Ouch

Note to self: wear a helmet!
(PS...the fingernail you see on his forehead is our grandma neighbor Miss Carol who brought over first aid supplies after her husband Frank saw the accident!!) Poor Gunnar!

Have you ever?

It's hard to describe without eye witness experience the depth and heights of Anders furry when he gets mad. This precious two year old says please, thank you, you welcome with a rare consistency. He brings his breakfast bowl to the sink, he gives good hugs and kisses but HE IS TWO and beyond that he is full of life! When he gets frustrated he yells with a NO that will alert the neighbors to a crisis. Monday afternoon I had to run into the grocery story with both boys and Anders wanted to "steal" some candy in the checkout lane (i.e...put it in his pocket for later I guess??) He threw a tantrum that would shock the super Nanny!! Unbelievable! I started to sing hymns to him as he hit me, arched his back and went totally balistic. I looked him in the eye and said "You want me to pass this test son. You may not know it.....but you want me to pass!"

Just a cute shot!

Please note the winter wear! It was 50 for a high and we dressed for blizzard conditions!

Christmas came early....

Christmas came early for Anders. We had to break and give him his gift because he was wrestling other children off their bikes, including Audra's big bike!! He has been so frustrated to be pushing only a truck while others rode their bikes. So Merry Christmas Anders Carlson! Ride, baby boy.......ride!

When did you learn to tie your shoes?

Audra learned to tie her shoes last week. The truth is that most of her shoes have velcro! Ugh! So we have had little opportunity to practice this lost art. These cute hand-me-downs from her big girl cousins gave us the chance to work on a good "tie!" She would become exasperated (and in truth I am a pretty bad teacher) So I parked one of my tennis shoes in her lap while we'd drive and she would practice and practice and she got it. To see her face was priceless, beaming while she held a well-tied shoe!! Now that is an accomplishment!

A good swing....

Sometimes you just need a good high swing. Gunnar can go higher than any pint size kid I've ever seen. He can pump til he's blue in the face and all the while I am pushing Anders...he (Anders) is yelling "highur Mommy, HIGHUR!!!!"

Tis the Season..

I cannot tell a lie. My parents confessed they threw a party when they went to their last "kids concert!" Five kids and all those concerts! Sunday night we sat through two of them. Audra has moved up to grades 1-5 concert and our eyes were peeling by the end!!!!! I think I remember my dad grading papers during our band concerts and Chris' reply to me remembering that was "do ya blame him?!" Thanks mom and dad for coming and sitting and smiling and congratulating! Pay backs.....don't worry!! We're getting em!

December 1st....Happy Birthday to...

eeekks. It's already a week later. But Happy Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Lee who came over for some of Colette's homemade Blackberry Cobbler and to my sister-in-law miles away in Boston!! Here is to good in-laws!!!!!!! I have the best (Dennis too:)

Wherever you go....

Brothers! Anders follows Gunnar around like a little weeble/wobble. He says "where goin' Gunnar? What doin' Gunnar?" Sometimes this amuses Gunnar.....other times.....NOT so much! this was a lot like me and Dana growing up. Sometimes it gave him great pleasure to be my teacher/ my leader. Other times it pained him to see me coming! I guess this is part of growing up with siblings. We learn about our world, about relationships and about life through the eyes of our siblings.

Swedish Flicka

Is that a Scandanavian face or what?
Simone (3) and Anders were quite the pair. He frightened her ever so slightly so every time he came around her she would say "my ..." whatever it was. Anders (in his true parrot form) would mimic what she was saying....only louder....'MY CUP!" which would frighten her even more. This would go on until one of us intervened and sometimes we let it go on just for the pure enjoyment of watching this little "mis-dialogue!"

Anders

This was Anders picking up a very heavy log to put in the fire outside. He strained his little body but to no avail.... made for a good shot!

A 20 lb Turkey to remember!

