Family and Senior Pranks at Camp

My mom and dad are arriving in town tonight. Carter is in for a big surprise - he thought Christmas was over - but his gma and gpa from Kentucky haven't given him his presents yet. So tomorrow morning will be Christmas morning all over again for him (without the Christmas tree of course).

Our Student Ministry at New Covenant had its annual Winter Retreat last weekend and I must say that the senior class had the best and most creative pranks I have ever seen.
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The senior guys have been telling the girls every year for the past four years that they were going to put their mattresses on the roof of their cabin - well this year they finally pulled it off - great prank! (side note: the camp director overheard the guys plotting and kept silent and let them go ahead with it - awesome).
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The senior girls had 12 alarm clocks that they set to go off at different times throughout the night (the most creative prank I've ever heard of). They hid the clocks around the guys cabin and hoped for the best (I think most of the guys slept through most of the alarms - they are teenagers - but still a great prank).

Remember When ...

The twins had their 5-month "Well Check" visit today. Both are doing great and growing and growing ...
Harper's stats:: 17lbs.3ozs (97%) // 25in. (75%)
Camden's stats:: 15lbs.15oz. (50%) // 25in. (50%)

Everybody's Growing Up

It's been a little crazy around the house the past few days ...
> Carter is starting to sleep a little better - no longer do we have to sleep in his room with him, but we still have to visit his room a few times each night to quickly comfort him and settle him down (way better than it was).
> The twins moved out of our room and into their own room a couple of nights ago - we also have transitioned them from sleeping in swings to sleeping in their bed.
> Here are some recent pics of the babes ...

The twins cuddling in bed::
Saturday morning cartoons::
Harper eating cereal for the first time::
Carter helping around the house (only if it's vacuuming)::

While You Were Sleeping

It's about 3:30am (that's right a.m.) and no I'm not up because I want to be. Carter has been in an incredibly terrible sleeping funk for about two weeks. He can't go to sleep without Steph or I being in his room with him and if he wakes up in the middle of the night he needs one of us to sit with him until he falls asleep (only to repeat this if he wakes up again - which often happens at least three times a night - we've both spent more than a couple of nights having fallen asleep on his bedroom floor). Side Note:: This is great fun, especially considering we have two babies who need to wake up at night also. Anyway, we're trying all of the expert's advice on helping Carter get back into a normal sleeping pattern. So tonight (or better - this morning) I've been going into Carter's room about every 20 minutes to quickly calm him and then leave (we've been at it for about 90 minutes now). I'm hanging out in the office (adjacent to Carter's room) so we don't have to keep the monitor on and Steph can try to sleep ... well, I think I hear Camden crying ... so much for any of us sleeping.

The great thing about the bottom is that things can only go up from here.

Buzz Lightyear Lives With Us

At least once a day since Christmas we've been visited by Buzz Lightyear - we think he's taken up residence in our home.

The Twins

Harper is rolling over from her back to belly (she hates being on her stomach though). Camden can't quite make it over yet (his torticollis keeps him from getting any momentum). Aren't they the cutest?

Christmas Morning

Every two-year-olds greatest dream - lots of presents just for them - and getting to open brother's and sister's presents too.

Cookies For Santa

Carter had a blast baking cookies for Santa with his mommy.

Steph's Best Friend

Steph's best friend Beki (Camden "Bek" is named after her) was in town for Christmas. She has a one-year-old little girl, Stella, who Carter got to play with one day at Check-E-Cheese.

What Have We Been Up To?

If you've been wondering where the posts have been lately - here is what we've been doing with our time. Everyone seems to be feeling a lot better now, though. Thankfully.

Back to the Doctor

Carter visited the doctor again today. He had been getting better, but started regressing a couple of days ago (bad cough and fever). The doc prescribed him another round of antibiotics and medicine for breathing treatments and added a steroid this round (still looks like pneumonia). If fever and cough aren't better by Friday or he gets worse - we're probably looking at some hospital time. Please add our big guy to your prayers.

We got our first snow last Saturday and while he was feeling better, Carter got to get out and experience playing in the snow for the first time (he stood in the snow last year, but wanted nothing to do with it)::

Carter's Nonna (Steph's mom) was doing some cleaning the other day and Carter wanted to help (and by help I mean he wanted to get the tube out of the paper towels)::

Mommy and Her Kids

Steph took some pictures with all of the kids the other day.

Getting Carter to smile and do what we want instead of doing what he wants (miracle)::
Camden looking nice a preppy::
Harper and her new Diva outfit (perfect match)::

Christmas is On The Way

We dressed the kids up tonight and took some "Christmassy" pictures. Here are the twins looking cute as ever::

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Carter has two more days of breathing treatments (pneumonia) left before we can put away the "fishy mask". Here he is receiving one of his treatments. Remarkably he doesn't mind the treatment, and even likes to help get it ready::

Did I Speak Too Soon?

ICE STORM 2007 (check this link::half of OK without power)
Yesterday I posted that we were lucky we didn't lose our power during the ice storm. Well ... about 8:30a our entire town lost power (including our home). We were without until about 6:00p. We spent the morning at a friend's house and then went over to Steph's mom's and stepdad's apartment. They haven't moved in yet (still completely unfurnished), but it had heat. We kept calling our home number during the day hoping for the answering machine to pick up - and finally it did. So we're glad to be back home getting ready for bed. One big blessing - the apartment complex where the in-laws apartment is, is also home to some very good friends - so we got to spend some time (we love you Meredith!). If you live where it's cold - thank God for your furnace tonight!

Aren't They Cute?

Carter is getting better but we decided today to keep him out of CDO (kinda like daycare) for the remainder of the semester. We have a friend (Robbie) who Carter absolutely adores - she asked if she could keep him a couple of days a week (since he won't be going to CDO) so he can still feel special and have some time away from the twins. What a blessing! Harper continues to be the only healthy baby around here - Camden is starting to have a little cough (hopefully won't turn into anything big - but knowing our luck - we'll just wait and see).

Carter holding his little sis (mostly he pays no attention to the twins, but he has his moments)::
Camden and Harper showing off for the camera::
We put up our little 4' tree this weekend and Carter got really excited about helping (he loves his Christmas tree)::