Carson and Annalea

Seriously sunny scooter soirée

2012-02-04T13:27:00.001-08:00

Could not ask for a nicer day in february. It's almost sixty degrees.

Snow day!

2012-01-18T12:55:00.001-08:00

Another fall pic

2012-01-16T17:28:00.004-08:00

Carson's soccer uni

2012-01-16T17:28:00.003-08:00

Found a fun Halloween pic

2012-01-16T17:28:00.001-08:00

MLK fun in the snow

2012-01-16T14:11:00.001-08:00

Sunday football and fingerpainting

2011-12-18T10:52:00.001-08:00

Early Christmas presents

2011-12-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

We Skyped with Granddad and Sittie today so they could see the kids open a few of their presents. Thanks!

2011-12-17T17:13:00.001-08:00

Final days of fall

2011-12-17T12:02:00.001-08:00

Picture perfect fall/winter day. Almost Christmas!

Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-11T19:27:00.001-08:00

Riding a turtle

2011-12-10T17:31:00.001-08:00

Annalea waiting for some teriyaki

2011-12-03T18:10:00.001-08:00

Proud of his lego creation

2011-11-16T20:20:00.001-08:00

Carson has fallen in love with legos. Not the giant ones pictured here, but the ones where you build space shuttles, cars, and other gadgets. Lots of fun.

Pumpkin patch!

2011-10-15T17:20:00.001-07:00

Making Carson's bday cupcakes!

2011-10-06T18:57:00.001-07:00

He's turning five! How is this possible?

Sailing trip!

2011-09-18T11:28:00.001-07:00

2011-08-10T16:51:00.001-07:00

And exhale..........
Over the past three weeks, we have had a wonderful time with family in Spokane and the grandparents from PA. Granddad and Sittie left this morning and most of the day was spent napping and putting ourselves back together. Carson fell asleep on the couch this afternoon and was so exhausted that he did not wake up when he slid off the couch.

More to come on our travels.......

She's growing up fast

2011-08-01T18:37:00.001-07:00

Backyard raspberry picking

2011-07-16T19:52:00.001-07:00

Matching shoes

2011-07-12T11:32:00.001-07:00

Carson has taken a liking to my running shoes. He likes to go for a cool down run with me when I return home and even wanted shoes like mine.

2011-07-09T13:36:00.003-07:00

Seafair Pirates Land

2011-07-09T13:36:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T13:19:00.001-07:00

We are ready to celebrate! As Carson says this is one of my favorite holidays, he can't wait to see the fireworks....not sure about Annalea.

2011-06-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Four Year Old

Carson: "Daddy, I want to play a videogame and you can't stop me."
Me: "Really?"
Carson: "Yes, it's my choice."
Me: "Not really, it's my computer."
Carson: Forgets about what he said and starts playing with his cars.

Fluoride!

2011-06-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

I personally hate fluoride, but Carson likes the "duck mouth."

Annalea's first dental appointment

2011-06-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

2011-06-12T12:51:00.001-07:00

Getting big!

2011-06-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

The family is treating me to an early father's day since we will be out of town next week. I'm a lucky guy.

T-Rex!

2011-05-28T16:49:00.001-07:00

Birthday plane!

2011-05-14T18:52:00.003-07:00

Happy birthday!

2011-05-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

Thanks Carolina crew!

2011-05-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks Grandad and Sittie!

2011-05-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Birthday girl

2011-05-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Carson's first bike!

2011-05-08T18:06:00.001-07:00

2011-05-01T09:05:00.001-07:00

Party dress!

2011-05-01T09:04:00.001-07:00

Heading to a two year old bday party. Hard to believe that Annalea has her two year bday party in two weeks!

Visit from Christi!

2011-04-25T19:53:00.001-07:00

Sunday trip to the park

2011-04-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

Just a boys trip. Annalea is home sick and napping. Trish is prepping for the week.

Haircut

2011-04-10T11:45:00.001-07:00

Swim lessons

2011-04-09T11:08:00.001-07:00

Our weekly swim lesson. Today, Carson practiced floating on his back and Annalea worked on using a floatee with more independence.

Sunny!

