Congratulations!

Yesterday, our good friends, Johann and Sherry, welcomed their beautiful identical twin girls into the world! Arianna Jane was born at 8:46am weighing 7lbs 13 oz, 19inches long and Brynn Marie was born at 8:47am weighing 7lbs, 18inches long. The proud parents will be in Utah for a couple of weeks, visit their blog if you want to follow their journey...or see a picture of their beautiful girls! Congratulations, Yo and Sherry! We are so happy for your family, may God continue to bless you!!

Trip Down Memory Lane

When Karter was born, Kristoffer's parents made good on a promise! They had always said that if/when they ever drove to MN, they would bring all of Kristoffer's old things. They did just that the week after Karter was born, they brought all of Kristoffer's high school stuff and it sat in our garage until last weekend.

It was fun for Kristoffer to relive some of those old memories. We found LOTS of awards, lots of old love letters, and several old projects that Kristoffer had to read through and tell me about! We found his yearbook from his senior year and enjoyed looking through that. He has told me a lot about what he was like in high school, but he left out one important detail....he was voted "Best Body!" That's right, I'm married to SHS Best Body 2001!!

Here are a few things we found on our journey down memory lane...

There were a lot of jerseys in those boxes!

Kristoffer insisted that we keep these dribbling glasses! Sorry Karter, mommy tried to get rid of them!

Who uses these glasses?

We tried to burn that candle, it was terrible. It could have been because it was 8 years old, who knows!

Kristoffer was/is a huge fan of The Rock. In one of the boxes there was probably 10 shirts with The Rock on them, this is him with his "favorite" shirt. He was adamant that we were keeping them all! He also had about 10-15 figurines, which he set them all out to proudly show me! Yep, had to keep them all too!

We found a lot of old game balls.

In my opinion, the best thing we found the whole time was Kristoffer's baby book. Terry is so organized and was great at keeping track of all of Kristoffer's developmental milestones. We both spent a long time looking through it. That book was amazing...great job Terry!! In the back of the book were a few old photos of a few of Kristoffer's firsts. Here is one of my favorites (not such good quality because it is a picture of a picture), it is Kristoffer when he was 10 days old, going to church for the first time.

And here is a similar picture of Karter at 6 days old going to church for the first time, wearing the same outfit!!

MOMS Club

This week, along with our new friends Julie & Henry, Karter and I joined our local MOMS Club. MOMS Club is a local group that schedules weekly activities, play dates and a monthly mom's night out.

We all rode together to the meeting in Hastings, and enjoyed a lunch out after the meeting. As usual, Karter fell asleep on the way home. Only this time, he had a partner....both boys passed out! Who knew it could be so tiring going out to lunch!?

Best Buds!

Karter and Rascal love to play with each other. If Karter sees Rascal laying on the floor, he starts laughing and crawls over to get him. The same is true for Rascal, wherever Karter is, he has to be there too. Rascal is also surprisingly gentle with Karter, if he hears Karter whine or cry, he is the first to run to see if he is ok.

Karter has always been interested in Rascal's toys, but I always kind of cringe when he goes around them...they probably aren't the cleanest toys! So last night when he started playing with Rascal's ball I got a little nervous. However, the ball didn't go straight to his mouth, he actually threw it for Rascal to go get. Karter got really excited when Rasc would get the ball, but quickly got mad when he didn't bring it right back! Here is a little video of them playing last night....

OH MY!!

IMG_1225, originally uploaded by minnesotagrays.

I always sit Karter at the bottom of the stairs when I vacuum the entryway. He likes to be able to see me and the vacuum...he loves that thing! This is what I saw when I looked down at him, he was climbing the stairs! He looks SO proud of himself.

Hugs & Kisses

IMG_1216, originally uploaded by minnesotagrays.

Karter is now at the age where he is so fun to play with and watch him crawl around and explore our house. Last week, he started to do something else that is a lot of fun...giving me hugs and kisses! It's the most WONDERFUL feeling as a mother to receive hugs and kisses from my baby boy. I was holding him last week and he just turned around and wrapped his arms around my neck and squeezed me! Now, he'll give me this huge, wet, wide, open mouth kiss leaving my cheek, nose, neck and whatever else he kisses covered in drool! I love it though, I just hold and hug him so tightly because it just melts my heart!

