Mardi Gras!!

We recently went to Norman for Mardi Gras weekend!! This involves us being in the parade throwing beads, bouncy balls, tiara's, wands and anything else that Adam's dad has gotten for us. This is his favorite time of year!! This year he really out did himself on the float. He had an idea and made it come to life! He and Joanne did an AMAZING job!! We won the prize for best lights as well as the overall prize for the best float! It was well deserved! Have a look:

Just as a side note- every year we dress up in whatever theme we have going...however this year we had a free for all on the costume end!! Someone mentioned that if Rick was dressing as Barney then we could be whatever we wanted! The outcome: Barney (Richard), Dirty Bubbles Lady (Joanne), Fire victim (Adam), Snake Hunter (Melissa), Zeus (Karsten), Fairy (Me), a Gypsy (Trish) and Noah? Joseph?- you know I'm not quite sure what Brad was! Even Dax dressed up in his awesome hat that a friend (Shauna) got for him in Vietnam. He looked super cute! We all had an amazing time! It was the best year yet!!

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We were able to stop and visit with the Harrison's and Courtney family on the way back home too. It was great to see everyone and show Dax off some more! They are such a wonderful family and we're so glad that our boys have them in their lives. Karsten was SO happy to see everyone, especially his Granny and Papa!! 

We have a few big things coming up this week. First of all on March 1st Dax will officially be 3 months old. How fast this time has gone by!! He has grown so much!! Then on March 3rd our Karsten will be 9 years old!! Wow!! I can't believe that the years have passed by so quickly!! It seems like just a short time ago I was meeting this wonderful family for the first time at Karsten's 4 year old birthday party. I can't believe it's been 5 years!! I have been so incredibly blessed to become part of this family. They have brought so much joy to my life!! I'll have to do another update next week with pictures of Karsten's birthday party!! He is SO excited!!

Also, we've had some hard times on my side of the family over the past year and I want to thank everyone who has had us in their prayers.  They have been such a helpful reminder of who is in control. Any time I get down I just think of all the blessings that I have had. It's hard to be sad when I have such an amazing baby and wonderful family. I once read that if your going to ask God "Why me?" during the hard times, then you should be sure to ask God "why me?" for every blessing in your life as well. I definitely try to thank him for every little blessing in my life, because there are SO many!!

Finally an update!

It has been such a long time since I have posted anything new! I've thought of it MANY times, but never actually got on here to do it! So many things have happened since the last post. Daxton is here of course. He arrived on December 1, 2011 at 6:30 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and measured 20 inches.

Since then he has been to the doctor several times and grown quite a bit already. At 1 month he measured 10 lb 12 oz, 21 1/4.



The most recent measurement at 2 months was 13 lbs 7 oz and 22 1/2 in long! He has gained about 5 lbs since birth!! Let's just say he's a healthy boy!!





He is doing absolutely wonderful! He already sleeps through the night (and has for at least a month now). He is still asleep right now and that will make it at least 9 hours!! He LOVES to sleep! He's growing so great, so I just let him sleep as much as he wants.



When Dax is awake he loves to talk to me. He is such a smiling, happy little chatterbox! He is beginning to laugh more and more. It first started out as a little chuckle that was adorable, and it is slowly becoming a stronger giggle. I just love every single noise that he makes!



He is beginning to grab at anything he can get his hands on. Everything goes to his mouth already too! It is so funny to look over at him and see that he has grabbed his burp cloth and has it pulled up to his mouth. He will look at me with the cutest expression that seems to say "Ooops...I got caught!" I bought a new little toy for him the other day that I thought he would love when he got a little older. His awesome Aunt Melissa was showing it to him and he LOVED it!! I wasn't even expecting him to play with it for another month. I guess I need to take a look at his toy box and see if there is anything else that he may enjoy. He has a little butterfly rattle that came on a playmat and he loves to grab it and chew on it. He's such a boy...already loves bugs!



Another thing Dax loves to do is laugh and smile at his dad and brother. Every time Karsten comes into his line of vision Dax has a big smile for him! He knows how much his big brother loves him. Karsten is so sweet with him. I was worried about him being too rough, but he is just so gentle! I actually worry about Adam being more rough with Dax than Karsten is! I'm going to love seeing their relationship grow over the years. I know Karsten will be an excellent big brother. He will set a great example for Dax.





Now to brag on Karsten a little! He is doing great in school. He has done an excellent job with reading. He is one of the top students in his class. He has been reading the Harry Potter series and is doing an excellent job! He is on book 5, and no longer wants to watch the movies. He told me that the movies were kind of boring because they left out so much stuff. Can I just say how much this makes me proud? We are so blessed! He is also doing great in math. They have been doing multiplication and division and Karsten is a pro! We have been doing multiplication with him for years without him realizing it. It has paid off! He can now do about 30 problems in 1 minute. I love those mad minutes worksheets!

Karsten is also doing Upward basketball again. He loves it, of course! He improves with every game. I am often reminded at the practices and games of how kind Karsten is. He can really play as a team, where some other kids do not. He tries to be friends with everyone. I pray that he continues to be such a sweet and considerate young man as he grows up! Hopefully his dad and I can set a good example for him.

We've had many new adventures since the last post, but one that stands out is a trip we made a little north of here to see bald eagles. Now, we knew that we MAY see one or two, but we could not have expected to see at least 8 or more! It was amazing! We were also able to get a picture up close with one!!

Karsten, Adam, and Melissa went skiing yesterday. It was Karsten's first time! (Me and Dax stayed at home b/c it was COLD!!) Adam said he did a pretty good job...if he would have stayed up on his skiis longer!! Apparently he fell down a lot. He looks like a pro in this picture though!!

Hopefully I will update the blog more now that I am getting a little bit of a schedule down. I am LOVING being at home with my little one! I should find a job, but I hate to leave Dax long enough to go to the store (which I actually did!). I can't imagine leaving him in someone else's care. So, I'll stay with him as long as Adam will let me!! :) I love my husband!!

Some extra pictures: