Night in Bethlehem

Saturday night we went to our church's Night in Bethlehem. It was so much fun! I am a horrible church member and didn't invite any of my friends or family to go, but my excuse is this is the first year that we went so I didn't realize how cool it is. (Also, James and I were Joseph and Mary in the live nativity for part of the night. This may have had a little something to do with why I didn't want all of my friends and family there. I'll just say I should not win an academy award for best actress...or even a golden globe for that matter. We were more like statues than anything with our ad libbing consisting of "Do you want to see baby Jesus? He's sleeping in the manger." Good sharing of the Christmas story all around. Hey, we never claimed to be good actors.)

Anyway, here's some pictures to entice y'all to come next year!

Hunter's two favorite things were...

*The "Abraham's Kickin' Chicken" game where you got to kick (or throw for Hunter's age) a rubber chicken into a bucket. Hunter actually just walked up to the bucket and put the chicken in, but he still got a prize. (They're really generous at our church:)).

*Another favorite was the bread from the Bethlehem bakery. Hunter tried to take a bite of the bread while the man was still holding it. He just opened his mouth and walked right up to him. Luckily Mr. Reimer knows us, so hopefully he assumes our child has been taught some table manners.

The least favorite thing was for sure the head covering booth. Hunter fought this pretty hard, but I really, really wanted, no needed, a picture of the 3 of us all matchy matchy. This is the best I got...

We also had goats...

(We made the mistake of not taking the bread away from Hunter before putting him within the goat's reach)

and sheep...

and camels (Hunter is looking at the camel in the sheep picture above)...and a donkey the kids could ride, but after this fiasco, we decided not to try that.

There were so many other cool things there too. I hope y'all can join us next year!

Where I've Been

A lot has happened during my blogging hiatus. Here are the highlights of the past couple of weeks...

*Hunter's been training for the upcoming Rocky: The 43rd edition film....

I think he's a pretty good stunt double for Rocky for the far away shots, but he's way too cute up close......so we've given up on that dream.

*We played a fun game of hide-n-seek one day, and I obviously came out as the winner on that one because, well to be honest, my son has a poor grasp on how well he can fit into certain hiding places...

...also the loud whining that came soon after Hunter realized he was stuck kind of gave away the game.

*One word. Seven letters. V-O-T-I-V-E-S

Hunter's new favorite thing is pulling the wicks out of all of the unused votive candles in the house. Luckily, I only have one wickless candle in the drawer right now. I'm sure that wick will show up in the vacuum soon enough.

*Ladies and gentleman, the duck has left the building...er I mean nest. I know y'all are totally disappointed, but be reassured in the fact that NOONE is as disappointed as I was when I got to the playground and all I saw were some remnants of the nest and bits of cracked egg.

*And probably the most exciting, or maybe the more appropriate word would be traumatic, thing that has happened to us, is Hunter's first fight.

Actually it wasn't much of a fight. It went something like this...Hunter's playing with "a child" (apparently when your kid is harmed by another kid at school, they won't tell you who the bully is...probably so you don't go to their house to retaliate...not that the thought ever entered my head. ever.). The child bites Hunter ON.THE.FACE. Hunter starts screaming and crying. The teachers - and supposedly all of the girls in the class - run over to comfort him with "hugs and kisses". (Not kidding about this. That's what was written on the form...comforted with "hugs and kisses". I love that. Warm fuzzies.)

James will be starting self-defense classes for toddlers in our home next week if anyone would like to join.

I am proud of how whinyless Hunter was once I came to pick him up. If you had this battle scar, you'd whine, right?And just for dramatic effect, a close up...

Hope to post again sometime before January. I am checking y'alls blogs (if you have one) and I LOVE reading them even I haven't commented much lately. I promise to start commenting more!

Soon

The nausea has already kicked in, and the fatigue started several weeks ago, so that's my excuse for no posting in forever. I have so many things to tell y'all about, so I promise to post soon! Just wanted to let you know I'm alive...just tired...and feeling yucky:)

We Are Thankful

Our family has so many things to be thankful for this year, but Hunter is most excited about this blessing...

Hunter can't wait to start sharing his toys and mommy and daddy's attention when his new little brother or sister makes his or her appearance in 8ish months!

Okay so maybe not. Mostly he's just excited about bossing another little person around.:)

Barney's New Competition

So I bought this $1 ball for Hunter at Walmart last night, and it has fast become his favorite toy, his new BFF even. Now, when I say favorite, what I really mean is, well, favorite. He must have it. He needs it. He could easily be addicted to it in the near future. If he had his choice, he'd never separate from it ALL.DAY.LONG.

