4 Years And 9 Months

Hallo,
Moin Moin,
Allright me ducks!









What happened to the "4 Years and 8 Months" blog you ask? Well, there are just not enough hours in the day and my blog got pushed to the bottom of my 'to-do' list. If you had the choice between relaxing in the pool with a classic frozen apple-rita or spending a couple of hours writing about what you'd rather be doing, which one would you pick?

So this will be a mega blog in an effort to catch up - here goes!
To kick things off, my best friend Remi turned 5 and had two birthday events which I thought was pretty clever of him. The first one was a dinner with family and friends - and presents. The second party was a ride on a steam train with family and friends - and presents. Mmmm, I think I may have an idea about how to celebrate my birthday in September. No details yet, but buy lots of presents just in case.
It was a great day spent in something called a Caboose which used to be where the brake guard sits. I thought the best part was that wherever we went, the traffic had to stop for us and wait until we crossed the road.

Then my folks suprised me with something I'd never seen before - Disney on Ice. What a 'Cool' show (get it?). Still don't know how they managed to drive Lightning McQueen on ice but it was impressive. Lion King and Ariel were all there too - I wasn't too worried about Tinkerbell though, she can fly.

As you all know by now, we LOVE living in Georgetown. Once a year, we celebrate our 'Poppy Festival' and then this small community turns into a party animal. A mega stage in the square, top live bands, bring your own chairs and apple juice and you're good to go. The only thing that didn't play ball was the Texas weather. The first band set everything up, did the sound check and the minute they tried to sing, the heavens opened - and I mean a Texas sized storm. Dad chickened out pretty early and ran for shelter but me and Mum stayed put in our camping chairs until the lightening strikes got too close for comfort. The storm passed, the temperature changed back to 30+ Celcius and the next band was ready to play - and what a band they turned out to be! They are called 'Rotel and The Hot Tomatoes' - Mum said they were singing 60's ,70's, 80's and 90's music but I don't know why they would need different music for different temperatures. Anyway, they had REALLY big hair (I've seen some pictures of Mum with hair like this by the way) which made me and Mum laugh so hard that we cried. What a great night, can't wait to see this band again - check them out right here.

One of the coolest events of this month though was the Lone Star Classic Chevy Convention in San Antonio. All of the Texas clubs get together once a year, a different club plays host and then we all get to hang out, talk classic cars and pick out our favourite rides. As always, I took my '55 pedal car and guess what! I won the Dallas Club Favorite Tri-5 Chevy Award. Tri what you're asking? Well it means cars produced in 1955, 56 and 57. So now I'm giving out 'Tri-Fives' instead of 'High-Fives'. They gave me a cool plaque and posted my story on their website - go take a look when you have tri-five minutes:

I would proudly like to anounce a new addition to the family. Dad wanted a 1961 Corvette, Mum wanted me to have a baby brother, I wanted my own Great Dane Puppy so we all made comprises and got a...... FISH! His name is Dory, he's a Betta Fish and likes being in his own aquarium without any fuss. I take care of him which is not easy because even though I feed him twice a day, he doesn't seem interested in going for walks or doing any kind of tricks. I'll keep at it though, Mum did say that it wasn't easy taking on the responsibility of a pet.

I would like to say a big 'HALLO' to Georg and Corinna, friends that dropped in for a visit during their trip around San Fransisco before heading back to good old Germany. Finally, we had visitors that wanted to play with my construction toys as much as I did - in fact, they loved them so much that one day I had to get up off the floor and leave them to it. I love my toys but I need to eat every now and again.

THE biggest thing that happened this month though was my new bed. My old bed had been with me since Day 1 but when you keep banging your head and stubbing your toe on the boards at the ends of the bed, it's time to move on. Mum cried alot but I think I as able to explain my situation to her and she finally accepted that her baby boy was way too big for a crib. So now I have a really cool loft bed with a ladder and a bed on top and just for the record - yes, my desk is bigger than Mum's office desk. I now have my own space to do research and produce my video clips. I just know I'm going to be so much more productive moving forward. Who knows, my blogs might even be on time!

Talking of which, my next blog is due in about 4 days if I want to keep up, so watch this space.
Alot can happen in 4 days so just in case for all you soccer fans out there 'DEUTSCHLAND FUER WELTMEISTER!'

As always you have the choice between this month's slideshow or plain old pictures. This month's videos are in both versions so no excuse for not watching them.

See you all next month!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years And 7 Months

Hallo,
Moin Moin,
Allright me ducks!

There was TOO much going on this month, I wish my parents would learn to spread activities evenly throughout the year, I'm either totally bored or so busy that I still have my soccer shorts on during swim class.



The Rodeo was back in town, YEHAAW!. I love everything about the Rodeo - foot long corn dogs, the racing pigs, lemonade, live music and the fairgrounds. I went on some rides that were too scary for my parents and this year I was allowed to have cotton candy (candy floss in England, Zuckerwatte in Germany) which I LOVED. What's not to love, it's sugar right?
Talking of sugar, Easter came and went too. I'm sure at some stage of my life someone will explain Easter to me, but I'm getting the feelng that my Mum has too many holidays. I don't like chocolate so everthing I get on Halloween and Easter goes direclty to her. Plus her Birthday, Christmas and Mother's Day... What could she have possibly done to earn all of this?
Our local egg hunt was as usual - giant bunnies and plastic eggs hidden in the grass. Most of the eggs were full of chocolate (which, as I mentioned, I gave to my Mum) but Miss Cat's Mum, Christine, had an egg hunt too and she even had eggs with money in it! So I was at least able to buy some of the candy I wanted for a change. I also got presents from Miss Cat and Christine let me drive her jeep.

A few days later it was one of Mum's many holidays - her birthday. She asked for a picnic in our garden and it turned out to be pretty cool. My Mum didn't get any chocolate but seemed really happy with the Margarita Machine she rented. We all hung out at our party barn and even had some nice people that played live music for us. The Chevy Club came by on their way back from the Blue Bonnet Festival so we had all of their cool cars parked in our garden. We had fried chicken, cucumber sandwiches, cheese and ham sandwiches and lots of salads and desserts. The weather was fantastic and we had lots of games in the garden that I thought would be boring because they didn't need batteries, games like boule, croquet, horse shoe throw and bean bag toss but they turned out to be good fun considering. Mum said it was a perfect day which is great because it'll be a while before she gets chocolate again.

Then it was time for soccer league. I was really looking forward to this. My first grown up, professionally coached team sport. I would lie awake at night thinking 'will my coach be cool?' and 'what will our team be called?'. I anxiously awaited parent's night at the community center where I would get my schedule for the season and the answer to all my questions and finally the day came. My heart sank to my soccer boots when I heard the news - so many kids signed up this year that they ran out of color names and coaches. We were to be called the 'Daisies' and to make matters worse, my Mum volunteered to be our coach! She thinks that coming from England somehow qualifies her but I saw her googling the rules later that day.
So now I have to wear a bright yellow t-shirt and keep getting sent off the field during games for no reason. When I asked Mum why she keeps sending me off, she just says 'because I can'.
It's going to be a long season!

