Welcome to the Flip Side 2012

Happy Halloween! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

(whew!)

Apparently the last time I updated this blog was in October. Four whole holidays came and went without so much as a "byte" of info from us. To say we've been busy is a bit of an understatement. I've been working part-time nights and weekends (more on that later). We've travelled to visit family and had family travel to visit us. I didn't take a single photograph with my camera for the entire month of November! That's saying a lot for me. Our schedule has had me so frazzled lately that apparently on our Christmas card, I wrote that a highlight of 2011 for us was going to Minnesota for Grandma Lil's 85th birthday party. Yeah...uh...Grandma Lil's party was in 2010. Somehow I lost an entire year in my brain. Despite my apparent lapses in memory, I will do my best to fill you in on the past couple months in the Bunn household.

Event #1: Halloween!
Mike and I decided that Carter was old enough this year to try trick-o-treating in our neighborhood. We live on a dead-end road with only about a dozen houses. It worked out really well for us. Our neighbors really pulled out all the stops with the treats...I'm talking full-size candy bars here people! I figured this was probably going to be the last Halloween where I would get to choose Carter's costume myself, since he didn't really have an opinion on the subject. So, of course, he was Darth Vader. It's hard to tell in the photos that's what he was since he wouldn't wear the helmet part on his head, and he kept sticking his lightsaber (flashlight) in his eye. (sigh) My hopes of a Jedi child are dashed. Nora was very much excited to wear her Minnie Mouse costume, ears and all. She loves dressing up and it didn't take her long to catch on to the "doorbell = candy" equation. Overall, a great experience and Mike and I the kids really enjoyed the candy.

Event #2: Thanksgiving!
We loaded up the car and travelled down to Arkansas for Thanksgiving at Mamaw and Papaw's house. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a rough start. The morning we were planning to leave, Carter woke up in a giant pool of vomit. Ugh. In my opinion, nothing is worse than the smell of vomit. I would rather deal with the worst case of the runs instead of vomit. We delayed our start to see if Carter was actually sick, or if he just had an upset stomach. He seemed ok while I spent the morning doing laundry. So we hit the road a bit later than planned and headed south. Before we reached our destination, he barfed two more times in the car. It was awful! The smell! We thought about turning back but we just powered through it. It worked out fine, because the whole time we were down there, Carter was perfectly normal. Took forever to get the smell out of the car though. Moving on to the actual holiday...the highlight for the kids was probably riding on the trailer pulled by Papaw's tractor. Carter loved climbing on the tractors and sitting in the seats. Good food, great family, and Razorback football...we had a wonderful time.

Event #3: New job!
Just before Carter was born, I had left my job at Washington University. Working full-time is something I'd like to do once the kids are in school (or maybe preschool), but that's still a year or two away at least. Until then, I decided it would be nice to do a little part-time work. Nothing too demanding, just something to give us some extra money. Since I'm still with the kids all day while Mike's at his job, I looked for something nights and weekends. Well, there aren't a lot of options outside of restaurants and retail. I applied to a few retail stores and got a call from Michaels. It's an arts and crafts store, and they were looking for someone to fill an opening in their framing department. It's been a good fit so far. I like the store and shop there regularly, but I love the framing. I like being able to help people design something to showcase their special paintings, photos, or memorabilia, and then actually building it myself. It's gratifying when they see the final product. I've learned a lot working there. We get some of the most interesting things that people want framed. One lady brought in an actual footprint of an elephant on handmade paper that she got while in Africa.

Not sure how long I'll continue to work there. It was a bit insane during the push towards Christmas. I thought I was losing my marbles. The store was staying open so late, I was getting lots of hours, but I was getting home around midnight. Then getting up with the kids in the morning...and barely seeing Mike at all. It's slowed down a lot now, so I feel like I'm back in control of my household.

