December 2008 Archives

New's Year 2008 was all about Carter Kay (isn't it always?!).  We headed downtown to ImaginEve at Hy-Vee hall ...



There were fun inflatable everywhere!



Pretty big climb for such a little girl!



But she was up for the climb .. and the fun slide down!



WEEE!  What a silly laugh!



Having fun with Daddy!



Chalupa's



How's Daddy supposed to navigate the ice with no eyes?!?



Mastering dot to dot with Mommy while waiting on Mac and Cheese at Okoboji Grill.  What a super night!  Later 2008!  Bring on '09!

Yes, it's supposed to be "a-wassailing," but it makes me think of the Wasserbahn, the site of our friends-adventure!

Carter and I met up with Kelsey, Grant and Collin Bumsted at the Wasserbahn (hotel and water park near Amana), just for fun.  The kids jumped and ran, then we swam and played, munched on pizza, played games, got to be silly, and fell asleep watching Cars.  Tuesday brought are chaotic breakfast (3 vs. 2 is NOT fair!) and a bit more swimming. 

We had a blast!  Thanks for meeting up with us, Bumsted's!  It's always a great, but too-short and long overdue, time!  Love you guys!!!



Carter and I had lunch at the Maid Rite (YEAH!).  Full tummies mean we can swim longer!



Staking her claim before the boys arrived! 



Let the jumping begin!  It was worth the money just to see them jump and giggle!



Grant, Carter and Collin donned suits and we ready to swim!



Swimming pals!  Me and Carter Kay



Sitting on the fountain ...



... and getting up ... with a huge wedgie!  What a dork!



It's a fun day - of COURSE we had pizza, cheeto's and juice!



After dinner, we hit the game room.



I hit JACKPOT on one of the games, winning us 364 tickets.  We bought a toy for each kiddo, some SpongeBob stickers (of course it was Spongie!) and a sucker each!



To wind down, we snuggled (or tried!) and watched Cars.  I'm winning over Collin (Carter's in there somewhere, too!).  He's my pal!

    

Getting ready to head home Tuesday, we had a few more crazies to get out of our systems!



Carter and the Boys (Grant and Collin) - LOVE these GUYS!




Wasserbahn Fun!!!

Nothing beats Christmas at home - especially this year!  We packed the car and headed home Christmas morning.  We had lunch, spent time with Grandma and Poppy, then launched into gifts (I'm really amazed ANYONE lasted as long as we did!  Three generations of Carruthers' and NONE of us are patient!!!)



Carter "under" Grandma and Poppy's tree.  What more could you ask for?!



"I really like Hungry, Hungry Hippopotamus's!"  Carter excitedly said! 



A Poppy and Carter gift: a SpongeBob fishing pole to take out fishing this summer.  Right now, it's a cat toy, but she's learning to cast and we'll have a great time fishing!

Later Christmas day, we headed to the Chalupa Farm to spend time with the Chalupa clan.  We played Phase 10 (I lost, and Duane was close behind me, per tradition!).  Friday Brian and Courtney came over and the girls got to open their gifts (SPOILED?!??).  Linda, Amber, Carter and I went to Coral Ridge for holiday deals, and later that evening, we had the big Chalupa dinner at Brian and Anna's.


What a girlie-girl!

By God, she must have been good!  Santa did indeed stop ... I wasn't really sure ...



Little Miss Carter by the tree, filled with Santa presents



Santa brought "Concentration" (the old shape game that was timed, and just when you almost had it all done, the board would pop up and scare the hell out of you!  Good times ...), a WallE game for her VTech game, and a ballerina book with a charm bracelet.  But wait ... there's this big box ....



IT'S A BICYCLE!!!  Complete with a (super-sweet - sense the sarcasm?!) horn!  Santa rules!

Happy Christmas Eve, all!

We had a super Christmas Eve day.  It was like being 3 all over again, myself!  If I didn't keep busy, I was going to jump into presents!  Carter spent a little time at daycare so that I could pack and get us ready for our trip home.  They also had a gift exchange, which she was really excited about.  We had lunch and a quick bath (and a little Jerry Springer - I love daytime TVI!), and then we all went to see The Tale of Despereaux, which was adorable!  After our movie, Andy, aka Rachel Ray, started our Christmas ham.  It was the best thing ever!  Then, we dove into gifts.