The best thing this month though was that I got to ride Duke, Miss Cat's horse. It's not as easy as I thought and it's hard work to get him warmed up, brushed and saddled up. He's much bigger than he looks from the ground looking up too but I wasn't scared and really enjoyed the view.

I start Red Cross swim class soon too, but I'll let you know how that goes next month if the parents give me enough time to even write the blog. It's almost Summer and getting hotter by the day so next time I'll post new pictures of the garden and share upcoming pool parties - I think I need a personal assistant!

So here's this month's slideshow and pictures. This month's videos include a preview of my latest cowboy outfit collection, cup-cake creations, driving lessons for pre-schoolers and the trailer of my new movie - Tarzan, King Of The Jungle Jim.

See you all next month!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years And 6 Months

Howdy y'all,
Hallo,
Moin Moin,
Allright me ducks!

What a weird month - we ran around in t-shirts enjoying the sunshine, then 2 days later we had the worse winter in Texas in 30 years and then spring sprung 3 weeks later. Dad said that this is proof that mother nature is indeed a woman - can't make up her mind and changes from cold to hot in a heartbeat. I would have asked Mum if what Dad said was right, but she was busy hitting him with a newspaper so I thought I'd drop the subject.
The snow was really cool (excuse the pun), I was just a baby when we left Germany so I've never really played in snow before. Dad and I built a Texas Snowman and I definetly won the snowball fight. At school, Miss Cat let us all play outside most of the time too which is where I picked up my snowball fighting skills. I now know that the best way to win is to aim for the back of the neck - they can't see your snowball coming and the cold ice will slowly trickle down their backs which will make them do a funny dance to get it out again. This means that they are off guard which is also the best time to reload and keep throwing, preferably at the back of the neck again - repeat until they give up!
It was really cold though and has been for a while here in Texas so we're getting fed up with it - we kind of miss the unbearable heat! It's slowly getting warmer now and it must be spring because Dad's wearing shorts again - he does this when the sun shines for more than 10 minutes. This is our first spring in this house so it's actually nice to see new things in the garden. During the winter, the trees are bare and everything is grey and bare. Now the grass is slowly turning green and the trees are getting fuller - I never knew that trees could have flowers on them too, we even have a pink tree in our garden!

My Mum and Dad are working on a new project right now and getting the garden spring cleaned so there was not much going on this month - we did have had some nice get-togethers at our house. My best friend and his parents have spent a few weekends here and we went bowling which would have been great fun if I didn't keep getting my fingers stuck in the holes. Didn't the person who invented bowling balls not think that those holes might be in the way?

Then we had a Taco party at our house with all my friends - that was so funny, we all stuck those 'glow in the dark' stars on our faces to make happy faces, grumpy faces and scary faces then we turned all the lights out, called the old folks in to my bedroom and they all hit the roof they were so scared. No kids in the room, just glow in the dark faces. The picture I posted is a picture of us all in the dark but the flash was on so it looks like daytime. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard although I looked around the room and it was kind of scary so I don't blame my parents for screaming.

Next month will be cool. We are having a picnic out at the party barn on Mum's birthday. The classic Chevy Club is coming with all their cars, all my parents friends are coming and my friends too. We bought a whole lot of garden games like horse shoe throws, bean bag tosses and green bowling. We'll have live music and great food. Just one problem - my folks have a track record of having outdoor affairs being rained out so it'll probably end up being an inside party with a few cup cakes, a John Denver CD and them letting me stay up till 10 as a special treat - which only means I have longer to enjoy the misery!

So here's this month's slideshow and pictures. I have included more 'Songs from the backseat' and I am now trying my hand at cooking so please do take a look at my classic video recipes - Jello, the side dish for every occasion.

See you all next month!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years And 5 Months Old

Howdy y'all,
Hallo,
Moin Moin,
Allright me ducks!


I really kept my parents busy this month, but then again, if they had gotten their act together before christmas, they would have had a relaxing month instead. Not my fault, right?



First off was the playscape. Santa did his part and delivered it before christmas but his little elves, aka my Mum and Dad were too busy with the toy store to get it done. Mum tried her old trick of inviting people round for dinner in the hope that they would all pitch in and build it - but they're wising up. CJ and Jon Pfau came over and cooked out-of-this world spaghetti, sausages and meatballs for 16 people that never turned up. Jon got us going with the playscape and the rest was a team effort - Mum sourced materials, Dad built it and I directed and product tested. We had beautiful sunshine, country music on the radio, power tools and a bag of donuts - a perfect weekend! We also had spaghetti and sauce for dinner every day for 2 weeks! The playscape is pretty cool and has a club house for me and my friends to meet and have snacks, swings, rock climbing wall, rope steps slide and a tire swing. It's been up now for 4 weeks and it's still standing - just need the rain and the cold weather to go away now so that I can actually play on it instead of just looking out at it from the living room window.

The next project was my bedroom. When we bought the house, my room had a beige carpet, beige walls, beige ceiling - boring! I told Omi all about it and how I missed the clouds I used to have in our old house. So Omi spoke to Santa and told him what I had to put up with and what kind of room I would like and Santa made it happen. He ordered Mum and Dad to paint my walls light blue and the ceiling dark blue, he sent me a new ceiling fan with planets and space ships on it and a planet earth night light and then the nice guy from UPS brought me a big box with the coolest ever 'glow-in-the-dark' stars, planets, space ships and comets to stick on the ceiling. Hundreds of them - even tiny stars and planet stickers for the doors that you can't see during the day. I thought the room was almost done but then the UPS man came with a box of sheets, pillows and comforters covered in stars and planets - just like the ceiling!
But the best was yet to come. My teacher, Miss Cat, is really good at art so she came over to add the clouds to the sky blue walls. I told her that I also really wanted a rocket ship and a flying saucer and aliens but my Mum told her that that would be too much. So what did Miss Cat do? She painted clouds that looked like a rocket ship and a flying saucer with aliens waving out the window. She even gave the aliens glow-in-the-dark eyes and smiley faces so that I can still see the aliens when the lights are out.
So now I get to go to sleep in the clouds, surrounded by stars and floating in space - this is the coolest room ever and I'm having the sweetest dreams ever. Danke Omi!

