To start things off...

Mr.Carter turned 5 this month. 5!! Seriously? Kindergarten next year. I'm having a mini panic-attack just thinking about it. He's gonna be known as the kid who gets nose bleeds because he can't stop picking his nose. Or maybe that's just all kids his age...


This kid loves everything about birthdays. He used to tell me "Happy Birt-day, Mommy!" about 10 times a day and sings the song all the time.

But what's NOT to like about birthdays? Especially when your mom makes you a sa-weet R2D2 cake like this: (I know this looks super-professional but it is NOT a store-bought cake. Merely the result of serious cake-making skills.... I was even asked "what is THAT?" by the B.B.)

*The only problem (a very minor one) with this cake is that it was disgusting and no one ate it. Not even the B.B.)

Carter recently achieved a huge milestone in life.

He stopped picking his nose.

Just kidding, he still does that.

No, he really got a stripe for his karate belt by memorizing some sweet moves and testing for it. He was SO excited and Spencer and I were just bursting our buttons, as you can imagine. So he officially thinks he can kick anyone's butt.

(pictures taken on Star Wars Day. Did you miss it? MAY THE 4TH be with you.....I know, I know...shut up)

And this one...well this one makes me laugh really hard at least once a day. He talks really well for his age and the things that come out of his mouth...he is just hilarious. Watching him try and keep up with Carter is so funny.

We have been working on potty training with him for about...hmm, I'd say 2 months now. It's two steps forward, one back for him. One day we made the mistake of letting him pee outside. Yah, you know what happened next....there's no such thing as a real toilet anymore. If he's outside it's free-game. So I find him like this a lot>

"NOLAN, did you tinkle?"

"Yes, I show you! It's in the grass"

"You tinkle in the potty. Not in the grass."

"Okay. I not doing it again."

(yes, they are holding worms. boys are gross. really)

This has been one of my recent DIY home-improvement project. Seriously, for YEARS I have wondered what our kitchen has been missing. It has just always looked a little, like unfinished. Then the lightbulb went off one day while reading an issue of "This Old House" and within 1 week, I painted and Spencer hung a new chair rail. (and apparently a lot of garbage)



I LOVE IT! And it looks finished now. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. (I may have also read that line in the magazine)

We have been picking and munching on mulberries like nobody's business. We have a random mulberry tree that sprung up years ago and heaven knows we tried multiple times to kill this thing but finally we gave up and now it's beautiful and surprised us with berries like 2 years ago. Who woulda known?? I hope they are good for you cuz we've (I've) been pounding them)

All my home-improvement has given Nolan the bug. He loves to "fix" our pocket door, which translates to chipping more and more paint off the part with the missing latch, which in turn makes another project for mom. It's like a never-ending cycle. But he sure looks stinking cute in his goggles and missing sock. Plus he sticks his tools in his diaper/undies/pull-up (whichever he's wearing at the moment- it changes about 15 times a day) like his tool belt. Just like daddy :)

So there's my update. I am still in the midst of painting the house. Thanks to my darling hubby, some help from his family, and our awesome friends Isaiah and Jennica, we got the house done last week (3 non-stop days!) before my brother Wes and his family came to stay with us. We were really up at the crack of dawn every day scraping off old paint (getting it ALL over) and rolling the eaves and walls. It was crazy. And it was hot. And I was sweating. And it's not over. Tomorrow we start the garage!!