Event #4: Christmas!
The build-up to Christmas was actually tangible in our house this year. Carter finally seemed to "get it", that Santa would be coming to his house and he would be bringing presents. He was so excited. Nora quickly learned the word "Santa" and pointed out his likeness everywhere she saw it. We did our first Breakfast with Santa at our local rec center (which by the way had an excellent Santa and Mrs Claus). It went mostly well. Carter happily told Santa he wanted trains. Nora cried and likely got snot in Santa's beard (which was real). We decided to stay at home for this holiday to enjoy all the traditions without worrying about packing suitcases. Instead, my family came to visit us! Grandma, Pop, Karen, Corey, and Dalton all came to St. Louis for Christmas. Their visit was short but we made the most of it. We visited the Whittle Train Store, swam in the hotel pool, decorated cookies, played games, watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (that one never gets old), and generally stuffed ourselves to bursting. Carter still keeps asking me when we get to go to Dalton's house to play with his trains.

I'm running out of steam. This is the most I've typed continuously in a long time and my joints are cramping up. I have a few more news tidbits but I will save them for another update in a couple weeks.

New pictures on Facebook can be found HERE.

Happy Fall and Go Cardinals!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the way the leaves look in our neighborhood. And driving down Hwy 21 on a bright sunny day can make the hillsides look like they are on fire! The kids could care less about the breathtaking view, but they do love playing in the leaves. If only they could rake them up themselves.

Some things our family has done the last month or so:
1) Picked apples at Eckert's apple orchard.
2) Hiked a trail at Powder Valley Nature Center.
3) Sampled and admired all the works at the Best of Missouri Market.
4) Played volleyball or softball.
5) Brewed some beer.
6) Took a photography class at Forest Park's Jewel Box.
7) Slid down the twisty slide without Mom's help.
8) Saw a real armadillo at the World Bird Sanctuary.
9) Played chicken with a bison herd at Lone Elk Park.
10) Upgraded to a big-boy bed.
11) Cheered for the Cardinals!
12) Drew chalk pictures in the driveway.
13) Learned STOP, DROP, and ROLL!
14) Climbed all over some firetrucks.

The weather has been wonderful these past few weeks. We've been spending a lot of time outside. Once the weather turns colder and the days grow too short, we'll turn into crabby, caged beasts until spring comes again. So for now, it's "Let's go outside!"

Click HERE for new pictures. Enjoy!

"I am 3!"

Carter is officially out of the terrible twos, though I don't think they were ever really all that terrible. We had a great birthday party at our house with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme (if you don't know who Thomas is, pull your head out of the sand). Family and friends came to help us celebrate. Thanks everyone for your help and for the awesome gifts!

I keep thinking about all the milestones Carter has reached during this past year. The explosion of talking, running, and memory just blows my mind. We're working on potty training and soon he'll be in a "big boy" bed. I love being a witness to all his accomplishments but it is a little sad to see some things disappear. His word pronunciation improves all the time, so the adorable ways that he used to say some things are gone forever..."Nora" used to be "Ra-ra" and "Caboose" used to be "Boose-a-boo-boo". There are a few new ones though. Part of me doesn't want to correct the way he says "Peetz-ba" for "Pizza".

Nora has plenty of her own milestones to brag about as well. She's much more expressive at this age than Carter was. Already she has a few dozen words that I can recognize and her facial expressions never fail to make me smile. She's figured out how to climb onto the furniture and it's not uncommon for me to catch her standing up on an end table after leaving the room for a moment. She loves hiding in closets and tents, and hugs her stuffed animals whenever she comes upon them. In the flash of an eye, she will empty an entire drawer of clothing, then prance around the room with the clothes draped over her head. Such a ham! The best parts are listening to her and Carter giggle together like two scheming siblings.

The weather is finally turning cooler and we are welcoming the change with open arms. It's been a very hot and dry summer this year and we are looking forward to enjoying some playtime outside. Hope everyone is doing well!

Click HERE for a couple new pictures on Facebook.

And click HERE for birthday party pictures.

Dog Days of Summer

The heat wave finally broke today and we celebrated by going to the Zoo. Carter was most excited about the snakes, but I think Nora liked the ducks the best (because she can nearly say the word "duck"). I liked the Dippin' Dots ice cream break we took after two hours of pushing a double stroller.

