Merry Christmas!

We have been having a wonderful Christmas in the US! We are getting to spend some quality time with family and eating lots of yummy Christmas goodies (enough to make up for all that we've missed the past two years).

Carter met Santa. He isn't the biggest fan just yet. The time will come.

He is being quite a trooper in this picture but moments after...he couldn't hold back his fears any longer. There were tears. Poor guy. Santa is a scary dude.

We travel back to China on Sunday. And the new year begins!!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Carter and Lucy in Hiding

There was Lucy in Hiding, then Carter in Hiding....now they are at it together!

Carter is loving finding little nooks to fit in. He has also been enjoying shutting doors. Big doors and little doors. Recently, he found that he fits perfectly in our entertainment cabinet.

(Sorry for the yellow pictures)

This is where I found him.

He's in there!

Back open.

Then, no lie, Lucy pushed past Carter for a turn. She often gets way too into any game I try to play with Carter. If I'm playing Pee-a-Boo she gets soooo excited when I reveal myself. If I act excited when playing with ANY toy she too gets soooo excited...you get the point. She is like a big kid and thinks everything her parents do it SOooooo much fun! Ha ha. Usually Carter doesn't get it but you can always count on Lucy!

Carter pushed the door to hide her.

And that did it...memories of being crated and being put on a plane to China, I guess.

Back in Carter goes!

All done!

The 12 Days of Learning!

We started this last night but join the fun!

A Teacher at Heart!

We interrupt this program....

..to tell you that Carter took his first steps! John and I were so pumped!!!

Here is how this magic moment happened:

Carter and I were playing with tupperware, on the floor of the kitchen, while sharing apple slices. John was pouring himself another cup of coffee. "Hey John, can you pass me the peanut butter?" I asked. Mmmmm....pb and apple slices straight from the jar. Carter peered up with a curious look in his eye as he watched me scoop and eat. I probably made it more enticing with with a yummy sound effect, who knows! BUT Carter watched and wanted. He reached, and reached. Then stood and reached. Then stepped and stepped and so on! WHAT! For peanut butter!?

John and I couldn't believe it. So we kept this game going over and over again by passing the jar back and forth. Since Carter hasn't had peanut butter (it is one of those BIG allergy foods) we pretended like Cheerios were in the jar. When he made it across the kitchen we pretended to reach in and grab Cheerios for his reward. Poor buddy...he loved those Cheerios from the jar.

Any who, he did it a few more random times this weekend! We will see how this progresses! So exciting!

Another first: Not nearly as exciting but it was cute (and I got pictures) was that he had his first pasta dinner!

He loved it! Can't you tell!

Holiday Cards {Free for Bloggers!}

Don't you just LOVE getting holiday cards from friends and family? They make such fun little memories to wrap up the year and there is something a bit more sentimental about good old fashioned "snail mail."

Well, to take a bit of stress off of the wallet...check out Shutterfly's newest Holiday Card Promotion! 50 FREE cards for Bloggers! (Just click there <--- to join in!)

Shutterfly is a great website not only for cards but also for sharing photos, creating calendars, personalized thank you cards, photo books. My mother-in-law has made two photo books for us and I just LOVE them! They make such great memories!

I think I'm going to have a tough time picking out which cards but I'm kind of liking these. But we will see how our pictures turn out! I'm taking Carter to a children's photographer! They didn't speak any English..so we will see!!

Any who, if you are a blogger you should do this too! If you aren't check out their site anyway because they have great products and great prices!

Surprise Day

John got me back for a really cool/really silly surprise day (Suzie and ) I planned a few years back! Here is a little peek at how it went!

Surprise number 1:

Toffee Nut Lattee from Starbucks! (China's Christmas flavor..mmmmm!)

Surprise number 2:

Going to the see the Christmas displays at Golden Eagle! (Foo foo!) Check out the bunnies?

Surprise number 3:

Picture with Carter in FRONT of the Christmas display at Golden Eagle.

Surprise number 4:

Believe it or not...was going into Golden Eagle! (There is lots of sarcasm in this post.)

Surprise number 5:

You guessed it...buying something from Golden Eagle! This is Louie, Prada, Gucci!!

Surprise number 6:

Home for nap...instead of buying something from Golden Eagle!

Surprise number 7:

Going for a foot massage! Thank you!

Surprise number 8:

Out to eat for lunch!

Surprise day is super fun! It is kind of a joke and even though we kind of did what we do every Saturday, the suspense kills me!!! I love it! Ha ha! Also, surprise day is kind of made up as you go along and you try to give as many "surprises" as you can!

And I leave you with Little C all decked out and his final hand turkey painting!

10 month stats

I didn't have time for this yesterday and not much has changed since last month but for the sake of looking back later:

• He is still standing and cruising all over the place, but no walking.
• 7 teeth, 4 on bottom, 3 on top (fourth on top coming in now, ouch!)
• Understands quite a bit! Responds by looking, pointing or going toward objects when asked "where is your......?", "Want to take a bath?", "Are you tired? Ready for bed?", "Where is Lucy, Mom, Dad?", "Clap, clap, clap!" "Dance, dance, dance"
• Still loving to eat! Still nursing!
• Still 2 naps!
• Still babbles! That boy loves to talk!
• Still just as silly and fun as he can be!!!
• Still LOVES bath time. He will stand on the side of the tub pointing and yelling the whole time the water is running! Major play time once he is in there!

