Cub Cadetn'

So if you've ever driven by, or if you've ever been in our shop, you may have noticed that someone in our household has a slight obsession with Cub Cadet lawn tractors. Carter got his first Cub Cadet for his birthday. Yesterday he figured out how to make it go. He doesn't know how to steer it yet, but he does a good job getting it to move. It's also pretty entertaining to watch dad run across the yard to keep him from hitting a tree or some other object.

Carter's first haircut

Carter got his first hair cut yesterday. He was a very brave boy. She buzzed the back of his head and trimmed the top with scissors. She was quick...which was good. He was a good boy.

Mommy Wow I'm a big kid now!

Hey guys!
First the big news of the the week is that Carter has weaned himself. I usually nurse him before bed and between 5 and 7 in the morning. Thursday night I laid him down to nurse before bed and he pushed me away, and got up and walked away. So I tried again and he walked away again. The next morning he slept all the way until 7:30 without getting up to nurse. So I just got up with him and fed him breakfast. He hasn't nursed since :)
We had a good weekend. Carter and I stayed at my Aunt Brenda's Friday and Saturday night. Her and Papa Don and my cousin Jayme came down Friday, and we went home with them. Jayme and I went out to dinner Friday night and Carter stayed with Grandma Brenda. She put him to bed in his pack 'n play in her room and we left him in there all night. The next morning he woke up at a 6:45 and she got up with him. I got to sleep til 8! So since he went to bed without me, and he got up without me, I consider that him staying the night at someone else's house without me, hehe : D
On Saturday Jayme, Don, and I went to her house in st. Louis and did some hot tub switching....long story short, Clayton and I are now the proud owners of a hot tub. It's a fixer-upper, but nothing wrong with that. Carter stayed with Grammy while we were gone. When we got back Jennifer, Cooper, and Grandma Beth came over to visit for a little while. Cooper is crawling...and it's funny :) he crawls normal with one knee, but the other leg he uses his foot and pretty much walks on the one foot, uses the other knee, and his hands. It's pretty cute. He moves pretty quick too.
Today Jayme and I came back to Springfield and went to a Cardinals game. Carter stayed with Grammy and Papa again, and they brought him down this afternoon while we were at the game to play at our house until the game was over. It was a really good game. The Cards won, and the pitcher was St. Louis Cardinal Mark Mulder. I'm really tired, and so was Carter...he went to bed with no complaints at 7:30. So that's it for now...ttyl!

Just for ANGIE

Carter says gas prices are so high he has to push his four wheeler!

I really don't have anything too exciting to blog about, but since angie is tired of seeing the same old post I guess I'll come up with something.

So...hmm...well no news on the house situation yet. Really couldn't tell you what we are going to do...We may sell. We may stay here. Your guess is as good as mine!

We went to Clayton's parents house Friday night and stayed the night. Saturday it was cold and snowing...we went with Clayton's sister to watch Dylan's swimming lessons...Carter thought that was fun for about 2 seconds...then he wanted in the pool. Good thing it was only a 30 minute class. Carter and I are going to do a mommy and me swimming class at the end of the month, so that should be more fun for him. We stopped by my Aunt Brenda's on the way home. We went out to eat dinner with them, then came back to their house to visit for a little while before heading home. Yesterday we went to church and then came home for the rest of the day. It was just a crummy weekend weather wise in the Ozarks. Today is a little warmer and this week is suppose to be better, so maybe we'll get to go to the zoo or something fun.
Well...that's all I've got...

here's a picture of Carter riding the lawn mower with daddy...he loves it, so it should be easy to cut grass this summer!

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don't care if I never get back!

well scratch the never get back! What a miserable day for a ball game! Saturday we went to a St. Louis Cardinals VS Springfield Cardinals game. It was about 40 degrees and raining..whao what a blast. Carter lasted about 10 minutes. then he was done. So, thank goodness my very wonderful friend Angie volunteered to watch him for the rest of the game, and Clayton and I suffered through it alone. The minor league team absolutely anialated the major league team, really the most entertaining part of the whole day! I sure hope it just means that the minor league team is really good, and the STL Card's were just taking it easy...I don't think I can handle another craptackular season. Anyhow, it was kind of the first time Clayton and I had done anything just the two of us, so that was a nice change of pace. We have tickets to 10 games this season, and we will probably be looking for a babysitter for the majority of them :).
Well I did get some pretty decent pictures of some of the players(even though there were many I didn't know!)
Enjoy!

Movin' On Up!

