this and that!

Let me begin by saying that the Carson Clan LOVES SUMMER! We have been busy as of late spending our evenings outside - from catching lightening bugs (btw Ellie is a PRO @ this), to our daily 2+ mile walk/run/Ellie bike riding, washing vehicles that turns into Ellie playing in the water, to side walk chalk art, and anything else that we can come up with. I have decided to include some random updates of our family happenings. Don't say I didn't warn you about the randomness! So what is this you ask? Why, it is an advance feeding device for squirrels! Made with love by PePaw (Jamie's dad) it is designed to entice the furry creatures with free (to them) corn. Jamie hung in this afternoon & we haven't seen any takers yet, but I am sure that our little brown fox squirrel will be staking it out soon. One of the last times Ellie went to the library she picked out a book titled "Those Darn Squirrels!" It was a rather clever read about the "savvy, smartest creatures in all the woodlands ... that can hang upside down and defy gravity ... and plot to get in bird feeders." Ellie gave it 2 thumbs up!
Ellie's bike has been upgraded courtsey of her Pappy & JuJu (my parents). This evening, after watching our nephew play t-ball, my parents treated Ellie to her new ride! She test drove it all over WalMart - seriously, she rode it right up to the checkouts & out the door to the parking lot. She couldn't wait to get home to take it for a spin without having to dodge the Coke displays and shopping carts. Her new ride is complete with sparkly streamers, handle bar breaks, and it's BARBIE! (She takes after me as a child - my sis & I could play Barbies for hours). It even has a nifty bike shaped Barbie holder on the handle bar!
Oh, and we now have the Silly Bands or Crazy Bands. The eslastic rubber bands that are made into different shapes, animals, music, etc. You can see them if you look closely to Ellie's ankles and wrists. And, ours Glow in the Dark too! Why didn't I think of this?!?!

Tripp meets Cool Whip & loves it! It amazes me - this kid can sniff out food for miles & lets you know it too! He is going to be a food lover like his mommy, and will apparently have a sweet tooth like her too!

Toy Story 3 rocks! We went with the Chandler gang on opening night of Toy Story 3 in 3D. Woody & the gang are back and we love them! Great movie - even for adults!

my daddy is my superhero!

Happy (upcoming) Father's Day to all the Dads out there, but to the special men in our lives that we call DADDY! I decided to do this post a little early to show my appreciation & surprise the special Dads in my life! Thank you for everything you do, but most of all Thank You for setting me and my daughter an example of a Christian Dad - that is truly amazing! Ellie & her daddy are super close. In fact, I am not ashamed to say that she is definatly a "Daddy's Girl!". According to her he makes the best super, duper, double chocolate milk ever! They act goofy together (as seen in the picture above) and there is hardly a dull moment when they have their giggle box turned to 'on'. Her daddy is good snuggler for a Sunday afternoon nap, afternoon trips to check on the dove field, and endless piggy back rides. And, Jamie doesn't particularily like when she spends the night away from home - it is say the grandparents have learned to ask me, instead of him. They are thick as thieves & have created their own "cool club."
This picture was taken last summer of my sister, Paige, & I with our Dad, Mike. (side note: My sister is not going to be happy with me because she was expecting Tripp in this photo, but I sure can't tell it.) Growing up our Dad would make up & sing crazy songs about anything (ex. "mustard on my shoe.") He is a huge prankster - you better be on your toes around him, just ask any of his closest friends and family. He was the BEST hide & seeker when we were smaller. I remember running around the house looking for him one evening & he had scaled the antenae tower & was laughing the whole time at us trying to find him. And, the weirdest thing is he makes the BEST ICE WATER! Crazy I know...there is no special recipe or formula to making ice water, but he shakes the glass of ice while filling it with cold water which gets the water even cooler faster. We will forever be known by the nicknames he gave us smaller (he has this "thing" about nicknaming people). I am sooooo glad that he changed mine when I entered high school, because the original one was BBBAAADDD!!! I graduated from a nickname of "Elmo Clyde" to "A/B" (which were my first 2 initials). My sister's nickname (which he still somtimes calls her) is "Peanut Fred". Don't ask us why?! He calls my husband "George".

This picture is Jamie's Dad, Gary, & Ellie Grace. Gary has a green thumb for summer gardening. In the summer evenings after work, we can usually find him tending to the garden. He also loves to fish and hunt & has instilled these hobbies in both Jamie & his brother, Jeremy. Bring on the TN Football because he will have the tv turned to it in the fall. Gary also is the song leader at our church & serves on the deacons committee.

water.

Water.

If you listen to country radio then I am sure you have heard Brad Paisley's new song "Water." I personally love the song! The fascination with water, especially as a child is priceless - jumping in puddles after a rain, swimming, & nothing is better than drinking from a water hose on a hot summer's day. With the heat of summer upon us, it was time for water to visit too! Who knew that a $5 garden sprinkler would bring so much laughter and giggles?! Ellie loves to run through the water, dodge the water, and ride her bike through the sprinkler. In the above picture, I cannot get over how tall she looks! Oh, my - she is going to be tall like her daddy!
I cannot help but sing to myself "She wore an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, little polka dot bikini"

The sprinkler was so much fun that Macy Ruth had to come join us! We did this last year on a "spur of the moment" when they didn't have their bathing suits on - this year, we were a little bit more prepared!

Special Delivery!

You may have read previous blogs about our Youth Group/Hands of Praise team at our church, New Salem Baptist in Mason Hall. If you haven't I will recap for you ...

