Weekend with Daddy

On Thursday Mommy and Auntie Erin took a little road trip to California.

Carter and I got to stay with Daddy all by ourselves!

I clearly heard Mommy's last words to Daddy... "just take care of the boys, NO PROJECTS."

Daddy heard "blah blah blah". Carter heard "build a shed".

So as soon as Daddy picked us up from day care Carter got to work on the foundation.

Luckily we soon ran out of daylight, and I was sure the project was done until after mommy returned. I wanted no part of this, and just watched from a distance.

But can you believe that by friday afternoon they were back at it?! Carter was working on putting up the walls...


By Saturday morning Carter was testing to be sure his lawnmower would fit. I realized this was a full on construction site, and they were not following mommy's request! Bad boys!

But as they say, "If you can't beat em, join em." Besides, Carter looked like he was having so much fun helping Daddy and I didn't want to be left out!

So I called a quick meeting with Carter, and took over as project manager.

I made Carter go back and check his work, seems he left some screws loose. We don't want Daddy to have a wobbly shed!

And in no time we had a shed for our toys! (maybe we can squeeze Daddy's lawnmower in somewhere.)

Did I mention Mommy came home halfway through on Saturday, and while she clocked us out for lunch break and nap time Daddy was able to get the whole thing done? Oh, except Mommy helped put the roof on, no way we could have reached that high on our own! What a good team we are. Sorry we didn't listen Mommy, but we sure had fun helping Daddy build the shed!
Next time you go away, can you tell Daddy not to build a tree fort??!

She came, we played, she left, we cried . . .

Erin was here this past week, (I will blame her for my lack of posts) We had lots of fun. But she is gone already and the trip was just too short. Here are a couple random pictures of the week.

Gymboree on Wednesday

Auntie Erin gives Carter a wheely ride

Camden standing in the new shed that Jeff was not supposed to build on Thursday

Had I known Jeff would put him to work, and Carter would enjoy it so much, I would've given them more of a list . . . laundry, vacuum, mop, dishes . . . not shed building.

Saturday, we went to the Anderson's to celebrate Dane's 2nd birthday.

Boys looking at new toys

I think Carter's exact phrase was "WOW WOW WOW"

Erin doing what she does best . . . watching the kiddos.

Bree, Dane and Carter playing in the sandbox.

Camden wishing he could play in the sandbox too,

Mommy thinking she is glad he is still too little and cuddly to do so.

Sunday, a trip to Lake Las Vegas to feed the duckies.

Carter thought the old hot dog buns were for him

(he kept taking little nibbles and then throwing the rest to the ducks)

Playing in the wishing well

Carter throwing in a penny, a dime, a quarter, then we ran out of change.

Renee, Carter (19.5 mos) Erin and Camden (5.5 mos)
A neat find . . . Ants!!!

When I said "ants" Carter looked at Erin and then at me as if to say,

"Mom you are crazy, Erin is my Aunt, and she certainly doesn't look like these!"

Happy Family

Walk walk walk
Run run run

Smile smile smile

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD

So, we had our first very scary "situation" with Carter. We were at Bryan and Shannon's today for lunch and the egg hunt (see below). The kiddos had their baskets inside and had gone to play in the playroom. Bryan, Kevin, Jeff, and Carter came into the living room. Someone said "Carter what's wrong?" I think it was Jeff. Carter was walking toward me, eyes watery and red faced. Bryan said, "He looks like he's choking" I was to him in about 5 seconds and took one look at him and realized he was choking. What was he choking on? . . . .He was definitely not breathing. Bryan yelled, "He's choking . . . Shannon!!!!!!" (That's just great, child choking and he's calls for his wife . . . note to self, don't leave Bryan by himself with kids. . . Just kidding!") Jeff stood by in shock. Big help too! Anyway, I didn't really need them, I took one look at Carter and his watery eyes and realized he was in trouble. It had to have been 30 seconds by the time he got to me and I threw him over my arm, upside down and beat his back like crazy. He felt limp. (Looking back I hit him pretty hard - part adrenaline and part "what in the world is happening right now" fear.) 5 times between his shoulder blades and he began to throw up, Out popped a whole blue Sweetart Easter chick shaped piece of candy. He started to scream and I finally started breathing again. I have no idea where he got that piece of candy, I had only given him Smarties at this point. But anyway, it was in his basket so I guess he got it himself and walked off with it. He obviously tried to put the whole thing in his mouth instead of biting pieces off like he usually does and it got lodged in his throat. Scared us all to death. No one spoke for what seem like minutes (a record in the Shepherd family) Later, Jeff commented that it was like everything was happening in slow motion, you couldn't believe he was choking because he was walking and looking at you. A choking child doesn't immediately go unconscious which is what Jeff had pictured in his mind. Even though he was walking and looking at me he was still in big trouble. Carter is fine now. I have been watching him like a hawk and he is eating, drinking, playing, normal self. Jeff and I, however, are traumatized, freaked out, and feeling very lucky it wasn't a worse situation. And, while my banter in this post is light hearted and silly at times I just want this to serve as a warning to do as I say and not as I do. It crossed my mind later, what would have happened had he not come out of the playroom with the guys? It would have been minutes before we figured out what was happening. Minutes too late. Hence, watch your kiddos with that candy.

Happy Easter

Carter and I dyed some eggs on Saturday. Fun for Carter, messy for me.

Ready, Get Naked, Go!

Two eggs for me, none for you!
"Mom, that was boring, I will just play with the decorations from the box"
EASTER MORNING

Before meeting we tried to get some pictures of the boys in their outfits.



Kisses for Camden

So funny!
Carter's "Spidy man" Basket

Carter and Bryanna
Notice Bryanna's dress . . . Carter and I were shopping and Carter really liked the dress. I reminded him that boys don't wear dresses (at least not in our family) and he said "NANA" (what he calls both Bryanna and Bananas ?????) and so I asked him if we should get it for Bryanna. He said "Nope." This is what he says for everything right now so I assumed he meant yes and we took it home. I have to say, having a niece is so much fun. I love pink and lavender and cute dresses and princess Easter baskets. Checking out the loot.
Yummy lunch!

Huntin' Eggs.
The big boys hid the eggs for the kids while we got lunch ready. (Basically they threw them in the grass so they were easy to find . . . the kiddos are 1 and 2 ya know) Meanwhile, Bree was inside asking where the Easter Bunny was. When we let them out, they went crazy finding eggs.

Got one!

Me too!

Camden couldn't quite carry a basket this year so he hung out with Daddy.

Our boys