I gave it to him this morning, and he walked through the house holding it until it was time to leave. We put on socks and shoes with the ball and put on the jacket with the ball (which was not an easy task) and left the house with the ball (pick your battles, right?) and got into the car with the ball and drove the entire 15 minute drive to school with the ball. He didn't let go one single time.

Here we are getting into the car for school...
(Hunter's created a new game for our morning routine. It goes something like this: Hunter runs around laughing hysterically, and I chase him - with my hands full - while trying to stay calm. We got to play this game with the ball today.)I know. Best "you can't catch me" face ever.

Here's my kid as we pulled up to school...Told ya. This is what I saw in the rear view mirror the whole drive over.

Luckily he didn't put up too much of a fight when we got to school and I had to explain that the ball was going to stay in the car. He did have a very, very sad look on his sweet face though, and the minute we got back into the car when I picked him up from school, he grabbed his ball and held it the entire way home.

If you're not that into science, this might gross you out.

Our neighborhood is called duck creek, and as the name implies there are tons of ducks and a creek in the area. Generally the ducks stay in the creek or alongside of it, but at times they can be found roaming the streets of the neighborhoods. I think it's a really neat place to live because of this, and it's a great learning experience for Hunter at this age - he's added the word duck ("duh") to his vocabulary this past week.

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Well one of the female ducks has taken up residence under one of the slides at this tiny little playground area that we sometimes go to. (Hunter would actually prefer the big playgroud across the street, but I'm so obsessed with this duck, that we've been going to the little one lately.) Why am I obsessed? Because she is nesting! Okay. I have no idea what the proper term is for this, but basically she's made a little nest for her bazillion eggs so that they can stay warm before they hatch.

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Y'all! I don't know why, but this is so exciting to me! Here's our new friend on her nest...

And here is Hunter pointing her out to me and yelling "duh! duh!" (He hasn't quite caught on that this duck is the sole purpose for our visits to this particular playground, and that I have been scoping this duck out from the second we got there.)... And here is my favorite thing ever...Look at all of those eggs! I can see parts of like 6 eggs in that tiny area, so I can't even imagine how many are under there.

**Sorry if this is the lamest post I've ever written, but I am really excited about those little ducklings! Definitely more excited than my son.

Nuh-nah

Our dear friends Amy & Josh and Matt & Emily (why am I all linky up in here?) came to dinner last night. Hunter couldn't get enough of Amy's sweet little baby, Noah - unless, of course, I was holding Noah. That just seemed to tick him off. Once he was over that, though, and after he warmed up to everyone, Hunter was running through the house yelling "Nuh-nah, Nuh-nah", which in Hunter language translates to Noah. Aren't they so cute together?

And don't the Mulkey's look great with kids?! ;)

Movie anyone?

Hunter loves Barney. They're BFFs. Every morning, he runs into the guest bedroom, points at the tv and says "ba!", which is Hunter-speak for Barney.

Although tv isn't the most healthy, educational option for entertaining my kid in the morning, I'm not going to complain because at least I don't have to deal trash spread out all over the house or hairbrushes in the toilet or tiny little ripped up pieces of toilet paper all over my bedroom while I'm getting ready for work. Nope. None of that. I have been freed of those kinds of messes. Hunter's so high tech now...

and when he was finished with the VHS tapes, he moved into the living room where the Brooks family keeps all things 21st century...

Although the toilet paper towers were a lot easier to clean up than re-assembling parts of furniture (notice the drawer was pulled out), I love these messes just as much! Hunter's curiosity of all things is so fun to watch!

Love

Well we are definitely in the throws of toddler tantrumdom. Personally I think I'm handling it pretty well. I thought I'd be a little more worried about what people think about me when my child throws himself face down on the ground in the middle of Northpark mall...or the Cheesecake factory...or my place of employment (gasp!), but I know the people with kids completely understand and the ones without are going to judge me anyway, so there's no point in wasting my energy caring what they think.


Although I don't obsess (okay maybe I obsess a little) about what onlookers think, I'm not above trying to deter the tantrum throwing through bribes. READ: Heck yeah I'll give my kid his very own smoothie from Thirsty's if it means I get to walk five steps without screaming or body flailing. (And believe me when I tell you that Hunter left that smoothie cup in his cup holder and leaned forward to suck from the sraw for like 5 minutes WITHOUT COMING UP FOR AIR. I think this got more judgement than the actual tantrum throwing.)


