Dylan's birthday

Ok, ok....so I know I am late...REALLY late blogging about Dylan's birthday party. It was over a month ago..please forgive me!!!! We've just been busy and I haven't really had time. So anyway, we had a great weekend of birthday parties. We started with his first party at the grandparents house..they were going on vacation so we had a "special" party just for them. He got a new fishing pole and some new clothes and we had a pretty awesome cake with his picture on it...he was pretty excited about that. Friday was his big party with all his friends. We rented a water slide and had a cookout and a sleepover. Yes, I know...waterslide and sleepover...I am definitely insane!!!! It turned out to be the best birthdays so far for him. He had a blast! Me, on the other hand....I was a little stressed to say the least. I can't remember how many times Drew went over the side of the waterslide and I thought he had broke his neck and the last two kids to go to sleep was at 2:00 and they were up at 8:00! It was alot of fun though, I'm so glad we decided to do it and glad that my mom talked me into having the sleepover....even though she went to bed and left me with 9 little boys who make really funny noises with their armpits(some of them I think were the real thing, though) and yes, I used to do that too...we all did! :) I enjoyed watching those boys goof off all night and just enjoy all being together. I know Dylan was so happy that all his friends got to come! He got alot of good gifts, but I think just the fact that his friends were there were priceless. Here are a few pictures from his two birthday parties...as you can see we all had a blast!


Dylan with his cake at Dede and papaw's house..so so cute and she had
it decorated so cute in there..she had everything color coordinated. He loved it!

Getting his birthday licks! :)

His 2nd cake..did I mention it was Razorback and baseball theme?

Him and some of his friends

Dylan sliding on the waterslide

Drew coming down the slide..it was huge...he came down one time and didn't stop

and flipped over the top! Scared me to death!

All the boys ready for bed..watching the Sandlot and nowhere near going

to sleep..this was only about 9:30! Long night ahead!

This thing barely fit in my yard..I really thought it was going to hit

that tree!

Me and my Keifers..aka Uncle Keith! :) They came down from Pea Ridge

and Dylan was so excited that his cousin Landon got to come! They are

bosom buddies.

Wow...this time 8 years ago Chris and I were blessed with a 6 lb. 15 oz. and 19 inches long sweet baby boy named Dylan Ross! I still can't believe how fast 8 years has gone by. Dylan has grown up to be such a sweet, shy, tenderhearted little boy. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments he has made so far in his life. He is such a smart little boy and loves to be involved in everything(sometimes with a little nudge from momma, I did say he was a little shy)! He loves sports and is very athletic...loves the Razorbacks, Naturals, Cowboys...I could go on and on. I have been thinking alot lately about the day he was born(I do this every year) and I will say I have cried a couple of times because I think of how little he was and how I couldn't wait for him to get old enough to play baseball...well, he is finally old enough and I catch myself thinking boy, what I would give to be able to pick him up and hold him on my chest for one more day!! I'll always have sweet memories of singing him to sleep every night...me and him spending the first two months of his life laying on the couch because he wouldn't let me put him down..his sweet curly blonde hair that everyone wanted me to cut because he looked like a girl, but it took me forever because I thought he was so pretty and I just couldn't let go of it....how he loved trains, well engines and everyday we had to drive down by the river to see if we could see any engines on the tracks. Anyway, I could go on and on...I have always said Dylan was a blessing from God for me and I believe that with all my heart. I have been truly blessed to have such wonderful, healthy children. They are the greatest gift from God and I thank him for them everyday!

So to all you new mom's out there...treasure every moment with those babies because time flies and in 8 years you will be looking at your children and wonder where the time went!!!!

We are ready to party and celebrate his 8th birthday...except we have ball practice on his birthday so we are going to be partying with the fam tonight and then tomorrow night he's having his big party with his friends with a waterslide, games, etc. It's going to be a big Razorback Baseball blowout...and even a sleepover(please wish me and my mom luck)!!!!! We can't wait so I better go so I can get back to getting this house cleaned because it's not going to clean itself!!! Love you all and thanks so much for everything!!!!

My Sweet baby boy at 2 days old

Dylan looking at his daddy...so sweet

Sweet sleeping baby

After his bath..look how little

Papaw would sneak over during his lunch hour to see him and I will say Dede wasn't very happy....

He hated this seat, but look how sweet he was

Wasn't he the cutest baby?

