Just Carson

Bath Time Blues

Don't worry - it is meant for the bath and washes off easily :)

Willow

Today is Willow's 3 month birthday! I will admit it has been an adjustment but things are going well. The only complaint I have is that I'm still getting up once a night to let her out. The good thing is that should come to an end in the next couple of weeks. It's funny to think about because here is Willow at 12 weeks still getting me up at 3 AM and Carson was sleeping through the night at 10 weeks!! With the midnight bathroom breaks aside Willow is doing fantastic. The indoor accidents are almost non-existent and she's doing great with the training. She will come when called 100% of the time inside and nearly 80% of the time outside. She also knows "Sit" and we're working on a few others. I read about a command today where you can teach them to ring a bell when they need to go outside. Now that would be cool if I could get her to do that! Carson and Willow have also taken a great step forward within the last week. He is petting her more and more and even tried picking her up yesterday before I swooped in. We've also been taking Willow's tennis ball and letting Carson hit it off the tee in the backyard. Willow being the natural fetcher she is will run after the ball and bring it back...I can see that being a great game for the two of them.

All Lined Up

Sunday Dan, Uncle Brian, Uncle Mitch and Grandpa went up to the Seattle football game so it was Carson and I for the day - although we spent most of it with Grammie, Aunt Kristen, Amelia and Ruby. Anyhow, after dinner and a bath at Grammie's we came home for bed time. I asked Carson to wait at the bottom of the steps for me while I got the laundry to take home. By the time I came to get him this first picture is how I found him!

He had taken the shoes in the hallway and lined them all up in a perfect little half-circle! He was so proud of himself and then put them all away. What a funny little guy!!

New Bike

Carson's birthday present from Great Granny and Oma finally showed up! He got a little 12-inch dirt bike. When we first brought it home we had the training wheels and pedals on but the place we bought it from recommended we take both these off. I guess by removing them it teaches them how to balance from the beginning by using their feet to glide the bike forward. He has a little bit of growing to do before he can operate it this way but we have full confidence it won't take him long to figure it all out!

Willow's First Bath

I gave Willow her first bath this weekend. She did great and only tried to escape on me twice. She looks and smells so nice now! Here are a couple photos post-bath...

Nike School

Here are a couple photos of Carson's new daycare and playground...

The photos I took really don't do it justice. Last week was the dedication ceremony - Vivian Stringer was here and Phil Knight gave a great speech. Here is a clip of the festivities...

First Day at Nike School

Well, it has been 2 weeks since Carson started his new daycare at Nike and he is doing FANTASTIC! We have had no problems dropping him off and he is talking about his 'Nike School' non-stop. The teachers tell us he is the youngest and the strongest in the class, which doesn't surprise us much! He is loving the playground and daily walks as well as the art projects they do.

Here are a couple photos before we left for his first day...he's saying "I'm going to NIKE school!" :)

Goodbye KB School

August 29th was Carson's last day at his KB Daycare. He got some nice cards from his teachers and we put together some Nike bags for them as well as a card from Carson. We had a good 2 years here and Carson was well looked after but we are so excited to have him closer to us. Here are a few goodbye photos of Carson and his teachers...

Parked Cars

Carson's favorite indoor activity these days is to play with all his cars. Yesterday he played with them for an entire hour by himself - I was so happy!!! But the funny thing is that his favorite thing to do with them is organize them in all different ways - horizontally, vertically, size, etc. In these photos he was very proud of himself by lining up the small cars and then the big cars all in their own straight rows. I have no idea who he could of gotten this from ;) ...this is ALL Dan!

Carson at the Park

Here are a couple photos of Carson at the park (again)...everytime we go he does something new as you can see him swinging like a monkey on the bars. I was completely blown away that he can do that - a true sign he's definitely a toddler (and a very athletic one, I might add)!!!

Singing and Reading

These days Carson is really into singing and reading! He loves the ABC's and the book Grammie and Grandpa got him for his birthday. For some reason, everything ends with the Twinkle-Twinkle theme but he's getting pretty good at it.

This first clip is the singing...

The second clip is of Carson's version of the Hungry Little Caterpillar. Dan reads this to him every night. If you're not familiar with the book the caterpillar eats one strawberry on Sunday, two pears on Monday, 3 oranges on Tuesday etc. and then eats all the junk food and gets a tummy ache. Then the next day he eats through one leaf and feels all better. He is then a big caterpillar and wraps himself in a cacoon before he becomes a butterfly. If you know all this you may be able to pick out some of Carson's interpretations...my memory ran out at the end of this but I still got quite a bit captured...

Nike+ 10K Human Race

Well, as many of you know I ran in the Nike+ 10K Human Race yesterday (that is 6.2 miles). This was the first event I have participated in and I had an absolute blast! We are still waiting on the final results for rankings but I finished at 50'14"...just over 8 minutes a mile and about 9 minutes below the average pace for Portland. I feel very good about my time...I beat my average pace for the last month by about 45 seconds and I crossed the finish line with everything left on the course as I sprinted the last 2K.

Of course, I am also training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October and part of my training required me to run 11 miles on Sunday. So, once I gained my strength back after the 10K I ran home to get in my entire workout for the day. Needless to say I am quite tired today but not as sore as I anticipated. I am very grateful to have been able to partake in this nation-wide event that millions of people competed in. I will be sure to post my final ranking when it is available - until then, enjoy some of the photos from the race.

The Finish Line...

Looking for my peeps...

So tired but I did it!!
My biggest fans...

The best...

I was so happy to be able to run this with my sister - Kristen was the one who talked me into signing up for this and the Women's Half Marathon. Although it is a lot of work it makes me feel good that I can do whatever I put my mind to...thanks Kristen, I love this photo!!

10K Run

Here is my run from the 10K...I was pretty steady the entire race. At the beginning it took a little ways to be able to break away from the crowd and at the end I forgot to stop my workout.