Our Youth Group (6th-12th grades) began a Hands of Praise team back in Aug 2009. The team spent countless hours of practice perfecting our signing program - we called it signing w/ a twist. We would group our hands together to make images/pictures rather than the traditional signing. Anyways, area churches began hearing about us & began inviting us - we have been from Clinton, KY to Dresden, Dyersburg, basically all over the NW TN area! We have racked up some frequent travel miles. So, the team coming to perform, we asked that a love offering be taken up to give to the Tennessee Bapt. Children's Home (TBCH). We set a lofty group goal of $5,000 that we wanted to raise before our next visit the the TBCH/Bartlett campus! Imagine our excitement when we were able to give over $6,100 to the campus this past weekend!!! Wow! God truly blessed our efforts! I, personally, was so honored to be a part of this Hands of Praise team. It was a very humbling experience for me. Our youth's excitement & commitment to this endeavor amazed me - the teenagers would rearrange schedules and fore go going out w/ buddies for practice; I never heard a complaint about the practice hours. I also ,became close friends with the adults in the program, as well as get to know the kids better. We are taking the summer off, but will begin back to practice with a new program come Aug/Sept. So ... if would like us to visit your church to share our program and learn more about the TBCH, just let me know. We would be more than happy to work something out!

Here are some pictures from this past weekend's visit to the TBCH/Bartlett campus:

Our Hands of Praise (HOP) team - this is truly an amazing group of kids - I love each of them as if I were their aunt - notice I didn't say mother (because I am not that old!! lol)
The church was able to take a charter bus for the trip thanks to some of our WONDERFUL congregation members (New Salem is a very small church in a very small community) Here is Macy Ruth (cousin) and Ellie ready for the ride!

Ellie thought it was fun because she didn't have to ride in her buster seat. If I told her to sit down once, I told her 1,000 times!

Not only did we make a trip to the TBCH to deliver our money raised, but to have a Pinewood Derby race with the children & house parents on the campus. Our church has become very close to this campus. Our youth has learned their names & can pretty much tell you something about them. This campus has become very special to our church family.
The Derby races brought out a competitive spirit from all participates! It was so loud in the gym at one point in time from the cheering & chanting my ears were ringing!

A picture our mine & Ellie's Derby cars. Ellie's is an interpretation of her favorite candy & NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch. I decided to to mine WILD!

Ellie using her car to hide from the camera - little stinker!

Some of the church members enjoying the racing action - we take this pretty serious - especially the men/boys of the group. The girls just do their cars for the looks!

At the end of the track - the spectators enjoying the race.

Mr. Shawn, aka Mr. Derby carmaker, pulling the trigger to race the cars. Humm...some of the cars that place in the top 3 were made by him for his family members - sounds a little suspicious to me!

Group Shot of our youth & the TBCH kids

June 11th - a very special day!

Why is June 11th a special day, you ask? Today is my birthday! Inching ever so closely to the big 3-0! It is really weird to blog about my birthday - kind of sounds a little "ego pumping", but this post is not to be that. I wanted to share that not only is it my birthday, but other family members as well. Mary Beth (Jamie's cousin) turned 15 today - Happy B-day Chicka! and ... the Harrell Family (Jamie's grandparents) welcomed great-grandchild #5 today! Jamie's cousin, Adam (you may remember me blogging about Adam in a previous post with the horse pictures). Anyways - Adam's son, Adam Chase, was born today! So ... there are 3 family members sharing a birthday - how awesomely weird is that! Only special people are born on June 11th!

Drowned Rats

A decision to take an afternoon off from work led to Ellie & myself resembling drowned rats! Yep, just as soon as I left the office, the bottom feel out! Going to pick up Ellie, I just decided to go for it & forget what I would look like afterwards - we were just going home to hang out. Well, Ellie thought it was the funniest thing ever! We both ended up soaked from head to toe getting into the car at the babysitter's house. Oh well, even more reason to hang out in pj/comfy clothes this afternoon. Aaannnd... this is not the best picture ever taken..forgive me!

it doesn't matter if it's black or white ...

as long as it rolls, that is. Since Ellie has learned to ride her bike without the training wheels, she has been hard to keep off of it. So much so, that we have had to replace the tires - they were worn out. The story goes ... Jamie goes to WalMart after work one day. Mission: 2 new bicycle tires for her bike. Result: only one. Reason: the tires and intertube run about $20/tire! What?! A new bike costs around $45! Oh my! We are planning on getting her a new, bigger size bike; however, we are waiting until she gets a little more comfortable riding the bike she has. So, until that time comes, she will be riding around as Little Miss Matched tires. She doesn't seem to mind.

Hairstyles by Jamie

Occasionally when Ellie is taking her bath, Jamie or I will style her hair in different ways to create funny looks. Ellie thinks this is hilarious and we get lots of laughs from her. The other night, Jamie gave Ellie a "shamhawk" which topped her list of the funniest ever hairstyles. It was very difficult to get this picture b/c of her hair being longer now, but a little team effort & we snapped it. Ellie looks a little crazed in the top picture - I think she was concentrating very hard to keep her hairstyle. The bottom pic is after it fell ... Nice comb-over, huh?
Some of you may have heard that we never know what Ellie is going to say or how exactly she will say it. I call them "Ellie-isms" and they are quite funny. Tonight, after her bath I was putting lotion on her. This is the conversation:

Ellie: "I'm going to smell good as a chicken!"
Me: "Really? I didn't know chickens smelled good unless they were cooking."
Ellie: "Well, I'm going to smell as good as fried chicken!"

And, no we were not using any chicken flavored lotion.
Other famous "Ellie-isms" include:
"I'm sweatin' like a beaver!" and "That scared the chicken out of me!"