Birthday Costume Party

The kids' cousin Ayden turned 7 this month - and had a costume birthday party.

Hannah - Cowgirl Sheriff (gun in right hand, blankie in left)

Cousins:
Hannah (cowgirl sheriff), Steven (construction worker), Charles (tigger), Jordan (spiderwoman), Brooke (princess), Marcus (hunter) & Tanner (spiderman).
Ayden didn't make it in this picture.

Siblings:
Steven, Hannah & Charles

Nap Time

Caleb & Hannah

I babysat a friend of ours, Caleb, one day. Caleb was ready for nap before I got him into his bed, and Hannah, seeing he thought the rug was adequate enough to get comfy, decided she'd make her place there, too. They were too cute.

Charles - One Month Old

He's been my most content baby.

Fun at the park

We went to the park with my cousin Jennifer and her kids. All the kids at the playground were taking turns burying each other in the rocks. Steven decided he'd like a turn. When he was just about completely buried, he got scared and started to cry, trying to get up. I told him to wait just a minute so I could take another picture - and smile! He was so adorable, he tried to smile amidst his frowning face and I couldn't help but laugh, so I ended up with a blurry picture. (The above picture was taken just before the blurry one.)

Newborn Diaper Cover

Charles, sporting one of my Newborn Diaper Covers from www.carrbaby.com.

Bathtime!

Smile!

Welcome Charles Gilbert Carr

Charles Gilbert Carr, named after his grandfathers (Kevin Charles and Gilbert Dale), born September 2, 2010 at 12:02am at home.

My aunt, the tax accountant, gave us this onsie.

That makes THREE!

Steven & Charles

Hannah grew up overnight.

9 Months Pregnant

Any day now... Charles arrived 1 week late.

Brotherly/Sisterly Love

Boxes make great toys.

"Boat, Mama!"

They love to look at books (and make messes with all their toys!)

Playing outside at our new home

Another Fair

Hannah contentedly watched her older cousins and brother enjoy the rides.

Brooke, Steven, Tanner, Jordan & Ayden

Grandma & Grandpa Carr's

Steven, their Grandpa Carr & Hannah

Hannah loves to play with her Grandma's doll and cradle.

Her Grandma got them with her in mind when Hannah was just a little baby.

(Hannah is their only granddaughter alongside 6 grandsons.)

Steven's favorite toys at his grandparent's house can be seen in the upper left of the photo - cars. He particulary likes all of his Grandpa's cars from the movie Cars.

Fun with Cousins

Steven rode on rides at two different fairs with his cousins this summer.

Cousin Jacob and Steven

Ball with Daddy

Steve joined my parents' church team one game during their softball league this summer.

Steven had fun watching Daddy play and playing with him after the game.

Steven likes to read

He climbed onto the table to look at this book. I snuck up and took his picture.

Water Fun at Grandma & Grandpa's

New Hair Cut

I gave myself a haircut. (With the help of my sister-in-law.)

We cut off about 10 inches.

I'm One!

It's my birthday and I can cry if I want to!

I'm one and I won't sit still!

Hannah's 1st Birthday (June 21)

Banana Cake

Yum! More, please!

Second piece, here we go!

Mmmm, better than the first!

All done!

Where Have I Been?

Hello to all our friends and family! It's been TOO long since I've posted last (nearly FOUR months!!). Let me fill you in on what we've been up to...

After searching for work in Colorado and having a few leads fall through, we came up to our deadline for deciding and so we chose to stay in Minnesota at least until after the birth of our third child. God's providence worked out such that we made a quick move to Hinckley, MN - much closer to family (we moved in the beginning of July). We're enjoying living on a berry farm, complete with a pet dog (he is an outside dog, so I can bear it :) ), 6 chickens (got our first egg yesterday!) & until recently, 3 cows. Soon, we'll have some barn cats, too. We're loving being in the country and having a yard for the kids to play in!

Through much prayer and searching, Steve decided to pursue a long-time desire of his, that of driving truck. He's done with trucking school, has his license, and is currently training with Werner, driving all over the US. We are thankful for God's provision.

