Quite possibly the messiest face ever

I can't even recall what he was eating at this time, but I think it may have been spaghetti. We try to let him feed himself as much as possible, but it sure does get messy. The worst is when he puts something in his mouth, chews it, takes it back out just to look at it again, and then puts it back in his mouth! Yuck.

Even though he's a mess, I still think he's adorable and has the cutest expressions :)

My 3 and 1 year old--with their IPADS

This is what I came downstairs to the other day (with daddy's supervision). Hunter was playing a Toy Story Memory game on the IPAD and Jack was listening to a Toy Story story being read to him on the IPAD. My family and I pitched in to get Nick and IPAD for his birthday last year. In November, he thought I needed to have an IPAD, so he got me one for my birthday (that, or he just was desperate for an idea). I rarely use it b/c I have to fight with Hunter to get to use it! They have some really fun and educational games, but we do try to limit "screen time".

I just find it amusing and ridiculous at the same time that these little kids have such technology!

We took the kids to Sesame Street Live on Saturday night at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, so gotta get pictures up soon of that!

Pre-school Flip

Check out this video--if you want to teach your young child how to put his or her own coat on. Our previous nanny said it's called the "pre-school flip". Hunter calls it his "special trick". He learned it at school either way.

Click HERE.

I'm still not good at embedding the videos, sorry.

It's nice that he puts his own coat on, but annoying when he wants to do it out in public where the floors might not be so clean!

Smoothies...for dinner

One evening recently Nick was working late. I wasn't really hungry and Hunter said he wasn't either, so we just decided to make smoothies for dinner. I hope I'm not the only weird one who does that once in a while! We use orange juice, frozen berries, banana, yogurt, strawberries, and a little cool whip.

Jack eats way more than Hunter so I had to make him food, besides the smoothie!

Got the spatula out to get every last drip.

He gives the cheesiest smile when I ask him to smile.

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