I also had a chance to check out Georgetown's Library this month - absolutely exceptional! Great selection of books and DVD's and they even send me an email when it's time to return everything.
The rest of the month was spent socializing. Emily, Ron and Remi stayed over one weekend and we went to a car show. It was absolutely freezing but the cars were hot! My girlfriend Caley came over on Superbowl Sunday, then her Mum and Dad and a few others came over later to watch the game. I'm not too sure who won because we spent most of the evening playing with my Cuboro set. This is a marble run from Switzerland that really makes you think. Each wooden block is different with holes, half-holes or grooves in them. The idea is to build a tower but making sure that all those holes and grooves line up just right so that you can drop a marble in the top and have it come at again at the bottom. It sounds easy but if the marble gets stuck somewhere, you need to figure out why. I added a video to my pictures this month to show you our winning design of the evening.

So here's this month's slideshow and pictures. Also, take a look at my latest 'Country from the back seat' and 'How to dance without a t-shirt' videos.

See you all next month!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years and 4 Months Old

Howdy y'all,
Hallo,Moin Moin,

y'allright me ducks!

Happy New Year everybody! - I know, I'm about 4 weeks too late with that but that's the problem with not being able to write yet - I have to wait until some else gets around to giving me 5 minutes of their time so that I can dictate my blog to them.

I had a fantastic christmas! Aunty Angela, Uncle Andy and Cuz Russ made it to our house and we all had a great time playing pool, eating and drinking too much. On Boxing Day we went to Christine's house, our English neighbour which was nice, they live just around the corner from us and are lots of fun.

I had lots of great presents but the best presents were things that I used to have in our old house that I really missed since we moved - a new playscape for the garden from my Mum and Dad and clouds from my Omi. Santa didn't quite get the job done though. The swings and slides arrived in 5 boxes and were sat in the driveway for 2 weeks and the clouds were supposed to be painted on my ceiling but he couldn't do that christmas eve because that might have woke me up. The playscape is built and my room is almost finished but I'll update you all on my next blog.

I also got a skate board and helmet. Santa also sent me elbow and knee protectors which I thought were a little girly, but now that I've skateboarded a couple of times, all I can say is 'Thanks Santa, Love the protectors!

Santa delivered on almost everything on my list - he did forget the DVD game but I forgive him because he gave me something on my list that my Mum told me I was never going to get - a piece of plastic from China called a Nerf Gun. It's yellow and black, it's big and it has 2 settings - single fire and rapid fire - do I need to say more? My Mum is not happy - but I sure am. Dad got a lamp for his pool table and Mum was really happy about her new necklace and ear rings but neither of them got a Nerf Gun.

We spent New Years Eve at home this year but a bunch of people came over with food, drinks, kids and fireworks so it was a great evening and a good start to the new decade.

My toy store, Carl & Me, did really well over the holiday season and I need to get Dad to re-stock the warehouse. After all the stress of the holidays we're back to business as usual. Mum and Dad are crazy busy (I think they have yet another business idea but more about that next month), I'm back at school and have just finished a swimming course at our local recreation center. According to my teacher, I am an excellent frog swimmer so all I need to do now is wait for summer so that I can swim in our pool. Texas has been really cold for the past 2 months and I really miss the sunshine.

So here's this month's slideshow or click on this link to see the pictures. There a few of me playing in our Georgetown playscape which I love. A couple of months ago, we met a lady that makes animal puzzles and she was able to make a puzzle of the Carl & Me logo, how cool is that!

Have a great 2010 everybody and I'll write again soon.

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years and 3 Months old

Howdy y'all,
Hallo,Moin Moin,

y'allright me ducks!

Remember this time last year? I wrote in my blog that my parents are christmas crazy and really embarrasing - well nothing has changed. More silly christmas hats and blowups and you just know that Dad had to go all out on the garden lights again. He sold all the old lights and bought in LED ones. All of our lights, decorations and inflatables had to be up and running by the first advent which was the sunday after thanksgiving, so my parents had the briliant idea of inviting friends over for thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a Barbeque Turkey in true Texas style and then we sent them out to the garden, pumpkin pie in one hand and strings of lights in the other. I bet they'll turn down the invitation next year.

As you all can imagine, I've been crazy busy with Carl & Me this month but me and Dad managed to to get everyone's toys out in time for christmas. After being global for 2 years, we went local this year too. For those of you that have not visited me yet, Georgetown has a beautiful old town square, with a court house in the middle and shops all around. My toys are now in a little gift store called 'His & Her Treasures' and I love having a place to show off my toys.

Talking of Georgetown, I love living here! We have great neighbours and friends and I LOVE school. At the beginning of December, there was a party downtown and then all the christmas lights were turned on in the square. They even had really happy, smiley faced people singing songs that Mum calls Carols - Well Carol can keep them, I'll stick to country music I think.
Our Chevy was part of the downtown Christmas parade and I got to put on my christmas hat and shout into the microphone that Dad put in the Chevy. I wished everyone a merry christmas and warned the kids to stay good and not to get Santa mad. They set up a Bethlehem town and a Hooville and even Santa came by on his Harley! I didn't see Rudolf anywhere but I don't think he could have been very happy about being replaced by a motorcycle, even if it was a Harley.

For most of this month I've been trying my best to keep off of Santa's naughty list. It has proven to be quite a challenge but I did spend some time baking cookies and mince pies and helping around the house. I think I'm pretty safe though because I went down to our local Blue Santa and donated some of the handmade toys that we have. They needed toys for 2000 children - even I don't have that many toys but I think I gave them enough for 25 children.

My Uncle Andy, Aunty Angela and Cousin Russ are coming from Missouri for christmas. I've been practising my guitar all year and can't wait to show Russ some of the new stuff I've been working on.

So that's it for now, I need to dash because I still have to make some cookies for Santa and peel some carrots for the reindeers. Here's this months slideshow or click on this link to see the pictures. I've added a couple of christmas melodies this time and of course it would not be christmas without our traditional Soeffker Family Christmas Video!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
Frohe Weihnachten und Guten Rutsch an Euch alle!

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years and 2 Months Old

Howdy y'all,
Hallo,
Moin Moin,
y'allright me ducks!








To all my Longhorn friends in Texas - I hooked 'em with my halloween face! To everyone else on this planet - who said that spiderman has to have a red face? Many thanks to Miss Cat, my teacher, for painting my face exactly how I wanted it - she had a face painting tent at the 'Boo Fest' that we went to. There was a train ride, pony rides and scary stuff. I also met an artist that made the pictures of one of my favourite books - Little Mike and Maddie's First Motorcycle Ride, my Dad bought that for me when he rode out on a road trip to Sturgess 2 years ago. Jay also did the pictures for the new book called Little Mike and Maddie's Christmas Book and he even signed it for me. I also bought one for my best friend Remi for christmas - but dont' tell him!