4 months old...christmas pictures. He lost his hair on one side.

Starting to get that curly hair!!!!

Eating his first bite of cake at his first birthday!

Look at that cutie pie!

2 years old

Him and one of his favorite toys..his vacuum cleaner

Sorry guys!

I just realized I posted two blogs with pretty much all the same stuff in them. Told ya it was crazy right now and I tend to "blog" late at night so that explains it...so if anyone thought they had deja'vu(sp)...so sorry.

Love, ME!!!! :):):):):):)

Baseball is over :(....for about two weeks!

Wow! What a crazy two weeks we Carter's have had. We are officially done with Van Buren baseball till next year. :( Dylan's all-star team played this past weekend and we ended up finishing 4th. Those little boys played their hearts out! We had both of the games we lost won, but they came back and beat us in the last inning. It didn't help that in both games we ended up being the visitors. The first game started out slow, but we finally starting hitting and got up 6-2 and kept that lead until the last inning and we just couldn't keep up. Played extremely well though. Our defense was awesome. Since we lost we played Saturday at 9 in the morning(boy, was that hard for me)! We played so good and won that one and we just knew at that point we were going to be playing all day. Our last game we were stomping them 10-2 and knew we had it in the bag, but one inning we just shut down and couldn't get them out. It was not fun and they ended up coming back and beating us. It was horrible, those poor little boys were crying so hard after it was over. At one point, I thought I was going to tear up for them. :( We had a good tournament and glad to see that those boys really were good, just a little younger than the other teams. Next year we will be the ones to beat!


We are so proud of Dylan, he did such a great job at catcher and he got some great hits! He had been pretty down since he had not been hitting and to see that smile again once he started hitting and he knew he could do it was awesome! His coach told us after the game that he loved watching Dylan play ball. He said he hustles so good and that is what he loves to see in a player(wish he would do that at home when I tell him to brush his teeth or take a shower-LOL). That made me feel so good. We had a really good coach that taught them a lot about baseball and it definitely showed!

So for now we are done. We have tryouts for fall ball next Monday, so we should start practicing soon after that. Glad to get a rest though, we have been so busy with baseball I have been dreaming about it! Now hoping to make a trip to McGehee the last weekend in July for our cousin Audra's wedding shower.

Oh yeah, we had to go see a plastic surgeon about Dylan's mouth. We went to see his doctor this past Thursday and he wanted us to see her because he was worried about how bad the scar was going to be. We went to see her today and we have to go back in two weeks. She wants to see him once it has completely healed. :( They are really worried about how bad the scar is going to be and if it turns out to be a thick scar they might end up having to do reconstructive surgery on it. Yeah, I know that cut didn't look that bad..but because of where it is the doctor is concerned. We won't know anything about doing surgery till a year from now, so say a prayer for us that we won't have to go through any of that. Right now we are just focusing on how to keep the scaring down and we will be going back to see her through out the year... you never know I might just have to go get Botox while he is in there!!! LOL-that was a BIG joke!!!!! :) I'll keep everyone posted on him and his progress.

As soon as I have some info on our fall ball schedule I'll let everyone know. I know that we will be playing on Saturdays, so if you didn't get to watch them play throughout the summer hopefully you might make a game or two this fall..we play up through the end of October. I know that both boys would be so excited if you guys came and watched them play and they are both really good. Talk to you guys soon!! Love you all.




Van Buren 7 yr old all-star team...look out next year they will be AWESOME!!!!




What a cute little catcher(it was so hot, I felt so sorry for him in all that gear)

He didn't want his picture taken, but had to get him with the black under his eyes

Can you tell he's not liking having his pic taken?

Had to stick this in there because it's so darn cute
this was at the beginning of Dylan's regular season..notice we have on jackets!

Finally hitting!!!

Being introduced before the game

The whole team, Dylan is in the blue helmet.

He was getting his catcher gear on

My other all-star with his blue gatorade mouth

He could throw that helmet off when he had to!

Hustle boy!!!

See that ball in there, not too many got past him!

Another one, you can see the ball in there!

Ready to get that ball!

Dylan made all-stars!!!!!

