Knollbrook Farm...FUN!

The corn maze...it was lots of fun. James enjoyed running through it and grabbing the stalks

This was probably his favorite part about the trip...the animals. He loved feeding the goats.


He's showing us the grass...in case we wanted to know what it ate. :)

This is the face of a little guy who just got SHOCKED by the electric fence they FORGOT to turn off...seriously, are you kidding me???


It was so fun watching James and Luke race on their bikes. I got in on the action too, but all of that is on video.

James really wanted to ride these big bikes, but couldn't even reach the pedals (obviously) so he settled for riding with Luke. As you can see he wasn't exactly thrilled about it though.

The pumpkin slingshot...they tried to launch the mini pumpkins into an inner tube out in the lake. James thought it was great!!!

I thought this would be a great picture, but it was at the end and Lauren wasn't exactly thrilled to be sitting on the ground in the midst of large, orange pumpkins.

He is washing the pumpkins. Bless his heart... It kept him busy for a solid 30 minutes!

We took the kids to a place near us called Knollbrook Farm. They have all sorts of exciting things you don't usually find at your traditional pumpkin patch. It was nice because James loved everything out there and Lauren loved the new things to look...so everyone was happy! We visited the animals first and for quite some time. James thought they were just great...that is after he got over the fact that he got shocked!!! Lauren loved watching them too and the goats came right up to the fence to check her out too. The cows mooed a few times at her and that made her cry. We had such a great time and the weather was beautiful. We spent a solid couple hours there and James didn't want to go and has asked several times to go back. Maybe we'll try and take him one more time before the season ends...I love these little family adventures!

Fall Football

We were invited to a football game with some friends of ours on Friday night and we had such a BLAST! We even tailgated before the game...yep, high school football tailgaters and we were a part of it! :) The weather was perfect and there was lots going on to keep the kids occupied. James loved the mascot, the falcon, and cried when we left. "I want to see the birdie," he wailed. He also loved the half-time fireworks show. It was a pretty perfect night...Luke and I enjoyed ourselves too.

The kids were absolutely perfect throughout the entire fun-filled evening. James is getting a bit easier to take to these kinds of things because he's understanding boundaries and Lauren was so fascinated with everything going on, she was content to just sit in her stroller or on our laps smiling and clapping.

We had her all bundled up...glad she didn't mind the hat.

James even got in on the football action. Some boys graciously passed it to him a few times...

These mittens cracked me up...our friend let us borrow them and they were huge on Lauren, but she thought they were great. It was entertainment for her as she waved them around!

A Little Bit of Everything

Things have been extremely crazy, busy here in the Carpenter household the last week...actually much longer but it has been that long since I have blogged. I have the best of intentions in sitting down and updating all of you, but am having an extremely difficult time finding the time...anyone relate? So, this is one LONG post about all of the things that have happened over the course of the last week. It's all very, very random, so bear with me...

We are loving this cool, fall weather and Lauren is keeping her hats on! That helps!
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Welcome Home Tim!

Check out his forehead!!!

first things first...his forehead...we had only been home from church on Sunday for 10 minutes...tops...when I heard James running out from his room. I heard him trip on his mattress (the one he sleeps on that was supposed to break his fall from his big boy bed...) and we heard the loudest thud...you moms know that thud. I thought for sure I'd see blood when I went in there, but just this immediate bruise. Bless his heart...we think his head hit his dresser when he tripped. Poor guy...

And the snake he is holding his Uncle Tim brought him back from Thailand while with the Navy...He just got home from the Navy on Saturday. You all know how much James loves his creatures so my brother scored big points with this gift!

This is the hat he brought home for Lauren...cracks me up every time I see it. She won't keep it on for anything. It's even funnier when James wears it because it actually fits!

Siblings

Here we all are...together again...just for a while. My brother, the one second from the left, heads back down to Virginia on Sunday.

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Craft Time...

We had decided not to send James back to the Montessori school we sent him to last year although James gets bored very easily and has difficulty entertaining himself. We are used to be outside... a lot... so with the cooler weather nearing I've been researching activities, crafts, and games to play with him inside to help make the days go by and have some fun in the meantime. I spent many hours writing down activities and planning my supply list. My goal is to do a craft, activity, game, or cooking/snack with James every day (other than MOTTTS days). This was our first craft. We made a caterpillar and spider from egg cartons. He loved it. He asked all morning when we were doing our craft. He enjoyed the cutting part...he would've been happy cutting pipe cleaner all morning. Lauren participated in snack time during this time. She wasn't real happy about it though...Wish me luck...

He's coloring the spots on the caterpillar
' This is his spider. I asked him what he wanted to name it. "Spider," he says. He's a creative one... :)

Here are his 2 masterpieces. He even told them goodnight tonight...sweet huh?

