Isn't it October?!

Saturday morning we had a very cold start to our day, and it didn't get much warmer! Kristoffer was very surprised when he took Rascal out and it was so cold, sad thing is...29 degrees will seem warm up here in a few months!

This fall our poor trees out front haven't even had the chance for its leaves to turn before they are covered in snow.

It may have been just a dusting of snow, but it is still a shock when it was only October 10th!!

However, the dusting of snow on Saturday is nothing like what is coming down today!! Already when we woke up today we couldn't even see the grass in the backyard and it is still coming down hard. Where is our fall?!

Karterman Videos

Karter loves playing with his puppy and gets really excited when he catches the ball. This video is a typical after dinner activity at our house now that it is too cold and dark to go for a walk.

Over the past couple of weeks, Karter has mastered going down the stairs. You have to be careful now when you are talking to not say downstairs unless you actually mean you want to go down there, he knows the "d" word! He is really good at going down the stairs, but when the camera is out he likes to show off a little - Grayman trait!

Karter is happy fella and is always clapping or dancing around. This last video is the tail end of him watching one of his favorite shows, "Family Feud". He loves this show because of all the clapping!!

24 Weeks

Time is going so fast and my belly continues to grow, it is really hard to believe that we are over half way through this pregnancy! At my appointment last week Baby K #2 was doing great! His heart rate continues to be strong around 145bpm and he is a very active little guy...just like his big brother was (and still is!)! My doctor was happy that I finally gained some weight, I am now +4lbs for the entire pregnancy. I am so much bigger at this stage with this baby than I was with Karter so I am surprised that it is only 4lbs, guess my stomach muscles will just never be the same! Dr. TT wanted to do another quick ultrasound to make sure it was a boy (the tech at the 20 week u/s was only 70% sure that she was telling us the correct gender), and as soon as she put the wand to my belly she said "Yep, that is definitely a boy!". Needless to say he was very proud to show off his stuff last week. Now that we are sure our baby is a boy, we just need to go register for a few boyish winter items.

My next appointment is in a few weeks, and at that appointment I will be having my glucose tested. For those of you who haven't heard about this test, you have to drink 20oz of "stuff" that tastes like flat orange soda and then wait an hour and have your blood drawn...fun times! You are also suppose to fast for 12 hours before the test, and silly me scheduled my appointment for 1:30pm. Guess I will be getting up in the middle of the night for a snack!

Birthday Party

As you all know, yesterday was Kristoffer's "Special Day". Even though he had to work all day, Karter and I spent most of the day preparing for his birthday party!

Our morning started off bright and early (Karter decided to wake up at 5:55...someone teach this kid to sleep in!) with Karter helping me bake Kristoffer's cake, buttermilk spice. We used the same recipe I got from Kristoffer's mama six years ago when he requested this cake for his first birthday we were together. Surprisingly, Karter had no interest in liking the beater...just making a mess!

After his morning nap, Karter wanted to help me wrap Kristoffer's presents. I put him in charge of holding our pop-up tape dispenser.

Apparently he liked his job a little too much! Look closely and you can see Karter's "decorations" on top of the present.

After our spaghetti dinner, Karter wanted to help daddy open his presents.

Not really wanting to get Karter all hopped up on sugar before bed, we waited until after he was in bed to have some birthday cake! It was the perfect ending to a day of celebrating the best guy in the world!!

Happy 27th Birthday!!!

27 years ago today my very handsome husband was born, Kristoffer has grown into a loving husband and an amazing daddy!! I am so blessed to be able to grow old with my best friend and today I am proud to celebrate his 27th birthday!

We will be celebrating tonight as a family, with a spaghetti (of course!) dinner and homemade spice cake for dessert. On Saturday we will be celebrating his birthday again with something we rarely get to do...go on a date...as in just, the two of us!! We have hired a babysitter and will be going out on the town (haha!) just the two of us!

Happy Birthday, Kristoffer!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Indiana Adventure: Part IV - Two Cute Little Boys

While visiting Grandma Vicky in Indiana, Karter was also very excited to play with his best bud...

...cousin Jonah!!

In my completely unbiased opinion, these are the two most handsome little boys I have ever seen! Jonah and Karter are finally to the age where they actually enjoy playing with each other, and laugh at each other all the time. It seems that whatever one is doing, the other must do also. After Mikki's wedding ceremony we were waiting outside and Karter found a little step to sit on, Jonah thought it looked rather nice too and wanted to sit by his best bud.

These two silly boys actually sat still and let me have a little impromptu photo shoot!

SO CUTE!

They wouldn't have sat this still if I had wanted them to!

Here is another case of monkey see monkey do. Great Grandma Ellen had made some cookies for the boys and Jonah was pretty interested in gobbling up as many as he could. Karter wasn't really that interested in eating them, but every time Jonah got one Karter had to have one too! (Please excuse Karter's crazy eyes.)

