Merry Christmas!

Picture Joy Christmas

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Playdate Pics

Enjoy pictures from Carter hangin out with his buds!

CARTER & HALLIE

CARTER & NOAH

CARTER & AUSTIN

CARTER, AUSTIN, NOAH, AND ALANA

Labor Day Weekend is Coming!

The Gibby's are super excited for Labor Day Weekend! That's because we're taking a mini-family vacation! Brent and I both took off work this Friday. Friday morning we are heading up to Kansas City. We're going to stop at Cabela's first. Brent and I absolutely love that store and we've been dying to take Carter as soon as he was old enough to enjoy the animals. Then we're heading on to the Coco Key Water Resort. This is a fairly new, indoor water park in KC....it's actually right by Arrowhead & Kaufman Stadiums. We're doing the water park thing most of the day Friday. We are staying at the Holiday Inn that is part of the water park on Friday night. We also plan to visit the Bass Pro Shop in Independence, MO on Friday evening since we won't be far from it at all!

On Saturday, we're going to the Kansas City Zoo and we SUPER stoked about that! We took Carter last September, and while Brent and I really enjoyed it, Carter was still too young to enjoy the animals. But I know he'll have a blast this year b/c he LOVES animals. We intend to spend the whole day at the zoo on Saturday and then head home Saturday evening.

We were able to get a really good deal on our little weekend get-away through a package deal with Coco Key. We get water park passes for 2 days, a hotel room, and passes to the zoo all for one great price. They also have packages where you can get tickets to a Royals game instead of the zoo. We might have to try that next year. Right now, there's no way Carter could sit through an entire baseball game....he's WAY too antsy!

To round out our holiday weekend, me, Brent, and Lindsay are heading to Eskridge on Sunday to our cousins Candace & Tuff's house for a shrimp boil. I'm really curious as to how this works. Apparently they throw shrimp, sausage, small ears of corn, and baby potatoes all together in a big pot (or turkey fryer) and cook it up! Then when it's done, they dump it all out on a table covered in newspaper and everyone digs in. Sounds like something you'd see in the South! Brent and I have never attended a shrimp boil, so we're really excited to try it!

After the shrimp boil, we're going to the Eskridge Rodeo.....yee-haw! Love rodeos, and we'll get to see Tuff's boys compete in the Muttin Bustin, which should be a blast!

I can tell we will definitely be using Monday as a day of R-E-L-A-X-A-T-I-O-N!!!

Hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day Weekend!!!

Play Date Weekend / Brent's Birthday

Last weekend, we went to Nortonville to visit our good friends Amanda and Andy and their little girl Hallie. Carter and Hallie always have a wonderful time together and they hadn't seen each other since April!! Hallie is 7 weeks younger than Carter, so handling the two of them is like a set of twins! But they are so funny together and they really had a ball together last weekend. (Pictures to come.....)

We headed up to Amanda & Andy's on Saturday and spent the whole day outside playing with the kids. Then Andy grilled us some AWESOME hamburgers for supper! Carter was a little turd that day and refused to take a nap the entire day. So after supper and a bath, he was OUT and slept like a log the entire night! On Sunday, we all drove to Olathe and met my mom & dad at Jumpin Catfish Restaurant, which is quickly becoming my dad's favorite place in the whole world. He's been dying for us to try it, so we figured why not just do it for Brent's birthday! I myself am not a huge seafood lover....I will eat some fish but I was warned by Mom (another non-seafood lover) that this place had extremely "fishy" fish. So while the boys all munched on catfish, the girls enjoyed chicken and chicken fried steak. *Note: Restaurants that specialize in seafood kinda lack in the chicken fried steak department! And even though Carter acted completely rotten the whole time we were at the restaurant, we still managed to have a pretty good time.

On Monday, which was Brent's "actual" birthday, we celebrated by grilling pork chops, corn on the cob, and veggie kebabs...yummy! It was such a beautiful evening too! We're really enjoying this cooler weather....hopefully it sticks around!