Thanksgiving is such a day of smells! The turkey coming out of the oven, fresh yeast rolls baking, cranberry pie, stuffing made with cornbread. We worked hard to put it all on the table. Kirsten and I sat with our tea the next day and admitted we had taken on the role of our mothers. After all that work I looked over at Gunnar's plate to see he'd eaten 3 rolls and left everything EVERYTHING else on his plate as he proudly announced...."I'm done mom!" ugh!

Friends

"Grow old with me, the best is yet to be"
Me and my Kirsie......

Happy Thanksgiving from Colorado!

This year we did something a "little different" for Thanksgiving. We boarded a "blue plane" (as Anders likes to call all planes) and we flew to Colorado. We spent a wonderful week with our Kirsie, Jeremy and Simone (3). The kids could not have felt more relaxed and they melted precious Simone right into their sibling life. We carefully prepared the Thanksgiving Day Feast ....we played Christmas music, took good walks and sat by an outside fire! Gunnar and Anders especially found the job of finding kindling to be the most exciting! Anders got caught in barbed wire more than once and laid there with no movement until someone could rescue him just to give you a few word pictures to bring you to Colorado with us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM & DAD!

All growing up we had the advantage and disadvantage of having our parents birthdays the day after each other. Good so easy to remember and one big celebration, bad if you wanted to spend money....

WE celebrate my dad (Nov 15) and mom (Nov 16th)!!
The longer I am a parent (a mere 6 1/2 years) I realize the less and less I know about parenting. I admire my parents more and am grateful years later for all the big and small ways they parented us!!
We love you mom and dad (MorMor & GRandpa).

Have a great celebration day!!!!!!

The Road Less Traveled...

The oldest and the youngest. Katherine has taken a fondness towards Anders. She is such a help when we're together. She looks out for her youngest cousin and often takes him under her wing. He adores his "Kaferine!"

Ride da hoooose?!!

And I quote....as soon as we had to get Anders off the big horses he goes over to the goat "ride da hooose!"????

CD Cover

Could this be a CD cover? any ideas for a title of the album?

Giddy-UP (Lucy & Anders!)

While Gunnar & Chris played on the rainy streets of Boston....Audra, Anders and I went to College Station with the Whitocks. PaPa has a little cabin and some farm animals and some wide open land that make this desitation a favorite. That and Nana's incredible cooking and hospitality. Anders literally DID not get off a horse. This little fella is called Mr.D, he has a larger friend names OREO!

Guess who?

I'll give you two guesses?

And...the 2007 Costume of the year goes to...

LUCY!!!!!! She turned out a pretty darn cute princess this year!!! The runner-ups are: Anders; as monkey boy, Gunnar; the legend Superman, Katherine; the angel and Audra; what is Audra? oh yes she is a bride turned Olivia Newton John?

Who you callin' a monkey?

Could you think of a more fitting costume for our third child? He kept saying to everyone "i a monkey!"

Good times in Boston...

Last weekend Chris and Gunnar made their way to Boston. They had a memorable weekend with Uncle Dana/Aunt Elise and cousins Oskar and Ilsa. Gunnar has NOT stopped talking about his time and came home to exclaim "MOM, did you know the REAL island of SODOR is in Boston?" Their dads had taken them to the big train station and to
Gunnar, he had just found the Mecca for all train lovers!! He sure loves his cousins and had a great time!

The (now) Famous Pumpkin Patch annual outing..

Wednesday the weather was beautiful here in Houston. I mild afternoon, with little humidity. FINALLY! I loaded the kids up when Audra got home and we headed to our annual pumpkin patch outing. They run, pick up pumkins, take pictures and finally pick out their own. This year there was a pile of hay that the three are running head long into, in this photo! All this mother could think was ......ugh.....allergies!!

Time with Friends....

I had some precious stolen moments with my friend and (college roommate...need I say more?) Suzanne and her husband Christopher. What a relaxing time! Reading, hiking and talking. OH Yeah.. and a little snow!!!!!

Caring Party!

Audra celebrated with her cousins (Lucy & Katherine) and the rest of the Whitlock/CArlson gang to say "happy student of the month". We had to call the restaraunt that was providing the "special meal" so they would get balloons ready and have our table set. After I hung up my smart sister-in-law reminded me "do you know they have peanuts everywhere at this restaraunt?" WHAT!! Yes.....barrels of them, the entire floor covered in peanut shells!!

