Memorial Day BBQ!

Well summer is officially here in Phoenix, it has been a beautiful weekend only reaching 85 degrees which is unheard of for this time of year....but we are loving every minute. We had a great long weekend. It is always fun to have Kody home an extra day! Of course Memorial Day would not be Memorial Day without a BBQ with friends.

Here is Carter and his little buddy Alex climbing up the big slide. Carter never made it all the way to the top, but Alex would climb all the way up and then slide down the ladder. It was awesome.

Since it has been a little chilly for us Phoenix people the pool was still a little "refreshing", but Kody was brave enough to take it for the team.

None of the kids seemed to mind the chilly water though!

Summer can not kick off without some Popsicles.....

Here is the Fearsome Foursome...Alex, Julia, Carter, & Emi! This is the group of 2 year-olds that Carter has been doing play group with! I am so grateful to all of their mommies for putting up with Carter.....he is the little wild one in the group!

Could they be any cuter? I don't think so....Of course I am a little bias!

Daddy's Big Helper!

Tonight Carter decided he should help his dad mow the lawn, which lasted all of about 5 seconds. Just long enough to take these 2 pictures!

After his 5 seconds were up he decided that T-Ball sounded like a lot more fun! So he got all of his stuff out for daddy to play!

Hey Batter~Batter!

SWING!

This is his first real metal T-Ball bat! The thing weighs almost as much as him, and is only allowed to be played with when daddy is home! (That is except last weekend when he talked his babysitter into getting it down off the top shelf of the closet!)

I love this picture because it is such a typical Carter face! This is right before he dropped his bat down the sewage drain and mom had to fish it out with tongs! The tongs were taken directly to the garbage! Nasty!

Oh my little man! Life is never boring at our house! Thank goodness for good daddys!

AZ Childrens Museum....

Since Arizona is so smokin hot they have to put in a lot of things for kids to do inside. On Tuesday we went to one of our favorite places, the Arizona Children's Museum. We have spent many hours here starting when he could barely sit. So Carter is a seasoned member here!

Carter enjoying a few of the new exhibits....

It is always fun to go and meet up with friends....fun for me and Carter. Here is Carter with Mason, Ryder, and Max. They are watching some kind of crazy reptile show! My favorite.

Thank goodness for friends. I am so grateful for all my great friends who help keep me sane and give me advice. Plus they all seem to love my Crazy Little Carter now matter what he does! You guys are the best!

Tempe Splash Pads...

This past weekend we went with some friends to the Tempe Splash Pads and it was GREAT! The water was a little cold but the kids did not seem to mind.
Here is Carter and his friend Parker running, splashing, and screaming! Whaoo!

It was dark before we left...here are the boys enjoying a little dip under the waterfall. As you can see their lips are starting to turn blue!

Little thin blooded Arizona boys are freezing in the brisk 80 degree night!

Peas In A Pod....

The other day we went to the park with one of Carter's BEST friends. This is Grant and Carter LOVES him. Almost every morning Carter asks to play with Grant. Besides Carter I have never met a little guy that loves sports so much. They are like old men, when you listen to them talk every other word it football, basketball or ASU! They are so cute together.

They love to try to top each other, if one does something the other has to do it too and faster! They are the perfect pair because they are both TOUGH! As soon as they see each other they automatically tackle each other. They roll around laughing and laughing. It is so nice because I am not always nagging Carter to be soft~Grant can definitely hold his own!

Here is Carter "helping"Grant go down the slide. Yesterday Carter asked when he would get to play with Grant and Marci (Grant's mom) again! He loves Marci too! Funny boy!

Just as we finished a fun day of playing on the splash pad and park and were starting to pack up I heard Carter scream so I look over and Carter is laying face first on the foam ground. He slipped off the steps and fell off. I pick him up to find a bloody face....he looks at me with big crocodile tears and says..."Mom I bonked my face!" The picture really doesn't do it justice, he had huge swollen lips and had road rash under his chin. After a few minutes of stopping the bleeding he wanted to check out his bloody towel and then show it off to Grant! Boys! I have a feeling this is just one of many bloody accidents I can expect with my Little Wild Man!

Just Like Babe Ruth...

Carter picked out a new hat at the mall the other day and since then he has taken naps with it and slept with it at nighttime. Eventually we talked him out of trying to sleep with in on and now he will at least let it hang on the bed post.
The other night Kody and Carter were outside playing baseball and all of the sudden I heard him scream. Just as he throws his bat to the ground and starts heading for first base he screams.......
"YEAH! JUST LIKE BABE RUTH!" He managed it hit it far enough that it went over our fence into the neighbors yard!

