out for the pool...and we haven't had our air on in over a week! Just running the window fans. it was 65 in our house one morning! And if you've ever been here, you know we usually keep it 78 with the air on in the summer time, so we were freezing.
Clayton and I took Carter to our last Cards game of the season last Wednesday. Of course our section was the most crowed, so we left our seats and headed out to the outfield grass. It was awesome. Carter could run around and play, and we got to stretch out on a blanket and watch the game. We didn't have to listen to the people around us talk about everything except baseball, or worry about someone spilling their soda on our shoes. Definitely the way to go from now on! Next summer we will for sure stick to the grass.
Oh, I got suckered into co-hosting a Home and Garden Party. I was just going to take a book and sell it that way, but my neighbor insisted that we do it together at her house. So if you get an invitation, check out the website, but don't worry about coming to it...I don't even want to go, so I wouldn't expect anyone else to...hehehehe. They do have some really cute stuff, and the food is delicious! So it is worth looking at, the party was just lame. Once she emails me the website address I'll post it on here.
Well that's all the news I have for today. We're just hanging out on a rainy day today.

MMM corn!

Carter had his first taste of corn on the cob today. I think he liked it! Yesterday was dad's birthday, so we had a BBQ with our neighbors and swam in the pool last night. It was fun. Carter spent the whole weekend with Grandma Brenda. Mommy about went crazy without him. I was home alone a lot more this time, then the last time he stayed up there, and it just wasn't the same. I caught myself tiptoeing around because I mindlessly assumed he was in his room taking a nap. Then I would realize he wasn't here...hehe. We did go to the lake on saturday without him. It was fun. Our neighbors went with us and we tubed and water skied. It was really hot, but the water did have a few cold spots left in it. here's some pics of carter eating his corn on the cob.

What the heck is this?MMM It's purty good!

It's slippery though....I'll just eat it like this

Aww..Daddy saved the day...got me some handles!

Houston can you hear me?

Why, yes I sure can! And so can Carter. In other words, the audiologist found no problem with his hearing. So, he's a-ok. The test involved the two of us sitting in a sound booth. She would play a sound, and if Carter looked in that direction, tweetie bird would light up and spin around. He thought it was fun at first but then he got sorta scared...it was pretty dark and weird in there and they were playing scary sounds so I don't blame him. Then she looked at the movement of air on his ear drums....no easy task, but again no problems. I guess he'll talk when he wants to talk....

Clayton and I went to Branson yesterday to stock up on some Ebay stuff. I opened an ebay store, you can visit by clicking here. Visit often, because I'm always adding new things. I think Carter and I will venture to Springfield today to see if we can find some more. Now that I actually have room to store the stuff, I can expand and stock more items, and hopefully make more mooolaw :) I also would like to start sewing some more stuff to sell, but honestly, that takes a lot of time, and there is just so much to do around here...and when you can just go out and buy the stuff to resale, why put anymore work into than you have to?

The liner for the pool will be here tomorrow...and trust me that has turned into WAY more of a job than I ever thought it would be...we are finally ready to get it up...but it has to stop raining long enough for the ground to dry so we don't make mud prints in the floor of the pool.



Ohh...I almost forgot. Last week Grandma Mary and Dylan came down and went to the zoo with us. The boys had a blast! Carter, of course, liked the train more than anything...but now his favorite Baby Enstein video is the World Animals one. I think he remembers all the animals he saw at the zoo. He points and laughs and runs around giggling whenever the video is playing. Dylan pointed out to his mom some things that we didn't think were that significant....like the alligator had the cleanest pool of all the animals, there was a groundhog in the hippo's cage, and the hippo had some doo do the size of a small country floating in his water....isn't funny what little ones pick out and remember?

Carter's Doctors Appt

So not really much to report. I took him to the doctor, only to find out that I was only going for a referral to an audiologist. Dr. Haken didn't find any blockage, and said his ear drums look great, but just to be on the safe side they would make a referral. So, we now go back on the 22nd to see an audiologist...and I really hope that they are able to do this while he is screaming, because that's pretty much all he did the whole time we were there yesterday. He isn't crazy about the doctor to begin, so I'm sure going back in less than a week is just going to thrill him :)

News on the street :)

First- Let's start by wishing Clayton's Dad a very happy birthday today! Hope it's a great day for ya!
Today we went to wal-mart to pick up a present for Carter. At his birthday in March he got several of the same toys. We took them back and got a couple small toys for him. He had quite a bit left over on his gift card, but we weren't sure what to get him. We had talked about getting him a picnic table, but he already has a small one, so we decided to just wait and decide later. So last week I was doing some online shopping and found him a toy on walmart.com. Well it is a MAJOR hit in our house! He has played on it all day today. He didn't take a very good nap today, and I think it was because he wanted to come back out and play. As soon as he got up he headed straight for the living room and on the new toy.

Carter's Parents as Teachers lady came on Thursday. It was the first time she has come to visit in a REALLY long time....but that is a whole nother blog, and I won't go there right now :). She said that he is above average in all area's except for his language development. She said that he isn't "below" average, but is on the low end of average. She wants us to have his hearing checked to make sure that he doesn't have any blockage that is effecting his hearing, therefore effecting his speech. She didn't seem to think that that is why he isn't talking much yet, but she wanted to rule that out. If there is any problem it's better to catch it early rather than when he starts preschool. While she was here playing with him, he ran to the window, stuck his fingers in the air, and made his "there's a train coming" sound. I looked at him and smiled, told him I didn't hear the train, and he must have just heard a truck on the highway that was loud...about a minute later, a train went by...so, anyone think he has a hearing problem? Neither one of us heard that train when he ran to the window, but he obviously did. Anyways, I went ahead and made him an appointment to have his ears checked on Tuesday, I'll let ya'll know what we find out. Personally I think his brain is too busy working on other areas of development to worry about speech. He is above average in all the other areas, so I just think he'll talk when he wants to, and that's that.

4th of july weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. We headed to Rolla Thursday evening. Carter rode his first carnival ride...sorry no pictures, I forgot my camera at Grandma's. He had fun on the first two rides, but after that it was taking the people entirely too long for him to sit and wait for the ride to start...so he was done riding with Dylan. He would ride the merry go round and the slide, but only if momma was there holding him...he's a pretty impatient little guy and waiting in line and waiting for other kids to load was just not in his agenda. Friday we headed out to Grandma Brenda's new house in Dixon for a BBQ. The house isn't nearly as bad as she made it sound, but it does need some work...and a good bug man. It has an in-ground pool, which was fun, but it was a tad on the chilly side for swimming, all though the kids didn't seem to care. We stayed there into the evening to watch the fireworks. It was really an enjoyable day and night. On Saturday we went with Katie and Dylan to Splash Zone in Rolla. Carter had a great time playing in the water, and it was much warmer that day, although I think the water was colder there than at my aunt's house. Then we went back to grandma's for a nap and then headed to the carnival again. It was a wonderful weekend and great to spend time with those that we don't get to see that often!

Boys will be boys!

Yesterday while I was cleaning out the hot tub, Carter took advantage of the mud left behind from draining the water :) Then he decided to clean himself up...in the dog's water :P Let's just say there was a ring in the bath tub last night.