Whooooo Hooooo!!!! Dylan made All-Stars!!!!! We are so excited baseball continues!!! We have been practicing everyday the past two weeks..it has been extremely busy, but fun for sure. The first practice was a week ago Monday. During the season Dylan played first base, but it looks like he will be playing catcher during all-stars. The first baseman we have on the team is awesome, so we figured Dylan wouldn't play there and it's ok. He is doing really good at catcher. When he first suited up, I personally had a major panic attack..but then I thought he is protected all the time and after watching him play there I realized he is actually really good there. He keeps the ball in front of him, most of the time and he can throw that ball to 2nd! Then about our 3rd practice I heard him tell the coach that he wanted him to keep throwing pop flys to him until he caught three in a row..Whoa, did that just come out of my son's mouth?????? I think this is on position he is really wanting to play. I'm proud of him for trying so hard at this position!!! He's doing so good. His hitting is finally picking up a little. Someone(not naming any names here) bought us a pitching machine....so we have been practicing on his hitting alot. Hopefully that will help alot!!! I noticed tonight at practice he is doing alot better. Pretty, pretty hits...just sailed into center field.
Anyway, we have our district tournament this weekend...if anyone wants to come watch him play(dad) we would LOVE it! You would enjoy watching him play, he is really good. Our State Tournament is in Pea Ridge and our Regional is in Lake Village. I think they are both "open" tournaments, which means we can play if we want to, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed our coaches will think we are good enought to play these tournaments. Would love to play there especially Lake Village because my family can come watch Dylan! Wish us luck.
We played Drew's last t-ball game last night. We have decided to put him in pitching machine fall ball. We let him hit with the pitching machine this past weekend and he's pretty good..I just worry about him fielding balls, but he might surprise me so we decided to take a chance on him after talking to some of the parents whose kids are on Dylan's all-star team and they are putting their kids in it and they are the same age as Drew. He is really excited about playing and if he does ok with it we are probably going to move him back to Van Buren and put him on Dylan's team for next year!
So that is where we are right now..busy, busy, busy..but loving it!!! We love us some baseball!!

Oh, I almost forgot...this past Sunday we were at practice for Dylan and Chris had to stay home because he had a migraine and I left Drew home to because he was asleep, well halfway through practice I was trying to get ahold of Chris and couldn't so I decided to leave to go home and check on Drew(we live like 5 min. from the complex), I was pulling out of the driveway and my phone rings and it's one of the coaches wives telling me to get back as soon as possible because Dylan had gotten hit in the mouth with the ball and it looked pretty bad. Needless to say, I panicked and "tried" to speed, but for some reason I got stuck behind the old woman driving 25 MPH. When I got there, they had gotten him calmed down and he had already told the coach he was ok and ready to go back in. Well, he wasn't ok and right under his lip was split into. Time to go to the ER. Didn't help that Chris had a migraine and was not able to get out of bed, but did help that my mother-in-law was able to go with me. Boy, I don't know what I would do without her! It's bad enough, that I don't handle situations like that well, but Dylan doesn't handle them well either, he is just like me so to have her there with me to calm my nerves and just to have someone to talk to was a blessing(thanks so much Mom)! We went to the ER and went to the hospital in Van Buren, I have never used this hospital before because our doctor is through St. Edwards in Fort Smith, but we figured it wouldn't be as busy so we went there...well, we were wrong and they were packed....of course! We were there with some nasty people, especially the lady sitting beside me who kept passing gas and blowing us out of the room and the woman who walked in with her husband and I swear she hadn't showered in a week! I live in this town and there are some disgusting people here...I just kept getting out the hand santitizer! After THREE hours in the ER, we ended up just getting his chin glued back together..I was definitely relieved because I wasn't looking forward to possibly holding down a child to get stitcheswho would probably pass out from panicking so much! Even though, I know Super Glue will end up costing me about $500!!!! It was a long night, but he is doing ok and hopefully we won't have anymore ER visits this year!!!
So that is it for now...we are gearing up for our tournament this weekend and hoping we do really good. We have a drs. appt. Thursday to make sure his chin is healing ok..he is still able to play, but just want "our" doctor to reassure me that it is ok.

Come on and join us this weekend for a fun tournament!!! :) Love you guys all so much!!!!



Dylan looking like he's played catcher all along!


Gettting ready



His mouth before the "glue"...this picture doesn't do it justice..it wasn't pretty

Doesn't look that bad, after it was cleaned up and taped

I just had the share this, Drew decided to try on Chris' pants...too cute!!!

Baseball continues....

