Catch up time!

So, I really need to get this blog caught up and write down some of our latest happenings before I forget them. First off our new bundle of joy arrived on Feb 4th at a whopping 8lbs 9oz and 20 and 1/2 inches. We are so happy to have him in this world with us and not in my belly anymore.(Stretched to the max!) Now, I am going to jump back a couple of months so I can document some of Lola and Rays cuteness before the baby arrived. Stay tuned for more on baby Carver!

Lola- Months ago a donation bag was left on our porch with a picture of some children from Africa stapled to it. It had instructions to place all unwanted shoes in it and set outside for pick up at 9a.m. So I started to put all our shoes that we had out grown and Lola was following me around asking me what I was doing, I explained that I was filling the bag with old shoes for kids in Africa who didn't have any shoes. Lola was so excited, she kept opening the front door to see if the bag had been picked up. She checked about thirty times, she was sure the little kids from Africa were coming right to our porch to get them. After this little experience she started making all sorts of things for the kids in Africa and setting them out on our porch (Broken crayons in Ziploc bags, drawings on paper, scrap wood boards colored and decorated with stickers, some of Rays toys, and decorated Ziploc bags) all for the kids in Africa. She would say, "I'm giving these crayons to the kids who don't have any, and they will be so excited!" I bet she colored 50 pieces of paper. Our front porch looked like a mess. She would check all day to see if the kids from Africa had come to pick up whatever she had made them. I started having Tony take them off the front porch and throw them away, then leave her a thank you note from the kids in Africa, it was about to become a full time job for him until I told Lola that we could take stuff to the DI and it would be delivered to the kids in Africa. She was a little disappointed that she never got to meet any of the African children that she had been so generous too but she really loves to donate to the DI and to anyone who comes to our house, she wants to give everyone something when they come over. She has even started wrapping her gifts to make them extra special. I will be really glad when the roll of wrapping paper is gone,and I wish her Daddy hadn't given her her own pair or scissors, can you say- confetti. she loves to cut, cut, cut all day.

Ray- Absolutely loves Trains, particularly Thomas the Train. He carries him around all day long, and asks me to hook the train cars together about twenty times a day. He knows all of Thomas the Trains friends too and says their names so cute. He also insists on watching Thomas movies every day, he sings along to the theme song- super cute! I'm hoping to get a video camera soon so we can record his cute little voice. He adds sounds to the end of his words, one example that we hear several times a day, "Lola Take-e Thomas Train-ahh!" He sure is sweet right now. He likes watching Polar Express and he is always taking our reciepts and any piece of mail or scrap of paper and hauling it around and calling it his "ticket" and saying, "all aboard!" He's not much of an eater these days, but he loves any kind of cracker and he would live off his soy milk if I let him. He talks so well, he can say anything. He started making up knock knock jokes a few months ago, he mainly uses this one, "knock knock, who's there?, Thomas who?" He says the whole joke to himself, then he laughs. He also loves Yo Gabba Gabba right now, he sings the good bye song off of it so sweet in a super high voice, we can't get enough of it.

Lola and Ray- When we were trying to think of a name for the baby, we kept asking the kids what we should name him, these are some of the ones I remember. Lola- Polka-dot. Ray- Thomas, Percey, Emily, Gordon, James. Then Tony decided that he liked Carver, so we asked the kids if we should call the baby Carver and Lola said, "no!" then Tony asked Ray and Ray said, "No, Harvey!" Tony kept trying to get Ray to say Carver and he just kept repeating, "Harvey!" then Tony said slowly, "Say, CAAARVEERRR! but Ray said it back to him in the same way, "HAAARVEYYY!" We thought that was pretty funny. After Ray suggested Thomas and all of his friends, then Lola got a great idea, her eyes got really big and she excitedly said, "I know, lets call him Sir Topham Hat!" Jokingly I said, "but what would his middle name be?" She thought for a tiny second and said, "St. George!" Funny girl! So glad we didn't take her suggestion seriously, even though we really like that she thought it up and was so excited to tell us about it. There will be No Sir Topham Hat St. George Goulding in this Family!