Practice Makes Perfect

This past Saturday, I decided to practice making a cake. Yes, I have made a cake before, but never for Karter! I will be making his birthday cake this summer, and want to make sure that I have all the techniques down. I have always loved the look of fondant, but haven't ever worked with it. After finding a recipe to make it myself, I decided to give it a try on Saturday. For my first time, I think the final product came out pretty well...it tasted good anyway! My plans for Karter's cake also involve something I haven't done before, carving something out of cake. I will be spending the next four months perfecting the cake before our party in June.

When the cake was finished, Kristoffer decided to play photographer. Enjoy his pics of me and the cake!

Hello!! Yes, I can wave!

IMG_1019, originally uploaded by minnesotagrays.

This is what Karter has been doing a lot lately - waving to people! He hasn't caught on 100% yet as to why he is exactly doing it, but it sure is cute...don't you agree?

Picture of the Week

What is with his mischievous look, you ask? Oh, that would be because he is peeing on the floor!!

Ready for Vacation!

We are ready for a vacation! Kristoffer's family has always vacationed on Emerald Isle in North Carolina. Last year, we weren't able to join the family, because Karter had just been born and Kristoffer was taking our youth group on a mission trip, ironically to North Carolina, the next week. Kristoffer said that missing last year was only the second year that he can remember not going, needless to say we were both very disappointed that we weren't able to go.

Next to our honeymoon to Hawaii, the Gray family vacations to EI are my favorite trips! We weren't able to vacation much when I was growing up, and I jumped at the chance to join the Gray clan Kristoffer and I's second summer together. I feel in love with the beach on that trip!! What's not to love...waking up to the ocean, ending each day with a BEAUTIFUL sunset, eating WAY too much, spending time with AMAZING people, eating crab legs EVERY day for dinner and watching my face turn into one big freckle!!

Last night we booked our plane tickets, which seems to make vacation seem much closer, unfortunately we still have to wait until July. We will be flying to Indiana and then driving the rest of the way with the rest of the family. It will be Karter's first vacation (that isn't to Indiana) and we are excited to see him playing with/eating the sand. It is sure to be another great vacation with our family! Here is a look at some of our past trips....(there aren't any pics of our first trip together, that was pre-digital!)

July 2005 - Newlyweds! The day after we got back from the beach that year, we packed up our moving truck and headed to MN.

2005 - Still kissy newlyweds!

Me - July 2006

Us enjoying a sunset in July 2007.

The annual beach couple picture - July 2007

Kristoffer with his parents and siblings - July 2007

Karter and Daddy Time....

Now that Karter is mobile, it is so cute to watch him when his Daddy gets home. When he hears Daddy come in the door (and Rascal makes the announcement that he is home!), Karter gets a huge smile on his face and starts crawling towards the gate to see Daddy! If Kristoffer does not pick him up immediately, he starts to grunt until he gets picked up.

Karter used to be able to lay on the bed while Kristoffer changed out of his work clothes, but now he would just crawl off the bed! Instead, Kristoffer puts him on the floor by the kitchen, and watches as Karter crawls down the hallway to get him. It is hilarious to watch, because Karter is laughing all the way down the hall.

After dinner, it is all Daddy all the time. The boys get to play together for a solid 30 minutes before bedtime. Karter absolutely loves this time (and I'm sure Kristoffer does too!), because there are some things that only Daddy can do with him. He likes it when Daddy plays kind of rough with him, but if I try, he will just look at me like I am crazy. On the other hand, he lets me cuddle with him more than Kristoffer. So...I will take the cuddling over the rough housing!! I think it adorable watching them together. Here is their latest video together....

Karterman in Action!

When we first got our new camera and I was trying to figure out all of the new settings, one of the first things I discovered was how rapidly it can take pictures. Our old camera would take forever to get ready for its next picture, and I had a lot of fun taking advantage of this new feature. I thought it was fun to take a lot of pictures in a row and then watch the "story" as you scroll through the pictures. I think the first day I was playing with the camera, I took a "story" of just about everyone in the house! Well, I still love that feature of the camera and I talked about it last week, but now here is a "story" of the Karterman coming to attack me. He does this all the time when he sees I have the camera out...he tries to attack the paparazzi.