We're also doing a lot of play dough these days. I had to take a picture of this though because it shows his interests...food and critters. He always has me help him make a snake...big and small...spiders, and worms. Then we made spaghetti and meatballs, a cookie, and a bowl full of grapes. He was great at "pretend eating" but I noticed wet play dough a few times...I guess it looked that real :) Ha...
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Another creature for James. Uncle Andy found a salamander in his barn and brought it for James to see. He loved it and even tried to kiss it. We put a STOP to that! HELLO SALMONELLA POISONING!!!
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My 2 Kiddos Playing...So NicelyI often times find Lauren in James' room pulling out all of his books and looking at them. James

loves it too...most of the time. I hear him reading to her and trying to get her to play with him. It is so much fun and I love standing outside the door and listening to the innocence behind all of it. It's the BEST!!!

Another new favorite...James likes to take Lauren down the roller coaster with him and she loves it too. I couldn't get a good picture of them actually coming down the track.
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Last but definitely NOT least...
My brother got married tonight....yes, it is Wednesday night...but who cares, right? They're married! He just got home from the Navy on Saturday and has to report again this weekend, so they didn't have many options. They got married in my parent's backyard and the man and a dear, dear family friend who did all of our weddings was able to perform theirs. Congratulations Tim and Lyndzi! We wish you all the love and happiness!!!

Hey, I warned you this was a long and random post but I hope you feel at least a little bit updated on us Carpenters.

Bug Man

You will see this devastated face again in my next post. We had just headed out in search of more bugs when it started raining. He was devastated. The tears started coming as quickly as the rain did... poor guy... He wears that bug box around his neck. Better him than me I guess....don't really like to wear it when there ARE actually bugs in there.
This is the first praying mantis we found. We didn't keep this one at the time. We just let James check it out.
The second praying mantis we found, we let James keep. He was so excited. We put some grass in there and a twig for it to climb. We tried to catch bugs for it to eat, but it wasn't real interested. I can remember feeding them raw hamburger when I was little. Anyone else remember that????
He would just sit and watch it. It kind of weirded me out a bit. Especially that night when everyone went to bed and I could hear it scratching at the top on the tin foil...eesh....

So...another one of James' new obsessions...bug catching...We bought him a bug box several months ago and we have looked and played with several bugs this summer but never kept them and that was ok with me! :) Well, our neighbor boy has been over a lot here lately playing with James and he always wants Luke to help him catch spiders. So, ultimately that has turned into James' new "thing." Spider, bug, and anything that moves collecting...it's fun and I'm ok with insects and such. It is fun seeing him so excited about them and wanting to check on them. I need to read up on the habitats of these creatures though because we've let a couple batches of spiders die...ooopps...The whole, "They're sleeping," thing only works so long... ;0

I guess it's a good thing bugs and dirt don't bother me cuz this kiddo enjoys everything of the sort. Working on that worm farm when I was 9 must have done me some good! :)

10 Months & 2 days...

She did look at me a couple of times like, "What exactly am I wearing and what are you doing mom?" I'm just enjoying a little girl...

I like this shot from above...I don't know why because you can't see much but I think it's neat.

I have all of these adorable headbands for her but she doesn't like them so much...she doesn't mind the barrettes that I put in her hair, but she usually yanks the headband right off. They're cute though huh? I have them in every color! :) And don't tell me you're surprised! :)

Our baby girl is 10 months old!!!! Wow, this is just going so quickly. I wanted to post pictures on her 10 month "birthday" but it was a rough one...trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to have seen the pics that would have been taken that day. She has had a terrible diaper rash...I mean like you have never seen before. We're working on getting her back to 100% again.

Anyway...I took these pictures last week. I had really high hopes for getting some adorable pictures in this tutu, but they didn't work out exactly like I had in mind... but thought you would all enjoy them just the same. I did them outside and it was a bit bright so I couldn't get her to look at me and when she did, she was squinting...shucks...and James was the only one trying to help me in getting her to smile and that only lasted ohhh...7 seconds...I will try and work on getting some better shots!

Lauren at 10 months:
-tons of fun!!!!

-she is pretty much done with baby food. James didn't like it much past this age either. She'd much rather have the good stuff...mac n cheese, rice, mashed potatoes, shredded chicken...ya, know...the good stuff

-She is cruising across furniture, but not walking yet and I am just fine with that! Since she crawled so early we thought maybe she would be an early walker too

-She is continuing to get more and more vocal. Boy is she noisy...she squawks and screeches and it just makes James' skin crawl. All of you who know James know he doesn't like loud noises...AT ALL! Maybe that stems from the 6 months of screaming he endured with her. Well, he's had it...