Carter received some fun new books, a couple movies (Horton Hears a Who and WallE), jammies, a reading game and a stocking full of girly goodies.  Andy got some awesome new BlueRay DVD's (yeah, I figured out BlueRay, I'm awesome!), a couple of sweaters and Guitar Heo, and I got my holiday assortment of Bath and Body soaps and sprays (which I was in desperate need of!), Age of Empires III (my gaming obsession!) and a gift certificate to Salon Vesta for some relaxation time!  We also got stockings full of Wii games, treats and of course, Andy's mag-a-nets.  Even Sammy got a stocking full of cat-crack and new toys!

Carter and I left reindeer food for Rubar (aka Rudolph) in the yard and cookies and milk for Santa by the tree.  He was his key to get in, and as I type Carter is slowly drifting to sleep while trying to keep an eye out her window blinds to catch a glimpse of Santa and Rubar.



Rachel Ray, cutting the Christmas ham!



Look!  We all match! 



Carter trying to get into her "What's Gnu?" game.  That princess paper was rough!



"OHHH!" 



Mommy's new Ages game.  Spreading Christmas joy through the killing of characters and brining down of empires!  Happy Holidays!



Wild, wild Carter, ready to keep going!



I LOVE this crazy face!  She totally gets it from Andy!!!



Journey to the Center of the Earth (3D, complete with nerd glasses), The Dark Knight and Iron Man, our first BlueRay DVD's!



What is it?!  My smelly-goods from Bath and Body!  This year's new scent: Midnight Blossom! 



WallE movie AND jammies!  Lucky ducky!



Andy's Guitar Hero!  We're going to look like such nerds playing this, and I can't wait!



Talk about PATHETIC!  What a faker!



Even Sammy enjoyed the holiday cheer!  Carter played catch with him, getting him high on cat nip. 



Our Christmas Angel



On the good list (how much longer can I milk that?!?)



Cookies for Santa and reindeer food outside.  Time to go to sleep and see what Christmas Day brings!  Merry Christmas to all, and to All a good night!



Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas, everyone!  Have a wonderful season!  We're off to spend some much-needed time with our family and friends, but we'll be back with our fun pictures and stories soon!  Take care!

Love ~ The Chalupa's

It has been one long weekend.  Today, we began to take our steps to get back to normal.

Andy stayed home for some quality computer'ing time, checking his sites and tinkering with Kelsey's computer.  Carter and I braved the super-cold to go to Jordan Creek for the day.  We started our adventure with an M & M cookie and a soda.  It gave us enough energy to go to Build-A-Bear.  Carter picked out her bear skin, stuffed it and gave it a heart (it was a little therapy for me, to not forget but to move on, and I must have looked like a teary-eyed insane woman at the store!).  Once our bear was stuffed, Carter gave her a "bath" and picked out her outfit.  We named her Nina Bear and she was issued a birth certificate.  Carter lugged her around the entire mall, talking to her during lunch and at our restroom stop.  The next stop for Carter, Nina and I was Barnes and Noble to get some fun books (dot to dot and a pirate maze book!), and then to Cinnabon for a Daddy-treat.  We went necklace shopping for Mommy, and Carter and Nina picked out a super butterfly pendant for me.  Then we had a lunch for champions: pizza and water!  Nina loves pizza, don't you know?!



C is for cookie and cookie is for Carter!  Yummy!



Nina Bear and Carter



Carter sporting some rad '80's shades and my butterfly necklace



Getting eaten by the hippo in the play area!  Oh no!!!

It's no secret that I love snow, and I love snow days!  But the ice, that I'm not so fond of!  But because of the quarter-inch of ice and sleet we got through the night, our winter break began a day early (yeah!  But our summer vacation will be prolonged a day - boo!).  We all slept in, watched some cartoons, then Carter and I ventured downstairs while Andy worked (or pretended to .. I'm not too convinced he was actually working!).  Carter and I played, and we organized her room, uncovering some of our old favorite books that had ended up in the bottom of a drawer! 

