Party 2.0

WARNING: Picture overload!

 

We celebrated Carsyn’s birthday with a small family party in Oklahoma on New Years Eve afternoon.

Remember my ‘homemade cupcakes”? Well, these are actually homemade. My friend Jenni make the most amazing cupcakes for Carsyn’s birthday party.

Jenni! Those cupcakes tasted even better than they look. She spent two days making them.

 

 

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Carsyn’s friends at her party. Gage, 6 months and Gunner 2 1/2.

 

Round two. Carsyn got a little bored opening all her presents, so we took a break for pizza and cupcakes. Now back to it.

12-30-2010

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!

Carsyn is 2!!!

We celebrated by going to Ms. B’s house. Momma and Daddy went to work. 

Here is Carsyn posing for the camera a Ms. Brandy’s house. She is such a ham. I wanted Carsyn to have a little birthday party at her daycare and sent the camera so we’d have pictures for memories.

 

I took cupcakes for them to share. And now for the '’Honest Portion” of our blog post. The cupcakes were not homemade. Now that in and of its self is no crime. The deception begins with me trying to pass them off as homemade. I flat out ran out of time the day before. I went to the store and bought mini cupcakes from the bakery. Then I bought a can of frosting. At home I scrapped the fancy, pretty bakery frosting off and slapped on the runniest liquefied frosting from a can. These things were pathetic. But I lead Brandy to believe I made them, so she wouldn’t think I was so loser working home that didn't care about her baby’s birthday. Consolation. Carsyn seems happy about the whole affair.

 

Here are Carsyn’s buddies at daycare. Lily is there because it was Christmas break, then Carsyn, Patrick and Kylie. Here other buddy Logan and Oliver aren’t pictured.

The Day After

We survived Christmas. We even made it to church. Despite Carsyn’s ever effort to sabotage me. Carsyn is independent and stubborn. She is going through a testing stage right now. We’ve been out of town a lot and her schedule has been turned upside down. Carsyn likes to yell ‘No! No! Momma!’ and point her little finger at me when I ask her to mind me. Simple things. Wiping her hands off after eating. Changing her diaper. Taking a bath. It’s exhausting and disheartening. Sunday morning trying to get her ready was rough.

 

Thankfully she was a sweeter baby after church and we got some great photos. We’re going home and praying that this week at home will bring about better behavior. Tony and I are using time out to correct her behavior. I really just want to spank her, but I try to refrain and use that punishment for dangerous situations. Timeout hurts her feelings, but I’m not sure if she gets it yet.  Parenthood is hard.

Christmas

Cheese!!!  This is Carsyn’s new ‘trick’. She’ll pose for a picture and grin really big and yell Cheese! So cute.

 

Christmas Day was spent in Lawton at Granny and Papa T’s house. Hooray! Some one just got a cute dress.

 

Superman! Someone just go a really cool signed picture of the famed Superman.

 

Gift from Momma and Daddy.

 

MamMaw holding Gagers while Carsyn plays near by.

 

Carsyn got dress up clothes from Aunt Misty, Uncle Jeff and cousin Gage. She loves the crown!

 

How sweet is that tutu? Misty made it.

 

Even Gage loves the tutu.

 

 

sweet cousins playing together. Or by each other. ;-)

 

The Grahns came to eat steak with us. The usuals were all there. MamMaw and Grandma. PapPaw and MamMaw.

Christmas Eve

 

We spent Christmas Eve with Tony’s family as usual. This year we went to OKC. This is the first time Carsyn has been to MawMaw and PawPaw’s house in Oklahoma City. She always just visits the lake house. We had our traditional Chili and Potato Soup for Christmas Eve lunch.

 

We gathered with Charity, her husband Chris and children. Andrew, Ben, Elisabeth and Shane.

 

These kids are pros at opening gifts.

 

Carsyn, not so much. She just woke up from a nap and took a few minutes to warm up to opening presents. I think it was a little overwhelming for her.

 

Good news is that got into the groove and found lots and lots of toys and clothe underneath all that wrapping.

 

The girls showing off their new clothes.

 

I think this was round 2 or 3 of present opening. She had so many gifts, she couldn’t open them all in one sitting.

 

Tony and I both got so many good things too. Thanks for your generosity!

Pre-Christmas

‘Twas the week before Christmas…Granny and Papa T came to visit. They wanted to see Carsyn play with the little VW bug that Papa T bought Carsyn. It’s official, she loves it. She’s not the best driver yet, but catching on.

It’s a little difficult to see, but Tony’s hand is bandaged. It’s broke. He was gone all week in DC for Defensive Tactics Instructor training. They beat up on each other. Tony was wearing protective gear, but a guy kicked his hand really hard and broke it. Nice. Thankfully there is no reason to have surgery. Just wait and heal.

Thanks for coming to visit Granny and Papa T! We love you.

Santa Baby

  Mom and I took Carsyn to see Santa on Saturday. It wasn’t at the mall. Or Cabela’s. Or Walmart. Nope. It was at a consignment shop. That’s how I roll. It worked really well for us. The idea of the mall Santa make me cringe. I knew I couldn’t take her any other time, but on a Saturday. Yuck! The resale shop about 1/2 mile down the road had Santa and I was like ‘Score!’

 

Granny had been prepping Carsyn about Santa. He has a beard. A white fluffy beard. And a red hat. We’d been talking about it, but Carsyn still was unsure. I was so glad we weren’t at the mall. She had time to warm up and check Santa out before we took pictures.

 

And this is a close as she got. Not interested in sitting in his lap. And mamma needed to be in the picture. That’s no problem. I manage my expectations and there is no disappointment. Carsyn did great. No crying. No screaming. So far she still likes Santa! and me.

Partay!

Tony and I hosted a Christmas Party for his coworkers. MawMaw and PawPaw were kind enough to come take Carsyn for a night so we could have some grown up time. Very very nice of them. From what we hear, they all had a fantastic time!

 

Here is Jamie, me, and Lisa. Jamie is another Oklahoma girl married to an inspector. Lisa is marrying Sean next month. She’s the reason we’re cruisin’ soon!!

 

Cody and Tommy, fellow Inspectors. Tommy was married this past March and Tony and I went to the wedding. Cody is preparing to be a dad for the first time in February.

Here is Paul and his wife Donna. He fixed our computer this summer. Thanks!!

 

Trey and Annette. They were at Carsyn’s baby shower 2 years ago. They bought Carsyn her first piece of Children’s Place clothing. 

 

Sam and Rosa. They’re great. Sam is Tony’s boss. We’ve gone out with them several times and their daughter babysits Carsyn. They’ll also be on the cruise ship with us too.

 

Brad and Crista!! Brad was an Inspector until a year ago. He quit and moved to Iowa for a different federal job so his family could be closer to home. A baby changes everything. We miss our friends. Their parties and their pool!

 

Emily and Dean. She is a bank investigator and he is cop.  Emily is going on the cruise and she was also kind enough to take all the pictures at the party!