-She has gone to 1 nap....BOOO...yes, about 3 weeks ago she officially went down to 1 nap. I was trying my hardest to keep her at 2, but it just wasn't working. The good thing is we have our mornings to run errands and have play dates and now they both nap at least 45 minutes together! The first time since she's been born they have both slept at the same time!!! YEAH!!!!

-She's really into cause and effect...she loves to drop things, watch them fall, watch YOU pick them up, and then do it over and over again...

-She loves music and will dance to anything upbeat. It's so cute because her knees are usually locked which creates a rather jerky motion

-When she is fully rested from her night sleep and nap she will usually stand up and jabber loudly while hitting the top of her crib. It almost looks like she is playing the drums

-She is very aware of looks people give her. All you have to do is look at her and she tucks her head down and smiles from ear to ear. It's the BEST! Daddy especially loves when she gets all excited for him!

-She DESTROYS James' room. Oh my goodness...we've never had a problem with James messing up his room, but this one has required me to do about 3 room cleanings a day. She takes out all of his books, gets the puzzles down and takes out ALL of the pieces, and pulls out many of his stuffed animals. James thinks it's funny and I figure it's cheap, easy entertainment!

Once again I'm sure I could go on and on about her and how much we love her and what a joy she is, but I won't. We are continuing to enjoy watching her grow and watching her interact with James. That is still one of the most incredible things about have multiple children. We love her so much and are so blessed!

5:00 a.m. baby...

So I LOVE my kids dearly, but I can't say I love the pounds and inches that have come as a result of them (thank you Lauren). So, I have officially begun 5:00 a.m. workouts!!!! Ummmm...yeah...and there is a good reason for the insane hour too...it's the ONLY time I am not giving up family time and nothing can bump it out because NO ONE else is up and around at this hour! So Lauren is 9 months now and I have been just disgusted (I know that's a strong word) with my post-baby bod!!! I have always enjoyed working out and this is the longest I've gone in 6 years without being very active and my body and energy level are reflecting it! Exercising is very therapeutic for me...anyone else second that??? It mentally does wonders for me. I really do feel like I had valid reasons NOT to be exercising up to this point so let me give you a rundown of them:

• Lauren cried a lot (understatement) for the first 6 months making it difficult to do much of anything. And when she wasn't crying, exercising was the furthest thing from my mind!
• Once she stopped crying (at 6 months) I wanted to enjoy sleeping through the night and not waking up until I had to :)
• The kids rarely nap at the same time and Lauren doesn't really like the pack n play
• I tutor often times 3 nights a week and have a hard time giving up the other few to go the gym when I could be home with my family.
• Up to this point I couldn't go before Luke went to work because he left at 6:00 a.m.
  Oh and I got on a McDonalds large coke kick when I was up at all hours with Lauren and now that their $1 it's gotten even worse. Workin on that though....

Enough excuses???...cuz I could probably find some more... Anyway, I have been frustrated with my body so I officially am back in the gym to do something about it. I can hardly walk today because of it, but I feel GREAT! I love the extra energy it gives me. Isn't that crazy...I can get up at 4:45 a.m. and actually have MORE energy than I did when I was sleeping til 7:30...crazy...Anyway, I am on the road to being fit...thank the Lord cuz it's about time! I have a trainer (kind of) and he has put me on my very own lifting (weights) program, which is why I can't walk today. They measure my body fat every 2 weeks to make sure I'm doing the right things. Cool huh? I have never had it this good or bad depending on how you look at it! :) I am also really enjoying the time it gives me to just think and pray before I officially start my day with the kids and Luke. This is one thing I do love about exercise...the ability it gives you to clear your mind. I'm loving it and hopefully in the next several weeks, my clothes will be fitting a bit better!

All About Jamo

I wanted to do a little post about James to give you and update of our precious 2 1/2 year old and the things that make him "tick" right now. I do a better job updating about Lauren as she hits her milestones. This is James' new "big bike" (that's what he calls it). James LOVES bikes and every time we go to someones house that has one different than his, he loves to ride it. We have accumulated 4 bikes now. A few neighbors have given a bike to James as they've seen the passion he has for them! :) We decided to buy him his own big bike. He loves it. It's a little tough to pedal as his legs are still a bit short and unable to completely reach the pedals but he loves to sit on it and try to ride it around. He's had a few spills, but nothing too catastrophic! He also loves the water bottle on it!
A few more things James is doing/ enjoying right now:
He is talking...a lot! We are enjoying it so much! We find him repeating phrases we say to him and the best part about him talking is how much he tells us that he loves us! It's the best and gets me/us every time!!! One of our favorites right now is when you ask him where something is at and he always says, "Ummmmm......," to start with.

