Jack, Jack, and more Jack

Here are some sweet (and sad?) pictures of my baby from Sunday afternoon.

This child knows what he wants and this is the face when he's not getting what he wants! It's pretty darn funny if you ask me. He had some tears b/c he pulled the freezer drawer open and fell back onto the hardwood floor. I was blowing bubbles with gum trying to make him laugh. It was so cute that as the tears were streaming he would stop and laugh at the bubbles :)

Such a ham
Daddy was tickling him with his feet...and I just love this sweater my mom got him!

I know I'm biased, but I just can't get enough of this cute face!

Finally celebrating Christmas--and a sick boy

Saturday morning Hunter woke up at 5:45am with a tummy ache and proceeded to throw up on his bedroom floor. He must have had a 24 hour bug b/c he threw up all day long. He hasn't eaten hardly a thing since Saturday...poor guy!! He seemed better Sunday, but still doesn't want to eat much. I am trying to keep him hydrated, but it's been tough. He woke up at 4am this morning, but then fell back asleep and I had to wake him up at 8am to see if he wanted to go to school.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon Mark and Brandie came to finally celebrate Christmas! We had a such a good time with them. The best part was watching our wedding video and Mark giving his best man speech. In his mind he "had killed it", but when he watched it again, he was so embarrassed. I have not laughed that hard in a LONG time. Anyway, we had fun hanging out with them and exchanging gifts since we weren't able to see each other over Christmas. I am so excited for him to marry Brandie. She's so sweet and I am so thrilled he found someone like her! They got Hunter this cool tool set. Can you tell he feels yucky??It was hard to get a smile, but he enjoyed playing with his new toys.

Hunter with Brandie & Mark. I think this picture is adorable!

Gigi brought this sign over for Hunter (she got it from the U of M bball game)...Brandie was teasing Mark b/c he hates U of M with a passion and is a die hard MSU fan. It was so funny b/c I was thinking in my mind "this could be a good wedding slide show pic) and she said the exact same thing. I love Mark's expression!

Have a great day! I have some adorable pictures of Jack that I'll put up tomorrow.

Grandpa Tom's Birthday!

Grandpa Tom's birthday was last Tuesday, so we had some family over Friday night to celebrate. We went to dinner and then back to our house. Gigi made my dad's favorite (hello dolly cake) and ice cream. We got him a gift certificate to a marine store he likes so he can get stuff for his boat :) Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

I had a horrible stomach ache last night after dinner...I was leaning over the toilet sick, but didn't actually throw up (TMI, I know). Hunter woke us up at 5:45am this morning puking. He's been sick all day and is finally now napping. I feel so sorry for him. Nana was here b/c Nick and I had a church thing to go to for a few hours. I just hope it's not one of those 24 hour flu bugs that we're all going to get. Especially b/c Mark and Brandie are on their way to our house now to hang out this evening and finally celebrate Christmas together!

Both kids wanted to help open his gifts

Hunter helped blow out the candles too :)
Have a nice weekend!

PS. Happy Birthday Big D too--his was on Thursday the 27th. They are in Texas, so we mailed gifts/cards and called him to wish him a Happy Birthday!

Back to basics

We have the ipad and all the cool technology--it's one of Nick's favorite things. Hunter uses my ipad more than I do. He plays games and mostly educational abc tracing games. I read on another blog about this activity and thought it would be fun to try. We had a lot of fun tracing letters in flour on a baking sheet. I would draw a letter and he'd copy it. Nothing like a fun and simple activity to keep him learning and out of trouble. It was a bit messy, but worth it!

He was really proud of himself once he'd complete each letter.

Great Lakes Crossing visit

I've wanted to go to Great Lakes Crossing for years, but it's so far away. I was motivated to go b/c they have a Disney Store...and it was something different to do on a COLD Saturday morning! It was a long drive (an hour)...which is really long with two little kids. They were good for the most part b/c we brought Beauty and the Beast in the car. They had a few screaming fits, but overall it was decent. Within two minutes of walking in to the mall we ran into Rob and his son, Preston. Apparently in their family there is a "mommy's day" where daddy and son let mommy go shopping, get nails done, etc. I am super jealous and think it's a fabulous idea. Do I see it happening? No. Anyway, Preston and Hunter got to play while the dads got to hang out. It was so random being so far from home seeing them (even though they live like 10 minutes from there).

The play area had huge fruits, vegetables, hot dogs, cupcakes, etc. They even had a carousal, which the kids rode. I was too dizzy to take pictures.

I tried to get a picture of all the boys...it's hard to keep three little ones sitting still long enough to take a picture :)

Have a great day!

