Holiday Card 2008

Yes, it is over a month since Christmas, we did send these out a couple weeks before Christmas. But since traditionally I also post it to my blog, here you go....



I wish to say that 2008 was even better then 2007, but unfortunately that was not the case in the Pickert Household.
We started out the year with a huge loss. Melissa’s father, Ken, died from Multiple Myeloma (cancer). Losing another parent has been devastating and we really miss him. For those that never had a chance to meet Ken, he was such a wonderful man whose favorite things were his Grandchildren and good conversation.
Unfortunately, a couple months later we also loss our little dog Maggie when she was hit by a car. She was an awesome dog and Nick and Melissa miss her sleeping between their heads at night.
And in the “death comes in three” categories, Melissa’s Grandma also died in September from Dementia.
We did bring a new life into the house. In March we did get a new Shih Poo, Lucy. And while she will never live up to her older sister, Maggie, she is a pretty good dog, especially around Carter.
Nick was busy with work again. Pepperberry Gardens even was part of a booth with Stonepocket at the Midwest Fall Home & Garden Show and even won “best landscape booth”. You may have even seen him on WCCO-TV talking about it. At church, Nick started his term as Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus and safely installed a 48,000 pound boulder outside in the front of Our Lady of the Lake Church.
Melissa has been enjoying staying at home but recently did take a temporary job. She is still active in MOMS club and her quest to visit every site on the internet!
Jeffrey is an active first grader who loves math and music and is not such a fan of writing in school. He recently joined Cub Scouts. He still loves to do anything outside, and even is our household’s snow shoveler.
Samantha is enjoying her last year of preschool and loves to color and write words. She started dance this year and is our little social butterfly.
Carter turned one on Halloween and is really giving us a run for the money. He walked and got his first teeth before he turned one (before his brother and sister did) and gets into everything. He loves being with his family and getting all the attention. He is starting to make sounds and we swear he can say mama, dada and up!
Ole Scooter the Chihuahua is still trying to be our guard dog. And Max got to enjoy a hunting trip to South Dakota (with Nick and Jeffrey).
We are hoping 2009 is filled with adventure and good fortune.
Merry Christmas Love,
Happy Hannukah Nick, Melissa, Jeffrey, Samantha & Carter,
Happy New Year Max, Lucy & Scooter

Last Month of 2008!

Well here we are in December... as you see the "thankful" challenge is over but rumor has it midnight scrapper has a new one coming out. Till then I have some general thoughts...
*Congratulations Vikings on an awesome game yesterday! You really made football fun to watch and I am proud that you were one of just two home teams to win yesterday. We spent the first half watching the game at our friends up the block and then at halftime the kids and I went home so we could all get to bed and it was a lot of fun.
*Beware of Carter's teeth!! He seems to have gotten over the horrible teething (at least for right now) but now we have to watch out because he wants to bite EVERYTHING and EVERYONE! I think Jeffrey and Samantha have each been bitten and he has nipped at me more then once. And it HURTS!
*This week is another busy one at night with something planned at least 3 out of 5 nights for one of us. With working now I am not always as excited to go out at night to various meetings.
*It was nice to have a LONG weekend. We spent much of the time doing some major house cleaning. Our recycling and trash guy are going to 'love' us as well as the Salvation Army!!! Nick was the most gung ho and has gotten rid of a bunch of stuff (though in my defense he really hadn't gone through a lot of it in years - whereas I had).
*I knew Thanksgiving was going to be hard this year with my Dad gone and I was right. Ever since the beginning of last week I have been in a funk. Unfortunately I doubt it is going to let up for awhile because Christmas is going to be hard and then we are going to come to the anniversary of his death. I still don't think it is fair that he is gone and I truly wonder if we did everything we could.

C-Ya!