I absolutely love halloween - I get to stay up late, scare people and get enough candy, sweets and suessigkeiten to last a lifetime. I was the Incredible Hulk this year and growled 'Trick or Treat' until I couldn't talk any more (much to Mum's delight!). I even said a really scary 'Thank You' once I got the treats. I got a lot of chocolate this year. I don't like chocolate but it came in handy keeping Mum sweet. She gets all soppy when she sees me sharing - but in truth I was just getting the chocolate out of my halloween bag to make room for real candy. Miss Cat had a halloween party which would have been great if the grown-ups hadn't been invited too. Dad had that rat coming out of his head again and Mum had a dress made out of bandages and she kept telling everyone that she was "Carl's Mummy". She said that was a really funny joke but I didn't see many people laughing!

So what else was going on? Remi and I met Thomas the Tank Engine in person! I've seen the movies and read the books but who'd have thought that he'd manage to get off the island and make it all the way to Texas! Sir Topham Hat didn't look too happy about it though..

As I mentioned in my last blog, my Uncle Commi, Aunty Kathrin and Cousin Basti came to visit which was really great. It's so refreshing to having new people to talk to who actually listen to me and it also gave me a chance to expand my German Wortschatz (this means the number of words I know). We had a great week of swimming and playing pool and I think they enjoyed themselves. Kathrin is just like Omi though - she spent most of her vacation in the kitchen! Mum didn't try all that hard to get her out of there though and I certainly didn't complain. She can really cook!

The last of our Carl and Me, toys arrived last week, the neighbours are getting used to seeing 18 wheelers lined up outside! The Janoschik animal ride-on and rocking toys finally arrived. I'm too big for them now but I can see how they'd be a hit with little kids. Mum said they are more like works of art than toys, but I just think they're cute! Dad did a great job of finding new toys for the holidays, but he's really clever anyway - he can ride the golf cart and drink beer at the same time!

Christmas is almost here and you know my parents are going to go crazy again. Since we moved, we have more room for decorations so it's probably going to be even more embarrassing than it was last year. It's ok though, my friends don't know where I live - yet....

Here's the latest slideshow or click on this link to see the pictures.

See you all soon!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years and 1 Month Old

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!








What a month! I've been rushed off my feet with visitors from Germany and the new European toys arriving! Mum was in California working, came home with the flu and then gave it to me - nice of her, uh?
Because I'm running behind on my blogs (this one was due on the 10th of October) I've decided to make this blog all about our new house and then catch up with everything else on the next one on November 10th.

As you know, Dad takes care of me and runs our toy store, Carl & Me. Well I'm really easy to take care of and I do most of the work on the toy store so he was looking for something to do with all that spare time on his hands. He found it - mowing 5 acres of lawn! I know my parents were talking about looking for a little bit of land but I thought they were talking about a vegetable garden, not Central Park! It seems like a waste of time to me because as soon as he's done mowing, the bit he did first needs mowing again. Ah well, whatever makes him happy.

The house is pretty cool though. There is a detached game room that I let my Dad share with me. It has a bar, a TV and pool table and it comes in handy when I need some time out (or get put in time out). There is a pool with a bath house and a fish pond all surrounded by pecan trees and bananas - anybody know of any recipes? A nice patio with a bar and fireplace for when I want to write my blog outside and our Chevy has it's own garage somewhere out back. The coolest thing though has to be the party barn. It is a covered area with ceiling fans, music and a seating and I'm pretty sure we'll be having birthday parties and Chevy Club meet ups there pretty soon.
The house itself is OK I guess - I just wanted a game room and somewhere to sleep, so I'm fine.

Take a look at the the slideshow or click on this link to see the pictures.

I'll be back in a couple of days to let you all know what I've been up to and how my halloween went.

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

4 Years Old

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!


It's official, I'm no longer a baby! Mum said there may come a time when I'm older when I will need help eating solid foods again, may have to wear a diaper and need longs naps just to get me through til 7pm so I'm determined to make the most of the couple of years I've got left until that happens.

Did anyone miss my blog this month? I know it's really overdue but my life has been crazy since my last posting. First off, we moved house. Looking back, I totally misunderstood the concept. I just assumed that a truck would come by, pick up the house and 'move' it to a new spot. As it turns out, I had to pack up everthing I owned and move it all to a totally different house. It wasn't too much of an effort on my part but it took my parents forever to get their act together. They were packing a week before and 2 weeks after the move and the funny thing is - the new place looks just like the old place! Grown ups are strange sometimes. I'll post some pictures of the new place next month once all the boxes are unpacked.

My 4th birthday was great and I got everything on my wish list. In fact, I got more than I'd hoped for because we had a party the weekend after at our new house and everyone brought presents. It was really supposed to be a combined birthday party/house warming party and we also celebrated 3 years of living in America but I wasn't about to give the presents back - that would just be impolite. All in all there were 30 kids and about 40 grown-ups even though the party was rained out. It never rains in Texas but on that weekend it rained 48 hours solid, it never let up for a second. I know, I know, Texas needs the rain, it's good for the grass, blah, blah, blah but all I know is that the bouncy castles got cancelled and we were all stuck in doors. The grown ups didn't seem to mind the rain too much which could have had something to do with the fabulous smoked brisket and sausage that Jon and CJ made and possibly the margarita machine that Mum rented for the weekend.

A funny thing happened on the way to the party. Me and Mum handed out invites to all our new neighbors and found out that one of them also comes from England. She has a daughter that lives 3 miles from us and is a trained teacher with her own pre-k school. Her name is Miss Cat and sounds just like Mum when she talks. Anyway, she is also a really good face painter and when she saw the rain she came to my house and painted all my friends faces. She's a cool Cat and I'm pleased to say that she is also my new teacher! There are only 3 other kids in her school, all boys - one of the other boys has an English mum and another has a German mum but I'll tell you all about them once I've gotten to know them better.

It's October already so I'm testing out some new toys in time for christmas. There's a gentleman in Georgia that makes his own wooden toys. He sent me some to try out and we may just add a page to Carl & Me just for handmade toys. He's making a rocking horse right now so we'll see how that turns out. I've been trying out Cugolino from Switzerland too. There is a grown up version called Cuboro which lots of people love over here. They are basically wooden blocks with half-holes in them and the challenge is to build a castle and have all the holes lined up so that marbles can run through. It's too much like hard work for me but it keeps the parents quiet for hours.

Testing toys is only my day job of course until my music career takes off. Last weekend I co-starred at Dales Essenhaus in Walburg. The main attraction were great and they even signed a t-shirt for me. One day soon, I'll be signing shirts for them.

That's it for now, click on the slide show presentation or right here to see the pictures. Didn't have much time for videos but there is one of my 'going to school' chants and another one of me trying out a secret language I made up for a whole new direction in country music.

Next month my Aunty Kathrin, Uncle Commi and Cousin Basti are flying in from Germany and then we're heading off to the Texas sea-side for a few days.