As he comes flying around the bases for home plate he slides and screams..."I'M SAFE!"

(We have to read the same ABC Baseball book every night and nap time and in the book B stands for Babe Ruth. We also have to read a baseball catalog that we got in the mail....so he now knows almost every team just by their logos!) Crazy boy!

Lil' Dribblers

Every Saturday morning for the past 6 weeks Carter and Kody go to Lil' Dribblers. It is a intro to basketball class. As you can see the ages are 3-5, we had to improvise a little on Carter's age to get him in! Don't tell!

On the first day of class all the kids got a Lil' Dribblers Shirt. Carter would like to live in it. It is a close runner up to the Steve Nash one.

Here is a picture of Carter warming up with a little coaching from dad. They have about 5 different size hoops ranging from about 3 feet to 6 feet. Of course Carter will only shoot on the 6 foot hoop. He can keep up with the 5 year olds in the shooting department, as for following directions and waiting his turn, well that is where the 2 year old really shines through!

Carter just releasing the ball! Nice shot buddy!!

This is Jackson, he is six and he is the coaches "assistant". He demonstrates the drills and skills the kids are to do. Of course Carter wants nothing to do with the other kids and only wants to play with Jackson. The two of them are pretty funny. Carter moves around the court yelling ...."Defense, Defense!" trying to get the ball away from Jackson. As you can see he is a big fouler! Ever since Carter was born he thought being a baby was a complete waste of time....he has always wanted to be 5.....he has a hard time remembering he is only two.

Last time Jackson was chasing Carter and Carter fell head first on the court. Jackson's dad immediately ran over and started to help Carter up and apologize. But Carter got up, brushed himself off and said "Now I get the Ball!"

Oh my little man! He defiantly has a passion for sports, we knew at 13 months when we took him to his first Phoenix Suns Game and he got to play on the court that it was all over. I love you buddy! Now we just need to practice keeping the aggression on the court!

"Crazy" Duck/Goose....

Today we went to Kody's office and feed the ducks that live at the pond behind his office. There were a million ducks and since it is not by a park and there are not any little kids around the ducks are hungry which make them a little aggressive. Here is Carter "gently" throwing bread to the ducks!
The one down in the corner was the mean "crazy duck" as Carter called it. It made him a little nervous. When the duck/goose stood up straight they were eye-to-eye. The goose was a little too brave and would hiss at Carter when Carter did not throw the bread fast enough!

Kody had to hold Carter back because Carter decided he should ....."Kick the duck like a soccer ball!"

The "crazy" duck/goose finally got a little nervous about Carter and decided it was safer in the water then on land. Oh my little animal lover!

We Love the Park!

As crazy at it sounds we only have a little while longer until the parks get to hot....so we have to get it all in now! Carter loves the park he is like a little monkey. We call this our "Secret Park" because there is never anyone there but us and it is pretty small, which equals less chasing for me!
When he was just 3 months he loved the swings...now he has up-graded to the slides.

The is the FAMOUS STEVE NASH~Phoenix Suns Outfit. The is the outfit he asks to wear EVERYDAY as soon as he wakes up. It has to get washed almost every night...there is going to be some serious mourning when he grows out of it. Which is getting close, hopefully we will be able to make it through the summer! Pretty awesome though!?

DiamondBacks Game

It is baseball season again, and Carter could not be more pumped! He loves everything about the games, the crowds, the noise, the food, the Jumbo Tron, but most of all the mini-field he gets to play on at the game. Here is Carter showing a little bit of his enthusiasm!

Since Carter will only wear sports gear it is not a stretch to think that he has a few D-Backs shirts!

This is Carter playing in the Mini Field. They have it set up like the real one, three kids go in at a time, first you play in the outfield and catch the balls, and then it is your turn to bat! Carter is ALL business when he is in there! I swear he turns into a different child when it comes to sports, amazingly he can focus for long periods of time and harness his aggression! (If only we could get that kind of disipline with potty training!)

Trying to wait patiently until it is his turn to bat!

It is so nice that the Stadium is hardly ever full since it is HUGE~that way can spread out! Carter with his favorite treat! He gets that from his grandma! (We love you!)

Leaving the game....it is always sad when the game is over! He is pretty pumped though because his dad bought him a new DiamondBacks Baseball! Thank goodness for dads....Carter is lucky to have the best one ! We love you Kody thank you for all you do for our family!