Carter Family

2010

2010-01-13T15:35:00.001-08:00

Been awhile since I've had the time to update our blog. A LOT has been happening since last summer. I got a new job at ITT Technical Institute, we co-bought a condo in Branson, celebrated Nathan's 2nd birthday, and generally just had a great time spending some family quality time together. Here are a couple recent pictures of our little man.

Misc. shots

2009-06-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Thought these were just too adorable not to share...
He is so adorable when he's sleeping.

Athis first school picnic...I just love his picnic outfit.

May and June

2009-05-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Loving every minute of being home with my son. As of June 5th Nathaniel is now 19 months and has developed a unique and strong personality. He amazes us each and every day with his accomplishments. He is currently enjoying his new swingset Grandpa got him. He LOVES to slide! His vocabulary is also expanding - besides his numerous animal noises his favorite words are "UP!" "Go!' and "Daddy!"

In May we went to the Botanical Garden with cousin Ben and spent a couple hours playing in the water area with my friend Jenn. The boys had a blast and got completely soaked. It was a great day.

In June we took him to the Sorrows School picnic.

Nicole -- Replugged!

2009-03-28T19:53:00.001-07:00

FINALLY! Our new laptop has finally arrived so I will be able to be online more often. Thank goodness! I was having withdrawals not being connected. I didn’t realize how much I relied on the internet to keep myself connected to all my friends and family.
Anyway, this update is short due to the learning curve we are experiencing trying to figure out how to do everything on the laptop. Hopefully next week I can download some more recent pictures.

First Snow Fall

2009-01-29T09:20:00.001-08:00

Here are some shots of us taking Nathaniel out for his first sled ride in the snow. He loved it!

January continued...

2009-01-29T09:03:00.000-08:00

Nathan and I have been very busy with my time off. We have gone to the Magic House, hung out with friends and amused our selves by hanging out around the house. Here are a couple shots of our little man and his antics...

January 2009

2009-01-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

So far the job hunt has been unsuccessfull, but I have had some call backs and have confidence that I will eventually find something. In the meantime, Nathaniel and I are spending some quality time together. Jeff is finished with his service to his nightly tournament duties so Nathaniel and I are looking forward to some family time.

Just recently, Rachel and Tommy have become new home owners so we are working on all the little details of getting them into their new home sometime inthe beginning of February (-will post pictures later).

Other than that things are pretty low key around here.

Please keep Nathaniel and I in mind should anyone have a day off - we are always looking for a change in our daily routine to keep things interesting.

Love to all -- Nicole

Hopes for the New Year

2009-01-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Lots has happened since my last entry. Due to the layoff Jeff and I decided to take a little vacation. So we packed up Nathaniel and headed to Branson. We had a great time, Nathan got to witness his Daddy's facination with Silver Dollar City and see some superior light displays. But of course his favorite event was playing with the cooler - drive 4 hours from home and he is thrilled to sit in our IgLoo mini cooler?!

Christmas was happy if a bit subdued. Nathaniel received way too many presents - seems the Grandparents emptied out Santa's workshop; now our living room looks more like Toys R Us. Food was good, company was great, only change for next year - check the trunk of the Christmas Tree before we bring it home and make sure it's straight. Hopefully we'll have a tree next year instead of the bush that is sitting on our end table. ;-)

New Years our family spent at home sick; seems we caught the current cold bug so we were all in bed by 10:00 pm. But our hopes for this New Year are high; new year, new president, new job, and hopefully a new and better economy. At this point anything can happen so we are thinking positively.

We want to wish all of you a blessed new year and to say thank you to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive during our disappointment and we hope that your 2009 is a blessed and happy one.

Love the Carters!

My fate at AB, InBev

2008-12-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

Just in case you have not heard the Carter Family has officially severed ties with AB, Inbev. As of Thursday, Dec. 11th I am no longer employed. Truthfully, I am relieved. I don't think I could work for the new regime. However, now I am worried about our families financial future with all the layoffs happening there's going to be slim pickings for any available local jobs.

We found this blog online that best describes our families feelings of the whole thing. Maybe this will give you some insight to the whole merger and it's effects on the employees...