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He loves to pray for people before his nap and bedtime. I always enjoy hearing who he wants to pray for even though it is usually the same people! :) God bless those people who have extra prayers going out to them!

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He says, "Bless you ___________(name)" any time you sneeze. He can hear a sneeze downstairs and will run upstairs to say, "Bless you." Love it! And of course we must reply by saying, "Thank you James."

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He still LOVES to be chased and tickled. There is just about nothing more James likes than to be hunted down for a good ticking or stomach blowing. It can change his mood instantly. He also loves to lay on my feet as I push him in the air like an airplane.

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He has turned into quite the social butterfly. There are several kids in our neighborhood he likes to play with and if he sees them out or their garage open, it's FAIR GAME! He has such a great time with them, but it has made transitioning into bath/bed-time a bit more difficult at times.

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He still loves his nightly popcorn snack with daddy and has even gotten in on feeding Lauren teeny, tiny pieces. (we have to watch him).

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He loves painting, coloring, drawing, cutting, playing with play dough and anything else crafty. Although he experimented with his scissors last week on his shirt. Yep, left a couple of holes right in the middle. We had to have another talk about things we cut... :)

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He loves being read to. For a boy who doesn't like to sit for much, he will sit and be read to for quite some time. His 2 favorite books right now, We Went Walking and One Fish, Two Fish, Three, Four Five Fish.

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He enjoys counting a lot! He's pretty good at getting to 10 but sometimes throws a few extra 3's in at random places :)

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Everything is "Ready, Set, Go..." when he wants to start something.

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He still loves to help me clean and cook and I enjoy letting him help. It makes it more enjoyable for the both of us. (despite having to go over it again or the additional mess)

I am sure I could go on, and on, and on...but I think that's a pretty good overview of our Jamo. We so desperately love and enjoy him and he has made our lives richer. I know I have said this many, many times, but I really do LOVE this age!!!

Life Changes...

Big changes...and NO, I am NOT expecting another baby! :) (this is a picture of a baby blanket)

We have been facing some big changes in our home lately and the biggest one is Luke has left his job of 6 years and has accepted a position with a new company. The ironic thing is the company he has gone to, Welch Packaging, sent us this baby blanket when we had Lauren. Luke had used some of their boxes for shipping at Global. Anyway, it's just kind of an interesting coincidence. It was a difficult decision for us. One that took a great deal of time (many months), prayer, counsel, pros and cons lists (thank you Luke) and discussion to decide. It was difficult for Luke to leave Global for many reasons...because of the relationships he built with the people, his knowledge in the industry, as well as the "security" it offered. We believe the opportunity that has presented itself to us is an incredible one and one that will offer us a great future.
Luke is learning an entirely different field of work. This company creates boxes and other packaging material. It will take time for him to learn how everything works. He will be learning everything from how to run the machines to the "inside" office work. This is exciting for him and he enjoys and thrives on the new challenges it brings. To be honest, it just makes me nervous...even hearing him talk about it! :( Oh ye, of little faith...
When you think of us, please pray...pray for patience as this is a lengthy learning process, pray for faith as we will have some different challenges to deal with, pray that overall this will make us a stronger family and stronger people, and pray that this will be a good fit for Luke and he will find success in it that way he has found it in so many other areas. We are excited about this leap of faith we have taken and are trusting the Lord for our future. We pray it will be as exciting as we are anticipating!

Oh, Labor Day...

I love this picture. James adores his Grandpa and it shows on his face!

James and his Grandpa Carpenter

He found a baby toad that kept him busy for a while. It was very active.

The baby toad found its way under the canoe which James was NOT happy about!

Luke found a turtle but they didn't have any luck capturing it.

This stick got a bit dangerous a few times! :)

There's a great, little park right down the road from G & G's house. James had a great time playing on the slide and swings!

Is this weird that this is the ONLY way James will swing on the swing???

This face says it all!!! What a great time we had and Grandma and Grandpa Carpenters!


This was NO Labor Day for me that's for sure and yes, these are the only pictures I took over the Labor Day weekend and there are NONE of my sweet baby Lauren in them. It's all for good reason...I was lounging in the pool most of the day on Sunday and Monday. It was a vacation...truly. I didn't have my camera in the pool with me so not many other pictures were taken. We went to Luke's parent's house after church on Sunday and spent the next two days visiting with family, swimming, going to the park and pond, eating great food, relaxing, laughing a lot and enjoying every minute. I was in desperate need of a little break and R&R and I got it. My mother in law took care of Lauren just about every minute. It was so nice! We had such a nice time and on the way home James kept saying, "Go gain (again)". It was precious! Thank you for such a wonderful 2 days Mom and Dad Carpenter!!!