This Side of Sunny

Kindergarten graduate

A few weeks ago, Carter graduated Kindergarten. Wow, this was an emotional time for me. My baby boy is growing up and is going to be in first grade. No more daycare, preschool, or kinder, now it's real school! Recently he has begun to play Minecraft with his brother- Coleman on his ipod and Carter on the ipad. They play together in the same world online, it's wild. Carter was even giving his brother some tips on how to do things. He's a smarty pants.

I love this picture of him, full of his personality: monster truck shirt, spiky hair and a purple tie he clipped on all on his own.

Shaking hands with his principal.

Diploma in hand! That's even a picture of him on the diploma.

Trying to get a good shot in the sun...

Here's Mr. Carter:

 

 

Highlights from Carter's 6th birthday

There was life before Monster Jam trucks and life after Monster Jam trucks for this now 6 year old. 

The family invite:

The birthday pancake breakfast:

The Monster cake:

Presents:

Carter's first monster truck instructional video: (Carter: put it on youtube, mom)

 

We love this not so little guy. He's the one that starts the bathroom floor slip and slide. He loves to use the stairs for a monster truck launch pad. He recently learned to suck in air and burp. He got excited when he started to read his Hotwheels early readers. He likes to show people how he rides his bike without training wheels and is trying to convince me to let him ride his bike to school for Earth Day because it's good for the environment. And he has his first loose tooth- finally, he's been waiting a long time. I love that when I go check on him at night, he's got two monster trucks sleeping next to him.

The next Steve Nash

Carter is playing basketball this year. He loves the Phoenix Suns and even wrote a letter at school to Steve Nash telling him to come back to the Suns. He's number 6, if the orange shorts weren't a clue.

 

 

What can I say? The kid is a natural, I'm expecting a call from the Suns any day now. What the other two do to pass the time...

Santa Delivers

One our favorite Christmas memories, ever.

 

Fleeting moments

Lately I have been noticing that time is fleeting. Sure, when you are stuck in the office or meetings, time feels like it's crawling but I'm talking about the delicious moments. The moments you want to savor, enjoy and hide away in your heart because one day you know that those little moments are going to move out and have lives of their own.

They won't unroll all of the tin foil and wax paper while you slept in, they won't break your birthday present you didn't even get to hang on the wall yet, they won't be there to say "wow" when dad turns on the Christmas lights outside. So these are the moments, the memorable, good or not so good, that I want to remember. 

Today, a moment like that happened. Carter learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He still has to get the hang of the stopping part, but he truly is riding on his own.

 

Before I know it, he'll be trading in those wheels for a car. Oh, I think my heart just skipped a beat at that thought. My no fear little guy is becoming independent. Thank God for helmets. 

Lately

Some snapshots showing what we have been doing lately...

Clowning around...

Cowgirlin' around... she's choosing her own outfits and shoes, um, boots now...

Date night... a little blurry but Coleman tried.

Cousin time... notice the painted nails!

Watching awesome Cardinals games!

 

End of the year

This year Carter said goodbye Preschool!

This is his classroom and his teacher, Ms. Barnes.

I absolutely love the paper hat, and I'm not going to lie, this mama was emotional- my baby boy is growing up. Plans for the graduate? Right now Carter is super excited about being on the Jr. Phoenix Suns, his basketball team at the YMCA. He tells me that he will need tie shoes because that's what the basketball players wear.

11th Commandment

Wednesday evening, on our way to church I was mentioning to Coleman that we wouldn't have time to do both church and homework, so we would put off homework to the next night. He's been earning Ninjago TV shows by completing homework without complaining, ahem.

Coleman: Yeah, 'cause God is more important than homework.

Carter: Yeah, but God wants you to do your homework too.

There you go- it must be the 11th Commandment that broke off the stone tablet:

Thou shall do your homework! (and without complaint, whining or grimacing I might add)

 

How to... have a construction truck party

Foreman Carter wanted a construction truck themed party this year. So naturally, it starts with a trip to the Home Depot. He's wearing his birthday shirt that aptly says, "A little dirt won't hurt".

The construction workers or party guests were going to need somewhere to dig, so we enlarged the sandbox in our backyard. Bonus of actually having a backyard!

The Crew

Gear/Favors

• Construction vest, ordered here
• Hard hats, dollar section at Target
• Tool belts from Home Depot
• Carter's construction hat from Home Depot, "because Mom, that's what the planners wear"

The Tunes

While the crew was digging away, we had this playlist going:

• 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
• Shiftwork by Kenny Chesney
• Working for a Living by Phil Vassar & Huey Lewis
• We Built This City by Starship
• Whistle While You Work (Kids song)
• Down to Earth by Peter Gabriel (from Walle Movie)

The Cake

One of the easier cakes I've made. Carter and I googled "construction truck cake" and looked at images. I pinned two of them for inspiration.

I started with two sheets of chocolate cake. I chose one to cut into different pieces to create the mountain. The white spots are just leftover flour from the pan. Then in the freezer they went.

I had chocolate icing and then colored white icing to a lighter tan. When I got the cake out the pan, some of it stuck. That's the beauty of a construction site cake, just filled the hole with "gravel".

My "gravel" makers...

pounding the Oreos to make the dirt.

Next, Carter picked out the pieces to make the mountain. And yes, I admit to letting them eat icing so I could finish icing the cake... who wants a cake with finger digs all over it?

I liked how the two colors of brown swirled together- totally unintended but turned out great.

My helpers put on the candy rocks, Oreo dirt, palm trees, toy trucks and these adorable cone candles.

Foreman Carter and his cake.

Wasn't one of my best tasting cakes, though. I think I prefer the golden cake.

Games

We were going to do two games, water balloon relay using the dumptrucks and a washing station for the trucks but ended up doing a water balloon toss. Next time we will need to fill a lot of balloons.

 

It was a great party for our special middle child, future foreman planner of construction sites.

 

 

Happy 5th Birthday Carter!

On Saturday, we celebrated our not-so-little construction worker's 5th birthday! It seemed like yesterday I was bringing my little sumo baby home.

Later I will post about the construction party. Carter made quite the foreman!