Today I am thankful for.... my son, Carter

Today I am thankful for my baby, my buddy, Carter.
Many of you know he was a surprise, the best surprise I have ever received. Looking back at the first year of his life I realize that he was put on this earth for a purpose. It was like God knew all the bad stuff that was going to happen to us so he first wanted to bring us something good, something that would not let us fall into a deep, dark dungeon of depression. You really do not have as much time to mope when you have a baby to take care of (not taking anything away from the other kids, they are just a lot more independent). A year ago this past Monday, Carter was my first child I ever had to bring to surgery, it was scary but also a blessing because it "fixed" him. Carter is the hardest of all my children to leave every day to go to work because every day he is doing something new. And he is learning everything faster then Jeffrey and Samantha. And speaking of Jeffrey and Samantha, he loves his older brother and sister so much. Of course tops on his list is his Mommy and Daddy, his face just lights up when he sees us, and he gets jealous when any of the other kids or Lucy wont let him get to us when we come home. One of the first sounds Carter could make was the mama sound.. and even though he is not saying it towards me yet... I love to hear it. Carter can be quite the handful at times, he loves to try to get into cupboards and pull things out to throw or chew on and his new favorite game is throwing things down the stairs.
I love my angel, Carter.

C-Ya!

Happy 1st Birthday Carter!!!

Happy, happy first birthday Carter!! I cannot believe that last year at this time I was holding you for the first time. I have to admit I was slightly bummed to miss the trick or treating and Halloween festivities... but if I had to miss it for anything, you were the best reason.
I so would love to write a long post about all you have been doing lately but it is Halloween and I just took your siblings out. You are walking and practically running and are cutting teeth 3 & 4 right now. Also, you LOVE to chatter, we definetly cannot forget that you are in the room.
Just like Jeffrey and Samantha, your picture and info was on the KARE 11's first birthday segment in their midmorning show... if anyone wants to check it out.. here is the link.. Showcase Minnesota



I Love You Baby Boy!!!

C-Ya!!

Big Week

Next week is quite the big week here... Tuesday is Samantha's 5th birthday, Friday is Carter's 1st birthday and Halloween. Add in a lot going on at school with birthday and Halloween parties plus we have to turn in Jeffrey's Christmas wreath order for cub scouts and Samantha's butter braids order for preschool (anyone want to buy any?) and it will be busy. Ohhh and for anyone that lives in the Twin Cities... Carter will be on KARE 11 during the 10am show for his first birthday on Friday!
And tomorrow is huge at church... it is the anniversary of the dedication of the church and also this is the 100th anniversary of the church this year (well actually next June) and Nick installed a huge 57,000 rock and so they are dedicating that and having 4th degree honor guard and special music and a breakfast brunch. So that will be exciting.
And I have been neglecting this blog something fierce... funny I am on the internet every day but never know what to write. Yea a ton has been going on with the family... especially the kids.. I just need to write about it. I have also been neglecting my scrapbooking and it is nice to look back on the blog and find out what I have done. I really need a long weekend to work on that.
Ohh.. and Go MINNESOTA GOPHERS... 7-1 Yeah!!!

C-Ya!

6 Months Old!

Yes, my Carter is half a year old. I cannot believe it. For awhile the time was dragging but now all of a suddenly it is going pretty fast. A lot people think that this is the fun age for babies, before they are walking and tearing through the house, but after they start getting a personality. And Carter sure does have a personality! Thankfully it is usually happy unless he is hungry.

He is turning into the turning fool. He can go from his tummy to his back and his back to his tummy. And he can sure hold his head up well. If I put him in a sitting position he can sit for a very short period of time.

And Samantha and Jeffrey still just adore him. Samantha loves to make him "pile" (smile) and Jeffrey just cannot wait to pick him up and carry him. Of course I am thinking he really loves his mother. My voice is on my Mom's answering machine (yea, she still doesn't have voice mail) and once when she was watching him it came on and he turned to look for me!!

We had his 6 month checkup on Friday. The Dr. says he looks great. His measurements are 16 lbs 2 oz (30%), length is 26 1/4" (50%) and his head is 17 1/2" (75%).

A couple weeks ago we started spoon feeding him rice cereal. I don't always remember to give him some every night but I need to get better at that. I am also planning on giving him some fruits and veggies sometime this week. Last year I bought a Magic Bullet and plan to try to make some of his baby food.

Just over a week ago Nick put up Carter's crib. He has been taking his nap in there as well as starting the night in there. Last week he probably slept the whole night about half the time. So there is hope that he will let me get sleep consistantly soon.

Wow! I thought this was going to be a short post... but I guess Carter has sure done a lot lately. He already is getting to be such a big boy.

C-Ya!