Even with the hourly tantrums, Hunter has so many more fun, cute things he's doing right now. Here's a list of some of the things I love to watch him do...


1. play with his friends - it's so cute to watch them play and laugh and chase and copy each other

2. flirt with girls/women

3. make the shy face - there are no words to express the cuteness of this

4. try (although at times unsuccessfully) to communicate with me more everyday

5. RUN toward me with the biggest smile ever when I pick him up from school/church

6. laugh hysterically...for no reason at all

7. help me with the chores - he loves to throw things in the trash (unfortunately sometimes non-trash items get thrown in while I'm looking away...we've lost several pieces of the fridge farm to the trash can)

8. LEARN! Hunter's so into intently observing his environment that I can just see his little brain learning so many new things every day.


But my favorite thing by far is seeing the joy in living that God has already given my son. I love his happiness and innocence and love for his family and friends...and even favorite toys. It really can't be captured in words. This is as close to expressing it as I can get...

If that doesn't give you the warm, fuzzy feeling, what will?

Playground Junkie

Since the weather is so pretty right now, Hunter and I have been spending a little more time outside than usual. I know this is a bit shocking considering my hatred of the outside smell (especially once said smell is transfered to me), but once you become a parent, life is full of sacrifices...and that is one big sacrifice:)

If you've been following my blog or if you had a single conversation with me during my son's first year of life, you're probably not surprised that Hunter doesn't have a history of loving the playground. He had a very timid first 18 months in this world. But now that he has a whole slew of tough guys to keep up with at school everyday, he's a climbing machine. The kid LOVES the playground, mostly just the slides. The higher, the better. He'd probably go down head first if we let him.

I first started noticing his love for them a couple of weeks ago when we went on a walk to feed the ducks with Hunter's friend, Jackson. On the way back to the house we stopped at this tiny little playground that I usually have to really hype up for Hunter to have a good time. I know they don't look too excited, but they really did have fun:)

Since this day we've been going to the big playground across the street because the slides are way taller and so much cooler.

Hunter even likes tunnel slides now, which he was terrified of just a few short months ago.

My favorite part about this is of course the einstein hair...

I know...scary, but cute:)

The Office...just not as funny

Hunter and I went to visit James at his office last Thursday, and Hunter had so much fun eating Daddy's snacks and sitting in his chair.
He even got to experience his first escalator ride, which was pretty fun until it was time to get off. That was more scary than fun, so Daddy came to the rescue and carried him.

There's a beautiful fountain downstairs in the lobby at James's work, but unfortunately this is the only picture I got before security hunted me down...Apparently cameras and the infomart don't mix.

Busy Little Bee

Happy Halloween everyone! We've had a great, busy day! Hunter's teacher told me on Monday that the kids could wear their costumes to school today, so I loaded up the little bumble bee and we headed to school all decked out this morning.

When we walked into the building, the director and music teacher stopped us and made a big fuss over Hunter. This should've been my first clue, but I just thought they were gushing over him because, hey, he really is dang cute.

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As we were walking to the kitchen I noticed that none of the big kids in the hallway had their costumes on. Then we passed the 2 baby rooms, and you guessed it...none of the babies had costumes on. I was getting a little nervous at this point, and when we opened the kitchen door, just as I'd feared, there was only 1 kid who had his costume on...and that kid, my friends, was my son.

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I don't know whether it was that he could sense my panic or if it was the teachers gushing over him or if it was that he actually noticed that he was the only kid IN THE BUILDING in a costume, but Hunter stopped in his tracks and I had to lure him over to his high chair.

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I love telling embarrassing stories. I have many, and apparently, thanks to me, my poor son has already started his tally at the ripe age of 19 months.

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When James got home, we got the bumble bee ready to go visit the fam.

First we went over to Nana's house where Hunter got his very own treat bag that he was really excited about. (He's actually squeeling with delight and shaking his fists in excitement in this picture)...

So cute.

We met cousin Zack and cousin Vanesa at Nana's house, and then all headed over to Nanny and Grandad's....

where Hunter got more treats. (Notice the Kit Kat in his hand...that's his second one.)

Hunter even did a little trick or treating at Nanny's neighbor's house. This was exciting for him for exactly 1 stop, after which he started to scream. So we left, and headed to our last stop...Grandee and Poppy's.