Our third child, Charles Gilbert Carr (named after his grandpas) was born on September 2nd to us in our home. It was my most difficult pregnancy and labor and I'm thankful to have a beautiful and healthy child - and get on with recovery! He does seem to be my most content baby, which is a blessing! I am working on writing his birth story, for those of you interested.

Steven and Hannah are playing more and more nicely together. It's such a joy to see them play! They adore their little brother and often ask, "Hold? Hold?"

Hannah says lots of words. She's walking very well now, even running some. She's starting to really enjoy looking at books. She loves to mimic Steven and have him mimic her. She's 15 1/2 months old now. She's eating more and more with her spoon (instead of her hands), and has a mouth full of teeth (still waiting for a couple to come through). She's getting more hair (finally) and it has a cute curl to it.

Steven knows his numbers (0-10), letters, colors and some shapes. He can count to 10 with a little help. He's 2 1/2 years old. He's very helpful, fetching things for me when I ask him to, emptying the dryer into a laundry basket and bringing it to the couch for folding.

We're looking forward to this new season in our lives, as we plan to stay close to family for a year or so, working to get out of debt, and then see what's next as Steve hopes to continue on toward seminary.

I'll be doing a picture-posting marathon soon - once I get to my inlaws to use their highspeed internet connection (dialup just isn't working for my picture posting tonight).

Happy Birthday, Hannah!!

Hannah turned 1 today! Pictures to come later!

Developing an interest in books...

Steven's new napping position

Yes, he is asleep!

(After taking the picture, I put my cute little guy onto his bed.

Thankfully, he didn't wake up.)

Am I Just Asking For Trouble?

Am I just asking for trouble? Am I bored and need something else to do with my time? Do I think that raising a 2 year old and a 1 year old, not to mention being due with another one in 2 1/2 months isn't enough to do? Or how about not knowing if we'll be living in MN much longer and moving to CO? Do I need more chaos to my life? Oh yes, and what about already having two online businesses (www.scarletstitch.com and www.carrbaby.com)? I guess if I'm listing all my responsibilities, I better not leave out the accounting and website work I do on the side.

So what am I rambling on about? I joined the Norwex company.

So am I bored? Or crazy? Or any of the above? Why join a company NOW? Well, truth be told... I fell in love.

Yes, and Steve is perfectly fine with it. :) I fell in love with Norwex's products. And so, no, I'm not asking to be overloaded, I'm not bored, I'm not crazy (although some people might contest that one...), I just love their products.

What's so great about Norwex? To put it simply, their line has cleaning rags that clean BETTER than regular rags AND santize as you clean, using NO chemicals, ONLY WATER! They save you TIME, MONEY and the ENVIRONMENT, which helps save your HEALTH!

Our mainstay rag is made of super-fine microfiber (1/100 of a human hair) which means it picks the dirt and germs up instead of pushing them around. Due to this, cleaning any given area is QUICKER and EASIER. (Remember, all you're using is water.) Then, you rinse the rag out, wring it out and hang it to dry. There's silver that's intertwined in the fibers of the cloth and while the rag hangs there the silver does it's work - kills all the germs that are trapped in the rag. When you come back a few hours later to use your rag again, you're got a clean, "new" rag. Due to this silver-cleaning action, you can wait and wash your rag every week or even every other week, depending upon how much you use it - and you won't get that dirty rag smell!!

You can imagine how much laundry this would save you! I normally use at least 3 rags a day in the kitchen and 2 hand towels (especially if I'm baking or cooking a lot and washing/drying my hands often). So now, instead of having to wash around 21 rags/week and 14 hand towels/week, I can just wash TWO! Yes, because I can use the same rag on the table as I use on the kids faces - because the silver is killing the germs, I don't have to worry about cross-contaminating!!

Can you understand why I'm in love?

We have many other products, using the same concept, including a mop (amazing!!), hand towels, wash cloths, bath towels - to name a few. Oh, and we have a dry rag that works wonders on mirrors, windows and anything shiny - cleaning BETTER, using only WATER!! No more chemicals!