"I too am disappointed with the local media coverage of this debacle. They are just broadcasting InBev’s spin that 1400 or just 6% of the employees are being let go. Add the 450 contractors, the 1000+ people who took the ERP packages and we are talking about 3000 people. There were only about 6000 employees in St. Louis. The bottom line is that roughly 40% of the St. Louis Corporate Offices are going in this first wave.
I am hoping to be let go this coming week and this is becoming a consensus in my department. The severance packages will not get better with the next round and I firmly believe they will try to make those of us left so miserable we will look for work elswhere. It is much cheaper to make us quit than lay us off. I do feel bad for the contractors who will not get the severance cushion, as well as all of the employees that did not reap much financial benefit from the buyout. Employees that had stock options and restricted stock have a further cash cushion.
To all of those saying that A-B deserved this because it was mismanaged and wasted money spoiling its workers, etc., you are so wrong. There was certainly some waste at A-B, as there is at most large companies. However, A-B was a company that treated its employees well, not because it had to, but because it was the right thing to do. It fostered employee loyalty and made for one of the lowest turnover rates in corporate America. Doing things the A-B way meant meant going beyond what is required and always striving to do everything better than its competitors. Despite what some would call waste, A-B managed to generate good profits, pay its shareholders a decent dividend and hold onto almost 50% of the U.S. beer market. You think that’s easy. In reality, most of A-B’s lagers don’t taste much different that Miller, Coors and dozens of other beers that used to compete with A-B. A-B was simply way better at manufacturing, distributing and marketing its products. Why do you think InBev wanted A-B so badly? InBev has not grown any of its brands. It is a relatively new company that has simply gobbled up established breweries and brands. It is so leveraged that it is going to have to sell prized assets (that actually make money) at fire sale prices in the worst economy since the Great Depression. You call this sound management?
Anyway, people in many other industries are being laid off, so no one should feel any worse for A-B workers than others. However, know this: I am losing more than just a job. I am losing THE JOB I always wanted, the one I truly enjoyed doing, the one I would never think of leaving, the one I hoped to retire from. These are sad days for what’s left of A-B and for all of St. Louis."

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

This year we hosted Thanksgiving lunch at our house by deep-frying a turkey. Jeff with his usual flare for taking things to the extreme prepared himself for every eventuality by suiting himself up.

He did a fabulous job of frying two turkeys much to our tummy's pleasure and we have now decided he shall hold the task of doing this every year. He assures me also that he needs to practice before next year and has set out on a mission to deep fry as much as possible - I believe his next attempt will be with a Twinkie ;-)

November Birthdays

2008-12-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

Lots of things happened in the month of November. We celebrated not only Nathaniel's birthday but also Grandma Marcia's - we went to Red Lobster. And our friend TJ's at the Museum of Transportation.

Family Picture

2008-11-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Here are our latest family pictures - they turned out so great!

My sister Rachel took these, she works at SEARS in South County Mall. If any of you are needing family pictures please call and ask for her. She is very talented and is known for her exceptional ability to get even the crankiest kid to smile.

SEARS #487-7572 or 416-2369 (ask for the South County studio NOT the appointment line. That way you can ask for Rachel to take your pictures personally.)

Nathaniel's First Birthday Party

2008-11-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was Nathan's first birthday party and it was a real hit. He had a great time opening all his presents. The best part was watching him try his first piece of birthday cake. We had a special little cake made for him with his favorite toy decorating the top - a rubber ducky. Once we helped him figure out the cake was edible he couldn't seem to stop eating it. In fact when we finally took it away he threw a bit of a fit. Here's a couple pictures from the event.

Also, on his actual birthday Grandma Marcia and Mommy spent the day with him at the Zoo. He rode the carousel with Grandma and his favorite animal siting was the baby tigers.

Then we had dinner with Grandpa, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tommy.

First Halloween

2008-11-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

This year was Nathaniel's first Halloween. He had two costumes, one was a skeleton outfit his Grandma Marcia bought him. He was a hit at day care b/c his costume glowed in the dark.

His costume for trick or treating was a spider that his Grandpa Apollo bought him. He had no issues with wearing it, he even kept the hat on. We went to his great Aunt Jackie's and for his first trick or treat he received a toothbrush! Here are a couple snapshots of our spooky little spider.