Guess who's 2!

Did I hear someone say....birthday cake?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS CARLSON!!

(Ok...so I am a little late. I've just returned from Colorado)

Happy Birthday Chris Carlson!
We celebrated Chris' birthday with a breakfast with his whole family. Chris' parents surprised him and we enjoyed having a birthday breakfast with the entire Carlson clan. IN the evening we got to be with our dear friends who know us so well...the Jenkins. Tom and Amanda celebrated with us. First dinner then the theater. IT was a good birthday (as quoated by Chris himself). Thank you everyone for making my husband, who is beloved, feel special on his birthday.

Gunnar's funny

This is what Audra looks like after a long day at school... tossled hair, a toothy grin, and wants to play outside. The other afternoon I was "over it". 3:30-5:30 as most moms would agree is a tough time. End of the day before dad gets home, making dinner, tired school kids. All three had been on me like "white on rice". Finally, exasperated I said in a firm voice "ENOUGH! No more mommy, mommy, mommy. I want five minutes of NO mommy do this!!" The result was stunned silence. Gunnar was walking down the stairs at the time of my "outburst", he had been mid "MOMMY" when I lost it. He stopped, full stop on the stairs and after a weighty pause, he said in a hushed voice "Amy, can you help me put on my costume?" Aaahhhh Gunnar! Gotta love ya!

A long hot day...

This weekend we drove to Bastrop State Park to join our "preschoolers ministry" in a camping weekend. Are we nuts? Yes. "Uncle Lee" signed us up, and then they had to cancel. We drove a long way but it was worth it. We got to do a little hiking, the kids got see "puttin up a tent in the dark!", and there were NO mosquitoes! Anders was a mess with sleeping but other than that we had a pretty good go of it.....

In every young man's life...

You must become the superhero....
Gunnar has chosen for now to be Superman. Able to leap playgrounds in a single bound! He is FEARLESS......it's it's GUNNARMAN!

And the Award goes to....

This week Audra was selected out of five first grade classes for "Student of the Month". She was selected as most representing the character quality that the school is focusing on "CARING". Her teacher said "Audra has "been kind and tried to befriend lots of students in her class". She gets to have a special dinner at a resturant here in Clear Lake and gets a trophy. She has a tender heart and it's nice to see it encouraged by the school!!!!

Does this look like Fall?

Still hot in Texas! This was last weekend... popsicles melting as fast as the kids could eat 'em. A blazing sun, dried up flowers. But today it rained, the temp stayed in the high 80's and I put on some sweatpants, cranked the AC and we watched some football to bring in the Fall!!

A DAY AT THE .....

ZOO!
This is the first Saturday in some weeks I haven't had to see clients and after having a family pow-wow of cleaning the kids rooms we hopped in the car and drove to Houston. We went to the Houston Zoo which is one place we can get some very old old beautiful trees, some good exhibits, a great children's zoo and the kids good and worn out. It was a good morning. The weather helf off until mid morning before we all started to sweat! Here we are starting out the morning...

Longing for home...

Longing for a little of summer today. Summer really means going home, family and no schedule. could use a little of that today. It's still 90's here and yet we have the schedule of Fall. Ugh....

(Above pics: Auntie Jill & Audra at Family reunion and Uncle Dana and Ilsa at Waterpark!)

World Cup?

A mother can dream.....

Rainy Day...

Sometimes when it rains you have to seize the "puddles". Last week it rained with the coming of "Humberto" (which as you know was a near miss for Houston). But between showers we (Guunar & Anders and myself) decided to boot up and hit the puddles. This is Gunnar's idea of adventure....backpack, binoculars and his bike. We found a long stretch of road with water that he could ride his bike through. I saw in my two sons the essence of boyhood on this day. They couldn't get enough of speed (on his bike) and dirt (flying up behind him!!) I had my pants rolled up and a cool beverage!!!