2011-04-08T15:39:00.001-07:00

Serious lack of sun these days. Took advantage of a sunny afternoon.

Good morning!

2011-04-08T08:04:00.001-07:00

Spring break NW style

2011-04-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

2011-03-20T16:51:00.001-07:00

Sunday drive

2011-03-20T16:34:00.001-07:00

Happy weekend!

2011-03-12T08:48:00.001-08:00

Hanging out on a Saturday morning.

Fun day in Seattle

2011-02-22T12:16:00.001-08:00

2011-02-22T11:16:00.001-08:00

Aquarium

2011-02-22T11:14:00.001-08:00

Hanging out at home

2011-02-21T11:53:00.001-08:00

Go T-Birds

2011-02-20T19:29:00.001-08:00

Sunday night hockey game. Having fun in downtown Kent.

2011-02-13T15:50:00.001-08:00

Pirate John Lennon

2011-02-13T15:27:00.001-08:00

Rockin

2011-02-12T14:08:00.001-08:00

2011-02-12T14:06:00.001-08:00

Pirate boy

2011-02-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

2011-02-05T16:50:00.001-08:00

Bath time

2011-01-31T18:51:00.001-08:00

Little too much cheese

2011-01-23T19:19:00.001-08:00

2011-01-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

A couple of nice kids

Although both of our children are at stages where tempers flare quickly, they really are a couple of sweet, nice kids. Don't know how they turned out that way, but there it is. Case in point from tonight's bedtime routine:
Carson: "Daddy, I love."
Me: "I love you too."
Carson: "Daddy, you're a good Dad."
Me: "Thanks Carson, that's really nice. Carson, what makes a good Daddy?"
Carson: "You're nice to me."
Me: "Anything else?"
Carson: "No. I don't think so."

Nice Saturday

2011-01-22T15:12:00.001-08:00

What's for lunch?

2011-01-17T11:49:00.001-08:00

The artist

2011-01-15T09:52:00.001-08:00

Riding the horse

2011-01-15T09:49:00.001-08:00

Love you too much

2011-01-05T19:13:00.001-08:00

Excited

2011-01-01T15:16:00.001-08:00

One more xmas

2011-01-01T15:12:00.001-08:00

Brandywine Riverside

2010-12-29T11:07:00.001-08:00

2010-12-29T09:09:00.001-08:00

Granddad and Carson

2010-12-28T08:10:00.001-08:00

Snow back east!!

2010-12-26T13:56:00.001-08:00

Snow back east!!

2010-12-26T13:55:00.001-08:00

Fun in the snow east coast style

2010-12-26T13:09:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:38:00.001-08:00

Playing on xmas

2010-12-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

Rockin out

2010-12-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

Christmas eve fun writing letters to santa before going to bed!!!

2010-12-24T18:05:00.001-08:00

2010-12-24T08:17:00.001-08:00

Annalea says "cheese."

2010-12-23T08:25:00.001-08:00

P and j each day.

2010-12-22T14:16:00.001-08:00

2010-12-22T14:10:00.001-08:00

2010-12-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Sent from my LG phone

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2010-12-22T13:14:00.001-08:00

Howdy!

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2010-12-04T20:50:00.001-08:00

Fall/Winter Pics
Enjoy some pics from the past few months. Want to see some more? Check out this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/churt/sets/72157625531305518/

2010-11-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Snowy Seattle

Annalea's first experience with snow! Not a big hit with her.