After nap, we all headed outside to play in the "snow."  It was more like "tromping on the ice," as the snow was covered in a sheet of icy yuck.  While Andy worked on snowblowing the drive (so glad that's not my job!), Carter and I walked back to the church parking lot, with a mountain of snow!  She was amazed by the snow mountain!  We both climbed it and slid to the bottom.  After a few slides and 20 freezing fingers, we headed back home for hot chocolate and marshmallows ... or marshmallows with a little bit of hot chocolate!



Headed to Snow Mountain!



"Wow!  This's pretty big, Mommy!"



Now ... to get down ....



Two frozen Chalupa's!



The best way to warm up: hot chocolate and snuggling on the couch!

Despite the crappy weather, Carter's yearly Christmas program was held (thankfully!).  There was a story line this year, that was a little lengthy, but the little guys all came to sing songs, which were adorable!  The 3's sang Away in the Manger.  I figured Carter would be okay, Andy figured she's freak out and freeze up.  We were both sort of right.  Initially, she looked around for us, didn't see us, but sang anyway.  About halfway through, she still hadn't spotted us, and started to pout then cry.  Eventually she found me in the back, and things got better!

They all wrapped up with all the kids singing Silent Night.  Carter did better the second time in front of the large crowd.  She got to sing in the front row, and then charged to us afterwards.  Stage fright is certainly humbling!


Our little shepard, who wasn't thrilled about singing in front of everyone!

This evening, after our neighborhood cookie exchange (which rocked, by the way!!), Carter and I met Zack, Stephanie and Isaac Alexander, and Andy and Rory at Outback for our yearly "family Christmas."  The stomach flu's been circulating our house, with Carter being sick over the weekend and Andy and I catching it yesterday, so we were very low-key for the evening!

After dinner, baby talk and catching up, we headed to Andy and Rory's for children and doggie gifts and our adult gift stealing (where no stealing ever occurs).  The doggies got some tasty treats (that nearly drove Moda nuts with just the scent!), and Carter and Isaac both got Big Wheels!  Carter also received a couple great new puzzles and an Alexander-approved Frankenstein book (she's lugged the puzzles all  over the house in the past 12 hours!).  As for our adult exchange, Andy and I got game night all ready to go: Phase 10 Twist and a bottle of booze!  Rory got an ice cream ball (that Carter is envious of!), Stephanie had a chopper that hubby Zack stole so she could steal Andy's Starbuck's gift card, leaving Andy with an Uppercase Living-like wall decal.  Next year, I'm stealing just to steal! 

Happy Holidays, Haning-Brown's and Alexander's!  Thanks for coming up and braving the flu to visit, and sorry we weren't more fun - the flu kicked our tails this week!  We could always do Jolly Holiday Lights!!!

Love ya, peeps!


Isaac and Carter dive into their Big Wheels with the help of a preggo Stephanie


Rinky and Moda, both freaking out, over tasty treats and toys!

This evening, Carter got a surprise call ... from Santa!  She was so excited, but didn't really know what do say! 

Tonight was our last Triad meeting of 2008.  Carter loves everything about Triad: the activities, her friends, Miss Kristen our teacher.  She enjoys every moment of it!  Here's a peek at a normal Triad afternoon:




It's done her wonders in coordination, attention and patience.  We LOVE Triad!

But, in little Carter-speak, it sounds like "orn-a-ments," in her cute little-girl voice!

Carter's been a bit under the weather this weekend.  Saturday she woke up achy, and she was just really tired all day.  She had a little bit of upchuck in the afternoon, but seemed better.  So we skipped Russ and Neal's holiday party (sadly), because nothign breaks up a party faster than kid barf.

Instead, we played Mommy and Carter Homemaker.  We made home-made Chex Mix and brownies, and we painted our ornaments.

We had a great time painting.  We'd both paint the same thing (candy canes, trees, or snowmen).  If I painted red, she wanted to paint red.  If I used the silver paint, she wanted to use the silver paint.  I realized that there's nothing sweeter than a kiddo trying to be like the people they look up to! 

A dozen ornaments and several tubes of paint later, we've got some wonderful, treasured ornaments that she'll look at in 5 years and say, "What a mess!  Did I really make that?!?"  And I'll lovingly say yes.



So it begins ...