Hayride

2008-10-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

This Friday we went on an "Urban Hayride" through Forest Park. Nathan got to experience his first bonfire and he got to see a tractor and play in the hay. Here are a couple shots: check out his adorable new camo-hat that his Daddy picked out for him. Also, he and Daddy were twins for the night.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the three of us went out to Eckert's in Belleville to pick pumpkins. The weather was gorgeous and so were the pumpkins. Our little man barely weighed more then the two pumpkins we picked out!

Cousin Cameron

2008-10-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Cousin Cameron came over for a little bit on Saturday to play with our little man.

Play Date

2008-10-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend was packed full of fun, on Saturday Nathan and TJ had a playdate. They were playing in TJ's toy box, with the magnets on the fridge, pushing each other on the little cars and even banging on the tupperware together. TJ was an exceptionally good host sharing all his toys with our little man. At the end of the night they played "Can't catch me" much to the amusement to us parents. Here are a couple pictures of the boys...

Recuperating

2008-10-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

The past couple weeks our family has been attacked by the recent "bugs" floating around the day cares and offices. All three of us were suffering from one "inconvenience" or another. However, we are all on the mend now and getting excited about the fall weather floating through. Nathan has even ushered in his 11th month with his ability to walk short distances by himself. He can make it about 3-4 feet on his own before he loses his balance. He gets so excited when he does he even claps for himself.

Here are a couple pictures of Nathan hanging out in the kitchen while I make dinner. He really enjoys this magnetic toy on the fridge. It has barnyard animals that make noises and it sings songs. He'll stand at the fridge and dance to the music.

2008-09-30T11:01:00.001-07:00

This past week has been very busy. Here I am holding court at Grandma Marcia's with all her bears. We had gone over to have a family dinner to celebrate Mommy and Daddy's 6th wedding anniversary.

On Saturday, Grandma Marcia came with us to the park. While daddy played kickball we detoured to the play area. Grandma pushed me on the swing and then we had a blast playing in the fountain.!

Then on Sunday we went to Six Flags for Anheuser-Busch's family day. I loved riding the carousal. Here I am patting the horse we were on. He didn't go fast enough.

After that I got my picture taken with Flash Gordon and The Green Lantern. See my muscles!!

Lazy Weekend

2008-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Last week we experienced a power failure due to the storm. We were without electricity for about 24 hours but it wasn't too bad. Nathan was thrilled with the candle-light and especially Daddy's lantern.

I'm not sure what Nathan's plan was with this duck but thought this was too cute a picture not to post.

Nathaniel's doing pretty good with holding his sippy cup all by himself... now we're just working on the mechanics.

Little Climber

2008-09-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

This week has been quite eventful and we are only half way through. On Monday Nathaniel was downstairs with me while I was doing laundry and he decided he wanted to be upstairs with Dad. So he crawled to the stairs (and with me behind him) made it all the way to the top on the first attempt.

On Wednesday Grandpa Apollo took us to Busch Stadium for Nathan's first Cardinals Game.

Even though they lost to the Cubs Nathan had a fantastic time! He was in awe of all the people and clapped and pointed at all the interesting things he saw. Grandpa even treated him to his first stadium pretzel - of which he loved, of course!!

Here are a couple pics of him enjoying the baseball game.

Ready To Walk

2008-09-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel has been trying so hard to get this walking thing down. He is cruising along every chance he gets.

He goes from the ottoman to the couch to the doorway to the kitchen table.

He has even managed to stand by himself with out any support for a couple seconds.

I am predicting that he will be walking before this month is over.

End of Summer

2008-09-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

This past Labor Day Weekend marked the end of our first summer together with our little man. We went down to the lake for the weekend for some final days of sunshine and water. The weather was absolutely perfect!

Unfortunately, come Monday I was sick with pneumonia, having received it from my son, the "little crawling petri-dish of bacteria." It's amazing what we share with our kids. Good thing Nathan has his daddy's immune system; he only had a mild cough and some sniffles. Jeff caught a bit of the sniffles as well but as always he doesn't let it get in his way.

This past weekend we spent some quality family time at kickball watching Jeff show off his athletic skills and at home where Nathan enjoyed the wonderful weather in his swing.

Plus, we went to an AB Family night at Grant's Farm where Nathan was enthralled with all the animals. He especially loved the parrots since they were very talkative!

