"God" & "the"

One of Ella's treasured toys since she was about 15months old has been a tiny Gideons Bible. We have three...a white, green and orange one. Ella has gravitated towards the orange one. Even when she 15mo, she would sit for long lengths of time at the table, pretending to look through and "read" the Bible.A few weeks ago, she decided to bring her little orange Bible to church. On the way to church, Ella got excited and said, there is "God" in my Bible. See....G - O - D". This is really the first word (besides her name) that she has really pointed out/identified and read in a book on her own. We told her that she could probably find the word "God" on every page. She started looking and then said, "That is going to be too much work!" It was precious to me that this was her first word she read and the book was His Word. This past Sunday on the way to church she discovered and read the word "the" in her Bible.

We have been working on phonics since Ella turned four and she has a few other words she can write out and spell like "zoo" and "dog", but had not really made the effort to point them out in a book yet. It is very exciting to be involved with teaching her to read and see the excitement she has for it.

Grandma Katherine's Visit

We had a great time with Grandma Katherine visiting this past week and weekend.

Here are a few things we did...
Jeremy's sister, Trinity, is now a manager at a cool, new Japenese restaurant in the domain called Sushi Zushi. We went to see it and celebrate it's grand opening. We also celebrated Trin's 30th birthday on Thursday. Happy Birthday Trin!
Jeremy and his mom went on a sake date one night at Trin's restaurant and then had coffee and dessert at Mozart's...yum! Katherine helped me with some new curtains for Ella's room and helped me redecorate it a little. Ella loves it and thinks it looks more "grown up". Saturday was a full day with our Beauty and the Beast show at One World Theater and a baby shower for me and another girl expecting in our class at our church. Busy week/weekend...rested on Sunday.Grandma said it was her best visit with us yet. Thanks for visiting...we enjoyed it too!

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Last night, I told the kids we were going to the zoo today. They said...no, they didn't want to go because they were going to be scared of the bears. Well, on the way home to Austin, I asked them what their favorite animals were at the zoo today. Caleb said the bear and Ella said the lion. I knew they would like it!

Here are a few pictures of our visit to the Waco zoo. Not only did we get to see all the animals, but I got to see a friend of mine back when we lived in San Antonio and my friend, Tamber and her girls.

It may have been a little much for me to do at 34weeks, but it was a beautiful day and I had not been there before, so we just had to go.

More Olympics Please

Yeah for the Olympics!

We are typically not big TV watchers in the evenings, but since the Olympics have begun, we have had the TV on every night! I enjoy watching not only for the sport and competition, but all the personal stories behind the athletes. My favorite winter Olympic sport is figure skating. Caleb often asks me what I want to be when I grow up. I always have to find something different than a mommy...my usual answer is a pairs figure skater. Which is true...I would have loved to have done this sport, but know I would not have had what it takes in regards to time and practice necessary. Caleb usually prefers that I be a race car driver...

Many mornings this week, Ella wakes up and asks "are the Olympics on?" The kids are excited about them too....Ella was happy to find this coloring page at the library and wanted to work on it during her rest time.

I researched the Olympic rings and the colors and I found out on Wiki that the five intertwined rings represent the unity of the five inhabited continents. The colors of the rings - blue, yellow, black, green, and red, with a white background - were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was first flown at the Olympic games in 1920.

Hope you have been enjoying the Olympics too.

Finishing Up 2009

I have been a little behind finishing up 2009...I wanted to include a few pictures of the kids over the fall and winter. These show a little of what the Carters were up to and what the kids were into.

Ella has really been into writing her name for well over a year now, but continues to get so excited about it.The kids and I went with my sister and her kids and some other friends to Crowe's Nest Farm last fall as a preschool outing for our home preschool we did last year. I really liked this picture of Ella and Caleb too...look how long his hair was (pre-first haircut!) Ella and her good friend Brynna.Then, playing outside at the farm after lunch.Ella enjoying giving one of her babies a bath.We frequently find Ella putting on little tea parties in her room.Good-looking after a haircut!Picnic in the park...Caleb chowing down as usual!
Playing....and dress-up and more dress-up.Grandpa Jim & Grandee came to visit right before Thanksgiving.To finish up...I will do another post to tell a little about our Christmas holiday.

Snowy Day

I did not expect it to actually snow today, although the weather forecasts predicted it, but early this morning I started hearing what sounded like sleet hit the window in our bedroom. It was too dark to see out and I went back to bed. When I woke up (9:00, thanks kids!) I couldn't believe how much we actually had outside. It has continued all morning and even at lunch, the difference in accumulation is obvious. The kids have had a great time this morning learning how to make snowballs, build a snowman and make snow angels. We just recently studied the book Snowy Day, during our preschool lessons and learned all about tracks...people tracks/animal tracks in dirt, sand and snow. So, they were so excited to go out and make tracks in the snow. The question they have been asking all morning, is "Why did God send snow today?". The snow is still coming down and my job now, while they are napping, is to figure out how to make snow ice cream. I think we will have enough for it!
This is early this morning...well, 10am. Caleb stood outside and kept yelling "Hi snow!".

Snowman's name is Silas...the name we are leaning towards for baby carter #3.
I was amazed at how large the snowflakes were!This is at lunch...you can see a definite increase in the amount of snow accumulated on the ground since the morning.
Collecting snow for a snow ball.It's still coming down!

Snow Ice Cream Results...tasted pretty good for not having sweetened condensed milk.

Cared for...

Last week while Jeremy was out of town, my mom came down for a few days to spend with us. While she was here, I got a stomach bug that wiped me out for a day or two. Fortunately, my mom took care of the kids and things around here. I was so thankful that she happened to be here during that time.

Ella told me today that she wanted to learn how to do dishes and laundry so she could take care of me if I got sick again and grandma was not here. So, she hand-washed the dishes in the sink and loaded them all into the dishwasher. Then, she wanted to do laundry, so I showed her how to start it and put the soap in and then she put all the clothes in.

She did all this in her gold princess dress... I am glad to know I will be cared for the next time.