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So far, the gingerbread house is holding up. It is now missing the front two gum drops (Kyla admitted to eating those). It's probably a good thing we are keeping it just out of reach of this little monster. It wouldn't stand a chance against Hurricane Carter.

He seems pretty pleased with himself. Maybe because he's standing on a stool, with a view he rarely gets to see. Carter is funny. He gets scared really easily. His latest fear is Damon's whoopee cushion. Damon thinks it's hilarious to expel all the air right next to Carter. Carter thinks it's terrifying. He's also super scared to come down the stairs, even when I am right with him, showing him how he can come down without falling. He's just not a fan.


It could be because his sisters won't leave him alone. This mark on his forehead is compliments of Kyla. I'm not sure exactly what happened, just that they were at the top of the stairs and "he fell." I suspect that she was carrying him and she was the one that fell, propelling him into the stair rail, but we'll never know for sure. Carter isn't talking. Right now he also has two wounds on the back of his head. One of which happened when he pulled the iron off the ironing board, right on to his noggin (it could have been SO much worse) and the other from falling off the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table. I guess now that I think about it, you can't blame the little guy for being scared. He's pretty banged up.

This is our Christmas ornament for this year, in honor of Carter. I have been calling him my little puppy dog for a while. He is just like a puppy. He crawls around, eating scraps off the floor and begging, he whines, he drools, he won't hold still for anything...yep, I love this ornament and hopefully it will help us all remember this stage of Carter's life.


I love this picture. If there is a toothbrush, a pencil or a crayon anywhere within reach, Carter will find it. He has his radar set for those objects.

I had to get new stockings this year, as our old ones are permanent residents of the Esplin Some-are-home. Eventually, I want to get nicer ones with our names on them, but I'm still too cheap to bite the bullet. Plus, I'd like to know the names of everyone in the family before we commit to something long term. These stockings were $3.25 each online, and they aren't bad quality. Allie bugged me for days and days to put our names on them, and I had to get creative.



I didn't want to spend any more money, especially since I don't see these as a long term solution for our stockings, so I had to improvise. I had a couple iron on transfers left, but I couldn't iron them right on the stockings. And I needed a fabric that was heavy enough to hold its own. Enter an old pair of jean shorts I had lying around. I ironed the names on the denim, cut them out, and stitched them on the stockings. Definitely not a look I would have chosen (the Americana theme), and definitely not a professional job, but it will do. And it appeased the children, which was the goal to begin with.