Service with a smile

I love to have my kids do some type of service project for the holidays. I think they learn a lot and come to realize that service is such a good thing for those getting the service and those doing the service. My dear friend, Michelle's mom is battling cancer again. Michelle organized this wonderful service project for the clinic that her mom goes to for chemo treatments. She bought and cut 100 blankets to donate to the clinic. Our little family cut 25 blankets and tied 10 of them. One night when Jason was working I put Tangled in and we just sat and tied for the evening. We had the best time. When I told the kids that it was for cancer patients they took it a little more seriously. Braxton reminded me that I cut all grandma's hair off when she had cancer. Funny kid. I am so grateful that we could be a small part of such a great thing and that my kiddos, at least for a little bit, loved giving service.

Braxtons version of service.
Good times!

Nati getting into it.

Dylan doing a fantastic job!

Waiting for the Tooth Fairy!

One big, happy girl!

The day before I pulled it out. It was barely hanging on so she was just happy to have it out.

It finally happened - over a month ago (I'm embarrassed that I forgot to post it). Natalie lost her first tooth. When she told me that it was loose I was a bit surprised but, it was, and within 2 days it was out. She was much braver than I anticipated and I am so proud of her. The Tooth Fairy came that night and she is now super excited to have another loose tooth. A little piece of me is sad that my last baby has lost the first tooth but what fun we are having with her getting so big!

Baptism

Our newest member of the church.

With Great Grandma Larsen and Aunt Lynette, whom he calls Aunt Nalette.

Braxton with Grandma Carter.

Dad and his big boy.

Braxton with Grandma and Grandpa Lee.

What a great day for our Braxton!! He has been looking forward to getting baptized for months. He has been faithfully reading his scriptures and was so relieved to "pass" the bishops interview. While in the interview the bishop asked who was going to baptize him. Braxton said that his dad was. The bishop then asked how he knew that his dad was going to. Braxton replied, "Because my mom said and she's the boss." Hysterical! We all laughed. The day of his baptism was wonderful. There were 6 kids from our ward that were also baptized. We had a luncheon at our house after. When it was all said and done I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the one person that gave that day to us. I will never be able to repay or show my true appreciation and gratitude to her but I thank her for giving us that day. He is my little miracle boy and I am so very blessed to have him and so proud of him for making this decision. I asked him what he thought of everything at the end of the day and he summed it up perfectly with "It was awesome!"

Creatures of the Night

The kiddos dressed a little darker this year. Both the boys wanted to be zombies - no idea why. Nati wanted to be a witch. So we shredded clothes and goo'ed them all up for the boys followed by face painting with a little fake blood. Nati got clobbered by green face paint and her hair ratted out as far as I could get it. They had a blast AND the weather was fantastic!

Oh my pumpkins!!

This years pumpkin festivities were a little different. Dylan was MIA (last day of golf) for picking out pumpkins so it was just me and the other 2. They had a blast with the maze, the corn kernel pit, picking out pumpkins and taking a hay ride. The tradition is to go over to Jason's parents to carve them a couple of days before Halloween. Braxton wasn't feeling well to go over so he & I did our own little carving party. We had a great time together and Dylan and Nati came home with their cutely carved pumpkins.

Super happy kids with their pumpkins.
Oh yah - he's all that!

Starting the carving.

Rolling around in the corn kernels.

My 2 cute little munchkins.

Big man!

Natalie playing in the maze.

Braxton finding "the one"

Austin Todd Carter

This has been an exciting year for us. We've had lots of new babies born into the families. This handsome little guy is Austin. He joined the Carter family on October 23rd weighing in at 7 lb 5 oz. He looks exactly like his older brother - exactly! He got to be Yoda for Halloween. He's super cute!