The Carney Family: 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

November Days

Spagetti Factory in Phoenix

Left to Right

Freeman V, Free, John, Jolene, Nick and Nate

Nate trying to get the camera...

Happy Nate

Peter Piper Pizza

Nate's first ride

John's first ride

The battle of Air Hockey

John vs. Freeman

He shoots, he scores!

Freeman giving some tips to Freeman Jr.

Grandpa John and Nate hanging out

Stress of Robot or just sleepy?

We have this big Remote Control Robot that was scaring the beejeebees out of Nate. He laid down on my lap and we weren't sure if he was tired or if he was stressed over the walking/talking robot.

Here we are, all in the hallway.

I decided to lay next to Nate, and then Tohbi came by and put his head on mine, and then Freeman came and laid down to. So here are all of my kids and I.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

This past summer the leaders in our Stake for church encouraged us to start a garden. I was so excited about this new project and the idea of growing our own food. So I did my research and even recieved some advice from some pretty good gardeners. Well, the first try I made two rows of soil hills to put the seeds in. (I remember my grandmothers garden looking like that) Well, after watering it, the hills eroded and I decided to replant the seeds with out hills. Still no luck. I gave up and decided to try again around Spring. Well, we had a good rain and after a week, Freeman told me to go look at my garden. I thought he was teasing me so I never did. Another week went by and while we were outside Freeman said, have you looked at your garden, some stuff is growing! So I went to go look and my plants are growing. So all it needed was some neglect, a good rainfall and some more neglect and it worked. So now I've been watching it grow and I am so excited. Hopefully I'll know when it's time to pick them too. Here are some pictures of my little garden!

The Carney Garden

small but growing!

I know hard to see, here are some shots that are zoomed in

The start of some brocolli growing!

The little bunches are going to be Romaine Lettuce and then above them are some onion.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Nathan makes his debut!

We go to our public library on a weekly basis for the children's program, and today the Librarian took pictures of the kids. Well, I went on their website to look up a book, and lo and behold Nate made it on the website! There is also a picture of a group of Mom's and kid's so Nate, Freeman, and I made it too (Bad pic. of me though, please ignore)

http://www.buckeyeaz.gov/index.asp?NID=77

So click on the link above and see Nate's super cute picture (He is the one holding out the purple ball) It's a little slideshow of pictures...

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Happy 28th Birthday Freeman!

I wanted to wish my hubby a Happy Birthday! So I love this idea I've seen on my friend's blogs about listing things about the other person, so here we go.

28 things about Freeman

1. He is the funniest person I know
2. He has the talent to turn anything into a game
3. He is sneaky and always has something up his sleeve
4. He is Claustrophobic
5. He is a germ-a-phobe
6. His favorite color is blue
7. His favorite number is 4
8. He was a fraternal twin
9. His favorite kind of food is Mexican food
10. He is very, very, very frugal :)
11. He has been skydiving
12. He has been arrested... prank gone bad.. ha ha
13. He is known in his highschool days as being a mooner
14. He has car surfed
15. He picks up on skills really easily
16. He is a Phoenix Suns fan
17. He has met Tom Chambers
18. Freeman served his mission in Washington D.C.
19. Freeman played football on scholarship in college
20. Freeman ran track on scholarship in college
21. When we met, Freeman gave me a pick up line (Hey, it worked!)
22. He is very charismatic
23. Freeman is self conscious about his left ear.. tee hee
24. Freeman has sprayed me with mace thinking he was shining a flashlight at me..
25. He doesn't like cats... something with their claws
26. After his mission, Freeman wanted to travel to Africa
27. He can dance if he tries... Latin and Swing
28. He is the best Husband and Dad!

