HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!
So this post is about 2 1/2 months late, but better late than never. :) Our little Carter turned 2 on 7/11. He definitely is turning into a little man. His vocabulary has increased exponentially since his birthday and we are amazed by it every day. He is also becoming quite the helper so that will be especially nice when his little sister is here. Anyway, his birthday was on a Sunday so we had a party for him on Saturday from 4-6. The boys worked on making his birthday cake while Christina took off for a baby shower. (good timing) Carter loves to help in the kitchen and Mike is REALLY good at letting him, but of course the favorite part is when he gets to "taste" the food.
Carter absolutely LOVES Toy Story so we debated about buying a cake already decorated, but as we looked none of the cakes were anything special. So Mike took on the responsibility of making and decorating his cake and he did a FANTASTIC job! He freehanded everything, and we came up with a clever saying "TWO Infinity and Beyond!". Buzz is Carter's favorite character, but more and more he is always talking about Jessie...hmm...maybe he is growing up too fast. ;-) We made two cakes for the crowd we were expecting and it turned out to be just enough.
We kept up with last year's birthday party and had a hot dog dinner with delicious side dishes. Thanks to everyone who brought and helped with the food! We then told all the kids to bring their swimsuits and prepare to get wet. We got a killer deal on a Toy Story slip and slide and then we got this water spray things from Mike's grandparents and the kids really had a blast with them all. On the slip and slide we had to put dish soap to help get going so practically all the kids got a bath as well. :)
We love to have parties and invite all the friends and family that are around, which really does add up to a lot so I think for Carter's b-day there were at least 50 people. We loved seeing everyone and sharing this time with them. After the kids got their fill of water in we had cake, ice cream, and presents. Carter was all about the cake and blowing out the candles. Sarah got the boys matching shirts so it will be a fun tradition to get pictures of them every year. Joey turned 2 two weeks earlier than Carter. It's amazing how much they look a like!
When it came to present time, Carter really wasn't in the mood to open anything which was kind of annoying. We moved the presents to outside in an effort for everyone to see, but Carter was mostly content just playing with a car that he got for Christmas. Silly boy! It wasn't until after everyone left that he got really excited for all the cool new toys.
One of his favorite toys was a Buzz phone from Aunt Angela. He carried that with him everywhere, and for a couple of nights would be so distraught if we couldn't find it for him to take with him in his crib. He really did love everything so sorry to those that came and he showed little enthusiasm for the gift. They all have kept him very busy since then.
His Loot! He totally scored and as you can tell he is SUPER happy!
The party honestly was a bit crazy, but it was so much fun to see all the family and friends that it is hard to not keep up the huge parties as a tradition. We definitely didn't get to talk to everyone as long as we wanted, but thanks to all that came. It was great to have Mike's Grandpa McElhaney come out and get some generation pictures.
After everyone left we all kind of crashed, but it was such a great day!
The next day was Carter's actually birthday so we headed up to the cabin after church to enjoy our favorite place. Carter let us give him a couple of smash kisses and we just had a great relaxing time with family and friends.
On the way up we had to stop and get a free slurpee from 7/11. Carter was asleep at the time so we enjoyed them for him, but he gave us a good pose with the cup right before he crashed on the drive home. We love him so much and our excited to have another little one to add to our happiness.
Last birthday thing...since Carter seriously can watch Toy Story 1 or 2 all day long, we decided that we should take him to the Toy Story 3 on the 5th of July for his birthday. He seriously was absolutely perfect and didn't do one thing wrong through the whole movie! Until we tried to take a picture and he wouldn't stop moving. :) Happy Birthday little man!
THE BEAR CHAIR
So, the story behind this chair is a funny one in our family. Christina got this chair for free from a ward swap meet. She knew that it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it was a well built chair that we could one day refinish. Well, Carter LOVED it. He would sit in every day and watch a show or eat a snack. He started calling it his "bear chair". We on the other hand, especially Mike, hated how it looked. It was handmade by a grandparent couple in our ward years and years and years ago, but it needed to be updated. Mike would ask Carter if they could chop off the bear's head, and Carter would get this sad/worried expression on his face and say "no!".
The random night came where we were at Walmart and Mike was determined to re-upholster the chair. He found some great fabric and new padding and then that night he started working on it. First he had to "skin" the bear and then came the part that Mike had been preparing Carter for...cutting the head off. We thought Carter would cry and scream no, but he just said had the worried look (above) and finally said that we could cut the head off. We were surprised for the approval, but grateful.
Once the head was off the rest of the work went fairly quickly to redo the chair and fix the arms. It really does look great and Carter still loves it. He even still calls it his "bear chair" so maybe we avoided scaring him for life?? Hope so! :)
