A new blog....again

We have been having some technical difficulties with this blog and decided to try a new blog provider. Please visit us at carnesfamily.blog.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

August 18, 2009 - Maddie's 1st day of school

Today Maddie had her first day of preschool. She goes every Tues and Thurs from 10-2, so she gets to pack her lunch! She was so excited when she got up! She got ready fast and wore her backpack all around the house.

When I dropped her off, she put her lunchbox in the basket and then she found her backpack hook on her own. I had to ask her for a hug and kiss before I left!

Then she took off into her room and started playing with her teacher's assistant, Ms. Cuball and Noah.

When I picked her up, she talked nonstop about what she did. Her teacher said she did really well and she was surprised she just turned 3 a month ago because of how much she talked and well she articulated herself. She is very excited to go back Thursday!

South Carolina

For the 4th of July weekend we went down to South Carolina to visit our friends Dustin and Nikki. They were our favorite neighbors back in our apartment, and have lived down south for the past few years. This was the first time we had gone to visit them, and the first big road trip with just the 4 of us.

Getting to Aiken, South Carolina from Indianapolis requires a drive through Eastern Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. This is not a typical ride in the region, but it sure seemed to fit in pretty well. Gotta love the trunk. It's a real trunk. You know, like a wooden trunk. Anyhoo...

Pretty sure this was after we got back, but it was just a great picture of Madelyn.

Dustin and Nikki were great hosts. Amelia was especially fond of the accommodations.

On the 4th we got up early to head down to Charleston. We had originally planned to see the Ravenel Bridge, hit the beach, check out the USS Yorktown or Fort Sumter, and visit the City Market. In the end, we saw the bridge because it was the only way to get to the beach, and the other stuff closed before we got to it. This picture was our pit stop halfway to the beach. We had our picnic lunch in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot, because that's how we roll.

Went to the beach at Isle of Palms, and it was a perfect day for it. The water was probably in the 80's and the kids were having a blast. The big kids liked it too.

At first Maddie was scared of the water, but after about 15 minutes she couldn't be kept away.

After the beach adventure we went over to get some seafood. We found a great place on Isle of Palms - Seels on Sullivan's (the place on the right). We tried fried shrimp in hot sauce - good stuff!

After the big day, the big kids (Brandon and Emilie are Dustin and Nikki's kids) sat at the table for some dinner. Something's missing - where's Amelia?

Found her!

NCAA Midwest Regional Finals 3/27 and 3/29

We were very lucky to be able to attend the biggest event in Indy this weekend: The NCAA Midwest Regional finals. Friday night there were two games and Sunday was the game between those winners.

This was our first time inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a blast. This is the view from our seats.

The first game was Louisville vs. Arizona. It was a fun game to watch! Chuck got this great shot of Chase Budinger.

The second game was Michigan State vs. Kansas. Go Big Ten!

Hey! It's My Man Mitch!

We were back at the stadium Sunday for the final game. Michigan State took on Louisville at 2:20. Michigan State won

The view from upstairs before the game.

Back at our seats ready for the game.

MSU's most famous player showed up for the game....can you spot Magic Johnson?

Bill Polian (the GM of the Colts) shaking hands with Sparty right in front of us. Awesome!

A great shot of the awesome defense Michigan State played.

Goran Suton cutting down the net after the game.

Randy and Meredithe visit 3/28/09

Randy, Meredithe and the kids came for a visit this weekend. We all met up at the Children's Museum for a fun (and exhausting) day. We had lunch to make sure we had enough energy to chase 5 kids around the place!

Here are the girls playing in the train tunnel.

We spent the majority of our time in the Playscape for the little kids. Each kid had their favorite thing to do.

Caitlyn spent the majority of her time at the sand table with the same scoop and toy. She loved it.

RJ tried his hand at driving the bulldozer. He liked it a lot!

Maddie spent a lot of time at the water table hoarding ducks and fishing.

Amelia played in the baby section. She loved all the textured balls they had to play with.

Brenna visited the lego area with her Uncle JJ, but we don't have a picture of her :(

Chuck was able to capture this great picture. The girls were chasing him up the ramps at the museum. They look so happy!!

After the museum we came back to our house and let the kids play. They were all over the place and had a really great time playing together. Here is a great shot of all them playing together.

Valentine's Day 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fun Valentine's Day in Indianapolis. We got up and made a heart shaped breakfast. We dyed our pancakes red and made them into heart shapes.

Everyone got presents and as you can see, Amelia loved hers.

That evening Chuck and I went out to dinner at Maggiano's and saw The International. We were very lucky to have a sitter that evening. The girls went to Kate's (our old daycare provider) who hosted a parent's night out.

Well, for once the weather forecasters were right! We woke up this morning to about 10 inches and it was still snowing! We ended up with 12.5 inches, which is a lot for Indy! They said it was the 6th biggest snowfall ever here.

So, talking about the weather is really not very exciting, but you should have seen how excited Madelyn was about it this morning. She got all bundled up to go outside with Daddy while he shoveled off the driveway.

Maddie had fun playing in the snow. She kept throwing it up in the air and began falling down in it with a high pitched "eeeeee!" squeal! She decided to help daddy shovel.

Notice she is saying (after Chuck asked her what she was doing) "I fixing the snow because you broke it". Too funny

Look what I can do....

Amelia learned some new tricks pretty quickly! She had been working for awhile now to get sitting up and she has it mastered! She is so quick and flips from sitting to crawling in a split second.

Her newest trick began on Monday evening. I was out for the evening and the girls were with Chuck. He told me Amelia started pulling up on the stairs. She gets into a kneeling position and then pulls herself up.

Getting started:

Got it!

However, I think she must have decided the stairs were too easy because she moved on to the exersaucer. Once again, she started on her knees....

Then stood all the way up! What a champ! Not bad for 8 1/2 months. Maybe she will walk early!

Christmas #3 12-25-08

The Carnes Grandchildren -
Back row - Brenna (4 1/2), Zack (14), Kayla (9), Amelia (8 mo.), R.J. (2)
Front Row - Caitlyn (2), Madelyn (2 1/2)

Our third and final Christmas was spent at Chuck's parents house on Christmas day. We got up and had some donuts before we headed down to see if Santa came. He had come and delivered lots of presents for the girls.

Later that morning the others arrived for the big festivities. There were fifteen of us there and it was a madhouse of wrapping paper and toys!

After dinner we went outside for some sledding. We don't really get snow at all, so Madelyn was thrilled to be able to not only see it, but play in it.

Kayla and Madelyn wore ski masks to keep their faces warm. We were surprised Maddie left it on the whole time!

Brenna, Kayla and Maddie making snow angels.

Amelia and Uncle Randy