See you when I get back!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 11 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!

Are you wondering why I look so mad? My parents sold my house, that's why!
I was promised a month of fun because school is out, but to tell you the truth, I'm not having much fun at home. If your mum is constantly cleaning and you have to make your bed every morning and lots of people come to your house every day for weeks on end, then you can be pretty sure that someone else is going to be living in your house soon. Sure enough, empty boxes have started to appear and my stuff is slowly but surely disappearing. My parents keep telling me that we have a new house and that I'll love it there, but I won't be convinced until I get my stuff back.

The worst thing that happened to me this month though was taking my Mum to Chuck E. Cheese. She had what she called a 'Lucky Chucky Day'. Every machine she played hit the jackpot, which is a good thing normally, but she was shouting "I won, I won", was jumping up and down and doing a weird victory dance - Every cute 4 year old girl in the place was staring at me - and not in a good way! I've never been so embarrased in my life! It's like she doesn't even get that she spent $15 to win a $5 toy.

At the begining of the month we drove down to Houston to catch a Freedom Concert - the proceeds help military kids go to school and they put on a great show - Billy Ray Cyrus had an achy breaky heart and Lee Greenwood sang 'Proud to be an American' which made my Mum and Dad a little teary which is weird considering that one is British and the other one is German. As they keep telling me, they weren't born in America but they got here as quick as they could.

We had some of Mum's English relatives visit for a few days. They live in Kansas, Missouri so I guess they were ready for some Texas lifestyle. Aunty Angela and Uncle Andrew and Cousin Russell were great - they played with me and read to me all week without the usual complaints I get from my folks and Russ and I even had a jamming session.

We went to our local German Beer Garden in Walburg twice this month. The first time we went, there was a Polish group playing. I took along my guitar and played so hard that I had a blister on my thumb the next day. My Dad gave me his plectrum (he could have thought of that BEFORE I got my blister) so I was still able to play. The second time we went there, my relatives went with us and the people that helped us find a new house came too. I don't really understand where CJ and Jon Pfau live because they do nothing but buy and sell houses every day. Don't they get confused when they are driving home? How do they remember where to go? Is it worth them even unpacking their boxes if they have to move again the next day? Mum said that they lived up to their promises, found her dream home and delivered Exceptional Realty Services which is the same as what I do I guess - delivering Exceptional Toys For Boys. The Walburg Boys put on a great show and they gave me some more plectrums, they even let me borrow one of their guitar stands when I went on a break.

So that was this month. Click on the slide show presentation or right here to see the pictures. The video highlights this month are my version of Alan Jackson's 'Don't worry 'bout me', 'Going out with my boots on' dance mix, me helping out the Walburg Boys because they were a man short, a perfect rendition of "ABC" and an unplugged jammin session featuring the Kansas Kid, aka Russ.
See you next month and for all those that don't know what comes after 3 Years and 11 Months - I'LL BE 4 YEARS OLD. I'm sending out invites to my party which will be at our new house, if you don't get an invite, it must have gotten lost in the post!

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 10 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!

Here's a valuable lesson I've learned this month - never go anywhere without a baseball hat. Sure, a hat will protect my face from the sun, but more importantly, if I get into trouble and Mum starts yelling at me, I turn the hat around and pull the elastic band down under my nose and make a piggy face. Mum can't help but laugh - if I try to look sad at the same time, she laughs even more and eventually forgets why I was in trouble.

Well this has been a really busy month! We headed back to Fredricksburg for their classic car show. This is one of my favourite shows because it has everything I love - I can ride my pedal car, sit on a long horn, eat giant sausages and dance to live country music. If they had a bouncy castle it would be THE best place on earth. Dad entered my car in the show this year instead of his, so it was officially my first car show. It's a strange place though - I asked a guy called Willie Nelson why the chickens were in the trees and why a lady was walking around with a parrot on her shoulder, but he never answered me.

I took my Dad to a Father's Day car show, I gave him some vouchers for kisses, hugs and a picnic so he used the picnic voucher at the show. We had sandwiches, crisps, cupcakes, pie and juice - I let Dad have a beer since it was a special occasion.

The president of our Chevy Club had a barbeque at their house, they have a garden as big as Germany! They have their own workshop full of 50's stuff, a ramp, a gas pump and they even had pedal cars that they let me ride on. They all worked on Dad's car and they finally fixed the horn - I personally quality tested it for 15 minutes, they did a great job. There was lots of food and root beer floats which tasted like cough medicine with vanilla ice cream. It was a really hot day and at the same time, really cool.

A friend of mine from school had a pool party at her house but the best birthday party ever was on the 4th of July - America's birthday! I'm surprised my parents could keep up with me because America certainly knows how to throw a birthday bash. We started out by going to our local park - bouncy castles, train rides and live music then we dropped in at our local fire station for pancakes and sausages. I took a quick nap and then we headed out to the ball park, Dell Diamond. They had a 'Freedom Festival' there and they built a stage and dance floor right on the pitch. The main attraction was Kellie Pickler (a famous country singer here in the US) and then there was a firework show that lasted for hours. I would have stayed around to see Jerry Jeff Walker but the parents were exhausted.

I also went to see a my first movie at the cinema - for all you Brits out there, I went to the pictures to watch a film. Why didn't my folks tell me about this earlier? Pop corn, lemonade and the biggest TV I've ever seen in my life, how can I possibly go back to watching our tiny projector screen!

So that was this month. Click on the slide show presentation or right here to see the pictures.Just a couple of videos this month - how best to jump in the pool and the coolest CD player I've ever seen. I was trying to get lemonade out of it all day until Mum explained that it's called a "juke box" and not a "juice box".

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 9 Months Old

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!








Summer's here at last! I love summer in Texas because the only thing you can do outside is swim - it's too hot to do anything else. In fact some days are so hot that you're lucky to even survive the trip from the backdoor to the pool. I popped into Osh Kosh to get the latest pool outfit, picked up some matching shades and I'm ready to surf the waves. Of course the only waves we have in our pool is when Mum jumps in the water but they're good for a 10 minute ride at least, depending on what she ate for lunch.
The only downside to summer is that we get some pretty bad storms coming through every now and again. Last week we had frozen golf balls hit our house which broke some windows and smashed the skylights and winds so strong that a tree fell over in the garden and we lost our flag pole - the 2nd one since we've been here. The car and the barbie are full of dents too. These storms are pretty cool to watch but they're really, really loud.

