Happy Easter

We had lots of fun yesterday celebrating Easter.

After breakfast we gave Carter his Easter baskets. My dad and Jan gave him a giant duck and lots of little Easter stuff. Brian's parents mailed a box of presents that included an assortment of things, with Carter's favorite being a yellow construction worker's hat. My mom gave Carter a remote control car and a toy lawnmower. Brian and I gave Carter a golf set, a soccer ball, and a movie.

Our presents to Carter ...


Easter basket from my dad and Jan ...


Giving the duck a hug ...


"This looks like fun ..."


A hard hat is a necessary tool sometimes when playing golf with Carter ...




After presents, the Easter Bunny (also known as Brian) "hid" eggs in the yard. Carter had lots of fun collecting them.

It took a few eggs before we convinced Carter to take his basket with him instead of running eggs back to it every time he picked one up.










So determined ...



"There's another one!"


Here's a video of Carter collecting some eggs ...

"I got them all!"


Family photo ...


After Carter's morning nap and lunch, Brian and I worked in the yard for a little bit and my dad and Jan took Carter for a walk and then played with him inside for awhile.

Carter refused to take an afternoon nap so we decided to dye eggs.


We attempted to keep Carter busy while we did the dyeing because all I saw Carter doing was spilling dye and breaking eggs.

He ate Cheerios out of plastic eggs for awhile ...


Carter got to pretend to dye his own eggs ...



Dyed eggs waiting to be decorated ...


I bought a kit that included stickers, pipe cleaners, and fuzz to make monsters.

Brian let Carter help decorate one of the eggs.



Here are some of our results. They are a little crazy!









We ended up going out to dinner and then came home, played with Carter some more, and all crashed. We had a lot of fun over the weekend and had beautiful weather so we got to spend most of it outside. My dad and Jan left early this morning. We're really glad they were able to finally see Carter again!

More Visitors!

My dad and Jan are visiting us right now. They got here last night just after midnight.

We all met Sarah, Brent, and Mary Grace at the UT Gardens for their Eggstravaganza (which was an egg hunt, story time, and some arts and crafts). We also ran into Amy, Chad, and Caitlyn down there.

Here is Carter getting his picture with the Easter bunny. He liked looking at him and pointing at him when we were several feet away, but he got shy once we got to meet him.



They divided the kids up into three age groups for the egg hunt. Carter was in the 3 and under group. I wasn't sure if he would get what to do. Once we found a less crowded area and prompted Carter to pick up an egg, we couldn't stop him! There was a 6 egg limit for his age group so we has to steal eggs out of Carter's basket and put them back on the ground.













Most of the eggs had candy in them and some had tickets for prizes. Carter ended up with 2 free prizes. There was a table with random little toys and I got Carter a couple of bendable bunnies and a plastic bunny in a little car that makes noise.

Group picture ...


After walking around the gardens a little more, we went to lunch with Sarah, Brent, and Mary Grace at Mellow Mushroom.

After Carter's afternoon nap, we had Christmas (we haven't seen my dad and Jan since Carter's birthday in November). Carter got some cool new toys.


He really likes this wooden toy set. Simple, classic toys are often the best!




Carter is getting really good at saying "thank you". I prompted him in this short video clip, but he will say it without prompting sometimes.

Carter played outside all afternoon and evening. We had gorgeous weather today - a little cooler than yesterday, mostly sunny, and breezy. We grilled out for dinner tonight and even ate outside. It was a long but fun day!

Knoxville Zoo

My mom and I took Carter to the zoo yesterday. We kept him out of the stroller most of the time but there were two of us to chase after him so it wasn't too hard. Though Carter still wanted to wander into the landscaping and wooded areas to collect sticks instead of look at the animals.

It's spring break for schools right now so it was more crowded than I'm used to during the week. It was warm though and we had fun visiting with the animals.

There is a new baby camel at the camel ride area. My mom took Carter up to him to say hi.


Hanging out in the jeep by the giraffes ...



Carter got a wardrobe change after lunch because it was so warm. Here he is hanging out with the zebras ...



My mom took Carter on the carousel. Here he is before the ride started waving "hi" ...


Enjoying the ride, as always!


We stayed at the zoo for almost 3 hours. Carter was worn out from all the running around he did!

My mom left this morning. I'm sure Carter misses his playmate, but he was also so tired today from playing so much over the last week! He was ready for his afternoon nap about an hour after he woke up from his morning nap!

Milk and Other Stuff

Carter now LOVES milk. After resisting for so long, he usually drinks an entire sippy cup of it as soon as we give it to him. He's eating less at meal time because he fills up on his milk right away. Now my "problem" is making sure he doesn't drink too much!

Carter has been sick since last Friday (another cold) and is finally starting to get better today. He's mainly only had a runny nose. It started off as sneezing more than normal on Friday and then changed to the runny nose. He's had a lot more drainage and has nasty sounding coughing fits at night. He goes back to sleep after them and they are sporadic so they don't seem to be bothering him too much.

Carter slept in his new room for the first time last night. He did fine and got up at his normal time this morning. He also took both his naps in there today. The biggest difference is that I didn't put a bumper in his new crib. I had taken his out for awhile in his old room when he first starting rolling over and put up a breathable bumper but eventually I had changed it back to his nice bumper. Carter likes to curl up in the corner and snuggle into the bumper so I was a little worried about how he would do without it. So far, so good. The only problem is that it's now easier for pacis to fall out of his crib between the slats. I put a couple of extras in his crib at night and during naps so that he can always find one if he wakes up and wants it. He started screaming after his afternoon nap today though because all his pacis were on the floor. However, I suspect he threw them out on purpose and screamed so I'd come and get him, though he's never done this before.

We got Carter some of the Crayola TaDoodles crayons for Christmas but I'd never gotten them out for him to try until today. I taped a piece of paper to the tray of his booster seat and let him try them out. He drew a little but was more interested in banging the crayon holders together or putting the crayons in his mouth.




I think Carter knows it's almost Easter because the thing on the right kind of looks like a bunny :)


We played outside for a little while this afternoon. It was so warm! Around 80 F!!!


My mom bought Carter this sand and water table for Christmas. We put it together yesterday but haven't bought any sand yet. Carter has still enjoyed playing with it the last few days.