Pics

Chloe has decided that she is a gymast like her Auntie Allie. She begins gymnastics in March!

















No matter how hard she tries, Max is still lazy and won't play with her all the time.





My FAVORITE nephew, Tayten, on his first birthday. He had a John Deere party and the cake had a picture of Tayten on a John Deere tractor. It was the cutest party ever!!!







Chloe and her Aunt Mimi








Sammi, Me, Jessi









Sister and Tayten








Chloe and her cousin Kinston






Now that we have one of our competitions over, I have a little extra time to myself! So here are the pictures that should have been up a long time ago.

Is It Possible?

Is it possible for dogs to have disorders? I seriously think Max may have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). You probably think it's ridiculous sounding, but it's true. However, it is only a mild case. We have noticed that from the first day Max was at our house, he would only go up and down the stairs on the left side. We have tried to get him to walk on the right but he freaks out about it. Without fail, he will always walk on the left side. I would say it just a habit and not a disorder if he didn't get so freaked about being on the right side. Sister and I have been discussing the issues of our dogs and have come to this conclusion: it runs in our family. Her dog, Lady, has separation anxiety/panic attacks. So while Max may be odd, at least he isn't traumatized!!!

Doing Well

Things have been going great in the Carpenter household. Chloe and Max are adjusting well. Max is pretty sure he's human. He just doesn't get why he has to sleep in a kennel while everyone else is in a nice, soft bed. In the mornings while I am getting ready, he takes my spot on the bed. He prefers my pillow and blanket, too. Chloe is still learning how to play with a big dog. All of our friends have small dogs and Chloe will sit and play with them. But Max is much larger- if Chloe sits to play, Max runs right over her! We had our first fight with the toys. Max chewed the hand off of a Barbie. Chloe came up and said, "My Barbie broke her hand" and I'm looking at it thinking, "No, Barbie lost a hand!" But a quick trip to the toy store seemed to do the trick. I've discovered that Max eats more crayons than Chloe. But he is really good with her and sometimes will even be the "horse" for her Barbies. Jeremy is just relieved that he no longer has to play Barbies (except when I'm gone)! All in all, Max is pretty lazy but a great dog for Chloe.

Chloe is doing well in school still. We catch her playing school quite a bit. It is so cute! She talks to her friends and is even her teacher sometimes! We find out a lot of what goes on at school this way :) She is growing so much. It seems like just months ago she was just learning to say her first words, now she talks nonstop. And she can be such a great helper~ she loves to help clean house, especially vacuum, wash windows and floors! Her new chore is to brush Max, which she loves doing. Too bad he can't wear her barretts!

Jeremy and I are great. We are making our plans and goals for 2006. I know we're already a month into 2006, but things are busy around here! Jeremy is working a lot and still loving it. He is now teaching the membership classes for both North and South locations. The looks on people's faces when he walks up to teach are funny. They are expecting Pastor Jeremy to be an older gentleman but here walks in this young guy, dressed up but not in your typical suit. But once Jeremy starts teaching everyone loves him! This Sunday was one of his best services. I've sat through a lot and I know they are good, but this one was amazing! I don't even know if I can describe what was so amazing about it- you'll have to get the CD.

Welcome, Maxwell Scott Carpenter!!!

We are the proud new parents of Maxwell Scott Carpenter. He is 3 months, 1 week. He has beautiful brown and black hair, black eyes and a long, wet tongue! He is beautiful!!! No one really knows what he is, but he's adorable!! His paperwork says part Rottweiler, part Lab, part Austrailian Shepherd, etc. Whatever he is, we love him. Chloe has been wound up for a while, now that she has a puppy. They have played nonstop and the puppy got worn out first! Today I went to look at a different dog, but I found this one. For being so young, he is surprisingly well behaved. We left the blinds pulled back from the sliding door and he has gone there and cried a couple of times to go out. And he's not too bad on a leash. Definately trainable. I think we've had to get onto Chloe more often than Max. She is just so excited about having a dog. She thinks she now has constant playmate, but Max looks at her as if to say, "Does she ever stop?" Hopefully he's not a lazy dog! Even though we've only had him one day, I think he has the potential to be the ideal family dog. He loves Chloe, lays at her feet when she is eating, sits beside her when she's playing with her dolls or coloring and, of course, he follows her everywhere waiting to play. We will see how the next few months go...

A Little Down Time

I've started practicing my cake decorating again. I started it a while back but got so busy that I haven't done it in months! But I decided that I want to play with it again. This is my birthday cake I made for myself~ it is a white chocolate with raspberry & creme filling. Even though I don't really eat cake, I find baking and decorating to be so relaxing. The kitchen is definately my favorite place to be. Once basketball season is over and my schedule relaxes a little, I am going to start taking decorating classes. My love for cooking/baking is both my strength and my weakness. While my food is incredible, I also enjoy eating it! While some people are talented musically or artistically or athletically, I find that my talents really lie in the kitchen. So, if you live anywhere close to me, prepare yourself for some yummy treats!!

Jeremy's Blog

I was sitting in my living room the other day playing some mindless video games. I was pondering a question that I have been wondered about quite often lately. The question is this, what is the key to really loving people? Let's face it, if we are honest with ourselves sometimes it can be a challenge. I look at Jesus’ example and see how much he loved people. And to be quite honest I think it's shocking. Everything he did or said was geared to helping and loving people. I finally realized that the greatest miracle Jesus ever preformed was not walking on water, turning water into wine, or even raising the dead. His greatest miracle was his ability to have compassion on people. Most of the miracles he performed were because he was moved with compassion. Because of his compassion he healed, taught, etc... Miracles were just a by-product of who Jesus was. I think that if we focus on that passion that Jesus had towards people we'll see greater miracles in our homes, churches and, ultimately, our lives.

Our Little Artist

For Christmas, Chloe got a Dora playhouse that came with markers so you can color on it. At

first it was a really fun gift. Now it's just annoying. Chloe is in love with markers. But she prefers to color on herself rather than the playhouse or coloring books. Apparently after we put her to bed last night, she got up to play. We had taken all of her markers out of her room, or at least so we thought. This morning when I went to get her up she had a

purple face. As I peeled back the covers, there were purple hands, purple artwork on her arms, legs, feet. She had been very busy last night with her secret stash of markers! After a long bath and good scrubbing, I had to send my daughter to preschool with light purple artwork still visible. We scrubbed her until we thought her skin might come off but still couldn't get all the marker off of her. Oh, well. To her, she was beautiful. And she was so proud of her "make-up" that she did all by herself and her "nail polish" that she painted on and her "pretty" arms and legs. I guess the only thing to do is laugh!

As you can see, she even has her nails done!!!

Jeremy's Women

Since we got our new camera, I have been playing A LOT~

Our camera even has a special function for taking self-portraits- my favorite!!!!


Jeremy and his 2 favorite women!!!

Fun Holidays

These are a few "Pre-Christmas" pics. For NXL's Christmas party, everyone went out to eat and bowling. The bowling alley was awesome- it is brand new and smoke-free!!!







Front: James, Jeremy, Sam; Middle: Rachel, Zac, Caleb, Oleg; Back: Junior.

These are the NXL Staff & Interns



Chloe has been into taking cheesy/ wierd face pictures. She is barely smiling in this one :(