Two weekends ago...better late than never.

**I had saved this as a draft and forgot to post....so here it is...

Last weekend (two weekends ago now) was soooo busy. We had lots of fun things planned, but I hate going to bed Sunday night feeling even more exhausted then I was on Friday when I left work! I guess we put it on ourselves with all the plans we make, but it was tiring.

Last Friday night we went to a 10 year anniversary party for the New Hope Center for Grief Support. They asked Nick to serve on their board last fall and so we attended the party with Nick's dad and stepmom as our guests. We came home from work Friday and 30 minutes later Connie came to watch the kids and we were out the door with Mimi & Hoppy to head to the party. Saturday morning we had breakfast with Mimi & Hoppy before they left. Then Hunter and I met up with my Aunt Rhonda and cousin Connie to go see Hidi (Hunter's great-grandma) in Howell.

Hunter and Great-Grandma Hidi

We had a pizza party at her nursing home. Hunter ate two pieces of pizza and ice cream! Then we came back home for naptime. After nap, we met up with the Duprey family to take the kids bowling. Not many places have open bowl b/c of leagues on Saturday night. We ended up at Ypsi/Arbor Bowling alley. I waited in the car while Nick went in to see if it was safe to bring the kids in b/c it is pretty ghetto there. I am exagerrating a tiny bit, but I was glad we came and left while it was still light out. Sunday Amber and I went to the zoo all day, so it was a busy weekend. Fun, but busy!

Nick showing Hunter how to bowl

Group effort!

Our wild child. We were at a different lane, but with the kids running wild (see above) I asked if we could move to the end to give the kids more space to run around. They haven't learned about bowling etiquette just yet.

Random Musings

1) Hunter has had a cold lately and has been so picky about eating. Dinner time has been miserable...he won't eat, cries, we are frustrated, and it just makes us all crabby. Nick and I had been up the night before with Jack almost all night and we just decided on the fly to have this for dinner on Monday night. Hey, at least it's not fast food! I had a craving for it recently for a snack so that's why we had it in the house. It was Hunter's first time having it and of course he loved it. He had 3 bowls.

2) We got this bouncer for Jack. I get this weekly email from St. Joseph Hospital where I delivered both kids. Ironically, the email I got just yesterday talks about how these are unsafe. I am sure it'll be fine and I figure the worst thing that can happen is it falls off the doorframe and hits him in the head. Nick and I agreed that we would take our chances.

3) I saw these mini Ben & Jerry's ice cream things at Target ($1.25 each). I thought they were so cute, so I bought a few. I should post another time about how I go to Target to get 5 things and walk out with a cart full of stuff totaling $150 or more (ie. Peanut Butter Captain Crunch above). Hunter had this last night for dessert. I swear (well, not in front of the kids) that we do feed our kids healthy food a lot of the time!



4) Isn't this the cheesiest smile ever? He doesn't really have an underbite, but smiles like such a goofball.

His nose is all red b/c he'd been out playing with the neighbors. I won't lie, I bribed him with the ice cream to come inside...otherwise he throws a fit b/c he wants to stay out and play--and it was bedtime and I was desperate.

5) Isn't this just the cutest little guy?? We just love him soooo much!!

One of the very few times he is napping without being held. He's way too spoiled. Little does he know we'll be rocking his world soon when he has to cry it out in his crib!

Hunter's first "date"

Saturday evening we had the Pikur family over for dinner. We were planning to grill out, but it was raining, so Nick grilled food in the rain while we stayed indoors. We met the Pikur's b/c we adopted Chopper from the Boxer Haven Rescue where Cara (the mom) volunteers. They fostered Chopper for about 6 weeks before we adopted him. We've kept in touch and they've watched Chopper for us a few times when we've gone out of town. They have a girl (Kaylee) who just turned 3 and a boy (Marcus) who is about 1 1/2. The kids had fun playing together. Hunter had a hard time sharing his toys, but did as well as expected for a two year old.

Hunter & Kaylee had a "date" in Hunter's playroom.

He is a rotten date reading a book and ignoring her while she is trying to talk to him.

Typical man behavior.

They also had a nice hug and kiss goodbye :)

Hunter's rocking horse was a big hit all night.
Hunter, Kaylee, and Marcus took turns riding it all evening!

Showing off!

Marcus was so funny--he was bouncing up and down on the horse...it was so cute.

