March Madness

     Each year as March Madness comes around, every member in our family fills out a bracket and our family competition begins.  The winner of the competition gets bragging rights, and the choice of where our family goes out to ice cream to celebrate.  Kind of a win-win situation.  Up until this year, the only person to beat me has been Spencer (yes, despite my basic ignorance of college basketball I have been a consistent winner, and I especially enjoy the bragging rights that come along with that).

     I was dethroned this year by a cute five year-old boy with a decidedly unique strategy to filling out his bracket.  When it was Carter's turn to fill out his bracket, Steve sat down with him and read the two team names and then Carter would decide which team would win that game. Well, once Steve got to Duke Carter got really excited.  "Duke!?", Carter giggled.  "Like the Duke of Weasletown?"

     Well, if you don't know who the Duke of Weasletown is then you need to go watch the movie Frozen.  If you have seen it, but have forgotten who that is, then here is a reminder...

Well, that was enough for Carter.  Every time Steve read off the name Duke, that was the team he chose.  And, if you followed the tournament then you know that the winning team was, indeed, Duke!
So last night we loaded up the car and headed out to ice cream.  Carter's choice?  "TCTB".  Which, being interpreted, was actually TCBY.  In the car on the way there Carter called up to me.  "Mom? Do I have to pay?"

Here are a few pics of the fun, if you can count Brain Freeze as fun. 

 

Congrats to Carter! Maybe I will have to try your strategy next year!

Happy Birthday Carter!

 Another birthday has come!  And what an exciting one at that!  Carter informed us a few weeks ago that we WOULD be having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party for him this year.  He had it all planned out, and who can argue with a 5 year old?  It turned out perfect because his birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we invited a few friends, made a birthday cake and off to Chuck E. Cheese we went.  What is this strange looking cake you wonder?  This is Jay from Ninjago. That should clear it all up for you.

 Carter has a buddy from school named Camren.  He was so excited that Camren actually got to come to his birthday party, and so was I.

 Here is the birthday crowd... Sydney, Ella, Carter's BFF Logan, Carter, Camren, and our neighbor boy Jackson.  Spencer, Tyler and Sam were also honorary members, which was all good with them as far as the pizza and soda was concerned, but as soon as it came time to dance and sing with Chuck E Cheese, they were less than festive.

 Here's the Mouse himself...

 I was actually quite shocked that Carter would pose with Chuck E.  As you can see from his expression, this mouse was not the reason he chose this venue for his party.

  Here is the Family shot.  Hey!  Who is the Steven look-a-like?  That is Steve's brother Lynn who came to visit for the weekend!  He is a father of nine and had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before.  Well, we hooked him up!  He has also never been to any of the iconic sites in Chicago, and did we take him to any of those?  Nope, just Chuck E. Cheese.  So, all of you who are wondering if you should come and visit the Gordon clan, you can clearly see that it is only the very best for our visitors!

 Blowing out those five candles!

 As part of the birthday party package, the birthday boy gets to go in the ticket blower and collect as many tickets as he can.  If you look carefully at these pictures you will recognize that the gentleman inside the blower is NOT the birthday boy at all.  That is because the birthday boy had no interest in going inside that tube of blowing tickets.  The reason might be because he had recently watched this Studio C episode with his brothers.  Whatever the reason, Carter was given permission to elect a stand-in, and he chose big brother Sam to do the honors for him.

 Sam made a noble effort to collect as many tickets as possible for Carter, and he so sweetly handed them all over when he was done.  What a good big brother!

 The kids were super excited to see this sign hanging up, they are huge Studio C fans!

The rest of the day included a massive snowball fight with Uncle Lynn, some yummy pulled pork, and a rousing game of Quiddler.

 

All in all, a super fun day!  Happy Birthday Carter!!

Daddy's Boy

     So Steve went with me the other morning to drop Carter off at Preschool.   And, being the good Daddy he is, he took Carter in while I, you know, kept the car warm (it was the least I could do).
     When Steve got back in the car he was laughing, and recounted this conversation he had with Carter's teacher.  She stopped Steve and said, "I wanted to ask you a question.  We were doing a project with the kids the other day and were asking them what they want to be when they grow up.  Carter said he wants to be what you are."
     Steve thought, "Ok, he wants to be in marketing or sell spices, that's not so strange."
     But Carter's teacher continued to say, "I'm not sure what you do, but He said he wants to be a Bishop."