Halloween

Halloween is so much fun, especially when you have two little boys whom love all the excitement that comes along with Halloween.  A few weeks prior to Halloween I was so excited to start decorating for Halloween that I offered to let the boys paint pumpkins.  Boy oh boy was it a lot of fun . . .

Xander Pants painting his pumpkin . . .

Carter thinks hes picasso.  He doesn't even look at his master piece as he is painting.

Mommy's little stud :)

CHEESE!!!!!   Look at my colorful pumpkin mom.

Painting my pumpkin got boring, instead I will just paint me.

I love to paint!  I am all done.

Our pumpkins are finished ... I guess it is time for a bath. 

Another fun thing we did about a week before Halloween was go to Greenbluff.  We had never been to Greenbluff before however Melissa asked us to come to Spokane and head there with her.  We had no idea what to expect however when we got there it was so awesome.  I wish I would have dressed warmer as well as we should have brought a stroller but we had no clue anything about it.  By the end of the time we were there Jon said, "We will have to do this every year except for next time we need to be better prepared."  Overall it was a great few hours however now we know what to expect.  Here are a few picture from our day.

 The first thing we did was go to the Petting Zoo area and the kids loved it.  Xander enjoyed the animals as long as he was with his daddy but Carter loved them all.  It was fun to watch them play with the animals and be around them.

 We took turns carrying Stella and I enjoyed having her because she kept me warm.  I love my niece shes such a sweetie and super cute. 

Such a proud mommy and her cute little girl.  I love my sister and niece so much, spending the day with them was a blast.

 Carter's favorite part was riding the pony.  He was so excited to be riding the pony and he didn't want to get off.

 Look at all the pumkpins in the background.

 Xander Pants also rode the pony and he loved every minute of it.  It was so cute to see him riding the pony and him enjoying himself.

 Xander going around on the pony.

 One final picture of Xander on the pony ... He is so cute and happy.

 Our cute family!!

 Carter didn't understand how to just put part of his face in and smile, but him trying sure was funny.

 Carter was not a fan of having his picture alone but I just had to do it.

 This is my favorite picture.  It is so crazy to think in just a couple months We will be a family of five and their were be lots of pictures taken of Jon, my boys and our soon to be daughter.  We had an amazing day at Greenbluff and it ended with this picture.  I love my wonderful family.

The last way we celebrated Halloween of course was by trick or treating.  We didn't go many places however the boys still enjoyed it.  Jon had to work so I just took the boys to Grandma Jo's house.  After that we went to my dads house, Jon's work and then to the bowling alley.  We didn't go many places but the boys still go plenty of unneeded candy so it was a lot of fun. 

When we showed up at Grandma's to go trick or treating with had to take a picture with her.  The boys were so excited to see her.

Carter was our little fireman and Xander was a lion.  The both looked adorable and loved their costumes.

Carter then decided he was going to be a firefighter when he got bigger and he wanted to show me his outfit.

Halloween was a great time, it is always fun to have family time.  I am blessed with a wonderful family and very thankful for that.

 

It's a . . . .

Wow ... I can not believe we have hit the 20 week mark.  It is so exciting to think we are half way done.  This pregnancy has been extremely different.  I have been sick, miserable and in a lot of pain.  This baby is definately our last, I am realizing I am not as good at being pregnant as I use to be.  My body is tired and so am I. 

We were really excited to go to the ultrasound and find out what we were having however more importantly I just wanted to know we were having a healthy baby.  Carter was very set on having a little brother.  He said, "We do not need any girls in our house you are enough mommy."  Of course mommy was hoping that he would have a little sister.  Who wouldn't want a little girl to dress in pinky frilly dresses and put bows in her hair?? 

Everyone has been really opinionated about what they thought we were having and I tink 95% of everyone thought it was a girl and just a couple thought we were having a boy. 

We are very excited to announce . . . . .

We are having a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The name is still in the making however we can't wait to meet her, she will truly be the completion of our family!!

SURPRISE . . . .

