Nativity 2007 (Carter version)

A new star appeared and shone brightly--never uttering a peep.
The angel should have been announcing the event to the shepherds, but could not resist the photo opportunity.
One of the sheep, (the only one) kept fleecing herself. That sheepskin won't hunt.
And one of the shepherds was pacified by the good news.
The other shepherd was pacified because he got to carry a big stick. Fortunately, no sheep were hurt during this excercise in chaos.

There are others that would have been cast into the play, but Tyler was filming elsewhere and he will be there next year. Next time, we will do better.

Stay tuned, though. The wise men brought gifts too. We thought they were not wrapped, but they turned out to be rappin' wise men....so wait until the movie comes out and we will see.

Merry Christmas to all.

I.Am.Legend.

A.maz.ing.

A formal thank you.

I would like to personally express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have served and sacrificed by giving their time to keep the graphics of this blog up to date. I stand in awe at the magnificent talents held by those members of our family who are able to design and create these fabulous headers. Keep it up, guys!

What gives??

Hey Aub, do you have something against Christmas or something? Vendetta for Santa? Did an elf once do you wrong??



No?




Then WHY, for heaven's sake, is there still a freakin' pilgrim November heading on this blog??? It's DECEMBER 20TH! You can google images just as well as the rest of us, you know!

Under Neat That

Those people at the Walmart bakery have a tough job!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Each and every Christmas for the past 35 years I have agonized over what little gift would be special for my wife. I find that I am not alone in this endeavor and I, like most men are blind, deaf and dumb to the little hints that are dropped during the season that would tip us off. Practically speaking, I would say go buy whatever you want and let's wrap it up. I know that doing that is not in keeping with the age-old Christmas doctrine of "put your husband in agony". I will get something, but I just do not know what it might be. I am sure she will just love it as long as it is a)from the heart and b) accompanied by a gift-return receipt in case of BMT (Bad Mental Telepathy) trying to read her mind and figure out what she might want.

I have a week. Would each of you gently inquire and let me know secretly what might and what might not work? Surely, in the quest to be perfect, there is the perfect gift at the right price and in the right color, size or degree of suffering. I am open to suggestions. You know how to reach me. My only desire is to please her as this loving husband pleased his wife as depicted in the photo.

Happy Birthday Shellie!

I was so busy yesterday that I did not have time to with Shellie a Happy Birthday. She was born over three decades ago and while the exact year is elusive to me, the fond wishes for birthday wishes are part of my day today--even though it is one day late.

Would all bloggers please describe Shellie in TWO WORDS and place them in the comment section? Please, no hyphenated words ending with "out", "up", "landish", "the-hill", or"ish". I would encourage words that are positive, uplifting, have to do with puppies or kittens or scrapbooking. Let's all make this special for her, shall we?

Here is my two-word definition of Shellie: Likes puppies!

There is a little story behind this. When she had a combined party for her girls, I bought a five pound bag of dog food to make Shellie think that we were buying the girls a dog. She had three words for me (We can save them until July 15) but two of them were "no" and "way". At least that was the message that I got, anyway. The third word was more of an unspoken glare.

Happy Thirty-whatever Birthday, Shellie! You are one great daughter and we all love you!

The Death of a Blog

It has been a good run, but the Carter Family Blog is in decline.

Also, I found this cool site. It will predict your death date. BTW, I'll be around until Aug. 5, 2058!

Gingerbread 2007

Tonight we had our annual Carter Family Gingerbread contest. Instead of doing couples, we decided to go boys against girls. Can you guess which is which?

First we have a lovely rendition of Cinderella's castle (horse drawn pumpkin carriage sold separately).



Next we have a retro 1950s style house with a '57 Thunderbird parked in the driveway.


I seem to have misplaced pictures from the past years. If anyone has them please email me a copy.

We wish you a merry Christmas.

I can see this from Robyn, with her cheerleader training and all, but WOW! Aubrey is impressive too! Check them out!

Ready for Christmas

I think I'm ready for Christmas.

For Thanksgiving, I have no teeth.

Bring on the toys and the carols.

Bring on a beautiful wreath.

I know that I'm part of a family.

That loves Christmas presents and stuff.

Since I'm such a cute little Santa.

Make sure you buy me enough.

Notice and Apology

Just wanted to put everyone on notice that it looks like the stomach flu bug is going around. Jacob was our first casualty tonight, and we are hoping that it doesn't go any further...

If you or your kids were at our house Sunday, you may be expecting some fun anytime now. I am sorry, and I hope I am wrong.

Please don't put me in charge of the turkey

Happy Thanksgiving

Aaaahhh... the good ol' days, when we had Friends.

Poor little neglected blog...

I'm looking forward to these little beauties next Sunday!! Oh, and Tyler's blessing, too... sure...

Did it.

Check it.

Brothers

I love my Grandma

Don't you?

Darn that ARM!

Josh has successfully mastered rolling from back to tummy, and every once in a while from tummy to back. Many, many times he gets stuck on that left arm, though, and falls back over.

but finally... SUCCESS!

Man, that was hard work.