Happy 8 Months!

Today, Karter is 8 months old! Here is a list of what he is up to these days...

• He still eats 3 "solid" meals a day, but is down to only getting 4 bottles. In each bottle he is getting around 9 oz, so still a lot of milk. Our once veggie only baby, has turned into a fruit lover! He still eats a lot of veggies, but prefers some fruits now. His least favorite fruits are plain peaches and bananas. He loves peach cobbler, pears and blueberries.
• In addition to his baby food, Karter also loves to eat whatever we are having...but only if it is off our fork or spoon. Lately, he has had: pizza, spaghetti, hamburger, chicken, soup, bread sticks, green beans, jam, brownie and ice cream. (His daddy loves to feed him the sweet stuff!)
  
• After each meal and snack, he gets a drink from his sippy cup. We have tried to add juice to it, but he just wants plain water.
  
• He is crawling everywhere! He is very quick, especially when he is going after things he knows he isn't suppose to have. His favorite targets are Rascal's food dishes and ANY kind of electrical cord. He will take off really quickly and then look back to see if anyone is looking at him. When we tell him no he just laughs at us and takes off! He's all boy!
  
• Karter still likes to jump in his johnny jumper, but now that he has mobility he doesn't like the exersaucer so much.
  
• He also likes to be sang to, thankfully he doesn't mind how terrible my singing voice is! When I am trying to get him down for a nap and he just isn't having it, I can sing to him and he will calm right down. He also likes it when we are just acting silly and singing and dancing around the house. He just laughs the whole time, I hope he is laughing from enjoyment and not making fun of me!!
• His favorite game to play is peek-a-boo.
• He loves any toy, and will chew on anything. But, his all-time favorite toys are his blocks. If he sees us playing with them he has to come get them.
  
• Finally, he is growing so quickly. Kristoffer doesn't think he has grown in the last week, but he has! Pajama's that were way to big for him last week, are fitting him this week!! All of his clothes now are 12 month clothes, and we don't have many of them. He is also wearing size 4 diapers now too. I have to do a lot of laundry to keep up with him! We will be going shopping in the next few weeks for a whole new wardrobe for him. Man, I wish I got a new wardrobe every few months!!

I'm sure there is more, but these are the man things that he has been up to lately. He is so fun to watch and be around, our family is truly blessed with an amazing baby. It really is hard to believe that he is getting so close to being 1 year old. It is going so fast (I know, I say that every month)!!

Rascal - Before & After

While we were away this weekend, Rascal spent the weekend at the kennel. During his stay he got a MUCH needed groom. He hadn't had his haircut since probably October and it had grown to the point where we couldn't even see Rascal's eyes! Here are a few before pics of Rasc.....

And now, Rasc after....

(Gotta love the bandanna!)

This next picture is for those of you who don't care about our Rascal as much as we do (aka Grandma Terry)!!!

First Playdate!

Why is Karter smiling? He is excited for his first playdate!! This week while at "Baby Storytime", I was talking to one of the other mommies and found out that they live in Hampton. Imagine my surprise to actually meet someone that lives in OUR town!! We talked for awhile and exchanged numbers and said that we should set up a playdate.

Our new friends Julie & Henry came over today for lunch. Henry is just a little over a year old and just learned to walk last week. It was fun to watch Karter interact with someone close to his age. It was also a lot of fun to have another mom to talk to! We will be getting together again next week! Yay for new friends!!

Who needs socks?

This is how we found Karter last week when we arrived at church. The picture isn't very good, but he is passed out with a smile on his face and both socks in his band. This is how I find him every time we go somewhere. It's as if he can't sleep until those socks come off! I'm ready for summer, when it will be ok for him to not wear socks.

Pictures of the day....

I just love how quickly our new camera takes pictures. It is really fun to take them quickly of Karter, because his expression changes so fast. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure....