Big Winner!

Matson won the photo contest! We just refer to him as "big winner" now! As you can tell he's pretty excited about his new status. Thanks to everyone who voted for him! We really had a lot of fun with it. We had completely given up on winning by because we were behind by like 40 votes and it was too far to come back from. But when we checked to see who was going to win, we were surprised to find out that we had a lot more votes! We found out that Michelle and Peter had been drumming up votes for us all day and Jared was helping us out too. I got pretty excited at this point because I realized we could really win this thing! So we called in our final help (Drew and Julie) and Drew made it RAIN just as he promised. Our whole family sat around the computer all night watching the numbers climb and telling Matson how exciting this was that he was going to win!!! We are really excited about our free photo session and for everyone who helped us. Matson won with 124 votes!

Photo Contest

I entered this picture of Matson in a "mug shot" photo contest to win a free photo sitting. Help me win by clicking on this link and liking his picture. The picture with the most likes wins and it looks like I'm going to need all the help I can get! Thanks!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=257395730964444&set=a.257387760965241.55778.159567467413938&type=1&theaterhttps://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=257395730964444&set=a.257387760965241.55778.159567467413938&type=1&theater

Twinners

When you are 9 there is nothing better than matching with your best friend!

The twinner girls. They were delighted to find out they had the same shirt and Brianna ran home to put hers on so they could match!

Hogle Zoo

We spent Saturday at the Hogle Zoo. We were all very excited to take Matson to the zoo for the 1st time. We wanted to see what our animal loving little baby would do when he saw the animals up close and personal. He loved it!

This is what he looked like most of the day. He was pointing at everything, wide eyed, and squealing at the animals! It was so cute. He was very serious about his trip to the zoo and just took it all in. He did get a little scared when he saw the elephants. He started whimpering and looked like he was going to burst into tears. He has spent hours studying animals in his board books. I guess he just wasn't expecting to come face to face with them!

Here we are waiting to see the bird show. It was the 1st time any of us had seen it and we loved it!

The giraffes were the kids favorite animal this year. I love this picture of Emily checking out the giraffes.

Carter was delighted by his trip to the zoo. I guess it had been awhile since we'd been because he didn't remember the last trip. He was skipping around just as happy as can be. He was very proud to have his own map of the zoo and never set it down the entire day. He would study it to find where we should head next. (Note: This happy picture is before seeing the carousel).

(This is AFTER seeing the carousel). Our happy, skipping boy turned into sullen, disappointed boy when he found out we weren't going to buy him a ticket to ride the carousel. He let everyone know just how he felt. He walked all the way across the zoo to the exit like this. He had his lip turned out pouting and he had his shoulder hunched forward like he was carrying the weight of the world with him (but he never did let go of his coveted map). I had never seen a 3 year old look so downtrodden in my life. Everyone who walked by noticed our little boy who felt his life was SO unjust and couldn't help but smirk a bit. I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I watched him walk to the car. I felt bad he was so disappointed but it was really so funny to see how he handled it. He wanted to make sure everyone at the zoo knew just how he felt. He is one funny boy. He was completely over it when he got to walk through the cool "gate" to get out of the zoo! He's pretty easy to please.

He's Walking!

One Year Old

He's a big one year old now! I can't believe it! Here are his 12 month stats:

Weight: 22 pounds (37th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (22nd percentile)

Head: 18.5 (67th percentile)

We were quite surprised he was this small, especially in height. We aren't used to these low percentiles in our babies. I was a little concerned about his communication because he only says "mama and dada". While I was talking to the doctor Matson started pointing out the window (at some horses), yelling, and making neighing sounds. The doctor kind of laughed at me and said he was communicating just fine for a 12 month old! I guess animal sounds count and he's got those down! He loves animals and goes crazy if he sees even a tiny picture of an animal on a paper. He starts growling, neighing, etc... (depending on the animal).

We try not to do this, but we find ourselves comparing him to Carter at this age even though we know Carter did everything early. Carter was saying lots of words by now and speaking in sentences by 15 months. Thankfully, I have a few friends and family who keep reminding me that he is not Carter and he is just fine! Really, it's quite a blessing that he is more of a typical baby who has decided to let us enjoy all the stages of his babyhood, instead of skipping right over them. He definitely knows his place in the family is to be the baby. He has little interest in walking and he goes crazy if I hold anyone besides him! If I'm holding one of the other kids he will crawl up on my lap to cuddle and push at his siblings to get them to move. He's happy to be the baby!

Preschool Boy

Carter's 1st day of preschool! I really can't believe he is three and is big enough to come to preschool already! He LOVES it! He gets up every morning and asks if it is a preschool day and is so sad if it isn't. He wants to go to school every day. I'll admit I was really worried to have my intense boy at preschool with me. But he has totally surprised me and is doing awesome. He follows all the rules and tries so hard to be good. I am so proud of him! We've been practicing "how we act at preschool" and he loves to practice and it's sinking in!

Carter is the youngest one in the class but he fits right in and is learning to get along with everyone. He's even learning to let other's take the lead and that is quite a feat for him! He wants to be just like the other kids. He's really growing up! I love getting to be his teacher and see him learning all these new things!

My favorite part of the day is when John comes home. Carter runs to retrieve his preschool bag. He shows John his projects from the day and gives him a rundown on what he did at school that day. He is so proud to be a big preschool boy!!!!

The next few pictures are of the preschool. I moved things around this summer to incorporate my new (to me) kitchen. I set up a dramatic play corner in the main preschool instead of having a separate room for it. I'm still deciding if I like it better or not.