Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year with a party at B.J.'s office and Carson's first real trick-or-treating. Carson was a bee, Aubrey was a bee keeper (of course), and B.J. (in his subtle style) was a lefty (someone who writes with their left hand - he switched his watch to the other wrist for the day :) Carson enjoyed all the festivities, especially trick-or-treating with his friends Nicholas (aka Baby Einstein) and Adeline (aka Lady Bug).

Carson, the Honey Bee

The Bee Keeper and Her Little Honey Bee

Honey Bee meets the Queen Bee (aka Josie)
at B.J.'s office party

The Halloween Trio

Lady Bug & Honey Bee

Our New Front Yard!

After 2 1/4 years of thinking about what we wanted to do with our front yard and slowly cutting the forest back, we have finally gotten our front lawn seeded! Our crew of wonderful landscapers finished leveling and laying seed today. Thanks to Mom & Dad Whisler for buying us our much needed chain saw and to Mom & Dad Betts for bringing down another chain saw down and helping with the felling, bucking & hauling of tons of trees! Here are the before and after shots.

A view of the front of our house & front yard at our home insepction about a week before we closed and moved in and then this morning just after the landscapers left.

A look out into our front yard from the house on the same inspection day and then our front yard today (sort of small so you can see the whole thing). Yeah! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. We still have a lot to do in our bed areas (now that we have beds)!

Carson had a blast watching the men working with the backhoe and landscaping tractor. He even got to make the dump truck dump! Lots of fun!

Carson Goes to School!

Carson getting ready to go out the door for "school."

Carson shows off his cool jungle backpack.

Carson headed off to his first day of "school" today! He spent an hour in his new classroom with his 2 new teachers and 8 new friends. He had fun playing with all the cool toys - trucks, cars, strollers, neat chairs in the reading area, and lots of music, dancing, and musical instruments. They also had his favorite snack - nilla wafers and goldfish! What fun it will be to go to school one day each week while Mommy gets some time to get a few errands done!

Out and About

As the weather warms up in NC and everything blossoms and turns green, Carson and I are having a wonderful time getting out and about. We enjoy going to the parks, museums, and on walks on the bike paths and hikes in the Eno River State Park and Duke Forest, both near our home. Often we have the great pleasure of doing these activities with our friends. Here is a photo of Carson and his good buddy Alex on an afternoon walk while sipping their "shlaw" (translation from "Carsoneese" = water) in our new double kiddo burley bike trailer/stroller. What fun!

On another note, Carson has just begun to let go of things and walk unassisted over the last couple of days. He shows obvious pride and excitement over his new found ability. He is still a bit wobbly, but getting more and more steady and confident by the day. I will post some photos when I get some. As of now, all I have is video and it seems I am not an accomplished enough blogger to have figured out how to upload that yet.

Baby Steps

Yesterday afternoon, back inside after a long romp outside holding on to Mama and Dada's hands, Carson decided it was high time to take his first three independent steps! He walked from Mama to Dada several times taking a few steps on his own each time. He could not seem to make the return trip from Dada to Mama and would just lean forward never taking any steps until Mama caught him. So, Carson is baby stepping into walking! He is on his way!

No walking photos yet, but hopefully some will be forthcoming as Carson gets better at doing the walking part on his own.

Fish

Yummmy! After smearing a healthy lunch all over himself Carson bemoans the fact that he only gets 10 goldfish crackers on his tray. He has gotten really good at saying "more, Mama" now that he is all well and has a BIG appitite. He crawled into the kitchen yesterday and said "More nanana Mama" (that is Banana in the middle there). In the mornings he likes to go in and see Daddy as he is getting ready for work. The shower is especially facinating. When B.J. has already finished his shower, Carson disappointedly points at the shower while looking at B.J. and saying "shwer." This morning B.J. said, "I'm all done in the shower" and Carson looked at him and then at the shower and said, "Dada shwer done!" and that was the end of it (for today).

A Box is a House for Me!

While visiting a friend earlier this week we noticed one of thier neighbors recieving a new refrigerator. The delivery man was just about to throw the empty box back into the truck when we asked if we could have it to make a box fort. I think he thought we were a bit crazy, but said "sure, cool idea." We folded it up and put it in the car and brought it home. After some minor construction efforts we got the box all homey with windows a front and back door and even a front porch! Carson is loving his new playhouse (so are Sassy & Vera).

Day At the Museum with Grandma!

Carson and I had a wonderful time with Grandma yesterday exploring one of our favorite Durham play-spots! Carson showed Grandma the farmyard animals. Then we walked down to the butterfly house and saw thousands of beautiful butterflys from around the world. Carson liked the black ones with red spots on thier wings. One almost landed on us! Finally we walked to see the tiny sailboats on the fountain. It was a wonderful day in our beautiful 70 degree NC spring weather! Wow!

Carson says "hello" to the goats in the Museum farmyard.

Carson looks at the beautiful butterflys in the butterfly house.

Grandma and Carson watch the sailboats.

Grandma helps Carson with his walking practice as they stroll around the fountain.

A Wonderful Easter

My father posted the photographs from our Easter at thier home in Virgina and Carson and I sat here looking at each of them and reliving the fun and special moments of our weekend. Here are a few photos I wanted to share:

Brooke, Bill, and Aiden, B.J. and I and Carson with Grandad in Grandma and Grandad's backyard.

Carson enjoys his new "popper" on Easter afternoon.

Carson eats Easter lunch.

Carson was great at "driving".

We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

The Serendipitous Sandbox

Last week while visiting his friend Nicholas, Carson learned that playing in the sand in Nicholas' sandbox was tons of fun. As the weekend approached I kept thinking that I should try to set up a temporary sandbox at our house for Carson (Grandad is planning to build a big one for Carson, but that will be a bit longer in the making). So, I started looking on craigs list for used sandboxes and also considered spending some Toys R Us gift card money on a sandbox purchase.

On Saturday afternoon B.J., Carson and I headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. At one of the first houses we pass, the family was out in the driveway and they all waved to us and shouted "Do you have a sandbox?" Surprised, B.J. and I looked at each other and laughed and replied, "no, but we were just discussing getting one this morning!" The family had a 9 year old son who was pleased that Carson would enjoy his sandbox. They cleaned the old sand out and we loaded it into our car and brought it home. All set up on the back deck the ship sandbox is great! Now we are working on learning that sand is not so delicious to eat!

Carson peeks out from behind a chair in our kitchen during "walking practice." He loves pushing the chairs around the kitchen island. His favorite chair pushing is when Vera the cat hops on for a ride!

Hello Blogging World! We are finally here! Stay posted for coming updates on the Whisler Family!