Family pictures

We went to Gallup Park back at the end of October for family pictures and I can't believe I forgot to post these. I probably didn't get them till mid-November or so, but still...I'm always so happy when I get to see the finished product! We went with Nick's mom and stepdad. I am always so pleased with how they turn out. We love Dayna (the photographer and she does my hair--and cuts the kid's hair). Jack just isn't very photogenic. I think he's super cute, but these pictures just don't do him justice--haha.

I really like this one, except Jack fell between us...it's kind of funny though.

They look sweet and innocent--but they are NOT. I should not be writing this post today b/c I had a rough morning with the kids. Hunter was being IMPOSSIBLE this morning!
My cute husband and Jack :) It was pretty cold out and I had to put their coats on b/c Jack was shivering.

This is one of my favorites...Once again, Jack looks kind of goofy, but oh well. It's like he's scowling or something.

I LOVE this picture of Hunter--it's a genuine smile/laugh!

All of us together--I really like this one too! I love the black and white photos. I'm going to make one of these into a canvas for the wall in our bedroom where I have lots of other pictures hanging. Isn't my husband hot?? hehehe. I wonder how long it will take him to see this!?!? I think he knows it, so I probably shouldn't say anything and give him a big head. Although his love language is the one where he likes to be complimented and appreciated, so it's ok I guess b/c I want him to know I love him. I have been so stressed lately that he might be wondering. I love Jack here--he's making a "mad face".

I am repeating myself, but I LOVE this picture of the boys with Gammy Dori. She lost a lot of weight, cut her hair, and I think she looks so good!!

My sweetie pie!
This is so sweet too. Hunter loves his Gammy :)
I am not sure how I feel about the yellow trees, but oh well. You can see Nick and I are standing funny in some pictures. I didn't have dark dress socks for the boys, so they are wearing white socks. I told Nick we had to try to cover their ankles in the pictures so the white socks didn't show...haha. And then I still didn't get any and had the same issue at the Christmas brunch we went to recently. I better get some before we go to church on Christmas Day. I'll add it to my two page long to-do list.
Jack was all done by this point...he wanted no more pictures taken and was off playing with leaves and crying.

Click HERE to check out the photographer's website. Thanks Dayna, you are awesome.

I hope you had a good weekend. Ours was pretty good. Friday evening Nick and Hunter went to see Muppets while Jack and I went Christmas shopping. Saturday morning Jack and I did more Christmas shopping (this past weekend was my first weekend of shopping, so I'm freaking out) while Hunter and Nick went to soccer. After naps, more running around for the holidays--the kids were in a cranky mood. Hunter didn't nap at all and Jack took a short nap b/c he wasn't feeling good. We thought if we took them in the car they might nap, so we went out and got gift certificates at about six different places (Nick drove and dropped me off at each place so I could run in)...they did not fall asleep :( Saturday night we had Monica (our previous nanny) over to babysit...Nick and I did MORE shopping and went on a dinner date afterwards. It was fun to go on a date and we don't do it enough! Sunday we went to church. I dropped Hunter off at my Aunt Rhonda's ALL day. Connie and Rhonda did lots of fun stuff with him and brought him back home around 6pm. Am I a bad mom for being over the moon happy to have him with them all day so I could get stuff done??? I feel guilty for how excited I was. Nick, Jack, and I went on a more leisurely (thus costly) trip to Costco. Got lots of food for us and presents for people. I got something super cool for Hunter there and I'm really excited to give it to him! It's amazing how it seems so easy to just have one kid with us now that we have two kids. However, when we just had Hunter I did not ever think it was easy to take him out. Overall, I went on five separate shopping trips from Friday to Sunday. Crazy huh? I also went last Thursday which was my first official start to the holiday shopping. Lastly, I can't even believe we are leaving for Florida on 12/27. I haven't thought about it one bit (well, just stressing that I haven't done anything to get ready, except line up a dog/house sitter)! What were we thinking!?!?

Have a great day!

Christmas Brunch

Last Sunday we went to a Children's Christmas Brunch at our club...We invited my parents and Mike, Jacque, and Michael. We had so much fun and they had lots of activities for the kids!

I LOVE this picture!! Nana, Grandpa, Hunter and Santa.

Jack was not very excited to sit on Santa's lap :-)

Hunter told Santa he wanted "a new time-out chair and a 1,000 piece puzzle". The two mommies sitting on this bear thing they had there :)
Hunter and Grandpa at brunch.

They had this balloon making guy there. He made some amazing balloons for all the kids. Hunter had Rudolph and Jack had a dinosaur.

I convinced my dad to put it on, but he was not really very excited about it, especially out in public.

They had an awesome buffet for the kids...the food was amazing!

Hunter's dessert

Jacque and I. She had a baby a few weeks ago and looks so good!!!
Jack and I with the bear (or dog??)

