Ahh... to be 13 again....

Honestly, you couldn't pay me enough to go back to Junior High and be a seventh grader. It's bad enough I have to teach them, but holy cow, I could never go back!! I am just astonished at how awkward it is to be 12/13 years old!! I come home with funny stories every day, but this one definitely makes me giggle! The other day I get to school and as my first hour comes in I was blown away by one of my students. I'm going to just call her "Jane", I don't think it would be right to use her real name... Let me just begin by saying that "Jane" is a bit strange... she is just one of those socially awkward, alright... I'll say it, she is a freaking weird child!! As I'm greeting my students and say good morning to her, she looks up at me. She had shaved her eyebrows off and drew them in with a black sharpie marker. And it wasn't just a small line, she drew a THICK line from one corner of her eye to the other!! NO EXAGGERATION!! She looked like a deformed raccoon!! I had all I could do not to laugh... well, my laughter was stifled for only a few seconds, because then the P.E. teacher came in and just lost it!! "Jane" said she did it because it looked "cool"!!! Yep, she liked it!! I laughed so hard I had tears flowing and I think I may have even wet my pants a little!! My students were roaring along with me... yeah I know, way to set a good example!! Well, the P.E. teacher took her into the bathroom and scrubbed her "brows" off, and she returned to my class with no brows!! I proceeded to lecture then on the importance "less is more"... and I told my girls, if they need advice with makeup, please come talk to me! Oh I just about died of laughter that day!!

Gotta love the fall!

Carson loves to "sit by self". This is his new obsession... I'm not kidding! We walk by a bench, and if he sees it, he has to sit in it! It's turning into a slight problem because if we don't let him sit, he throws a mini tantrum... (I finally gave in this time, and look how excited he is! I'm such a bad parent... I need to work on not giving in!)

This past week I had October Break!! YEAH!! Which means no teaching for exactly 10 days... (yes, I'm including the weekends) So my mom, Carson and I took a little trip back to my hometown of Branford, Connecticut, to visit my grandparents and let Carson spend sometime with his great grandparents! It was SO COLD THERE!! The high was in the 50's during the day and it got down to the high 30's at night!! It was a welcome change from Arizona's heat! It truly felt like the fall!! I really miss having four seasons. Anyway, we stayed with my grandparents for the week. My Papa is almost 90 and my Nanie is almost 89! YES, that is OLD! They have been married for 66 years!! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!? Carson was the light of their lives! He was such a good boy the whole time! He and great-grand-papa instantly bonded! He loved Papa. It melted my heart! It was so cute to watch my grandfather interact with him. For being almost 90 he was picking Carson up and running (well, walking briskly) with him. My Nanie on the other hand has Alzheimers Disease and forgot that Carson was in fact my child. She really thought he was my little brother and belonged to my mom... it was sad. She kept asking, "Now how is he related to me?" Nevertheless, she just adored him... We went to this place that I used to love going to when I was growing up called Bishop's Orchard's. They had a lovely pumpkin patch and a hay maze. CARSON WAS IN HEAVEN!! He loved the pumpkins and the whole time we were there he just ran, ran, ran!!

Every pumpkin he would get near he tried to pick it up! It was so adorable, because he was literally grunting and straining to lift them!!

Carson loves trucks and tractors! He again had to "sit by self tracker"... he just said it over and over again. We spent at least 20 mins on the darn thing! =-)

Look at these beautiful mums... I love these flowers in the fall!

On the hunt for more pumpkins to pick up!

Carson in a sea of pumpkin!

Carson and mommy! I just love my little boy!!

At the airport coming home! We had a 3 hour layover in Baltimore.... I could've died!! We were in Maryland for so long! Carson was getting so silly at the restaurant. He wanted to feed himself, and I couldn't break him away from his fork!


Look at this precious little man! He konked out just before we got on the plane. I love watching my baby sleep, he just looks so sweet and innocent! We really had a fun trip.

My big boy...

Our last frolic at the beach, "My little surfer"

So Carson is already 15 months old! Not too sure how it happened... He is getting so big and I just love him so much. I really didn't think I could love this kid as much as I do, but I do! He has such a little personality! He says EVERYTHING!! He makes little sentences and strings words and phrases together. And not only does he make sense, but he completely understands what he is saying. For instance, he tells me "Momma go (out)side, pool, swimmin, suit" He strings all those words together, and knows exactly what he is saying!! It's amazing. And he always says, Momma, kiss... after he kisses me, he says "wove you"... oh, melts my heart! Yesterday at church was the cutest, someone sneezed in Sunday School and he looked up and said without any prompting, "Bleess Youuu"!! Everyone started giggling around us, because it was so unexpected. It's amazing what kids pick up on! They hear and see everything!! It makes me really want to be a good example. It also makes me realize that we have to constantly watch what we say and do around him!

