Birthday Weekend.

This boy is TWO!!

And we had quite a busy weekend. I have been so excited about nap time today just so I could have a little down time!!

The weekend's events went something like this: Friday: FREE day at the Children's museum (what a fun place!!), ran errands to get ready for Carson's super last-minute little birthday party, planned our training run and stashed the water, made Carson's cake and party food (I have NO expertise on cake decorating, but decided to make a HELICOPTER cake. Oops.) Saturday: Ran 20 MILES, threw Carson his party, then spent the evening making three different kids of soup. Did I mention I ran 20 miles??????? Sunday: church all morning, then spent the afternoon re-arranging the house (multiple times) to accommodate 10 guests for dinner, hosted a wonderful dinner group full of delightful guests including some elderly ladies in our church (where we served all that soup), then Rick sang in a musical event at the church later that evening.

The evidence, in pictures:

(Except we didn't get pictures of yesterday's dinner group. I was so proud of those soups, and I totally should have taken a picture of the spread!! And no pictures of the 20 mile run either, although Salem Lake was so beautiful!!)

At the Children's museum, cooking up something yummy.

Ok, at the museum, Carson found this nursing pillow and took quite a while to sit and arrange himself with it around him. Once he got all situated, he looked at me and said, "I need Everett." Yep, after I handed Everett over, Carson lifted up his shirt to "give mommy milk." This should be embarrassing in a few years!!

Eating a free donut after "working" at the Krispy Kreme factory.

More fun at the museum.

This is my "wait, WHY am I making a cake into the shape of a helicopter???" look. And, after examining this picture, I think I need a major hair cut.

We had a little story and singing time featuring helicopters. (In case you're worried about Everett's face plant in the above picture, see the next one for the recovery.)

Still can't believe these presents are all for him!!

A rousing game of "ring-around-the rosy." (Like the propellers on the helicopter go around and around, get it??)

The yummies. (Note: everything but the cake has a fruit or vegetable in it!! Zucchini muffins, pumpkin cookies, and apples with dip. Keeping your children healthy!)

Ok, now that I've done fondant once, I'm sure I could make a good looking cake with it. This was my first attempt, and it is quite lumpy. But I'm excited to try fondant again.

We had to do some convincing to get him away from his new books to come eat cake.

Carson is such a big boy, and we loved celebrating him and his birthday!!


What??? Nap time is already over??? There goes my break...

I do love my boys!

De 2009 Otto Family

*photo by Rachel

He's taking a sick day.

That nose hasn't stopped running for four days straight.

He must be feeling a little better, though, because just now when I went in his room to tell him to please lay down and take his nap instead of running around his crib yelling, "What's goin' on!! What's goin' on!!" he looked at me, said, "I do Hokey Pokey!" and started spinning around and around.

This little thing has a slight runny nose as well, but he is still my happy boy!

And he still spits up! (For once, on himself instead of on me.)

I am reminded that I think the WORST part about motherhood is having sick children!!! Especially children who, when they are sick, cry and whine allllllll dayyyyy looooong. I'll just hope this really is the end of it!

I finally figured out how keep the boys busy while I make dinner.

Carson's sudden desire to play in an exersaucer allowed us to have enchiladas with home-made tortillas last night. Yummmmm.

Thumb out; food in.

I didn't really take videos of Everett's first feedings, so I wanted to get one now, especially to show how he sucks his thumb between bites. He happily eats all of my home-made baby food so far.

I have also been trying to get videos of Carson's sweet voice and the way he sometimes makes one-syllable words into two, but he just goes on silent mode whenever he knows I am taping him! I love that he is such a good talker, especially when he asks me questions, "Where'd dat come from??" and "What's dat fo-wah?" and when he brings things up that happened weeks ago, like, "We forgot to see cows!!" (when we went to a farm a while back), and "I remember Marshall!" (a friend who stayed with us for a night.)

So, this is a recent video. It's quite long and won't be interesting to most, but be sure to watch the middle where Carson sings (says) some of a song about being a missionary. And excuse my embarrassing mommy tone telling him to stop touching the camera!

This sweet little thing

turned 7 months old yesterday.

is always looking for something to suck. He will even suck on your face if you're not careful.

giggles and giggles when tickled.

is on a wonderfully predictable 2-naps-a-day schedule now. (I loathe the third nap.)

does not roll. Big brother had been rolling all around for months at this age! This baby just lays there, content to watch everyone else. I know he can roll, and he has done it both ways, he just chooses not to!

does bounce up and down on his bum, sometimes resulting in a face plant.

is seriously so sweet that if all babies were like this, I would have a dozen more.

has an intense love for Cheerios, and is surprisingly good at self-feeding.

was my perfect 12-hours-a-night sleeper, until a few weeks ago when he decided he needed an occasional midnight snack. I think we've found the solution, though, (which was actually my fault...long story...) and he's back in business for the most part.

endures LOTS of mauling by big brother.

can shoot out quantities of spit-up that you wouldn't believe. This creates lots of laundry and mopping.

looks identical to the baby pictures of his mother.

loves to suck his thumb. This makes him an extremely good at self-soothing. I can count on one hand the number of times he has truly cried hard, because he nearly always just sticks his thumb in his mouth instead of crying. I'll worry about weaning him later; this is great!!

is soooo snuggly and cuddly. Oh, how we love him!!

A Happy Halloween.

I've never really loved Halloween, but this year was pretty fun! Planning and making Carson's costume was quite rewarding. The festivities started with our church's Trunk or Treat activity, where we really tried to get a good picture of the boys. Obviously, what we got was Everett stuffing his face with leaves. Pappy and Grandmama were in town for the actual Halloween day, and we went to the fire station so Carson could really get into character. He kept his ultra-serious face on the whole time we were there, and he examined the fire truck carefully.
Lastly, we did a little trick-or-treating. There is a street in our neighborhood that is blocked off just for trick-or-treating, and lots of the houses are decorated. We stayed out long enough to get me, I mean Carson, a little treat supply, and headed home soaking wet!

It was a happy Halloween!