Kickball

2008-08-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend was packed with outdoor activities. We spent some time at the pool and we watched Jeff play kickball at Tower Grove Park. Nathan was really proud of his daddy for this kick!!

Nathan loves to move, here he is trying to climb back into his stroller. He grabbed the tray and actually pulled himself up so he was kneeling on the foot rest!
Hey Dad, pass the Gatorade!!
Not much else to report, tune in next week for more pictures from the lake!

9 Months - Cruising

2008-08-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

At our last visit to the pediatrician Nathan weighed in at 20 lbs. 13.5 ounces and is extremely healthly. He has become a little speed racer crawling and cruising around the furniture. He is really trying to get a handle on the walking thing.

Plus he now has 7 teeth and we think an eighth one is emerging. He is determined to try these new teeth out too, he has graduated from baby purée to regular foods. His favorite is bread - like his daddy. He loves to feed himself and eats with gusto!

This past weekend we went to the lake again. Jeff spent some time skiing and we took a couple boat rides - Nathan even got to drive!

Nathan had a great time except he is not all that thrilled with the lake itself. He did ok swimming in his raft - at least until the fish bit him then he wanted out!!

The fun and sun just wore him out that he needed to nap with Grandma. We can't wait to go again in two weeks!!

Jam Packed Weekend!

2008-08-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is how Nathan looks after Daddy feeds him!! I think that's peaches he has smeared all over his face.

Nathan has graduated to 3rd step foods...things are now a bit chunky since he has teeth. (If you look closely, you can see the 4 top teeth.) He has tried bits of bananas, bread and green beans and loved them all.

Another exciting achievement - earlier last week Nathaniel started trying to pull himself up on the furniture. Then last Thursday he surprised us by achieving mobility and started crawling! Jeff is thrilled b/c now the cats will get some exercise and after this weekend it looks like we will too!

Also, TJ and Nathan had a couple playdates this weekend - here are some pictures of the two of them in the baby pool...

Nathan just loves his friend TJ - he followed him everywhere this weekend...mostly around and around the island in our kitchen.

And whatever TJ was playing with Nathan wanted to join in. TJ is so good - he shared with Nathan or even went and got Nate something else to play with.

In this picture, TJ played us a song and Nathan and Mommy danced/ bounced to the music.

2008-07-28T07:08:00.001-07:00

Our little man got his first baby pool this weekend from his Aunt Jacqui and Uncle Greg. He was so excited when we put him in it, he started splashing and kicking. He even laughed when Daddy accidentally splashed water in his face. He spent almost an hour scooting his way around that pool after his toy ducks that Grandma Joanne gave him. Grandpa Apollo was there and said he is "little fish" - a natural water baby.

Nathan loves the water and was not even bothered that it was a bit chilly. He's looking forward to next weekend when he goes in it again.

Also, Nathan's friend TJ and his parents came by on Sunday night for a visit. We all got Oberweis and Nathan just loves the Raspberry Sherbert! (Sorry - no picture of this).

First Time Blogging

2008-07-24T07:02:00.001-07:00

Got this great blog idea from Liz - thought I'd make one up for Nathan.

This has been a busy month for our little guy. He has experienced a lot of firsts. Over July 4th weekend he went camping with mom and dad and saw fireworks, went on a boat ride, wore a life jacket, and sat on a jet ski. He loved every minute of it and wasn't even bothered by the fireworks...in fact he slept through most of them.

Next Nathan got his first hair cut - so the mohawk is gone.He looks more like a little boy now and if it's possible, I think he's even cuter than before.

Then for the last two weeks he has been painstakingly cutting 4 of his top teeth (all at the same time). We just saw the whites this morning. Hopefully we will all be back to sleeping through the night soon...not sure how long Jeff and I can keep this up.

* Check out Nathan behind the wheel. Neighbor Brian and Cheryl let him "drive." *

And finally, Nate has mastered the mobility of butt-scooting. He'll stretch his legs out and lean forward and scoot. He is real anxious to get places but in no mood to lay on his tummy to work on the crawling. However, he LOVES to pull himself up and stand. Jeff is looking forward to when Nathan masters the ability to move himself...the cats are going to have a rude awakening when Nathan can actually go after them. ;-)