HELP

Okay I'm still learning things on my new computer here - and I'm afraid just made a grave error - I was making/sorting folders and photos in IPhoto, throwing everything else away - everything was sorted into its approriate folder so I threw all the copies, I thought, into the trash and emptied it. All of a sudden half of my folders are now empty and the pictures are gone. Are they lost forever?? If so I just lost the girls' birthday pics, all of Disneyland, Josh's blessing photos....

SIGH...

Bragging for Brooke

Today I stopped by Brooke's to pick up a punch bowl for tomorrow night. It wasn't the best timing on my part, as she was hosting a book club review and it was in full swing. She had all her Halloween decorations up and the place looks fabulous. I took a few pictures to post. These Trick or Treat letters leading downstairs turned out so great. It's tough to show them in a photograph, but they look awesome!

Train Park Fun!

We had lots of fun yesterday at the train fair at McCormick Ranch Railroad Park!

Tyler had the most fun.....as you can tell. Nathan's face is just great in this picture.

Patiently waiting for the train.

Landon got to sit by Grandma and loved to point out all the sights along the way.....

Nathan thought the train whistle was too loud.

The best part...ICE CREAM!!!

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday night we went out with Courtney & Nate and Troy & Tiffany. We were planning on just going to dinner, but somehow we ended up at Anderson's Fifth Estate for their 80's Dance Party. Luckily Tiffany had her camera with her and took some good pictures. She has not yet sent them to us yet though (nudge, nudge) so all I have to post are the pictures on Mix 96.9's website.

Pictures taken of people while dancing are not the most flattering. I am looking very uncoordinated in this one. (That's me in the white shirt on the left and Col in the grey vest). Troy looks like he's having a blast, and Tiffany is checking out the guy standing behind Troy. I don't blame her, that guy had some sweet dance moves.

Here I was totally caught raising the roof. Raising the roof was hip in the 80's... right?

ITS . . . SUPER CAM!

Look in the sky,
is it a realtor. . .
is it a landlord. . .
is it a father of three. . .

No its Cameron Carter : Attorney at Law

CONGRATULATIONS ON PASSING THE BAR!!!

May I ask a favor of you?

Please don't tease my Grandpa. He is a great guy and you would be doing me a personal favor if you would just treat him with respect. Please? For me?

Carl's new Mercedes.

It's not over...

...till the fat lady sings!

The Official End to the Photoshop Contest.

Since when are you a cowgirl Aubrey???

That pretentious u-know-what!

Here is a photo of some Germanic-looking people congratulating an unidentified man on the purchase of his new car. I think it is rather pretentious of him to organize an entire parade based on that alone. After all, what is the big deal? It is only a Mercedes-Benz. BMW is the ultimate driving machine.

Thanks a LOT Callee!

Our middle child turned four today!! Manda's birthday day was not horrible by any standards, but by dinnertime without a nap she was fit to be tied - so I put her in time out, and locked her out in the backyard for a few minutes so Nick and I could eat in peace. Next thing we know, she had found her hidden birthday present (a new bike) out in the shed and was asking Daddy to get it out for her. She thinks Callee (just one of her imaginary friends) got it for her. Sigh. Nice punishment, huh? Now what the heck are we supposed to give her at her party???

That's How We Roll...

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...
These girls are quickly growin'!

Allison and Amanda are having a birthday! Come bring your bikes, skates, sand toys, strollers, scooters, bocce, swimsuits and towels, and whatever else you got, and roll with us this Saturday!

Where: Laveen Village Park
What: Pot Luck - we'll bring the sandwiches, you bring the salads!
When: 10am - 1pm

Roll on over!

Here is one of the nicest pictures! The trip to Pine Cone Hill was a great one with these five getting a little fresh air and a good run in the park. We hope Adeline and Landon can join us next time. The weather was nice, the McDonalds about what you would expect and the run in the grass was just what the doctor ordered. If I say so myself, these new cameras make photographers of us all. Bikes were ridden on this day. Swords were hefted and even little Joshua had a little zephyr in the hair.

Yes We Can-Can

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I stole this one from Tiff....it was just too funny!

Happy Thursday from Josh

His sisters are hilarious.

If only they'd stop trying to tickle him all the time...

He actually sits like this quite often, with his hands folded snugly and tight.

Strawberries. In anticipation of more.

One can almost taste the ripe ones and feel the juice running down one's chin and onto the shirt. So delicious that those who love them never stop to ponder whether they should save the shirt or dive headlong-in and relish them as they should be relished. Ice cold, stems on and at home where you really don't even have to try to explain. After all, it is strawberry season.

Number three.

Cameron and Robyn Carter are very happy to present Baby Boy Carter. They are still trying to figure out a name for him. I like Nathan's suggestion of Computer Man. Computer Man Carter has a nice ring to it.


From what I hear, they had an interesting time at the hospital. They were there for about 15 minutes before Computer Man was born. Congratulations Cam, Robyn, Nathan, and Jacob. We are very excited about this new addition to your family.

I'm completely intrigued...!

I was surfing around today and came across this

(Aubrey or Colman, please fix my link so it works...)
http://letterboxing.org/

and I'm totally fascinated! Who knew there was such a cool thing happening in the country, and all around the world?? I could totally see this as a way fun activity to take up with your kids!

Shellie's new computer.

or she could go with the silver model...


I just found out they make a pink version too...