Ok, so here is our latest update on baseball. We got back from vacation and immediately started back to baseball. Dylan's end of the season tournament thankfully held off till we got back and we started that Monday. There was a heat index of probably 110 degrees it was soo hot! Drew was also playing and there were a couple of games that were at the same time. Dylan won his first game so we advanced and played the team that ended up winning the tournament. We played two games in one night and the heat was horrible so I was very proud of the way everyone played. We played again Tuesday night and won that game so that moved us to Thursday to possibly play two games. I can say our first game on Thursday was a nail biter. Those boys played their hearts our and we came out on top...I was glad because that was the game me and the ump went round and round. I wouldn't say I'm a "baseball mom" but other would tend to disagree, but when my son tips the ball and both coaches agree and the ump still calls him out, I'm going to "go off"(which I did)....I told him he needed glasses(he ended up telling the director that he made a mistake...ya think!!!) Anyway, we lost the 2nd game we played and we argued about that one because once again the ump doesn't have his own watch and goes by the scorekeepers time and her time just happened to be 10 minutes off from everyone else's..not going to say she was from the opposing team! :) We ended up finishing 4th in the tournament which I thought was a great accomplishment for our team since the majority of them are 1st year pitching machine.

So, Dylan made all-stars and we are continuing with baseball for the summer. He has been playing catcher and doing a really good job. He's only been playing ball for 2 years, but this is the first position that he is wanting to play. He is really wanting to learn this position and is really good at it! He told the coach the other night that was throwing pop flys to him that he wanted to keep trying to catch the ball until he caught three in a row. Wow-that is my son!!! You go Dylan. We had our first scrimmage tonight, wasn't very good. We've really got to improve our hitting and also some fielding. We will get better. The coach told us after the game that if he would have had a game ball Dylan would have gotten it for playing catcher so good. I think this is the position for him. We have now gotten a pitching machine(thanks, Deb) so we are going to get to work on hitting more..he really needs to improve there! We've got a lot of work to do and hopefully within the next week we will improve. I'm really wanting to go to State because we will get to go to Pea Ridge, which is where Landon plays. I don't care if we play them, I would just like to be there with them in a tournament. So wish us luck that we will hopefully get there!!!! We start our tournament next weekend, so if you guys don't have plans come on to Van Buren and watch Dylan play(DAD).

I can't make this post all about Dylan because Drew is still playing too! He played the same week of Dylan's tournament and won two and lost two. He's not done yet, his end of season tournament starts next week and we have a game Monday night. If we lose we're done, so cross your fingers we win or he is done and wish me luck because Chris goes out of town Monday and won't be back till Thursday and with his games and Dylan's practice I don't know how I'm going to manage. He doesn't have all stars, but we are thinking about putting him in fall pitching machine with Dylan and seeing how he does. Yes, we are continuing with baseball through October with Dylan. We haven't decided about Drew yet, we think he will be good at it, but we are still hesitant because of his age. If anyone has advice, please give it to me!! Anyway, that is our life in a nutshell right now. We live and breathe baseball, but we ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! Come watch them play, it is so much fun!!!!!!

Love you all!!!!

Dylan at catcher


He is a good catcher



Drew on first

Playing pitcher

Dylan at 3rd

Getting ready to bat

Gulf Shores Vacation 2009

Ok, so let me start by saying sorry for the absence in blog world. We have been extremely busy these days with baseball and this is the first time I've felt like blogging in a while. We got back from vacation and we have been at the ballfield everyday since..no joke! Anyway, we had a wonderful vacation this year. We went to Gulf Shores with Keith and Jennifer and it was so worth it. Our kids really get along and they had a great time together. Took us a while to get down there, I guess when you get to Mobile on Saturday mid afternoon that is when everyone else is going down there too, so traffic was horrible. I seriously thought between Chris and Keith someone was going to get hurt! We were suppose to get there around 2ish and ended up getting there about 6! Loooong trip, but we made it and had a blast. Just spent time on the beach for a week..tanning, burning, catching fish, crabs, etc. Wonderful, relaxing vacation. Here are a few pictures from our trip. I'll try to post more, this is all it would let me do right now.



This was the last night crab hunting with all the kids.


Remember to always rub your sunscreen in, even if it is spray on!



The kids and there fish hole

Drew playing in the ocean

Dylan catching fish

Beach trips are never long enough and we can't wait to go back..just ask the kids and they will tell you how many more weeks before our next trip!