The guys

Carter's Papa, Dad and three uncles.

Visiting the real Santa

Carter knows the only real Santa is at the North Pole. We found him when we went to the North Pole Experience.

Playing in the snow

We have to drive three hours to see the snow -- and that's exactly what we did Sunday on the way to Santa's Workshop. Carter was bundled up, and had to wear my boots. He and Dad went out to play in the snow, which involved eating quite a bit of it. Since my boots had been hijacked, I was left to take pictures from the road.

Birthday party

Carter celebrated his 6th birthday on Dec. 15 at the Freestone Recreation Center. It was a rock climbing party, and most of the kids had never tried it so they had a good time. About 23 friends showed up.

Someone's having a party today!

Carter's birthday is today! I'll post pictures later.

Letter to Santa

I believe the kindergarten letter to Santa is the best one ever. "Dear Santa, I wot the nuw bat cav. I wud also like sum Lago. Love, Carter."

School picture

I cut his hair myself. Not the best idea, in retrospect.

Class picture

These school pictures are just timeless...

Snake facepaint

All the kids

Monkey in the tree

Family picture

Thinking this should go on the Christmas card...

Karate class

He's up to an orange belt!

Mario

Happy Halloween! Carter was really excited tonight. Everyone kept calling him Mario, and he walked around saying, "Why does everyone keep calling me Mario?" Hmmm. Good question. Tragedy struck at the end of the night when Carter realized he had lost one glove. He burst into tears and sat down on the sidewalk. Later, he wanted to retrace our steps, but we had walked so far that we couldn't have gone back, it would have taken an hour at least. But he got over it. And then he gave all of his candy away to Grant.

Here he is at a hot-air balloon show.

Children of the corn

How fun to be a kid!

School portraits 2012

Lego robot

Carter built this Lego robot (I think?) and had me take pictures to send it to Lego Club Jr. magazine.

More puppy pics

Hard to get this little thing to sit still for a second...

Playing Xbox

We got some new chairs for playing video games. They're comfy, and they fold up.

And we get a dog

After threatening to get a dog for years, I finally went through with it. And she's so cute! Carter loves her to pieces, and I even suspect that the other Layman, the one who was adamantly against all four-legged animals except those of the feline variety, is a little enamored. She's half Pug and half Boston Terrier. Born on June 20. We've named her Zooey.

First day of kindergarten

The big day is finally here! Kindergarten!!!

Carter was totally excited. No more naps, no more daycare. He's a big boy now!

He's going to a year-round school, so it starts in July. He goes from 11-4, so he gets to sleep in until 9:30 and lounge around watching TV until 10:30. In other words, he's in heaven.

Here he is on the playground with a boy in a mohawk. Yes, a mohawk. OK, he's just a 5-year-old, but come on...

We were waiting around for about 10 minutes for class to start.

Lining up to enter the class.....

And he's off! Bye, Carter!

Storm season in Arizona

Washing the car