Nora's vocabulary is really starting to take off. Not that anyone would be able to understand her...most of her words are ones that only I can comprehend. But in some form or another, she is able to say: Mama, Dada, ball, more, water, mouth, nose, ear, hair, duck, dog, book, Olivia, and Minnie. There may be more but that's all I could think of on the spot.

Carter hardly ever stops talking. His pronunciation improves every day. For example, he actually says the word "caboose" now instead of "boose-a-boo-boo" like he used to say. His hang-up now is that his entire conversations take place in the form of questions. It's kind of impressive really. I can't believe he'll be turning 3 in a few weeks. He's turning into a little man!

We just got back from a long weekend trip to Hot Springs with Mike's family. Despite the HOT weather, Mike and I were able to take the kids to their first beach trip at one of the local lakes. It was great! Carter especially liked walking in the water, even though he kept calling it a pool. Nora enjoyed collecting rocks on the beach and was loathe to give them up (I found several in her carseat later). While visiting the family, we even managed to get a respectable family photo with everyone (even the kids) looking at the camera! It was a miracle, especially that we only had time for ONE shot before the rain started pouring.

Hope everyone is having a good summer. I am really looking forward to fall and the cooler weather that it brings.

Click HERE for new photos added to the Summer 2011 album on Facebook

Alright Already!

Harassment has begun. Must post photos.

Here's a link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2082397132169.274471.1012296258&l=fe0c1956bb

Here's a video:


It seems like there's always so much to do these days. The blogs is at the very back of my mind. Sorry everyone! I know you're not waiting on the edge of your seat for my next update, so I don't feel too guilty. :-) We've had a busy summer this year. Despite ongoing battles with insects of all sorts, deer, and groundhogs, our garden is producing more vegetables than we can keep up with. I'm running out of counter space in the kitchen. Nothing beats a BLT with a homegrown tomato though! Over the 4th of July, we visited Grandma and Pop in Kansas City. The kids did amazingly well on the trip and we all had a nice time. Here at home we've been visiting our usual haunts...train museum, gardens, playgrounds, etc. But now that the weather has really warmed up, we'll probably start looking for indoor activities. Suggestions are welcome! We can only hit the mall so many times.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Getting Out to Play!

The days have finally warmed up and I have a legitimate excuse for not updating the blog so often. I can't believe all the rain we got this spring! Flooding is not something we need to worry about in our neighborhood, but even still...I was beginning to feel like my clothes needed wringing out even though I was only watching the downpour from the window. When the sun finally arrived, we burst out of the door and into the world! Just in the past couple of weeks, we've been to the Magic House, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Shaw Nature Reserve, the Museum of Transportation, and many local parks. So much nicer than staring at each other in the house.

Nora
It's official! Nora is walking! She had been cruising along the furniture for a couple months, but now she walks confidently everywhere. Usually she walks wherever Carter is happily playing by himself (screaming inevitably ensues). If she's not shadowing her big brother, she is looking at books. However the idea of books on bookshelves must be completely impractical in her mind. Each book must be individually examined and discarded on the floor before settling on one to page through. Perhaps she thinks she's "cleaning" the shelf? For the most part, Nora is also off baby food and eating table food. She's nearly weaned from her bottles too. I can't decide if this makes our lives more or less chaotic at meal times, but it's exciting to see her growing up. She's even beginning to talk a bit. The other day, Mike walked in the door after work and Nora shouted "Da-da!" She also says "Ma-Ma" and I swear today she tried to say "Snack".

Carter
Carter's conversation skills still continue to grow exponentially. He always surprises me with new words and phrases because while it may be the first time I've heard him say something in particular, he says it in a way the suggests he's known how to say it for months but was simply waiting for the right time. He's also started incorporating his train vocabulary to everyday situations. "Round the bend", a phrase frequently used by Thomas the Train, might be used by Carter while navigating around living room furniture. A few weeks ago, we got Carter a new sandbox to play in by the garden. This kid could spend an uninterrupted half hour just scooping sand with a shovel and filling a bucket. It's very serious work (according to him). Nora loves the sandbox too though she prefers to work without shovels and often pulls handfuls of sand out of Carter's freshly filled buckets.