Happy Easter 2008

Merry Christmas... oh wait... Happy Easter!!!

Looks a little more like Christmas around here this Easter... of course it is really early this year so that is understandable. The snow was actually melting but starting Friday it has been snowing on and off till today. Though it is funny because it is warm enough that some of it melts off the ground as soon as it hits it.
Our Easter started off on Thursday if you count that we were at mass Thursday, Friday and Saturday night as well as Sunday morning. But we really got into the spirit on Saturday.
We started off at church for the annual Knights Easter Egg Hunt. Due to the snow it was held indoors and that was just fine with me. The kids' age group was in the gym and the eggs were just spread all over the floor. Both Jeffrey and Samantha had an easy time this year getting eggs and ended up with 8 and 6 eggs. Jeffrey had a prize egg and got to pick out something, he choose silly straws. Samantha had a grand prize egg and picked out a giant elephant!!

After that we went into the main part of the church to check out Nick's progress on the baptismal fountain he was building for the Easter season. This is the second year he has made one and he definetly had an easier time this year. I think it turned out great.

Later that night we were back up at church for the Easter Vigil Mass. Our friends so graciously watched the kids during mass so I could sing in the choir and Nick could usher. I will say we sounded awesome as a choir - especially the ending Hallelujiah Chorus.
Today started out back at church for mass.. then back home to get ready for having Mom, Aaron and Katie over. Again it is bittersweet to be celebrating without Dad. The past couple years we have combined Easter and Passover and this year I just didn't feel like doing anything for Passover (of course it isn't for awhile so there wasn't much out anyways).
Aaron and Katie brought over their dog Aspen, and he got to spend some time with Max. Maggie also got a chance to say Hi.

Because we are so busy in the morning the Easter Bunny usually doesn't stop by till mid day or so. This year EB left the kids' gifts outside the door and played ding dong ditch... unfortunately the kids missed EB. But they did like their gifts - including Carter.

And then we had our Easter dinner - yum. Afterwards Uncle Aaron got to hang out with his youngest buddy Carter.

From my family to yours HAPPY EASTER


(and yes... Jeff and Sami both just got haircuts!)

C-Ya!

One year ago

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

My SS friend Nancy has a post called "One Year Ago" where she talks about how one year ago on Friday, March 14 she found out about her daughter's diagnosis of Type 1 Diabeties. It got me thinking... see one year ago today we got some happy news.
Let me back up to the day before (Friday, March 16, 2007), I was starting to have some indications that things may not be what they seem. I wasn't feeling right and just had a sneaky suspicion.
So on Saturday, March 17, 2007 after spending time at the St. Pat's party at the American Legion I just knew I had to find out.
Yep... it was one year ago that we found out we were going to have a third child!!!
Gosh it has seemed like a lot has gone on this past year. We have had the birth of Carter, the death of my father, a trip to Mexico, Jeffrey starting kindergarten, Samantha starting preschool... I guess a lot has gone on.
So I raise a glass to my Halloween baby Carter


C-Ya!

Hey there!

Hey blog... how are you?

I am doing ok...

It is almost Spring and we are starting to have 40 degree highs!!!

Spring Break is next week.

Carter turned 4 months and is 13 pounds 14 ounces and 24+ inches long (40% for both)... kind of wonder how he stacks up with Jeffrey and Samantha.. I will have to check that out. He is quite the smiler and can roll over from his tummy. Poor thing is congested again.

That is about it.

C-Ya!

3 smiley faces!

Sometimes when the world is getting you down and life is really sucking, you need to look at 3 smiley faces to think of happiness. Here are my 3 smiley faces who I am so blessed to have:

Jeffrey, Carter & Samantha

C-Ya!

Newest Family Member

Jeffrey and Samantha P., along with Nick and Melissa, would like to introduce you to their new baby BROTHER!!
CARTER KENNETH P.
Carter was born on Halloween, October 31, 2007 at 9:45am at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long.
Carter and Mommy (& Daddy) went home that Friday, but as you can expect, life has been so crazy, I finally am able to post. Carter is doing great. Mommy is tired. Nick is happy to have another hunting buddy. And Jeffrey and Samantha love their little brother (even if they sometimes call him a "she"!)
Here is a pic of our new little guy:


More later!!!

C-Ya!!