One of the reasons we did not take Carter out on Halloween was because it was Fred's last home game. It's hard not to want to cry when I think about Fred (and our other guys) graduating at the end of the year. I can't believe the football season is almost over. We have been through a lot with Fred since he moved in as a sophomore... his mother's death, 3 surgeries, multiple trips to the ER, vacations, holidays, sports, school... and the list goes on and on. He has opened our eyes and changed our lives and we are so proud of all that he has accomplished.

On Wednesday night we were hanging out in the kitchen when he casually asked if I would stand with him on Senior Night on Friday before the game. I don't know how I answered without totally losing it. I told him that we would of course be there. So... on Friday we were Fred's escorts. There are not many more moments in my life that I feel prouder of than that one. To have Fred walk through the football team and hand me a flower. To be standing on the football field with the team suited up before one of their last big games. To be standing in a line where almost every other senior football player had a parent standing next to them. To say we were honored is a huge understatement.

Our little duck...

I promised my dad I would retire the duck after Carter wore it one more time. It's just that Carter is so little that things tend to fit him for a long time (and I love this costume). He wasn't really into the costume thing this year (and we had a lot going on) so he only wore it for the pictures.

2007

2008

2007

2008

Tonight we celebrated Steven's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe he was 16 when he moved in here. Steven has the ability to lighten up any room he walks through and to make just about anyone laugh. We have some great memories with that guy. Happy birthday, Steven!

Dan, Jeff, Steven, Carter and Fred

Today was the longest travel day I have ever had... and it ended with Carter throwing up all over the kitchen table at my mom and dad's house. Poor guy :(.

Here's the reason for the traveling..

A couple months ago my good friend, Katherine, called and asked if I would be interested in joining her for a long weekend in San Francisco. I of course (after working out a few details) said YES! We ended up talking our good friend JennyLark into joining us as well... very exciting!! So... this morning Carter and I (thanks to Ann Louise for the super early ride) left our house at 5am and headed to the airport for our early morning flight. We landed in San Francisco after a layover in Las Vegas and were picked up by my best friend, Lisa. Lisa graciously allowed me to take her car for the next few days so I could make the 3 hour trek up to my parents house in Chico to drop Carter off for some Grammy and Papa fun.

This picture documents two things... Carter's 18th flight and the first time we have had to buy a seat for him... if only they did plane tickets by weight.

Checking out Grammy's pond after 12 hours in the air and in the car.

Reading with cousin Lexie before bed.

I know I'm on my computer an awful lot... but I didn't realize how quickly my life would fall apart without it.  To add to the month we've had... my computer crashed last Monday and we lost our Internet on Wednesday (totally unconnected).  I thought I was going to have a panic attack today when they told me that we wouldn't have Internet until tomorrow.  I have forgotten so many things in the last week.  This thing has become my brain.  There is no way I could possibly remember everything without it.  Anyway, thanks to one of the awesome tech. guys (and my incredibly techy husband) in our school district... we are up and running again.  I have a lot to catch up on... but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures from our school district's Renaissance Fair on Saturday (a huge thanks to all our friends who came out to support Dan in his 8 hours of tights).

Dan was Caravaggio... a painter and womanizer.

Steven was one of the Queen's guards.  I made sure his tights had some sparkles in them when I picked them up at Target Saturday morning.  He was not too happy with me.  I don't know why that kind of stuff cracks me up so much.

Our Pastor, Andrew, was John Knox.

Dan posing with the Brouwer's turkey leg.

I'll post some more picture from the fair soon.  The costumes were amazing.  

Since I benefited greatly from Shannon's post on Macy's jewelry sale last weekend... I thought I would post about my "kind of" great deal of the week. Art Mart... across from the Maplewood Lowe's on Hanley... has rolls of ribbon (4 feet each) for $1. There ya go... not as great as $55.00 worth of jewelry for $17.00... but it's something (and all of the rolls are really cute designs).

A little pumpkin picking...

Saturday morning we joined some friends at a pumpkin patch that is actually in the state of Missouri (that's a first for us since moving here almost 6 years ago). It was unbelievably hot for an October morning... but totally worth it. We only ended up with one small pumpkin since we're planning to go again... and because they were pretty dang expensive. It was really fun this year since Carter actually understands what a pumpkin is. The entire ride there he kept asking if he could touch one. He really should have asked us if he could throw them. Every pumpkin he walked by was either rolled down a hill or thrown off a haystack... so we all ended up touching a lot of pumpkins.

Here are some (ok... a ton of) favorites from the morning...






Carter had two firsts that morning. One was sitting on a fire truck...




and the second was his first pony ride... which he HATED. I was actually really surprised he even wanted to ride. I was having to hold him back from opening the gate to get into the pen. I should have known it would be a different story once he was actually belted (with a GM seatbelt) onto the pony.




We ended the morning with some time at the play area where we ended up running into a man that was Dan's first boss here is St. Louis. I should have thought to snap a picture of them. He taught Dan so much our first few years out here and even used to stop by and see us after we left the Seminary... so it was really fun to see him. It is still so crazy to me to run into people that we know from here but haven't seen in years. It really shows how long we have lived here.

We've realized lately, as more of Carter's personality is coming out, that he has inherited the clean gene (I'm guessing it's a typical first child thing). He is VERY particular about things being clean. The other day we were on a walk and he had his tricycle. We had to stop every few feet to either clean his shoes or wipe off the tires on the bike. I finally just brought him home because I couldn't handle it anymore. He's so funny.

Anyway... today we tapped his cleaning abilities and had a little car wash.








He paid an amazing amount of attention to detail and had his little car cleaned up in no time!

Spinning and Swinging

New Eyes for my Model Husband

He's going to be mad at me for saying that... but it's true. I'm not the only one who has said he would make a good model.

The poor guy has not had glasses since we were in Seminary. He lost his last pair in the back of his chipper truck... that should tell you how long it's really been.

I think this is one of his teacher faces...

and this one... he looks so stern... like he's saying... Get back to your desk!

Talking to the Carter-man... we were afraid Carter might not recognize him... but he just laughed when he saw Dan.

Skinny pants... the pictures are blurry but I think you can get the idea. I LOVE dressing Carter! I usually have to search pretty hard to find cute boy clothes... that's why I couldn't pass on the skinny pants at a consignment shop a few days ago. Dan's not so happy about them.




Doesn't he look like a little rocker!?

Welcome to our parking gara... I mean dining room.

It's Spirit Week again at the High School. Last night at dinner we were discussing today's theme, Disney characters. Princesses came up as a joke... and... well... the pictures speak for themselves. Let's just say I'm going to be cleaning glitter off our floor for a very long time. I'm going to be impressed if anyone can guess which characters they are. Our 4th boy wasn't here last night and Fred chose not to participate... I wonder why!?

Jeff and Steven checking their make-up.

Their goal was to make it into the yearbook. I think it's safe to say that their mission was accomplished.