The Little Man Turns 3 - Party #1

Almost 3 years ago to the moment (1152pm EST), our little man joined the world -- hard to believe! To appropriately celebrate the festivities, our resident party planner concocted the theme of "Chef Carter's", a restaurant owned and operated by a just-turned 3-year old, encouraging all attendees to "Mess with the best!"

Every attendee at the party had their own personalized apron waiting for them upon arrival....

But, Chef Carter's main event planner had just gotten started...

What does every good chef need?    A chef hat, of course...

So, upon arrival at the party, each guest (23 kids in all), stopped off to design and personalize their own individual chef hats...

Once the hats were complete, it was time to move to the first food station -- CUPCAKES.

Then, once the cupcakes had been whisked away into the ovens, it was time for station number two -- MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA...

Pizza-making complete, we were able to get a picture of almost everyone in attendance...

Then, by a special type of birthday-party magic, the cupcakes were ready to be decorated with a customized (and personalized in some cases!) mix of icing and candies...

The crew then moved over for a sit-down lunch, featuring Carter's favorites -- PB&J, goldfish, drink boxes, cheese and pretzels!

What a party!

What's New with Carter? (Videos)

Simply put, the boy loves to dance / rock it out and he LOVES snow and all things winter-related, as these videos can attest.

Carter Rocking It Out

Carter Enjoying Sledding @ Valley Forge Park

Campbell @ Two Months

Campbell had a great two month check-up on Friday, took her shots like a champ, and had a pretty great experience overall.   She has also been pretty busy in the growing and putting on weight departments -- measuring in at 23.5 inches and 12lbs, 2oz.    As Carter would say "Good Job Campbell!"

Carter Sledding @ Valley Forge Park (Pictures)

Today was the President's Day Holiday, and a PERFECT time for Carter to do his first official 'sledding' down the slopes of Valley Forge Park.

Click here if you can't see the slideshow above.

Catch Up Post

We are alive and well -- we've survived two historical blizzards, a few snow days, a few work from home days, and my own absolute LOVE of winter and cold weather (3 days until P's & C's).  Our little Campbell continues to grow by the day -- hard to believe she's approaching two months old in less than a week!

She's quite the little lady and seems to have taken a love for all things pink...

Carter still absolutely ADORES his little sister and is quite protective of her, wants to hold her all the time, and doesn't like anything to happen with Campbell that he's not involved with...

Speaking of Carter, he's up to his usual tricks, be it getting dressed up to help a plumber coming by the house...

... Or having fun in our 30+ inches of snow.

Carter Loves Cheese

Take from this what you will, but our son really loves cheese, even Wal-Mart cheese. Not a day passes when he doesn't ask, "Do we have Grandpa (Zagol) cheese?" referring to a huge slab of American from Costco. Tonite, our friend's Jenn and Greg dropped off dinner for us (thanks!) and Carter insisted on throwing some slices of cheese on top of the garlic bread...

One Month Old (a bit delayed)

Is this what happens with #2 (and beyond?)    Our lil' Campbell turned one month old last week and it's hard to believe how quickly that month went!   She had a great check-in, and put on slightly more than 3lbs in her first month, and is squarely at the 50/50 percentile split.

Here's a few pics, plus a quick, on-the-fly snapshot from her first official sink bath tonite.

Jan 4th -- First Day in the Real World

All things considered, seems to have gone pretty well...

-Brian didn't fall asleep at work and still had a job to go to;
-Stacey, amazingly, survived and seemed in great spirits all day;
-Campbell weighed in at the peds' office and gained 1lb, 2oz. in the past two weeks -- which is great;
-Carter, another great day as a big bro, and is excited about heading back to school on Tuesday.

Luckily, Campbell still remembers who her Daddy is...

... and, Carter continues to get better at Wii Fit every day!

If you can't see the video -- click here

Can It Really Be January 3rd?

Tomorrow is a big dose of reality -- back to work for Dad, weight-check for Campbell, and a firm hello to 2010!   It's been a great extended Campbell/Christmas/New Year's break at home and I can't wait for all of the extra fun that is in store.

Here's a pic of Campbell getting in some work-out time and Carter getting to play with his friend Gracie.

Hoping everyone has a great first week back in reality!

Holiday Week Videos

Posting two videos today as we get ready to close up the holiday week.

-Click here for 2009 Christmas Highlights, including Carter's Christmas concert, meeting Santa Claus, Christmas morning at home, Carter rocking out on his new guitar, and Christmas with the grandparents.

-Click here for some video snapshots of our first week+ at home with Campbell.

Enjoy!

Happy 2010!

After a crazy 2009, who knows what 2010 will bring, but we wish everyone who reads the blog nothing but the happiest and blessed year for you and your families!

-The Langes

Christmas Week at Home

Has been a blast.    On Sunday AM, Aunt Kelley and Uncle Steve came over before they headed back to Charlottesville -- Carter got in some last minute fun with both of them...

  

... and then we also snapped a family shot around Campbell's stork -- hard to believe it was less than 3 years ago that we did the same for Carter.   For those in the Northeast, it's beyond belief that all the snow from the great Campbell blizzard of 2009 is gone already!

Carter has gotten in some good rides so far (weather permitting) on his new Yellow Hummer...

...but, can anyone explain why kids his age love watching TV standing up?

Aunt Rinney came by to visit on Monday and get in some more QT w/ Campbell...

... and then on Tuesday, the Klines came by to meet Campbell, and give the band some time to practice...

... before another great day came to an end with big-bro and big-sis hanging out...

... and then Carter had to get in some couch-jumping (are we permitting this?!) before bedtime (PS-yes, those are Halloween pajamas.  What can we say, the boy loves wearing jammies!) ...

     

A Christmas Recap

For obvious reasons, 2009 was a great Christmas for our family -- the birth of baby Campbell, plus, truly seeing the joy of the holiday in a more powerful way than Stacey and I had experienced, by living the holiday through Carter.   What a blast!

Carter made out like an absolute bandit -- after spending the month of December counting down the days until Santa's arrival with Mom on their Advent Calendar and with Dad on their "Countdown Board", Carter actually slept in until about 745/8am on Christmas morning but ran down the stairs and was presented with the following scene ...

... After quickly confirming that Santa and his reindeer had indeed eaten the cookies and carrots, and that Santa had taken some sips from the chocolate milk, we moved directly into the gifts, and as you can imagine, the Hummer served as a key base of operations ...

... Other gifts included a digital camera, a guitar, a bouncer ball, some new trains, a new dinosaur, and, most importantly, some new friends (for those not in the know, we've now got all five Backyardigans (Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Uniqua, and Austin), Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets, and a Pirate Mickey) ...

... As the good big brother that he is, Carter gave Campbell a life-sized giraffe for her new nursery ...

... Speaking of Campbell, she was all dressed up for the occasion as well ...

... Then, we went over to Stacey's parents house for a bit, where Carter again made out like a bandit (pirate ship, binoculars, pirate sleeping bag, among others) ...

... And where Stacey got another tool in her ever-expanding baking toolkit...

... And Carter got in some fun cuddle time w/ Aunt Kelley and her puppy, Rockne...

... Then, on Saturday, the Lange's came down (up) from Long Island (Richmond) and we celebrated Christmas all over again, with Carter racking up the loot again (Geotrax, wheelbarrow, lawn toys, cash register) ...

  

All in all, a truly great holiday!