Happy Thanksgiving week! We are looking forward to spending the holiday with the McKnight clan at our house. Hopefully, the approximately six inches of snow that fell today won't stop that gathering from taking place. Trish and I both had a 1:00early dismissal from school today. We met at daycare around 1:30 and picked both kids up. I had a choice to make, either go home with a full family of four or take Carson to a doctor's appointment to have his rash/hives looked at. I decided to keep the appointment. The drive over was not bad at all, roads were wide open and a little slushy. I figured our 2:20 appointment would get us out early enough to beat the snowbirds home. As I descended the steep hill near our house, I looked to the west and noticed a large, dark grey cloud approaching. I let myself dismiss the possibility of the snow returning for the worse. We emerged from the doctor's office at 3:00 armed with a diagnosis of a viral rash that produced hive like rashes. So, good thing that we went, I think. But, the snow had once again begun to fall, heavily. I decided to go a different way home, which requires a steeper climb up a hill, but shorter distance. I approached the hill only to find out that at least a half dozen cars were stuck on the hill and another half dozen were chaining up on the side. After considering giving it a go, I listened to my cautious side and turned around. 25 minutes wasted and more snow falling. I took the only hill I could take and by this time Carson was fast asleep. At about the 1 1/2 hour mark into our ride home (it should take 20 minutes), Carson awoke and needed to pee. This was almost the worst case scenario for what he could need to do. I could not get us out of the car as we were in an ice, snow parking lot and did not want him to wet his pants. So Carson got to experience a male ritual at an early age, he peed in a coffee cup. Luckily, he only had about 10 oz out of the maximum 12 oz, but it was close. Needless to say, the cup maneuver was not flawless, but we got the job done. We finally pulled up at home at 5:00, a full two hours after we left the doctor's office. Snow in Seattle is unlike snow anywhere else.

2010-10-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

Soccer Game

Carson currently plays on a 3/4 year old soccer team. He is having a lot of fun and does not seem to care much if they win or lose. This is good because his team seems to either win by a little or get blown out. Today, his team was receiving a good whoopin from the Comets. When Carson was on the sideline, we had the following conversation:
Carson-"Daddy, is the other team red or orange?"
Me-"Red."
Carson-"Booo, red team, booooo, red team."
Me-"Carson, we don't boo the other team, that's not nice."
Carson-"But Daddy, we boo the Cowboys."
Me-"Uhh, yes Carson, we do boo the Cowboys, but that's just on tv."

There were a couple parents nearby who got a kick out of this one.

2010-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Birthday to Carson!

Carson celebrated his 4th birthday several times over the past week. Last weekend he celebrated the milestone with Grandpa and Grandma (aka John and Kris)by scoring two goals in his soccer game and then heading off to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. On his actual birthday, Carson's put on a special birthday lunch for him and I took him out to Chuckie Cheese for an afternoon of video games and other fun stuff. Finally, we held a very small gathering last night where Nana and Papa (aka Wayne and Jan and a few other people came over to celebrate once again. Carson's birthday weekend is coming to a close, but it has clearly been appropriately celebrated. Most of Carson's gifts revolved around art supplies, superheroes, and videogames. Trish and I made the jump to a Leapster game sytem, we will see if we regret that move. Carson is doing great these days. He seems to really enjoy going daycare, playing soccer, and just finally being 4. A few months ago, he received his first stitches when he pulled a highchair over on himself and the scar on his forehead is slowing fading away. It's amazing to think back to our lives four years ago with an extended hospital stay with Carson and where we are today. We have much to be thankful for.

Annalea is everywhere. Everywhere. She rarely stops moving. Her moving can be a hazard to her or others. When she is frustrated, she instintively opens her mouth and searches out her brother to try and take a bite out of him. If she isn't biting, there is a good chance she might take a swing at you. Just this morning, I was redirecting her in an attempt to have her stop biting Carson and she slapped me in the face. Upon receiving a 1 minute timeout, she sat on the steps, put her head in her hands and wimpered, but she slowly peeked through her hands to see if we were watching her misery. She can put on a show as well as her brother. Annalea's baby talk is increasing daily. She says Daddy, Mommy, up, more, hi, bye, night, night, this, dog, and a few others for sure. Annalea can get up and down our small set of stairs very well. She walks around like a drunken sailor, but is improving.

Life is busy for us all, thus the lapse in posts, but we're doing great. My soccer coaching wraps up in two weeks and life will become more manageable.

2010-07-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

Annalea Walks!
The 14 month old has been flirting with the art of walking for a little while now. Last week, she took three or four steps and today she progressed to six or seven steps. I captured a five step stroll earlier today.

Annalea loves to climb on everything, even when (or especially when) she knows that she should not.