This month was not the most exciting month I've ever had. I had to take a couple of days out from school because my eyes were pink, turned out to be allergies though. This piece of news may be useful once I have to go to Kindergarten, I just need to figure out how to make my eyes pink again. I have another new teacher because Miss Nancy has taken the summer off. Her name is Miss Marie and I think she's already impressed with me because she told my Mum I was a good talker. I'm glad she likes my voice though because Mum keeps saying I don't stop talking from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed and keeps telling me to give it a rest. Parents are strange like that, they spend days and months teaching you how to talk and walk and as soon as you get the hang of it, they tell you to keep quiet and sit down. Same thing with food. Mum takes cold food, heats it to death in the Microwave and then tells me I can't eat it till it's cooled down. And what are underpants for exactly? I have to wear them at home where no one can see them and when I leave the house no one see's them either because they're under my trousers.

I took some more sports classes at the YMCA - T-Ball, Soccer and Basketball, I even managed to convince my Dad to buy me a new outfit, shoes, bat and t-ball stand so I can practice in the garden. Like I said, it's summer so I may not get to play in the garden again till November.

I've been really lazy with my toy blog this month - Outside The Box. I did manage to squeeze in a review about the Baufix toys though which turned out to be a great way to keep my parents quiet but I'm still trying to decide which box to open next. I might try out our new Varis construction sets in between dips in the pool and annoying my parents but both tasks are pretty time consuming.

Did I ever tell you that we have German Biergarten near to where we live? It's actually pretty cool - bratwurst, sauerkraut and schnitzels with live music at the weekends. I took my mate Remi there a couple of weeks ago and he was just amazed. He's never seen wine cooling in a plastic beer stein before or grown men in leather shorts and has certainly never yodelled whilst doing the chicken dance - I think he's a bit jealous that I'm half German.

So that was this month. Click on the slide show presentation or right here to see the pictures. I've uploaded some videos this month too because I'm teaching Mum how to speak German and also helping her to loose that weird British accent she's got going on. My latest collection of dance moves are also included for those of you who need a little help in that department.

Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 8 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo,Moin Moin,y'allright me ducks!

I know what you're thinking - he's finally had enough! Looks like he packed a case, grabbed some jelly bears and he's out of there! Not exactly - my case is full of sun cream, sunglasses and flip-flops and I've got my boarding pass in my back pocket - destination Disney World, Florida. It's been almost a year since I saw my mate Mickey, so I knew he was probably missing me. Mum had some work to do in Florida so I graciously offered to keep Dad entertained during the day. We had a 4 day ticket for the parks and one water park. We managed to see most of everything and some things even twice. I was a little worried about overwhelming Dad with all the fun but I was comforted by some wise words from some other kids - 'he'll sleep well tonight'. Mum joined us at the weekends and believe me it's not easy taking care of both of them. The 'It's a Small World' fiasco for instance. This boat ride takes you through a typical scene of many different countries, beautifully portraying their cultures, costumes and traditions. Last year, we pulled out our camera, eager to capture these scenes only to find that the battery was dead. Of course the spare was fully charged and ready to go but unfortunately it was also back at the hotel. So this year we were fully prepared. We boarded the boat, joyfully positioned the camera and successfully shot 4 pictures before the battery died on us. But never mind, the spare was fully charged and ready to go and also back at the hotel! The joys of having parents...
I got all caught up with Mickey and my other mates in Florida and even managed to watch a couple of films (or as Mickey says, take in a movie or two). I don't think films are very good for your eyes though because they give you some special glasses when you walk in. It must be to protect your eyes from the stuff flying towards you - in the muppet film for example, there were some bees buzzing right in front of me. Now that I think about it, that's probably why my Dad called it a 3-bee movie. I tried to grab the bees but couldn't catch them for some reason....
We also visited EPCOT for the first time which was just fantastic. Me and Mum went 'soaring' which was just like hang gliding. We flew over canyons and snow filled valleys and Tinker Bell gave us a birds eye view of Disney World at night. The only thing that Dad really wanted to see was "Ellen's Energy Adventure", a movie/ride that has Ellen Degeneres explaining the past, present and future of energy resources and at one point even takes you through a forest full of Dinosaurs. Dad waited all day to go on this ride and after asking 'can we go in now' for the 100th time, we finally gave in. His little legs ran ahead to the strangely empty waiting line only to hear that the ride was closed. You'll never guess why.... 'Ellen's Energy Adventure' was closed due to a power failure! Priceless! I laughed so hard that we had to take a rest. By the time my stomach had stopped hurting from all the laughing, the ride was open again and Dad got to go on the ride after all.

All in all, it was a magical week, I just hope they'll remember some of it when they grow up....

Last weekend was pretty cool too. We went to Houston for the weekend to the Lone Star Rally, an annual party for Texas Classic Car Clubs. Why do I hang out with antiques? Well it's not any different than hanging out with my parents and I also get to stay up late, swim in the hotel pool and the most important thing of all, I get a free pass to ride my Chevy inside the hotel. If I got a Dollar for every picture taken of me in my pedal car, I'd have my retirement home in Florida by now.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in America which I think is a really strange idea. If you ask me, Mum should be grateful every day that she gets to be my Mum, not just once a year. I mean really, what will they come up with next - Dad's day? I don't think so - Dad helped me clean my Harley so I know he's grateful.

So that was May. Click on the slide show or right here to see the pictures. I've added quite a few Disney pics taken on the rare occasions we actually did have a fully functioning camera.

See you all next month,
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 7 Months Old

Howdy y'all, Hallo,Moin Moin,y'allright me ducks!







Motorbikes were flying, snickers were frying, pigs ran races, cow dung on faces - the Rodeo was back in town! If you think that the circus is the greatest show on earth then you've obviously never been to a rodeo. Foot long corn dogs, a fairground, bouncy castles, stunt riders, pig races, pony rides, bull riding and some of the best live music the country scene has to offer. Add 30 °C. temperatures in March, lemonade, tractors, cowboys, good old Texan hospitality and you've got yourself heaven on earth y'all.

Everything else this month was about keeping the parents happy, for example taking a wine tour with the Chevy club. It took my parents 11 hours to visit 6 different wineries before literally falling into bed exhausted from a day of driving around in a classic car without air conditioning. I know I'm almost 4 years old but I don't understand the concept of this. Our local supermarket has 5 different types of apple juice. It takes me 15 minutes to get there and back and I can drink it without somebody asking me if I can identify the exact tree that the apple fell from and what the apple was thinking before it was crushed to a pulp. And when I'm done drinking apple juice, I still have enough energy to eat a pizza.

Then my Mum decided that I was enjoying the afore mentioned apple juice way too much and decided it was time to introduce me to Dr. Jenny - our local dentist. She was kind of nice but I don't trust her. She may have made me laugh, let me watch films and given me a new toothbrush but she told my Mum that I had been born with one tooth missing and I swear that wasn't my fault - I don't know what happend to that tooth. I just have a strange feeling that Dr. Jenny will be trouble in the long run....

