5 months

Yeah, Buddy! We have reached the 5 month mark and are doing pretty dang good!

 

Carter's Stats:

 

18 pounds

Size 3 diapers

Wearing 6 month and 6-9 month clothes

 

LOVES: getting to sleep with mommy and daddy half way through the night, nursing, toys that make noise and/or hang, being talked to, being sang to, and smiled at, Ella (she gives him the most attention out of all the girls) and bouncing on a fitness ball while being held

 

HATES: riding in the car, when mommy's not around, not being held, and taking a bottle (so as you can see . . . going back to work is going to be a breeze)

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Nicole for all the cool toys! Carter's loving them :)



new traditions

Who says traditions have to be old? Who says they can't be new and modern? Well, this family adopted a new Christmas tradition when we adopted a little elf the kids have named "Buddy" (no doubt named after a favorite movie star elf).

I am sure you have all heard of "Elf on the Shelf" by now.  If you haven't, the back story to Elf on the Shelf is, that you adopt an elf and give him a name. His job is to appear during the Christmas season and watch the kids' behavior during the day and report back to Santa during the night. Every night, the elf flies back to the North Pole to brief Santa, and then they fly back to the house and pick a new spot to sit and watch the kids. Ella and Claire have been having so much fun waking up to find Buddy in his new spot every morning.

 Who is the only person in this family without a stocking? Oh yeah, that's me. Even Mario ranks above me!

 

Ella loved the idea of this even before Buddy joined our family. Claire, on the other hand, has been a harder sell. The first night we had him, she was starting to act up at bedtime (not our little Claire....this never happens!! yeah, right.) and I said, "Claire, you have to listen other wise Buddy is going to tell Santa that you're not a good listener." Claire turned around, looked at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet, and said, "Mom, that's not real. He's not real. Look at him." as she pointed at him and gave me a "you've got to be kidding me" look.  Oh boy . . . we had our work cut out for us. As the days go on and Buddy continues to find new places to sit, she is slowly but surely coming around to the idea . . . but only when she's being good.  "Buddy's gonna tell Santa that I'm a good sister" or "Buddy's gonna tell Santa that I listened" . . . never, "Buddy's gonna tell Santa that I whine and cry all the time and that I should get coal in my stocking".


None-the-less, it's been a fun tradition that the kids have been getting a kick out of.  Thanks, Nicole for adopting Buddy for us!! :)

we "griswold-ed" it

I have often talked about Griswold-type road trips with our kids in our "family truckster" complete with crazy kids and Clark-type freak outs by either Carl and/or I. Well folks, we did it again. Maybe not in every way, but in our own Adolphson-type way.

Carl and I both grew up having real Christmas trees. But about 5 years ago, we totally copped out and bought ourselves a pre-lit fake tree. I was bummed, but I couldn't argue that it would be an easy and convenient option (not to mention cheaper). Year after year we would pull it down from storage and set it up. It was still fun, but it just wasn't the same.

This year, I found a cute little tree farm to take photography clients to for holiday themed photo sessions.  Once I was there, I was hooked. That fake tree wasn't going to see the light of day this year!

My family didn't really share my enthusiasm about the tree farm.  Why would they? Even Jocie couldn't remember a Christmas seasons when we had a real tree. But once we pulled into the farm, they got excited too.

When we pulled in, we were greeted by a lovely lady who handed us a map of the farm and a saw. We decided to get the lay of the land first by driving around to see what types of trees they had to offer. Then we took off on foot to find "the one".

Claire wanted this one. Ella didn't agree.

 

 

 

Could this be the one? Maybe. We kept looking . . .

 

 

She didn't care for the "pokies". They really made her mad.

Then . . . there it was. And she was a beaut Clark, I real beaut.

Whoops, wrong family.

She (or he?) was perfect! Not too big for our house, yet not too small. Not too thin or too fat. She was a keeper.

 



 Mr. Adolphson had to teach his class about how to tell the age of trees . . . we learned our tree was 13

 

So we threw her up on top of the 'ol family truckster and headed into the gift shop for some hot chocolate and Christmas sausage while our tree was shook, bagged and strapped to the van.

We had an awesome time! I'm excited to add this trip annually.

 

 

 

And now . . . drum roll please . . .

TA-DA! We got her all lit up (in a non-drunk way)!

 

 

Carter even took a break from his evening screaming to take in all of it's beauty

Cheers to a very happy Christmas Season!