We're really looking forward to tomorrow night.....Carter's having friends over to play!! Noah, Austin, Alana, and Waylon (and their parents) are coming over for a play date. The kids all have such a great time when they get together. Noah is 3, Austin is almost 2, Alana is just 2 weeks older than Carter, and Waylon is just a few months old. It will be nice to let the kids play so the adults can sit back and relax! (Pictures to come of that too!)

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

18-Month Pictures!!

18 Months Old

Carter turned 18 months on August 8, so we took him to get his pics taken on Saturday. They turned out GREAT, the best ones he's ever taken in fact! I'm working on getting them all up, but for now, enjoy this one and the "Faces of Carter" pic on the heading of this blog.

We enjoyed a pretty quiet weekend; Brent had to work so Carter and I did the picture thing with Mom on Saturday and then just hung out at home yesterday. Oh, and we watched the FIRST CHIEFS GAME Friday night!! I am SOOOO happy football season is here finally...well, preseason actually, but still, it's here!!

We're looking forward to next weekend b/c we're going up to Nortonville to visit our good friends Amanda & Andy and their little girl Hallie, who just happens to be Carter's girlfriend! hehe It's been WAY too long since the kids have been together, but I'm sure they'll have a grand time together.

Hope you all enjoy your week! We are definitely on the count-down to Labor Day Weekend....not only b/c it's an extra long weekend, but b/c we are taking a mini family vacation! Details to come....

Forgotten Blog?

Wow, I cant' believe it's been over 4 months since my last post! I got into a bit of a blog-rut there for a while and I think it mostly had to do with lack of time. For a while, Brent was working nights (he's back on days now thank goodness!) so it was really hard for me to find time to blog b/c it's virtually impossible to get anything done when it's just me & Carter and the last thing I wanted to do was be on the computer when Brent was home! And then spring rolled around, and now summer and let's face it, we spend virtually every evening outside which = no time to blog.

I've been wanting to pick back up on this blog for quite some time now, but I just wasn't sure where to start! Since March, so much has happened and I didn't even know where to begin. But after talking with my Mom & Lori P. (Mommy #2) last night about their blogs, it really made me want to get back into mine. So, here we go. Here's a short (ha!) recap of what we've been up to the last few months.......

*April - - - Ahhh, the start of spring! Kicked off with me & my bud Amanda seeing George & Reba in concert! Then the very next week, I was rear-ended during rush hour traffic in Topeka :( Luckily my car wasn't hurt TOO bad and we were even able to go w/o fixing it. We spent a lot of time at the lake during April, camping and fishing with Brent's parents.

*May - - - April Showers bring May Flowers, right? Not this May. I think we saw more rain than we saw sunshine, which put a damper on Carter's outside play quite a few days. I celebrated my 27th birthday and we had one hell of a rainy 3 day camping trip. Thank goodness Carter spent that weekend with Grandma & Grandpa so he didn't have to endure the yucky weather. We enjoyed the annual Burlingame Rodeo toward the end of the month and celebrated Memorial Day with a BBQ at the Gibby's house. Oh, and I got to celebrate my 2nd Mother's Day with the best little man in the whole world =)
*June - - - June saw us helping Candace & Tuff prepare for their big wedding day coming up in July. We participated in a couple's wedding shower for them, which was a blast! Brent got to celebrate his 2nd Father's Day, and we spent more time at the lake, especially on the boat. Mom & Dad celebrated their 29 year anniversary!! *July - - - Seems like July just started and now it's already August! July was very busy for us and sped right by! 4th of July weekend we attended a baby shower for our good friend Tara, celebrated the 4th w/ a BBQ at Grandma Bryson's and fireworks in Eskridge (we were supposed to go see the fireworks show at Lake Wabaunsee, but it was canceled due to rain). One of my main duties at Matron of Honor for Candace was to throw her bachelorette party which turned out to be a very interesting night, but still tons of fun no less! And just last weekend, on July 31, we watched Candace & Tuff join hands in marriage, at one of the most beautiful and awesome weddings I've ever seen.And now here we are in August, approaching fall already. Preseason football is starting, which makes me giddy and sooooo ready for fall. The temps lately have been so incredibly hot--bring on the cool! We just celebrated my Mom's birthday this past weekend (her b-day is today-Happy Birthday Mom!) and we will celebrate Brent's on August 23rd.