Happy Birthday Freeman. You're the best.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Weekend at Gilbert

My sister invited the kids to stay over Friday Night so, Freeman and I could have a date night, so we decided to invite ourselves over too! We went out to Gilbert and while Nadia watched the kids we were able to catch up with some our friends, The Gould's, who lived down the street. The next day we slept in and then went to the Mesa Temple, did some Christmas shopping, and even went out to eat! I don't think we've ever been on a date that long with kids! So thank you Nadia for that special treat!

So while we were enjoying a kids free day... My sister took her Godson Keizer, and our kids to the park down the street from her house. Unfortunately, the sprinklers came on so what do you think happens with a 2 and 4 year old?

Later that day (after muddy wet clothes were washed and dried), my sister took all 3 kids to the Phoenix Zoo! Above are some pictures from their day at the Zoo. Little Freeman just loved spending time with his Aunt Nadia and his new friend Keizer.

Monday Night Football

Note to Megan: I stole this from your blog!

Happy Birthday to Kelly and Freeman! Freeman's good friend and Bike Partner, Kelly, had his birthday this week and Freeman's is coming up next month, so they celebrated by going to the Arizona Cardinals Monday Night Football Game. They arrived early to tailgate with some buddies from work and enjoyed watching the Cardinals win the game! Go CARDINALS!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Camera Man Litte Freeman

Little Freeman grabbed a hold of our camera and started to take pictures of everything. Most of them were of his hand covering the lenses, but he did get some good ones in! My favorite is of Daddy Freeman!

Happy 1st Birthday Nathan!!!

Freeman and Nate pushing around their trucks

Katelyn, Nate and Jackson checking out Nate's new books and toys.

Tiff filming Nate's first present opening

Freeman showing off his new shirt from Grandma Homenick

Nate and Freeman dancing to dad's singing of "Happy Birthday!"

Nate loves his presents!

Carson and Freeman eating cake and icecream.

Ashton and Brooklyn enjoying some too!

Nate's Birthday Cake! Yum Yum!

Freeman never eats anything, but he was licking his plate clean!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Old Photo

So Freeman is at the Cardinals Game for Monday Night Football so here I am stuck at home a little bored. So I decided to Google my husband's name and I found a football picture from Phoenix College. Go Bears!

I also wanted to give an update on my husband. A few months ago he dislocated and broke his elbow in five different places so he had to go into surgery where they replaced the radial head. This is a very unfortunate injury, because it has taken away a majority of Freeman's favorite activities that he will no longer be able to do. (Lifting weights, water skiing.. anything that puts pressure on the joint.) Well, Freeman has been doing a great job going to therapy and working on his elbow at home and he has already exceeded the doctor's expectations of his progress. And just last week he was able to do 2 push ups! (That is a really big deal.. the doctor told him he didn't think he would be able to do that) I am proud of my husband and his determination to get his elbow to be at it's best. It hurts me that he had to go through so much pain, and then go through "the talk from the doc" when he told him he couldn't do his favorite activities anymore and possibly a career change. Even through all of this, I still think he has a good attitude and I'm proud of him.
So, for the record, Free I love you and your bum elbow! I still think your perfect-Lovies!

Freeman Carney

2003-2004

Phoenix College

photo from
www.pc.maricopa.edu

Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween Night

Halloween Night...

We had a spooktacular night! We went over to a neighbor's home who puts on a haunted house in her home! She has family, and some kids from the neighborhood volunteer to stand in her house to scare people. Of course, when there are little ones, they just stay still to not scare them (somehow I still got scared...) We then went trick or treating in our neighborhood, where Little Freeman thought it was so fun to go up to a door, knock and say, "Trick or Treat!" We chatted with our neighbors and then called it a night. Here are some pictures of our Halloween!

Bumble Bee Nathan

He loves to clap his hands

Attack of the Bumble Bee!

Tiff and Free

Howdy Ya'll

Little Freeman the cowboy

Tiff, Free & Tohbi

Trunk or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Last week our church held a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot which is a fun, safe way for kids to collect candy. Each car had a game for the kids to play where they could win some candy or prizes. Our game was, "Beanie Babies Toss" where they had to throw a beanie baby into 3 different size buckets. Some other games they had were, Skull Bowling, Fish for Candy, Shoot Hoops, Spin the Wheel and they even had face painting. Here are some pictures from our fun night!

