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.