Carter is thoroughly enjoying summer. He loves to play on his climber/slide, eat at his picnic table, and ride his John Deere tractor.

Speaking of tractors, we cannot believe how much Carter LOVES tractors. He's absolutely obsessed with them and usually that's all he'll play with! Meema bought him a set of 4 John Deere DVD's that we've now watched a gazillion times. And when he's ready to watch one, he'll let you know....he will turn on the DVD player, open the door, and bring you the movie so you can put the disc in for him. Silly boy!

We're very proud of how smart Carter has become. He doesn't say a lot of words yet, but he always knows what you mean and understands when you ask him to do something (yet he doesn't seem to listen when you tell him NOT to do something!) He knows all the parts on his body and will point to them when you ask him where they are. He can even identify his shirt and shorts/pants to you, although he isn't too fond of clothes. He's not very happy when we make him put on shorts to go outside and play!

Carter's best friend is Maggie, or as he calls her, "Maa." He follows Maggie all over the house or yard and always wants to give her hugs. One of his favorite things to do is sit on her back. However, now that he weighs 25 lbs, we try not to let him do it anymore. We don't want to break Maggie's back!

Brent's job is going really well for him. He's been there a year and a half and has already moved up two positions. His title is "Mold Tech" and he sets the molds in the presses that make the plastic parts. And he comes home VERY dirty and VERY greasy every night. Thank goodness he has uniforms so we don't have to wash all that crap in OUR washer!

I'm still chuggin along at the Kansas Dept of Revenue. I love what I do and love my team at work. Some days I wish I didn't have to drive to Topeka EVERYDAY for work, but there just aren't very many options around Osage County!

So my goal is to keep this blog up and running like I used to. I know many of you have been wondering where I've been, and I'm sorry to keep you hanging! But keep checking back for more Gibby updates and pics of our wonderful Carter-bug =)

He's a Walking Fool!

Carter FINALLY took off this week! He had been taking a few steps here and there and cruising around everything, but he just hadn't let loose yet. But as this week has gone on, he was taking more and more steps, and finally by the end of the week, he was a walking fool! So now, he's of course into even more stuff he shouldn't be, but it's okay. I'm just glad he's walking!

It looks like we'll be spending this weekend inside the house, thanks to the stupid snow storm we got. It better be the last snow of the season! We're ready for spring! We were spoiled with the awesome weather last week. At least Carter got to play outside for a few days. Brent is off this weekend, so we're looking forward to just hangin around the house as a fam, watching college basketball. Go Hawks!!

George Strait

As most of you know, I have just a teeny tiny little obsession with George Strait. Oh, who am I kidding, I LOVE THAT MAN! I have been in love with George ever since I was a little girl. I remember my mom used to play George Strait tapes every night when she was trying to get me to fall asleep. I remember listening to George on family vacations. I remember every time we would go to the Scranton Bar to eat, mom would ALWAYS play "Amarillo by Morning" on the jukebox. George has always been a big part of our family!

I've seen George in concert one time, when I was pretty young. In fact, I really don't remember it at all. (But I'm sure he was awesome!) I've been dying to go to another George concert since I've been an adult, but it's very rare that he ever comes around our neck of the woods. And then, wouldn't you know it, this year his tour has TWO stops in our area! He was in Wichita back in February and he'll be in KC in April. And REBA is touring with him!! How could a concert get any better?? Two of the best country artists to ever walk the planet....my two favorite indeed!