Look at this mischievous grin!

Oh how the time flies....

Where did the last two months go? Let me just give you all a run down of our crazy life so far! The last week of July, Carson and I moved from Florida, back to Arizona. It was a crazy couple of weeks before the move. We had to pack up the whole house and get as much of it into our storage unit as possible. I had to be back in AZ, because while Rod completes two internships out in Scottsdale, I'm teaching 7th grade Reading and Writing. I'm back in Tempe, working at the middle school I used to work at, same job, position, and even back in the same room! It worked out perfect actually. Anyway, teachers had to report back to work the last week of July, and I've been back at full-time work ever since. As soon as Rod finished finals at the end of August, he made the lovely, quick, little journey across country. We are all living with my family, which is awesome for us, because it's free, and allows us to save up a lot while I work. Not to mention my darling mother watches Carson for me while I work all day! However, it's so hard to move back and go from small family of 3, to family of 6! HA HA... good thing it's temporary. We'll be in Arizona until after Christmas and then we head back to Florida to live in a beach house for four months!!! We've been having so much fun but boy have we been busy!

Ready for a learner's permit?

This was seriously the best investment!! Carson absolutely adores his car! Everyday he asks for "ride car". He points at it and grunts until he gets his way. We go at least twice a day around our neighborhood. He honks his little horn and waves at all the neighbors. It's too cute! Our driveway has a slope in it and we'll put him at the top and let him "drive" down to the bottom. Somehow this never gets old to him. He always asks for Rod's scooter helmet or "hat" so we thought we'd put it on him. Funny thing is... it's not really that big on his head! Last time we went to the doctor, she measured his head and it was off the charts! HA HA....must mean he's going to be a smart kid!

Everyday my child somehow manages to get stuck under the kitchen chair. He gets so frustrated because he has no clue how to get out. I know it's mean but I always laugh hysterically at him. How can you not laugh... look at that face!! (p.s. I only leave him there for a second, I'm not that bad of a mom!)

Does anyone else struggle to get their kids dressed? I swear it's an enormous project to take clothes off and on. Sometimes I just leave his p.j.'s on until the afternoon!! Or sometimes he's only sporting a diaper...that is until we go somewhere! I think Carson left his p.j. top like this for about an hour.. I think he forgot it was there!

A Year in the life....

Happy Birthday little man...

How is it possible that my little Carson John Walker is a year old? Where the heck did the year go? I swear I was just pregnant and dying for him to come out, and now he's already been here for a year!?! It's so scary!! I feel like my little peanut is getting so big so fast!! I just adore him. My whole world has changed since he has come along. I can't believe how much motherhood changes you. You go from being this selfish person... and bam... EVERYTHING you do, everything, revolves around your child. It sure changed me. I really wouldn't trade it for the world. We had a lot of fun for Carson's birthday. We actually had two parties for him. The Saturday before his birthday we had a BBQ with all of Rod's classmates. We had like 30 people over at our house and I made a Lego cake! It turned out pretty cute, Rod even helped me frost one of the Lego's... it was pretty funny watching him with the frosting. His hands are so big, lets just say it was awkward!! Then on Carson's actual b-day, June 26th, we had a bunch of our friends from church over, and all of their kids... that ended up being like 20 people. I did cupcakes with a beachy theme, they turned out way cute. Carson was so funny both times with the whole eating the cake thing, he just didn't know what to do with it! I've really been a stickler with NO SWEETS before a year, so sweet to him must have been weird! At first he put it in his mouth and made a face, then he kept putting his hands in it and handing it to me. I was dying. If I can figure out how to upload videos, I will for sure put it in! Carson's most favorite gift was his Elmo chair. HE IS OBSESSED WITH ELMO!! Our friend's Elizabeth, Beau, and Buddy gave it to him and he squealed with delight when he saw it!! He just kept saying MEL-MO!! MEL-MO!!! He loves his MEL-MO... it is so precious how he says it!! AHH... Happy Birthday my little guy, WE LOVE YOU TO PIECES!!!