If you'd like to hear more about the products we offer, book a show at your home (we offer an AMAZING hostess package!!), or place an order - let me know!

Steven's Pottying

Remember ECing?

I had been ECing (Elimination Communication ie. infant pottying) with Steven since he was 5 weeks old (and Hannah since she was 5 days old). We moved to Minnesota in August 2009, and about 1 month after we moved Steven was getting 4 teeth - 2 eye teeth and 2 molars. He'd always lost some interest in pottying during teething (this is normal), but had still gone a number of times during the day during teething times. This time was different, he lost all interest in pottying and stopped going altogether. I knew it was because of the teething and didn't push it. Unfortunately, I got caught up in the many things I needed to do (after just moving and all) and when he was ready to get back on, I wasn't. So, months later, when I decided to pick up again, he was no longer interested. My bad.

I decided not to push him, as I had other priorities too. I'd ask him often if he needed to go. I started to put him on before bed time and nap time. He started to sit there long enough to be able to go, as he'd rather postpone bed time and nap time, but wasn't going very often at all - maybe once a week at best.

Lately, he's been requesting "potty" a little more often and for the past 4 or so nights has gone each evening just before bed. (For quite awhile he's sat on the potty at these times, "reading" and really putting off going to bed, but wouldn't go on the potty.)

This is very exciting for me. We're encouraging him and look forward to him starting to go more during the day.

On a side note: Hannah goes on the potty still. I just take her when I'm changing her diaper anyways. Hopefully I won't let the ball drop with her - but if I do, oh well - life happens :)

Scarlet Stitch Sale

Visit my site: www.scarletstitch.com

50% off almost everything,

through Friday, June 11th!!

(20% off suspenders, Tuffet Hats are not on sale).

Enjoy!!

Possibly Moving

It's been busy here at the Carr household, as I mentioned in a previous post. Here's what's going on...

As you know, due to the poor economy in Michigan, we moved back to Minnesota last August for work. Steve's been blessed with a job at the tax office, and we've been blessed with affordable housing through my aunt. We've enjoyed our unexpected season back in Minnesota, closer to family.

Through much prayer, consideration, seeking counsel, etc., Steve would like to start seminary this fall. He's hoping to attend New Geneva Seminary in Colorado Springs, CO. He was laid off from work after tax season here in MN. We took a trip to Colorado to check out work, housing and the seminary at the end of April. We set June 15th as our deadline - if he finds work in CO by then, we'll move before the baby is born (due August 26th), if not, we'll look at moving later in the year or even next summer.

Steve will be heading out to Colorado on Monday to job search there. If by the 15th he doesn't find work, he'll head back home and we'll plan on staying in MN until after the baby is born. If he does find work, he may come back to get us or start work and come back within the month to get us - just depends upon when they want him to start and such.

In the meanwhile, I'll be home with the kids, ready to pull together a packing party if I hear word from Steve that he has landed a job. (If you're in the area and want to be included, let me know!)

We appreciate your prayers as we seek and wait upon the Lord!

First Step

Hannah's been on the verge of walking for a month or so now. She just took her first step by herself - 11 1/2 months old. She looked so proud (she even had a toy in each hand!)

Quick Update

Life has been BUSY, hence my non-existent blogging in awhile.

Steven ~

2 years old. Loves to line his toys up; loves to read; loves to copy Hannah; loves to play with Hannah. He's playing more and more with older kids - very fun for me to watch!

Hannah ~

Turns one in 2 1/2 weeks! She's got 6 teeth; loves to eat; loves to copy Steven; loves to play with Steven. She's zooming up and down stairs, cruising furniture, standing on her own - hasn't taken her first independent step yet.

We're enjoying them immensely. :)

Camping

Daddy & Hannah, living the good life.

Hannah, Grandpa & Steven

Grandpa & Hannah

Steven, waiting for Daddy

Ready for a hike

Crystal, Hannah & a baby bump

"I know I'm cute."

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

(Crystal, Hannah & baby bump are 2nd in from the right)