A Week in the Snow

The boys & I at our favorite snowy playground.

Emmett & Gram.

Tami & the cousins/snowman builders.

The babies on the swings. Emmy & Rex, with Brooki helping.

Mons spent hours pushing all the kids down the hill on the toboggan.

Thanks to Aaron's parents, we were able to spend last week in our own timeshare in Flagstaff, just 2 doors down from my parents. My parents have had the 3rd week of January there since I was in Jr. High and I have many fond memories of the family, friends, and skiing. No skiing for me this year, as I spent my time with the boys. Aaron was able to come up over the weekend with us, when it was very snowy and cold! Fun, as long as we stayed inside by the fire. On Sunday Aaron went home and my sister, Tami, came up with her 4 kids. Most of them stayed with us, as my parents enjoyed the company of our long-time family friends, Mons & Sally Ellingson. Alden had a wonderful time with his cousins and playing in the "ho" and building a "ho-man" as he admonished everyone, "no eat lellow ho." The things Dads teach their boys! Tami and I really enjoyed our evenings together once the kids went down. We discovered that we like a lot of the same tv shows, and both our husbands hate them. So things were crazy, but fun, as most vacations are. We even had Aaron's sis-in-law, Missy, and her kids, Gabe & Corinne, come stay the last day & night with us. We are glad to be home, but thankful for a great vacation!

And the Two Shall Become One

We have been waiting 8 months for this day and last Saturday, January 13th, we finally moved Emmett's crib in with Alden. Now we can finally reclaim our office/craft/sewing room and Aaron gets to relax in his lazy boy after giving it up to his nursing wife for the second time. Just in time for NFL play-offs and the superbowl! I don't know why they don't make cribs small enough to fit through doors, but Alden was there to be Mom's big helper with his new tools as we broke down and reassembled. After sleeping through the night for one whole week, I guess the change in locale upset Emmett and he was screaming by 1am. And I didn't know what to do. Should I let him go on, like I used to, or should I stop him from waking up Alden. A week later, things haven't gone very well and I've settled into a routine of grabbing Emmett out of there, nursing him in the living room, and putting him back down in the play pen in our new office. Luckily Alden goes back to sleep quickly. But hopefully we'll make progress soon. I'd love to hear any suggestions or new ideas for sibling co-sleeping! Or not sleeping. : )

Teething Fun

Emmett cut his very first tooth last Monday, the first day of 2007! Today another one is poking through to join it. Soon he'll have 2 cute bottom teeth showing in every picture. All this fun makes him a bit fussy and he wants to be held a lot, which isn't too bad for Mom either. He's also babbling all the time now. No actual words, unless you count dadadadadada. Now if we can just conquer sleeping through the night!

Christmas Card

We're going to take a page out of the Johnson's book and post our Christmas letter and picture here.

Dear Friends & Loved Ones,

After sending out birth announcements for Emmett in May (which hopefully you got) we settled on an e-card for the Holidays this year. Emmett is 7 months now, growing perfectly and just about crawling. He is a very happy baby, charming all with his grins and giggles. Alden turned 2 in September and is a fairly typical toddler, with all the fun that brings. He loves to play with trains, planes, tractors, and motorcycles, or anything involving animals. He talks a blue streak, but sometimes only Mom can understand him. Aaron left the government in August and took a position with KPMG - which meant a move back home to Mesa. After only 11 months in Florida, this brought mixed feelings, but we are happy to be back in our own house, with our friends and families close by. Tara and the Blasneks are recovering from the loss of Robin, but we want to express thanks to everyone for the love and kind words heaped upon us during this difficult time. Tara is finding herself very busy with the boys to play with, her house to redecorate, and a new church job as the primary secretary. We are thankful for our growing family this year, and for all the support we continually receive from those who love us. We love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Aaron, Tara, Alden & Emmett Carpenter

Carpenter Christmas

We feel very blessed to enjoy a wonderful Christmas this year. It was pretty casual and we spent lots of time just hanging out and playing with the boys. Santa Claus found our new house and left way too many toys for Alden, and the occasional trinket for Emmett too! Aaron's sis & br-in-law spent the morning with us, which made everything more fun. The boys love playing with Uncle Stephen and we found out he makes some mean chocolate chip pancakes too. Candice can never seem to get enough of the boys and we're taking advantage of that while we can since she'll have her own baby in July. Lunch and the afternoon were spent with Tara's family and we all came home with tons more stuff we don't need (but love anyway). Many thanks to all the generous family and friends who thought of us during the Holidays this year. New Year's diets had to wait while we put away a lot of good food (and not-so-good-for-you food that is the most delicious). Oh, and we watched a lot of football. Aaron says that's why we have the holidays, to watch a lot of football. I say he's lucky to have a wife who actually enjoys it and doesn't make him turn it off. We hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well.

Winter in Mesa, Arizona

The boys had a great time showing off their sunglasses on December 5, 2006.

Our First Blog

Inspired by our J friends (Johnsons & Jensens) we are officially entering the Blogosphere.