Carson is 2!

Making cookies

Rolling out the dough, what a helper!

Presents!

Grandma Pat's delish cake

Curious boy

The three of us

My sweet boy

Precious

December 7 marked Carson's 2-year birthday. We celebrated last weekend and had the grandparents from each side at our house. We had lunch, opened presents and had coffee, cake and ice cream. Tim's mom, Pat, made his birthday cake and put Elmo on the cake. He immediately recognized Elmo when we showed it to him. Her cakes are so scrumptous, I always tell her that someday she and I will go into a cake-making business. She also made our wedding cake - what talent! My dad brought his delicious wild rice potato soup and I made baked ham sandwiches.

He loved having both sets of grandparents at our house at the same time. I feel so fortunate that he is close to his grandparents and also am thankful for such awesome parents and in-laws.

We took him to his 2-year appointment on Wednesday in the midst of the blizzard. Here is how he measures up:

Weight: 30 pounds, 14 ounces (80th percentile)

Height: 2 feet, 9.5 inches (23rd percentile)

Head circumference: 98th percentile

Funny percentile ratings, but our doctor assured us he is a perfect, healthy boy - and we already knew that!

Other than that, he gets more funny each day. He is getting so big, it's hard to believe he is 2! We took down the baby gate tonight above the steps, another indication he is getting older. It's sweet how we can have conversations with him now. And he responds and comes up with new sayings each day.

This weekend was another weekend at home, which was great. Yesterday I ran in a road race in New Ulm. Tim and Carson came with and it was so great to have them there cheering me on. It was a four-mile race and I wasn't sure how I'd do. I ran CC and track in high school, but haven't really done much running since then. This past August, I started working with a personal trainer, so I have been getting in better shape. I've been running on my own as well, but haven't gone four miles at a time. I'm happy to report I ran the entire way (even up a really large hill) and finished in 39 minutes and 9 seconds. My goal was to finish in under 40 minutes, so I achieved that goal. More importantly, that race marked where I've come since August. I would have never been able to run that race three and a half months ago. All the memories from running in high school came back and I felt absolutely awesome when I was running. I've re-discovered my love for it and am not going to stop now. I was online last night looking for more races. And to see Tim and Carson at the finish line brought me to tears. It was absolutely fantastic!

I can't believe there is only one weekend left before Christmas. Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Sheila, Tim and Carson