Jon was asked by my Aunt Casey to go to Chicago for a week for work.  The day after Jon left for Chicago me and the kids had an amazing secret.  Now if only I could keep it a secret for a whole week that would be amazing ... BUT ... I couldn't ... I did pretty well however did tell a few people before Jon got home.  When Jon got home Carter and Xander had bought daddy a present as well as colored him a picture.  The picture of course revealed the secret and Jon didn't believe it. 

After we surprised daddy at the airport Carter had told him three times and daddy still didn't believe him.  FINALLY daddy looked at me and said is it true and I said yes .....

We are so excited to announce ....

That is right ... We are going to be a family of five!!  It is both scary and exciting.  Carter says he can't wait to have a baby *brother* however he has made it perfectly clear that he does not want a sister.  I am excited to see how Xander does with a new baby in the house.  He loves his baby cousin but he also loves giving her back so we will soon see.

We are expected to meet our 3rd and final bundle of joy on March 30th, 2013!!! 

Mommy has her fingers crossed for her little princess!

Carter Allan is 3 !~

Every day that passes I ask myself the same question ... "Where has the time gone?"  I can't believe it has been three years since my baby boy was born.  Carter is the best blessing I could have ever asked for.  He is the sweetest little boy and I think back to the last three years and realize what a wonderful child I have.  He has so many favorite things, such a big personality and one of the smartest little boys I know.  We asked him how he wanted to celebrate his birthday and he was set on celebrating at a park.  So here are a few pictures of his special day.

Carter LOVES Mickey and Minnie Mouse so he asked his Grandma JoDean to make him a special birthday cake and she did. 

This is the first year we did a low key birthday party and we actually had a lot of fun.  We had a ton of family and friends come spend the afternoon with us in the park.  We had a BBQ, ate cake and ice cream, played on the toys, visited and then went boating.  It was an amazing time and so fun.  Carter loved opening his presents.

This is my favorite picture that I captured.  Xander loves his baby cousin so very much and Papa Neil was in the background looking at his grandkids proudly. 

We had a great day overall.  It is just so crazy to think my baby boy is now 3 years old!!

Redford Family Reunion 2012

So this year the family reunion was held in McCall, Idaho.  I had never been there before but I was super excited to go and see all of my in laws as well as their extended family.  It is always nice to get away for a week and spend time with the family members you don't see very often.

Prior to the big family reunion our family decided to get a timeshare and spend a few days together, it was a lot of fun to hang out and visit. 

Papa Rod and Xander hanging out.  Xander Pants loves his grandpa!!

We were lucky to have a swimming pool at the time share.  Jon was swimming with the kids however Carter wasn't much of a fan of swimming in his life jacket, he would prefer being carried or just standing on the steps by the edge.

Brady and Xander on the other hand loved being in the pool and had lots of fun swimming.

Daddy holding Xander and Carter before we got out of the pool.

You of course can't have vacation with out a boat and tubes.  We brought our boat and everyone had a good time.  We did a lot of double tubing and tube wars.  It was a blast.

Uncle Eric with Easton and Xander Pants hanging out on the boat.

The boys had a lot of fun wake boarding ....

Eric mid air doing a backflip!

Jon was jumping and doing backflips however every time I went to get a picture of it my pictures were off so this is the best I got . . .

 

 Needless to say he wasn't very happy with me.  Although he never took one picture of me wake boarding at all so he can't complain.  :)

When we weren't on the boat we were hanging out at the house that my wonderful inlaws rented for us and it was a lot of fun.  Here is a picture of Xander Pants just running around. 

We would gather with all the extended family for meals at one of the other houses and Carter was always really shy.  He is silly and likes to pretend he is shyeven when he is not.

Carter hanging out with his older cousins as they play their Nintendo DS's.

Aunt Koda doing crafts with the kids.  Carter loved doing the sand art!!

Daddy and his co-pilot Xander Pants on the boat.

We had a great time hanging out with the family for the family reunion.  We got to play, have an auction, eat good food, boat but most importantly hang out with our loved ones!!

Summin up our Summer!~

This summer was filled with all sorts of adventures.  Since I am late working on my blog I am going to sum up our summer.  I will post a few special individual things we did seperate however here is how most of our summer was spent . . . .