I begged Brent to let me buy tickets to the show in April, but he wouldn't let me spend that much money. I think this was mostly b/c he "claims" he hates George. (I think he's just jealous b/c I love George almost as much as him!)

So, I sulked and just thought to myself, maybe I can catch him on the next go around.....if he ever comes back here in the near future! And then, the best thing ever happened......

My mom came over Saturday and brought in a Country Music Weekly magazine with George & Reba on the cover. She told me she picked it up b/c she didn't know if I had read it yet, and it had a really good article where George interviews Reba. She set it on the counter, and instinctively I opened up the magazine to the middle and there, right in the middle, were TWO George/Reba tickets taped to the page!!!!!! I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I just stood there, staring at the tickets in disbelief. Could it really be? Was I FINALLY going to get to see George again?! Yes, they were real! I gave my mom the biggest hug ever and I even started crying b/c I was so happy!! My mommy is the greatest ever!!!

So....on April 9, I will be at the Sprint Center, enjoying the musical stylings of LeAnn Womack, Reba, and the greatest ever, King George. My husband refused to go, so I'm taking my BF Amanda! I know we'll have a wonderful time!

Thank you sooooo much Mommy!!!

I Have a Blog???

So some of you may be wondering if I've fallen off the face of the Earth.....or not! The truth is, our computer is still not fixed and it's been really hard for me to find time on my breaks at work to write a blog. On a good note, I think we may be close to having our computer back. My 2nd dad, Dave, has it right now and is working on cleaning all the viruses off of it. Thank you Dave!! So hopefully we'll be back up & runnin soon and I'll be back to my usual blogging self!

In Carter news......

*We have a total of 7 teeth now! 4 on top, 3 on bottom, and there are 2 more on top that are rapidly approaching. I'm very excited for this b/c it will help Carter be able to eat a more broad variety of foods. Right now we're pretty restricted to what he can eat and everything has to be cut up into tiny tiny pieces!

*Carter's still working on the walking thing. We know he can walk....we've seen him walk....he just seems to have no desire to do so! He's taken several steps at a time by himself and he cruises around everything in the house, barely hanging on, but he seems to prefer crawling! And let me tell you how FRUSTRATING this is to Brent & I!!! We're just like, "Walk already kid!!!"

*Bubba's become quite the chatterbox! I can't believe how many things he's saying now! He still says mama & dada of course, but now he says "Done" or "All Gone" after he eats. And he points at EVERYTHING and says "What's that?" Of course, it comes out more like "Stat??" He also says "OK", "Yeah", and "Uh-Oh." We also hear tons of undecipherable babbling which I'm sure will eventually turn into real words!

*We've been working with Carter on learning his body parts. We sing the "Head Shoulders Knees & Toes" song several times a day and right now we're working on where his nose & belly button are. He's catching on very well and will sometimes even point to his nose when you ask him where it's at.

*Behavior problems!! Some days, I wonder if we have a 13-month old or a 2 1/2 year old b/c let me tell you, this child is ORNERY!! He definitely tests his limits too! He's very impatient, whiny, and moody (just like his Mama unfortunately)! He always wants something he can't have (typical kid I know). Some of the problems we've been having are him sneaking into the bathroom when we don't have the door closed, closing all the doors in the house he can find, trying to eat Maggie's dog food, knocking picture frames down, trying to stand on his little 4-wheeler so he can climb up on top of other things, and throwing EVERYTHING, including his sippy cup, which here lately he has not wanted to drink milk out of. I know these are all typical things that every kid does, and we're willing to put up with it a few times, but now that we're trying to teach him the meaning of "NO" and he has no interest in listening to us, it's very frustrating!!

*Little man is such a little love bug! He loves to give hugs & kisses (sometimes) but mostly hugs. He even hugs his stuffed animals & Maggie too! It's so sweet. I hope he stays this way forever!

Well that's about all I have for now. Hopefully it won't be nearly a month before my next post! Enjoy Carter's 12-month shots & a few other randoms I've taken this week.