Grandma Meme

We will miss Grandma Meme, but she will forever be in our hearts!

"...good-bye for now, 'Meme'
It was time for us to part
But know that you're in our memories
And live forever in our hearts."

Carter's Birthday Sleepover...

Carter was very happy to end the day with Abby sleeping over after his birthday fun. Tara, Paul & Autumn also stopped over to wish Carter a Happy Birthday and give him a present. His fun continued all day long.
The kids wanted to make puppy dog eyes with Toby for the picture. Here is their best one....

Toby, Abby & Carter....

The kids had a good time together!

The fun continued for Carter on Tuesday as Paige also slept over. They had fun playing together and having a sleep over. Grandma Deb, Grandpa Ken & Abby picked up Carter Wednesday night to go and spend a couple of days with them. Sounds like Carter & Abby had a lot of fun at Grandma & Grandpa's house! Carter also had a sleepover with Autumn Friday night as Paul & Tara were at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding that Paul was in. It was an exciting week for Carter, Bradley & Toby!!

Carter's Birthday Party...

We had a fun time at Carter's birthday party at the Wakanda Waterpark in Menomonie. Our families were able to join us along with two of Carter's friends.
You would have thought that we lined these kids up by height, but this is just how they were standing. Starting from the far left is Olivia, Madisyn, Paige, Dylan & Carter..... Dylan coming out of the swimming pool...

Paige with her great big smile....

Bradley & Chad enjoyed some time in the shallow end together. Bradley's favorite part to the waterpark was the sand area...

Cruz having some fun...

Cousins Evan & Dylan...

Big cousins Austin & Andrew enjoying the peas that Grandma Deb brought. It is hard to get these two to take pictures...

The birthday party group....
Andrew, Austin, Bradley, Abby, Paige, Dylan, Olivia, Carter, Madisyn, Evan & Cruz.

Carter opening up presents. He liked the card that Olivia made him.

Carter really wanted a new fishing pole for his birthday. Cousin Abby bought him a nice, new red pole that he was very happy about.

Thanks everyone for joining Carter for his birthday party and all of the wonderful gifts. We had a great time spending the day with family!!

Happy 7th Birthday, Carter!

A happy birthday goes out to Carter who turned 7 on July 27. We will take a trip down memory lane with some pictures of Carter (keep in mind that our first digital camera was purchased when Carter was 4).

Carter's school days.......here Carter is ready for his first day of preschool, Fab-4. Carter's first day of Kindergarten...

Carter's first day of Kindergarten (2nd year)...

Carter's birthday parties (from age 4 and up).......Carter turns 4 (big Spiderman fan that year)

Carter turns 5.....he still loves ducks as his favorite animal....DQ cake that year....yum!

Carter turns 6......his first year of having a "friends birthday party" where he took 3 friends to the Wakanda Waterpark in Menomonie. Later that day, we celebrated his birthday with cousins.

When I was selecting the pictures to place in the family blog, I thought of ones that Carter would appreciate the most. He likes to be silly and make people laugh. Here are some of our favorites....

~~~Age 4

Carter received a great big treat after being in the hospital for a week. He gets a 5 lb. Hershey chocolate bar to cheer him up.

This was the year at the pumpkin patch that Carter decided to stick his whole body in the cut-out pumpkin picture and gets himself stuck. Cousin Andrew got a kick out of this and helps out Carter.

Carter is proud big brother when baby Bradley is born...

Carter smiling very nicely for the Christmas picture...

Carter saying "cheese" for the camera...

Carter is REALLY enjoying this piece of birthday cake from Bradley's party....

Carter loves Grandma LaNita's homemade bread....

Carter favorite smile for pictures...

Happy Birthday Carter! We love you!!

Swimming Lessons

Carter had a good time at swimming lessons this year. He was in level 2 and practiced many new swimming skills. His best part to the swimming lessons was being able to jump off the diving board. He looked like a pro out there jumping off the board.Carter was lucky to be in the same group as Autumn. They had good time together learning how to swim. I was able to get some shots of Autumn going off the board.

Bradley had a good time practicing his swimming skills in the baby pool while Carter was at lessons.

Carter is overcoming many of his fears. It is great to see the development and progress taking place. The kids did a great job!

Happy Birthday Carter!

I hope to have pictures for everyone of Carter's birthday party soon. Our computer is still at the doc. We had a fun time celebrating Carter's 7th birthday at Wakanda Water Park in Menomonie. I am hoping to post the pictures this week. You can see some pics of our fun on Jamie & Shana's family blog if you click on my 'fun family link'. Hope everyone is doing well!

Monday, July 21

~~~Just wanted to let everyone know that our computer has been at the doctor getting some repairs done. The backlight went out on the screen. Thank you to family and friends who have offered the use of your computers during this time. I would not have made it through graduate school without them. Things have changed since I have been on campus and each class now requires daily on-line work. Students also have to print out their own copies of everything needed for the class. This eliminates the University having to make so many copies......and, yet, the tuition keeps going up! :-)

~~~I am beginning the initial steps to my thesis in which I have one year to complete. I have selected an advisor to work with and my proposal is due to him in October. My hypotheses is going to look at the correlation between children with anxiety and family stress. My data analysis will be other families that have children with anxiety, with hopes to have 30-50 families return my survey (fingers crossed!!) Please pray for us as this will be an overwhelming amount of work to do.

~~~Carter just finished up two weeks of swimming lessons. Autumn was also in his group. He has become a stronger swimmer this year and I hope it continues. To get to the next level, he has to work on keeping his butt/belly up when doing the back stroke. I have some pictures of Carter & Autumn at their swimming lessons that I will post once our computer is up and running. Grandma Deb & Grandpa Ken came to watch Carter at his lessons one evening. He was very excited that he had an audience! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!! It was great to see Grandma Deb back up and moving.

~~Have a great week everyone! I hope to have some pictures for you soon!