Our summer started off with a bang ... Literally!  Machelle had came over with both Caitlynn and Alyssa and we were in the house visiting.  Caitie was outside with Carter jumping on the trampoline when all of a sudden she came in and he was crying.  I asked him what was wrong and she explained he had fallen off the trampoline.  I looked at his arm and I knew something was wrong.  It looked as if his bone was sticking out near his elbow and I said, "Carter mommy is going to take you to the doctor."  (Normally with Carter when I say we are going to go to the doctor he says okay however this time was different, he kept saying, "No mommy the doctor will hurt me."  He wasn't crying however you could tell he was in pain because he was whining a little.  I told Jon we needed to go and so we headed off to the hospital.  Once we got to the hospital the got us right in, I was holding his arm trying to keep it in place because Carter was unable to.  They got us back in for X-Rays and I just had a feeling it was serious.  The X-Ray tech said, "Traci, I am not allowed to say anything however you should come look at this."  Mind you I had no clue what I was looking at, when I looked at the screen I knew his arm was broken.  Not only was it broken we found out it was dislocated at his elbow and they said he could need surgery.  At that point I started to cry.  They splinted his arm, put him in a sling and told us we needed to see a specialist the following Tuesday.  (This happened on Wednesday before labor day weekend so luckily I was able to take some time off work and spend 5 days with him.)

 Carter was in a lot of pain so they gave him some pain medicine and he fell asleep on mommy while we were waiting in the ER room to finish.

Carter sitting outside Dr. Wheatons office after his first appointment.  They looked at it and it was still too swollen to cast so they wrapped it again and put it in a sling.

 YAY!  A few days later he was able to get a cast.  He decided he wanted the color green because green means go and he likes to go fast.  Apparently a broken arm was not going to stop him.  Once he got his cast on he felt a lot better!!

 The next big thing that happened in our summer came on June 9th.  Stella was born!!  We were so excited!  I was so happy to have my beautiful niece here to snuggle and Melissa was happy to no longer be pregnant.  I was lucky enough to get to spend the two days in the hospital with her since she so kindly had her on a Friday.  Alyssa watched Xander for me so Carter and I could hang out at the hospital.  Poor Melissa had a long hard labor but it was worth it.  Here is the happy family a few minutes after baby was born!

 I was one proud aunt!  She was such a doll and it felt so awesome to have her in my arms!

 Carter loved her from the first second she was born.  He kept wanting to hold her, hug her, kiss her, touch her.  It was hilarious.  He is such a great big cousin!!

 Stella at one day old.  Of course her lovely Aunt Traci bought her an adorable head band because she LOVES them.  I was able to help Melissa by changing diapers, clothes and cuddeling her.

 What an exciting day!!  Carter got his cast off a few days before the 4th of July!!

 Happy 4th of July from Carter!!  He is wearing his adorable hat that I got him but he did not want his picture taken.

 The true way we spent our summer though was at the sand dunes and on the boat.  We had an amazing time on the water, the kids love to play in the sand and ride in the boat.

 Xander and daddy playing in the sand.

 Carter playing in the sand.

 Xander playing in the sand.

 Carter smiling happily on the boat.

 Xander and Brody playing in the sand.

 Our boat and everyone around it.

 We LOVE to tube!  Here is a picture of Heather, Noah, Cody, Sawyer and Carter all enjoying the tube.

 The many faces of Xander Pants.

 The boys and Papa Neil hanging out.

 Papa Neil and his three grandkids.  Stella was not a fan of this picture or scenerio.

 Boys will be boys!~

 Baby Stella came to visit!!

 Another one of the things our family loves to do is go bowling.  Xander and Ralph hanging out while we were all getting ready to bowl.

 Josh and Melissa

 Xander Pants and Uncle Josh!!

 Uncle Jon Jon doesn't look thrilled however he was.  He loves baby Stella just as much as me.

 Xander riding in the car at the bowling alley.

 Woo Hoo ... Bowling with Mommy!!

We had an amazing summer and these are just a few of the memories that were made.  There will be more to come . . .