What did you say?

Some funny conversations with Hunter recently...

Hunter likes to pretend like he's fixing the tv in our room.  He'll turn it on and turn it to a channel that's just static (we don't have cable).  Then he'll bring his Handy Manny screwdrivers in to "work on it".  The other day, he told me he was fixing it, and I heard him say in the most exasperated voice, "Ugh.  I don't have time for this!"  Between that and the curse word that he says every other day, we're going to have to really start watching what we say...especially since neither of us really curse!  Obviously we did at least once, though, because the kid had to learn it from somewhere.  And to clarify, clearly I don't classify this as one of the funny things my child says.

Then James and Hunter had this conversation today:

H:  Those are crosses on the wall.
J:  You're right buddy.  What happened on the cross?
H:  Jesus died.
J:  Good job!  Give me a high five.
H:  Do I get a sticker for that?

Cracking. Me. Up.

Since her brother has so much to say, Charlotte decided it was time to say her first word a couple of weeks ago.  Now she says it incessantly, and I swear will drop things on purpose, just so she can say it.  I got a video of it this weekend...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Not the best videography, I know, but I knew she'd start saying "uh oh" any minute once her leg got caught on the bed!

We are so blessed by them, and they are so blessed to have James as their father.  The last year at home with them, I'm sure has been a difficult one, but he has done it without any complaint.  I love watching the bond between the man I love and the children I cherish grow stronger every day.  Thank you for everything you do, James.  We are so blessed by your service to our family.

Time

Lately when I look at Hunter, my eyes see a boy who has completely transformed from the toddler that I remember running through our house not that long ago.  Some of the things he says seem so grown up to me.  Yes, he still has his tantrums and rage-filled fits (in fact we got to witness a couple of those at his friend, Natalia's birthday party this morning), but for the most part, he seems so old to me.

This got me thinking about time, and how unbelieveably fast it goes by.  I so vividly remember his first birthday, the day he was born, even the day I found out he was coming.  That time, along with most of my nearly-30 years, has flown by.

I have these 3 friends from high school.  My best friends from high school, actually.  I hate even calling them "friends from high school", because they are some of my dearest, closest friends to this day.  I've been friends with them, continuously, for over half of my life.  I am the woman I am today, in part, because of them.

Well somehow, Marcy and Laura, traveled to Texas at the same time, and the four of us got to hang out several different times during their stay.  It felt like high school again...except for the kids running all around...and the husbands...and the conversation was a little deeper than when we were in our early teens...well at least some of the time;).  I wish I would've taken more pictures, but here are the ones I did get... 

Amy, Marcy, me, Laura on our girls night out.  Woohoo! 

 I didn't get home until almost midnight, and it was a work night people.  Talk about living dangerously.

Most of the pictures I took were at the little reunion at my house.  It was a little crazy, and there were kids everywhere, so I wasn't able to get pictures of everyone (including the husbands), but you can see a picture of Will here and Noah here:)

Marcy and her daughter, Aubrey, sitting with Char...

Laura, Hunter (in one of his not-so-mature moments), and I...

All of us with my kids...

Hunter and sweet little Quinn (Amy's)...

The babies (there goes Char with that finger in the mouth thing again)...

Tori (Laura's) hanging out with all the toys.  She had her 2 year birthday while she was here, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we were there.  That's the outfit we got her for her bithday though:)  Happy Birthday Tori!...

Here are all of the girls (except Tori) with Marcy and Laura - Quinn, Aubrey, Char, Daphne (Laura's)...

Daphne and Aubrey loved  Charlotte. They played so well with her!

Hunter and Isaac (Laura's) playing.  Hunter followed Isaac around most of the time they were over here, and Isaac was so tolerant of him:)...

L, M, and A - I love y'all and had so much fun with y'all!  Can't wait for our next reunion!  Let's make it a girls week in Mexico...or Hawaii!  (Well, if I can win the lottery first...or maybe just give me 5 years to save up:))

Crazy Girl

We had dinner with our friends, the Satterfields, a couple of weeks ago, and it was so sweet watching Charlotte interact with their son, Ethan.  Hunter loves their other son, Ronnie, and it really is a joy of mine to watch the two of them together and listen in on their little conversations, but Char hasn't interacted with many kids, yet...she's mature for her age and usually prefers the adults;)

Lately Charlotte's been sticking her index finger in my mouth.  Her eyes get this serious, inquisitive look and she shoves that finger in.  If I don't open for her, she'll push as hard as she can until I do.  Well at the Satterfields the other night, Charlotte kept sticking her finger in Ethan's mouth over and over.  Luckily he didn't mind...

Big brother, Ronnie, thought it was so funny, that he played along too...