My Dad's keeping me busy. Not only did he make me clean up the warehouse, he also chewed my ear off about my duties as VP of Product Testing. So to keep him quiet, I started a new blog called Outside The Box - A sneaky idea really because Dad has to let me open a new box every week so that I can write about what's inside. This job is not too boring because usually I never get to open any boxes and now we have a new web site called Exceptional Toys USA which means that we are the only company in the USA who are allowed to sell the manufacturer's toys. So in some cases, I'm the first to play with a toy that has never been seen by anyone else in the USA - not totally uncool!

As you all know, I write this blog on the 10th of every month which is my birthday. The 10th of April is a little bit different because it's my Mum's birthday too so I get to open her presents and eat her cake - kind of like a trial run for my birthday. I'm just so glad I'm not as old as her though. She won't admit it but if you ask me, she's not celebrating her 10th birthday for the first time this year.

It's also Easter time and I do like to go out and search for eggs full of goodies. I'm not one for complaining but what's going on with the easter bunny? I'm seriously considering writing to Santa to ask him if he knows if rabbits can lay eggs. I don't think so!.

As you can see, there was lots going on again this month - I really wish the parents would take time out for a nap every now and again, I'm exhausted.
Here are the April pictures and a couple of new videos I managed to squeeze in to my schedule.

See you all next month,
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years And 6 Months Old

Howdy y'all, Hallo,
Moin Moin,
y'allright me ducks!












I have two words for you all - payback time!
Let me explain - Mum continued to read those bedtime horror stories to me. She introduced a cute little fairy tale called 'Pizza Pan', which stopped being cute the minute Captain Hook arrived with his crocodile issues. The last thing I need before I nod off every night is to think of a deranged pirate chasing a group of lost orphan boys who only have a fairy and flying pixie to protect them. I mean really - don't I have enough to worry about? So to all you kids out there that have had enough, here's what to do:
Step 1: Go through your usual routine. Put your PJ's on, clean your teeth, kiss Dad good night.
Step 2: Let mum do her bedtime story thing.
Step 3: When she leaves the room, call her back in. Make your chin wobble, get teary eyed and say "I'm not scared of the Wolf or Captain Hook, Mum". She'll tell you everything is OK and will kiss and hug you again before leaving. Don't forget to hug her for just a little bit longer than you would normally.
Step 4: Repeat Step 3 till your Mum goes crazy! Ah, revenge is sweet...

Did I have fun this month? Well, almost - the Austin Kite Festival could have been fun. BUT, we drove downtown, queued for the shuttle bus for over an hour, the bus was full of screaming kids and took another hour to drive to the park that we could have walked to in 30 minutes. We and the other 20,000 visitors could still have had a good time flying our kites - if only there had been some wind. We made the effort though and my mate Remi and his parents took us to a local beer garden and after that to Frank & Angie's, a local Pizzeria. The food was so good that my Dad bought a t-shirt. I took a picture of my pizza - as you'll see, it more than compensated for a wasted afternoon.

Our local firestation had a chilli dinner night which is always fun to do. I got dressed up in my fireman t-shirt, slippers and hat in the hope that they would let me get in and look around. It worked! They let me look around the ambulance too and because I had just been in hospital myself, I was able to explain everything in detail to the firefighter who let me in.

Remember my teacher Miss Nancy that left last year to have a baby? Well she's back! I was sad to see Miss Shannon go but I'm really glad to get Miss Nancy back again and not someone new, it's exhausting convincing the new ones that I'm a little angel. Miss Nancy still thinks I'm sweet and a great listener and I'm not about to tell her otherwise.

I've decided to expand the scope of my toy business. I saved up all of my allowance to buy some new inventory for Carl & Me and I will soon be the only person allowed to distribute NIC and Walter Toys in America! Dad's going to be busy for a while because he has to call a few toy shops and ask them if they want to sell wooden toys. There are a total of 1 gazillion toy stores in America, so don't be surprised if our phone lines are busy for a couple of months.

Let me see, what else. Oh yes, Elvis is alive. Dad and me went to a sock hop with the Chevy club a couple of weeks ago and he was hanging out there. I've added a pose to the monthly pictures for the doubters amongst you. My college jacket fits now too, so I can now ride my chevy pedal car in the appropriate attire.

OK, that's about it. For all you social networkers out there, I now have a Facebook page, am listed in Bloglist and Technorati, have rss feeds for my followers and am tweeting on Twitter. For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, you'll just have to make do with boring, old fashioned March pictures and this month's video is me singing the theme song from my favourite show 'Wow Wow Wubbzy'. If you've never heard of heard of him, here's the orginal theme song (of course, my version is way better!).

See you all next month,
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

I'll Huff and I'll Puff...

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks?

I got out of bed to write this because I've decided that I can't blog just once a month anymore, there are things that need to be said right now.

Mum has started a terrible ritual of reading bedtime stories to me. I pretend to be really tired, I yawn, I make my eyes roll to the back of my head - still, the stories keep coming.
You may be thinking "ahhhhh, his Mum reads bedtime stories, how sweet" - nooooooooooo, believe me. I just got off the pain meds they've been feeding me every 4 hours after my tonsillectomy, I was looking for an uninterrupted night of peace and quiet and what happens? Mum spends 10 minutes putting images in my head that take me 4 hours to get out of there again.
Tonight it was the "Three Little Pigs" - 2 lazy pigs build houses that will not withstand a breeze, let alone an angry, hungry, hot-air blowing wolf. They laugh themselves stupid when they see their brother putting a whole lotta work into building a house of bricks. The 2 lazy brothers have a lot to smile about too because the 3rd brother does all the work and still lets the other 2 move in with him when the wolf destroys their houses. So why am I freaked out? First off, I've heard my Dad say often that our walls are made of paper - so how much huffing and puffing can this house take? Secondly, my Mum said that the Wolf is not real, just like Mickey and Donald, it's only a story in a book and I shouldn't be scared. Well I have met both Mickey and Donald in person, they are real so the Wolf must be real too.
And one last thing - in the story, the Wolf tried to come down the chimney when he couldn't blow the brick house down and yes, he may have burnt his posterior, but it got him in the house. We have a chimney, it's too warm for a fire, the Wolf is in the house somewhere, right?

3 Years And 5 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!

I have a question for you - what in heaven's name is wrong with grown ups? Apparently, seeing us kids being healthy, happy and enjoying life in general is not something they like to see. There I was, feeling perfectly fine when they woke me up and took me to a hospital where a so called "Doctor" did something to me that made me feel like I had eaten crushed glass for breakfast and that worms had crawled up my nose and died. For years now they have been telling me that you feel bad BEFORE you go to the Doctor's office and that it is his job to make you feel better. And to add insult to injury, everyone is feeling sorry for my Mum telling her that it's worse for the parents than it is for the kids - again, SO NOT TRUE. They also told me that I would be able to sleep better now that there is nothing in my throat to get in the way and this may be totally true if they would just stop waking me up every 4 hours to give me something to help me sleep.
I'm seriously considering never believing anything they ever tell me again.

