Carter's First Birthday

Carter is almost a year old (I can't believe it), so we celebrated his birthday this weekend with family. It was a lot of fun. I think Carter showed more personality this weekend than I have ever seen. He really hammed it up for our company. As for the birthday cake, I wasn't surprised that he didn't dive in like a lot of kids do. He is still learning how to eat table food and prefers the gerber baby food (my guess is because it goes down quicker) rather than trying whatever is on our plates. But we mashed up the cake and ice cream together and he seemed to get the hang of it.

Racing his cars on the present.


Just one of my favorite goofy faces he makes.

Look at that sweet smile. He must take after his mommy. : )

4th of july fireworks

This is my mom's side of the family. We didn't have everyone, but we did have a great turn out. It was so much fun to getting all the little ones together. Chaotic, of course, but so much fun.

This is my Dad's side of the family, just grandparents, some of the grandkids and great greatgrand kids. Not sure how the aunts, uncles and spouses escaped this family photo. Think we had to act fast with who we had there at the time.

Weekend in Illinois