Finger painting...not so fun

Hunter does not like to get his hands dirty, so I don't really know what I was thinking buying finger painting stuff for him. Jack and I ventured out Saturday morning to Target and Buy Buy Baby together. He is much easier to shop with than Hunter, but I think that was my first time out with Jack just running errands (usually Nick stays home with Jack and I'll run out with Hunter). Anyway, we saw some fun finger paint stuff so I thought it might be fun to do out on the deck this summer. It was raining on Saturday, so we tried it out indoors. He didn't really have much fun and I made most of the painting for him...he tried it for about two minutes (while I took a picture) and that was about it. He didn't want the paint on his hands. Nick and I are not creative when it comes to drawing or art type activities whatsoever, so hopefully Hunter and Jack will be a little better than us! (I do have to say I can at least carve a decent pumpkin, while Nick can't even do a good job at that!)

How do you like my boots?

Why is it that kids always love to wear their parent's shoes? Hunter LOVES to put our shoes on and walk around the house. I got these new boots recently and Hunter likes to wear them. By the way, I got them at Macy's and they were originally $120, marked down to $90. I went to the register and they rang up for $24.99. I said, "Are you sure about that?" and the guy assured me that was the right price. I figured that was my attempt to be honest and have him re-check things. It was a big sale weekend, but I still think they may have made a mistake. I was SO happy and proud of my purchase.

Almost falling over!

Fun with Monica (aka "Gaga")

Monica watches Hunter and Jack three days a week. Both kids just love her! I can'tbelieve she's been with us for almost two years now and we couldn't be happier. We were so fortunate to find someone as awesome as her to trust with our kids. She emailed me this pictures recently and they are so cute!

Gallup Park in Ann Arbor

Playing at My Urban Toddler. He loves the puzzles!

It's rare that we can get Hunter even sit by Jack for a picture

More pictures from the Detroit Zoo

Here are more pictures from our visit to the zoo with Amber!

Hunter and I are buddies lately. He does not like daddy so much. I have to do everything and Nick can hardly even talk to Hunter without Hunter getting mad...it's just a phase, but I think it hurts Nick's feelings. I know the tables will turn on me someday, but I feel badly for Nick right now.

Hunter and Amber in the butterfly house

Mommy & Hunter

There were lots of pretty butterflys just flying around freely in this huge room

Amber pretty much gave Hunter all the change she had to let him throw it in the fountain. He kept saying, "more. more. more" until she was broke!

The prarie dog area...Hunter and Amber climbed down in the hole area so I could take their picture.

Detroit Zoo with "Aunt" Amber

Sunday my long time friend (from our days at Mercy High) went to the Detroit Zoo with Hunter. It was pretty cold, but we had a blast. I never imagined we'd be there for about 4 1/2 hours, but it was really fun. I think we circled the zoo twice b/c every time Hunter had to go potty we'd have to leave where we were and find a potty--and quick! Then we'd have to go back to where we left off. We saw lots of animals and just had a good time hanging out together.

Hunter loves "Ammbuur". He was so excited to see her and see the "am-uhls"

I think my favorite part was the rhinos...I think they were fighting as they were running and trying to hook each other with their horns. It was quite a sight. Hunter liked the monkeys and the peacocks the most. I think he liked the peacocks b/c every time he said "peacock" Amber would giggle (I think she is 30 going on 16--haha!). A stranger even saw Hunter say "peacock" and Amber started cracking up and this guy said, "I can see you are trouble from a mile away!"...yep...by the end of the day even Hunter was copying me and saying, "bad aunt amber".

I couldn't believe how fast the rhino's could run!

We did get a great view of the peacocks!

My cutie pie!

We wore Hunter out! He hasn't falled asleep in his carseat in over a year, so with no nap and a busy day at the zoo, he was out as soon as we got into the car :)

More pictures to come soon!

Parker Mills Park

Last night we went to the park for a bit. It was about 80 degrees all day and so nice out! The park weaves around Fleming Creek, which also runs behind our house--thus the name of our street. We like this park b/c there are lots of bridges to walk on, the creek is fun to walk around, and it's about five minutes from our house. There is not a playground, but Hunter has fun exploring and walking on the paths.

The highlight of our visit was seeing one of the contestants from The Biggest Loser there riding his bike! He went by us and I was thinking he looks familiar and where do I know him from?Then I realized it was the show. I knew they were from Ann Arbor. Basically, I stalked him and waited for him to come back by on his bike and asked him if he was Daryl from The Biggest Loser. He said he was...he stopped and said hello and talked for a minute. I had recorded the show from Tuesday evening and hadn't finished watching it yet. I watched the rest last night to see his daughter got voted off. I knew he had been voted off already, but not her.

Our cutie pie. He slept most of the time at the park, but woke up at the end of our walk

I thought it would be fun to go out onto this tree that had fallen across the river, but trying to balance both myself and Hunter was not easy--especially in flip flops. Rinsing our feet off before heading to the car.

