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!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Happy 10th Birthday to our sweet niece, Abby!! Our family loves hanging out with Abby. I especially enjoy being with Abby so that I can braid her hair (Carter doesn't typically like me to braid his hair) :-)
Abby is a very special cousin to Carter as he loves to play with her. She's an awesome cousin and also a great friend to Carter. Abby is one of the most patient and kind-hearted little girls that I know!! And now she is growing up!
Here the kids are sledding on Baecker's hill at Christmas time in 2004....Our annual trip to the Rice Lake Pumpkin Patch with cousins (2005)...

Big cousin Abby loving up baby Bradley at the hospital..

Abby & Auntie Shana came to visit us after we came home from the hospital...

Another great year at the pumpkin patch ~~2006~~

Abby showing us her talent on the keyboard at Christmas time (2006)

Pumpkin patch time.....2007........

Carter had a blast with Abby on our trip to the Cranberry Country Lodge this year!! And Bradley is still asking about his big cousin...."Where's Abby" ?????

We love having you around Abby! You are my sweetie!! We love you!

Vacation Bible School 2008

We kicked off a great year of VBS this year!! "Power Lab - Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power". The kids performed at the church service this morning. What fun it is to bring our little ones closer to God and learn more about Jesus!!

Autumn, Carter & Paige in the group...

Dylan & Ethan are also in the group....

Bradley helped us pass out the thank you gifts at the end of the program. Here he is giving Dane a Powerade drink. Thanks to many family members who helped with this great event: Grandma & Grandpa Dorwin, Amy, Don & Brett Black, Ann, Lenny & Dane Schneider & Missy Dorwin.
Day 1: Jesus gives us the power to be thankful.

Grandma LaNita was one of our Crew Leaders..

Day 2: Jesus gives us the power to help others....."Aha!!"Day 3: Jesus gives us the power to be brave. The kids went through the story of when Jesus walks on water. Our Station Leader, Doug, built an awesome boat for the kids to get the real feel of it.

Day 4: Jesus gives us the power to live forever. Dylan, Hunter & LaNita are in this picture.

Day 5: Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God.

LaNita's Birthday Party

We had a good time at the fire pit, roasting hot dogs and marshmellows for LaNita's birthday party.
Here Bradley is trying to blow out the fire on the tiki torch... Everyone was ready to roast a marshmellow or make a S'mores.

Tara is helping make up a S'more...

The kids even caught a mouse in the spring. We were very excited that they brought the mouse over to the table to show all of us. Carter would like everyone to know that he got bit by the mouse.

The roasting queen...

Grandma with all the kids...

Dylan, Cruz, Carter & Toby, Paige, Autumn, Evan, Grandma, Bradley & Grandpa....

The roasting king....

Tara & Paul...

It started to sprinkle at the end of the party, so we packed up and headed inside for birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Grandma LaNita!! We love you!!