Pete's Tractor Party

Here are some pictures from Pete's 3rd Birthday Party! It was so much fun, I had a great time putting it together and all the kids and mamas had fun too! Thanks to all who helped and came to celebrate our sweet Pete!

The star of the Party, thanks Kirk!!

Drinks for the adults and kiddos

Almost all the kids in the scoop!

Yes Ben, dirt does make you cuter. ;)

Birthday boy thoroughly enjoying the tractor, dirt and a stick :)

I love GiGi hanging out on the tire in this one!

Sweet Friends

It was so many of the kids first time with a pinata, we adults had a good time telling them to give it a good whack!!

Me, with the cupcake. Can't believe my little man is three.

 The candy bar for favors was super fun! Thanks Johnna for all the containers and candy too! It was a bit of a candy-overload party, but hey Peter's only going to turn 3 once right?


Love you sweet boy, so blessed by the little man that you are and I'm believing BIG things for you life. God has plans for you my little rock.

Blogging and Love

As you are well aware I haven't blogged in a while. The problem with blogging (for me) is that when I get behind I don't know where to start from when I begin again. Should I back-blog and catch everyone up or just skip to what is happening right now. So instead of doing either of those things I debate back and forth of what I should do and in turn get farther behind. I do intend to post about our trip and Elyse's birthday, but they require a little more time and effort than I have to give right now.

So here's a short sweet story about my little man, isn't he cute?

This is Pete climbing his first tree, he loved it! I love that he is all boy. Jumping off the tree was his favorite part, he could have stayed there all day.

But, the story came from breakfast this morning. For the last month or two I've been working on getting him to say 'I Love You' and he would repeat after me (or Cliff) I - I, Love, You - You! He would not say Love, just the I and You. It was really sweet how he said and I figured we were headed in the right direction. Just this last week he started saying the Love part. I was so proud of him!

Back to breakfast, Pete and I sit next to each other at the table and he always leans over and grabs my arm and sometimes migrates to my lap. This morning he grabbed my arm and said 'I Love You'!!! SO SWEET! It is the greatest thing a parent can hear from their child. And just what this mommy needed to hear from her sweet little one. Thank you Lord for this blessing in my life!

Love this boy!!

I really do love and I think I appreciate him in new ways these last few weeks. What a blessing he is! He LOVES looking at sissy's pictures. For almost a week now he has been asking to see her pictures, the ones around the house, on the computer, on Cliff's phone, her slideshow, anywhere he can see his sweet sis. I think it took all the commotion slowing down for him to really realize that she isn't here with us anymore. He asks for her sometimes and we usually just tell him that sissy is with Jesus now. One day he'll understand just what that means. Yesterday I was cleaning my bathroom and right outside the door is a basket left from Elyse's memorial service with a bunch of the smaller frames in it. Peter emptied the whole basket talking about each picture of her (he would say, "sis" or "feet") it was so cute! And then he put them all back just the way they were before, what a sweet type 'A' little boy I have. We have been praying that he will have supernatural memories of Elyse and I hope this is the beginning of seeing that prayer answered.

It was WILD!!

We went out to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park a couple of weeks ago just for a couple of hours, it was lots of fun. The park is huge, it's pretty spread out so we didn't get to see too much in our short visit, but I think we'll try to go back before we go home. Peter loved this play area they had, he could have stayed for hours!

The gorillas were really cool to see without any glass between us and them, just a mote!
Pete loves the Flamingos! He could also spend all day just watching them.

feeling a little sentimental

I've been contemplating that my baby boy isn't going to be my baby much longer. He is growing so much and is so aware of things and interactive, but when he crawls up in my lap and snuggles...well nothing is better than that right? He is such a fun little boy and I kind of feel bad to rock his world with bringing a new baby into his life. I know he will never remember life before this sibling, but I can't help but feel a little sentimental!

Here are a few pictures looking back over the last 20 months!

The hospital...just a few hours old.
3 Months, boy is he cute!About 6 months.
1 year old!
About 15 months!
18 Months!As the end of this pregnancy nears I know that the next several months are going to fly by! I look forward to watching the relationship between Pete and this little one. We pray each day for them to have a special bond and friendship. But, I think there is just something special about the child that made you a mommy for the first time. Someone told me once that her first made her a mom and the second child made them a family, I think that's a great way to look at it.

1st Haircut

I took Peter to get his first haircut a few weeks ago, I couldn't get any smiles out of him, but at least he didn't cry!! He looked pretty handsome after he the cut, although I think he already needs another one.

1st Snow

We let Peter enjoy the snow after church last night, he loved it!! It really looked like he was amazed at the snow falling from the sky.

Peter was pretty impressed with the snow! He didn't mind it coming down on him at all, of course it was a nice light snow fall too! He wasn't a big fan of the cold snow on his hands when he fell down and caught himself with his hands!

Family Photo Fun

The whole Carey Family

Peter and his photo shoot with dad.This is Jake, Peter's oldest cousin. Jake will be 18 in January and Cliff and him have had a special relationship for a long time. He was at camp the week Peter was born so he was the first of the Carey family to get to see and hold Pete. We told Jake to take Peter over for the 'boys picture' and he looked at us like we were crazy and said he didn't know how to hold him. I told him if he could hold him when he was 5 days old he could hold him now! So this is how he carried him, just like when he was about a week old! Pretty cute! Peter wasn't sure what to think.

Here are the boy cousins, and Peter and Jakes bonding below. I like this one where they look like they've both got their hands in their pockets looking cool.

Peter was really taken with Jake, I think this one is very sweet!

Pumpkin Patch

We took our kiddos to the pumpkin patch today! A group of us moms from Hume headed down to Hillcrest Farms in Reedley this morning. We had a great time we rode the train, went on a hayride and of course got lots of pictures with pumpkins! This is one of the best ones I got of Peter! He looks like he was having a good time!

Trying really hard to get that piece of straw in his nose! Below is a picture of our friend Ryan and Peter, they are just a month apart.

SD ZOO

For Peter's 1st birthday mom and dad took us to the zoo, it was a very fun day! I think Peter liked the people and attention more than the animals, but at least he had a good time! Here are a few of the shots from our day.

Tired from a full day, he did take a great nap for about an hour of the afternoon!