Fatt family...they left baby Caleb home with her mom.
The dinosaur balloon Jack got--we've been playing with it all week :)

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

Snowman and more

Last Friday night we went to a Christmas Party in Northville. It's for this organization called New Hope and Nick serves on the Board. The had it at a Toll Brothers model home which was a really nice house. They have tons of food, chocolate fountain (nick sponsors this), auctions, raffles, etc. Nick was the auctioneer for this week long condo package up north. I actually bid on it a few times, but someone else out bid me--at least I helped to drive the price up! We've gone for several years now and always have a good time. We are the youngest by far b/c it's an organization that helps people who've lost a loved one, so many of the people are widows and in their 60's (and above). Here are two pictures of Nick and I...we rarely have pictures together together these days b/c I am always the one taking the pictures!

Can you tell I've had a few too many glasses of wine at this point in the night?

On a completely unrelated note, yesterday Julie took Hunter out to make a snowman (I believe Jack was still napping). I think they did a fabulous job and it's still there as of this morning. He's tipping over a little, so not sure how long he will last, but I love it. Hunter looks so tall in this picture! I also love the U of M hat and scarf (my Aunt Rhonda made the scarf for me)...

Hunter's day with Nana (and Aunt Emily)

On Saturday, December 3rd, Nana took Hunter for most of the day. It was so awesome. I almost feel guilty saying that, but he had so much fun and so did we. I went to lunch with a friend, took a two hour nap, and Nick and I just had some alone time with Jack. It was a nice and relaxing day. I might have to talk my mom into doing that more often!! I sent her with my camera so she could take some pictures b/c they had a full day planned :)

Nana picked Hunter up at 9:30 am and took him to soccer practice. After soccer they went and got him a haircut. We were going to a Christmas Brunch the next day at our club, so wanted him to look handsome :)
Then they went to lunch and back to Nana's to bake cookies. I can see he had a great time!

One of his new favorite things to do is crack eggs....he's so proud of himself.

Hmmm....Nana said he was perfect all day long. I'm so glad they had fun together! We all met up around 5:30 to go to dinner for Emily's 30th birthday. We went to Sagano's in Brighton where they cook in front of you. The kids were entertained and the food was really good!
They brought out the chef who sang with his drum (and a HUGE dessert) for Emily.
Then we went back to Grandpa and Nana's house to open gifts and have cake/ice cream. Jack was playing with a new bra that Emily got as a gift :) I think he enjoys that we all laugh at him!

I don't know if my mom knows how much that was needed and appreciated, but it was awesome. Aunt Emily wants to have him for a sleepover and we are super excited. I'm glad she lives close so that if I have to go pick him up in the night, it's not that far away...I think he will probably do fine, but you just never know how his first sleepover will go!

More Thanksgiving pictures

I didn't really do a good job of taking pictures over the Thanksgiving weekend (yeah, I know, it seems like a long time ago!)...I want to catch up b/c I have lots of fun pictures from this past weekend too.

On Thanksgiving Day Jack slept until 10:15am (I don't think he was feeling that well), so we just went to my parents around noon. We were going to go after nap (and put then down for naps early), but since he slept so late, we just didn't bother. Jack and I took a lovely two hour nap together in my old room...it was awesome!

I love this picture. My mom got Hunter this little nerf gun thing and he was entertained for quite some time shooting it at my dad. Aunt Emily bought them these white shirts and sweaters...so cute :) Thanks Emily. Just about the only picture I took of Jack from the day. I get so busy chasing them around and forget to pull out the camera.

Can you tell he's a picky eater????? Nothing on his plate besides bread and butter. Ahhhhh.

On the contrast, here is Nick's plate. So yummy!

The day after Thanksgiving, Hunter, Nana, and I went on a "secret mission". We went to decorate Gigi's place while she was down eating breakfast with her friends. Hunter had a lot of fun helping us and spying on Gigi while she was eating. We spent a few hours decorating and then went to lunch with all of us (and Emily) at Olga's before heading home. I used to do the Black Friday shopping all the time, but now that we have kids, it's just too hard. However, my AWESOME husband went to Home Depot with Jack and bought me a new washer and dryer. Front loading, stainless steel...I'm so happy. I'm still not sure what his motivation was for doing that, but I'm not going to ask. I think maybe quite simply he got sucked in by the fabulous deal?

On Sunday (Thanksgiving weekend) Hoppy, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Brandie came for dinner. Mimi was not feeling well so she didn't come. I am really mad at myself for not taking pictures, but I felt horrible (back pain), so I wasn't motivated to do much. Nick did the cooking and cleaning thankfully b/c I was in no condition to do so.

This past weekend was really fun and busy. I'm super tired today even though I napped Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The kids saw Santa yesterday too....we had a good weekend and hope you did too!

~Jennifer

Random funny pics

Nick loves to use our juicer to make vegetable juice. The kids LOVE it (yay!!). He'll put carrots, lemons, and I'm not sure what else in it. Jack made a huge mess of his as you can see...The downside is we all get these orange mustaches that are really hard to clean off once we're done with them!

Messy, but still a little cute :)
Hunter likes to watch movies on Netflix on our Ipad. The other night he ran downstairs after bath time before we could get him dressed at this is how I found him. Too funny.

Have a great weekend. We are going to be really busy, but it should be fun!! The kids get to see Santa on Sunday for this Christmas Brunch, so I'm excited to see how they both react.