Mike
Unfortunately Mike didn't get to bag a bird during the spring gobbler season. I'm really starting to think it's me that's the problem since he hasn't bagged one since we started dating. Does anyone know of an anti-turkey-jinx dance that I should be doing? Mike's been working hard making our yard one of the nicest in the neighborhood, which is no small feat! He's looking forward to his upcoming high school class reunion in a couple weeks, a chance to catch up with some old friends he hardly ever gets the chance to see.

Becca
After taking a year off of vegetable gardening (Nora's birth made it tough to get things in the ground last year), my green thumb has returned! We've got a nice vegetable garden this year and I'm really looking forward to harvesting things as they ripen. This year we planted TONS of tomatoes, at least 15 different varieties. There are also bell peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and artichokes. I also planted some rhubarb and asparagus in the hopes of establishing some long-term production (they are perennials). So far things are growing well and I am winning the battle against the deer and rabbits (Thank you Liquid Fence).

Hope everyone is doing well! We miss you all so much!

New photos on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1857314385241.260963.1012296258&l=31fde3a1fb

Nora is ONE!

It's Sunday night and I am totally wiped out! It's only 8:30 pm and as soon as I am done updating you, I am going to BED! Even though my head longs for my pillow, I will try to be as thorough and descriptive as possible. To make it easier on myself, I'll just break it down to one section for each family member.

Nora A baby no longer! Nora has accomplished so much in the last several weeks, she's almost unrecognizable from the baby we had at Christmas. Our little girl is now a big 1-year-old! She's nearly weened off her formula and bottles, she's eating more and more table food, and she's even taken a few tentative steps all on her own! Her doctor checkup had her weighing in at a hefty 25 pounds and measuring 31 inches long, both >95% for her age. It's getting harder and harder to carry her, but fortunately she likes to crawl and cruise on her own. There's no denying her growth though. She's working on more teeth again, wearing 18 month clothes, and sharing diapers with Carter (who's older by almost 2 years!). Nora's birthday party was small and simple but lots of fun. Everyone raved about the carrot cake cupcakes we made, but the credit really goes to Aunt Gracie for the recipe (Thank you AGAIN!). Pictures from the party can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1857326545545&id=1012296258&aid=260964&l=1ad40a8236

Carter Even though Carter is nearing his 3rd birthday, there are days that it seems like he's just now entering those "Terrible Twos". Sheesh! This kid has a scream that could shatter glass and burst ear drums. Despite these bumps in the road, he really is a very sweet boy. He's showing a lot more affection towards Nora (if tackling is affection) and the kid simply can't stop talking! We really have to be careful these days as he's perfected the role of the household "echo". Anything you say he is likely to repeat, as Mike and I discovered during separate moments of frustration when we each said "Crap!"

Mike The winter months have given Mike a chance to hone his skills as a homebrewer. So far he's got a few batches under his belt and he continues to perfect his craft. A few other buddies also homebrew and they sometimes get together after work to "study" beer brewing at the local pubs. The warm weather brings other activities though so brewing might be on hiatus for a while. The lawnmower was tuned up and already been put to work. Soon we'll be planting some vegetables in the garden and that will keep both of us busy. Softball leagues have begun. And the most anticipated of all...tomorrow...opening day for the spring turkey hunt. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for Mike as he tried to bag a bird!

Rebecca For the first time in a very long time, I am not playing softball or volleyball at all. It's actually been 3 years since I played any softball, but I had kept up the volleyball, even playing while pregnant with Nora. But now I am without a team. I miss it sometimes, but the trade-off is worth it for now. I've been able to take some classes and do some other things I've never had time to do before. The bookclub I joined has got me reading some great books I probably would never have picked up on my own. I've learned so much about how to use my camera in some photography classes. I've also taken a bookmaking class, which I really enjoyed. Hoping to pick up some sewing skills this summer as well, and maybe volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. I love to learn new things. Is it weird to say that I actually kind of miss being in school?

New pictures posted at the link below, and I'll try to get a video of Nora's baby steps soon! https://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1857314385241&id=1012296258&aid=260963&l=31fde3a1fb