Same blog, new look

I have been messing around with the blog and layouts...trying to get better at all this stuff. It's kind of fun now that I'm kind of figuring some new things out!

I'm a happy mom today!

I never thought I would take figuring out where Hunter would start pre-school so seriously. However, Nick and I went to visit a pre-school nearby (5 minutes from our house) today. It's a Christian Montessori called Go Like The Wind. We were there for about an hour with the Administrator (basically the Principal). We both really liked the school and the Administrator (Doug). You could see the kids did too. Many of them said "hi" to him and several little kids ran out to give him a hug. Nick said he hated his Principal in school and it was nice to see Doug is liked and seems really nice and approachable. Hunter will start pre-school there this fall...yippee! We heard a lot of great things and it was such a nice environment. They said almost every kid can read at a 2nd grade public school level by the time they are 5 years old at their school. The whole philosophy is awesome and I'm just so excited. The kids can go there through 9th grade. Even though it's just pre-school he might be there through middle school. Plus, he will be making friends here and 85% of his brain development takes place in the first 5 years of his life, so it is important to get him off on the right foot.

Last week (spring break), I had two teachers come in to review their accounts with me. Both teach in the public school system--one middle school and one high school. They both are very disturbed with the direction things are going with the public school system. Both have been teachers for over 20 years. The one teacher said "If you can keep him out of public school, you should. If I had a young child I would put them in Montessori". I hadn't even told her that's what we were thinking! I certainly don't want to get into a whole debate, but the one teacher who teaches middle school said that just the day before spring break started the police were at her middle school b/c a boy was selling marijuana out of his locker--in 7th grade!! And a girl got suspended for doing some "really bad things" (she told me what, but I will not repeat) with a boy in the bathroom--in middle school!! I did not know what the "really bad thing" was or know what marijuana was when I was in middle school. The other client who teaches high school said things are just unbelievable with the teacher to student ratio (it's 48 to 1 in her class b/c of layoffs). She told me they are not teaching--they are just trying to maintain order. This was very upsetting and it's just scary to think this is what is going on. This is not what we want for Hunter. I am hoping by putting him in a better environment we can try to shelter him from some of this stuff. Of course it is our job to teach him what is right and wrong, but I want him in the best possible environment that will set him up for the best chance at succeeding in life.



Nick and I have never agreed on this subject. I would prefer private/Catholic/Montessori, whatever. Nick has always stood firm that our property taxes are high enough and why would we pay for school. He went to public school and did just fine. Today he changed his mind after visiting the school (and hearing what my clients said). I thought there would have to be some serious negotiating to get him to agree to pay for this, but he said yes in the parking lot! I said "I love you honey and I will fill out the application tonight!" before he changes him mind. I have been planting seeds from before we ever had kids, but I was seriously afraid that he would not come to see things my way. I thought maybe once we had kids he would change his mind and want the best thing for them. He still said no. Today, something must have happened...I will have to talk to him more about it tonight to find out. As we stood thanking the Administrator for his time Nick said "So, how much does this cost anyway?" Doug went into his office to get the rates. I told Nick to please not to break out into a sweat. He didn't. He just stared at the sheet and we went on our way...in the parking lot I said "So, can Hunter start here in the fall?" and Nick said "Yes". That simple. I was thrilled. I probably would have nagged and begged until I got my way anyway, but it was awesome not to have to do that and I'm so thankful!


This is why I'm a happy mom today!

**I know not all public schools are bad. I know bad things happen in private schools too.

Our Future Pre-Schooler!

Jack is 5 months~

Jack turned 5 months on Friday. Is is getting to be such a big boy! Here is what has been going on with him:

• He still drools a decent amount, thus the bibs on him in most pictures
• He is still not sleeping as well as we'd like. He gets up 1-3 times a night. Sometimes we feed him, sometimes not, but it has been exhausting! We plan to let him start crying it out soon.
• He smiles a ton and rarely cries. He is very happy, which is awesome. He smiles the most when Hunter is around and laughing. Jack just lights up when Hunter is acting silly or paying attention to him.
• He can roll from his tummy to his back now
• He can grab things with both hands and transfer things from hand to hand. He's been able to for a while though
• He makes a lot of noise. He is probably going to be loud and outgoing just like his older brother
• He is pretty spoiled and likes to be held. He gets mad when you put him down when he wants to be held. The Baby Bjorn gets a lot of use!
• He likes to watch the people around him. We have been hanging out on the deck a lot with the warm weather and he loves to watch Hunter blow bubbles
• I'm sure there are more things I'm not thinking of, but that is it for now :)