I didn't get any pictures there, but it was pretty similar to the other stops. Lots of oohing and aahing and lots of chocolate. It's amazing my kid is asleep right now and not bouncing off the walls from the sugar high. We'll start detox in the morning.

Hope y'all had a great, embarrassment-free day!

We're more than great coats.

Here's my son yesterday morning on the way to school....
Yes, he's wearing a lightweight rain jacket...in 40 degree weather. I should receive an award for being the overachieving parent that I am.

At least I brought a blanket along. A blanket has sooo many more positives than a coat. The most important being, it will make your kid laugh the entire way to school with all of the creative games he will think to play with it.

Here's Hunter on the way to school today...

Not as exciting or nearly as fun as the blanket, but much warmer. Thank you Burlington Coat Factory. Thank you.

Oh! And the funniest thing ever about that coat...Hunter's teachers told me that when they took the kids out to play this morning, Hunter kept bending over and he couldn't stand up on his own because of the bulkiness and weight of his new coat. They had to keep helping him up. What I wouldn't give to see some video of this. I'm sure he was furious. Can't you just see those fists shaking and teeth clenching? Love it. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Super Dad

I was at Lake Texoma this weekend for my church's women's retreat, and y'all...I DIDN'T BRING MY CAMERA. Who is believing this? Let's guess how many times I said to my roomie, "I wish I had my camera so we could take a picture of us." One? Two? Nope. Probably more like 3 or 4, which is a little out of control for a 2 day time period.

When I called James Saturday night, and he told me Hunter was in his new Curious George pajamas, I told him he better remember to take a picture the next morning. You know, since that camera never gets any use.

He didn't fail me.

Front and back shots. Is he trained well or is he trained well?

I had so much fun with the women at my church this weekend. It was a great getaway, but I was so ready to come home to my two favorite people...

I heart them:)

The Fair...perfect name guys, perfect.

So everytime I go to the fair I think, "what's the big deal about this place?" and I swear to myself that I'll never go back. Then a couple of years go by and everyone starts hyping it up and raving over the awesomeness of it, so I go back as if I've forgotten how unremarkable it was two years before.

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This year was one of those years that I forgot about my apathy towards Big Tex. We went. I wore jeans. James warned me not to. It was hot. There were millions of people there. There was no order to the walking around. People stopped in the middle of my path, and I nearly ran them over. I got grumpy...and complained...a lot. We went home.

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Yep. That pretty much sums up our day. I did take the time to take some cute pictures though.

Isn't Big Tex's waist a sight?!

I know y'all are surprised there are only two, but I told you I was hot and uncomfortable. And in case you haven't figured me out yet, I despise being uncomfortable.

Maybe in a couple of years we'll have a better experience. I vow to listen to my husband next time. Right. Who thinks that'll actually happen?

Is that hair in your sucker?

I took Hunter to get his first "real" hair cut last week at James's barber, James. I was a little reluctant to go to Barber James since I wasn't sure how he would do with an 18 month old, but he was AMAZING. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. As my James describes him, Barber James is a good ole boy - cowboy hat and all. He and his brother own the barber shop, and it's not exactly what you think of when picturing a kid-friendly place, but like I said he interacted better with Hunter than probably 90% of grown men out there would have.


He did a great job enticing Hunter with a sucker and putting the little gown over him and wetting down his hair. Hunter was even a champ when Barber James was actually cutting the hair thanks to all of the distraction techniques. But then Barber James pulled out the buzzers. You know the buzzers. Those electric clipper things for the neck hair. He let Hunter touch them with his fingers before putting them to his head, but we still got to witness a serious melt down. To say that it could qualify as one of the top 10 melt downs of all time would not be an overstatement.


Barber James was gracious enough to say that Hunter did great since he only cried at the end, but I'll let you look at the photos and be the judge...

Those are even after I've taken all of the hair cutting garb off and attempted to calm my frantic child down. I finally gave in to his limp body and just let him tantrum all over the floor.

Nothing a sucker and walk down the streets of downtown Plano can't fix though...

By the time we got to the car, I had a very well groomed, happy....and silly...and sticky baby!

(And yes, it took every fiber of my psycho clean freak being to not "accidentally" throw that sucker out the window.)

The Pumpkin Patch

My sister came with Hunter and I to the pumpkin patch by his school, so we could pick out some pumpkins for the porch...and so we could get some cute pictures. I'm not gonna lie. We were mainly there for the cute pictures:) Here's some of my favorites...