Picture Overload!

I never seem to be able to pick one or two pictures for my posts.  Instead I pick 10 or 15...I just can't narrow it down!  This post is no different.  While my parents were in town a couple weeks ago, my dad took a bunch of pictures of the kiddos.  Here are some of my favorite ones...thanks dad!  It sure is nice having a photographer dad to take cute pictures of my kids! 

(Oh, and I might have slipped one in of my parents enjoying the lazy river at a little water park we all went to.  We had so much fun!)

Atlantic City 2010

We wanted to do one more family trip before Carson started kindergarten, so we went to Atlantic City, NJ!  Dan found really cheap deals on a hotel, so that's why we picked there.  It was sooo much fun!  The kids have been asking to back ever since!  Here's a little bit of the fun we had:

The Beach!  Carson especially LOVED playing in the waves and Bryn loved the sand (can you tell by her dirty little legs?) 

The Boardwalk!

Rainforest Cafe!  I totally forgot the camera for this super fun lunch.  The kids loved the rainforest atmosphere and crazy animals! 

The Aquarium!  This was a super small aquarium, but so fun!  We got to pet sharks and stingrays.  The stingrays were my favorite...they were SOOOO squishy and soft!

Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum!  This was a lot of fun too.  The kids loved the quirky exhibits and even got a bit of a fright at some of the scary ones.

These tourists were actually wax and flashed a picture when you walked by...so funny!

What to do?

My sweet little boy LOVES scary things!!!  He absolutely LOVES halloween and almost all things scary!  But, with this love/obsession comes a certain fear that only emerges at night.  He is totally afraid of the dark!  It's been quite a while that he's been afraid of the dark and we feel like we have tried every trick in the book/pep talk to help him overcome this fear.  But, nothing seems to work!  A lot of the time we're just annoyed that he can't get over it, but other times I just feel so bad for the kid.  He is so sweet and it really, really scares him!  He is so imaginative and comes up with crazy ideas and scary monsters that he insists could be real.  So, do any of you out there have any suggestions to help him out?  I'd be happy to try anything at this point!!!

Carson's first day of Kindergarten!!

Well, needless to say I was a bit worried for Carson's first day of kindergarten after his little break-down last night.  But, I'm happy to report that he did great!  He woke up super excited to go to school and didn't seem worried at all (what a relief)!  He picked out his own outfit for his first day (not what I wanted him to wear, but that's okay) and we ate breakfast and headed to the bus stop.  The bus was a half hour late!!!!  But, when it came, he jumped right on.  It wasn't until I saw him on that big bus that I got a little emotional...but I held it together!  Here are a few pictures from before school. 

The traditional in front of the front door picture.  With some kung-fu moves of course.

One with his little sister...who just woke up and had some crazy bedhead. 

And some with his family.  The second picture Brynlee took (not bad, eh?).

Here he is at the bus stop and getting on the bus.

And here he is when he came home!  He said he had a great day and was excited to go back tomorrow (yeah! Just what I wanted to hear!)  I think this is going to be a great school year!  We're so proud of you Carson!

The night before...

It's the night before Carson goes to his first day of Kindergarten and I feel like I'm going to lose it!  I had NO idea I would be this nervous for him. I've been looking forward to him going to school for years and now that it is here, I am so sad!  I loved school as a kid and I think he'll really like it too, but I just can't get over the fact that my little buddy won't be around all day long.  He will get home around the same time Dan gets home from work!  Carson has always been a social kid, but he's also sensitive and cautious as well.  He is usually a little hesitant with new things, but once he's there he loves it.  Carson has been SOOOO excited for school to start and has talked about it non-stop for months now, but I just knew that when it came down to it, he would be really scared.  That exact thing happened.  I put him to bed tonight soo excited for school, he was dancing all around saying he can't wait for morning to come, but then after I left his room, a few minutes later he came out bawling saying that he is scared to go to school.  He bawled for over 20 minutes!  Dan and I tried every pep talk we could come up with, and finally calmed him down.  I'm just worried that the same thing will happen in the morning.  I'm going to be a mess tomorrow, I tell ya!  I just hope he gets up enough courage to get on the bus and makes one friend in his class.  Then I know he'll come jumping off the bus saying he had the best time at school!  Wish us luck!!!  I'll let you know how it went tomorrow. 

Here are a few pictures of him seeing his new classroom and meeting his new teacher, Mrs. Sharp.  Check out the cool murals in front of the library!  Oh, and of course Bryn was there too! 

We also made him a "Good Luck Carson" cookie to celebrate him starting school!  We love you Carson and are soo proud of you!

It's another.....

BOY!!!!  Yep, another little man!  We're super excited and celebrated the news by going to Costco and picking out that cute outfit above for him (that's not the only reason we went to Costco :)  Carson really wanted a little brother, so he is super excited too!  Brynlee still thinks it's a girl, but I think she'll figure it out soon.  Everything looked great on the ultrasound, so we feel very blessed.  We can't wait to see what this little man is going to be like....but first we need to think of a name!  Any suggestions?