That night we were playing outside and I noticed that Charlotte had these yellow polka dots all over her head (underneath her hair).  I had never seen them before, so I kind of started to panic (shocking, I know), but Carrie told me it looked like cradle cap and gave me some shampoo for it.  The next day, I used it on Charlotte and noticed that the consistency was a little different, but didn't really think to read the directions...because, hello, I'm pretty feminine and hygeine conscious, so why would I need to read shampoo directions?

After about 20 minutes I noticed Charlotte's hair still looked wet, so I went over to examine, and although it wasn't wet, it was grea-sy.  So we played beauty shop for a while, and this was Hunter's favorite do...

Don't worry.  I went and re-shampooed right after our photo shoot...but now we know what to use if she ever wants to be a rock star for Halloween.

Are We There Yet?

I love telling stories, and it's a well known fact that sometimes I get so wrapped up in my story-telling that I might exaggerate just a teeny tiny smidge.  I'm not trying to lie, I just like things big and eventful.  After all I am from Texas...and I was the reigning Drama Queen of the Zeta Sigma chapter of KKG for the 4 years that I was there.  Not that I'm proud of this.  Believe me, by my senior year I was begging people not to vote for me, which of course made them want to even more. 

Anyway. 

Just know that I am not exaggerating when I tell you that my daughter scream-cried for 75% of the trip out to Odessa on Tuesday.  It was torture.  By the time we entered Odessa's city limits, Hunter was losing all sanity.  He pooched out his trembling bottom lip, tears flowing, and said, "I wanna go home." 

So.  Sad.  But when we pulled into Aunt Melanie's driveway less than 5 minutes later, Hunter was giddy to see cousin Brooke.  She was just as happy to see him, and they jumped around and did a happy dance together on top of the sidwalk chalked Welcome written out just for us on the concrete.

We had so much fun visiting.  Here's a rundown of our events...

Wednesday we went to the spray park...

It was hot y'all. H.O.T.  I almost couldn't bear it, and spent the entire time making sure my sweet baby girl kept her hat on and watching my pasty white son like a  hawk to ensure that neither of them got third-degree burns from the blazing sun.

The much tanner Thayer kids were made for summer water fun.  Carson loved splashing in the water... 

and posed perfectly for my pictures:)

Big sister Brooke, loved it even more...

She was fearless!

Hunter, on the other hand, was not the biggest fan...

He didn't want to go through that tunnel or really stand in any area that would splash him.  He eventually came and sat by Char and I, but quickly ran away because he was getting sprayed...

I sat there thinking, Where does he get this?  Why doesn't he just have fun like the other kids?, but my thoughts were interrupted by this horribly annoying pecking feeling on my legs, which I soon realized was water slapping against them from the sprayer nearby.  And it was then that I realized, I wouldn't love this either.  It felt worse to me than nails on a chalkboard sound. 

So we got up and went over to the playground where it was still hot...

but Hunter had a lot more fun.  Eventually Brooke and Carson joined us to play before we went home.

On Thursday we went to a puppet show at the library that I sooo wish I had recorded for y'all because it was hysterical...mostly because of how pitiful it was.  After the library we played around the house...

Brooke has the Fisher Price version of a Wii, so she and Hunter had fun playing baseball...

and tennis...

and golf...

We'll just say it doesn't seem as though golf will be the sport where our son excels...he sure was good at the other two though;)

That night we went to the Midland Rockhound's baseball game where I spent most of the time feeling nauseated and only captured this photo...

Luckily, Brooke took several for me of the field and the dudes next to us.  Since posting pictures of random men on my family blog seems a little strange, I'll just share a photo of the field...

It was a great trip, and Hunter was so sad to leave Brooke and Carson this morning...and reminded us the.entire.way.home that he wanted to "goooo seeeee cousiiiiin Broooooke". 

Charlotte had a much better drive back home.  Hunter, on the other hand, whined about everything.  It was comical really.  I laughed so hard I cried.  Literally.

Thirty Days

So it turns out I have the best sisters ever.  Seriously y'all.  Best.Sisters.Ever. 

Kate and Court came over tonight to tell me that we are exactly 30 days away from my 30th birthday, so they thought they'd surprise me with a little something...

What!!!?  Anybody want to guess what's in those boxes?  Oh, just 30 gifts for me! - one to open each day until my birthday.  How fun are they?  And awesome!  How fun and awesome are they!?

Hunter was in awe of all of the presents and couldn't wait to open them.  His sweet little 3 year old brain couldn't quite grasp the concept of just opening one present when there were thirty staring him in the face, but we finally persuaded him to pick one to open tonight...

As you can see, he was way more interested in the gift wrap than the actual present. 

Can't wait until tomorrow so I can open my next one!