Just call me King Hunter

Last Sunday at church school the kids made these hats. When I picked him up he told me to call him "King Hunter" which gave me a laugh. As usual we went to Costco after church and he insisted on wearing it through the store. I have learned to pick my battles and he even got a few compliments.

It had a lot of stickers on it, but he peeled them all off

Getting ready for Disneyworld!

We are going to Disneyworld in March and can't wait! Nick's firm has a rewards type conference there...his firm pays for 3 nights in our hotel and flights...yay Nick! We plan to extend the trip for a few days on top of that. He's very close to the top level and if he makes it to the very top I'm hoping for a Hawaii trip (no kids). I'm very excited about this either way and so are the kids. The last two years it's been in Arizona at a spa like resort, so we were thrilled to see it was at Disney this year now that our kids are old enough to have fun (at least Hunter). Saturday morning we decided to go to Great Lakes Crossing Mall to the Disney Store to get some tee-shirts, etc. for our trip. Nick ran into a friend with his little boy so we hung out with them and then checked out the mall before heading home. We got lots of tee-shirts ($6 versus probably $20 at the park). Nick surprisingly let Hunter and Jack get a stuffed animal too.

Hunter chose Buzz LightYear and he loves him! Buzz goes in the car with us and Hunter makes him meals at his table in the playroom, shows him how to do puzzles, watches tv with him, etc. It's so cute to watch.
Jack got Mickey Mouse, but he doesn't care much about him yet.
Hunter and I ran out Sunday afternoon to do a few errands...No nap, but fell asleep in the car later in the day...cuddling with Buzz and Mickey. We could be creating a monster with this wanting to take them everywhere.

I'm naughty and I know it

Jack has discovered he can feed the dog and finds this hilarious. I just love how he hands food to Chopper, gets his hand all slobbery, and then feeds himself--back and forth. I probably would have been more paranoid with Hunter, but the second time around, I let it go. So what if Chopper pukes up entire dirty diapers that we forgot to put in the genie and left sitting out? And wipes that he ate that were hanging out of the wipe box? And grass? Ok, now I'm starting to think I'm a bad mom. Here you go Chopper. That was fun!
Here's another bite.

This is the best game ever.

That is so funny...I'm naughty and I know it...can't you tell by the look on his face?

Random stuff---Basketball, PJ's, and Baths

Here's a little of what we've been up to...

It was my bad idea to bring the basketball thing out to the family room...way to much ball throwing going on outside of the playroom, especially by one 31 year old, who shall remain anonymous. Jack has learned to dunk though! Hunter being silly and making Jack mad by blocking the basket.

I know I'm biased, but aren't these boys handsome??!!

Hunter is pretty naughty these days, but at least he's cute. They are starting to play more and more all the time and I love it...and feel like I should be getting paid to referee part-time.

I was trying to get a picture of the kids in their coordinating pj's...they looked so cute. Hunter's pants match Jack's whole outfit. Now he's happy....
And now he's not....
Every once in a while the "boys" in the house do bath time in our bathroom...they turn on the jets and make lots of bubbles in the jacuzzi. I actually get so stressed watching them that I clean my closet and wait to hear Jack crying. They splash my curtains, stand up, fall down, and get soap in their eyes. My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it. It's fun for them, so I try to be a good sport.

Hands on Museum

Our family, along with what it seemed like every other family in town, went to the Hands On Museum on MLK Day. Nick and I both had the day off and decided to go for a couple of hours in the morning to have some "quality family fun" time together. It was super crowded! The kids had fun, but by 11:30am we were ready to head home. We have a membership and as long as we go about 3 times per year, it pays for itself.

Hunter made friends with these two brothers immediately and they built a huge "castle" with blocks. I kept waiting for someone to knock it over and there to be tears.

In this pre-school room they have a little area for little ones under 18 months. It was nice to keep Jack in there away from the many other bigger kids running around.

They have a water table that is always a huge hit with the kids!

They have all these foam blocks in a huge room which is also a big attraction.

We always head to the ambulance...Hunter was being so bossy telling us what to do and where to go. He wanted to drive and Jack and I were instructed to sit in the front so he could drive us "to the hopspital to fix our boo-boo's".
We had a nice long weekend with the kids (for the most part)! Nick and I went on a date on Saturday night for the first time in a couple of months, which was awesome. We went to PF Changs and then to see The Fighter. It was so fun to hang out together and just have a chance to talk without the stress of bringing a 3 year old out to a restaurant with us :) Plus we had gift cards for dinner and the movie, so that was a plus!