Note: she insisted on putting the cutter in the middle of the dough, so I had to re-roll it a bajillion times!  <Sigh> Difficult!



Ornament designers!



Bring on the paint!



So careful in her painting!



So thoughtful in her design!



Then cue her reckless abandoment when it comes to glitter paint!



Simply beautiful!



She loved it!  The more paint, the better!  At this rate, it will take 4 days to dry!



A muse and her creative process!

This evening we road tripped it to spend the night with the Bumsted's.  Carter has been super-excited all week for our trip!  We arrived around 7pm, got settled, and the the kids dove into gifts!  Carter shared her love of Hullablue, the game, by giving Grant and Collin their own for Christmas, along with gift certificates to Cold Stone and Creative Treasure's, to be redeemed over spring break for a fun outing!  The boys got Carter a Wii-playing snuggle blankie, a super cool hooded bath towel and a big-girl Hawkeye shirt, just for her in pink!  Shane also got a Hawkeye shirt, as did Andy (which, by the way, he loved!).  Kelsey received a brag book and the best lip gloss ever (from Lush!), and I received a sweet new purse (which totally complements my birthday wallet!). 

After gifts, we made popcorn and settled in to watch WallE.  Popcorn and WallE, does it get better?  We tucked the kiddo's in and had some much-needed adult catch up time! 

We were up bright and early Saturday for crafts and cookies.  While Kelsey prepped frosting and cookies, Carter, the boys and I made Christmas mice.  Each got to pick a body and ears, then I assisted with glue to add sequins, eyes and a nose.  The mice, like our budding artists, are pretty cute!

Once frosting was ready, the kids decorated sugar cookies.  Kelsey got paint brushes and four colors to choose from, and sprinkles to wrap it up.  It was mildly organized chaos!  One would wander around the kitchen for a bit, one would randomly sneak bites of gingerbread legs or arms, one would go sprinkle-crazy, there'd be two right at your elbow or begging for the yellow or the red and green sprinkles!  Three 3 year olds suddenly seemed like a small army of crazies!  But they had a great time, and it's all easy to clean up!  We had nearly two dozen cookies that are ugly as sin, but made with love and taste delicious!  Martha Stewart's we are not, but we had a ball!

We lunched at El Durado, and on the way home Carter bit the dust.  I could even rouse her to go inside to try a cookie!  So we packed up and headed home.  Bumsted/Chalupa Holiday Fun 2008 was a success!  Thanks guys, we had the best time!  Love ya!



Ready for gifts!  Carter, Grant & Collin



"What is it?"  Collin prepares to help Carter while Grant looks to help Shane




"LOOK!  POPCORN!"  Carter was amazed by the air popper!



Making mice (the red boy and green soon-to-be ears)



Our mice!  Grant's, with a crazy tail because he was crazy while making his, Collin's and Carter's



Bring on the cookies! 



Grant proudly shows off his "painted" tree



Carter and a whole lot sprinkles




MORE sprinkles!!!




Collin misses his cookie.  It didn't really matter.  By this time, sprinkles were everywhere!



Grant sneaks a bite!  Or, should I say another bite!




Craft and cookie cuteness!  Enjoy :)

Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! is an adorable book (by David McPhail) that we grabbed at the library.  Carter loves it.  It's just as predictable as any Dr. Suess book, and I'm not claiming to say she's a fluent reader, but she does know the story!




Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! 

Did you know Santa's a book-nerd?  It's true!  While choosing some holidays books to read at the North Pole, Santa stopped by the library to greet little boys and girls! 



Happy to smile at and chat with Santa!  When he asked what she did to help out at home, she was silent.  Cricket, cricket ... but then, with a smile, remembered she helped with laundry!



A big Santa hug!  Since she's been good, maybe she will get a bicycle from Santa ...

The tree is up and standing, beautifully, might I add!  Carter helped every step of the way, stopping to dance along to "All I Want For Christmas is You" and "Santa Baby," my favorite Christmas songs.

She loved "awww!"'ing over all of the ornaments, but she only managed to decorate the bottom fourth of the tree.  I guess it's a good thing Andy and I are tall!



"Helping" by holding the tree stand!



Ornaments out, Carter in!



Checking the lights and "ohhh'ing" and "awww'ing"



Sammy's snuggle spot