On top of everything, I have to eat baby food again such as mashed potatoes, spinach and scrambled eggs. For some reason, my parents are surprised that I know how bad this all tastes. The last time I had to eat this stuff, I wasn't old enough to actually tell them how disgusting it is - which is why babies vomit by the way. At least now I have the luxury of being a rebellious toddler and can pick up my plate and throw it against the wall. I have been raised with enough manners not to do this - but I most certainly could if I really wanted to.....

They obviously didn't get a big kick out of seeing me suffer though, you wouldn't believe how nice they've been to me since the surgery - popsicles, ice cream, apple slushes, as much TV as I want, a new speedy car, - even my relatives felt bad for me - Omi sent a new helicopter construction kit, Aunt Ang and Uncle Andy sent a really cool remote car and I've heard that other pressies are on the way.
Well, they can keep on sucking up to me because I'm not anywhere near close to forgiving them yet.

The rest of the month was OK I guess, if you think that being miserable is OK. I can't really remember much of what I did before they sent me to that hospital - The parents told me that we did the usual rounds of Chevy club meet ups and kid's birthday parties, that I had fun at school and laughed a lot with my friends at the park - but who believes them anyway!

Here are February's pictures and a video of me singing without a care in the world - before my hospital visit of course!

See you all next month,
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

P.S. A note to all you other kids out there. Beware of leaving the house in your pyjamas, I'm starting to notice a pattern - nothing good ever comes out of being able to go some place in your PJ's.

3 Years And 4 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!

Happy New Year und Frohes Neues Jahr!

Christmas was the best thing since last christmas. Santa came early because he had a big rush on which turned out well because my Aunty Cheryl, Uncle Brian and cousins Hannah and Evan came to visit. They couldn't stay till the 25th because Santa left Hannah's and Evan's presents with their Grandparents in Wisconsin.
Santa wasn't doing himself any favors by rushing things though, he forgot half of my stuff and ended up having to come back again christmas eve but this time there were no mince pies and milk waiting, I really wasn't expecting him. Everyone loved their presents except Hannah - I think Santa must have given her something left over from Halloween cos she could't stop screaming. Strange I thought "My littlest Pets" were supposed to be cute and girly but I obviously got that very wrong.
We did the Trail of Lights in Zilker Park again this year but it was so cold that I tried to beg my parents to take me home but my lips literally wouldn't move. Everyone had to take it in turns to carry me because I couldn't feel my toes and kept falling over. The christmas lights were probably fantastic but at some stage I blinked and I couldn't get my eyes open again till the heating in the car kicked in on the way home.
My Dad and Brian spent 5 solid days in front of the TV watching football. Can you imagine what trouble I'd be in if I did the same? Well they didn't even get sent to their room because Mum and Cheryl were never there (kept 'popping' out to do some shopping and returning with too many bags to mention). Evan wasn't much fun either, he spent more time playing video games than teaching me them. Hannah was great until she fell off my swing and broke her arm. I don't know how many times I told her to be careful but would she listen? But even with a broken arm she helped me decorate some more cookies - she's tough.
Once they left things were quiet. We went to the neighbours house for dinner Christmas Eve and spent a nice quiet christmas day at home. I opened the stuff that Santa forgot the first time, including a Wheel Loader, a wooden Marble Run, and the best thing of all - my very own Camera!! Now I don't need to rely on the parents and can take pictures whenever I want and of whatever I want. I still need a little practice cos I keep cutting peoples heads off but that will come in handy for Halloween. It also lets you do some editing - check out the monthly pictures to see what I did with a picture of Mum.
I got to go to a neighbours party and stay up to see in the new year. Shame it's only once a year because I got to run around for hours blowing into really loud horns, blowouts and party poppers and nobody seemed to mind. Mum and Dad did not like any of that stuff the next morning though and kept telling me about a hangover. I'd already hung my coat over my chair so I don't know why I was in trouble.
I took down the tree myself just in case the parents were tempted to leave it up and put easter bunnies on it.

I hope you all like January's pictures, also available as slideshow top right of this page.
See you all next month!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years and 3 Months

Howdy y'all, Hallo, Moin Moin, y'allright me ducks!

For those of you who don't know this already, my parents are absolutely crackers about christmas. The 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' DVD came out of hiding in September, the Bing Crosby CD's have been playing since October and the christmas tree went up in November.
I was just finishing up my Thanksgiving meal when my parents pulled a christmas hat over my ears and gave me a string of lights to decorate the garden. I still had pumpkin pie on my chin and they wanted me to inflate penguins on igloos!
It tooks us about 3 weeks to finish and you can see our house from space, but it was worth it. We've added sound effects this year too so check out my video blog to see the tree and hear the cheer.

It is a joy to watch my parents at this time of year - their little faces lighting up when I tell them what Santa will bring, the tears of joy because the cookies mum made are edible, the glow on their faces after a couple of brandy egg nogs. I can hardly wait to see them open their presents on christmas day, even if they do make me get up at 5am.

We took our Chevy down to the anual christmas parade in Buda, Texas last weekend. My Dad installed a PA system and loudspeakers on the Chevy that play a medley of animal noises, insulting remarks and christmas music. I got to throw candy out of the window as we were driving along which is really strange considering how I'm not supposed to throw anything but balls, kids are not supposed to pick up candy they find on the floor and I'm pretty sure that Texas has a few rules about trashing the roads.

We went to Pflugerville today for another christmas parade which was fun - I absolutely loved the Mariachi group onstage playing a Mexican version of Jingle Bells.

Would you believe it snowed this week? No big deal you're thinking? Well, this is Texas and if you only own shorts and hawaii shirts, it's a big deal. There wasn't enough snow to take out my NIC truck and snow plough but it was cold enough to put a smile on the inflatable snowman's face.

Next week, my Aunty Cheryl, Uncle Brian and cousins Hannah and Evan are flying in from Brussels. I can't wait! Evan has promised to teach me video games (don't tell mum), they will think that it's really cute that I never stop talking and I'll get a break from entertaining the parents for a few days.

I get to go to school in my pyjamas next week which is great fun for everyone except me - I wouldn't want to sleep in my school clothes either. Santa is coming to school on Tuesday so I can tell him pesonally what I want. I'm sure he's been reading my blogs so he knows what I've had to put up with in the past year and how I certainly deserve everything I'm asking for.

Hope you enjoy December's pictures and take a look at my new christmas video called 'Candy Cane Twist' and our 2008 Family Christmas Video.

Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, Happy Holidays to all from Texas!
Hugs and Kisses
Carl

3 Years and 3 Months