Santa's Village

At Santa's Village We....
Wrote a letter to Santa...


Sat in his lap and told him all the things he "needed."


...Had fun with the cut-out snowman...
(which was right beside the real reindeer Pee-Yew!)

Drove Daddy on Santa's Sleigh...

...and had lots of fun making cookies and ornaments in the kitchen and toyshop.

By the way, Mrs. Clause had a reading room for the children. Did any of you know that Santa's got a hottie, 20-something, Latino wife? We were impressed.

Merry Christmas everyone!

But Mama....

He has this red Power Ranger costume that he wears every single day. He doesn't want to take it off to sleep, eat or especially go shopping. He thinks he's really cool dressed this way. (Note the red rain boots with the flames. This was the first pair of shoes he's obsessed over and wore them with EVERYTHING including shorts this summer.)
This is what goes on at our house every day now...

Outside for some "kick-spins" and sword practice.

If he chooses to remove the mask this is as far as it gets.

And my personal favorite...

"But mama, Power Rangers have to potty too!"
Hey at least he took the gloves off.

He's so funny to watch. I know it won't be long until there will be three little Power Rangers running around so I'm enjoying every minute we get to spend together.

John Carter's "Red" Party

Our little boy turned 3 on November 21st!
When we asked him what kind of party he wanted this year he said "red." We asked again, "A red what?" His reply: "JUST RED!" So that's what we had....a big red party with a huge red train bouncy house thanks to Meme and Poppy. Here are some of his little friends celebrating with him...

Madyson & Jacob

John Carter, Bailey & Caroline (Caroline is the leader of the "gang" at Mrs. Vickies. Mrs. Vickie is our wonderful babysitter)

Enjoying his RED "Happy Cake"

He and his good buddy Caroline had a cake eating contest. I'm not sure who won.

Note how neatly Kendall (pronounced Candle by J.C.) is eating her cake. John Carter has spotted an opportunity to steal some of her icing.

Mitch (Caroline's big bro.) and Riley (Bailey's big sis.)

This is in the middle of the eating contest.

John Carter giving uncle Michael a birthday present. Michael's my little brother and we happened to have the party on his birthday, the 22nd. (Bama wasn't playing that day, so Tim agreed to the party being then)

"Miss Nevaeh" and Mallory

We want to thank all of our friends and family for sharing his birthday with us. We would also like to say thank you to everyone for the presents. (I'm a little slow getting the thank-you cards out). He was tripping on a major sugar high by the time we got home, but he had a blast.

Baby shower for the twins

Tim prepares his lap for holding more than one child

Our little friend Madyson, Tim & John Carter


Two little "lovies" for the babies.



Little Hartstrings outfits for the boys!

We received so many sweet little outfits, cool baby gear and tons of diapers and wipes! Thanks to all the great ladies who helped put our shower together and prepared the delicious food. Our church family is so generous. I don't know what we would do without them!
Now, I just have to find a place to put everything.....

A Fun Lunch With Cayden

I had to "crawl" in these tubes to fish John Carter out!


Relaxing in the crawling tubes at McDonald's.

I may be a bad mother, but we don't eat fast food too often. Lately though, McDonald's has been giving away Madagascar toys in their Happy Meals. Unfortunately, we had McDonald's three times last week just trying to get all the toys. (Of course this means I have to get a Happy Meal too!) On our last meal there we had the company of my best friend for over 20 years, Alissa and her youngest son Cayden to share in the Madagascar Mania! The boys had fun playing on the playground after we ate.
**Note** Those tubes the kids climb in are NASTY! Lysol your child when he comes out!!**

My New "Fourla Wheeler"

Proudly showing off his new toy.


I caught him riding/driving like this (while it was in high gear!)
He said, "But mama, Bob the Builder rides his equipment like this."



He looks so little sitting on this big red four wheeler, but he handles it well. Of course he likes going really, really fast and he loves to slam it into reverse and scare me half to death! Guess I had better get used to these dare devil little boys.

John Carter and Kendall

John Carter & Kendall


I think he's in love!

My son is in love! We spent a fun play date with our friends Mrs. Amy, Kendall and little Taylor on Friday. I'm not sure if it's all Kendall or if it's her toys he's most in love with. She took him for a ride in her Jeep, they played on her cool swing set and the most awesome thing a girl could ever have, she had it, a Deigo play set!! That put him over the edge.
Kendall you quickly became his "best girlfriend ever!"
Thanks for a fun day.

Sorry for the delay in posting our Halloween pictures, but I didn't get any good ones with my camera so I've had to ask friends to send me theirs. (Not to mention the fact that I don't want to be seen on here looking like I'm wearing a big red tent!!) Anyway, John Carter decided about two weeks before Halloween that he wanted to be Santa. (I already had a flying monkey outfit ready, but NO!) When I asked him what Daddy could be since he was originally going to be the Wicked Witch, he said very proudly, my Elf! So, needless to say I had to start sewing and elf outfit for Tim. So here we are...Thanks Shannon & John for the pix!

Spooky Teeth

My child has the love for Halloween that I do. Every year I drag out our decorations and realize we have more for Halloween than Christmas!

My grandma always let me dress myself and sometimes that might include an odd array of stripes and flowers, scarves and her old jewelry and sometimes my grandfather's hat. I think I was around four when I took to adding my Mr. Potatoe Head's pipe to the ensemble. Of course you could actually get a pipe with your Mr. Potatoe Head back then. (Probably a pack of cigarette's too, but I'm not sure I had those) You could usually find me each week at the Piggly Wiggly with my little shopping cart, looking like a homeless child tagging along after my grandmother.

We wanted to get you all in the Halloween mood by showing you John Carter's "scary teeth."

Oh, and stand by for his choice of Halloween costume....to be continued....

"Pishing" with Daddy

We took John Carter fishing today. This was the first time he got to use Daddy's rod & reel from when he was a little boy. We had lots of fun!