SO, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here, but I think we may be moving. We've been talking about adding on to this house for a long time now. We just need more room. We also have decided after the recent tornadic events in the surrounding area we need a basement or a storm shelter. Our plan was to build an addition with a basement underneath that....well scratch that idea...apparently concrete is REALLY expensive right now. As much as I LOVE this house, I know that it is just not big enough for us, and if we decided to have another baby, there is no way we will all fit in here with all the stuff we have. I also LOVE my neighborhood and my neighbors, it really hurts to think that we have to leave them...so much so that we are actually considering buying a bigger house in this subdivision that has a basement. The only problem is, that house is WAY over priced compared to similar houses about 10 miles from here. and by way over priced, I'm talking $100,000 more than a bigger house with more land located a few miles away. Both houses are brand new, and the one in this subdivision actually backs up to railroad tracks, making it even less attractive. As much as I hate to move from here, I just think it is what will happen...my dream of course would be to buy the house in this subdivision, but that would just be crazy if they won't come down off the price...by like $90,000...hehe. SO if any of my neighbors are reading this, and you want to move and give us a super good deal on your house, we might just bite on it! I know this is probably the worst time ever to try to sell a house, so of course that has to happen before any of this can take place, so lets pray for a boost in the real estate market, k? or at least pray for this one to sell quickly.
The though of having my house on the market just makes me nauseous. When someone decides they want to look at it, it's never, "we want to look at it tomorrow" it's "we want to look at it in five minutes" Great! Come on over..wade through the toys! fold my laundry while you're at it. oh, and put the dishes away, k? I just hate having to keep my house spotless 24/7. Which, by the way, is impossible if you have a one year old...especially my one year old who thinks pulling all of the clothes out of the draws in his room and throwing them on the floor is fun. Or who thinks my kitchen cabinets need to be cleaned out daily. Or who thinks throwing his breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack on the floor is a good way to signify that he is finished and wants no more. Or who believes that he can not play with just one or two or three or even four toys at one time, because there must be at least 10 available for play at any given time. Or else. SO a little notice would be nice, mainly so I can be sure to pick up whatever storm damage my little tornado has left, and remove myself and him from the house so no further damage can be done. My favorite is when there is a car sitting in your driveway and the phone rings "just wondering if we can come take a look" Ahh I love cell phones. It must have been nicer to sell a house before cell phones were invented, at least you would have had the time it took them to get from the real estate office to your house...well maybe not, because they probably just came up to your door, didn't knock, got the key out of the box and came on in. Gee...I wonder how many real estate agents have walked in to see something they've only see on Showtime after 2 am? Bet that would teach them to call and make an appointment from now on. So I must say, even though I am SO VERY excited about the idea of buying a new house, I am very sad to leave my neighbors, and totally not looking forward to having my house listed. Again, lets just pray that the first person to see it, sees it clean, and buys it. Ahh wouldn't that be grand?
Love ya all!
-Sha

Extra Long Easter Weekend Means an Extra Long Post!

Hey everyone! Happy Easter, I hope the Easter bunny was good to you this year. Mine and Carter's weekend was extra long. On Thursday we left early and head to St Louis to go to the zoo with my Aunt Brenda. Carter had a blast! He loved looking at all the animals.

After the zoo we went to my cousin Jayme's house. She lives near Valley Park, MO which, if you didn't know, has been hit by a lot of flooding this week. We got off the interstate at her exit around 3 pm. The water under the interstate had 2 lanes blocked, and the traffic was starting to back up. The road that we take to get to her house was flooded, so we waited at the gas station for her to get there to show us another way into her house. It took her a long time to get there, the traffic was REALLY backing up. By the time the 10 o'clock news came on that evening, the entire intersection that was starting to flood when we went through, was completely under water. It was closed. Brenda and Don got Carter Easter presents too. He got some new outfits, a sand bucket, bath toys, a toy truck, a cup, chocolates, and a farm animal noise making toy. Thanks guys! The next morning the water was still rising. Carter and I were planning on leaving that morning and going to Grandma Beth's. But with the water still coming up, the interstate was backed up as crews worked to sandbag along the Meramec River, to keep the water from completely shutting down the interstate. At first I thought we would have to stay another night, but because the water wasn't suppose to crest until Saturday afternoon, I was afraid the interstate would be under water and we wouldn't be able to get home until after it reopened, which could have been sometime today. So Jayme called on her way to work and said the interstate didn't look too bad, and if we were going to go, we had better go before they had to completely shut it down. Well we did. It wasn't too bad from where Jayme was when she called, but just beyond that...whoa, it was a virtual parking lot. It took us nearly 3 hours to go 10 miles. I took a lot of pictures while we were sitting there doing nothing. The flooding was incredible. The traffic was even more incredible.

We finally got to Beth's house about 4 hours after we left Jayme's. Beth has a camp ground on the Gasconade River in Jerome. It also had flooded this week, but the water had already crested and was going down pretty quickly. On Saturday morning we drove down to the river and their cabin was no longer under water...but it was a mess! There was mud on everything. I'm sure they are having a great Easter weekend cleaning up the mess the river left for them. We spent the night at Beth's, and Jen and Cooper came down so the boys could play for a little while. Saturday afternoon, Carter and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa Z's for a little Easter Celebration. The Easter bunny had already been there and had hid eggs and Easter baskets for Dylan and Carter.

Once the boys had found the plastic eggs and their baskets, they colored some hard boiled eggs. Grandma got an 'egg spinner' that colored the eggs and was really easy for Carter to use...where was my camera? Right next to me...I have no clue what was wrong with me...I missed an opportunity to get some cute pictures. Grandma got Carter some bubbles, a tractor and a beach towel for vacation this summer. Katie and Dylan got Carter a bouncy ball, arm floats for the pool, and a watering can so he can help dad in the garden (mom kills things in the garden, so she's not allowed out there). When we got home last night, I cooked a few eggs and Carter and I colored them, so that I could get some pictures.

The Easter bunny came last night and brought Carter a bubble blowing lawn mower, some candy, and a Cardinals outfit. We are going to the Springfield/St. Louis Cardinals game next Saturday. So he needed a new Cardinals outfit, I'm glad the Easter bunny did his research ;). Carter and I also went to church this morning. We are looking forward to seeing Daddy this afternoon, we haven't seen him since we left Thursday morning, he had to stay home and work :(.