2010-07-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Summer Videos
Here are a few summer videos, I'll post some pics and trip highlights later today. Enjoy the videos!
An instant classic as Carson and Granddad square off in an epic confrontation.

Carson and Annalea appear to have a future as a duet.

Carson likes his dancing, that is for sure.

Calder and Carson went back and forth with their various dance moves at the boardwalk in Sea Isle City, NJ.

Annalea having a little fun.

2010-06-27T13:32:00.001-07:00

Summer!
Well, we made it. The past school year went so fast, but when I look back at it, the beginning of the year seems so long ago. Not quite sure how that all works. We started the year with Trish at home with a lump of a four month old and now we stumbled to the end of the year with two full time working parents and an energetic, lively thirteen month old plus a three year old that never stops (unless a movie is on). We wouldn't have it any other way (the two parent working thing notwithstanding).

With the commencement of summer, so begins our annual traveling season. We embark on our trip to the east coast shortly. We will spend the 4th of July weekend and following week at the Jersey shore. Trish and I have not been to a warm weather beach since Carson was born. I can't wait. I am a bit concerned about the blinding whiteness that we may bring to the beach, but it seems to be unavoidable. Carson is extremely excited to play on the beach with his cousins, however, we do have to reassure him that the jellyfish, sharks, and alligators will not get him.

Carson news-Let's see, Carson really does produce a quote a day and I need to do a better job of documenting his words. About two weeks ago, Carson started wearing 'big boy underwear' full-time and is now officially potty-trained. Yeah! It took awhile to get it done, but here it is. During his training, there were numerous classic quotes. Upon reflecting on the difference between knowing when to pee and/or poop, he remarked, "Poopie is too strong." Mind you, he was flexing his muscles when he said this. A few weeks later, he commented that, "When air comes out my butt, that means I am pooping." I try to steer away from bathroom commentary, but these need to be documented for posterity.

Annalea news-Over the past two months, Annalea has gone from being a baby to a wobbling toddler (guess that is where waddler comes from). We will call her baby, but clearly she is not. We may have to drop the baby label when she starts walking. As it is now, she pulls herself up and constantly does the perimeter walk or uses her walker and even stands unassisted for long periods of time, but has not taken those first few steps. She will soon. In fact, Granddad and Sittie may luck out and witness that event over the next two weeks. Annalea is a sweet girl. She is happy most of the time and is finally sleeping through the time. Teething throws her off here and there, but most of the time she does really well. She now has about seven teeth and received her first haircut the other day. We buzzed Carson's hair at the same time. Well, I had Carson's hair buzzed, Trish did not like that so much.

More news to come as we travel the country and region.

2010-05-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

Successful Birthday

Just closing down the house from a successful first birthday party for our little girl. We could not have asked for a more picture perfect day, 70 degrees and sunny. Annalea celebrated her day with a few friends and family. She showed little interest in her gifts, but the cohort of two and three year olds were more that happy to take care of her gifts for her. Several times Annalea almost escaped the gift opening by crawling underneath the paper and reappearing on the other side of the room.

I had some concerns about Carson's ability to cede the spotlight to his sister, but since all of the kids here were Carson's pals, it didn't seem to be a problem. Carson was on full tilt all day. He decided to forgo his nap and focus entirely on having fun.

There are two other video/picture posts below and pics from the party in the flickr account.

2010-05-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Fun Pics

2010-05-15T22:17:00.001-07:00

Happy First Birthday Annalea!

2010-04-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

Spring Break Fun

We were able to skip out of town for a quick five day visit to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago over spring break. It was great to catch up with the PA and NC Hurt/Rahns and other friends. The two videos below are from that week off. One is the cousins battling it out with their homemade light sabers and the other is a neighborhood Easter egg hunt that Carson attended when we returned home.

There are pics from the trip in the flickr account on the side.

Annalea continues to emerge from babyland and is approaching the one year mark with new milestones occurring frequently. Here are a few of her new tricks: using a spoon, kissing good-bye, saying 'mama,' 'dada,' and 'bye-bye dada,' opening every cabinet possible, pulling herself up on everything, today she took three small steps with the assistance of a play walker, she clearly has four teeth now, and she can climb stairs quicker that a few weeks back. There is more, but it's getting a little late. Will write more soon.