These two really love to chase each other, they are always running (or crawling) after each other and giggling the whole time. I love these little guys and can't wait to watch them play some more later this month!

Indiana Adventure: Part III - The reason for the trip

The whole reason for our recent trip to Indiana was to watch one of my younger cousins, Mikki get married.

The wedding was held at the Sidell Baptist Church, which was right down the street from my grandparents old house. My Grandma and Grandpa Tomaw were longtime members of this church, and Jake and I both have such fond memories visiting this church with them.

Mikki is only 4 years younger than me, but when we were growing up it seemed like she was much younger. She made a beautiful bride, even though it was weird seeing her all grown up!

Karter started to get a little restless at the reception, so we decided to take a few goofy pictures to pass the time...please excuse how creepy I look!

Congratulations, Mr & Mrs Rick Burris!

After the wedding, we all decided to stop off at one of our favorite restaurant's...Palucci's!! Jake and I both used to work there in high school and pizza making is in our blood. We thought it was only appropriate to take a picture with our boys with "Palucci", because pizza is naturally in their blood also!!

Indiana Adventure: Part II - Karter's New Tricks

While Karter and I were spending time in Indiana, Karter's silly personality started to shine a little bit more! He picked up a lot of new tricks, and this is probably going to be hard to believe...but I think he even got cuter!!

During our trip Karter had a lot of car seat time, and he wasn't always that happy about getting back into the car! In an attempt to calm him down one night, I have him my sunglasses and he thought he was the coolest thing. Now anytime he sees glasses (of any kind), he puts them on and gets a silly grin on his face!

Speaking of silly grins, what is with this face?! This is Karter's new look he will give you if you tell him something he doesn't want to hear or before he attacks you! It isn't the most attractive face...

Karter is getting really good at feeding himself, but one time while doing it at Grandpa and Grandma's house he got a little goofy.

He's such a ham, and knew when Grandma had her camera out!

One day we took Karter into Sulphur Springs to play at the playground and boy did he have fun! He really enjoyed showing off the fact that he doesn't need to swing in the baby swings anymore. In fact, he wouldn't even walk near the baby swings!

This new trick was funny! I asked Karter to lay down and take a nap...and he did it, right in the middle of the living room. The nap didn't last, he started laughing shortly after this was taken!

Karter is a true Gray man, don't get in his way when football is on! The Colt's were playing Monday night while we were in Indiana, and Karter did not want to get ready for bed.

He is so smart, when he saw this toothbrush at the Children's Museum he knew exactly what to do! We took this hint and got him his very own toothbrush and toothpaste this past weekend.

This last trick is one that I am really hoping doesn't stick, putting your feet up at the dinner table is not acceptable little man!

As you can see, Karterman had a fun and relaxing time visiting Grandpa and Grandma!

All photos courtesy of Terry Gray

He Wanted a Snack

This post was supposed to be more about our Indiana trip, but sometimes our little man does something that is just too cute to not post about!

I was getting something downstairs when I heard Kristoffer say Karter's name in a way that told me Karter had done something he shouldn't have. As I walked up the stairs I saw what our little monkey had done...dumped an entire bag of chips (that we had just bought today) all over the floor! At first I was frustrated, but then I had to grab the camera!! I guess Karter thought he needed a snack...

...and apparently he is tall enough to reach the counter!

Indiana Adventure: Part I - Family Time

We're back!! Karter and I returned home from our 12 day Indiana adventure on Tuesday. It has taken me two days to get everything unpacked and get Karterman back on some resemblance of his old schedule, so now we are back to posting!

We left our house Friday morning and drove to Chicago to spend the evening with my brother and his family (there will be a separate post later of the cousins playing together!). Saturday morning we finished our drive to Indiana, and made it to my favorite mother and father in-laws house in time for lunch! Karter was happy to be out of the car and run around.

He was also happy to find out that his Uncle Kyler had come home from IU for the day, just to spend time with him!

During our 5 day stay with our Gray family, Karter got to spend a lot of time with his Uncle Zach and Aunt Emily.

For dinner one night we went over to visit Great Grandpa Bud and Gran Gran! After dinner, Grandpa Bud enjoyed giving Karter a ride on his tractor. I think Karter enjoyed it just as much!

They couldn't get enough of our Karterman and came over to spend some more time with him another night.

Karter was also able to visit his Great Grandpa Kenny and Joyce, sorry no pictures of that visit, while Grandma Terry and I were at bible study.

I think one of Karter's favorite things about visiting Grandma Terry was all the cuddles! At home if Karter fusses when we put him down for nap, he just has to fuss, but at Grandma's house she goes to get him and cuddle. This is a pretty cute picture of the two of them waking up from an afternoon nap!!

Another one of his favorite things was playing with and smooching Grandpa Kim! He loves his Papa!

Tune in tomorrow for more of our adventure...

All photos courtesy of Terry Gray.