This weekend flew by way too fast. Maybe it's because Dan was gone for a good bit of it. Like now... he is gone at another thing right now. We did have some sweet times with good friends this weekend and at the playground with Carter. I love when Dan gets to go to the playground with us. Like today... Carter climbed up a ladder for the first time. Kids really do grow up so fast.

As I was cleaning up after Carter went down for his nap this afternoon... I laughed when I saw which toys were out. I was thinking how some people do a Currently Listening To on their blog and I realized I should do some Currently sections. So here it goes...

Currently on my floor (I'll spare you Carter's left over lunch)... everything has wheels:


When I picked Carter up from the church nursery this morning... the only thing the volunteer said was... "he really likes trucks... doesn't he."

Currently on my desk is a really good pumpkin ale that has to be gone before the guys get home, my first knitting project that I've actually used a pattern for, and today's paper that Carter sat on this morning while I was trying to read it. Here's to some Alyssa time...

Some Carter-isms...

In order to go to sleep he has to have his thin green blanket (folded on the soft side) right under his nose and tucked into the top of his pacifier. He used to stick part of his blanket into his mouth at the same time as his paci... but I guess this works better for him. You know he's tired when you see this...


When he gets up from his nap he has to bring everything that is in the crib with him. Currently this includes three blankets, a cow, a penguin, and anywhere from 4 to 6 pacis. Here he is yesterday with his 3 blankets and 3 pacis.


Last but not least is his fridge thing. If the door is open for 30 second or longer I find the bottom shelf of the door empty with all the condiments lined up neatly on the bottom of the fridge. It was cute the first time... but now it's starting to drive me a little nuts.

Today we went to one of our favorite playgrounds. It's pretty much in the center of Forest Park. Sometimes I can't believe this is what I get to drive by every week on the way to the playground...

... but then sometimes I wish I was driving by the Golden Gate Bridge or Space Needle instead. I don't know why I've been missing the West Coast so much lately. Maybe it's because we aren't going home for the holidays this year.

Carter loves this place because there is so much room to run. I love it because there is a cafe' inside the Visitors Center next to the playground (and yes Rebecca... I did enjoy a cup of Kaldi's for you the other day. It's so strange not seeing at least one of you there!).

Here's the Visitors Center...

and here is the awesome playground.


Here is Carter chasing his friend, Will, in the little garden next to the playground.

Carter really tries to climb... but then he gets frustrated and just hangs.

This is why our school district is so cool...

Playground of the day...

In St. Louis it feels like we get every season to the extreme. Fall is my favorite of all the seasons... when it finally does get cool enough for the leaves to turn. I'm trying to get outside as much as possible with Carter right now. Today we went on a long walk that ended at our local playground. We have so many great playgrounds so close to our house. I think I'm going to do a playground tour on the blog this week since we visit a different one almost every day.

On the way to the playground...



Jr. High Park... the great thing about this playground is that it is up on a hill so there is a great view when you're looking East towards the arch (you can actually see the arch). The bad thing is that there isn't a place that serves coffee within walking distance right now.




The building you can see in this picture will soon have a coffee shop.

This time last year...

Carter was a bumblebee...

This year Machen was the same bumblebee in Atlanta, GA!!

This time last year Carter couldn't really play with toys...

This year he can!

This time last year Manna and Carter sat in rear facing car seats...

This year they can ride in their own car at the mall!!!

More of Carter...

Celebrations

We have celebrated so many birthdays in this house since May! Last night we celebrated Steven's 17th. It was fun because our 4 original guys were here for the evening.

This picture is funny because Steven has managed to get his arm or head in most other birthday pictures. You can see Fred and Seth getting him back in this picture...



Today Carter and I joined 3 other gals and babes at my friend Megan's house for a Fall lunch. I met Megan when Carter was 3 weeks old and her daughter Allie was 5 weeks old.

Here are Carter and Allie in their costumes...

I'll have to post a better picture of Carter later. The other kids loved touching his costume. He got to the point where he would just throw himself on the ground and scream when they came near.

This is how we rock our baby to sleep...

Carter loves the long board. We brought him back downstairs tonight after he was still awake an hour and a half after we put him to bed. He came over to me in the living room and tapped me on the shoulder a couple minutes later. When I looked over he was pointing at the long board in the entry way. Dan put it on the floor for Carter to play with and we ended up pushing him back and forth between us. After a while he laid on it like a surf board and pushed himself with his feet.

After that Dan stood him up on it and he rode the board all by himself!!

He may look like a Swanson... but he definitely has some of that Reeve daredevil in him.

New Shoes!

Sporting his new (well... new to us) Converse. I love shoes!!

Evenings in our house always involve some sort of excitement. For those of you who don't know a lot about where we live... there is a Joe's Place link on the right side of this page.

We have room for 4 high school boys to live in this house. We started out the school year with 4... but 2 have recently moved out. That means that our two remaining guys each have their own bedroom and bathroom. The spots probably won't be filled for a couple months... but the guys already want to know who is going to have to share their room first. Steven says that Seth has had his own room longer and Seth says that since he was our first guy to move in that he has paved the way for others... meaning that he deserves to keep his own room. We decided to settle the issue last night.

We started with a 3 part Mario Cart challenge. I picked the characters, cars, and races. Seth won that round. Next up was a Football video game which Steven won by two points. We had decided earlier in the night at dinner that I would choose the remaining challenge to settle the score. I decided on a time trial that started with push ups on the main floor, a race to the basement for a different exercise, back up to the kitchen for jumping jacks and then ending with flushing the toilet. My good friend Amanda is staying with me while Dan is gone. She monitored the basement while I monitored the main floor. I think you'll be able to tell by the series of pictures who gets to keep their room.