Love him so much!

10 Months Old!

Here he is again! This blog has turned into a little tribute to Carter! Ha ha! But hey, he is the biggest thing in our lives!!!

Another birthday celebrated and now only two short months from being a 1-year-old! :(

Here is the monthly photo shoot first in his normal clothes then degraded into the usual!

This is one of the two strange faces he is doing feeling his teeth with his lips.

Hey!

He looks huge! AND his hairline is very noticeable in these pictures! Ha ha!

Cracking himself up! He thinks he is sooo funny! (I think so too!)

And he's done!

Fall in China

Fall in China isn't too different than Fall in Houston. It has been cool for a while, but like Houston, the leaves only change to shades of brown. When we lived in Norway we got to appreciate what people mean when they say red and yellow leaves! They really turn RED and YELLOW! So pretty!

Here is little Carter-man in the China Leaves! We are loving this fall weather!!!

We don't EAT the leaves. Poor little guy...he'll try anything.

Found a big one!

Love this one...too bad he isn't looking!

**For a fun little activity to do with leaves check out our teaching blog: A Teacher at Heart!

Happy Fall!

Love,

The McCoy's!

New Blog!

My mom, sister in law, and I have started a new blog! It is for moms (and dads) looking for quick, fun, meaningful things to do with your children! Take a look! And while you are there, will you click the little follow button for us! We hope you love it and pass it on!

Carter the Magic Dragon

Carter in Hiding

Carter has been having fun lately climbing into small spaces. Toy tubs, apothecary cabinet, buffets, kitchen cupboards you name it!

Here is the tail end of a fun moment in Hanoi. He was CRACKING UP hysterically every time he'd reach his hand out and we would kiss it. Of course it was after we stopped cracking up that we thought to grab the camera! But here is what we caught!

9 Months Old

Carter-Bear is officially 9.5 months old! We celebrated his 9 month birthday by going to Vietnam!

Here are the latest updates:

• Still crawling like crazy.
• Still pulling up.
• Three times now he has stood without holding anything...he didn't even realize it! (Dad and I freaked!!)
• 6 teeth. 2 on top, 4 on the bottom.
• 22 lbs.
• 16 airplane rides.
• First beach vacation. Vietnam.
• Talking a ton! He sounds like he is saying actual sentences. It is so crazy!
• "Ba ba ba" (This is our grandpa name for John's dad too! Ha ha!)
• "Da da." (Mama????)
• Whole arm wave. "Hello", "Goodbye", and random times because it is fun!
• Just the fingers wave. Same reasons as above.
• Still LOVES bath time!
• 2 naps (1.5-2 hours) sometimes longer.
• sleeps 7:30pm -8:30am
• Still nursing and Big-People-Food for breakfast and dinner! Sometimes snack time.

We love you little man! You are the light of our lives!

And a few pics of Carter on our trip!

{Must Do!} Bumpkin or Crack-o-lantern?

Last year a sorority sister of mine, Courtney Devine (as she is formerly known), blogged about a piece of art she received from a secret gift exchange at her church. The second I saw it I knew I would be doing the same thing with every one of my children!

This year, I had my chance!!! Here it is....

Yes, this is Carter's "Bum"! Check out that crack!

We joke that he can always fall back on plumbing with a crack like that! (It is very high.)

I'm not completely sure that I am done with it yet. I do have to touch up a black smudge I made with my hand. And I originally thought it would be more cutesy-woo but it kind of turned out more Charlie Brown-esk.

If I lived in the US I would have most likely done this on canvas. However, finding art supplies here was chore enough. So I settled with a thin canvas and had a frame made to fit. (Only because that is how you buy frames here and it just costs $3.50).

I purchased several thin canvases of the same size. I plan to do a print for every holiday of the season this year! So this frame will be filled with "Carter Art" for a while!

November: Hand Turkey

December: Foot & Hand Angel

January: Snowman

February: Hand Heart

March: ?? Is this where it ends? Ideas?

For another ADORABLE example, check out my sweet nephews' Bumpkins!

If you do it...let me know! I want to see!

{Momtog} No edits, crops or photoshop!

In my spare time/nap time, I've been trying to learn a bit more about photography. This is important to me only because I realize how quickly Carter is growing and changing. I want to be able to capture the little daily moments since we can't have a photographer follow us around all day.

I solicited advice and two trusty friends have helped out! Photographer friend, Lauren Harris and Momtog Friend, Jenni Caswell gave me a bit of insight on how to use my camera! :) Here is what I've got so far:

Family Update

You may have seen this picture on Facebook:

but I thought I would share this silly one too:

Notice it is on his leg too!

....

Next, fall is football season in Texas. So for Mid-Autumn Festival we thought we would head here:

Maybe see these people.

And have one of these! A Maroon Out Margarita along with a Dixie Chicken Burger!

Only in Shanghai! (And of course, in Texas.) We love it!!