2010-03-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Annalea conquers the stairs
I walked down the steps a little after dinner and noticed that Annalea had crawled up two stairs. She had tackled one stair a few weeks back, but had not made the leap to the second stair.....until today. After deciding that our set of three stairs was beneath her, she set out for the full set of stairs to the top floor. Carson is a great cheerleader for her and Trish has a nifty catch of the ten month old.

Carson and Annalea playing with silly Easter Bunny

2010-02-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

Taking advantage of the younger child

Carson's actions this morning remind me of the potential evil that lurks within the older child. As Annalea pulled herself up on our lower stairs, Carson sat at the top of the stairs and yelled at her to, "Not come up." After several reminders to talk nice to his sister and to not touch her, Carson zipped down the stairs, picked up Annalea, and dropped her on the floor. Annalea began to cry and Carson ran away to the bathroom. I went to get Carson from the bathroom and to take him upstairs to his room for a timeout. When we walked by Annalea, Carson kicked her in the head on purpose. For the first time in his life, Carson received a swift smack on his bottom for his choice. Now, Trish and I are not the spanking parents, but a full body drop and kick to the head in a matter of 30 seconds appeared to warrant a smack to his backside. Carson did not like that so much and wailed alone in his room. The smack could not have hurt, but more likely stunned him. A few minutes later, Carson came down and apologized to Annalea. Unfortunately, he gave a sheepish grin when we talked about getting smacked on the bottom. I think he might have thought it was funny. Once again, my belief in the true innocence of the younger child shown through today.

2010-01-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Scooting

At 8 months, Annalea has mastered the fine art of scooting around our house. True crawling is sure to follow soon.

2010-01-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

The siblings

Well, Carson and Annalea have kept us busy, that's for sure. You would think I would have been able to post over Christmas break since we did not go anywhere, but somehow that did not happen. Christmas was tons of fun, but I won't go back that far in time for this post. However, since it was our first Xmas in town, all of the presents were in one place and it took forever to open them all.....not a bad problem for the kids, but it definitely highlighted the generosity of so many people in our lives.

Annalea celebrated her 8 month birthday last week, well we didn't really celebrate it. Maybe made note of her 8 month bday is more accurate. She is changing by the day. Over the past two months she has sprouted two lower teeth (this caused much nighttime disturbance for a couple weeks as she complained about the pain) and started dragging herself around a room (not as soldier like as Carson, but probably more efficient). More recently she is holding her own bottle, starting to sit up, and saying "mama", much to the delight of Trish, and playing peek-a-boo. It's hard to capture in words, but Annalea is quite the communicator. In the morning, she chirps and screams at us each morning. She saves her biggest sounds for her favorite person, Carson. She locks her eyes and follows him wherever he goes, in fact, she has shunned some of her toys in favor of his toys. We have to stay on our toes to make sure that she has safe toys at her disposal.

Carson continues to develop quite the personality and has moments when age three seems like a little too much for his parents to handle. At some point during the past month or so, Carson took control of his bedtime and twisted us around his fingers. He went from pushing his bedtime later, to playing in his room and sleeping on the floor, to screaming bloody murder until 10:30 at night (maybe that is the cause for no posts on my part). Have no fear, on our way to Spokane this past weekend we discussed a new and improved bedtime plan for the young man. We are on night two of bedtime intervention and so far so good. We will see if it holds. Carson is getting closer and closer to saying good-bye to his diapers, but we are not quite there yet. Sometimes he tells us that, "I like it when you change my diaper" as a reason for not fully committing to the potty. One day soon he will come around. He started playing soccer two weeks ago with some friends from his former daycare. The day before we went to his first practice, he commented in the car, "Nobody is going to stop me." This confident statement is just one of many Carsonisms that have us cracking up daily.
"I taught/teached myself." (whenever we asked him how he learned something)
"That's nasty." (after learning about his friend's cat who pooped on the floor)
"Silly me." (when he makes a mistake)
"How was your day Daddy?" (daily question)
"Thank you God for the food, Amen." (reserved specifically for vitamins and chocolate)