Carney Family

Halloween 2008

Tiff and Nate

Nate, Free & Freeman

Beanie Babies Toss

This was our little trunk game

Freeman was so serious about getting his face painted. He thought the spider was so cool.

Safety Check

I always remember how we always had to check our candy to make sure it was safe and not tampered with, so we told Little Freeman we had to do a Safety Check. So here he is going through his candy to make sure it's safe!

Thoughts by Little Freeman

Freeman always cracks me up with some of his comments and questions. Here are some that make me laugh.

I have attempted to make a garden and there is still no sign of life. Little Freeman was helping me water it and Freeman turns to me and says.
"Mom, the garden not working?"
"The garden is sad"

Dec. 2008

It's been a few weeks, and the garden is finally growing. Well Freeman went outside with me and yelled enthusiastically, "The garden is working now!"

We were walking out of the store today and Freeman is trying to stop me and tell me something,
"Mom, you look tired"

While Freeman was pretending he was talking on the phone, I asked him to put something away. He acknowledged me and then went back to the phone so he can actually end his pretend conversation,
"I Pick up toys, All right, Bye"

I turned on the television this morning and ESPN was on, and Little Freeman says,
"Yeah! Football, Go Cardinals!"
I so know where he picked that up from!

I told Freeman,
"I need you to get dressed," and he looked at me offended, "Mom, I don't wear dress!"

We were leaving the playground and Freeman says...
"Bye Bye Playground!... Mom, the playground is sad." Why is the playground sad?
"Because I'm going bye bye"

1/24/09
"Mom, you're a child of God"

I caught Freeman coloring on his new Christmas bike with a marker, and I told him that "dad would be very upset because he put a lot of thought into getting you a bike," and Freeman corrected me and sounded a little upset, "Mom, Santa gave me that bike!' Whoops....

Freeman was jumping off the bed and grabbing onto the rim of his basketball hoop. It kept tipping the hoop over so I told him he needed to stop and be safe. His explanation was, "Mom, I play like the Suns!"

March 2009
Parts of Freeman's prayer:
"Dear Heavenly Father, thankful for Daddy and his boo-boo and that he dusted it off, thankful for his other elbow, two elbows... thanksful for the Suns game and basketball... Goodnight.. in the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

May 2009
Little Freeman is really big on saying his own prayers. Here are some things he includes in them that I think are cute.

One night Freeman pointed out that Tohbi had a boo boo on his leg. So later when it was prayer he said, "Thankful for Tohbi and his boo boo, pray that it gets better."

"Pray that no bad guys come into our house."

"Pray that Daddy does good at his training"

"Thankful for Nate and that he copies me." (He says this when Nate immitates saying a prayer)
5/20/09
It was time for bed and Freeman kept leaving his room and coming into mine. I told him he had to go back to his room and he responded, "Stop, I need to think, Let me figure this out."

Our dog Tohbi was in the car with us and he kept trying to climb onto my lap. I kept pushing him away and saying, "No!" and Freeman interrupted and said, "Mom don't do that, that is going to frusturate him!"

6/13/09
It was naptime so it was pretty quiet in the house. Freeman woke up and went potty, and then he came out scared and tiptoed over to me. He whispers, "Mom, what is that noise?" So, I'm listening and all I hear is motorcycles or a lawn mower sound outside, so I told him that's all I hear. He let's out his breath and is relieved. "Mom, I thought there was a lion and tiger in our house!"

7/15/09
I was on a ladder looking into the attic and Freeman asks, "Is Heavenly Father up there? Do you see him." So I told him no he isn't in our attic, he is farther above us. "And then he said, "Dad said that he is up there" and points above his head."

7/22/09
I love how kids have questions that you just aren't sure how to answer. This is one of my favorite questions of all times.
Freeman likes to question who made things and this is our conversation the other day.
Freeman: Mom, who made the trees?
Me: Heavenly Father
Freeman: Who made the clouds?
Me: Heavenly Father
Freeman: Mom, who made Heavenly Father?
Me: That's a great question... ask your dad.

7/21/09
Freeman and I were playing together and all of the sudden he stops and looks at me seriously..
"Mom, the baby needs to come out of your belly so I can play with it."

Sept.2010
Freeman just asked me,
"Mom, how do you get a girl to marry you?"

Nathan

Nathan 11 months
Nate started taking his first steps! He loves to walk back and forth between mom and dad. He also is a little goofball. He likes to breathe in and out of his nose really fast as he is walking, he will raise his face up and yell, "Ahhh", and make a goofy, whiny face to make me laugh. His little personality is just shining through, and I think he is going to be our little clown.
He also likes to clap, and he tries to do the fingerplays to, "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Patty-Cake." Then if you say, "Where's Nathan?" or "Are you hiding?" He will put his hands to his ears and that's his way of hiding.

Nathan 15.5 months
Nate has been a late bloomer with his talking but I think he is finally picking up on it. He now says, "Juice," "Dada," "Broom Broom" "Ah da (All done)" Momma, and for some other things he just makes sound effects. He is quite a character and loves to make us laugh. He likes to stomp his feet really fast, or he has this goofy walk where he hunches over and shuffles his feet. He loves to race garbage trucks with his brother and do anything he is doing. He is our little sweetheart and goofball.

Nathan 18 months
Nate gets so excited when he sees birds. He has come up with many facial expressions and our favorite his "oh" look. It's like making a fishy face with your mouth. He loves to give kisses and hugs. The first thing he does in the morning is get a book and reads in his crib. As soon as you walk in he repeats, "Book! book" and wants you to read to him. He likes pictures of ducks, cows, dogs, cats, and trucks. He has his own "Puppy Monster Truck" that he makes the sound effects for. It looks like Nate is going to be our climber. He has figured out how to move a chair to his high chair, climb up and get into his high chair. We have also found him on our table to dancing around. Another thing I just love about Nate is when he gets the chance to walk around, he has to wave to EVERYONE, and he keeps waving until they wave back or smile. So, then of course with the positive attention he gets, Big Brother Freeman will start to wave to, so I have this little parade of boys waving to every stranger walking by. Embarrasing, but I love it!

Nathan 19 months
SUPER HEROES!!!
Nate is such a boy. He has picked up the web throwing from his big brother so he chases after you pretending he is Spiderman. He also likes batman, and even though he doesn't say much, he says, "Ba Man!" and makes him fly around. He also loves monster trucks and makes some pretty great sound effects.

Nathan 22 months
FINALLY TALKING!!!
These past 2 weeks Nate's vocabulary has finally arrived! He would say basic words and sounds, but was really behind on communicating. We've been reading more, breaking down words, using flash cards and just working non stop and finally it kicked in. It all started when we went to see Nadia and when Nate saw her dog Rowdie, he said "Puppy" for the first time. Now he can say so much more and I know he isn't as frusturated because someone understands him. Some of my favorite words he says are, Doggy, Baby, No Wa Wa (Water), Connor, Outside/Inside.

About Me- 15 Months

A little about me, Little Free.
One of my favorite things to do is go outside. Mom and Dad will tell me we are going out and I'll run and find my socks and shoes to put on. While outside I love to look and listen for birds and airplanes and will even make a sign for each one when I spot them.
I can dance to Ring A Round the Rosie, Do as I'm Doing and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
I love reading, and when I want to read with Mom or Dad I start repeating, Read, Read, Read until I get my way. I enjoy acting like animals, especially a gorilla, monkey, or alligator.
Here are some things about me at 15 months. I'll update you next month!

The Carney Family